Chapter 1: Foreward
Summary:
When serpents rise and make the realm quake;
When realms of souls fall and stone giants wake and walk
When dragons and knights of masters fail scions of Ash shall awake;
As walls of realms begin to crumble allowing realms to mix and mingle;
Realms must turn to knight of powers and dragons of whirlwinds for escape;
But all must fall for darkness to awake and the dawns of light to re-awake...
Notes:
This work is dedicated to my departed Parrot R2 and cat Keiko.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
I have long struggled with mental illness my entire life and in 2012 during a very low period in my life I got a little parrot I named R2 even though we always called him Tooie. I had always wanted a bird, a living dinosaur, ever since I was very young and given my state my family thought it best to get me a companion parrot. He helped me get through many troubled times but in 2018 my beloved companion Parrot passed away suddenly July 12 at only six years old from a fungal infection. Just three months later my cat Keiko a beloved companion of 14 years was diagnosed with cancer in the jaw bone the week of Halloween. She was given only a week to live but hung on till February 26 of 2019. R2 loved watching TV with the family or when people played video games. My younger sister got me into watching Ninjago around late 2016 and I came to love it and so did he. Watching the show helped me feel better whenever times were low. I didn't get into the Nexo Knights till after he passed but knowing him he would have loved it too. I had gotten into the Elder Scrolls series in 2012 during my very low period and it really helped me get by and both R2 and Keiko enjoyed hanging out watching as I played Elder Scrolls games. I've always been strongly creative and often write, draw or work digitally to create things and shortly after R2 passed I had started to come up with an idea involving three of the things we loved the most; a story involving the ninja and Nexo Knights. I only started writing however shortly after Keiko passed. I wrote this story as a sort of way to get over the grief of their loss. When I started I had a sense of where the story was going but no real end and many aspects were still blank. I was heavily inspired by the Elder Scrolls series particularly the third instalment Morrowind, the fourth instalment Oblivion and its Shivering Isles expansion plus the most recent instalment Elder Scrolls Online which my younger sister got me as a birthday gift in 2019. This inspiration is heavily noticed in environments, names and parts of the mythology in the story. While the story deals with the very dark subject matter of death and grief I tried to keep it light and keep in plenty of humor despite the dark subject matter. I also tried to keep it light enough in tone for young children to enjoy in the story which is very hard when dealing with such a dark subject. I originally wanted to keep it short but as I was writing I found that really was not going to work. The story became so complex that restricting it in size was not really wise. I knew from the start I was going to focus on two of the ninja similarly to how the show works. The two I chose are my two favorites', Zane and Cole (if you're wondering Aaron and Clay are my two favourite knights). As I wrote I began to feel the story was best put into two parts. While the two are focused on through the whole story the focus is more prominent to Zane during the first half and Cole in the second. Part one is titled The Land of Ice and Ash while the second is titled The land of Stone and Shadow.
I have seen all the Nexo Knight seasons and Ninjago up to season 16 of the show so it will fit chronologically up till this point. It also takes aspects from Tommy Andersons story "Way of the Departed" since I have read those. Overall it is not heavily reliant on other seasons being focused on the story at hand though there are times when content from other seasons is implemented. Taking hint from what one of Ninjagos creators said, I believe it was Tommy, the knights and ninja are given a pretty hard time in the story but that helps propel the story and make it interesting. They are thrust into a strange world with strange people who have mixed views of them many hating them and beings who wish to destroy them at every turn. Overall I believe it is a fun, entertaining and heart warming story. It might even help you get over any grieving you might be having. It did that for me.
I am a strong visually orientated person so as I went I created many concept arts to help me visualize environments, creatures, layouts and characters in the story. I will include these with the story so you can help visualize things as well. If you wish to take a deeper look at these images you can find them on my Deviantart page: https://www.deviantart.com/nerdy-hyena/gallery/72478681/story-project Feel free to comment on images.
Overall I believe it is a fun, entertaining and heart warming story. It might even help you get over any grieving you might be having. It did that for me.
As in all Elder Scrolls games there is a prophecy that foretells of heroes journey for the ninja their prophecy as foretold by the scrolls is:
"The scrolls foretold of this; His defeat was merely a delay; after the oni would fall the dragons would fail. When their wings are clipped and they have fallen to shadow the border between realms shall weaken and fall and darkness shall come. Realms once light and familiar shall be covered in shadows, shadows that are in plain view yet hidden consuming the world in darkness. There is only one this darkness fears; one of its own. But to gain this darkness and for the realms to be saved knights must fall to ash and shadow and dragons must enter the tower of first light and fall to its darkness in order for realms to see the light."
Before starting the story there is some information about this world the Ninja are going to enter that will help you in understanding this foreign realm. A lot of the things in this world are inspired or based off environment, places, people, mythology, etc from the Elder Scrolls. While some of the creatures are based off ones in the Elder Scrolls series many are inspired by prehistoric creatures.
I also highly recommend you read my short headcanon Anatomy of a Droid as some things used in this story are covered in more depth in there. You can find this story here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/44691181
First off this realm is as large and diverse as Ninjago however the ninja and knights only get to see a small part of it. A region known as the Ash Wastes. This world in ways is a parallel or sister world to Ninjago. Here is a little backstory and world building for the realm they find themselves in:
A Comprehensive guide to the history of the Lost Realm by Teekeus Conurious
As many would know our world is both ancient yet young. Brought into being long before time had a name and shaped by the Dragon-Master, a great being of both Oni and Dragon descent, during the times of myth. Very little is known from this very early time which has often been labelled the Mythic era but by the end of it our world as we know it had come into being. The known events of the Mythic era are the arrival and formation of the Tribunal and the Dragon-break, an unknown but terrible event that caused the breakage to time and space on the lost continent of Ice Reach leading all those who could too flee the continent. The tribunal as many know are Oni and came with many of their kind to try and stop and destroy the Dragon-Master. Upon seeing his world however three of the Oni decided to switch sides and protect this new world and its creator. Three Oni sided with the Master, while their original names have been forgotten we have come to know them by the names they wished us to know them as. Mystara the lady of wisdom and patience who takes the form of an elderly ungulate folk. She is gifted with alchemy and has become associated with tea, meditation and riddles. She is known as a mystic and wise woman and keeps her identity secret from most. Only a select few including members of the Guard and the two sons of the Dragon Master know where she dwells. Sheoth had once been a calm, orderly, knowledgeable and respectful being until his kind caught him. Instead of slaying him for his betrayal of his own kind the Oni decided for a crueller punishment enacting a powerful curse upon him, a curse of insanity. After his curse the Dragon Master gifted him a collection of islands where the mentally unwell or troubled often live in peace and respect. He rules these lands as the lord of madness and takes on the form of a hyena folk. He often caries a staff or cane and came to be represented by butterflies, cheesecake and yarn. The last is known as Astara the one we know as the missing Oni. Depicted as a cat folk she disappeared in mythic times. She is associated with the moon, stars and mysteries. Due to many similar tales many believe the spirit worshipped in areas around the places known as the Blackwood and Ash Wastes known as Whetu might be the same entity. Though they never had horns in their humanoid form the members of the Tribunal are often depicted in artworks with small horns on their forehead to portray their Oni natures.
It is believed during the Mythic era there was much fighting between the Dragon-Master and his allies against the Oni which ultimately led to the creation of the Dragon Guard, people the Dragon-Master gifted elemental powers to aid in protecting him and his realm and the monsters known as Ashers who aligned with the Oni and the darkness of the universe. The Oni and Ashers along with two other entities of Oni make, Dagon and a great powerful spirit of darkness known as the Shadow Lord, appeared in Mythic times. It is also believed that this fighting led to the Dragon-Break on Ice Reach which ended the Mythic era and began the Ancient or Legendary Era. While when most of the Oni left is unknown it is known that both the Shadow Lord and Dagon were banished towards the end of Mythic era; the Shadow Lord in a temple on our lands twin continent the Isle of Shadow and Dagon to the Void the emptiness outside the realms.
Sometime during the very early period of Ancient times came the transformation of the people of this realm though why is poorly understood but it is known that the Dragon Master did the transformation and it was not the result of some dark powers. At one time the people of this realm were like those of other realms but either as a blessing or as a curse we were transformed into the beast-folk of today. Our human forms were given the traits of beasts; our skin became furred, our skulls developed bestial looks including ears of beasts, fangs and in cat and hyena folk a modified molar resembling that of the beasts they portrayed. Our nails became claws or hoof like and we grew tails. We were gifted three main forms portraying the three pivotal roles in nature; the prey, the predator and the scavenger. Despite the differences all members of each race can reproduce with each other and overall the races have been largely peaceful with each other. All people are born the same and only as we grow does our racial allegiance show often around two to three years old. This trait means a family can be made of individuals from any and all of the races. What chooses the race we grow into is still currently unknown but likely has roots deep in the fabric of the universe. Within each of the races a special offshoot was made and while they could mix with the other races only producing with those of their own race could produce a member of their race. This plus other factors including hunting by dark forces has lead to the extinctions of these sub types. Collectively we refer to ourselves as the Betmer or beast folk. The name for each of our races ends with mer which in the ancient tongue means one signifying our unity as one people despite our physical differances.
Ungulate folk who are known as Ungmer represent the prey and have always outnumbered the other races. They are known for high stamina and speed and are believed to have the greatest skill in magic's. A now extinct sub-group of this race the Minomer folk were the largest of races and were known for their great strength, large frame, martial prowess and their skills in crafting weapons and armour. Despite their power and ferocity in battle these folk were peaceful and gentle giants that tended to dwell in temperate to tropical forests, grasslands and highlands. While the original design of the ungulate folk never had any form of horns or antlers it is not uncommon for many of these folks to acquire prosthetic horns and antlers for decorative purposes. These are acquired through either surgical or magical means.
The predator is represented by the cat folk or Felmer who equal in numbers to the scavengers. The cat folk are known for their agility and strength. The sub-group to this race is quite well known primarily due to their great strides in technology and craftsmanship. Scimitar folk or Scymer created various robotics and cybernetics constructs but these are rarely seen outside their ruins. They mainly guard and maintain the ruins of what used to be Scimitar folk cities and dwellings. Scimitar folk often gave their creations complex features such as human like thought processing and even primitive abilities to feel emotions. As a race they held a deep love and respect for all living things and felt that even their metallic creations were equal to other living things. The last Scimitar created their most advanced robotic which he made to be as human like as possible giving it the ability to think and feel like a person. He gave it the form of a hyena folk in honour of Jules the Wise. To the last Scimitar this was his son and he gave it a unique power source that only the Scimitars knew how to use and what it could do. This power source is a rare material but is a very long lasting material and never needs charging. This source along with many other secrets and mysteries were left behind when the race disappeared. They trusted few with their knowledge keeping most of it hidden so it would not fall into the wrong hands. They were found often in mountainous and cooler regions. They were hunted to extinction by dark forces. The Scimitar folk while closely resembling the regular cat folk notably had small sabre fangs and short bobbed tails compared to the regular cat folk.
For the scavenger they were given the traits of the hyena. Hyena folk or Yeenmer are known for the greatest endurance and resistance of all the races and along with this robustness a major immunity to diseases and infections. The sub-group for the hyena folk were the Hunyeenmer. They were more rugged and muscular versions of the enduring regular hyena folk and were some of the greatest fighters of the eras once forming a vast empire in northern regions. What ultimately led to their demise is currently not understood. What is known is that they disappeared around the time known as the Century of Despair at the border between the first and second era a time when great troubles plagued the land after a meteor struck a sensitive volcanic hot spot in the far north throwing many of the planets natural systems into chaos. What became of them is unknown but some have speculated they may have fallen target to dark forces who cursed them to the Cursed Realm. They often dwelled in grasslands and open forests of various climates.
Another group of people that were created, though by whom is unknown, were the reptilian folk. There were once three types lizard, crocodilian and snake but the snake races destroyed the others in Mythic times leaving only them as the only reptilian folk to remain. The serpentine folk are often named the Tseci (ses-ee) by the others. There are many races and in each they can come in several forms from snake like to humanoid.
After the chaos at the beginning of Ancient times also known as the first era the first and major capital to the realm was established. Nirnhold was built atop a Scimitar City and focussed around a massive artificial structure known as the Ivory-Gold Tower which predates the cities construction on a large isle in a large lake on the continent. This tower is the largest artificial structure in our realm and boasts many mysteries. It is still unknown who built the tower even though its design and materials match that of the Minomer folk there is no record of them ever building it. Some suggest the structure was never built but simply exists and has always existed as a part of the realm as some sort of focal point though for what is still a matter of debate. What is known is this great structure seems to boast mystical properties. For one despite all the centuries it shows almost no wear to its surfaces and many magically gifted claim strong energies are emitted from the tower possibly from deep within the planet. While this has never been proven those that believe in it claim these energies are from the creation of the realm itself and some believe it has the potential to shape the environment around it to suit those who hold possession of the tower. While this has yet to be proven some backing for this theory can be seen throughout history and could explain several strange climactic shifts to the region through the ages which all seem to coincide with the reigning of various entities who have ruled the city. For example during a period of a few hundred years of the first era ruling by Scimitar folk saw the region with a colder climate while during a time in the early second era when the Tseci concurred the city for around a century the region became more tropical. Currently the region is a warm temperate environment better suiting the common folk. What is known of the tower is that dark forces are often drawn to this tower and one could see why. With its height and strength it makes for a great seat of power.
Battles between the Dragon Master and his aids against the Oni and their monsters persisted into the first era and are thought to have sparked the Dragon Masters desire to lock up powerful and dangerous items away from dark hands in order to try and protect his world.
During the early ancient times an early emperor of the Scimitar folk Lord Nerevar led a large attack force against the Ashers and Oni which had taken up residence in the isles largest volcano the Red Tower. This force included a great mixing of beings even those from outside the realm however despite its size and strength this army failed leaving a sole survivor who shortly perished after the event from the Blight, the first recorded case of it. Not long after this battle at the Red Mountain for reasons still not understood any Oni remaining in the realm left with the exception of the those that made up the Tribunal. Around this same time Astara disappears and while there are reports later in time of those being able to commune with her she is never seen in physical form since.
Sometime before they left the Oni created the disease Porphyric Hemophilia. The original infectents were not willing subjects. Through dark powers they were cursed with an un-dead blood hungering state and sent out to destroy the living of the realm. Luckily with help from Mystara a cure was able to be found thwarting the Oni's plans and keeping this curse at bay.
Sometime during the first era many tribes in mountainous and boreal regions began to worship an entity whose origins are rather unknown which they refer to as Storabek or the huntsman. Following his worship came the creation of man-beasts, half human half beast entities. While those in these tribes often viewed it as a blessing making them great hunters and offering great advantages in combat, defence and survival in these harsh lands most saw it as a curse and a mocking to the Dragon Masters transformation of the people leading to the condition to be hated and feared. Again Mystara was able to find a cure for those seeking one especially for those not willing to negotiate with the temperamental and unpredictable Storabek.
The first era ended with what has been termed the Century of Despair. An around 100 year period of environmental cataclysms which sparked mass crop failures, a period of below average temperatures and sparked the spread of the devastating Nahatun Flu. It all began when a large, what is believed to be city destroying, meteor struck a region in the far northeast of the continent known as the Sulphur Marsh an active and large volcanic hotspot. This led to global temperatures plummeting about 1 to 3 degrees from the debris thrown up by the meteor and later several massive eruptions from the hotspot which had been rocked by the impact. The resulting cooling and haze created by the debris of the dual impact and eruptions caused large spread crop failures, populations of wild life dropped as plants were no longer as efficient at production and caused temperatures cool enough to allow snow to fall near the equator. These harsh conditions then led to the outbreak of the Nahatun Flu. While having been encountered a few times before on isolated islands at sea this was its first and major breach into the main lands. This devastating plague was created by the undersea toad slug people the Sload along with the Sea Serpent folk known as the Slid, an underwater race of snake folk. From their undersea kingdom of Thras they created and unleashed the plague to destroy the land dwelling peoples so they could attack and conquer the land unimpeded. They used this period of devastation to launch their full scale attack. The plague decimated the surface world both people, snake folk and many beasts alike before the Dragon Master and the Tribunal found a cure for the condition. During the outbreak the Thrassian denizens began conquering many of the coastal and flood plains regions enslaving those that survived the plague and laying waste to their settlements. With the cure being dispersed the Dragon Master and his Dragon Guard set forth and reclaimed the lands rescuing the people and sending the Dreg and Slid back to the sea. It was around this time that the Minomer and Hunyeenmer folk were heavily hit by the catastrophes and flu leading to them to becoming severely decimated. While Minomer folk managed to cling on until the end of the second era the Hunyeenmer folk disappeared shortly after this believing to have gone extinct.
As the realm recovered from the Thrassian attack a collection of kingdoms around the Blackwood Labyrinth, a dangerous untamed forest few have ever escaped from, came together to form the Great houses, kingdoms in sort to protect the realm from the horrors of the Ashers from the nearby Red Tower and protect the realm from the dangers of the forest and keep adventurers from venturing into the labyrinth. After years of fending off the dangers with limited help from the Dragon Guard who often battled greater threats throughout the realm they became quite skilled at fighting back the hazards of these places. Five houses were formed each with its own territories sectioning off these dangerous lands. Within each house a royal family was appointed as the rulers and would bow only to the emperor of our world. Along with a royal family each house maintained an army of skilled knights who would combat the dark forces and keep the lands safe and secure. The royal families of each house generally remained the same race throughout their rule. For example House Jadeoran which held the dreaded Red Mountain in its borders were always of the Hyena folk while their neighbour to the west House Prong are of the ungulate folk. The houses and their knights worked for some time but by the end of the second era corruption believed to be from the prolonged exposure to the cursed lands they protected everyone from led to major fighting between the houses as each sought to acquire more land and greater power amongst each other. Fearing the chaos they could ensue the emperor of the time sought aid from the Dragon Guard and the Dragon Master to end the fighting and bring peace. After some time of fighting with them the Dragon Master was able to break the corruption and bring peace to the houses. What the corruption was is unclear but some speculate Ashers used energies from the rifts to the First Realm, the Void and the Underworld which they had created in their main stronghold by the volcano to poison the waters of the regions to corrupt them. The war of Kingdoms as it came to be known marks the end of the second era and the beginning of the current third era.
Also during the second era the order of the Ancestor Priests came into being. Monks trained in a sacred art to read the pieces of creation known as Ancestor Scrolls for prophecies. A guild of those gifted in magic known as the Psijic Order was also formed around this time to try and keep magic from being used for dark purposes. While the Ancestor Priests persist to this day the Psijics disappeared sometime before the start of the reptilian wars in the third era.
While things between the houses were restored at the beginning of the third era the damages from the corruption had been done. Three of the houses had become weak and eventually fell to what exactly is still debated but is speculated to be linked to a set of turmoil's between the people and serpent folk that were occurring at the time. The Dragon Master managed to broker a peace between the people and Tseci to prevent any serious conflicts. House Prong remained the Strongest followed by Jadeoran and the primarily Scimitar folk house Dumac which occupied the mountains bordering the east of the region.
Sometime during the mid stage of the third era the Dragon Master had two sons and a time of relative peace was attained. Sometime during his youth the Dragon Masters one son had been caught by Ashers before being rescued by his father. While not evident at first the Ashers had corrupted him though it took years, not till after the Reptilian wars, for the full effect of this to be seen. What had been done could not be undone.
Not long after his sons were grown the Dragon Master passed. After his passing the Tseci took advantage of his departure to the departed realm to attack the people and begin the reptilian wars leading the Dragon Masters two sons, the Dragon Guard and the remaining knights along with many warriors and mages to fight back to try and end the serpent folks attempts at conquest. Due to their many natural skills, immunities and powers the army of the people were unable to push the serpent folk back and were steadily losing ground during the battles. During the early days of this war the Red Tower blew and before long began to create the Ash Wastes. During the height of the reptilian wars the serpent folk aided by the Ashers began turning the Dragon Guard against each other and attempted to hunt down some of its members using the monstrous reptilian Fear to hunt down and destroy members of the allied forces. During this time Jules the wise, a tinkerer and great thinker from the hyena folk who had come to live with the Scimitar folk after they saved him created the Fear-bricant to combat the serpent folks monsters and along with the aid of the Scimitars robotic creations were able to start holding back some of the Tseci's forces. It is believed seeing the allies renewed forces and strength combined with the years of tyranny under the serpent folks rule inspired the enslaved people to begin leading rebellions against the serpent folk. These people aided the allies and together formed the Dragons Blood pact. With this disruption allied forces were able to start pushing the serpent folk back and reclaim conquered territories. Eventually the Serpent folk were pushed to the brink and with the aid of special magical flutes were conquered. While the serpent folk begged for mercy as for the terms created from the Dragons Blood pact they were to be given none. The Tcesi leaders and generals were executed and any of their people who were caught were to be banished beneath the surface locked away in tombs. While many were locked away in these tombs some of the serpent folk were able to escape and flee to the Shadow Isles to escape punishment.
Even though a sort of peace was made the damages from the reptilian wars had been done. The Scimitar folk were headed for extinction with few remaining largely in isolated pockets. Only House Prong remained strong and though house Jadeoran still clung on with the growing of the Ash Wastes and an increase of Asher presence led to great weakening of the house. In fighting left over from the events of the reptilian wars and a growing dislike for the Dragon Guard due to events during and after the wars along with a sudden desire by dark forces to hunt them down saw most members go into hiding or to disappear. Sometime after the chaos subsided the corrupted son of the Dragon Master seemed to have disappeared however in truth he had been banished by his brother to the Shadow Isles to keep him from causing trouble. Even though the Guard was gone, most Knights of the houses had disbanded and only one son of the Dragon Master remained there was a time of relative peace.
During the reptilian wars House Jaderoan and the emperor had organized the creation and built the Ghost Fence to combat the spreading ash of the ever active Red Tower and the sudden increase to Asher activities. This fence was completed around the time of the end to the reptilian wars and stands to this day. While it has managed to hold back much of the ash and the monsters from the tower it has not stopped the spread of the Blight curse which has slowly been increasing in prevalence world wide since this time.
Sometime after the corrupted sons banishment a strange cult like organisation arose and tricked the corrupted sons' only and young son into releasing the serpent folk from their underground tombs. Seeking revenge for the wrongs done to them the Tseci began an uprising against the people aided by forces that came from the Shadow Isles. The cultists who started this were known as the Order of the Shadowscale. They were an organization of serpent folk from the Shadow Isle who had returned to seek vengeance for the wrongs done to their people and to set them free.
With a new threat arising the remaining son of the Dragon Master was forced into reforming the Dragon Guard to combat the threat. A task easier said than done as most of the dragons had become well hidden or perished over the years since the war. As an example since the last Dragon of Ice had been a member of the now extinct Scimitar Folk it was a mystery if this Dragon had been lost. Luckily it seems fate would have it that the last creation of the Scimitar folk the first hyenoid had been gifted this mantle to take over. The newly formed Dragon Guard was small in numbers. Only the Dragons of Earth, Lightening, Ice, Fire, Water and the corrupted sons son the Dragon of Energy could be found at the time and are the only ones still to be full members. Luckily despite their small numbers and youth they were able to combat the new uprising and quell it brokering a peace between the people and Tseci however the uprising took its toll on the ancient houses. Faced by both the serpent folk and Ashers house Jadeoran was demolished and all but the self ostracized princess of the royal family were destroyed. This left only House Prong and its small force of only five recently graduated full time knights to combat the monsters of the wastes and labyrinth keeping them from wreaking havoc to the rest of the realm.
Since it had been the corrupted son who had sent the serpent folk to our lands to start the war the Dragon Guard headed to the Isle of Shadow to quell the forces of darkness which had been growing over the eras on the isle. The corrupted son had come under the rule of the Shadow Lord who used him and the serpent folk to free him from his banishment in the tomb known as the Shadow Gate where he planned to overtake the rest of the world from. Once freed of banishment he escaped the Isle of Shadows and made his way with his ancient stone warrior army to the White-Ivory tower where he used the tower and its place as a center of power to begin his corruption of the realm. It is interesting to note that during this time a handful of Ashers were noted in and near the capital of Nirnhold, something that had not been seen since the Mythic era. The Dragon Guard managed to defeat him and in doing so also broke the corruption the Ashers had put on the corrupted son.
After a short time since they had not fully destroyed the Shadow Lords spirit he returned through the technologies of the capital city and the Scimitar ruins beneath. He unleashed the constructs dwelling in the ruins of the Scimitar city below the present city on the surface world before creating his army of corrupted hyenoids from stolen plans of the first hyenoid from the Dragon Guard. It is interesting to note that again the Ashers were noted within city boundaries at this time leading many to speculate they were allied and aiding the Shadow Lord. The Shadow Lord was this time fully destroyed. It is speculated it took the destruction of the Dragon of Ice to do this. While he does appear to have a more advanced appearing body and he did appear missing for a short time afterwards since he is still here today it is unsure exactly what occurred at this time.
Since the Shadow Lords destruction there has been relative peace as any threat that arises the new Dragon Guard and the Knights of the Prong have been able to combat sadly however it has often taken a notable toll on the groups. The corrupted son of the Dragon Master had to sacrifice himself to prevent an uprising of dark forces, the leader for the Knights of the Prong was cursed by an Asher attack into living stone till they found the cure from the ancient court wizard of House Prong, the Dragon of Earth was cursed for a short time into a spectral state and the Archer for the knights was severely wounded while the knights led an attack to remove Ashers from a stronghold near a town. The archer was saved by fusing his body with cybernetics with help from the Dragon Guard and the attack sparked the Guard and Knights to work together to remove and destroy the Ashers and their stronghold. Both the Guard and Knights have noted a strange increase in activity from Ashers leading to some concerns however since they have been frequently more occupied on more serious threats they have not looked too deep into it. They have admitted to having concerns over these sudden increases to activity with worry over what it could mean but at present have few plans into any actions against them. As time goes on we can only hope our handful of protectors are a match for any threats that should arise or we may be in for some serious tough times ahead.
Before you start here is a little something special I made while working on this, it really helped with working out how the knights and ninja would react to the environments of my story which take inspiration from environments and aspects in the Elder Scrolls.
To learn more about the images you can visit their pages on deviantart to learn more on how I workd them out. Just copy and past the address followed into your browser and it will take you there: (all of my art for the story can be found there along with a bunch of other stuff) https://www.deviantart.com/nerdy-hyena/art/Ninja-In-The-Elderscrolls-865971123
And here is one for the Nexo Knights in the Elder Scrolls: https://www.deviantart.com/nerdy-hyena/art/Nexo-Knights-In-The-Elderscrolls-893056108
If you wish to read this story in a different format or on another site it is also posted here: https://www.wattpad.com/story/274118196-ninjago-the-oni-scrolls and here: https://robobirdie.tumblr.com/archive.
This is the Cover art I made for this story, it took me three and a half full days work to complete this, I based its concept on the promotional wallpaper of ESO’s Morrowind. A little background on what is going on in the picture: the ninja find themselves in this foreign realm which is known as the Lost Realms in a place known as the Ash Wastes and are facing off against a band of Ashers beings aligned with Dagon one of the two main antagonists who are led by an Asher sorcerer the most feared of these beings who is summoning Ash Spawn, vestiges of ash that take on living form as soldiers for the Ashers, in order to eliminate the ninja. Meanwhile unknown to most of them the Stag a daemon from these foreign lands and the other main antagonist along with his forces are creeping in from behind. Jay is the only one to notice and terrified is trying to alert Nya while Zane is starting to feel the Stag possessing him as the Stag often takes over and controls non human entities as its puppets. Cole is taking note that something is wrong with Zane while Lloyd and Kai are preparing to defend against the Ashers unaware of the dangers behind them or what is happening with the others too busy trying to defend from the first threat.
This is the image I based it on if you don't know which promotional ESO image I was talking about:
My departed pals Keiko and R2:
Update:
After finishing the original story A prequel and sequel came to me and I will be posting them here too and will update a few things in the main once the prequel is done to boost continuity.
Notes:
If have any questions go ahead and ask I do not bite. I will try to answer them, I will however not give away spoilers.
Chapter 2: Special pre-story short Anatomy of a Droid
Summary:
As some concepts and ideas used in this story are covered in more depth in this short headcannon I wrote so it kind of ties into this story I decided to add it here for some convenience. The original post which includes a bonus script style version of the story can be found here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/44691181
Notes:
Pictures relating to story can be found here: https://www.deviantart.com/nerdy-hyena/gallery/72478681/story-project
They are really good and help to visually flush out several aspects of the story including environments, characters, outfits, locations, creatures and other aspects often important ones in the story. All images I post in my work can be found there if you want a better look at them. Defiantly make sure to check them out.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
The ninja had been up all morning just hanging out in the entertainment room. It was a little past noon and none of them had seen Zane all morning. That wasn’t usual. He wasn’t usually a late sleeper. Cole and Jay were the usual late sleepers in the household and they were already up. Jay had gone to see if Zane was still sleeping, he wanted to challenge him to a few rounds in a video game. Zane wasn’t there.
“You know thinking of it I haven’t seen Pixal all day either,” Nya noted when Jay returned and told them. Not looking away from his game with Cole and Lloyd Kai stated, “the two love birds probably went out for some time together on their own, just let them have their time with each other.” Jay took their advice and sat down to join in the video game.
“What do those two do together when they’re on their own?” Kai wondered and Lloyd commented, “I don’t know droid things I guess.”
“And what would droid things be?” Kai wondered and Lloyd proposed, “I’m not really sure. Going over the latest software updates or potential new upgrades maybe?”
“Yha that kind of sounds right,” Kai commented and Cole countered, “that’s not it they just like to hang out together just chilling sometimes playing video games, watching TV, reading or going for walks in the wilderness or gardening; sometimes visiting a museum, botanical garden or Zoo. They especially like aviaries, apparently birds really like seeing them too. They also like to volunteer at animal shelters and wild life rehabs. Sometimes they also just like resting together. They just like to be with each other and don’t need to be doing anything fancy or special; sometimes being in the same room with each other as they do their own thing is all they need.”
“Why would you think that? That’s not really something I’d think of for droids; I’d think of them doing more tech things,” Kai commented and Cole commented, “cause I asked them. If you just asked them it wouldn’t be such a mystery to you two.”
“Just because they’re droids doesn’t mean they do things much differently from us. Sure something’s are different and their thinking’s are quite different but they aren’t too different from us. They like to do the same things and enjoy some of the same things as us. Nindroids are special and are more like us than some mere robot,” Nya explained and Jay added, “yha just because they’re droids doesn’t mean they have to do droid or tech things. The two are a lot more down to earth than their artificial makes suggest. Maybe if you two learned more about the nature of Nindroids a lot about Zane and Pixal wouldn’t seem so mysterious to you. You should take some time to read that book me and Nya made for the rest of you; it explains a lot. Or you could always help us out once in a while when we’re working on them. Cole has done both.” Cole added, “yha, I wanted to know why some of my cooking had real bad effects on them now I know… I also know more than I felt like knowing. I guess though it’s worth it to make sure they’re safe and properly cared for.”
“I guess you’re kind of right even if it sounds rather gross to learn about it… hey does anyone else find it a little creepy how the two can talk with each other without well talking sometimes?” Lloyd commented and Nya noted, “it’s part of being a droid. They can communicate directly into each other’s brains whenever they want to kind of like a form of direct messaging with your phone. I will agree it can be a little creepy yha. They try not to do it around us cause they know it can unsettle us but they sometimes can’t help it. It’s just part of their nature to communicate that way.”
“Yha it’s creepy when they do that especially when you walk in on them and their just looking at each other or it looks like they are meditating with their eyes closed but they’re reacting like they’re talking yet it doesn’t look like they are… how do we know they’re not saying bad things about us to each other behind our backs?” Jay commented and Cole noted, “like the rest of us don’t?” Kai and Lloyd gave a quite chuckle about the comment while Jay was annoyed. They hung out for a while before Nya got a call from Pixal.
“Hey Pix we were just wondering about you and Zane… oh okay we’ll be rate there,” Nya stated as she talked on the phone before hanging up.
“So what are the two lovebirds up to?” Cole wondered and Nya stated a bit confused, “not sure. Pixal wants to see us in the hanger bay and to bring our weapons; said it was urgent. She sounded nervous.” Curious over what was going on they wasted no time in venturing down to the hanger bay. Wu and Pixal were there with Zane lying on a table by the computers. Zane was hooked up to the computers, his shirt was removed, and a panel in his chest was open. He was wearing just a pair of worn and substance, including oil, stained socks and pants which they usually put him or Pixal in when they performed major work or maintenance on them to help keep their normal attire clean from the substances in their bodies or that were worked on for them and keep their attire from getting damaged by the work done on them.
“Had a bit of an accident did we?” Kai teased as they approached and Pixal explained, “no it is something worse. I noticed Zane was sleeping in later than usual so I went to check on him. I was unable to wake him and I could sense something was wrong. After a quick analysis I found several major damages to various systems. It made no sense how he had received them till when I was repairing the damages I found one of these.” Pixal had found Zane lying curled up on his one side looking to be asleep yet in serious pain. When she attempted to connect her communication circuits to his she found him in a strange state not fully awake but also not fully asleep. There were many damages in his body that had been made solely to cause pain. She had wasted no time bringing him to the hanger bay and starting to work on him putting him offline and shutting down systems so he wouldn’t feel any pain. While explaining to the others Pixal picked off the small table that was next to the one she had Zane laid on that held the equipment she was repairing him with, various tools chemicals and materials, a strange small no bigger than a large cricket worm looking thing. It was made of a strange translucent pale sickly looking yellowish colored skin that barely let visible the mechanical inner workings of the creature. The skin covered all of the components except a sensor and the mouthparts which were a set of sharp short and blunt plier looking structures on the head. The worm had a tear in its side with its broken inner makes spilling out a bit.
“What is that?” Lloyd wondered and Pixal explained, “it is some form of robotic worm solely designed to destroy a droid from the inside by slowly and painfully tearing it apart.”
“I guess not even droids are immune to parasites,” Kai commented and Pixal noted, “parasites generally do not want to kill their host and often do give benefits to their host such as helping regulate various systems such as immune stability after all if their host dies they die. These are worse than parasites. Their sole purpose is to destroy the host by any means at any cost. I found that one trying to cut into his spine and destroyed it.”
“Where’d this thing come from?” Nya wondered picking up the robotic worm to get a better look at it.
“I do not know. I have to do more investigations into it but I can deduce this thing is responsible for some of the damages done,” Pixal explained and Cole noted, “some? What do you mean by some?”
“The damages were so numerous and severe it seemed odd such a little thing could cause such damage on its own so I did a scan and picked up four other signatures matching this worm meaning there are four more inside him. Since I started making repairs they are hiding in places that are not easy to reach to prevent from being harmed and they are giving off signals to try and prevent being found. I can find the general location they are hiding but not the precise location. If I was to try and get them they likely would move off to another location to avoid capture meaning I would have to remove everything in order to reach all of them,” Pixal explained and Cole hypothesized, “I’m guessing that’s very bad.”
“Indeed. Not only will it take a long time but could cause damages and has a high chance of potentially proving fatal,” Pixal explained. None of them liked the sounds of that.
“So then what do we do?” Jay wondered and Wu explained holding up a spell book he had found in the monasteries library, “we have already thought it out and we are not hopeless here. There is one thing we can try that will hopefully work. I found a spell that can shrink you to a size decent enough to enter his body and deal with these worms on their own field.” They were all unsure of this idea. They wanted to help and save their brother but some of them were uncomfortable with this idea and some worried it was dangerous.
“It should be fairly safe. It is not as if he will be active and moving around so you will not get hurt plus I have temporary shut down all systems so if you end up in them you will not get harmed at least not much. I have also quickly whipped up some masks with air tanks so you will be able to breathe as there will not be sufficient oxygen in most parts inside his body for you to get enough to breathe effectively for an alert and active state. They will also protect your face from any of the potentially dangerous substances in his body and provide sufficient light to help you see while in there,” Pixal added. Despite some nagging unease they decided to do it. Pixal got the attire for them that they would need. This included the masks she promised which looked like re-breathers which were hooked up to oxygen tanks plus had a light that was built into the forehead as there would be little to no light for them to see inside Zanes body without it. They put on the attire and awaited the spell.
“The workings of Zanes own body will interfere with the signals for communicators but I can work around this by routing their signal through Zanes systems so we can still keep in contact,” Pixal explained as the ninja lined up and waited for Wu to use the spell on them. It took only a few seconds and after being blinded by a bright light they found themselves shrunk to no bigger than a carpenter ant. Nya wasn’t too bothered and eager to get to the task, Cole was confused and feeling awkward with his small size but wasn’t bothered much either and ready to get started. Lloyd was eager to get to the task but uncomfortable with where they were going to have to go while Jay and Kai were unsettled and nervous of what they were about to do even though Kai was trying to pretend it wasn’t bothering them. Pixal gently picked them up and carried them over to place them gently in Zanes chest on the holder for his power source, his heart.
“Okay where is the first place we should check?” Lloyd wondered as they stood there he, Nya and Cole getting focussed and ready to head off looking around for any of these worms. Jay and Kai were looking around nervous and feeling a bit uncomfortable with being inside Zanes body. Pixal directed them to his left shoulder area. Some damages were starting to appear in the area where she could confirm one was located. Turning on the lights in their mask they quickly and cautiously made their way to the area navigating into and through Zanes body. Without fully functioning his body was cooler than it was supposed to be but it was still pretty warm so they weren’t too uncomfortable inside him at least from temperature. The ninja made their way through the small gap having to crouch a bit nearly crawling to fit between his skin and strange dark greenish colored structures that resembled muscles to reach his shoulder area. His skin was made of various metal plates fused into a more flexible synthetic skin like material to allow better movement and flexibility. The metal plates were like scales providing not only form but protection for the interior of his body. His synthetic skin bore structures that were hybrids of normal wires with a metallic synthetic material which acted like nerves running all through it. These structures operated to not only allowing him to get a sense of feeling and touch but to feel if pressures applied to areas could harm or damage makes under his skin. What resembled muscles were synthetic fibres that were just that a synthetic replica that acted and looked like muscles. These sat beneath the skin in most places with some sections like the area over his heart not having them over the area instead they were worked around the area. This was done so if major components needed to be worked on it was easier to access them. These muscle structures also ran through various internal parts of his body. All of the synthetic muscle like structures connected to his internal skeleton through special rectangular connectors. These muscle structures not only helped give his body form but helped moved his internal skeleton and therefore his body. They helped take pressure off his joints so they could move better, received less stress from movement and provided extra strength for his body both in support and physical strength. These also helped protect the more important internal structures and systems from damage particularly from impacts. They like his skin had the same wire like structures fused into them which helped transfer the communications for movement from his brain into the fibres and provide feeling for them to help prevent stressing them out. These wire structures were connected to wires that ran through small hollows in his titanium internal skeleton which largely replicated a human skeleton; there were some differences such as frames around ports for things like storage or hiding of often small foreign items and for connectors from devices and computers to be hooked up through in his chest and abdomen and the holder that held his heart in place and protected it. The wires in the bones then connected to his primary neural network which was housed and protected in his spine along with his brain. This method of wiring helped keep many vital wires protected from damage especially from other parts of his body that could accidently pinch or cut them from their normal functioning’s and movement.
As Pixal had stated most of his systems had been shut down so were not making noise but it wasn’t quiet in his body. To indicate its healthy alive state Zanes power source not only gave off a quite low hum but a slightly electric toned sound that mimicked a normal hearts beats. Outside his body the sound along with the many other sounds his body made when active and functioning normally generally couldn’t be heard unless you pressed your ear against his body near the sounds source. His synthetic muscles and skin helped dampen the sounds to keep his functioning quiet both for his hearing and others. The sound from his heart had Jay and Kai unsettled. The others found it a bit unnerving but were pleased to hear it. The sound meant he was still alive and that his heart was okay. Zane’s power source was unique; none of them had a clue what exactly it was though in their investigations of it Jay and Nya found several very rare materials it could be but they weren’t sure which it best matched with. All they knew was outside Zane, Pixal who shared half the material from Zanes heart and a few other droids they had come across through their travels were the only ones to have and use this substance and Zanes father had never told them what it was or how he came to get it. They were guessing he wanted to keep the source secret and they felt that was probably a good thing. Whatever it was this material was very powerful able to not only give life to those of artificial make functioning like a battery for the energy that gave them life but had the potential to give great power under the right circumstances. When used as the power source for a droid it could give a long lifespan as long of course if it was taken care of properly such as not letting energy outputs get too low which was why Zane and others who shared his style of power source had a specially designed digestive system which could convert matter into an energy format their hearts could use and store. While this power source didn’t have the dangers of highly corrosive acid like a typical battery it had the great risk of exploding if overworked or overloaded by something like Jays powers. Because of this and not wanting to get electrocuted as well as Zanes body was very conductive they all agreed that Jay should refrain from using his powers while they were inside Zane. They didn’t want to do anything that could hurt his power source; while not entirely sure both Nya and Jay who understood Zanes anatomy best as they frequently worked on him and Pixal in order to keep them healthy were pretty sure if his power source stopped working for whatever reason it would not start again and without it they would lose Zane. They defiantly didn’t want that.
When they got to the area of his left shoulder they could see some of the damages Pixal talked about but none of them could see one of these worms. The synthetic muscle that attached from the replica collarbone to a prong on the replica of an upper arm bone to help pull his arm up had been de-attached from the upper arm. They inspected the site.
“This doesn’t look too badly damaged. Some minor cuts to the synthetic fibres but some synthetic re-grow should fix it,” Nya noted and Kai wondered, “is that what that weird sickly yellow green liquid stuff I’ve seen you and Jay use while working on him is?”
“Yha, you should always use gloves when working with it cause if you get it on your skin it really burns; it makes synthetics re-grow while it de-grows organics,” Jay noted and Cole commented, “yha I can attest to that. I mistook it for peroxide once and boy was that a mistake. Made the cut worse and gave me blood poisoning. That was an unpleasant week. To be fare it was in the same bottle as the peroxide… I guess I should have read the label though before using it.”
“And that’s why we now keep the first aid equipment for Zane and Pixal in separate different looking containers and we don’t keep them in the bathroom with our first aid supplies,” Nya commented before Lloyd wondered, “what does that stuff do exactly?”
“Basically it makes synthetics re-grow and repair themselves. Unlike our fleshy makes the materials that make up Zane and Pixals make generally cannot repair themselves without an external aid. Only components of their digestive tracts can do that but that’s because those parts are made from tougher more complex self repairing synthetics unlike everything else which lack that ability. That’s where that stuff comes in. It’s a bit dangerous to work with and takes a few hours to complete its work but is much cheaper, just as efficient and I’m pretty sure Pixal and Zane prefer that method over other methods especially just removing and replacing parts. Unless something gets too badly damaged we use that method to fix things for them,” Nya explained and Cole commented while they continued to inspect the site, “yha I’m probably with them. I don’t know about you but it probably isn’t a nice feeling to just have a part of your body removed and thrown away if some things wrong with it. Like that was a part of you, part of your being and it just gets thrown away like some piece of trash. Sure it was damaged but it was still part of you part of what made you well you. Having that done probably would make you feel disposable; like your being means nothing like your life is almost meaningless and fake if someone does that. I know that’s how I would feel having something like that done.” They all looked at Cole a little taken back by his rather morbid comment.
“Yha I could see how that would really bother them; that’s not something pleasant to think about,” Kai agreed and Jay stated, “by the looks the only damage done here is to the fibres. Everything else is fine.”
“Any sign of one of these worms?” Lloyd wondered and Nya commented, “no. It’s not here now but it couldn’t have gone far. Since these muscle structures pass through the framework his arm attaches too in order to connect his arm to his body and they’ve clearly been pulled out to allow access to his arm I think it might have made its way into his arm.” Lloyd then decided looking at the space the muscle usually went through in the frame around the shoulder joint to connect to Zanes arm, “so I’m guessing then we’re going to have to make our way into his arm; looks like we’re just the right size to get through.”
“You know it always kind of confused and unsettled me that he could remove his limbs; why can he remove his limbs?” Kai wondered and Nya explained, “while it can prove useful if his limb gets caught or trapped it’s actually supposed to be in case the limb gets too badly damaged so it can be removed and replaced with little complication for the rest of his body.” Just as she finished speaking Cole who was behind the rest of them found himself suddenly body slammed by the worm they were looking for into the underside of Zanes skin which was much more rigid and solid than flesh skin so barely moved from the impact which stunned and winded Cole. As the worm pulled back Cole dropped onto the synthetic muscle trying to catch his breath and recover while the worm went after the others.
“Did this thing make a trap?” Kai exclaimed as they prepped themselves for combat. The worm came at them trying to grab them with the plier structures that made a sort of mouth. They all knew if it got them with those it would crush them so they were being very careful not to let this thing get close to grabbing them.
“Well this thing is a machine not an actual worm so that is a possibility,” Jay commented dodging as it went to pinch him. Kai hit it with a blast of fire to distract it and see if his fire could damage the synthetic coating over its inner mechanics so they could more easily get to the interior workings to damage them. He was surprised to find the large blast he went to use came out as a pathetic small fireball. It caught the worms attention but did no damage.
“That was not what I was trying to do, that was pathetic! Why are my powers so weak!” Kai exclaimed before dodging as the worm went to pinch him. They didn’t have much space to move about not even able to fully stand between Zanes skin and inner workings making it hard for them to fight the machine which was bigger than them giving them even less space to manoeuvre. Being bigger than them it was much stronger and with its tubular worm design was very agile and flexible. As it simply wiggled about it was knocking them back and off balance as they struggled to work around it in the little space they had.
“It is likely because of our small size,” Nya noted as the worm managed to knock Lloyd onto his back. It went to pinch him but Cole after having regained his breath and senses managed to save him by shoving the head of his warhammer between the pinchers preventing it from closing them on him. It struggled to remove Coles warhammer from its pinchers while Cole was trying to keep his weapon wedged in the pinchers along with trying to break one of the pinchers arms off to keep it from being able to use the apparatus to crush them. Lloyd got up and went to stab his sword into what he was hoping was the machines brain to stop it but it knocked him aside before managing to unbalance and knock aside Cole. It dropped his warhammer then surprised them by jutting out a short dagger like blade from its head the blade coming out from below the base of the pinchers in its head. It then proceeded to try and stab at Cole and Lloyd with the blade while they dodged its attacks. In the process the worm left some more damage to Zanes synthetic muscle fibres.
“Careful we don’t want to cause more damage to Zane,” Nya proclaimed and Lloyd chastised back dodging the blade, “try to not cause Zane more damage, I’m trying to not get damaged!” Nya quickly rushed in to shove her trident into the machines blade getting it caught on her weapon and letting her hold its head back a bit to pin it against the underside of Zanes skin to hold it still. Cole came to help her using his warhammer to help pin its head while Kai wasted no time in rushing in to stab it in what he was believing to be its power source a reddish glowing spot on the underside of its body a few segments in its metal interior skeleton behind its head which also bore a glowing spot which they assumed was where its brain and sensory systems were. It took some effort and Jay had to lend some strength to get the sword as deep as possible into the machines body; with their small size this machine was harder to cut into than if they were a normal size. Once they got the sword stabbed as deep as possible the worm stopped and the glows in its body vanished. They took a moment to relax startled with this machine which was a lot tougher especially for their shrunken size than they expected.
“This is going to be tougher than we first thought!” Lloyd expressed and Jay was quick to comment, “that thing was scarier than I thought it would be!”
“Well we at least got it destroyed. That leaves only three more to go,” Nya noted as they relaxed and got ready to head off and get one of these other worms. After a moment to settle some of them mainly Kai and Lloyd yet strangely not Jay were still rather unsettled but not bothered and eager to get going to save her friend Nya contacted Pixal to state, “the one in his shoulder has been dealt with. There is some damages to the muscle and it will need to be reattached but it doesn’t look to bad. What’s the next one we should go after?”
“I am picking up one in his chest on the right side close to his right lung,” Pixal advised them through the communicators before stating, “don’t worry about damages I will remove the worms and repair damages once you have taken the worms out.” They then made their way cautiously towards the right side of his chest keeping an eye out for the rest of these worms. Now that they knew what they looked like in there they knew what to look for. When they got to the area they found one of the synthetic muscles had been disconnected and moved back so something could move deeper into his body slipping between two ribs to reach deeper.
“Think it has gone deeper or could this be a trap?” Kai wondered and after some inspection Nya stated, “looks like it has gone deeper. We’re going to have to follow to get it.” Some of them were not happy with that thought.
“Are you sure?” Kai insisted; he was finding it very uncomfortable just being under Zanes skin he was pretty sure he didn’t want to see deeper in his anatomy. He was fine not knowing about what was in Zanes body and hoped to not see much of it. He didn’t need to see or know about all the gross things that were in or happened in his pal. He wasn’t the only one. Lloyd was unnerved too but trying to keep focussed on the task at hand.
“We’re pretty sure, hopefully it hasn’t gone too deep, there are places in him I defiantly don’t want to end up in,” Jay commented before he and Nya didn’t hesitate to follow the trail deeper into Zanes body. Cole didn’t hesitate to follow leaving Lloyd and Kai as the last to follow both a bit hesitant to go deeper into Zanes body. The worm had pushed things aside making a path leading deeper into his body. Behind his internal skeleton were some wires connecting to various synthetic organs and various pieces of machinery for things like minor processors for organs and organ like structures to store materials used in and by his synthetic organs that they had to carefully navigate through and around not wanting to disrupt or damage anything. Along with the wires there were various transparent tube like structures which held a light bluish liquid in them that stretched through several places and moved out towards limbs and other parts of Zanes body almost like veins.
“Uhm what is this stuff?” Kai wondered poking one of the tubes grossed out a bit and Cole commented, “it kind of looks like that stuff you see in ice packs.”
“It’s kind of like that stuff. It’s his cooling fluid, it’s what Zane uses to keep his body temperature stable and fairly uniform through his body,” Nya explained and Jay commented, “that stuff is the closest thing Zane has to blood.”
“If it’s supposed to keep him cool then why is it warm?” Kai wondered and Nya explained, “well for one his systems have been shut down for several hours while Pixals been working on him so the fluid has just been sitting warming up absorbing the heat from his body also while we call it cooling fluid it’s actually a thermoregulation fluid. It’s just easier and simpler to call it cooling fluid. It can be both warm and cold. When the fluid comes out of the systems central hub a larger pump like structure which sits in an insulated casing to prevent its workings from affecting the rest of his body near his bodies’ core it usually is fairly cool. There is a small compressor in the structure that cools the temperature of the fluid. The structure then slowly pumps the fluid through the rest of his body where it transfers the cooler temperature out and absorbs the heat from his bodies core where it then transports the heat out to his extremities. This helps cool his body and warm up the less insulated parts of his body that lack major system functions like processors which produce heat. It both helps cool his body and keep his overall temperature stable around the same as our temperatures. Many of the materials in his body both synthetics and mechanical don’t handle extremes in temperature well especially if they rapidly arise. Too much heat and circuits will start to fry, wires will get damaged and synthetics will receive heat damage like burns and even melt damage. He can handle the cold better but still too much cold makes wires brittle, various components become stiff making movement difficult and extreme cold can mess with sensors giving them false readings and numb feelings which can cause him to hurt himself.” Jay then added, “Yha after his stint as the Ice Emperor we had to fix quite a few things that got damaged from the cold that had gripped him in that time. Also a lot of systems including his digestive system had been running super low so were slow so produced little heat to compensate for the cooling; at least the cooling part to his cooling system was shut off the whole time but without the heat normally produced by his body not much heat was being transferred around so it made things worse preventing many areas from receiving heat to combat the overpowered state of his powers. With how slow everything was working he wasn’t using as much energy as usual, he was spending a lot of his time in this strange light sleep state like a cat and with how slow his body was working it was like he had the metabolism of a reptile. Using his synthetic muscles at those temperatures in that state especially for activities like fighting caused tears and damages in them and most of his systems needed some serious maintenance. Some parts kept seizing up because of low use and cold damage. Not all of it was from the cold though quite a bit also came from lack of maintenance. His stint as the Ice Emperor also really messed with a lot of systems. They didn’t fully shut down during that time but were working much slower than they should. The cold that gripped him was pretty intense; his heart was slower and functioning largely only at half its potential, the cold had also caused ice to build up in various fluids through his body even his cooling fluid and stomach acids. Luckily those melted when his body started to warm up so weren’t a problem unlike some of the ice that had built up in some joints and on other components. We had to pull the remaining ice out and dry off parts to avoid shorts and problems. Not to mention we ended up pulling out a lot of weird items out of his digestive tract. That guy Vex who was manipulating him seemed to think he could just be given anything to eat. Luckily because of how the cold was affecting him he was only eating about two to three times a week preventing some of the non editable items he was given from building up and causing problems in his system.”
“So this is how Zane keeps from overheating; I always wondered about that. I know from my laptop when just playing a video game it can get hot even with its fan going full blast and Zanes body obviously does more functioning and is more active than my computer all the time and he’s told me he doesn’t use fans to cool himself so I’ve always been confused by that. I thought it was his powers helping him but then that doesn’t explain how Pixal or other droids do it,” Cole rambled inspecting the tubes being careful not to damage them and Nya explained, “yha fans are not efficient enough to maintain a safe and stable temperature for a droid and are also too noisy for them; it would interfere with their sense of hearing. This method is the much better option. It isn’t perfect though since certain temperatures can still get too much for him and his cooling system can take a great deal of energy especially when it’s really hot to function which is made worse as the processors and other mechanics operating the cooling system also produces heat kind of taking down how effective the system works. If Zane or Pixal can’t efficiently cool themselves they have to shut down systems, I’ve even caught them eating ice and using cool to cold showers in order to help cool themselves. If these don’t help they’ll pass out offline for a while to prevent from serious overheating to prevent damages which can be real dangerous if they’re not in a safe place.”
“Is that why during heat waves like that one a few weeks ago the two were often hanging out in the walk in cool storage room in the basement for a while for several hours every day largely around noon? It was creepy to find the two just hanging in there when you went to get a drink. I guess it’s not as creepy though as finding Zane resting in the fridge,” Kai wondered and Cole replied, “yha, it helped them keep cool during the hottest part of the day and didn’t task them a lot of energy to help keep cool. I asked them about it and yha I’d have to agree it was rather relaxing and it isn’t too cold in there. It’s not full fridge cold but defiantly cool enough to keep drinks and yourself cool despite the heat outside.”
“Yha that’s why and yha it was creepy to find them hanging in there but it was creepier to find you in there too,” Jay commented to Cole who responded, “hey it was hot I went to get a drink and found them in there and when they told me what they were doing I decided to give it a go too. They said it was safe and could help; they weren’t lying.”
“Maybe for you it wasn’t bad but I find it a bit chilly in that room,” Kai commented and Nya noted, “that’s because as the master of fire you handle the heat better than the rest of us. Heats more dangerous for Zane and Pixal than the cold; they can better handle and counter cold temperatures than hot ones though not too cold of temperatures. Zane better handles the cold than Pixal; I think his powers are the reason for that but even then it is not too much better. If they get too cold they can shut down the cooling function of their temperature control system in order to help warm up along with using attire and blankets like us to help trap in body heat and keep warm. While he has a higher tolerance to the cold than the rest of us and with being the master of ice Zane still has limits with it and he can be hurt by too cold of temperatures just like the rest of us.”
“Imagine being able to shut down parts of your body when you don’t need to use them, I’m betting that would be a bit cool,” Cole commented and Jay replied, “yha it sounds cool but it isn’t as cool as it sounds. Some like his cooling system he can shut down with little problem but others take some work to prevent complications like his digestive system. If he wants to shut that system down for more than a day or two he has to fully empty it to prevent anything from rotting inside him and the system has to neutralize and absorb and store the materials and chemicals it uses in the storage structures for them to prevent damages. That can take a day or two to do. Not to mention he can’t leave systems off for too long. They serve purposes often major and necessary ones so it can hurt him if their off for too long plus he might have trouble getting them started again if they have been off for too long, like a year too long. It took quite a bit of work to get the cooling function to his cooling system started back up after it had been off for so long as the Ice Emperor. To prevent problems it’s best we don’t let him have his systems off for more than a few days.”
“That’s gross and more than I needed to know,” Kai expressed and Cole regaled, “yha I’d agree for not letting him go more than a few days with things shut down especially when it revolves around eating. When we were trapped in the first realm because we didn’t have many rations he decided to not have any so there would be more for the rest of us. It was okay for a day but by the second day he started getting short tempered and moody. It got worse on the third day and by the fourth he wasn’t just temperamental but started passing out at random during the day often in not ideal or safe locations. We forced him to eat and by the next day he started getting back to his normal self. We made sure he ate with the rest of us the rest of the time to keep him from getting like that again.”
“Yha that was because he was putting a lot of stress on his power source; he was not only functioning more than usual with the rest of us just to survive but because of how hot it was getting in the day there with hardly anywhere to shelter from the heat he had his cooling system on and functioning a lot higher than usual to try to keep from overheating. It was all taking quite a bit of power and since he wasn’t doing anything to restore the energy being taken from it he was stressing his heart. To prevent being overworked he was passing out when his heart got too stressed. It’s a safety feature I wisely turned on the first day when he decided to go without eating; I knew it was a good idea to do so. Sleeping helps him conserve energy and stabilize the power outputs from his heart along with letting his brain rest so it doesn’t get bogged down or overworked plus he can run things like defrags, system updates, restores and reboots and stuff like that without interfering with normal daily functioning’s when he sleeps sometimes. Sleeping can also help him cool down since he’s not functioning as highly when awake. To stay in peak condition he has to sleep for a couple hours a day like we do. Having low energy and trying to function at such high levels during that time in the first realm was making it like he was hangry and tired angry, tire-gry, at the same time making him incredibly moody. I don’t think many of his systems including his emotional circuits handle low energy conditions well,” Jay explained.
“Yha I thought Cole was bad when hangry or tired, when Zane’s in those equivalent states he can be much worse. Then again when he gets in certain states he can be much worse than the rest of us… personally I think the worst is to make him mad. I’ve learned too many times not to do that,” Kai noted and Jay agreed, “yha especially don’t make him do your chores when he’s tired or you’ve tricked him too many times in a short period of time into doing them… that doesn’t end well.”
“Despite what many think Zanes power source is limited. His heart has a decent lifespan of about 200 to 300 years or so but only if he takes proper care of it and keeps it at a healthy stable energy level. It can be depleted including to the point that it would kill him which is real bad. If his heart gets to that state it will burn out and be unable to be recharged or reused. Luckily its energy can also be replenished to counter this keeping it powered, stable and healthy so his heart to last its full life potential,” Nya explained and Jay added, “the best way for him to do that is through his digestive system. I tried with my powers once to help give him some energy and that nearly led to the opposite risk his heart has. It was nearly overloaded and exploded! Not to mention it didn’t really restore any energy for his heart and just stressed it out.” Confused Kai wondered aloud, “but doesn’t his heart use electricity as its energy?”
“Yha but electricity isn’t all the same. The difference is the volts in its current that’s why you have to use an adapter when charging your phone or laptop. If you just plugged them into an outlet without an adapter you would damage your battery and it wouldn’t really charge it properly. Pure raw electricity is dangerous for Zanes power source that’s why when we do hook him up to a computer or anything that could transfer electricity to him the connectors we use have adapters built into them that way they don’t cause any stress to his heart. That is also why Lloyds powers are safer to help Zane than Jays. As pure energy his can deliver a much lower and gentler form of electricity that doesn’t easily hurt or overwhelm Zanes heart. Since he only has half the material from his original heart it’s more sensitive to being overworked and overloaded. Luckily his new bodies’ digestive system is more efficient at producing energy than his old body so it really helps keep his heart stable and healthy,” Nya explained and Kai wondered, “given the effects it has on him do you think Zane ever regrets giving up half his heart?”
“Are you kidding, you just see him and Pixal hanging together and you know he doesn’t regret it. Not only that he would do it again no matter how much it affects him. You remember how many times when Pixal was in the computer we found him having fallen asleep next to it or with a tablet after just trying to spend time with her,” Cole replied and Jay added as they continued on the trail, "yha that was pretty sad. I can't recall how many times we had to put him in his bed after finding him sleeping there. That's why I made that special teddy for him. I got one of an Ice Jaguar and modified it putting a special device me and Nya whipped up in it that not only had recordings of her voice but she could connect to it when they hung out together so they could spend time together. He still has it; it's in his nightstand; he sometimes brings it out when Pixals gone for long periods." Kai stated, “that period was kind of weird but also very sad. He carried that thing around a lot and often sat it next to him when we were relaxing or even at dinner. It did really make him happy though even if the thing gave off this unsettling being watched feeling. You know you're right there’s no denying he doesn't regret his actions there. Those two were meant for each other... hey if this cooling stuff is supposed to warm up his extremities like his hands then why are they often cold; like sometimes icy cold?”
“I’d say his powers but then why are his hands sometimes warm?” Cole commented and Nya noted, “yha that is odd. I’m not sure why that is, it could be his powers. Maybe they sometimes override the heating? He is able to use his powers to cool his skin and when combined with his metal skin can block his internal temperature from being recognised by thermal sensors. It could be this ability malfunctioning causing that. I do tend to notice his hands are warmest when he’s been active or using them a lot they’re also warm when he’s calm and relaxed. At the same time along with when he’s using his powers his hands are coldest when he expresses certain emotions particularly if he is mad so maybe his activity levels and emotions play a role in that? He can also make the place a bit chilly when he’s mad and if he’s scared, sad or upset enough he can lose a bit of control to his powers so I think his emotions can sometimes influence his powers causing his hands to be cold.”
“I’d agree with that and he’s not the only one. I think it’s the same for all of us. Our powers sometimes are influenced by our emotions. Just look at Kai when he’s mad. Not only does he make the room hot he can sometimes have fire burst up on him,” Jay commented with a chuckle and Kai countered with, “how about when you get all super scared; you become a super static magnet. You shock everything you try to touch.” Cole agreed, “yha that’s very unpleasant. At least he doesn’t make light bulbs explode when he gets real mad like Lloyd sometimes can.”
“I don’t mean to do that besides it’s not too bad; Jay can blow circuits when he touches certain electronics like light switches when he’s mad or super scared. Let’s not forget Nya’s affects on the plumbing when she’s real mad not to mention Kais not the only one to make things hot when he’s mad Cole can too. He can also damage things with his super strength if he’s not careful. When Zane’s mad not only can he make the room cold but he can freeze most liquids nearby which isn’t pleasant when he freezes your drink, the toilets or even worse the shower especially when you’re in it,” Lloyd commented as they ended up coming up to some sort of synthetic structure that was a pale pinkish in color with wiring and circuits visible in the synthetic material. After a quick thought of how far they had moved and the structures appearance Nya and Jay confirmed the structure was one of Zanes lungs.
“You should recognise these structures brother, you had to help replace parts from them remember that?” Nya regaled and Kai stated, “yha don’t remind me; it was uncomfortable seeing and working on his insides. I never meant to hurt him, it was an accident. I didn’t realise he was there when I made that fire storm. I was just cutting off the bad guys so they couldn’t escape I didn’t mean for him to end up breathing in incredibly hot burning embers. To be fair Zanes disguise was really good, a little too good I didn’t know he was there.”
“How hot did you make that fire? It melted many of the sensors in his lungs and damaged most of the rest plus some of its tissues. We had to replace the whole things! Zane just wanted to repair what was there but it was all too badly damaged,” Jay explained and Kai noted, “I helped out with the cost and work in the repairs to show I was sorry. I prefer not knowing what his insides are like but I felt so bad especially since he spent a week in pain, with off sounding and weird breathing and frequently coughing from what I did. It was so sad, like seeing a sick kitten or puppy. He can shut off systems so why did he keep his breathing going if it was causing him such problems? It was to make me feel bad wasn’t it?”
“No more like the opposite. He didn’t want to unnerve anyone. He knows when he doesn’t breathe it unsettles some of us especially you and Jay…” Nya began and Kai commented, “there is just something unsettling seeing someone who’s living and so human like not breathing…” Nya continued, “yha that plus when he had his breathing off so he could get some sleep Lloyd had a bit of a panic thinking he was dead when he went to check on him so Zane kept them active to not scare or worry anyone despite the problems they were giving him.”
“Hey he was unnervingly still, he’s normally a restless sleeper so that wasn’t normal plus he wasn’t responding to me when I tried to wake him, that’s usually not a good sign. I was worried,” Lloyd commented as they inspected the area for the worm or signs of where it had gone. The only thing they could see was a rip in the side of his synthetic lung just large enough for one of these worms to pass through.
“He wasn’t responding because he was in a deep sleep being very tired from the days events and from having trouble getting to sleep because of the damages to his lungs. He didn’t want to be disturbed so set his body to basically a sort of do not disturb mode so he could get some sleep,” Nya regaled and Cole commented, “Yha cause Jay has a rude habit of disturbing others while they’re trying to sleep.” Jay added while they inspected the tear in Zanes lung, “I’d say sorry but there is no need for anyone to be sleeping till noon; sure I sleep in late but I’ve rarely gone that late besides it’s not fun having to wake any of the rest of you up. You can all be rather rude. You’ve punched me, thrown me across the room, thrown stuff at me, hit me with blasts of fire ice dirt water or energy not to mention set my clothes on fire, freeze me from the waist down to the floor, sent the chicken after me do I need to go on?”
“I think I’m with everyone when I say when you’re sleeping it’s not pleasant to be awoken especially by your loud babbling and frantic shaking when you do it. Maybe we should wake you up in the same way,” Cole expressed and Jay commented, “hey what I do is not as annoying as some of you. Flipping my bed on its side, dragging me out of bed, making an earthquake, freezing my room, playing pranks on me like lighting off those little loud firecrackers in a metal bucket oh and how could I forget the time you dragged my bed outside and left me in the courtyard… during a rain storm! Again do I need to go on?”
“Hey sometimes you deserve it besides your reaction to some of those methods is hilarious anyway change of subject why is his lungs different colored from his synthetic muscles?” Cole wondered and Jay noted, “really you can tell it’s a different color.”
“What do you mean by that?” Cole wondered and Lloyd noted, “you have a tendency to mis-describe colors or not recognise them properly.” Jay added, “yha did you ever take that test we suggested you to?”
“I did,” Cole commented uneasy about talking about this and Jay wondered, “and what answer did you get?” Cole took a moment to respond.
“I have something called due-ter something. I forget the name it just means I can’t really tell the difference between red and green very well,” Cole noted and Jay commented while Lloyd cautiously approached the tear to look into it, “that explains some things like often mixing up Lloyd and Kais clothes or not following our instructions in video games like hit the red button and not the green.”
“Can we not make fun of my problems,” Cole commented annoyed by Jay who replied while Lloyd looked into the tear, “I’m not making fun just surprised you could tell his lung is a different color. As for why it is like that it’s to help differentiate the various components of his anatomy that way when you’re working on him you know which parts are for what system. You don’t want to accidently hook the wrong things up to each other. That really won’t help him and could cause problems.” Lloyd couldn’t see anything; it was too dark. He wasn’t wanting to venture deeper to get a better look unnerved by the dark and the fact the tear led to inside one of Zanes organs but as he tried to back up so someone else could take a more thorough look into the structure he was knocked off balance by Kai who unnerved by where he was wasn’t watching where he was going bumped into him. Lloyd tried to catch his balance but fell through the tear. The next thing he knew he fell a few steps down landing face down on a slightly elastic surface. The others quickly rushed over to the tear to get a look at what happened.
“I’m fine just watch your step,” Lloyd commented as he got on his knees and looked around. The others cautiously made their way to him Kai commenting nervous and trying to hide his feelings, “great we’re in his lung aren’t we? I was really hoping we wouldn’t end up in any of his organs.”
“Trust me this is probably the nicest and safest place you could end up in his body. Not much can hurt us in here. Trust me there is way worse places in Zanes body to end up in,” Jay commented and Kai quickly noted, “please don’t tell me I’m pretty sure I don’t want to know about them.” Compared to what they had been dealing with so far with relatively cramped conditions Zanes lungs were quite spacious and they were able to fully stand up. The place looked to be no more than an elastic synthetic made sack that in its resting state as it currently was it was only about a half its potential volume but it was still more spacious than what they had been dealing with. Cole was pleased with the space.
“Finally my legs were starting to cramp up,” he commented and looking around a bit grossed out and uncomfortable Kai stated, “I guess it isn’t too bad in here… you know I always found it weird and a bit unsettling he could breath. Like he doesn’t need oxygen so why does he need lungs?”
“Well you probably won’t notice much because anything to do with biology grosses and unnerves you…” Nya began before Jay cut her off to tease, “yha it does. You should have seen how red his face went when Wu sent us to have some health care classes when we were younger at a community college; you were in the girls class so you didn’t get to see but it went redder than his shirt or how about the that Day of the Departed and Zane read to us some of those horror stories by that guy who wrote that creepy poem on a raven and the really gross ones had you sick and nearly throwing up just to hear them. We also all remember that time we went fishing and Zane showed us how to properly gut and de-scale a fish for dinner. He just started cutting into it and you passed out.”
“As I told you then it wasn’t from the fish; I was feeling lightheaded from low blood sugar that day and who thought it was funny to put those fish in my arms and make me hug them? That was a very unpleasant smell to wake up to not to mention it took three washes to get the smell off my clothes,” Kai defended himself and Jay stated, “that was Coles idea and it wasn’t blood sugars you fainted from it was seeing the fishes guts!”
“Well Zane didn’t help by explaining a bit about the fishes anatomy and showing us the guts while gutting it. Does he know he doesn’t need to turn things into a teaching lesson just because we don’t know about it? I’m fine not knowing about the guts of things; I don’t have to know about what all the slimy and grossness I’m pulling out of it is… didn’t help he fed the guts to some seagulls who made a mess with them. I don’t know what was grosser the fact he fed them the guts or that they fought over them like they were candies,” Kai commented getting nervous and Jay continued to tease, “Zanes got a lot of knowledge and likes to share it even if it’s gross or others don’t care to learn anything also he likes birds and he didn’t want to let the fish guts go to waste so gave them the guts. As for the gulls yha they were gross but I’ve seen them eat grosser things out of the garbage including the maggots and bugs eating the garbage; fish guts are probably the least gross thing they eat. They’re just full out gross on their own…”
“It was funny how the one pooped on you and you acted like you were being attacked,” Cole cut in to joke at Jay who responded, “hey it came suddenly was hot and was super gross! Besides I think that bird was aiming for me, it laughed at me! Despite what Zane says that noise it was giving wasn’t just its call. I know a laugh when I hear it and it was laughing. It was amused with what it had done. That aside it was the biology that got you that day Kai we all know it. I also remember the time we helped out for the harvest dinner; Cole cut his hand opening a can and you threw up when you saw the blood. Or how about the time you got a splinter and Nya had to pull it out because you were too nervous to do it yourself? She hadn’t even started and not only could you not look at it but you passed out as she pulled it out.”
“We get it Jay Kai has a nervous disposition when it comes to biology especially injuries and guts now can you stop before he passes out. If he does you’ll have to carry him around,” Lloyd commented noting Kai was starting to look pale and unsteadying from the talk of injuries. Not wanting to have to carry anyone Jay stated, “fine, I just think it funny how Mr. Macho can be knocked out just by seeing some fishes guts.”
“As I was saying before I was interrupted Zanes lungs are pretty simple compared to those of flesh like us. They’re pretty much just a simple elastic sack and lack all the features for acquiring oxygen like us. That doesn’t mean he has no use for them though. Along with helping look like he is alive and like any other person they allow him to be able to administer resuscitation to others if they need it plus the walls in here are lined with various sensors that help identify various chemicals and other potential hazards in the air including things that are dangerous for the rest of us. That’s how he is able to warn us of potential dangers like toxic gasses so we can avoid them,” Nya explained and Jay added, “yha he’s like a canary in a coal mine. Except he doesn’t keel over from toxic gasses, he will pass out though from gases that will put you to sleep. Also things you drink or eat that will put you asleep too; that can be useful like when he decides to chastise you about trying to push your chores off onto him or when you don’t do your chores. Just slip him a sleeping potion mixed into something so he isn’t suspicious and you’re free; well until the potion wears off that is.”
“Yha how does that ability work exactly? It always confused me. He doesn’t have the anatomy to be affected by them so why does he react like he is affected?” Cole wondered and Nya explained as they looked around for one of these worms, “that’s to do with part of his programming that helps him fit in with people. As long as no one is in danger and he’s safe when his sensors pick up the presence of the chemicals that would knock us out they activate a programming that makes him react in the same way as we would and force him to sleep. If he does at any point feel in danger however he can override this programming to prevent being affected. For the longest time though he didn’t realise he could do that so had no control over that ability and always fell to the effects of things. Pixal had to show him he could do it and how to do it. He’s gotten better at controlling it but still doesn’t have full control so sometimes still can’t fight the effects. He has similar sensors in his digestive system as are in his lungs that do the same thing.”
“That will explain that one night Wu wanted me to lace a drink to give to Jay with a sleeping potion since he had been up all weekend playing video games in order to make him finally go to sleep. I accidently messed up and laced the drink I gave to Zane to not make things suspicious with the potion instead. I couldn’t wake him after he passed out… I thought my drink had done something bad to him,” Cole regaled and Jay commented, “obviously he felt safe and didn’t see the need to fight the effects then that’s why he didn’t wake up. As I told you then he’d be fine and he was wasn’t he?”
“Yha but you could have explained what was going on instead of joking about my cooking skills. You left me worried that I’d seriously messed up and hurt him again,” Cole commented. Lloyd then regaled, “yha I remember another time you Jay and Kai stayed up all weekend playing video games and seeing who could last the longest without falling asleep. We’re ninja we need to be ready to go at any time and being tired and cranky because you stayed up with no sleep for a few days isn’t going to be helpful. I set a trap in the walk in cool storage room so it would lock you in and flood with a sleeping gas. When it triggered I thought I had caught one of you. Instead I ended up catching Zane! He’d come to restock the fridge since I had taken all the drinks out to lure you three into the room. I put him in his bed to sleep it off and luckily he wasn’t mad later when he woke up from my trap and was very understanding; I’d hate to have made him mad. He’s quite scary when he’s mad. Unfortunately my trap only worked on Cole after I hid his cake he had hidden in the back of the fridge down there.”
“Yha that was a dirty trick you played; you made me drop my cake on the floor! Not to mention I lost the bet, I had to do some of Jays chores for a month! Kai only had to do some for two weeks,” Cole commented and Jay added, “even without Lloyds trap I knew you two couldn’t beat me. I’m like a supped up battery, I’ve got plenty of energy to burn. Just some caffeine and candy and I can go for hours. You know it was gross you still ate that cake after it had touched the floor.”
“Hey it’s cake I’m not letting that stuff go to waste!” Cole remarked before still very on edge from where he was and the gross talk earlier Kai interrupted to decree, “can we please find this thing and get out of here? This whole situation is really bothering me!”
“It’s a bit weird and uncomfortable yha besides it’s probably best we deal with these machines before they can cause too much damage,” Lloyd agreed. The spacious area they were in was making it a bit hard to see, their lights didn’t reach very far. Getting an idea Cole wondered aloud, “some of those worms inner workings give off a glow right? Do you think if we turn off our lights we could better see it?”
“Maybe,” Nya commented and Lloyd offered, “we could give it a go.” They turned off their lights Kai being the last nervous and uncomfortable with being in the dark while inside one of Zanes organs. Without a source of light it was pitch black in there. At first they couldn’t see anything but as their eyes adjusted to the dark Lloyd noted a faint reddish glow not too far away.
“I think it’s over there,” Lloyd commented and Kai commented having covered his eyes not wanting to see anything that would make him even more uncomfortable, “where?”
“There,” Lloyd stated tossing a ball of energy at the spot he was seeing the glow. It lit up the area and revealed the robotic worm which had been lying low trying to avoid being caught. Seeing where it was they turned their lights back on to confront it. The worm wasted no time in coming at them. It went straight for Lloyd who dodged as it shot out the blade in its head to stab at him. With a well placed stab and twist motion to the underside of the head at the base of the mouthparts with her trident Nya disabled the apparatus that controlled the pinchers and blade preventing it from retracting the blade and from being able to crush them with its pinchers. While disabled it wasn’t out and in retaliation whipped its head and knocked Nya aside. It then went after Jay who swung his nunchucks to wrap around the blade in an attempt to break off the blade in order to prevent it from hurting anyone. His nunchucks did get wrapped around the blade however instead of braking the blade the worm reared up and tossed its head around flinging Jay away. He landed a few feet away his nunchucks following shortly after to smack him in the chest and wind him. Cole took a couple hits at the worms body hoping to damage it.
“Damn this thing is much stronger built than I thought it was,” Cole noted and Nya hypothesized, “the synthetic skin covering it might be absorbing the impacts and protecting its vital workings.”
“We’ll either have to hit it harder or get through its skin in order to really damage it,” Jay explained having caught his breath and getting up. Kai took a swipe at it trying to cut open the skin to give them an easy access but the worm pulled back so his cut didn’t go too deep. Compared to their fight with the worm before despite having more space to move about this one was proving tougher as the worm also had more space to move about allowing it to dodge their attacks with ease and toss them about with little effort.
“Do you think if I shocked it that would make it easier to defeat this thing?” Jay wondered and the others were quick to say no together. Nya then explained, “because his body is made with a great deal of metal Zanes body is highly conductive and has a high chance of attracting your powers which because we’re in him would shock us as well.”
“Yha and with how small we are I don’t think we’ll fare too well to that,” Cole commented hitting the worm in the head knocking it over and both Kai and Lloyd took some swipes at it to cut it open managing to put some serious cuts in its synthetic skin but it quickly moved away to prevent them from getting a chance to reach its inner works.
“We’re just going to do this the old fashioned way, the way of hacking and slashing,” Kai commented as they worked together to put the worm in a state where it would be easy to deliver the final blow. With their blunt weapons Cole and Jay kept hitting its head to daze it so it was slower and took longer to sense what the others were doing. Lloyd, Nya and Kai were trying to stab it in either the head or the power source a few segments behind the head. Eventually Lloyd managed to deliver the final blow getting up on its back and shoving his sword into its head Cole helping him push it deep enough to pierce through its metal interior skeleton into its power source stopping it.
“Two down two to go,” Jay commented before Kai commented, “okay now can we get out of here?” After a moment to relax Nya asked through the communicators, “we got another down. It’s in his right lung; there are some minor damages and a tear you’ll need to fix but not much else. Where are the remaining two hidden?”
“Ones still in his chest by his neck the other I am having trouble locating,” Pixal stated and Cole stated, “don’t worry we’ll find it.” They made their way out of Zanes lung and back the way they came to under his skin.
“Great cramped conditions again,” Cole commented and Lloyd wondered as they crawled out from the pulled back muscle they had passed to follow the second worm, “what do you think that worm is doing by his neck?”
“Chances are probably trying to speed up their task by cutting the main cords that provide power and communication between his brain and body,” Nya hypothesized and Lloyd stated, “we defiantly don’t want it to do that.”
“Hey is that it there?” Jay commented pointing at something. Looking around they could see the worm lying looking at them a short distance away. When they all looked at it the worm quickly turned around and hurried away from them. They wasted no time following it only to be surprised as it suddenly dropped out of sight.
“Uh where’d it just go?” Kai wondered as they came up to where it disappeared. A synthetic muscle had been pulled back and there was a dark hole beneath. They couldn’t see where the hole went.
“It must have gone down there,” Nya commented and Kai wondered nervous, “and where does that go?” Without an answer Nya hopped into the hole and the others all quickly followed Kai being the last and dreading where they were going to end up. They found themselves in what looked to be a slightly ringed tunnel like structure made of a sickly green tinted dark purple color. Compared to the rest of his body which was quite dry it was quite damp in there. It had been damp in his synthetic lung but that had only been a third as damp as it was in this structure. Not only was it damp but the walls were slimy coated with a film of some slimy wet substance that had most of them grossed out.
“Okay now where are we? Or do I maybe not want to know?” Kai wondered unsettled getting a sinking feeling he wasn’t going to like the answer. The fact Nya and Jay looked worried about where they were clearly recognising what the structure was had the others nervous.
“Uhm I think this is one of those you don’t want to know about…” Jay began getting a little nervous before they noticed faint icy blue circuit looking markings that looked like tattoos appeared in the synthetic material that made up the structure they were in. They then found themselves being shoved and squeezed down the tube and the next thing they knew they were floating in a dark liquid in a sack like structure. They were quick to move to the sides of the structure and held onto it to help stay afloat; Cole and Lloyd had to help Kai to keep him from drowning Kai’s panicking from the fear of what had happened making their work harder.
“Please tell me we’re not where I think we are,” Kai stammered getting worked up and Jay who was very uneasy on the verge of panicking declared, “yha you know how I was saying there was worse places to end up in here… this is probably the worst and most dangerous place! We’d be safer if Cole had eaten us!” Cole took offense to that comment. The walls of the structure quickly developed the same style circuit markings as the tube they had been in and began moving with a slow steady repeating constricting then relaxing motion causing the liquid in it to slosh around and knock about various things that were in there with them.
“We’re in his stomach aren’t we! We’re actually in his stomach! He ate us! He actually ate us!” Kai was panicking offering no help for Lloyd and Cole who were trying to keep him from drowning in the digestive fluids around them.
“I don’t think he ate us on purpose in fact he shouldn’t have. His systems are offline they shouldn’t be active,” Nya noted and Cole commented, “his stomach looks pretty active to me.”
“That worm must have activated his system,” Nya suggested and Jay was quick to babble starting to freak out, “the worm set a trap! It lured us in to get digested!”
“Jay you’re panicking isn’t helping,” Nya commented as they held onto the walls of Zanes stomach trying to get out of the acids and not get knocked about or hit by anything. The walls were slimy making that hard especially with things moving and getting knocked around in there. They each slipped off a couple times into the fluids scaring them. Nya, Lloyd and Cole were trying to remain calm to find a way out of their highly dangerous situation.
“Kai’s not helping either,” Cole commented and Lloyd stated trying to not lose it and panic as well, “we need to shut down his system before something bad happens to us!”
“How is it active when his other systems aren’t?” Cole wondered and Nya explained, “to relieve processing power on his main neural system many of his systems are controlled through separate secondary processors. This also allows him to separately put systems offline without interfering with other systems. This means though he can only manually influence if the system is on or off and if they need to be sped up or slowed down along with on rare occasions if he needs to cough something up temporarily reversing their normal actions. He can’t control their functioning. The systems themselves operate pretty much on their own; he has almost no control over what they do.” Nya then wasted no time in contacting Pixal while trying to maintain her hold on the walls of Zanes stomach. She like the others slipped a few times having to pull themselves up again Jay and Kai’s panicking making things tough for the others as she talked.
“Pixal we need you to shut off Zanes digestive system and do it now!” Nya demanded and confused Pixal stated, “but it is off. I shut down all his systems.”
“No it’s not shut down! It’s active and trying to destroy us!” Jay panicked through his communicator and Pixal noted, “it is active but everything else is still offline. How did it get turned on?! Hold on I am shutting it down now.” After a couple seconds the markings in the lining which they guessed were the circuits that controlled the synthetic organ disappeared and everything settled down and slowly went still.
“There; is everyone okay? No one was hurt were they?” Pixal came through the communicators and after a moment to look over them all Lloyd stated, “I don’t think so, just shaken really.” Cole added, “not to mention grossed out really grossed out.”
“What happened, why are you in his stomach? You shouldn’t be in there it’s too dangerous for those of flesh like you to be in his stomach. Your equipment was not designed to withstand his digestive fluids. They will not protect you much in there,” Pixal told them through their communicators and Nya replied, “trust us we didn’t intend to end up in here.” Jay added trying to not lose it, “that worm did it! It tricked us into getting eaten!”
“It does look like he was hacked to turn on just that system,” Pixal noted and Cole commented, “great these things are smartening up and trying to destroy us now.”
“Given these are advanced machines and not simple animals that is a very strong possibility. Do you need me to get you out of there?” Pixal inquired and Lloyd commented, “give us a minute to think some things out.” After a moment to settle having trouble clinging to the walls of Zanes stomach they looked around for an easier way to stay out of the acid. Much of what was in there was already highly dissolved. Only a couple solid looking materials were floating on the surface of the fluids that were big enough for them to shelter on; largely some chunks of bones and what looked like a peach pit that was half digested. Since it was closest to them Nya and Jay hopped onto the peach pit while Cole, Lloyd and Kai got onto the largest bits of bones they could reach which they were pretty sure was from the ribs Cole had made for dinner the previous night. Surprising to them Coles cooking hadn’t been too bad and no one had gotten sick, felt bad or had weird effects happen after having it. Even though he was trying to keep it secret they all had found Cole had started taking cooking lessons and they were all rather grateful for it as his cooking tended to taste weird or have unpleasant effects. Cole balanced on one chunk of bone to himself while Lloyd and Kai shared a large one, Lloyd having to help Kai up and remain balanced as where they had ended up had left Kai in a state of shock and fear leaving him rigid, largely unresponsive and panicking worse than Jay.
“No no this is real bad! We’re in Zanes stomach! We’re going to get digested! There’s no way out we’re doomed! This can’t be happening it can’t be!” Kai was panicking causing Lloyd to give him a smack to knock some sense into him. It snapped some sense into him silencing him but he was still on edge and freaked out.
“Of all the places we could end up in this is the worst! There are only two directions we can get out of here and I’m not wanting to get out through the other direction especially if it involves having to go through the rest of his system!” Jay began to panic and Nya stated, “Jay chill Pixal will help us out of here. We’re not going to have to go through the rest of his system… I hope.”
“There are ways of getting out of here without having to go through his entire system right?” Lloyd worried and Nya explained, “yha. To make it easier to work on his digestive system is split into four main parts which can each be separated separately for work; his throat, stomach, small intestines and large intestines. Unfortunately though the worm could lock them preventing Pixal from operating them or if the worm went further in his system we might have to go down there to get it.”
“Let’s hope we don’t have to do that,” Cole commented. They took a moment to look at their surroundings as they all cleaned themselves off a bit having the slimy substance which was Zanes equivalent to mucus, some of his digestive fluids and some matter that was in it on them. It was grossing all of them out. The synthetic material that made up Zanes stomach was the same color as his throat a green tinted dark purple color. It was dark and would have been pitch black in there if it wasn’t for the lights on their attire. Since he was laying on his back everything in Zanes stomach was orientated so everything in it was lying on the back of the organ. They were situated by the top of his stomach by the entrance and their lights didn’t reach very far preventing them from seeing much in there. They took that as something relatively good as they were pretty sure they didn’t want to see what else was in there or the other end. What they were already seeing was gross and unnerving enough for them. Further hindering their lights and visibility was a slight haze in the air which they were guessing came from some of the gasses being produced by his digestive process. They were also guessing these gasses were partially responsible for the strong, unpleasant and chemically tainted smell that burned their noses a bit. Unfortunately their masks were only partially blocking the smell. While not too bad none of them found the smell very pleasant. Along with making their noses burn they felt a bit sick from it.
“This is the worst place we could have found ourselves in! So gross and dangerous! Very dangerous! At least it doesn’t smell too bad rate now,” Jay complained trying to calm down and not lose it making Lloyd who was unsettled wonder, “What do you mean not too bad, it can smell worse in here?”
“Yha, Cole and Kais cooking can make it way worse like that time Cole made that stuff before Wu got lost after battling the time twins that made us all super sick…” Jay began and Kai commented looking around terrified at where he found himself, “how could any of us forget that. It was nasty. All of us except for Zane and Wu spent the night in the bathroom so we didn’t have to rush to the toilets every time we had to throw up. You spent most of the night thinking we were dying. Wu was smart not to have some of that stuff.”
“Hey it felt like we were dying didn’t it! Anyway Zane didn’t escape from that stuff either. Pixal warned him it was dangerous but he didn’t listen not wanting to be rude. What it did to him was nasty! Zanes system made the stuff into this very sticky dough looking stuff that got stuck and clogged up his stomach and like the first 20 centimetres of his intestines. It was not only disrupting and obstructing his system but causing him quite a bit of pain. It smelt horrid, one of the worst things I’ve ever smelt. To make it worse we had to use our hands to clean a good deal of it out of his guts…” Jay regaled and Cole expressed, “please don’t remind me of that. If the smell hadn’t been bad enough you making me clean the stuff out with my bare hands just made it worse… just remembering it makes me want to throw up.”
“I considered that your punishment for making us all sick and having caused Zane such a problem. That stuff was nasty to clean up and it took over four hours to clean it all out. Luckily we put Zane offline so he wouldn’t feel anything. The whole thing would probably have been more unpleasant not to mention painful for him than us especially since we had to use some non conventional tools to clean it out like one of the bottle cleaners from the kitchen. That probably would not have felt good having that used to scrub your insides. Luckily the sensors in his digestive system have a thin coating of the systems synthetic tissues coating them so the stuff didn’t get into the structures to cause damages or clog them but the stuff was defiantly interfering with their proper functioning and irritating them. That whole ordeal is why you started taking cooking lessons isn’t it?” Nya expressed and Cole stated, “yha that and some other things. You guys always making fun of or complaining of my cooking is another.”
“You know sure it normally is not nice smelling in here it’s not supposed to but I think the smell is stronger and fouler than it should be. I also don’t recall a haze in here. I think because his systems have been off for a few hours but there is still stuff being broken down in here the gasses made by the process have built up a bit instead of being emptied or moving on in his system to then be emptied like they normally would making the smell worse than it should be,” Nya noted. Despite Zane not having anything for breakfast there was still some stuff in his stomach. Most of what was in his stomach was the leftover scraps from the previous night’s dinner that hadn’t moved on yet in his system with tougher materials like bones that were still getting broken down being the only things still relatively intact. Most of the bones which looked to have been from two or three bones had been broken bitten into various sized chunks with one that looked like it had just been swallowed partially whole probably by accident. All were scattered about the place floating or sitting in the acid and all showed heavy signs of acid damage and had bits and chunks dissolved from them. Most of the softer matter was largely to fully dissolved making it hard to really identify what they had been and was just stuck in there because his system wasn’t active preventing it from being able to move into the rest of his system. The peach pit was from a peach Zane had been given for lunch two days earlier and was half broken down. Whereas the others not even Cole would eat a peach pit Zane wasn’t bothered by eating it sometimes swallowing a peach whole. It wasn’t healthy for him to eat the pit and even though he could break it down he was unable to convert most of the matter from it into energy so they were not entirely sure why he had a bad habit of eating them.
“Why are there bones in here? Feels like I’m in a gator with them here. I made enough for everyone to have their fill last night he didn’t have to eat the bones as well,” Cole commented looking around at their surroundings and Lloyd agreed unsettled, “why are there bones in here?”
“I’m not sure; I can’t see how Zane would enjoy them so I think he does it by accident or maybe he doesn’t understand he’s not supposed to eat them or that he doesn’t need to eat them. He also tends to eat other things that you’re not supposed to like peach pits, the skin to melons and pumpkins and the whole of a corn cob though he can’t turn most of the matter from those to energy even though he can break them down. I know he can not only break down bones but is capable of converting some of the materials from them like the marrow into energy unlike the other things he eats that he’s not supposed to so it’s not bad for him to eat them. He’s just not supposed to purposely eat them. His ability to digest bones is meant to be a safety precaution to prevent damages if he was to accidently swallow some after all with his jaw strength and metal made teeth and bones it’s very easy for him to accidently eat bits of bone every now and then and when broken bones often develop sharp edges which could cut up and damage his system so his system dissolves them so they can’t hurt him. Eating them on purpose isn’t going to hurt him but it’s not the healthiest nor is necessary. Pixal doesn’t do it very often nor does she ever do it on purpose but then again she better understands what it means to be a nindroid and understands human ways much better than Zane does. If he is doing it on purpose then all I can think of as a reason behind it is maybe he doesn’t want to waste any of his food or maybe he doesn’t realise he isn’t supposed to eat them on purpose,” Nya noted and Lloyd noted, “I could see him not wanting to let them go to waste. He doesn’t eat everything like Cole but unless he doesn’t like it or it makes him sick or from what he says it has no use for him or is dangerous or causes him problems he’ll eat most things including things people can’t eat or drink like motor oil and unlike some of us he always tries to eat all of his meal especially if it’s something someone else made and gave him; he thinks its rude to refuse it. He might not eat it all at once like Cole will but will save it and finish it later. He also has a habit that when someone gives him something to eat or drink as a gift he'll have it even if he doesn’t like it, it hurts him or makes him sick; he thinks it’s really rude to not have it even if he doesn’t like it or it hurts him. Remember that fermented fish stuff someone gave us once?”
“Dude how could we, that smell was horrid!” Cole commented and Kai regaled, “that was one of the worst things I’ve ever smelt! Just the smell made us all nearly barf! Pix and Zane were lucky they could turn off their sense of smell around that stuff.”
“How could we not forget that stuff!” Jay agreed and Lloyd regaled, “yha, none of us were going to have the stuff but not wanting to let it go to waste Zane had it… well him and Cole after we dared him to have some.”
“Yha the taste was slimy and gross even after rinsing them and it did not make me feel very good after that. I am never having that stuff again. We should have just taken the stuff to a zoo or park and fed some gators the stuff,” Cole regaled and Nya added, “yha Zane didn’t feel too good from it either. The chemicals and bacteria from the fermenting of those things upset his system. A droids system doesn’t handle fermented matter very well; the chemicals and bacteria from it upsets and irritates their systems and they can’t process the stuff very well.”
“Yha and unlike that stuff it’s obvious bones don’t upset or hurt him and since he can make energy from them maybe he has them so they don’t go to waste,” Lloyd hypothesized and Jay added, “yha I could see that; he does after all collect food scraps and often puts them out for animals to have so they don’t go to waste. He also likes putting any rotting or out of date food he finds when cleaning the kitchen or elsewhere in the house in the green waste bins for disposal or the compost bins out back the monastery a lot instead of just throwing them out like I often do. He’s even dumped curdled milk in that thing sometimes. That bin smells nasty for a few days after he does that. Thank goodness those are held outside the monasteries yard so the smells kept some distance away; how can those bugs that live in that bin handle the smell from that stuff? They must either not care or have no sense of smell! You know at least when Zane eats bones he doesn’t usually do it around us or make it evident when he is doing it, he knows it unsettles the rest of us especially since he has no problem with biting through bones which he knows that fact scares some of us especially Kai and me. I guess biting through bones isn’t hard when your teeth and jaws are made of metal and you have a much stronger bite force than us thanks to his make. I guess we should be thankful he has this strange habit or we’d have nowhere to stay out of his digestive juices and we’d be in real trouble in here.”
“I guess you’re right there even if this is really weird, gross and unsettling. You know with how strong his bite is it’s a good thing then he doesn’t usually get nippy when we have to restrain him like some people huh Lloyd?” Cole commented and Lloyd defended himself, “I don’t bite that hard, defiantly nowhere near as bad as when Zane bites.”
“That is true. He broke skin and I’m pretty sure cracked a bit of bone that one time and I could feel he wasn’t biting with his full force. I’d hate to know what the full force would have been like… why did he go crazy that time anyway? It was like he just snapped and started going all evil and attacking us,” Cole wondered and Jay commented, “thank your bad cooking. It was that weird duck stew you made where you accidently put in that magical tea thinking it was seasoning. It made us all skittish and jumpy and had our powers all out of whack but it had a much more opposite effect for Zane. It really messed around with Zanes system and caused some programming to get a bit out of whack making him think he was the Ice Emperor again. That was a nasty fight, didn’t help that stuff affected Pixal in the same way and she was on his side. Luckily we were able to finally knock the both of them out and fix things before the whole incident got out of hand. After some restores and reboots and a couple hours rest for the stuff to pass through most of their systems they were back to normal. Whatever you do don’t make that mistake again; we really don’t need them to go all evil again especially Zane. He’s really scary and dangerous when he’s like that!”
“Thank goodness we don’t have to give Zane medicine, I’d hate to have to give them to him especially if we’d have to force him to take them and he was bite-y,” Lloyd commented and Cole wondered, “like you… hey if he doesn’t need medicines then what’s that stuff you sometimes make him have? I’ve heard you refer to it as a medicine.”
“It’s a formula to help maintain the health of the symbiotic organisms and the systems that create enzymes in and apart of his digestive tract. He has a bad habit of drinking too much motor oils and on occasion eating or drinking things he’s not meant to so that stuff helps combat any negative effects from that. He knows it’s good for him but it’s sometimes hard to make him take it because he doesn’t like the taste that’s why we hide it in things like chocolate milk or milk shakes to hide its taste. The stuff also binds well to the fats and proteins in the stuff helping keep it in his system longer so it works better and longer,” Nya explained and Jay added, “most of the things he consumes that he’s not supposed to aren’t really his fault. It’s weird to say but Zane doesn’t fully understand what it means to be a nindroid. He lived for a long while thinking he was human which has just left him confused about a lot of things. Add on he doesn’t have a built in instinct so to say to tell him what is and isn’t safe for him plus he’s very curious to things so if he thinks it’s edible for him he’ll try it. If it doesn’t cause him much problems he might think it’s okay for him to have it even if it isn’t healthy or usable for him. Doesn’t help some people don’t seem to get not to joke with certain things as he’ll take their word for it or take their words too literal; right Kai?”
“Hey how was I to know he’d take what I said as literal? I was just having a little joke. I couldn’t believe he’d never seen a glow stick before. When I told him it was a fancy freezie I thought he’d look up the truth and not take my word on it! I didn’t mean to make him sick… or make his guts glow from it; that was disgusting and unsettling,” Kai defended himself still highly unsettled and freaking out but responding despite his feelings not wanting to be fully blamed for something. Nya then stated, “you know he’s very trusting to us and has a high likely hood to trust our word even if it’s wrong before actually looking into the truth if what you say proves wrong or someone tells him otherwise. Because of this you shouldn’t mess around with things he might take literal especially if it is dangerous and can hurt or prove problematic for him. For most of his life Zane lived pretty sheltered from much of our human world so many things of our world especially non daily use items things like glow sticks are new and foreign to him when he comes upon them so when he first encounters them because he trusts us he often seeks us out to figure out what the foreign thing is.”
“Yha I remember the time I first gave him popping candy. He didn’t understand what it was exactly so just swallowed the stuff and thought after I’d given him something dangerous like some sort of explosive material because of all of it popping in his stomach at the same time. I probably shouldn’t have laughed at him for it cause it just had him worried and scared till I explained everything but it was funny. There was also that time around a year after we all first met we showed him sparklers for the first time. The first few times he held them too close to the part that burns and burnt himself as he just watched the sparkling on them a little mesmerized by it. We had to show him how to properly hold them so he wouldn’t get burnt. He kind of reminded me of a bird with a shiny object with how he was staring at it… you know thinking back we should have realised something was different about him then cause he didn’t really get a physical burn from that even though he acted and felt like he had been burned. With how pale his artificial skin was it should have been real easy to see a burn. Instead he just had some soot from the sprinklers on them. You know the fact his skin was so oddly pale as well should have told us something was different about him. He was almost albino like as if he’d rarely experienced the sun; I actually thought he was sick when we first met it was that oddly pale. I guess though when you don’t have blood in your skin to help give it color you are going to be paler than normal,” Jay regaled cutting Nya off. Nya then continued, “as I was saying when coming upon something he doesn’t know what it is at first or understand Zane trusts our word when we tell him what they are. Zane and his father lived largely alone in the middle of the wilderness and didn’t get many visitors and when they visited settlements Zane didn’t explore much or interact much with people; even though he was curious he was often nervous to and confused on how to do so plus we all know he’s not the social type. Because of this there wasn’t a lot of things he got to experience about the human world so there was a lot he never got to come across or experience. We were the first ones outside his father to really take him in as family and show him things he’d never seen or experienced before. Plus until after he met Pixal he didn’t fully know how to be a nindroid she had to teach a lot of things and even now he still gets confused by things. He’d lived for quite a while thinking he was just human so didn’t know or understand things about him were different nor that he was able to do certain things we can’t till he learned the truth. Even after that he didn’t know or understand how to be a nindroid and still struggles at times with this. For the longest time he didn’t know how much of his body properly worked, what he could do and what is and isn’t safe for him. It’s kind of sad but me and Jay know more about his anatomy and programming than he does even to this day. Because of his trust and lack of understanding when one of us tells Zane glow sticks are fancy freezies for droids he’s going to trust your word.”
“And that is why we created that care book for you three for him and Pix for when we’re not around. Your screw ups when trying to help them or when just goofing around plus some of your cooking’s are not healthy for them and cause problems we often have to solve not to mention they can be dangerous for not just them but everyone else like that time we were gone for a weekend and the two nearly started a robot takeover to the human race because you messed up on a reboot after the chili Cole made gave them problems causing them both to short circuit and get knocked offline from it,” Jay regaled and Cole defended, “hey that tech stuff for them is really complex and your explanation over the phone was a little hard to follow. Also why do you always have to complain about my chili?”
“Can we please focus so we can get out of here before we’re digested!” Kai exclaimed panicking and Lloyd agreed feeling nervous about their surroundings, “yha how long do you think we could last in here?”
“Not long. Our masks and the oxygen tanks are letting us still breathe in here and protecting us from any gasses that are present that probably would not be good for us but nothing will protect us from his digestive fluids. We’d only last about ten to 20 possibly 25 minutes in it but I don’t think you’d want to hang on that long. It would be very unpleasant. We’d be almost entirely dissolved within an hour if his system was active that is. In its current state it would likely take longer still though only a few hours. Truly I’m not sure how long we’ll last, as long as we don’t end up in the fluids we should be able to last longer than if we end up in them,” Nya noted and Jay added in trying to calm down, “first you have the acid which is strong enough to dissolve bones which means all but our teeth and hair, weapons and scraps of our clothes will be left in just a few hours and if that wasn’t scary enough there is the enzymes and bacteria both in here and the rest of his guts which are powerful enough they can break up motor oil! We don’t stand a chance at surviving in here!”
“Yha I think whatever this belonged to found that out the hard way,” Cole commented pulling up what looked to be the leg from a beetle that was floating near him out of the fluids to get a closer look at it. The insides to the creatures exoskeleton poured out as a liquid before the normally hard carapace fell apart like wet toilet paper unsettling them a bit Kai and Jay most of all. Cole dropped what was left in his hand back into the fluid grossed and unnerved by it.
“You know seeing him choking on that beetle last night when it flew into his mouth when we took out some recycling was funny at the time but seeing what’s become of it now and that we could easily share its fate it isn’t so funny anymore. Kind of have to feel sorry for it though it was the one that decided to make itself lunch by forcing Zane to choke on itself so it kind of deserved what it got,” Jay commented at the beetles leg and Lloyd wondered grossed out, “why are insects so attracted to pestering him especially in his face?”
“It’s his eyes. Their attracted to the light in them and in their attempts to get this light while avoiding his attempts to shoo them away they end up in his throat and getting swallowed a lot. When it comes to why insects are so attracted to lights they’ll kill themselves to get it I have no clue,” Nya explained before Cole then continued, “you know motor oil is some tough stuff. If we drink it we get sick, I know I tried some. How can he drink it with no problems?”
“I know you can be a bit like a dog and will eat anything at least once but why would you try motor oil?! It says rate on the container it’s not for drinking,” Jay questioned grossed out by his comment and Cole replied, “I was wondering why Zane likes the taste of it so decided to give it a try. It didn’t taste good.”
“Why is Zane attracted to motor oils?” Lloyd wondered and Nya explained as they looked around for any sign of the worm, “I’m not entirely sure. Some of the sensors in here might be able to tell him how useful they are to use for things like his joints but his other senses which don’t need him to drink the stuff could tell him that so I’m not sure. I know Motor oils are made from well oil which is made from plankton that have been compressed for centuries under rocks or is made from a special types of kelp which we’ve noticed he is also rather fond of though it isn’t too healthy for him; his system isn’t able to properly process the stuff. He tends to get indigestion from it if he has too much. This kelp is found in shallow seas and bays around Ninjago and commonly harvested to make various forms of oil among some other uses. Both oils technically come from the sea and Zane has commented that they have a fishy taste to them so maybe that has something to do with it. I do know he is also similarly attracted to oils from fish yet he’s not as interested nor enjoys as much oils from plant sources like olive and canola. That just adds more questions than answers though. I do know it’s the enzymes and bacteria in his system that normally break down more consumable oils particularly cooking oils and the oils and fats from animal based sources that are the ones that break down the motor oils and help him make energy from them. They’re very powerful stuff. Maybe it has something to do with those organisms; maybe they enjoy the oils and are somehow influencing his tastes to get more. Or maybe he likes them because it’s a droid thing; I know Zane’s not the only one who likes oils most droids do so it’s not unique to him. Pixal also enjoys them but she has way more control than Zane does over the urge and attraction to drink the stuff. Zanes like Cole in that regard; if he likes something he has little control over himself and will have too much just like Cole with cake. Oils meant for cooking or from foods are fine and cause little problem for him but motor oils are not that healthy for him. They’re rough and tough on his system and he can only make around 5 to 15 percent of the potential energy from the stuff a little more if it is the kelp made variety not to mention processing the stuff tends to cause the development of excess gas which we all know can smell as bad as it does in here now when he has the stuff. Unfortunately he’s more attracted to motor oils than cooking oils. He shouldn’t have more than a few cups a month of motor oils to prevent causing issues like imbalances to the symbiotes in his system, irritating tissues and causing digestive issues with his system especially if it is the typical oil from fossil fuels. He should only have that stuff on occasion about once a month or so. It’s a lot tougher than other oils so much rougher on his system and takes him longer to process than other oils. The one made from kelp is much better for him to have and luckily he likes that one better. It’s much easier for him to process so gentler on his system not to mention he gets more resources out of it than from typical motor oil but still it’s not too healthy or good for him to have too much. It can still cause problems like regular motor oils luckily though it takes more to have serious negative effects on him but at the same time unfortunately he often gets carried away with it. Like with us and things like candies or cookies he should have them in moderation. Pixal does, she’s pretty good at keeping in control around the stuff and rarely has too much but Zane lacks that control; she’s sometimes not happy with that because it’s not healthy for him. She has tried to teach him some control before but hasn’t really had much luck so has largely given up on that effort. She’s told me it’s like trying to teach a dog not to eat bacon or Cole to not touch a cake.” Not liking her comment Cole questioned, “why does everyone always have to pick on my eating habits? Why not Jay or Lloyds for once?”
“Anyone see any evidence of the worm?” Lloyd wondered. None of them could see anything. Jay quickly commented, “how do we even know it’s in here? It might have just lured us to our doom while it chills somewhere safe!”
“If it went into his throat to lure us here then chances are it had gotten swallowed too so it would have to be in here somewhere,” Nya noted and Cole offered grossed by the thought, “or maybe it moved further through his system?”
“That is a possibility,” Nya noted and Kai stammered, “how would we know? I don’t want to end up deeper in his gut!” Jay was quick to add, “and you think I want to; I don’t want to either! I know what happens to stuff like us in here and it isn’t pretty!”
“Are you guys okay? You have been oddly quite. Given the highly dangerous location you are in we were hoping to have heard from you already,” Pixal came through on their communicators startling them and giving Nya an idea. She inquired, “yha we’re fine just trying to figure where this worm went. Hey Pix can you find its signal? If so where is it?”
“It is in his stomach with you,” Pixal proclaimed after a moment’s pause and Nya thanked her for the assist.
“It must be in the fluids somewhere then,” Nya commented and Kai commented eager to get out of there, “then it will get digested there problem solved now let’s get out of here!”
“Zane's system is tough but that will take a while for his system to do, it could take hours. Not to mention metal, plastics and most synthetics are pretty tough for him or anything really to break down much so the worm will get damaged but not really digested much. That damage might not be enough to stop the worm plus his system would need to be active in order to help deliver sufficient damage to the worm. Just sitting in a soup of acids and enzymes isn’t going to be enough to damage it alone and even when active it could take several hours for the worm to receive the needed damages to destroy it,” Nya explained and Lloyd commented, “and in that time it could escape from here and cause damages. We need to personally see it’s destroyed so it can’t hurt him.” They continued to look around unsure what to do.
“How deep are these fluids?” Lloyd wondered feeling unnerved as he looked into them trying to see the worm but unable to see anything. The fluids were dark and relatively opaque making it near impossible to see anything that wasn’t floating on or just below the surface. Jay replied with, “well his stomach looks to be at about a third its max size basically at its resting size but I think the fluids are still deep enough to fully submerge us though as they’re clearly still working on stuff in here…we defiantly don’t want to get submerged in this stuff!”
“If it’s in here then how do we find it without you know…” Cole commented nervously looking into the dark opaque fluids around them. He couldn’t see much in it mainly just bits of bone and beetle shell that he was pretty sure would fall apart when touched in fact one did when he gave it a poke feeling shivers go down his spine and his hair stand on end when he saw it. The fact the bit of bone which he knew should be hard felt squishy like wet bread and even had bits come out of it further unsettled him.
“Getting dissolved into his lunch no I don’t think there is any way!” Jay panicked and thinking Lloyd wondered looking at his sword, “our weapons are much more resistant to getting dissolved maybe we can poke around with them and see if we can find anything.” While not perfect it was the only thing they could think of. They slowly and cautiously began poking around with their weapons in the fluids. The act grossed all of them out and had them feeling rather uncomfortable. They were quite for a while as they searched focussed on the task having to push aside chunks of bone and other materials when they floated close getting unnerved by the action. They were hoping the worm was somewhere close to them and not in the opposite end of Zanes stomach. If it was they hoped that at least maybe their actions would drag the worm towards them so they didn’t have to venture down there. None of them wanted to get that far in his stomach. Occasionally as they worked they ended up stirring up pockets of gas or random non identifiable items which they were guessing were tough scraps from the previous night’s dinner or something else from one of the past few days that he had eaten and were still being worked on along with remaining bits of beetle shell that broke apart when interacted with. The work was grossing and unsettling all of them especially if the fluids or any matter in them got splashed up onto them as they searched which happened more often than they wanted. They spent quite a few minutes searching in quiet before uneasy from the near silence and the noise from their actions Lloyd commented to break the silence, “I guess we should be thankful Zane didn’t have breakfast or it would probably be much grosser in here huh?”
“Yha plus we might not have had as much space in here and would have more fluids and debris to search through at least though we’d still have some space as Zane rarely stuffs himself like Cole. His system has sensors that make him get a full like feeling to prevent unnecessary strain on his system and potential internal damages to nearby components from over expanding his stomach such an act would do. Clearly Zanes synthetic system and programming function better than Coles instincts and body do,” Nya noted and Cole wondered, “hey that’s kind of mean you know… you know I never thought much about it but does Zane have to eat like us? He always does so I never really thought much into it; is that out of necessity or is he just copying us to fit in?”
“Well his body does require a lot of power more than ours to fully function at normal levels after all there is a lot more going on in his body especially his brain than ours and all that needs power and like all things his power source needs a method to restore energy to keep from being depleted and by far his digestive system is the most efficient method to keep it charged plus to keep the symbiotes in his system healthy by feeding them he does need to eat on a regular basis at least once or twice a day like us but he can go a few days without eating if he has to or wants. Also if he has to he can survive longer without food than us but if he is to go without food especially for more than a day he has to take precautions to prevent strain and overworking on his power source. Cautions like shutting down non critical functioning’s, lowering his activity output, and taking more time to rest to conserve energy. Luckily the symbiotes in his system go into a hibernation state when they can’t find food but it’s not healthy for them to remain like that for long,” Nya explained and Lloyd wondered, “if he can feel full can he also feel hungry?”
“Yha he has programming that can give him a sense of hunger making him feel like and think he's hungry just like us; it’s part of the many programmings and functions he has that help him fit in with people. He is capable of shutting this sense off when he wants. He normally has it on as it can help him remember to keep track of his energy levels and output but he often shuts it off during missions to keep it from interfering in his performance,” Nya explained and Kai commented uneasy, “you know that feature of him always kind of unsettled me about him; a robot that can feel hunger and could eat you, really scary when you think of it.”
“Yha but I doubt Zane would ever want to eat us. We’re his family and I doubt he’d ever willingly do anything to hurt us,” Lloyd commented and Jay joked, “willingly is the key word. If push came to shove or he had no control I think yha he may just eat us after all he kind of already has and it wasn’t by his own choosing. You know I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t take much for Cole to eat us; just have no food in the house and he’d probably do it.” Cole was not amused by Jays joke.
“Hey how do we tell when Zanes energy gets low?” Lloyd wondered and Nya explained, “well getting moody and easily irritated is a sign; low energy can cause more sensitive systems like his emotions to function oddly. Getting anxious for what appears like no or odd reasons is another, that’s because when his energy gets low his heart activates his anxiety as a warning signal. He will also clearly be tired. Unfortunately he doesn’t always recognise that these signs mean his energy is getting low. Probably from his time that he mistook that he was human he sometimes mis-interprets or doesn’t recognise these signs for what they are. He normally keeps tabs on his energy levels so we don’t have to worry about it but he does sometimes forget to take note of it and needs reminding to care for himself. If he’s showing signs of low energy just give him something to eat or just notify him of his odd behaviour and he’ll take care of it himself. Don’t do what Kai tried once by trying to charge his heart with the charger for an electric scooter. Zanes body doesn’t use the same format of electricity as those devices so it won’t work and just stresses his heart out. Only the special connectors and chargers we have on the Bounty and in the hanger bay can be used like that for him and we only use those if his or Pix’s energy levels get extremely low. Luckily we haven’t had to use those yet but we still make sure they are properly working by testing them at least once a month just to be safe. Another method that is a bad idea is Jay trying to shock him to give him energy, not only does it stress out his heart but it causes him pain and what Jay does is dangerous for him. It can overload and explode their hearts.”
“Yha that and a few accidents have made Zane nervous when I play with my powers around him. I wouldn’t really blame him though, getting shocked causes him a lot of pain especially to his heart. If I was in his situation I’d probably be feeling the same. Best thing to do when his energy is low is just give him food besides like us I’m pretty sure he likes to eat, I know he loves chicken nuggets especially the ones shaped like dinosaurs; he also loves when he can dip them in oil even though he knows he’s not supposed to do that very often. You know he does often copy things we do even if he doesn’t have to like trying moisturizers or sunscreen on his skin or using our soaps instead of the ones meant for droids to clean himself; I think he copies us with such things to try and better fit in and understand human ways so mimics us with things he normally doesn’t have to or can do to learn,” Jay noted and Kai commented, “so he has been using my body wash, I knew I recognised the smell! That will also explain why I keep going through it so quick.”
“Yha he’s not the only one who has been using it,” Nya noted and Cole defended, “hey I like the smell of it besides Jay has used it too and Lloyd. You and Pix have used it too so you’re not innocent there either. I’ll admit I even used it on the chicken once and I think she liked it even though Zane told me soaps are actually bad to wash birds with unless they get something like oil on their feathers…” Lloyd stirring up some strange item that had gotten stuck on his sword caught their attentions. The item was a solid plastic item bigger than they were at about the average size of a coin in size. It was crushed up and mangled as if having been crushed and ground against other objects and had some minor pitting with what had once been bright colors having been bleached by acid. While hard to recognise what it was there was enough for some of them to recognise what it was.
“Uhm what is this?” Lloyd wondered unsettled and after a moment’s thought Jay offered, “it kind of looks like one of those little plastic dragons we put in ice cubes as a fun decoration for your birthday party three months ago.”
“That’s been in here for three months?!” Kai stammered his anxiety worsened by the sight of the item and Lloyd wondered too confused and unsettled by the item to hear Kai, “and why is it in here?” Jay speculated, “I think he thought they were the same as those candy dragons that were on the cake. I told Cole what they were cause I knew he would eat them if I didn’t tell him but I didn’t think I would need to tell Zane. I thought he’d know better and knew what they were… this will explain why I couldn’t find three of them when we cleaned up; truly I thought Cole had eaten them. This will also mean there are likely two more in here somewhere. Pixal didn’t eat them so why did he?”
“Well they did look a lot like candies and Cole was licking them like they were…” Nya began and Cole defended himself, “hey I was cleaning them. I had been playing around with them on my slice of cake and they got some icing on them so I decided to help clean them plus I didn’t want to waste any of the cake or its icing. It was real good.”
“That’s because it was from a bakery and not made by you,” Jay joked and Nya noted, “given his habit of easily getting confused over human things and the fact Zane often looks to the rest of us for many things like how to behave with certain things and what things are he likely mistook them as candies because of Coles actions and he just drank them with his drink.”
“Didn’t he think to analyse them to find out what they were before eating them?” Cole wondered and Jay guessed, “well since we normally don’t put things in ice cubes, they looked like candies and you were sticking them in your food and licking them like they were candies he probably just assumed they were.” Grossed out and to continue searching Lloyd slowly worked his blade free of the item to let it sit back in the fluids. It just half floated around them.
“I guess next time we’ll have to tell Zane not to eat them even if Cole tries to,” Jay commented and Nya added, “we’re going to have to keep an eye on Zane for a while. If those things are still in here in a month we’re going to have to manually remove them. Given it’s already been in here for three months we’re probably going to have to manually remove them.” Jay added, “I’m not going to look forward to that.” They continued searching grossed out and hoping not to find anything else gross or unsettling in there.
“That pit was from two days ago and the bones were from last night, is it normal for something’s that aren’t made of plastic to still be in here this long?” Lloyd wondered after another period of being quiet not liking the largely silence. There was some noise from Zanes heart and some from their actions but these they felt just made them more uncomfortable and nervous of their situation.
“Yha tougher stuff like bones and this fruit pit can take a few days to fully break down. His system is set to operate at levels comparable to a high metabolism so most of the stuff should have been broken down and moved on within a few hours. This stuff will likely be gone in a day or two,” Nya explained and Cole commented, “I’m pretty sure I don’t want to see what happens to what gets moved on.”
“Yha I wouldn’t want to end up there even though it would be notably safer than being in here. The acid gets diluted after it leaves his stomach so things aren’t as corrosive but you still have all the enzymes and bacteria to deal with that will continue to eat away at you and turn things into a format his system can use. It all wouldn’t be pretty or fun as you get squished and pushed around as you’re moved along his intestines which are a couple inches longer than ours that way he can extract more resources but it means you’d have more of a ways to go to travel to get through and out of them. At least the energy converters wouldn’t hurt you. They line the outside and absorb the materials through the walls of the intestines and don’t intrude with anything dangerous into them; just these small soft rubbery like fibre like structures that make the walls look and feel a bit like those rubber scrubby things you can use in the kitchen for cleaning some things. Anyway they help filter out and absorb the materials the converters need. The converters then use the stuff they get to make energy that he can use which they send straight to his heart which can either store the energy for later or put it into use rate away. There’s lots of these converts lining his intestines, their built into the outer walls of the organ. Their sole job is to convert all sorts of matter into an energy form Zanes heart uses to power everything in his body in order to keep the power outputs from his heart stable and restore used energy to keep his power source from getting drained. As long as you haven’t been dissolved in his stomach they’re not going to do anything to you. You would probably get dehydrated in there though especially in his large intestines. Them and the lowest parts of his small intestines reabsorb and take in any new or pre used parts of the chemicals and enzymes his digestive system uses so they don’t go to waste and can be reused. These are then either stored in special organ like structures for later use or put straight back into use. Those parts of his system also absorbs chemicals that can be used to create his synthetic equivalent to saliva and even his synthetic tears which help prevent the clear stone that coats his eyes from getting scratched up by his eyelids by keeping a layer of liquid on them to prevent friction and scratches along with clearing away dirt and dust from them so they don’t interfere with his vision or hurt his eyes. The whole thing is a very complex and geniusly designed system… when you’re not the one in it and it’s not trying to turn you into lunch! You know he’s kind of lucky it’s so efficient. The design produces a bit less waste than us so he can go a few days usually about three to four without having to use the bathroom unlike us… I defiantly don’t want to end up that far in his system; I’d never be able to get that out of my head!” Jay explained trying to keep his nerves stable.
“How come he can eat bones and motor oil with no problem but if he has more than a single orange in less than 24 hours it makes him unwell?” Lloyd wondered and Nya replied, “it’s the citrus to them. The chemical irritates the materials and sensors in his digestive tract which causes pain and disruptions to his system. A small amount won’t bother him too much just some slight irritations but too much causes quite a bit of problems. It’s kind of unfortunate for him cause he likes Clementine’s but he can only have one every once in a while unless he wants to get sick. Citrus isn’t the only thing that does that. Other things like highly acidic things like pops which disrupt the natural biota of their systems not to mention the acid in pops is citric based, fermented things and certain spices especially hot or strong spices do it too. That’s why Kai’s more than Coles cooking tends to bother him. You use too many strong spices bro.”
“Yha see Kai if it makes Zane sick then you know it’s bad and unsafe,” Jay commented and Kai countered, “you just say that because you don’t like a lot of spice in your food. You think regular barbeque sauce is spicy.” Nya added, “he does have a bit of a point but also just because it hurts Zane doesn’t mean it will hurt us and vice versa. He can sense if something will be dangerous for us but it might not have any effect on him while things that don’t hurt us will hurt him.”
“Is that why he avoids certain things that seem fine yet he’s fine with others that seem dangerous or questionable like wild mushrooms or bad and raw meats that would kill the rest of us?” Lloyd wondered.
“Yha, his system handles certain things better than others. Generally when feeding a droid you feed them more like a dog than a deer; much more meat than plant, be cautious what plant matter you feed them and you don’t have to make things bland but be cautious with how much and what kind of spices you use. Their systems don’t handle a lot of plant based matter very well. A lot of plants use chemicals to defend themselves and these chemicals can irritate the sensors or disrupt the symbiotes in their systems which then irritate the system causing problems and making them sick so they have to be careful with a lot of plant matter. Also while the materials will get dissolved and broken down they don’t always get broken down enough for Zane or other droids to make anything from them. The cell walls of many plant based things are too tough for their systems to efficiently break them down enough to properly use them; it also takes more energy and time for them to process the stuff. To efficiently use plant matter they would need a much longer and more complex system which would be very inefficient and not fit their bodies design taking much more space and power and they would also need very unique bacteria and enzymes which aren’t cheap and are quite sensitive making them harder to work with and maintain. That’s why Zane generally sticks to mainly common fruits and certain vegetables along with rice or wheat based items if he is to have something from plants. They’re the easiest and safest ones for him to use. Most others he can’t do or use so to avoid problems he avoids them. He has no problems with animal based products though no matter what they are from. They don’t have the chemicals plants have and their cells are easier to break apart so they’re much easier to process so he has no problems fully breaking them down and he can get far more resources to make energy from them. Only things like horns, claws, teeth and hair are too tough for him to process. Plus he’s exposed to animal sources more frequently thanks to the strange obsession insects have with getting in his face which often causes them to get eaten. Zane doesn’t find that very pleasant. He told me once it’s not a pleasant feeling and can hurt a bit especially from bigger insects or those with decorative features or stingers,” Nya explained and Cole commented, “can you blame him I doubt that’s pleasant. Having a live insect buzzing and crawling down your throat or in your stomach can’t be a pleasant feeling especially when they have like horns and spines on them or are equipped with pinchers, stingers and claws.”
“Yha he’s gotten scratches in his throat from a few of them before so it defiantly can’t be very pleasant. You know it’s kind of funny you say feeding him is like feeding a dog cause he sometimes reminds me of a dog or cat… I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t like to hear me say that considering I once commented to him that he has the eyes of a hawk and he was stuck confused for hours trying to figure out what I meant and why I would compare his eyes to those of a bird,” Jay added.
“You know I’m not finding anything are we sure it’s still in here?” Kai blurted out having his eyes closed as he pretended to search just dragging and poking his sword randomly around in the fluids around them. He had spent the last ten to twenty minutes as they searched with his eyes closed only opening them to see what Lloyd had pulled up with his sword before tightly closing his eyes again. He was not wanting to see where he was anymore too unnerved by where he was and what they were doing to have his eyes open.
“How can you tell when you’re not even looking? You’re eyes are closed,” Jay chastised and Kai replied opening his eyes, “how come you’re not freaked out over where we are?! I’d expect you to be panicking even more than me! We’ve been in here for well over half an hour possibly a whole hour by now surrounded by the highly dangerous digestive fluids that could completely dissolve us of a droid which a dangerous robotic worm which can hack Zane and cause him to digest us is hiding in and could spring up at any time to drag us to our doom! Not to mention there’s a chance we could end up deeper in his gut and I don’t want to go in there! This would normally have you all crazy panicked how are you not panicking?!”
“You don’t think I’m panicking! I’m on the edge of losing it but I’m holding it together to help my friend, my brother. I don’t want him to be torn apart by evil cyber worms besides it wasn’t his fault we ended up in here. It was that worm using him as its puppet! Also Zane can’t help it if his guts are like something you’d expect to find in a monster it’s just his nature, how he is, and I just have to accept it even if it has me freaked out! Besides I wouldn’t change him no matter what, I like him the way he is so why should I mess with who and what he is just because it scares me. If he wants to eat bones like some sort of scavenger than that’s up to him it’s his body after all and as long as it isn’t hurting him I won’t complain. Besides it’s not as bad as some of Coles bad eating habits,” Jay proclaimed trying to keep from losing it. Cole was not pleased that his habits were being questioned again and commented, “hey what’s so bad about my habits?”
“Well for one no cake or other baked good is safe around you even when it’s not yours, you don’t care if something fell on the floor or even the ground you’ll still eat it even if there’s dirt leaves pine needles or other things on it, you’ll eat things even if they are out of date and going bad. Zane does that too, his system can actually destroy most pathogens and harmful bacteria, plus he’ll eat raw dough like you, I think he likes the taste and texture of them when they’re raw more than cooked sometimes, but his system can safely handle those and it won’t make him sick unlike ours, not to mention how about the time you ate those pebbles cause you thought they were fruits… twice within a week of each other,” Jay commented and Cole defended himself, “hey it wasn’t entirely my fault! It was a community garden and they said anyone could have what they wanted. Besides who in their right minds shapes and paints rocks to look like berries?!”
“According to Zane it’s a trick you can use to keep birds and other animals from eating all the berries from your garden. It makes them think the berries are rocks so they won’t take them from your plants,” Lloyd stated and Nya added, “it apparently works on Cole too though I doubt the animals actually eat the rocks like he did.” Cole commented in defence, “well I learned my lesson and know that now. Make sure their actually berries before eating them, especially if you’re going to swallow them whole. That was a very unpleasant experience.”
“You know why don’t we just let Jay shock this place to fry that worm and make it quicker to get out of here?” Kai offered cutting in getting more on edge from the location they were in and wanting to get out of there as fast as possible and Lloyd wondered not having found anything, “do you think that could work?”
“Again you’d probably just end up getting us all shocked,” Nya noted and Cole added, “yha and I’ve been shocked by you before and it isn’t pleasant.” Jay defended himself by stating, “that was an accident and I’ve said sorry every time I’ve accidently shocked anyone. You know shocking the thing could work and we might be safe where we are. Most of what’s in here isn’t conductive… at least I don’t think they are?”
“Come on let’s just give it a try?” Kai pleaded and Lloyd noted, “it’s three against two.” After a moment Nya stated, “fine we could try but keep the volts low and be careful.” Jay wasted no time in directing a blast of lightening into the fluids. Just as others had cautioned however the rest of them including Zane got shocked. Jay wasn’t immune to his own attack shocking himself causing him to stop his attack. Seeing he had ended up hurting everyone he quickly apologised. With electricity reaching into his body it caused Zanes stomach to temporarily activate causing it to constrict and relax a couple times before stopping again. This caused things to get sloshed around and smack into each other including the items they were sheltering on. They managed to stay on the items they had chosen to float on though some of the fluids splashed up on them with the one getting the worst splash being Kai. A large splash ended up washing over Kai coating him entirely in the digestive fluids and dropping a few miniature pieces of nearly fully digested debris on him which slowly slid off him. Kai was left so stunned and shocked he was just crouched looking blankly at himself and the debris dripping off himself. The others were made nervous and disgusted by the fluids touching them but Cole felt some amusement from Kais predicament. Everyone else was just grossed out.
“What just happened? It looked like Zane got shocked,” Wu came through on their communicators. Lloyd responded, “that was just Jay screwing up.”
“Okay that didn’t work… Nya what about your powers? Maybe you can work this liquid around to help us see what’s in it?” Jay inquired and Nya responded a bit angry from being shocked, “this stuff isn’t water Jay it’s acid and various other liquids.”
“Is there any water in him?” Cole wondered and Jay responded, “kind of. Technically water isn’t as essential for him to live as us so he can go without it far longer than we can but to help balance out and restore some chemicals in his body and to help the health of the symbiotes in him plus maintain moisture in certain synthetic organs like his guts and to help remove waste in this system plus he needs them to help create things like his synthetic tears he has to drink water based fluids a couple times a week. Any excess water and if he has too much in his body he can remove kind of like us. Again he can go several days without having to do that though, must be nice to not have to use the bathroom everyday nor to wet yourself when too scared… I mean yha he usually only has to remove excess water every few days. This way also allows him to reuse excess water if he hasn’t had water based liquids in a while and cannot get access to any. He had iced tea last night so I thought there might still be some form of water in here.”
“That wouldn’t be in here anymore and if was in here it would be broken down and not really water anymore besides even if I can affect this stuff I don’t want to risk playing with it. It’s too dangerous,” Nya explained and Lloyd wondered, “aside from diving in this stuff which I’m pretty sure we don’t want to do then what are we going to do?” Before they could make a move the worm they were looking for lunged out of the fluids behind Jay and tackled him off the pit and into the small space between where they all floated in the fluids the two disappearing in it. The action caused the fluids to slosh around a bit rocking the items they were sheltering on before settling back down.
“Jay!” Nya exclaimed and Cole commented, “look at that looks like it found us!” They looked around trying to see any sign of where Jay was Nya stating, “we need to get him out of there fast!”
“And how are we going to do that!” Cole commented before Jay came back up in a panic trying to make his way onto the pit clearly having been in a fight. Nya went to help him but the worm came back up and constricted around him to pull him back down into the fluids. Nya quickly stabbed her trident where the worm went down hoping to hit the worm. She didn’t hit anything frustrating her. When Jay came up again he was close to Cole this time. Cole tried to help Jay but there wasn’t enough space on the bit of bone he’d chosen for Jay to get up on. He tried to help Jay over to another bit of bone for him to get onto but the worm intervened to try and drag Jay down again. When the worm came up to grab him again using his lava arms Cole punched the worm in the head breaking off the one side of the pinchers which fell into the digestive fluids. The creature shot out the blade in its head and attempted to stab at Cole. While trying to dodge the worms stab Cole lost balance on the bit of bone and fell into the fluids. With him knocked over the worm then wrapped back around Jay and pulled him back under causing things to get sloshed around again.
“That thing really has something against Jay!” Lloyd commented and Cole stated climbing back up onto the bit of bone he had been using, “well he did shock everything. I bet that felt worse for that thing than for us.” Jay came back up again by Kai and Lloyd this time proclaiming, “why aren’t you all helping me! It’s getting very tiring fighting this thing, I’m pretty sure it’s trying to hold me in this stuff till I become lunch!”
“And you think we want to end up becoming lunch too!” Kai stammered too terrified to do much as Lloyd tried to help Jay up onto the bone with them. The worm was quick to burst back up and went to stab at Jay. Quickly Lloyd intervened and swiped his sword to intervene with the blade. He swiped with such force he cut the worms blade off near its base the blade falling into the fluids. In fear of the worm and falling or getting knocked into the digestive fluids Kai stabbed his sword as deep he could into the worms body with as much force as he could. Lloyd continued to hit the worm working on cutting through the skin in order to more easily reach its interior while Jay climbed up onto the bone some pieces of bone breaking off as he climbed up. To escape the attacks the worm pulled back and dove into the fluids taking Kai who was too scared and stunned by everything to let go of his sword which was stuck in the machine with it.
“Kai!” Nya exclaimed and Lloyd wondered, “why didn’t he let go of the sword?” They all just stared at the fluids as they settled back down trying to see where the worm and Kai had gone. After nearly a minute and no sign of the worm or Kai they began to worry. Kai couldn’t swim and even though his mask would protect his face from being harmed by Zanes digestive fluids and he wouldn’t drown thanks to the mask and the oxygen tanks attached to it he still wasn’t going to last long in the fluids as the rest of his body had nothing to protect it from them.
“What are we going to do? Kai’s not going to survive long in there,” Nya exclaimed and Lloyd commented, “not to mention he can’t swim so I don’t think he’ll be able to get out on his own!” Even though they wanted to help him none were brave enough to get into the fluids to help him. Seeing no one was daring to jump into the fluids to go after Kai, since he had the fluids and digested matter already on him and was worked up with adrenaline from fighting the worm and being in and coated in the dangerous fluids Jay braved up and dove back into it proclaiming, “don’t worry Kai I’ll help you.” The others just floated there for a minute looking for any sign of Kai, Jay or the worm all on edge and wondering if they should dive in to help too but too scared to risk entering the fluids. After a couple seconds they could see some light appear in the dark fluids emitting from somewhere deep in it and some minor electric sparks danced across the surface of the fluids with the light. The light and shocking then disappeared and a few seconds later Kai and Jay then resurfaced by the peach pit. Jay helped hold up and drag Kai who was rigid in a state of shock and barely doing anything. He was just still tightly clinging to his sword which had been pulled out of the worm. Nya helped Jay and Kai onto the pit Jay stating, “I managed to give that thing a direct shock.”
“Did you finish it off?” Nya wondered. Once the two were on the pit the worm jumped up onto the pit with them trying to sink it into the fluids and knock them off it making Jay stammer, “apparently not!” He and Nya wasted no time in attacking the worm. Kai was too stunned to say or do anything just staring at the worm. Jay hit it several times with his nunchucks sending small bits of electricity with each attack briefly stunning the worm with each hit. Nya took several stabs at its head steadily creating and deepening a gouge in its synthetic skin then metal interior. Sensing they were getting close to destroying it the worm started to try and back up. Terrified of the thing getting away and dragging him back into the fluids Kai quickly rushed over and stabbed strait into its brain with more force than he realized he could muster shutting it down. Once dead they stopped their attacks Nya and Jay having to hold Kai and pry his sword out of the things head to keep him from being pulled into the fluids as the worm slid off the pit and sunk into Zanes digestive fluids the pit returning to floating. They all just remained where they were for a minute settling down Kai still staring at where the worm went and shaking terribly.
“Okay, three down and one to go,” Jay commented and with his voice cracking a bit and still in shock Kai stammered, “can we now get out of here?! I’m going to have nightmares about this for weeks!”
“Yha just give us a minute and we’ll get Pixal to help us out of here,” Nya commented still worked up and on edge but slowly calming down from the fight. Kai then commented still in his shocked state, “why am I getting this tingling burning feeling to my skin?”
“Yha I’m getting the same thing, it’s Zanes digestive fluids they’re starting to eat away at us! They’re turning us into his lunch!” Jay began to panic. They were all grossed out and unnerved by Jays comment as they too could feel the same feelings on parts of their bodies that had gotten the fluids on them. Lloyd didn’t waste time to contacted Pixal, “we got the worm you can get us out now and we’re going to need a bit of a cleaning.” Pixal wasted no time in working to get them out. It took a few minutes as she had to move things in order to access his stomach and carefully disconnected it from its connection to his throat a special connector just before the entrance to his stomach in his throat. She was careful not to move things too much or change orientations much not wanting to endanger them by sloshing things around causing them to fall into the fluids or get hit by things. Using the computer she opened the entrance to his stomach and pulled them out using some tools before placing them in a dish of water set up on the table holding the work supplies to let them clean up. While they cleaned up she put everything back to normal and back to their resting state. It took Kai a few minutes to settle enough to start relaxing; Nya had kept hitting him with water trying to snap him out of his state.
“I’ll never be able to un-see all that!” was the first thing Kai said after a while of silence. While they cleaned up Pixal put everything back together in Zane and fixed the final damages she had to work on. After cleaning up a bit to get all traces of the digestive fluids off them Wu helped them out of the bowl and placed them on a towel on the same table to dry themselves off.
“Have you been able to find the last worm?” Lloyd wondered and Pixal noted closing Zane up leaving only the port for access to his heart open, “no, it is somehow hiding itself very well. Every now and then I have picked up its signal and it seems to be hanging in his chest largely on the left side. That does not bode well. His heart is in that area. It luckily has not caused any damages yet but that makes me worry it is up to something.”
“And given where it is hanging I don’t think it intends anything good,” Nya noted as she Lloyd, and Jay inspected the worms Pixal had removed from Zanes shoulder and lung trying to find out more about them. They were going to leave the one in his stomach as it was already damaged, would eventually make its way out of his body without aid and it was unlikely to cause any harm or complications in its state; if it didn’t make it out on its own in a months’ time they could take it out when they likely would have to remove the plastic dragons that seemed to be stuck in there.
“Have you figured out anymore about these worms?” Nya wondered and Wu replied, “not much. There is something about them that gives an aura of familiarity. Something with their workings and programming is familiar.”
“Indeed plus these worms are operating on their own and not being controlled; they are however sending signals to somewhere else but the signal is encrypted and will take a few hours to decode where it is being sent. That could help us find who made and sent them,” Pixal regaled.
“Whoever made these things clearly is no friend to us and wants to see us suffer,” Jay commented before they got a notification on the bays computers that someone was at the monasteries doors. Given it was late evening they were all curious. It seemed odd someone would be dropping by at that time.
“Who’s at the door?” Lloyd wondered and Cole offered, “did you order in some dinner for us when we’re done? I could really go for some. Hopefully you got double desert too I could use it after all this.” Kai was quick to comment, “Seriously! We nearly just ended up becoming food and all you can think about is food!” Jay was in agreement with Kai.
“No we have not ordered anything, I will go see who is there and what they want,” Wu stated and Pixal noted, “we will continue to work here.” Wu headed off leaving the rest of them there. They continued to work trying to figure out where the worm was and getting a look at the worms they had pulled out.
“Well we could always go back in and do some exploring to find this thing,” Lloyd noted and Kai quickly stated, “and risk getting into a trap that ends with us in his stomach again! No thank you!”
“That could be a possibility but I think the chances we’ll end up there again slim. Given where this thing is hanging I think it is seeking to go after his heart,” Nya noted and Jay wondered, “why do you think it hasn’t gone after his heart yet?”
“I am not sure. Considering they could have easily and simply have just destroyed him why did they instead cause random damages that largely caused pain and harm instead? It all seems odd and makes me worried over what this worm has planned,” Pixal stated and Cole wondered, “you know how did Zane even get these worms?”
“We searched the memory data of the first one we found and it did not reveal much. These things became activated when in the yard already by the looks of which from after being thrown over the wall though we can find no evidence of by who or exactly when they ended up in the yard. We can only identify when they became active. They were activated around two in the morning while we were all asleep where they made their way to Zanes room and hacked him in order for him to let open the hatch over his heart so they could climb into his body and begin their work,” Pixal explained and Jay wondered, “wouldn’t Zane have been aware of their actions when they hacked him?”
“It is hard to tell. I have gotten better with showing him how to identify when being hacked and ways to try and counter it but there are still things he has trouble with. As far as I can tell he does not seem to have been aware that he was being hacked,” Pixal noted and Kai wondered surprised, “wait he doesn’t realise when he’s being hacked?”
“Again this is some of that not knowing how to be a droid thing and confusion from when he thought he was just human issue. It wasn’t till Pixal started helping him with it that he learned he could actually do something about it and not just fall victim to it,” Nya explained and Jay regaled, “yha I remember the one time when we were working at Darkley’s which became Wu’s school teaching and some of the kids found a way to hack him and make him fall asleep so they could get out of class and play instead of learning. What they did wasn’t too complex and should have been so easy for him to counter but he didn’t know how to. That’s when me and Nya set it up so only those with the correct codes could connect anything to him and do anything with him that way no one could mess with him. It works quite well though if someone is really determined and has good enough skills they can bypass these codes and still hack him like Ronin did once.”
“You don’t think Ronin could have done this could he?” Kai wondered and Nya noted, “I don’t think so. These things don’t seem like something Ronin would make besides why would he want to hurt Zane? He has no interest or reason to do so,” and Jay added, “yha if anything Ronin should have reason to fear Zane. Zane hasn’t forgotten Ronin hacking him and I don’t think he’s ever paid him back for that.”
“Yha but Zanes not super vengeful and Ronin really didn’t do much harm to him so I don’t think Zane feels the need to get back at him for that,” Cole noted and Kai wondered, “then who could have done this?”
“Well for starters obviously someone who knows about the anatomy of droids,” Jay noted and Lloyd wondered, “who would know about that?”
“Not many would, it’s not really a common knowledge. A robotics specialist would know but there isn’t many of those and outside Cyrus Borg who wouldn’t do this we know none who would have a reason to do this, of course we all know…” Nya began getting cut off by Kai who still shaken mumbled, “yha a lot more than some of us are comfortable with now. I felt better not knowing what is inside him and how it all works.”
“Okay,” Jay stated and Nya continued, “outside that I don’t know. Zanes very guarded over who knows about his anatomy and we don’t let others know that way the wrong kinds of people can’t find ways to hurt him or Pix like this or do worse things to them. It’s better the public is left in mystery about it.”
“You should hear some of the strange hypothesizes a lot of people especially kids come up with to explain how Zane works and what powers him; a lot of them think it’s some sort of magic or we feed him some sort of robot feed made from oil like he’s some sort of animal… some people though get a little creepy with it thinking we do some dark ritual sacrificing criminals to give him power, I think those individuals spend too much time playing certain video games. They also think he can do weird things like shoot lazers from his eyes or shoot rockets from his arms. He can’t do any of that. Droids are much more human like than other robots plus I don’t think Zane would want anything like that. He prefers being more like those of flesh and blood than some machine,” Jay noted and Lloyd wondered, “then who could have done this?”
“Again it will likely take time to figure that out,” Pixal noted and Cole wondered, “was their hacking just to get inside him or did they do anything else to him?”
“Luckily none of his programming has been touched. They just hacked him to operate the hatch and to paralyse him so he couldn’t move or make a sound so he could not get help. They even hindered his ability to connect to me. They left all his sensors and senses active however so he could feel the pain they were giving him while he could do nothing to stop it,” Pixal explained and Cole expressed, “that’s incredibly cruel.” They all felt angry that someone would do something so cruel to their brother.
“Yha it is. Defiantly whoever did this likely isn’t and would never consider us friends,” Kai stated then Lloyd began, “indeed you know it’s probably best if we…” He was cut off by Wu contacting them to hurriedly say, “Pixal lock down the hanger bay.”
“Why?” Pixal inquired confused and Wu stated, “some thugs are here to…” Wu’s end then cut off.
“What’s going on?” Lloyd wondered worried while Pixal checked the computers.
“It would seem whoever implanted these worms in Zane wants to interfere and stop our work,” Pixal explained before the computers gave her a warning about Zane.
“Now what’s going on?” Cole wondered and Pixal quickly explained, “it seems this worm was waiting for a distraction to make its move. It is attempting to cut through the back of the casing to get at his heart!” They were all worried.
“What do we do?!” Jay panicked. Keeping relatively calm to think things through Pixal did some work on the computer before coming over to them.
“I and Wu will deal with the thugs you will deal with the worm,” Pixal explained picking them up and Cole stated, “sounds like a plan.”
“While I’m gone to keep you all safe I will close you into Zanes chest. Given your size it will be safest if you remain in his body till we return no matter what. When it is safe I will contact you,” Pixal explained as she let them down onto the casing for Zanes heart and Kai noted, “yha cause being this size we could easily get stepped on and squished.” Once they were placed in his chest Pixal closed up the port accessing the area near his heart and they made their way to get the worm. In order to reach behind the casing they had to detach and move one of Zanes synthetic muscles to access the interior cavity of his chest. Being careful not to disrupt any of the wires or his synthetic lung that were in the cavity in that area they quickly made their way to the back of his heart remaining as quiet as possible hoping to catch the worm by surprise. The worm was occupied using the blade in its head to scratch at the solid metal plating of the back of the casing trying to cut into it. It was leaving a scratch that was slowly getting deeper as it worked. They wasted no time in ambushing the worm. Jay and Cole who activated his lava arms to increase his grip strength grabbed its body to try and restrain it while the others worked on cutting into it to reach its inner workings to damage them. The moment they contacted the worm it switched attention from attacking the casing of Zanes heart to them. It sheathed its blade and attempted to pinch them to free itself. It didn’t take them long to take the worm down Nya and Kai both landing blows in its head while Lloyd stabbing it in its power source.
“Last one down,” Cole commented while Nya and Jay inspected the casing for Zanes heart to access the damage.
“It didn’t do much damage did it?” Lloyd inquired and Nya declared, “just some scratches it luckily didn’t get far.”
“That’s good,” Lloyd stated and Kai offered to fix the scratches. Using his powers getting them as hot as he could he welded the cuts made by the worm shut. Once he was done Kai wondered, “okay now that is done and the last of these worms are taken out what do we do?”
“Well Pixal said to wait for her contact,” Nya noted and Cole wondered, “maybe we could make it easier for her and try to get this worm thing to somewhere easier to reach it? It’s kinda heavy but we might be able to do it if we work together.”
“I guess we could…” Lloyd began before they found themselves being tumbled around as Zane was sat up and moved about. They tried to grab things in order to stabilize themselves but everything happened so fast they were unable to grab anything in time and found themselves getting knocked out from their tumbles…
Wu and Pixal found themselves coming too in different parts of the monastery. Wu was in the one hall while Pixal was in the recreation room. Though they had tried to fend off the thugs but they had been outnumbered and gotten knocked out during the fight. When he came too Wu met Pixal in the recreation room and helped her up.
“What happened?” she wondered as they looked around and Wu regaled, “one of those thugs was pretending to be someone from the power company wanting to check the meter. When I tried to shoo him away telling him the meters had just been checked last week he refused and when I tried to close the doors on him I was jumped by his pals. Some of them got past me saying their employer was not going to let us interfere anymore.”
“They were trying to get into the hanger bay; I think they were after Zane. One of them surprised me with a taser,” Pixal explained. They wasted no time in heading into the bay. When they got there their suspicions were confirmed. Zane was no longer there which meant the others weren’t either. Pixal immediately headed over to the computer to search for Zanes internal tracker in hopes to pick up where they could have been taken but was unable to find the signal.
“This is not good,” Wu noted and Pixal explained, “no it is not. We are not helpless though since all damages were repaired in case something was to happen I set up Zanes systems to re-calibrate and reboot so he should wake up when that is done. Hopefully once awake he will be able to find a way to escape or at least help us find him. I will keep searching in the meantime.”
“What about the others? Where are they? They will not fare too well against those thugs at the size of ants,” Wu wondered and Pixal replied, “I placed them back in Zanes chest to deal with the last worm and closed it up after they were in to keep them safe and hidden. As long as they do not do anything to reveal their presence whoever took them might not know they are there keeping them safe. They might even be able to help Zane escape.”…
“What happened?” Jay wondered as they all started to come too. All were confused and a bit roughed up from their tumbles. They had all ended up scattered through Zanes chest and upper abdomen caught up in wires and the tubes of his cooling system. Kai was pretty sure by the color, sounds coming from, the markings that were displaying in the material and the slow steady movement which he was unsettled to feel was kind of relaxing of the synthetic material he had found himself laying on he felt he had landed on some part of Zanes digestive system most likely his stomach. He didn’t want to know for sure he was just thankful he was on the outside of it and not in it; he was very unsettled by where he had landed. They weren’t sure how long they had been out but they were guessing it had been a while. They could see it appeared Zanes systems had all been turned back on. This had made the inside of his body much noisier than before with sounds from his breathing, his digestive tract and cooling system now joining the sound of his heart. It was also warmer in his body now that systems were on and their functioning was creating heat.
“I’m not sure, I think he was moved,” Nya suggested as they all cautiously got themselves free from where they had found themselves trying to not damage anything and made their way out of the interior cavity of Zanes body before climbing over to congregate on the casing for Zanes heart under his skin being careful not to touch or disturb his heart or the various major wires that came out of it to curve back into his internal body cavity and his internal skeleton which spread the power from his heart to all components of his body. By the orientation of what they could feel as up and down they were guessing Zane had been sat up.
“Sounds like everything is functioning again; does that mean he is awake?” Lloyd wondered and Nya stated, “I don’t know. If we had some way to contact him we could see if he responds.” They all looked at Kai who was confused and unsettled that they were all looking at him.
“What? Why are you looking at me?!” Kai questioned and Jay stated holding a hand out, “hand it over.”
“Hand what over?” Kai wondered and Cole commented, “we all know you always have your phone on you mister addicted to social media. We could use it rate now so hand it over.” Kai was not happy with it but took his phone out of a pouch on his attire and handed it over to Jay who gave it to Nya who had no problem getting into it making Kai wonder aloud, “hey wait how do you know my password when I haven’t told you it yet?”
“I’m your sister; you told me it already besides it’s really not hard to guess your password when you use the same one for everything. Anyone can log onto your stuff with ease when you just have the one,” Nya commented as she worked on the phone and Jay agreed, “yha mister Fiyah451 and 3173 in place of fire plus 11 for numbered codes. You know how easy it is to hack your accounts and mess around with things; it’s too easy.”
“Wait a minute it was you then who changed the language on my phone to serpentine; do you know how long it took me to get it set back to normal! I can’t read that language and Zane refused to help thinking it a good punishment for having such a simple predictable passwords… are you also the one who bought the 12 1 litre bottles of dog shampoo, 2 gallons of moustache wax, 10 various animal plushies, full head pigeon head mask and a maids outfit in my size that came with the note ‘for when doing your chores fire-boy’ on my ninjazon account!” Kai exclaimed remembering a strange package he had once received that he didn’t recall buying though somehow had been bought through his account late at night. He had just chalked it up to staying up too late one night after having the wrong kind of drink and surfing the web but he could never recall doing it just confusing him.
“Hey, it wasn’t just me. Cole was in on it too plus Zane. He thought it might teach you to pick a less obvious and get some diversity in your passwords,” Jay defended himself while Lloyd asked Nya who had connected the phone to Zanes communication circuits and sent a message directly to his brain, “anything?”
“No, I think he’s asleep,” Nya suggested and Cole wondered, “if he’s asleep then what moved him and why are his systems active?”
“I think as a safety precaution Pixal might have started his body back up so he could defend himself but I don’t think he’s fully booted up yet. I don’t know what moved him but I know how we could hear what’s going on out there,” Nya stated and after some work they could suddenly hear what Zane was hearing and Nya explained, “there I’ve connected our communicators to Zanes hearing so we can hear what his audio input sensors are picking up.” They listened in for a second hearing someone ranting about as they termed those meddling ninja interfering with their hard work and wondering how they had damaged the worms in the way they had. They couldn’t figure out how they had delivered such small but efficient cuts to destroy the worms that the individual had spent months working on. The person was real angry and upon hearing their voice they all instantly recognised who the voice belonged to.
“The Mechanic, we should have known he would be behind this,” Kai noted and Jay agreed, “yha, he has an annoying fascination with trying to tear Zane apart. Figures he’d want to cause Zane pain while destroying him after all he likes to call Zane the pain all the time.”
“This should have been easy. They get in tear him apart from the inside making sure it is as painful as possible then pierce that thing he has for a heart and destroy him for good! Somehow those pesky ninja have taken out every single one of my worms…” the mechanic was ranting and what they were guessing was one of his henchman stated, “but they had only taken three out of him and there is two still inside him.”
“They may still be inside him but they aren’t working anymore. They’ve been destroyed,” the Mechanic chastised this henchman who responded with, “oh I thought you meant taken out as removed from his body not destroyed… my bad.”
“You know I think this thing is starting to wake up, what do you want us to do with it?” another henchman questioned before they could hear Zane question clearly not fully awake or aware yet, “where am I? What is going on? Why am I not wearing a shirt?” They found it weird to hear Zanes voice from inside his body which made it sound a bit different than what they were used to along with through their communicators.
“So Zane the pain you wake up to have miraculously escaped the doom I had planned for you thanks to your rotten friends but I will make sure you do not escape this time,” the Mechanic declared and clearly unaware of anything that had happened to him Zane inquired, “what are you talking about?”
“You see this you talking scrap heap. I had five of these worms find their way into you last night while you slept where they were slowly working to painfully tear you apart for all the pain you’ve caused me before they would finish you off,” the Mechanic regaled to which they were guessing he was showing Zane one of the worms and Zane noted surprised and scared, “what?!”
“Yha and they would have succeeded if your meddling friends hadn’t somehow intervened. I don’t know how they did it but they destroyed every single one of my worm bots and saved you but I am going to make sure I have the last laugh. I’m going to fix these up and send them back in to complete the job then once you have been removed without you around to detect my little creations I will move on and get your friends. I’ll probably have to take out your female pal as well then I can move on to your fleshy pals. I have similar worms that will sneak into your monastery and inject them with the most painful venom I could find that will over a few hours slowly and painfully destroy them as well,” the Mechanic declared and clearly both worried and angry Zane questioned, “why would you do this? We haven’t done anything to deserve this.”
“On the contrary Zane the Pain you and your friends have been nothing but pains in my side for a long time; all my troubles, all the times you’ve ruined plans on me, all the times I’ve been locked up it’s all your faults…” the Mechanic proclaimed getting cut off by Zane who rather calmly stated clearly thinking logically, “I think if you look it is not our doing that has led to your troubles. It is your own doing for going along and aiding the wrong kinds of people, your own choices and actions and your lack of foresight and acceptance to the consequences of your own actions that have led to your ill circumstances. All we have ever done is make sure you receive the proper repercussions for your actions which often brought harm to those innocent of any wrong doing.” By the shock they all got after Zane stopped speaking they were guessing as a punishment for offering his insight the Mechanic either personally or got one of his minions to shock Zane from something in order to silence him.
“I think we need to remind Zane even if he’s right to watch what he says around crazy people… especially when their evil and have captured you,” Jay commented after the shock. The others were in agreement.
“Think what you want metal man but you won’t change my mind. I’ll take out you then your friends and then I’ll finally be free to do as I want without the likes of you interfering,” the Mechanic declared before stating to his henchman, “take him to a random room and dump him there for the time being while I fix these worms. Make sure he has no access to the outside and I don’t care how big it is. It can be a broom closet for all I care and Zane the pain try all you want to try and contact for help. I’ve shut off any means for your friends to find you or for you to call for help; might as well accept your fate.” They could feel Zane struggling a bit before stopping telling them he was likely tied up and had made a failed attempt to get free. They could tell by his heart and breathing rate that Zane was scared. They couldn’t blame him. Zane had no clue what had been going on and likely didn’t know they were there. He probably thought he was alone, had no way to escape or call for help and was facing a cruel doom. By the sounds Zane was stuck on a chair and being rolled to wherever they were going to place them. Whoever was locking him in the room at least they could hear were not being mean to Zane largely telling him they had nothing personal against him it was just part of their job. They heard a door close and after a couple seconds they heard Zane mumble to himself, “this is not good.”
“What are we going to do? The Mechanic has a plan to destroy all of us, he’s kidnapped Zane who we are stuck in and currently stuck at the size of ants!” Jay began to panic but thinking quickly and calmly Lloyd wondered, “can we contact Wu or Pixal through our communicators or Kais phone?”
“No because we are inside him and for our communicators to work while in him they are routed through Zanes workings so whatever they are doing to block Zanes ability for them to contact or locate us is affecting us as well. It’s also affecting Kais phone because it’s inside him plus due to its shrunken size it has a very poor signal. I doubt it can reach anything outside Zanes body no matter how hard we try,” Nya explained and Lloyd then wondered, “is there any way we can at least talk to Zane? Maybe we can somehow work this out together.”
“Give me a minute and I’ll see what I can do,” Nya stated working on Kais phone. The moment she was done Lloyd communicated to Zane, “Zane can you hear me?”
“Lloyd is that you?” Zane wondered and Lloyd replied, “yha buddy it’s me.”
“Wait the Mechanic said he was blocking any way of you contacting me… is this some cruel trick by him?” Zane questioned and Jay babbled, “serious you think we’d trick you?”
“Uh you and Kai have a tendency to sometimes mess with him when things are serious,” Cole noted and Nya stated, “boys you can talk about this later… trust us Zane it’s us.”
“How are you able to contact me then?” Zane wondered and Nya replied, “the Mechanic has only blocked your internal gps and your ability to contact others but he isn’t preventing others from contacting you by hacking directly into your brain. Sorry about doing that but it was the only way we could communicate to you.”
“That is okay you are just doing it to help me so I am not bothered by that. How did you find me?” Zane inquired and Jay stated with a laugh, “you wouldn’t believe us even if we told you.”
“Are you the ones who hacked my hearing? That is what woke me up, being hacked especially having my senses hacked without my permission I find uncomfortable and very threatening,” Zane noted and Nya comforted, “don’t worry Zane that was just us. We meant no harm.”
“Yha buddy you weren’t responding so we just wanted to see what was going on around you; you know in case you were in danger plus to see who got you. We should have guessed the Mechanic was behind all this,” Kai declared and Zane responded, “I am fine with that then.” They could hear from his heart and breathing that hearing them and knowing he wasn’t alone was calming Zane.
“Zane do you have any clue where we are? Where did they put us?” Lloyd inquired and looking around Zane replied, “I have no clue, it is a small room… most likely a broom closet like they said. It seems they took the Mechanics instructions as literal.”
“Are you able to do anything to get free or can you see anything to help us get out of here?” Lloyd inquired and Zane noted, “I have been tied to an office chair using a rope. They have tied me so my arms are pinned against my body so I cannot move them and they have tied up my legs so I cannot move them either. As for the room the only thing I can see that could potentially hold something to help me get free is a locker against the one wall but there is nothing I can do to investigate it… wait you said us. What do you mean by us? Are you trapped somewhere in the building too?”
“You could say that,” Cole responded before silencing his communicator for a moment so Zane couldn’t hear to ask the others, “should we tell him?”
“Might as well it is kind of important. We’re going to need him to get us all safely out of here,” Lloyd told the others silencing his communicator for a moment. Jay then stated to Zane, “you will probably have a hard time understanding this pal but we’re inside you. We’ve been chilling by your heart the past while.”
“What do you mean? The interior of my body is no place for living organic beings such as yourselves to be in. There are many parts that are highly dangerous to your kind. Not to mention at your size there is no way you could fit inside me... is this some idiom or saying I do not understand?” Zane wondered looking at himself confused. Jay replied, “no pal I’m not joking you we’re literally inside you watch I’ll give you a shock as proof. Sorry about this everyone I’ll try to keep this low.” To give Zane proof of what he was saying Jay gave Zane a small shock which gave a minor shock to everyone else. Zane was startled by the shock and became greatly confused looking at his chest where he felt the shock come from.
“What! How and why are you in my body?!” Zane wondered getting nervous from his confusion. He couldn’t understand how they were inside him and he felt uncomfortable that they were in him.
“We’re why the Mechanics worms failed…” Lloyd responded before Jay cut him off to babble, “yha Pixal was having trouble catching them so we shrunk ourselves to the size of a carpenter ant to go after them in order to save you.”
“Trust us pal this has been just as uncomfortable to us as it likely is for you… not to mention very unpleasant. I have seen things!” Kai explained and Jay explained, “yha I’m pretty sure if you had been awake you would not have been comfortable with it either. We had to chase them through your body in order to get them. One was in your shoulder, another went into your right lung and one was in your stomach, it’s still in there but don’t worry we destroyed it so it can’t hurt you plus you’re going to end up doing more damage to it now that your systems are active. There was another going after your heart but we destroyed that to; it fell somewhere in your body when the Mechanics thugs picked you up I’m not sure where it is now but don’t worry we’ll make sure to remove it. Those things were nasty to take on not to mention they tried to destroy us. They kept trying to stab us with this hidden blade in its head and crush us with their pincher mouth like thing and one tried to get you to digest us; that part was really unpleasant.”
“What? You were where… what were you doing in my stomach? You know it is too dangerous for organic beings like you to be in there; it is not a place you should seek to put yourselves if you want to remain alive and unharmed,” Zane noted still confused and getting more uncomfortable to find where they had been and Jay explained, “trust us we didn’t want to end up in there. One of the worms tricked us into there and activated your gut to try and get you to digest us to stop us from destroying it luckily Pixal was able to intervene and shut your system down before we got hurt; the whole thing was gross and scary. Don’t worry you didn’t really do any harm to us while we were in there besides it wasn’t your fault; unfortunately we spent more time in there than any of us wanted to…”
“Can we not talk about this?! No offense Zane I know you can’t help it but the sounds in here are unsettling and I would like to not be reminded of all we went through while in here,” Kai expressed unsettled and Cole commented, “yha Kais going to need some therapy after today. He experienced more than he wanted to.” Zane was still confused looking at his body core feeling uncomfortable that they had been inside him including in his systems and organs. He quietly mumbled to himself his confusions and discomfort. Zane wasn’t comfortable having them in his body or knowing they had been in his organs. He was a bit embarrassed about his internal anatomy knowing despite how similar it was to those of flesh it was different and just further reminded him that he was different and not like the others sometimes making him feel isolated because of his differences.
“Again no offence pal but it isn’t pretty in here especially in your stomach,” Kai stated and Zane wondered, “how long have you been inside my body?”
“A few hours I think; hey Zane were you aware of what those worms were doing to you?” Cole wondered and after a pause Zane explained, “kind of. The pain and disruptions to my systems from their actions woke me up in the early morning. I didn’t know what was causing it all at the time I could just feel the harm they were doing to me. I couldn’t sense them I could just feel what they were doing. Along with the damages and pain they had done something so I couldn’t move or make a sound so I could not get help. I could not even open my eyes; it was like I was trapped. I could just hear everything going on around me and feel everything the worms were doing. I remember Pixal helping me and telling me everything would be okay. She put me offline so I wouldn’t feel anything but those worms did some sort of trick so it looked like I was offline but I was only half out. I could still feel everything she was doing… and I guess what you were doing. It all felt weird like this thing you call a dream.”
“Don’t worry pal you’re safe now we made sure to teach those worms a lesson for messing with our brother and we’ll make sure to teach the Mechanic a lesson for what he did to you. No one’s going to hurt our droid brother while we’re around,” Cole proclaimed.
“You know that’s a weird way Zane phrased that; why didn’t he just say it felt like a dream? He dreams why does he not like to acknowledge it?” Kai wondered to the others without letting Zane hear his words. Not letting Zane hear Nya explained, “it’s part of that confusion he has over understanding how to be a nindroid. I don’t think he understands dreams very well not to mention I think they scare him; both what he sometimes sees in them and his inability to understand them are what scares him. He might even be confused and think they’re not natural for him even though from what we’ve all seen and me and Jay have analysed is that he does dream. It’s perfectly natural for him; Pixal dreams to and she accepts it and openly admits to being able to dream. She never denies it unlike Zane. Also along with being a restless sleeper Zane’s prone to having nightmares which further scare him about dreaming. We’ve managed to help him a bit by putting on relaxing music and ambient sounds when he sleeps to combat it but it doesn’t work as much as we’d like. I think Zane’s fears and confusions to dreams sometimes makes him afraid to admit he dreams.”
“Yha I don’t think he’s the only one who has problems with nightmares,” Jay noted and though some of them didn’t want to admit it they all agreed with his statement.
“When you were in my synth-gans did you at some point shock me? I think I recall being shocked, why did you do that?” Zane inquired unaware of their conversation and quietly to the others Kai wondered, “synth-gans?” Jay explained silencing his end from Zane, “synthetic organs. He thinks because they’re not made from flesh like us his organs can’t be considered organs so he came up with that term to name them. It’s kind of sad really as while we consider his organs no different from ours despite what they are made of and how they work he doesn’t see it like that and thinks he has to view them differently. We’ve tried to get him to stop thinking of it like that as it just points out to him that he’s really a machine and not of flesh and blood which makes him feel isolated and a bit embarrassed about himself but we haven’t had any luck breaking his thoughts on that. Pix understands their organs are different from those of flesh but she’s willing to accept that despite their differences they are the same as ours. She hasn’t been able to change Zanes mind on this either no matter how hard she tries. I think it’s that confusion thing from thinking he was a flesh and blood person for so long then finding out he was a nindroid that’s caused him to think like this.”
“Yha we tried to fry the one worm by shocking it… that just backfired and made the thing mad at Jay. I’m sorry if we hurt you pal,” Cole regaled to which Zane noted, “it is okay. It hurt but you didn’t mean to do it. Besides it was a short lived pain unlike what those worms left. I can still feel those.”
“Pixal fixed the damages they left though; how do they still hurt?” Kai wondered and Zane responded, “Synth re-grow takes a while, usually a day or two, to fully complete its work and in the meantime it is not a pleasant feeling as they repair. There are electric tingling’s as materials get repaired, there is also pain and the area feels very warm till the process is done.”
“That does not sound pleasant,” Kai commented and Zane replied, “no it is not.”
“We can talk about all this later guys now we should focus on getting out of here,” Lloyd declared and Jay offered, “hey Zane why don’t you chew through the rope to set yourself free.” Zane inspected the rope before stating, “that is a possibility but the time it would take to do so might not be ideal to escape before the Mechanic could complete his work.”
“You know if I could access those ropes I could probably burn through them in no time,” Kai declared getting an idea. He then reached out from where he stood on the casing for Zanes heart and tried to push open the hatch over the area having to stretch out to push on the inside of Zanes skin trying to push the hatch open.
“What are you doing?” Nya wondered and Kai explained, “I can go out there and burn the ropes off him so we can escape.”
“First off our small size has made our powers weaker than when we are our normal sizes so your powers won’t be as efficient,” Nya explained and Kai countered, “I can still try. It might take me a little longer but I can still burn it.”
“Secondly you do realise Zane has full control over the hatches in his skin; if he doesn’t want them open you won’t be able to open them. Unless damaged they’re fully latched all the time and will only open if Zane allows them; or if we use the special permission he gave us so we can work on him to open them. That helps prevent foreign items from getting into his body and from anything or anyone posing any danger to his inner workings especially his heart,” Jay explained and Kai asked, “Zane give me a hand buddy and I’ll get you free.”
“I do not think that very wise. If you are as small as you say you are it will be very dangerous for you to be wandering outside my body especially with me being tied up. If you fall it will be very dangerous and could deliver serious and potentially fatal harm to you plus I will be unable to help you and you could easily be hurt by items falling on you or by someone else finding you…” Jay cut in to state, “yha they might think you’re a real ant and squish you.”
“Also the way they have tied me up pins the hatch over my heart in a way that prevents it from opening,” Zane explained and Kai commented, “well there goes that idea.” Kai went to relax and settle back on the frame for Zanes heart. He had put himself however in a position that had him stuck and unable to get back without falling. He worked himself up to try and push himself back but as he prepped himself he ended up slipping and falling. He managed to prevent falling too far by grabbing onto one of the protective plates that covered most of the area over Zanes heart; in doing this his hands accidently hit Zanes heart which in defence sent a shock into all of them and caused Zane pain.
“Please be careful around my heart!” Zane expressed and Kai commented, “sorry that was an accident.”
“Kai be more careful. Any sudden touch to Zanes heart will cause it to release an electric pulse in defence. It’s painful for him and multiple pulses in a short period of time will stress his heart,” Nya explained and Kai stated, “I’ll be careful.” The others began talking over things they could do to help with the situation while Kai slowly and cautiously climbed up to the top of the frame for Zanes heart. He moved slowly cautious of where he put his hand trying to avoid touching the icy blue material that made up Zanes heart not wanting to cause it to spark. At one point while climbing up Kai’s hand slowly touched Zanes heart but he didn’t realise at first he had touched it. Because he had moved slowly Zanes heart didn’t react to being touched. He only became aware he had touched it when he noticed a strange tingling in his hand and arm like there was an electrical current running through it. Pausing to take note of it Kai noticed his hand was touching the material. He’d never really got a good look at the material that made up Zanes heart before. From how others described it he’d often assumed it was like some sort of metal glass material that he thought he might be able to see the electricity in it. He was surprised it wasn’t like that. It was more like some polished opaque icy blue stone like substance like agate and showed no signs of the energy held within it other than its faint icy glow, the electric heartbeat like noise it emitted and the electrical energy he could feel radiating from it. He also noted something strange. Where his hand was touching there was a faint reddish discolour to the material. He began wondering where the color was coming from. As he looked at it the color slowly vanished. Pulling his hand back to look he saw nothing on his hands that could have caused it. He did note his gloves and lower parts of sleeve were missing considerable patches due to Zanes digestive fluids having eaten them away. They all were missing patches from their gloves, footwear and the lower arms and legs from the fluids with some minor irritations and burns to their skins in the areas turning them red and sensitive. A little bit of medical and moisturizing cream would fix that with no problem; they would have to get new clothes to fix those. He didn’t think his missing clothes or skin issues were what caused the discoloration. He slowly and cautiously touched the material again but there was no color. Thinking back he recalled as he had been climbing he had been mad to not be able to just burn the ropes to set them free thinking it would be so easy to do so. He’d done it many times before. He so wanted to burn the ropes to solve their problem. He noticed as he thought about burning the ropes the redness returning to Zanes heart. He changed his thinking away from anything to do with fire or his powers and the color vanished. Pretty sure fire would not be good for Zanes heart Kai instead heated up his arm as he touched Zanes heart. Not only did the redness re-appear but it got bigger.
“What are you guys doing to my heart? There is a burning feeling starting to appear in it!” Zane noted getting nervous and Jay wondered as they all looked down at Kai, “Kai what are you doing?” Kai stopped what he was doing to ask, “hey is electricity the only energy Zanes heart can absorb?”
“I don’t know. I know it can take in and use pure energy, only for a short time though. Why do you ask?” Nya wondered and Kai proclaimed heating his arm back up again, “look at this!” The others watched the redness appear in Zanes heart confused.
“Uh is that supposed to happen?” Cole wondered and Nya stated confused, “as far as I know no it’s not supposed to do that.”
“What is going on?” Zane wondered only able to feel a strange mild burning to his heart and hear the others talking through their communicators to him. It made him anxious causing his heart rate to elevate a bit. Lloyd agreed with Zane and wondered, “yha what is going on?”
“When I think about my powers or use them a bit and touch his heart it makes the red color appear,” Kai commented and Jay wondered, “maybe it’s some sort of energy transfer like how I can charge my phone or power the game station with my powers! You must be doing some sort of energy transfer. Other than discolouring his heart what else do you think your energy transfer can do?”
“You’re doing what to my heart?!” Zane worried not liking that they were playing around with his heart and Cole wondered, “how is Zane’s heart able to make an energy transfer? Fire isn’t electricity though electricity can spark fires… learned that from a toaster oven with damaged wires. Thank goodness Zane was there to help put the fire out.”
“It might not seem it but technically our bodies run off electricity too…” Nya began getting cut off by Jay who proclaimed, “yha like your brain can actually power a light bulb if you were to stick a light bulb in it.” Nya continued a bit annoyed that Jay had cut her off, “yes but our bodies use far less electricity than Zanes does to work. It is largely our nervous systems that use electricity; apart from the symbiotes in his digestive system everything in Zanes body uses electricity to function and as its energy source. Technically with the right connectors you could theoretically transfer energy from our bodies into something else but I don’t see how just touching Zanes heart could transfer energy.”
“Maybe it’s absorbing it through his skin?” Lloyd wondered and Nya noted, “but we’re wearing our gear which covers our skin.” Jay quickly noted looking at the holes in his attire, “it was when we first started now uh not as much in some spots.”
“Yha no offense Zane but your stomach ate holes into my clothes including on my hands,” Kai commented and Nya noted, “okay, I guess it’s possible. We don’t know a lot about Zanes heart; what it can do or how it fully works so there is a possibility it could do that. It would only transfer electricity though not fire; it doesn’t absorb or use elemental energy.”
“I wonder… hey Zane I want you to do something with me. Do what you would do when coating your arms with ice but instead of ice think of fire; think of having your arms on fire and burning the ropes on you off,” Kai proclaimed. Zane was entirely confused looking at the ropes and very uncomfortable with them messing around with his heart, “I do not see how that will do anything. My powers are ice not fire; that would only make the rope cold and wet and would be of no help. Also can you please stop playing with my heart! It is very uncomfortable and unnerving to have you doing whatever you are doing.”
“Zane just humour me here,” Kai commented and Zane replied confused, “you want me to joke with you? How is that going to help our situation?”
“He means for you to go along with his plans. Humour me means to temporarily comply with someone’s thoughts or actions even if you don’t follow generally to keep the peace or get out of a tough situation Zane,” Jay explained before quietly stating to the others, “I think we should give Zane some lessons on the meanings of common sayings.”
“Fine but I do not see how this will help,” Zane closed his eyes while thinking of what Kai wanted him to do while Kai thought of burning the ropes and focussed his powers into Zanes heart causing the red coloring to get bigger and branch out across his heart. The others just waited to see if anything happened. After a few minutes Zane stated opening his eyes to inspect the ropes, “I do not think anything is happening though my arms feel oddly highly warm, too warm for my comfort… they’re on fire!”
“What?” Cole was stumped and Zane worried, “they’re on fire! How is that possible! I am not comfortable with this!” Kai quickly inquired, “it worked now what about the rope? Zane what is the state of the rope?” Zane took a moment to respond worked up by the fire.
“It is on fire from the fire on my arms,” Zane explained as panicking from the strange occurrence Zane managed to break his arms free from the burning rope which was weakened by the damage from the fire and tossed it away from himself before quickly creating ice on his arms over the fire to put them out. He broke the ice off before taking the ropes off his legs and tossing them away. The ropes remained on the ground the one slowly burning though there was not much of a fire on it. They could hear from his heart and breathing rate that this was really scaring Zane.
“I’m free of the ropes now please stop whatever you are doing with my heart! I really don’t like it!” Zane proclaimed anxious from the feelings and Kai proclaimed stopping the transfer of his powers and taking his hand away from Zanes heart, “yes it worked!”
“Uh how? How did it work?” Cole wondered and confused Nya wondered, “I don’t know. I don’t see how his heart could transfer fire. His heart has nothing to do with fire or our powers?”
“It can transfer energy though, maybe Kai was sending like some fiery energy or fire is tied to his energy which he then sent through Zanes heart for it to manifest like his powers on Zane,” Jay proclaimed and after a pause Lloyd guessed, “I guess that could be possible. Now that you are free Zane we can get out of here.”
“I guess I can,” Zane stated getting up and going over to the rooms door to check it having trouble shaking the feelings what had just happened left him with. As he headed over Lloyd remarked, “you can calm down now Zane. You’re free and we’re getting somewhere in our escape.”
“I am calm,” Zane stated not wanting to acknowledge his unnerve and Jay noted, “You can’t lie to us buddy we’re right by your heart so we can hear your heart and breathing rate. They’re not calm.”
“Well that was strange and unnerving with the fire… it is very unsettling,” Zane regaled and Lloyd stated, “don’t worry buddy we’re not going to do that again to you. Just the un-calm rate to your heart and breathing is unsettling some of us, especially Jay.” It wasn’t necessarily Jay who was unsettled by it even though it did have Jay nervous and on edge. It was largely Lloyd and Kai who were unsettled by the noises which were making them feel anxious but neither wished to admit this. Zane slowly calmed down as he looked around. The door was locked so Zane looked around the room looking for something that could help him escape the room. The lights in the room weren’t working with only the light from under the door in the hall providing any light to see anything. It was enough combined with Zanes ability to see in lower light levels than a person to make out things in the room. Even without the added features being a nindroid gave him for his senses his base human like senses particularly his sight and hearing were more sensitive and strong than a persons more akin to those of an animal than a person. Jay often liked to joke with him about his senses claiming that it was like he had the eyes of a cat even though he couldn’t see as well in the dark as a cat and he never understood how Jay could think his eyes looked or worked in any way like a cats. Zane could see there was ventilation in the room but it was too small for him to fit through and he didn’t want to risk letting the others out of his body. With their small size there was too much danger for them. There was then the locker. He decided to investigate it and see what it held. While he went over to the door Kai cautiously finished his climb to sit back up with the others on Zanes heart.
“The door is locked so I will see what is in the locker,” Zane regaled to the others who were waiting for some information into what he was doing. The locker wasn’t locked but unfortunately didn’t have much in it. There was a lunchbox on the top shelf with nothing in it, an old completed crossword book, an old pair of shoes and an item Zane was not entirely sure what it was. As he took them out Zane explained what they were and set the items aside trying to not make any noise not wanting to catch any unwanted attention. As he went to grab the last item movement in the back of the locker caught Zanes eye startling him confusing the others as they could not see what had spooked him.
“Zane what is it? Is there something dangerous?” Nya asked and Zane replied, “no there is just a mirror in the locker that I did not notice was there. Sorry I didn't mean to scare anyone.” Jay responded, "that's okay buddy mirrors can be a bit scary. Especially at night when it's dark and you don't expect to see them... especially when you're still sleepy and on your way to the bathroom and it's one of those magic trick mirrors that make your reflection all creepy looking that someone left there to play a prank on you and make you wet yourself!" Jay looked at Kai, Lloyd and Cole who were trying to hold in a laugh remembering that prank.
“Why did his reflection startle him? Is he scared of his own reflection or something?” Kai wondered confused muting his end from Zane and while muting his end Jay responded, “no. He has extreme difficulty reading his reflection when it’s mirrored like when in a mirror. Unless he’s purposefully using one he often gets startled when seeing the reflection from a mirror especially when he’s not expecting to see his reflection. It’s not unique to him; all nindroids seem to have this problem. I think mirrors confuse their senses and their brains have trouble reading mirrored images especially when it’s themselves and their actions they are trying to read.”
“So that’s why he and Pix act weird to mirrors. I always thought surely they could tell it was them they were seeing and they’d have no problem with spacial awareness or telling directions when looking in a mirror. Guess I was wrong,” Lloyd noted muting his end from Zane who was taking the last item out of the locker.
“The last is this thing… it kind of looks like a crowbar but lacks the characteristic ends of a crowbar being more of a small slightly cupped piece of it looks to be wood or maybe some plastic mimicking the appearance of wood,” Zane explained looking over the item confused. Jay wondered confused by Zanes explanation, “small cupped plastic or wood bar?” His explanation had them all confused prompting Lloyd to wonder “is there some way we can see what he sees?”
“Zane would you be willing to let us see what you are seeing? We have Kai’s phone that you could use to help us,” Nya inquired and Zane replied, “sure.” After a moment Zane connected the feed from his vision wirelessly to Kais phone allowing them to see what he was looking at. Upon seeing the item Cole remarked, “Zane that’s a shoe horn.”
“Shoe horn?” Zane wondered looking the item over, “this does not look like an instrument nor do I think shoes can have horns.” Cole explained, “it’s a tool to help get your shoe on and fix the shape of your shoes heel. My dad has one for his formal shoes.”
“If that is its use then why is it termed a horn?” Zane wondered and Cole stated, “I have no clue.” A noise outside the door caught their attentions. It sounded like someone say ‘do you smell something burning’. Looking around Zane noticed the rope was still burning where he had left it.
“Zane quick put out the fire,” Lloyd ordered. He hit the rope with ice putting out the fire but it was too late. They could hear someone at the door. They were unlocking it and stating ‘did you hear that’. They began to worry. Thinking quickly Zane picked up the shoe horn and hid behind where the door would open. He stood nervous as the door opened and two of the Mechanics thugs dressed as common crooks came into the room. They quickly noted Zane wasn’t there.
“Uh oh this isn’t good. How did the metal man escape?” the one crook stated investigating the chair Zane had been tied to the other noticed the open locker and went to investigate it. Thinking quickly Zane went over and hit the one looking at the chair with the shoe horn in the back of the head. He caught the person before they hit the floor and slowly laid them down so they didn’t make a sound before heading over towards the other. Just as they turned around to look at their co-worker Zane wasted no time to punch them in the face and knocked them out.
“Good work Zane,” Jay praised Zanes actions and Zane stated closing the door to avoid catching any attention, “I did not really have much of a choice.”
“That’s okay we should see if they have anything of use before trying to make our way out of here,” Lloyd suggested and Cole noted, “obviously one of them has keys to this place as they must have used them to open the door.” Zane dragged and sat both over next to the locker then inspected their pockets. The one did have two separate sets of keys. One had decorative key chains on it leading Zane to deduce they were likely a personal set the other was just plain keys; those must have been the ones for the building. He took the plain set and put it in a hatch to a small compartment in his abdomen to store them. Other than the keys they had not much else, just mainly some coins and their wallets. The one did have their phone which instantly caught their attentions.
“A phone, we could use that to help contact Wu and Pixal!” Kai proclaimed and Zane agreed taking a moment to hack the phone allowing him access to it. They were all a mix of confused and grossed by the screen image on the phone.
“Is that a dog or some mutant rat?” Jay wondered and Cole commented, “I think it’s a dog.” Kai added, “whatever it is it is one of the ugliest things I have ever seen.” The image was of the thug happily giving affection to what they could only guess was his dog which was some highly unpleasant looking thing with largely no hair except long tufts on the top of head, back of neck, ears, shoulders, paws and tail.
“I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder,” Nya noted as they wondered over the dogs photo while Zane contacted the monastery. It didn’t take long for someone to pick up. Wu was who picked up.
“Hello who is this?” Wu asked and Zane responded, “Wu it’s me Zane.”
“Zane is that really you? Where are you?” Wu inquired and Zane answered, “yes it’s really me and I have no clue where we are. They placed us in a broom closet.”
“We; the others are still with you? Are you all safe?”
“Yes they are here as for safe that depends on what you consider safe. We are not in immediate danger but there is a danger present.”
“What is the danger?”
“The Mechanic has plans to eliminate us. The worms were his doing and he is working on more for not just me but to harm the others as well. The Mechanic has hired thugs and the others are no bigger than ants so we will not fare well if we run into trouble and are forced to defend ourselves.”
“That is not good but do not worry we are on our way and can help. Pixal has locked onto the signal of the phone you are using. Just hold on in the meantime and avoid catching attention till we get there.”
“Understood,” Zane replied before hanging up the phone. The others had listened in to the whole conversation.
“Okay we just need to wait for Wu and Pixal to show up then we can deal with the Mechanic. I think it’s time he gets locked in higher security than what he’s been locked in so far. Clearly if he keeps breaking out then he’s not locked down enough. Until Wu and Pixal arrive we need to lie low,” Lloyd suggested but Kai had a different idea, “why just wait around how about doing some scouting instead you know find where the Mechanic is working to cut down on our work?” While the others talked Zane put the phone back in the thugs pocket.
“I don’t think that’s a wise idea. Technically even though we are here Zane is on his own and if he gets in trouble we won’t really be able to help him. At this size a mouse is very dangerous for us,” Cole noted and Jay agreed, “yha I don’t want to get stepped on and squished.” While putting the phone back Zane noted the one crooks plain dark zipper up hoodie was the right size to fit him. Zane looked at himself. He wasn’t wearing a shirt and wasn’t too comfortable with that.
“Kai under our current circumstances it is best that we lie low to avoid any problems. I do agree though we should not stay here. Ideally we should find a more secluded location to lie low,” Nya hypothesized and Cole agreed, “yha when those two come to they are going to talk and that will have everyone looking for us not to mention it will be best we put ourselves in a place that is easy for Pixal and Wu to find us when they arrive most likely outside this structure.”
“Zane what are you doing?” Jay wondered noticing on Kai’s phone the feed from Zanes vision. Zane had taken the one crooks hoodie and was putting it on.
“I am putting on a sweater,” Zane responded and confused Cole commented, “you realise that is someone else’s right?”
“Yes but I felt it would be best if I cover up to avoid drawing attention or unsettling others,” Zane stated taking the items out of the pockets, largely a wallet, and putting them on the person.
“That’s Zane always the modest one. You’ll never see him leaving his underwear lying around the monastery or walking around in his underwear like some of us,” Kai commented looking at Jay who felt targeted by the comment and Nya stated silencing her end of the communicator so Zane wouldn’t hear, “yha he is modest but he also knows his appearance scares and unnerves others including you bro and he doesn’t want to scare anyone or make them uncomfortable. That’s one of the reasons why he often keeps decently covered.”
“I’m not scared by his appearance; sure sometimes his non human skin unnerves me a little; his skin is a bit odd. It kind of reminds me of a reptiles skin with all the metal patches which are like scales plus the glowing spot from his heart is… strange. The glow to his eyes can be a bit unnerving too especially in the dark plus you can clearly tell they’re not human when you really look into them. They have that really techi look and he can shrink and expand the equivalent to the pupil in his eye like a cat. That’s kind of strange too. Plus when he does that thing where he opens part of his skin and you can see his insides that kind of scares me yha; more of a grossed out scare than a scary scared way though,” Kai expressed muting his end so Zane couldn’t hear it and silencing his end Jay agreed, “yha his eyes can be kind of creepy; that shrinking thing in his eye is from when he adjusts his vision is kind of like with cats it helps regulate how much light his eyes take in so he isn’t blinded by too bright of light and can see better in the dark than us. Plus it is also because he can zoom in his vision to better focus or see something further away. Yha there is somethings scary about him but they’re not too bad. I think when he’s mad that’s possibly one of the worst. He’s defiantly scary when you make him mad!” Kai had to agree with that.
“You should pull the hood up to cover your head so you can more easily sneak past everyone,” Cole encouraged Zane who agreed zipped up the hoodie before pulling the hood up. He then went out to the hall. It went in two directions.
“The Mechanic is in a room at the end of the hall to the right so it likely will be best to head to the left to avoid him,” Zane stated picking up the shoe horn before heading down the left end of the hall keeping alert for any of the Mechanics thugs. To avoid suspicion he closed the door to the broom closet as he left. The first room they came across was a large room the hired thugs the Mechanic had were using as a hang out. Most of them were just chilling playing cards, pool or watching a television. Luckily none seemed to take note of Zane as he looked into the room before quietly moving on. As they went they tried to figure out what kind of structure they were in and any possible entrance to the structure. Outside the hall and the room all the thugs had been in all the rooms were dark and most light fixtures had no or broken lights.
“Zane what’s with all the stuff in your vision?” Kai wondered at one point confusing Zane who replied with, “what?” Kai elaborated, “there’s all these strange things that make it look like you have an overlay from a video game in your vision.”
“It is in ways like that. The overlays help aid in aiming, sensory processing and directional navigation. Are they unsettling you? I can turn them off if they are. I use them mainly for when on missions or training,” Zane expressed and Kai stated, “not really, I just find it a bit strange.” Jay cut in to proclaim, “I find them kind of confusing and they make it a little hard to focus.” After a second Zane blinked shutting off the overlays in his vision so when his eyes opened the overlays were gone making his vision human like.
“Is that better?” Zane inquired and Nya noted, “you didn’t have to do that Zane.”
“It is okay, if you are sharing my vision it is best I use a setting we are all comfortable with to help us work together. Besides it does not hinder me much and there is something about this vision that I find relaxing and pleasing,” Zane replied as he checked out another room which looked to be a small office space however only some desks and chairs that were moved and knocked over were left. He went over to check out the windows in the room to see if he could see any hints of where the building was. All he could see was woods. The next room they looked into looked to be an old cafeteria. There were some vending machines against the one wall which instantly caught Coles attention.
“Hey Zane can you check those machines and see if there is anything good in them?” he inquired and Jay commented, “really?”
“Hey I’m hungry,” Cole expressed and Kai chastised, “really? After what we’ve been through today and where we were earlier?” Not only was Kai still shaken from earlier but the sounds from Zanes systems being active had him uneasy and unable to get what happened out of his mind. Luckily from their location Zanes synthetic muscles were dampening the sounds though also because of their location his heart was clearly and loudly audible. There was also every now and then a few loud noises from Zanes digestive tract that unsettled him to hear them though given Coles comment Kai was now wondering if not all the sounds were actually coming from Zane. The noises had Jay a bit anxious as well but he wasn’t as anxious as Kai. Lloyd was also put a bit on edge from some sounds but he and the others weren’t letting it bother them much. Cole didn’t hesitate to respond, “yha I’m largely over it now and hungry so Zane humour me and check out the vending machines.”
“You are using that saying right?” Zane questioned and Cole replied, “yes.” On Coles request he went over and inspected the machines. One had soda, one had candies cookies and chips and another had various milks.
“Do you think any of those are good? Hey Zane can you check the dates on them?” Cole wondered and Jay wondered, “serious, who knows how long these things have been sitting here?”
“Yha I’m serious, again humour me Zane. Just break the glass to get them. If they’re still good I could go for some of those little single pack cakes and a Chocolate milk or two. You can put them in your pockets for later for me,” Cole proclaimed. On Coles request Zane looked at the items. It was hard to see the state of the items through the glass and he couldn’t see any visible dates on items. He broke the glass on the machine with milk using the shoe horn and took out one of the bottles to inspect it looking for the date on it.
“These are not safe for human consumption. The machines have clearly been off for a while and the expiration dates on these are three years old,” Zane explained to which Jay stated, “you better not still be thinking of having those, you’d get food poisoning!”
“Yha, those aren’t appetizing anymore. You can forget about it Zane. I’ll wait till we can get something safe and non moldy or curdled later,” Cole stated and Zane dropped the bottle back in the machine while listening to the others talk. Lloyd commented, “we can have dinner later now we should focus on getting to safety then when back to normal taking down the Mechanic. You know given the state of this place, the fact what’s in these machines has been here for three years at least I think it is safe to say wherever we are is an abandoned structure. This would explain why no one has reported seeing the Mechanic since he escaped prison a month ago. He’s probably been hiding out here the whole time working on his plans while his hired thugs did all the work for him outside this place.” Zane was suddenly startled as something touched his shoulder from behind. Reacting quickly he cloaked his appearance to look human before turning to look who it was. His reaction which caused his breathing and heart rate to suddenly and temporarily elevate silenced the others who remained quiet and on edge worried they had been found.
“Why are you trying to get something out of there? Unless you’re a hyena that stuff will probably kill you if you had it,” the thug who had touched Zane expressed. Luckily he wasn’t one of the two Zane had knocked out and left in the broom closet. Zane was quite unsure what to do so remained silent.
“Tell him you were looking for a drink,” Cole whispered to Zane who stated, “I was looking for a drink.”
“Why would you look in here when you could get something from the hangout down the hall? Not too bright are we?” the thug stated and Jay commented, “really he wants to call a nindroid dumb…” The others quickly shushed Jay before Lloyd stated, “tell him you felt uncomfortable and overwhelmed around everyone else.” Zane took Lloyds advice and parroted what he said.
“If you are that shy you could just get something and chill somewhere else you don’t have to hang out with the rest of us if you don’t want to,” the Thug stated and Zane commented, “I guess I could do that.” They began to leave when one of the Thugs Zane had knocked out, the one he had taken the jacket from, came into the doorway.
“Hey the boss wants all hands on deck; that metal skins escaped. We need to get him before he can escape and get his pals,” the thug stated before noticing Zane who was anxious. Luckily most of the thugs were wearing a similar dark hoodie to the one he had taken off the thug so he was hoping this thug wouldn’t recognise the one he was wearing as its.
“You know I had a jacket like that. I think that thing took it so he could be trying to blend in with us or hide in the shadows. He also took some keys for this place from me so could be anywhere in the building. Best we get going, why don’t you two go help check the warehouse,” the thug stated and the other agreed, “we’ll get it done.” The one thug headed out of the room and not wanting to draw suspicion Zane followed them. They went down the hall in the direction they had been going. They shortly came out of the hall onto a catwalk in a large room that had several large structures against the one wall.
“What are those?” Kai wondered at the structures to which Nya replied, “those are some pretty big smelters. I think we might be in either an abandoned steel mill or other metal refinery or a factory that made metal based items.”
“Good thing this place is abandoned and the Mechanic didn’t want to use those in his plan to destroy us huh, Zane like us wouldn’t survive being in a smelter would he?” Cole commented and Nya replied, “no he wouldn’t.” The catwalk went through the room before entering another room, a large warehouse. There was still quite a few crates and shipping containers along with several people looking around the area. A staircase headed down to the warehouses floor where once on the floor the thug instructed Zane to head out and search. Zane headed off on his own looking for a way out without being seen. To avoid possible detection he steered clear of everyone else. It took a while but he managed to find a door they were pretty sure led outside. There was one major problem however. To reach it he had to walk past a clear area to reach the door that the Mechanic was hanging in with two thugs. The Mechanic was real mad.
“How could he escape? He doesn’t control fire he controls ice so how did he burn through these ropes with fire?! He doesn’t even have anything in his anatomy to create fire,” the Mechanic was ranting holding the burnt rope and threatening the two thugs who were cowering from his tone with it. Luckily the door was hidden from the Mechanics views by some crates but he had to sneak past them in order to reach it and he was nervous of getting caught. The others offered some advice telling Zane to make it look like he was looking around, to keep at a slow but steady pace and not rush and keep the mechanic largely to his back so he wouldn’t see his appearance especially if his cloak failed. They all knew despite how good and convincing it was Zanes cloaking ability had one major flaw that despite all attempts they had been unable to solve. When certain emotions became too much such as anxiety and fear the cloaking tended to glitch and fail. In case it did they felt it best the Mechanic couldn’t see his face. Zane also had a problem that when emotions got too much for him he would have troubles functioning and if it got real bad he could get knocked offline for a couple minutes as his emotional circuits calmed down and reset to lower levels. Having him pass out would not be a good thing in their situation. They could hear from his elevated heart and breathing rate that Zane was very anxious clearly being terrified of getting caught by the Mechanic. They couldn’t blame him; the mechanic wanted to destroy him and do it rather cruelly and painfully plus Zane was pretty much alone and greatly outnumbered if caught. They talked calmly to Zane as he snuck past where the Mechanic was in order to keep him focussed and help him keep his emotions in control.
"Zane relax we're here to help you. You're not alone," Nya stated and Cole advised, "yha just take things slow and steady and keep the Mechanic behind you. Don't let him see your face." Jay added encouragingly, "yha just pretend your looking things over. Don't think about the Mechanic or what he could do to you. Trust me that just makes things worse. Think about something happy. Maybe all those birds that like to see you at the local aviary you know the ones that get all fascinated and cuddly with you. Maybe when this is all over you and Pixal can take a nice relaxing date there. Or how about funny cat videos those always make you happy; who isn't made happy from cat videos?"
Zane took their advice making sure to look away from the Mechanic and pretended to check out some crates using the shoe horn as he navigated through the area pretending to look around. As an aid he brought back up the overlay in his vision to help him keep an eye on the location of the Mechanic through his senses. Zane managed to get past the section and to the door without being seen. The Mechanic was too focused on venting and chastising his hired thugs for not being alert enough to keep Zane contained claiming they should have had someone on guard to watch him so he couldn’t do anything. When he got to the door Zane tried to open it. The door was locked so he pulled out the keys he had stored in his body closing the port back up after he had the keys out. He slowly went through the keys trying to find the one to unlock the door without making much noise to avoid catching anyone’s attention. The first two keys he tried didn’t work. As he put the third key in and went to try it he became startled his cloak dropping as a robotic hand grabbed his wrist that was holding the key. Instantly he recognised the hand and got scared.
“So thought we could escape did we? I don’t know how you got out but you’re not going to get a second chance to escape this time,” the Mechanic declared as Zane looked at him before Zane got shocked by a taser pressing into his back causing him to collapse stunned letting go of the key and dropping the shoe horn. The others got stunned as well.
“Take him to the control room and use chains to tie him up this time. He can’t break or burn through those,” the Mechanic ordered as two thugs lifted Zane up by the arms and started dragging him back into the building. While not unconscious Zane was still a bit too stunned to defend himself or break free.
“We need to stop them, I can’t burn through chains to break us free,” Kai stated and Jay noted, “I think Zanes a little too stunned to fight back.” They tried to talk to Zane though while conscious he wasn’t responding. Thinking quickly Nya expressed, “hold on everyone. Sorry about this Zane.” She gave Zanes heart a punch causing it to send out a burst of electricity shocking Zane, them and the two carrying Zane. They all collapsed stunned though having his heart threatened caused Zane to quickly regain his senses in defence.
“Don’t let that thing escape,” the Mechanic ordered his henchmen who started to come at Zane who was lying on his front recovering from the shock. Knowing he couldn’t face all of them on his own he quickly looked around for a place to escape. The first thing he noticed was a shipping container with its door open a bit. He quickly got up and rushed over to it getting inside and closing the door behind him. Only once he had closed the doors did Zane realise his mistake.
“Wait a minute… this was a mistake,” Zane commented looking at the dark empty interior of the shipping container. He could hear outside the container the Mechanic ordering his henchman to keep him locked in the container and for some of his allies to retrieve some chains to tie him up along with shock proofed gloves from the control room which he was using as his work room in order to capture Zane. He could also hear them locking the container doors so he would have no way to escape.
“Zane did you just trap us?” Jay wondered as they regained their senses and after a moments thoughts Zane responded feeling embarrassed by his mistake, “it seemed like a good idea at the time…”
“A good idea? We’re trapped! They’re going to get us, shove more of those worms in you which will probably try to destroy us likely by the easiest way it could by tricking us back into Zanes stomach to get digested!” Jay began panicking which started to work up Kai who was worried of ending up in Zanes stomach again especially with it being active now.
“Jay take a chill pill,” Cole stated and Lloyd commented, “instead of panicking we can use this time to come up with a way to escape.”
“Well we probably don’t have those keys anymore,” Cole commented and Nya suggested, “we’re probably not going to have easy access to any doors either. There were some windows back up in that hall sure they were on what looked like a second or third floor but Zane could easily use his powers to make a safe way to get down from there.” Zane listened in to their planning.
“Sounds good but how are we going to get out of this container?!” Jay chastised not calming down and Zane noted, “I have no way of cutting through the metal nor do I have the strength to break the doors open which they have locked the doors and the hinges are on the exterior of the structures so I cannot interact with those to open the doors.”
“You know if I was out there and not the size of an ant I could easily smash out those doors using my lava arms…” Cole proclaimed giving the air some mock punches before coming to an idea, “hey if Kai could transfer his powers through Zanes heart do you think I could send mine through it too?”
“I guess, I still don’t entirely get how that was possible but if Kais could work then I guess the rest of ours could as well,” Nya stated and Cole expressed, “alright! Sorry if this freaks you out Zane but just roll with me and we’ll be out of here in no time.”
“Roll with me? Is this a saying the same as humour me or something else?” Zane wondered and Jay explained, “kind of. It means to go along with his plan.” Zane accepted to go with Coles plan.
“Alright when I say so give the door as hefty a punch as you want then once they’re open run as fast as you can to those windows,” Cole explained slowly touching the material of Zanes heart so it wouldn’t react. Once touching it he activated his Lava arms causing an orange discolouring to Zanes heart. As he activated his lava arms Cole instructed Zane to do as he did when activating this power. Zane followed his lead and had the same markings appear on his arms that Cole had when using the power. They took a second to prep themselves before acting. Once ready Zane punched the doors with as much force as he could muster surprised as the doors smashed open with the power he had been able to use. It was much more than he could ever muster. The Mechanic and his henchmen were all startled and confused by the actions hesitating on making a move. In their hesitation Zane hit the ground separating him from them with ice building a wall of ice to block easy access to himself forcing them to have to find a less direct route to reach him giving them some extra time to put some distance between themselves and the Mechanic and his crew. With the ice made Zane wasted no time in rushing back to the stairs to climb up them and get on the catwalk to head back to the office room in order to get to one of the rooms that had windows to the exterior. While he did this Cole stopped what he was doing and took his hand off Zanes heart in order to not interfere with Zanes powers. Their tactics worked to some extent. It hindered the enemies a bit but using an attachment on his arm the Mechanic burned a path through the ice with fire and ordered his thugs after them. By the time Zane got onto the catwalk the Mechanic and his henchmen were already on their way towards him. Zane didn’t stop though pausing only briefly to check where the enemies were as he exited the warehouse room before rushing through the smelter room. As he rushed through the smelter room Zane quickly found his escape blocked causing him to stop in his tracks. The two who had gone to retrieve the chains and gloves for the Mechanic were coming back and blocked his path to the hall he needed to get into. The others were gaining quickly behind him. Looking around and thinking quickly Zane noticed a stairway against the wall leading from the rooms floor to the catwalk coming up rate by the halls doorway behind the thugs. He quickly formulated a plan. There was a high chance his plan wouldn’t work too well but he was willing to risk it. It was the best option they had. Thinking quickly Zane created a slide of ice from the catwalk to the floor. He rode it down to the floor then rushed towards the stairs some of the thugs following him a bit nervous and clumsy with the slide. Just as he had worried things didn’t work out as he had planned. Most of them didn’t follow him and instead cut off his access to the stairs. With not many options for an escape Zane put himself backed up into a corner of the room for defence. The Mechanic and his henchmen quickly closed in cornering him. He was quickly caught up in a fight with them. He managed to hinder a few by freezing their feet to the ground and when he used his Spinjitsu tornado the others got dizzy unprepared for the action all of them having to tightly gripe the casing for his heart and the wires coming from his heart in order to remain balanced and keep from falling.
“Zane while we’re in here please don’t do that again… we’re all dizzy now,” Jay commented as they settled while Cole commented, “is this what my lunch feels like when I do that?” Zane managed to defend himself for a short time before the enemies got the upper hand as one of them shocked him with a taser in the back causing him to collapse stunned.
“Zane get up! Get up!” Jay began to panic and Nya stated, “Jay that’s of no use rate now.” Two of the thugs put on the gloves and picked Zane up holding him by the arms as he slowly regained his senses.
“Nice try Zane the pain. I don’t know how you did that but it was an impressive try. I thought only the shaggy haired dirt boy had that kind of strength,” the Mechanic noted and feeling offended Cole muttered, “dirt boy!”
“Clearly keeping you safely contained is harder than I suspected. Maybe I should use a quicker method to destroy you to avoid the trouble of dealing with you anymore. You’re living up to your name of Zane the pain,” the Mechanic noted before taking note of the smelters in the room. While the Mechanic talked Jay began to panic mutter annoying the others as he was making it hard for them to hear what was going on.
“You know they left behind here enough stuff to get those things working again for at least one more go. Why don’t we see how hot we can make them then we shove the pain in them and see how much heat the metal man can handle. If it doesn’t destroy him it could at least cause enough harm to keep him from escaping then we can slowly and painfully finish him off,” the Mechanic declared causing Jay to loudly babble with his communicator on so not only the other ninja but Zane could hear his loud babbling, “he’s going to burn us alive! No that’s said to be one of the worst ways to go! Only Kai is immune to that much heat! I don’t want to go by being roasted like some harvest turkey! I’d rather get digested by Zane than go that way! At least in Zanes system the gasses in there might knock us out before we actually start to feel anything either that or we could knock ourselves out. Why can’t he just paralyze us and leave us locked in a room. We can handle those worms again while we wait for the others to rescue us why does he have to go so drastic?! We never did anything to him! Zanes right he caused all his own problems why take it all out on us?!” Without thinking annoyed by Jays loud panicking which was making it hard to hear anything else Zane expressed, “Jay can you tone it down I can’t hear anything through your babbling.” Only after he spoke did Zane realise his mistake.
“Jay the babbly whiny sparky boy… how are you hearing and talking to him?” the Mechanic became suspicious and demanded one of his thugs bring him a tablet. One quickly did and the Mechanic began working on it.
“My hindrances are still in place so no one from outside is talking to you and you haven’t been able to call for help so … wait what is this? Another signal has been routed through and connected to your senses coming from… inside him… oh I see. This clears some things up. That’s how they destroyed my worms; why my plan has failed. They’ve somehow shrunk themselves and went inside your body to protect you. Well isn’t this intriguing. They’re still in there aren’t they? That’s how Zane the ice pain burnt through the rope and got loose. Your pals helped you didn’t they? They can hear and see what’s going on can’t they? Well then hello there pain-jas you’ve made this so much easier for me. Do any of you have anything to say for your foolishness before I finish you all off?” the Mechanic chastised and quickly hooking Kais phone up to the Mechanics tablet Lloyd stated, “we’re not going to go down easily. This isn’t the end for us. We’re going to stop you.”
“Oh really and how are you going to do that?” the Mechanic wondered and Kai boasted, “if you haven’t noticed we found a way to let Zane use our powers. How well do you think all your simple henchman will fare against someone who can use all our powers against them?”
“Very cocky fire brat you think you have the upper hand. I think you over estimate your powers. You know I’m no expert but what do you think would happen if I set one of these to full power and struck your metal built host with it?” the Mechanic proclaimed taking a taser from one of his henchman and switching it to its highest setting before pressing it into Zanes chest rate over his heart. Zane was scared starting to shake while the others were nervous.
“Uh what would that do?” Cole wondered and Jay quickly panicked, “Zane might survive but with our tiny size we’ll be fried! Fried to dust!”
“How would you rather go? Cooked or fried?” the Mechanic offered. Nya covered the phone so the Mechanic couldn’t hear them talk while Lloyd quickly covered Jays mouth to keep him quite as he quietly talked to the others, “Wu and Pixal are on their way all we have to do is hold on till then and they can get us out of this. We just need to buy ourselves some time and not let them know we have help coming.”
“Then we’ll want the fire way. It will take them some time to get the heat high enough to have an effect on Zane and us giving us time. The zappy way will just finish us off in almost an instance,” Cole quietly explained and they were all in agreement. They uncovered the phone to address the Mechanic.
“Zane is there anything you can do to get us out of this?” Lloyd pretended to wonder and Zane responded, “I am afraid not. My make will make the shock worse for the rest of you and prove fatal. If not to me defiantly to the rest of you and I do not want to do anything that would put you all at risk.” Putting on a sad defeated act Lloyd proclaimed, “fine; I guess we don’t really have a choice here do we. I’d rather be burned than shocked then. I hope you’re happy for what you’ve done.”
“Indeed I am now if you all know what’s good for you; you pains, I would refrain from any shows of powers or attempts at escape. If you do try anything I’ll give you all a hefty shock,” the Mechanic declared pushing the taser deeper into Zanes chest making him even more nervous. The Mechanic then ordered his allies to start one of the smelters using wooden crates from the other room and coal from a storage room in the factory. Those holding Zane let him go and the Mechanic herded him over to one of the supports to the catwalk threatening him with the taser. As he went over Zane kept his hands on his chest over his heart feeling a need to protect the others from possible attempts their enemies might try to get them. Once at the support the Mechanic forced his hands down and Zane was pinned standing up against it. They chained him to the support making sure to tie the chains over the panels in his body so he could not open them to prevent the others from escaping. One of the guards was kept standing by Zane holding the taser threateningly at him to keep them from trying anything. They were stuck only able to watch as the Mechanic and his henchman prepped their doom.
“If they don’t get here in time what are we going to do?” Cole wondered after a couple minutes of silence starting to worry. Since they had no clue where they were and how long it had been since they had been taken from the Monastery they didn’t know how long it would take for aid to reach them.
“I don’t know,” Lloyd commented nervous and Nya noted, “Zane could withstand the heat for a very short time and he could use his powers to counter the heat but he can’t do so for long. The heat will eventually be too much and prove fatal for him.” Zane just listened not speaking to prevent any clues to their conversation.
“Maybe I could let Zane use my super strength again and we can try to smash out of the back of the smelter when they shove us in there,” Cole suggested trying to solve their dilemma.
“Yha but that nut job will probably shock us if we try anything,” Jay muttered panicking and not trying to hide it. Kai was a bit surprised to find himself muttering, “I can’t believe I’m agreeing with Jay but yha he’d probably do that. Maybe even stun, knock out or paralyse Zane in some way to keep him and us from doing anything.” Things weren’t looking to good then without much of a warning a small canister suddenly dropped on the floor by Zane bouncing away from him a bit while making a beeping sound. A few more followed scattered around the room and after a couple beeps each one would explode spreading a cloud of dust over an area quickly filling the room with smoke.
“What’s going on?” Jay panicked and Lloyd proclaimed, “I think our helps arrived.” Zane couldn’t see very well through the smoke with his base vision but he didn’t switchover to anything that could help him better see in the smoke as he was picking up a familiar presence that he trusted would get him to safety without him needing to do anything to find safety. The chains holding him loosened and fell off. The presence he trusted then grabbed his hand and led him through the smoke into a storage room that came off the smelter room and was free of smoke. When they were in the room they closed the door behind them.
“Looks like we got here just in time,” Wu proclaimed while Zane hugged Pixal joyed to see her.
“Let’s get this over with and get the Mechanic locked back up,” Pixal proclaimed as Zane opened the hatch over his heart holding up his hand for the others to climb onto. Once they were on his hand Zane placed them on the ground where Wu used the counter spell to restore the others back to their normal sizes.
“Now let’s get this pain before he can escape and this time let’s make sure he’s put in high security,” Lloyd declared as they took off the masks and air tanks they had equipped to prevent them from hindering them. They wasted no time then rushing out of the room to prevent the Mechanic from getting a chance to escape. The smoke was steadily dissipating and the Mechanic was mad ranting on how Zane had managed to escape again. It didn’t take them long to take down all the Mechanics henchmen who weren’t prepared for a fight or their powers. The Mechanic attempted to quickly flee seeing his plan fail and the other ninja were there and back to normal but they were quick to cut off his attempts to escape. He tried to put up a fight but was quickly taken down Zane freezing all but his head to the ground in ice to which Cole added a layer of protection by making rock spires shoot up from the ground to curl up over and around the ice to hinder any escape. It took the cops about half an hour to arrive to take the Mechanic and his crew away. In that time they destroyed the Mechanics work to hinder him from doing this again anytime soon.
“Well today was a weird day,” Lloyd commented as they watched the cops lock up and take everyone away outside the structure which was an old metal works factory outside a small town on the outskirts of Ninjago City. They made sure extra care was taken to have the Mechanic locked up and that he was going to be put under higher security. Once the cops were gone Cole commented, “could we go for dinner now?”
“Serious is that all you can think of especially after some of today’s events?!” Kai exclaimed still quite shaken and vividly remembering some of the days events unable to get them out of his mind and Cole commented, “kind of. I’m also thinking it would probably also be a good idea to have a shower and get some clean non damaged clothes on.”
“I think that’s a good idea,” Lloyd agreed looking at himself and Zane added, “that does sound like a good idea. This place is not very clean nor were many of the henchman; they left my skin a bit dirty plus I should give this sweater back to that folk and put on my own clothes. Not to mention all of you look rather dirty.”
“Yha I don’t want to be reminded of how I got dirty!” Kai commented his eyes wide and looking stunned.
“Yha a calm night at home to relax sounds like a good idea after today’s events,” Jay stated and after Zane wondered about Kais stunned look Jay explained, “we can tell you all about what happened today pal. How about later after we all get cleaned up maybe over dinner.” Kai was just uncomfortable from that suggestion but everyone else was fine with it.
“Sounds good now can we get going,” Cole inquired eager to head off and get something to eat to which he was hoping to be able to get some extra desserts. Wu expressed, “sure we can pick something up on our way home.” They then headed off to the Bounty which Wu and Pixal had used to get there in order to head off. So they could get cleaned up Wu and Pixal dropped the ninja off at the Monastery while they went and got dinner. They all got cleaned up having a shower and getting into their PJs to relax for the rest of the night. Randomly throughout the time after they had gotten cleaned up Zane came up to the others randomly while they were on their own to thank them for saving him while giving them a hug. Zane normally wasn’t the very emotional type not readily showing emotions especially physically as much as the others and outside Pixal or with animals wasn’t usually the one to initiate a hug or similar kinds of affection. This told them what they had done meant a lot to Zane and that he was very grateful for their aid. All of them were happy with his affection and reassured him that he didn’t need to thank them hugging him back in return telling him they had been more than happy to save him. They were more than happy to help him no matter what or how dangerous it could be. Cole and Nya weren’t really bothered about what they had been through; Cole even was rather happy to have gone through it feeling it had given him a better understanding of Zane. Jay was a bit shaken but was getting over it now that he was out of danger. He knew Zane couldn’t help what he was and didn’t hold what happened against him and he assured Zane of this; Zane had no control over what had happened and never would have meant any harm to them. Jay felt even though it grossed him out a bit knowing a great deal about Zanes anatomy had helped him keep calm in the situations and places they had ended up in plus help him protect his pal. Kai was still rather shaken from what they went through and became startled when Zane came up to him highly un-expecting his actions. He assured Zane though that his state wasn’t Zanes fault and he didn’t need to feel bad about it. It was more of the situations and locations they had ended up in that had him shaken and not Zanes workings or quirks; even though a lot of it did have him still grossed out.
“You know you don’t have to thank us,” Lloyd who was the last Zane thanked stated when receiving thanks. Lloyd was still a little shaken from the day’s events but was calming down. Zane had come up to him while he was in the bedroom hall after getting cleaned up. They were all currently just chilling in their rooms or the entertainment room waiting for Wu and Pixal to return with dinner.
“You put yourselves in great danger to save me and I was one of those dangers probably the most dangerous considering the one place you ended up in. I could have easily harmed you or worse without meaning to; my interior is very dangerous for organic beings like you to be wandering in. I at the least owe you a thanks for any troubles or harm I may have caused you,” Zane replied and Lloyd told him, “no you don’t have to thank us no matter what buddy. We wanted to help you no matter the risks and you shouldn’t worry about those. How dangerous you are is not your fault it’s just how you are and none of us would change that no matter what. We like you just the way you are. Besides you’re our brother and we’d do anything for you no matter the risks. We all know you’d do the same for us in fact you often have.” Lloyd gave Zane a hug as he spoke.
“Yha you are our brother even if your insides are like something from a monster… I thought Cole had some weird tastes and eating habits you’re pretty bad too; not as bad as Coles I don’t think but defiantly strange,” Kai commented as he came up to them as he headed towards the entertainment room. He still looked rather shaken as he spoke confusing Zane however before he could say anything they could hear Cole loudly and excitedly calling as he rushed to the kitchen from his room, “dinners here!”
“You know your insides Zane might be like something from a monster but I think somehow Coles would possibly be just as scary,” Kai commented before slowly heading off still looking rather stunned. Noting Zanes confusion Lloyd expressed to him as they followed for dinner, “it’s okay you know how Kai is about guts; he just got to experience more than he wanted to today considering we ended up in yours. Now come on buddy let’s get some dinner before Cole ends up going for seconds and don’t worry we’ll explain everything that went on today to you and don’t take everything Jay or Kai say too personal; thinking back on it the whole thing wasn’t really that bad especially since it meant saving you.”
“I guess your right there. You’re very special Zane in more ways than one and despite how uncomfortable or unpleasant all we went through today was I guess it was all worth it in order to make sure we still have you around… even if it’s going to give me nightmares for a while. No matter what you are or what you’re made of… or how gross or scary your insides are buddy you’re still our brother and we wouldn’t change that or anything about you,” Kai agreed.
Bonus The book is just talked about in the story but I imagine it to be filled with all sorts of things making a sort of care guide and holds examples of problems the others caused and explanations for the others about why these problems arose and how to avoid them in the future. The book would including some stuff like this:
Samples from the care book:
The Book contains sections like:
The basics for caring for them, sections for each of their systems, a section on their senses, a section on basic repairs for them, a section on reboots and recalibrations that they can do for them along with other tech works, a section listing dangers for them and things that are safe for them with explanations on why things are safe or not and a section dedicated to each of them covering unique features traits and behaviors for each (one for Zane and one for Pixal).
Basics: for everyday things like what they can and can’t have, things to watch out for, things not to do with or around them, a bit on how they think, daily care like feeding and cleaning, normal behaviors, their equivalents to being sick, etc.
Examples from basics:
Remember for their safety we can't talk much about the specifics of nindroids or care for them in public and you can only tell or get help from others if Pixal and Zane have deemed it okay to do so or trust the individual. If someone asks you about them be vague; we don't want knowledge getting to the wrong people. That can easily prove very bad. This has led to a lot of myths about them but unless the myths are harmful for them it's better the public has them than the truths. If you're going to play around and encourage some myths make sure to be nice about it don't get absurd or scary with them. Many already have fears and beliefs that nindroids inherently are very dangerous and secretly want to destroy or enslave humanity. We've never seen proof they inherently wish to do this and this belief is dangerous for Zane and Pixals safety and the overall image to nindroids. Don't do anything to further encourage or prolong the belief. Also careful what you say. We know Cole didn't mean any harm when comparing Zane to an Alsatian Shepherd but that has led to some kids gifting Zane dog biscuits; luckily the shelters always happy to take them.
If they are low on energy do not feed them batteries. We don’t know which of you did that, Zane refused to tattle, but we know it was one of you. Given past records we’re pretty sure it was you Kai. No matter who it was don’t feed droids batteries. For one that is not how batteries work, two while in them and still fairly intact the battery will shock them and thirdly as it’s digested the acids and chemicals in the batteries will disrupt their systems normal flora and chemical balance making them sick.
Remember when working with them to have your shots particularly for tetanus up to date. Tetanus is a very unpleasant condition, has no cure and will end your carrier as a ninja. Zane and Pixal can’t help it if they’re harbouring tetanus, the bacteria just has a strange love for making metal its home and with a great deal of metal to their bodies they have a high chance of harbouring the stuff. They can easily keep it off the outside of their bodies however can’t do much about the inside. Also even though synthetics coat the interior of their mouths and enamel coats their teeth covering the metal the bacteria is still present there. Normally they won’t bite but when being restrained especially if they’re having a bad dream they tend to bite in defence. Along with Tetanus they can unintentionally be harbouring and transfer other dangerous bacteria and even some viruses, fungi and parasites without realising it since they aren't affected by it so won't realise they are carrying them. Remember how Jay accidently got Serpentine-pox making his skin scaly and itchy for a week because Zane was accidently carrying the disease or how we all got ringworm because Zane had helped a cat that had it and didn’t realise at the time that even though he’s immune that he could spread it to the rest of us. They try to keep themselves from being a danger but sometimes they have no control over it or accidents can happen. Best to be safe over sorry.
There are a few viruses known to affect nindroids, before some of you freak out no you can't catch these viruses (unless you have cybernetic implants) they affect droids only. These will cause various systems to malfunction causing them to work improperly and cause pain. They can also cause balance issues and navigation issues or even mess with their senses. They keep their antivirus software up to date so it is very unlikely they should have problems with these however you never know. Despite their precautions things can happen not to mention while they can defend against technical attacks they can't do much against magical attacks which can give them these or comparable conditions. Signs they have a virus can include: random and often unexpected passing out, being tired often sleeping more, poor balance and co-ordination, poor focus, trouble thinking, digestive issues, coughing, internal pains, poor communication (speaking may sound like gibberish, be backwards or they are using some other language and might not realise it), senses might randomly shut down on them leaving them blind, unable to hear anything or even feel anything and they may even become aggressive and attack others (Jay: I consider one of these viruses Robot Rabies. It's kind of like it; they don't foam at the mouth but will drool a bit and loose co-ordination and balance while becoming uncontrollably aggressive. Luckily they can't transmit it to us however they can give it to each other so if they are showing signs like this keep them separate and don't let them connect to each other; the virus downloads to any cybernetic system it encounters on its own. You might have to lock them up till we can purge the virus from their coding; the virus prevents them from easily being put offline so that won't work to keep them in control. You have to override the virus to knock them out and none of you have the skills or knowledge for that.) Magical caused conditions are much less predictable and cause behaviors and symptoms they usually are incapable of having or do things to them that a simple virus can't. If you suspect they may have a virus we'll deal with it. The computers in the Hanger bay can easily diagnose it for you but none of you have the skills to remove it. Do not try to remove a virus yourselves; you could easily mess up and cause serious and potentially dangerous problems. Best thing you can do till we can help them is keep them calm, safe and comfortable till we can help them.
If they are as Kai described it once 'glitching' which is simply functioning problems, shaking with no apparent physical or emotional connection, easily distracted, slowed thinking and mental functioning and/or falling asleep or offline at odd times that's more likely a sign they are low on energy not a virus. Just give them something to eat and let them rest. It will take a while for them to get back to normal functioning levels after this so don't freak out and think somethings wrong because they aren't better in a few minutes. It takes them a while to recover from low energy; it's not an instant process. Just think you're not fully recovered rate after lunch or a nap either.
Magnets and Droids: the metal of Zane and Pixals body is titanium which is not magnetic so magnets won’t stick to them however they can prove dangerous to them as they disrupt their navigation sensors and balance and strong magnets can confuse their sense of direction. Remember if you’re going to play with magnets to have fun with them do it during down time and not when we could be on a mission so you can hide magnets in their PJ’s or street attire for a prank not in our uniforms. Just remember that screw up Jay did by hiding that surprisingly strong fridge magnet in Zane's hood and we lost him that mission only to find he’d wandered to the totally opposite side of town because the magnet messed with his sense of direction and he didn’t realise he was going the wrong way because of it. Also don’t feed them magnets. Even when inside them the magnets will mess up their sense of balance and navigation and make them sick. Cole we know it was an accident that you accidently mixed fridge magnets into the cake you practised baking and got Zane to try it. Next time when getting something out of the fridge leave the bowl on the counter and not try to hold it, the door open and get what you need at the same time. We can’t fully blame you however as Zane holds some of the blame since he did sense something off about your cake and should have declined instead of having some; he was not wanting to be rude to you. All we’re trying to say is be more cautious and aware of what you’re doing.
Do not worry it is normal for them to sneeze. Sneezing means they have likely got something up their nose that isn’t supposed to be there. Usually it is just something like dust or smoke that they can get out on their own but on rare occasions they have ended up with a live insect up their nose. Usually they can get it out on their own if not you may have to use tweezers to help get it out. Before you complain about the task remember they’re not pleased or comfortable with it either so you’re both finding it unpleasant. If the tweezers don’t work you will have to use water to flush out the insect. Yes this isn’t pleasant for them either.
On rare occasions we have found unexpected critters sheltering in their bodies usually just under their skin or in hatches or ports in their bodies. Usually they can get them out on their own but sometimes they may need help. Remember to be careful when helping them so you don’t cause damages or pain; remember you two in particular Lloyd and Kai if you think this task and the critters you’re removing like spiders are creepy remember how unpleasant it is for them. How would you feel to have a spider un-wantedly living in you especially by your heart? On the less creepy side not all unexpected critters are unpleasant. Remember the time we kept hearing weird noises from Zane and he was acting a bit weird during a mission and we found he was carrying around a duckling in one of the storage ports in his abdomen to keep it warm while he waited to get a chance to take it to a rescue.
Do not play around with those shocking pranks with them. What feels like a minor shock to us feels like a major shock to them and causes problems for their hearts and temporary disruptions to their nervous systems. It's not just unpleasant but painful for them.
If they are having digestive problems you can give them rice or some form of flavoured milk with their medicine mixed in to help make them better. Do not mix oil in with anything you are trying to make them better not make problems worse. You can give them things with ginger to help. Their medicine is specially formulated for droids and is toxic to humans; it won’t kill you but will make you really sick. Do not drink it; this means you Cole.
If you find them passed out from the heat bring them to a safe location out of the sun preferably indoors. Putting a fan nearby blowing on them can help them cool down. Let them rest till they're cool but keep an eye on them. If they don’t seem to be cooling down or you want to help them out wrap an ice pack in a towel and place it in a compartment in their chests for about twenty minutes. That should help them cool down. You can also give them ice or other cool items like popsicles to consume to help cool their core temperatures. Make sure nothing emitting heat is near them and if you have to you can dress them in lighter less covering clothes to help them loose heat. A cool shower or placing them in a cold storage room can also be very helpful.
If you find them passed out with no apparent reason for them to be such do not just try to wake them up. Do a system diagnostic first to make sure nothings wrong before rebooting them. You can do this through the app we have given you or by the computers in the hanger bay. They could have just gotten knocked out by something but they could be passed out from damage or something being wrong and need medical attention before you awaken them.
Let sleeping droids lie. They need their rest just like us and do not like to be disturbed. If they are sleeping they likely have a good reason for doing so therefore do not disturb them unless it is absolutely necessary. Warning if Zane is having a nightmare be careful about waking him or touching him; you could get hit or punched and Kai knows just how painful that can be and Zane didn't hit him with his full strength that time and he got a bloody nose and black eye. Sometimes placing a teddy in his arms can settle him a bit. Playing the audio we put on that special speaker which is stored in his nightstand also helps. Only try to wake him if it is absolutely necessary or he is in danger of hurting himself like falling out of bed. Pixals not as bad and doesn't suffer bad dreams as badly as Zane but she can still be just as dangerous so be very careful when dealing with her bad dreams to. The same methods for calming him down work on her too.
Droids are intolerant to citrus so be very guarded over giving them any citrus fruits, anything with extracts from citrus and any juices with citrus. If you do give them anything with citrus give them only a small amount. Anymore and they'll get sick and you'll need to give them some of their 'medicine'. Pop is also not good for them; the very high acidity to the stuff is bad for their systems disrupting the natural biota of their systems not to mention the acid used in them is citric based. We also recommend you don’t give them Coles chilli; we’ve had enough problems from that already. Also some of Wu’s special teas are a bad idea; droids react a bit differently (sometimes very differently and potentially dangerously) to the teas. Be careful if you give them any and know it may have unexpected and potentially dangerous effects for the rest of us.
Keep them indoors during thunderstorms, they can easily get struck by lightening and that will seriously stress their hearts. If they are unfortunate to get struck bring them indoors as quickly as possible to keep them from getting struck again. If struck they will get knocked offline. Just let them rest but keep a close eye on them. Hook up one of the portable system monitors for them to keep tabs on their vitals. They most likely will need a reboot after getting struck; for the reboot go to the chapter on reboots and recalibrations.
Remember their senses are stronger and more sensitive than ours meaning they are easily overstimulated. Do not play music loudly close to them, strong smells like from cologne bothers them (do not use much of it), certain fabrics and materials irritate their sense of touch; if they say something is bothering them it is so don’t joke with it. When their senses are overstimulated it causes functioning problems and slows their processors as their brains try to process the excess sensory information along with normal functioning's. Not only will this slow their brains functioning but can also cause problems for their emotional circuits making them at mild moody. Also take note if somethings bothering their senses they could be sensing something dangerous or serious for us such as toxic gasses that we are unaware of; sometimes they don’t realise or understand certain dangers as dangers for us. They just seem odd or irritating to droids.
Remember emotions are difficult for them to understand so try not to play around with them to them. Also don't assume because they are not showing anything that they are not feeling anything. They might not know or understand how to show or deal with an emotion so opt not to show anything to avoid confusions or problems. They also have a tendency to hide emotions especially if somethings wrong so watch for hints of this, they might be very small, but these can lead to bigger problems down the line. It's best if we deal with the problem as soon as we can and not let it prolong and get worse.
Sarcasm is also strange to them so be careful how you say or word things. Also be wary with idioms and common sayings, if they don’t understand them they may take it too literal. Remember Cole’s comment about being hungry enough to eat a horse and Zane made horse for dinner. That was just a weird consequence, we probably don’t want to find out how they will react to something like ‘break a leg’, ‘get something out of your system’, ‘give someone the cold shoulder’, or ‘beat around the bush’. At best they won’t understand them and just get confused at worst someone could get hurt.
If their skin is cut yes they can feel it, don’t poke at exposed wires that hurts too. They sense pain differently from us but they still feel it. If you are with one of them and us and the other isn’t around to deal with a scratch in their skin make sure nothing is exposed. If wires are sticking out carefully and gently put them back in their skin then wrap a cloth around the area like a bandage to keep debris out and from anything falling out or getting in. A small insect getting in their body could cause problems by chewing through wires or into their cooling system. Do not try to fix the damage yourself; we’re talking to you Kai. Repairing this damage requires a delicate touch not just plain welding like on a mech. We will do it or they will help each other fix it do not try to fix it yourselves. If they are cut and leaking cooling fluids, don’t worry they’ll shut that system down to stop the leak till the damage is fixed, don’t worry it is safe to touch the stuff and help them clean it up; it is not safe however to eat so wash it off your hands especially, and this is for you Cole, before eating. If you want to know more about these fluids check the section on their internal systems. They will explain the various substances in their body more thoroughly.
Do not give them bubble gum. They tend to just swallow it not realising it's not editable. This won't lead to too much problems, usually it just passes through their systems without problems, but it's not healthy for them and too much of it could build up and get stuck in their systems especially if other foreign debris it can get stuck to is in there (nindroids have a bad habit of eating things they aren’t supposed to; they get confused over what is and isn’t editable for them) which means it will have to be manually removed and we will make you do that remember this.
Yes they can get intestinal parasites but the chances of that are slim and plain de-wormers are effective at treating this. No despite what Kai thinks they can't transfer lice to you; they don't have blood which is what those bugs feed on so the bugs don't bother with them. They can't transfer fleas or ticks either again cause they have nothing for these insects. If you get them you got them from someone else not Zane or Pix. Maybe Kai be more careful where you put your hood in the future.
If for some reason they need you to help clean themselves cause they are having troubles doing it themselves you can use regular soaps and shampoos on them, they prefer using these. They both like smells reminiscent of woodlands, rain and lakes or seas. There is though a special cleaner for them. The main difference between this cleaner and normal ones is it helps better remove grease like from oils and neutralizes their cooling fluid and synth-regrow making them safer for others to touch. You use this cleaner if they have oil, their cooling fluid or synth-regrow on them. You can also use it to clean these materials off yourselves.
No noises from machines aren't some secret Robot language this is a myth so don't ask them if they can understand the noises. It's just noise to them like it is to us; we're especially addressing you here Kai.
Yes we know it scares you Kai that nindroids are highly carnivorous but this is the safest and by far most efficient diet and anatomy for nindroids and don't worry you have a greater chance of Cole eating you than Zane or Pixal; unless of course someone messes with their minds then we can't tell the chances of this happening but there is a low chance that will happen. We have a few methods in place to try and keep others from messing with their minds. We will admit though that these precautious don't always work and we have not been able to figure out a way to keep magical effects from messing with their minds. Also, Kai and Lloyd this is for you two, as far as we can tell neither of them appears to have programing that tells them to enslave or conquer humanity; at least we're pretty sure they don't. That doesn't mean something can't happen though to make them try to do this so we just have to be careful to make sure this doesn't happen. Note from Nya: Alongside this don't believe all those sci-fi books, movies and the likes; Zane and Pixal are very unlikely to turn on us even during a robot uprising and while Jay may still think its possible I do not believe we have any risk that without foreign meddling Zane, Pixal or both would lead a robot takeover of humanity.
Remember Zane and Pixal have extreme trust in us letting them put themselves in highly vulnerable positions like being put offline and for us to work on them including on all parts of their anatomy. Let’s not do anything to hurt this trust. If something happens to them we’re some of the few that can help them so we need their trust in order to keep them safe and well. Once damaged a nindroids trust can be hard to regain. Do not do anything, even as a prank, with them while they are in a vulnerable state especially don’t mess around with anything of their anatomy. Jay setting Zanes speech to pirate speak annoyed Zane and stressed his trust in Jay till Jay could prove he wasn’t going to do that, anything like that or mess with anything else of his body just for fun for a while.
Also remember Zane and Pixal have a very strong bond and are very protective of each other. If you do anything to upset or hurt the other remember they will defend the other and punish you for your doings and I'm pretty sure you know from experience not to do anything that will anger them or cause them to punish you.
Systems: an overall guide to their various internal systems. Each goes into detail about each system including how it works, what parts are involved with it, unique features to them, dangers associated with them, how to tell if the system is malfunctioning and how to fix the malfunction, how to work with these parts and repair them, etc. For their digestive system it includes a list of things that are harmful for them or that they can't have and a list of things that are good for them or safe to have. Examples:
Nervous System: includes their senses.
Their neural systems runs off a great deal of electricity so if they get injured and wires are exposed and you touch these wires you will get shocked and it’s quite a shock. Wait for them to shut off power to the region damaged then you can work with the wires.
Yes they can feel things so if you hit them don’t wonder if they can feel it. They do feel it; their senses of course just perceive things a bit differently from ours but they still feel it.
Because it runs off electricity their nervous systems are sensitive to electricity.
Their base vision is the same as ours however they have several added spectrums they can see in that they can turn on and off when needed. This includes the ability to see in the UV spectrum and to see temperatures. These added features however have the negative effect of making their vision sensitive to bright light; this is why they are irritated by bright light such as the midday sun and when your phone or computer screen is too bright. These features do let them see better in the dark but while better than our night vision it is not as good as a cats. Don’t joke that they have the eyes of a cat you’ll just confuse them. Commenting they have the vision of a cat or any other animal can also cause them to lecture you on the differences between their vision and an animals and we know that involves a lot of big complex words most of you don’t understand well so unless you want to hear them just keep your comments to yourselves.
Like with animals their sense of smell includes an ability to detect pheromones which means yes they can smell your fear. It also means they can smell if you're ill so if they tell you that you smell odd or off don't brush it off. You might want to look into why they are commenting this. Remember how they both once kept commenting Cole smelt strange but was ignoring their observations and we found out later after we all got it that he had pink eye and was trying to hide it? They could detect the changes in pheromones the disease was causing to his body. They didn't understand or know the cause of what they sensed as off they could just sense something different. Even if it really isn't a huge problem don't just brush off what they are sensing as nothing. There could be something serious to it; we're pretty sure none of us want pink eye again right?
When emotions get too much for them they will start to have functioning problems. Twitching, jerking, improper grammar and odd speech, confusion, minor shaking and freezing up are signs of this. Don't joke or make fun of them if this happening. They're having enough problems and just need some time to relax and maybe some support or comfort to help them gain better control of their emotions. If their emotions get too high their brains basically in a sense short circuit and knocks them offline, unconscious in our view. If this happens just make sure their safe and they'll reboot within ten to twenty minutes and be better.
Respiratory System:
When submerged under water like instinct they stop their breathing to prevent getting water in their lungs. Sometimes however this behaviour may malfunction and they might accidently breathe in water. If that happens to prevent problems like mold and bad bacteria developing in their lungs you will have to drain the excess water. This is a simple procedure that shouldn’t be too hard for the likes of you to complete.
Parts for this system are pale pinkish in color and like all his synthetic organs dark strands of wiring are visible in the substance.
Cooling System:
This system runs all through their bodies and is used to maintain a stable and equal body temperature. The system consists of various tubes that hold a thermal carrying liquid which is constantly pumped through their bodies to maintain and redistribute heat and cold. The systems center is a decent sized structure housed in an insulated casing near their hearts. The structure includes a compressor which cools the fluid.
The fluids in their cooling systems operate through heat transfer. They are not toxic or dangerous but if consumed will make you sick. Always wash your hands after dealing with it. If they lose cooling fluid from an injury it can be replenished. Let us or them do this as you have to seal the damaged tubing first before refilling it.
If they receive an injury that damages their cooling system causing it to bleed don't worry too much they will shut down the system to prevent loosing too much of the liquid however this is dangerous as it means their temperature controls are offline and they can very easily overheat. You need to repair the damage as quickly as possible so they can get the system started or take measures to help keep their body core and head cool. You can repair the damage yourselves just be careful. You will need to use Synth-repair to do it so follow the instructions found in the basic repairs section very carefully. Remember Synth-repair is dangerous for our skin so be careful.
Digestive System:
The digestive systems of droids are very dangerous so great caution needs to be taken when working with it. We recommend none of you try any work on it and leave this kind of work for a professional. Coles the only one cautious enough to safely do such work but all of you are too grossed out by it to be safe with this kind of work.
Take note droids do have a bad habit of eating things that they aren't really supposed to. While most like the rinds to melons, bones, egg shells, fruit pits and corn cobs shouldn't hurt them others like gum, things made of plastic or rubber which they may confuse as food due to the item looking like food items and chemicals like the stuff in glow sticks Kai can hurt them and cause problems. Do not goof around with stuff that isn't food with them and if they eat something like melon rinds, bones or fruit pits don't worry they should be fine; we might just have to keep an eye on them to make sure they don't get hurt.
Warning if you do something that ends up with them swallowing something they aren’t supposed to eat and it could get stuck in their systems or could hurt them like cutting up their insides we’re going to make you remove the items with your bare hands. Yes this is very dangerous and yes their digestive fluids will eat some of your skin but maybe that injury will teach you to be more careful in the future.
The fluids in their digestive systems consist of hydrochloric acid which is stronger than that of humans as well as very powerful enzymes and bacteria much like what you’d find in a bear or vulture. If you get them on your skin you have to wash them off as quickly as possible as they will easily eat away at your flesh. If they do eat away at your skin you’re going to need to use a special cleaner to stop the enzymes and bacteria from continuing to eat away at you and you will get a pretty nasty infection from it. Don't worry it's easy to treat and generally won't leave scarring. Do not worry if their systems do digest some of you it won’t turn them into man eaters nor will them biting you do that despite what the myths say.
Remember their bite strength is comparable to that of a bears and even though their teeth are like those of ours in shape due to their metal make they are sharper so can do much more damage. Luckily they usually won't bite unless they are defending themselves and they have few other options. Best not to give them a reason to bite. Instead of forcibly restraining them if somethings wrong use the app we made to in a sense sedate them to settle things.
Things that are safe for them include any form of meat including shellfish and insects, rice, apples, peaches, watermelon (make sure they don't eat the rind it isn't healthy for them), potatoes, corn but not the cob (you have to watch Zane with this he tends to eat the whole thing), breads (in moderation, too much is not healthy for them), peas, beans, peppers but not spicy ones, carrots, lettuce, dairy products, chocolates and candies (nothing though that uses citrus like orange flavoured or sour flavours nor emulates a citrus flavor), tomatoes (a little bit is fine but these are high in acidity so they cannot have too much), tea, pineapples and grapes. Things that are not safe or good for them include citrus fruits including juices made from them (you can use lemon for seasoning but do not use too much like Kais seasoning too much also one small citrus fruit won’t seriously hurt them but don’t let them have anymore for at least three to four days; droids are basically citrus intolerant), most juices (for some reason a lot of them are made with citric acid which comes from citrus for some reason when they don't need to be; we think this is done to give them more vitamin C but nindroids don't need that and citrus is harmful for them), avocados, highly acidic things like pop (they can have a small 250 ml cup once in a while not a whole bottle Cole not even when it is just 500 ml), spicy things including spices and peppers, bananas and cucumbers for some reason, nuts, most leafy plant items like spinach, broccoli and kale, fermented foods or drinks and caramel (they can eat it but if it somehow gets past the synthetics in their mouth or throat it could clog up interior joints or connectors in their body leading to problems so best not to play with this stuff).
Do not feed them cat or dog food. Just because they have a similar meat high diet to these animals pet food is not good for them or a good idea. Jay did it once as a joke but we shouldn't play around with this; they actually found the fish cat food not too bad. Along with not being healthy for them, cat food has additives meant for cats that aren’t healthy for a droids system causing imbalances. Knowing how they think we don't want them growing a liking to it and end up thinking tuna cat food can be a substitute for actual tuna and use it as such. Do you want to end up eating cat food instead of regular tuna? We know Cole might not be too bothered but we doubt the rest of you will like that. We know we won't plus cat food isn't safe for humans for the same reasons it isn't safe for droids.
Apart of this system is a minor subsystem known as an energy conversion system. It takes the products they were able to extract with their digestive system and converts them into electricity. This system is worked into their intestines. The waste materials and byproducts produced from this conversion process are sent back into their intestines to be removed with the rest of the systems waste.
Most of the components of this system are a sickly green tinted dark purple color. The color helps keep the interior of the system dark for the symbiotes in it. The materials in their mouths is a normal pinkish to not appear different from a regular persons. The wiring in these parts isn't easily visible when the systems off but when it is active some circuits, largely major ones, give off a faint icy blue glow.
A section on their skeleton and musculature.
It is not uncommon that during intense activities or from accidents the connectors for their equivalent to muscles to get disconnected. Signs this has happened is they won't be able to properly move part or parts of their bodies and or jerky movements. If this happens all you need to do is reconnect whatever was disconnected. It's very easy to do and if you somehow do have problems they can help you with it.
A section on their hearts:
It may look fragile but the material is stronger than it looks. It is not invincible however. It is also capable of sensing touch so don't poke at it. Not only do they find having it touched without their consent uncomfortable but when it is touched without them preparing to have it touched as a self defense the material releases a serious electric shock in defence. This is not only painful for them but drains some energy which isn't good if they're low on energy and it temporarily stresses the material. Depending on the severity of the touch and the shock given this can be for only a few minutes to nearly over half an hour.
A section on the more tech work to them like calibrations and reboots plus various useful codes to work with them like for calming them down, sedating them, etc.
Zane and Pixal each get a section with stuff unique to them for the others to know.
Zane:
He finds chores relaxing and calming. Clutter and mess bother him.
Kids make him a bit nervous as they often ask him very personal questions about his workings which he isn't comfortable talking to others about and they often make what he considers weird comments or remarks about nindroids which he often doesn't understand. Some also try to play with the panel in his arm or want to see his inner workings which he is very uncomfortable with.
Zane doesn't do well with magic. He doesn't understand it well and when it is used on him particularly if it affects his mind it greatly unsettles him.
Pixal:
Pixal better understands what it means to be human and understands sayings and idioms better though many still stump her.
She loves when given a task as she not only enjoys working with her hands but enjoys the challenge of improving on a task. You ask her to repair something and not only will she repair it but find a way to improve on it and make it better/more efficient.
Pixal is more tolerating and comfortable of magic and isn't as bothered by it but like Zane hates when it messes with her mind.
Added bonus: Some myths people of Ninjago have on droids:
Due to the nindroid crisis many don’t trust them particularly older people and those who don’t understand technology well, which is most people, making them think they’re inherently evil. Also because of this in many places droids are not treated very nice seen as second rate citizens or not even citizens and often de-humanized.
Some places even whole towns are very hostile towards them and won't let droids in or even near them. This can lead to problems for the ninja as Zane and Pix can have extreme trouble working with them in these areas and their enemies will take advantage of this.
A lot of kids think they’re scary. The younger the kid the more scared they are of them. Kids also think they have supernatural powers and abilities, Zanes powers just help fuel this belief. Because of this Zane and Pixal give kids their space and don't interact with them unless the child initiates the interaction to keep from scaring them and prevent problems with parents or other adults who think droids are very dangerous will hurt the children.
Due to fears droids are not permitted near certain areas where there is a great deal of technology for fears they will mess with/corrupt it especially if they are on their own.
Fears to them also has them banned from certain areas like schools, hospitals, police stations and power stations unless accompanied by a guardian to keep them in control.
These fears also mean many are wary of them just wandering around on their own especially in populated areas. They aren’t so bothered about in the wilderness as people don’t think there is anything for them to get in trouble with out there.
People think they are not only cold hearted but have cold unfeeling skin.
Those aware that they can eat and drink think they can become man eaters especially if they somehow consume even by accident parts or blood from people and could consider humans a resource for fuel not as friends. This leads some to think they want to enslave humans to be livestock for them. Some also think like cats they'll eat the people they live with if they die.
Some people feel droids aren’t capable of feelings especially empathy, caring and love so any such displays they show are illusions to trick humans into trusting them.
That droids can give not only your phone or computer a virus but can infect you with a virus even computer ones. Some of the crazier people even think the viruses they could give will turn the infected into a machine like them.
That if you're not careful they could implant technology into your brain to control your mind.
They can easily read your actions, feelings and behaviours and use this to trick you; the truth not only can they not do this but it is more of the opposite having trouble understanding human actions, feelings and behaviours.
There is the thought that they inherently have a strong desire to overthrow people and enslave or wipe them out.
While some think droids are smart enough to trick people others think they’re too stupid to understand things so can easily be taken advantage of and won’t realise they are being taken advantage of so these individuals take advantage of and mistreat them.
Some think substances from their bodies are radioactive even though they’re not. They are toxic but not radioactive.
All droids have to be registered with governments and receive mandatory annual to bi-annual checks to make sure they are not being corrupted by anything. Of course not all of them comply with this especially those working with crooks.
Various laws are aimed to them often not in the favor of droids some of the laws being rather cruel and de-humanizing. For example in order to be in a sense free droids have to have caretakers or 'owners'. While understanding the need for a nindroid to have a legal guardian for their health and safety the ninja are not fond of this law and how its termed and operates; it's too close to slavery for their liking. They at least take comfort that it gives them a way to keep Zane and Pixal safe and get proper punishment handed out from criminal acts to them like hacking, personal harm and kidnapping. The terms of this law while making them legal charges for Zane and Pixal also mean that they are in a sense responsible for the actions and any trouble Zane or Pixal get into even if things were an accident meaning they get charged as accessories for any trouble the two get charged with.
Some think certain fluids used and produced in their bodies have healing or magical properties even though they don't and there is a bit of a black market to these especially as to harvest the stuff is invasive and cruel to those used.
Because he is unique there are some unique myths related to Zane:
Those thinking nindroids are inherently evil believe the ninja do something to keep him in control and passive ranging from more logical through programming to more magical like implanting enchanted runes in him or using spells on him.
The more fearful are worried of what he does when not with the others thinking he could be plotting to take over the world. This isn’t helped by Zane being more secretive and not in the public often like the others. He prefers not to be the center of attention preferring a more quiet and private life.
Because they keep secret about his anatomy and programming there are quite a few misconceptions about him. No one is sure exactly how he’s powered. Only the fact he isn’t powered by batteries like normal droids and doesn’t have to be charged is publicly known. Some have tried to figure it out using various points of evidence. Knowing he can eat and drink some think they have some sort of special feed for him like a droid equivalent of cat food with some thinking this feed is made from people like criminals, some even think he directly eats people to which the ninja give him criminals to feed on and some think the ninja drain others vampiric like through some machine to charge him. The ninja especially Zane don’t like that people think these things of him and the others but no matter how hard they try the conspiracies persist.
There is also misconceptions about his origins due to his memory loss which prevents him from really remembering that and the fact he often doesn’t talk about his past. Because he’s different from other droids some think his father used magic to make him while on the creepier side some think his father trapped the soul from someone or something else in a robotic body some even getting creepy with it even thinking his original body had pieces from the entity his soul was taken from. Zane really doesn’t like those myths even though he has no evidence to contradict some of them but he and the others still try to stop them. Many of these myths however continue to persist despite their attempts to contradict them.
Notes:
I used evidence from the show and various canon works along with my knowledge in the sciences largely biology and chemistry along with some minor knowledge I have in technologies and robotics to work all this out. Sciences and technologies have always been something I've excelled in along with geography, ecology and biomechanics. When it came to the show there was quite a bit to work with. For one both with his original body and his titanium form he is seen to eat and drink quite a few times and in season 8 a computer screen shows he has lungs which are also evident as he shows signs of breathing in multiple episodes. Taking evidence and putting them together and how they would work to help him function and stay alive helped formulate a lot of things. Also his power source would make no sense if it was unable to be charged as it could very easily be overworked and depleted. This is where his ability to eat would come in handy and be explained as he is seen eating and drinking in multiple seasons even in his titanium form. It would help restore and keep stable energy outputs preventing total depletion and lowering the levels of being overworked as logically his power source would need some way to keep from loosing all it's energy.
When you think of it having thought he was human for quite some time before finding out he was a droid likely would really have messed Zane up making it hard for him to tell what is and isn't natural or normal for him leading to quite a bit of confusion and strange habits and behaviors.
Kai strikes me as one of those who acts all tough but in reality can't stand the sight of blood or gore and would pass out from some of the simplest of injuries. I'm pretty sure the bandage he has on his face since season 8 he's afraid to take off nervous of what is underneath so it's now just melded into his skin for being there so long.
I take that Lloyd and Kai are probably the most uncomfortable and least skilled with working on and understanding Zane and Pixals anatomy. Coles probably no expert but is rather mature and responsible with it and will try his best.
Some more headcanons I wasn't able to work into the story but I felt interesting include that when made real mad all the ninjas eyes will change color and glow from their powers. Lloyds and Zanes are obvious, Coles goes orange, Kais red, Nyas a light blue and Jays yellow. They all can't stand silence as it makes them feel nervous of danger. They have to have music or ambient noise quietly playing especially when they sleep. Out of fear of secret attacks all of them keep weapons hidden in their nightstands, this seems a little dark though so I opted not add this one.
I love when the ninja, or characters in general, just get to interact with each other on daily activities so I threw some fun little works of that in the story.
If you are not familiar with the term Canary in a coal mine it is a saying originating from an old practice coal miners used to identify the presence of dangerous gases. Because canaries are more sensitive they die quicker in the presence of dangerous gasses so if the canary died then the miners knew it was time to get out of there. Now a days the saying has the meaning of being an early indicator of potential dangers.
As a side note from what's seen in the show the stuff that makes up Zanes heart reminds me of Aetherium from the Elder Scrolls. Aetherium is a similar colored and looking crystal like material that other than having magical properties is poorly understood, how to work with it is largely unknown with the knowledge of working with it lost with the missing dwarven race which worked with and mined it.
As a fan of paleontology I can tell you despite the myths oil is not made from dinosaurs. It is made from fossilized planktons and other microscopic aquatic creatures. There is actually a form of oil currently being researched and used for somethings made from kelp to be used as a renewable and eco friendly alternative to the fossil fuel based substance.
Chapter 3: Clan of the Lost chapter 1: The Arrival
Summary:
After I finished the original story and started on a sort of epilogue story a prequel to the story came to mind and I started working on it. This is that prequel.
Imagine this sort of trailer (that's the best I could describe it as) being read by Lloyd: Something’s coming… we thought they’d be no different from others we’ve faced before but we were wrong. They sailed ashore out of nothing boasting powers and abilities unlike anything we’ve ever seen before. Conquerors seemingly lost to time and space. They’re spreading across the realm cold, dark and monsters following in their wake and nothing we do can stop or slow them down. If only that was the only problem with them. They’re attacking us from within our own ranks distracting some, awakening crippling memories from their past in some, turning others to become traitors and me… to become a monster. I can feel it when they are near the Oni within me surfacing and I am powerless against it. They are awakening it on purpose I just know it but why? What do these things want with Ninjago? Are they here to just claim the realm for themselves or do they have darker intentions? Why are they turning us against each other and why are they awakening the Oni in my blood?
Notes:
You do not need to know anything from the original story as this is a prequel to it.
Pictures relating to story can be found here: https://www.deviantart.com/nerdy-hyena/gallery/72478681/story-project
They are really good and help to visually flush out several aspects of the story including environments, characters, outfits, locations, creatures and other aspects often important ones in the story. All images I post in my work can be found there if you want a better look at them. Defiantly make sure to check them out.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
A humanoid figure heads up the stairs of the stone watchtower. She’s in a bit of a rush with an important message. Overall her bodies built like a humans but she bares fur on her skin, claws tip the digits of her hands and feet, she has a short semi bushy tail and her head bares a strong resemblance to that of a hyena. She dons a red hooded and sleeved cloak over her dusty blue silken pants and shirt. She has the hood pulled over her head as she stalks up the stairs. Reddish wraps form shoes on her feet letting her clawed toe tips stick out while fingerless gloves adorn her hands letting her clawed fingers free. The structure she is in is part of a keep built on a ledge on the side of a mountain. When she reaches the top of the tower she stops looking at the figure standing there looking out over the lands they inhabit. The mountains their keep sit on border the western edge of a massive valley to these lands. A forest of ancient conifers dominates close to their mountains with other environments further out. The starred night sky above dances with a green aurora while past that two moons one darker than the other follow each other through the sky and past those some distance behind a bluish planet can be seen.
“Do you have something to report?” the figure asks his tone calm but serious. He is like her, part of the same race, but he is decked out in the armour of a warrior not the attire of a mage. He stands tall and alert not even looking back as he observes the lands below. She comes to stand next to state, “I feel you know why I have come to speak to you.”
“Indeed, I believe our time has come,” he declares.
“Jay… Jay are you going to get the door?” Nya calling him caught his attention and he snapped out of his thoughts as Kai expressed, “don’t worry I’ve got it.” Kai went to answer the door to the monasteries grounds. It was the night of the day of the dead and they had some kids stopping by the monastery. Jay had opted to handout candies to those that stopped by but so far Kai had been doing it most often as Jay was lost in thought. He’d gotten distracted this time by one of the day of the departed lanterns they had set out on the monasteries grounds.
“Sorry, guess I was lost in thought again,” Jay replied. He, Kai and Nya were spending the night at the monastery with Kai and Nyas parents and Jays adopted parents. Cole was out spending it with his father, Zane had gone with Pixal to his fathers workshop while Lloyd was with his mom and Wu at the Ninjago natural history museum which was hosting a special for the night where some of the curators were telling scary stories.
“What are you thinking about?” Nya inquired as Jay finished hanging the lantern he’d lit on one of the monasteries posts. Jay replied, “ever since the events with Nadakhan I’ve wondered why my biological parents left me. This time of year just makes me think of it more. Did they not want me? Was something wrong? Is my mother still alive?”
“I’m pretty sure they had their reasons. You remember your biological father has a room dedicated to you in his mansion so clearly they have feelings for you,” Nya noted and Jay expressed, “true but why have they never tried to contact me even just to say hello or ask how things are going?” After a pause Nya offered, “maybe there’s a reason for that. As our lands protectors you should know we face many dangers and many who would do terrible things to us if they could. Look at my parents. Kidnapped by a madman and forced to work for him, the original master of ice went into secrecy before stumbling upon Zane, Cole knows little of his mothers activities as a ninja as she kept them secret to keep him and his father safe, most others try to keep a low profile to avoid attention so maybe they were in danger and felt to be safe they had to abandon you. Maybe whatever they were scared or threatened by is still out there and they’re too scared to get close to you.” While comforting to think it wasn’t because of him his parents left him some of her words weren’t too comforting.
“Maybe one day you’ll get lucky and they’ll visit you and explain everything or you’ll find out what happened,” Nya proposed noting her words had upset Jay a bit, “now come on tonight’s not a night you should be thinking about such things and enjoy those still around you. You still have your adopted parents… and me.” She grabbed his hand cheering him up and started leading him into the monastery pausing to ask, “by the way have you ever said anything to your parents that you know they’re not your biological parents?”
“No, unless something comes up I don’t think they need to know; they’re still my parents after all and I’d rather let them tell me on their own time than let them know I already know,” Jay replied.
“Do you think your father would have liked me?” Pixal inquired to Zane as she placed the picture of Zane with his father and falcon on the main worktable in his father’s workshop.
“I know he would not have only liked you but loved you. You would have been like a daughter to him,” Zane replied placing his day of the departed lantern on the table next to the picture. The two were spending some time together in his father’s workshop for the evening before heading home later.
“So this is where you two lived, it’s quite small,” Pixal noted looking around the shop.
“Well it was just us two most of the time. We rarely had visitors. This isn’t the only room though,” Zane replied heading over to a section of largely bare wall beneath a lower section to the stairs leading into the place. There he opened a doorway that was almost seamlessly built into the wall. On the other side was a hallway of similar construct to the main room. Metal clad walls with wooden floors and roof. The hall was pretty bare with only some old sconces on the walls and a few rugs on the floor.
“I’m not too sure why but I think for safety he had this section well hidden. Considering for some time it was just him then just him and I and help wasn’t close by then I can see why we needed the place well hidden. Better safe than sorry especially as it is some distance from the nearest settlement and there was many dangers in the woods at the time. Our bedrooms were through here plus a guest room and storage room along with a few other rooms like a bathroom and boiler room. My father had found an aquifer below here so he never had to worry about water and we never had to worry about fuel for keeping the place warm or getting warm water. There were always plenty of downed or dying trees around we could collect from. Sometimes we had to go some distance to find them but there was always some. It was dangerous though with the Treehorns and other fauna and sometimes the weather could get real bad or bandits would come around. We were always safe in here though. As he got older it became harder for him to venture far from the workshop so I often went out on my own to collect supplies and he had to move into the main room cause he couldn’t move too much by the end,” Zane regaled showing Pixal the rooms. They started at one of the furthest rooms and worked their way back to the main room. One of the first rooms was a small bay area with a ramp that led up to a secret door built into a large boulder above ground. In there were a few different styled wagons with a large bird looking construct lying by one. The construct resembled a large flightless species native to the region known as a Birchwood Diamurhea (di-a-mur-hay-a). They were sometimes domesticated for various uses in the area. The construct had an external skin that made it look identical to the organic being but some serious damage to the body core let its internal robotics be seen.
“What was this? Do you remember it,” Pixal inquired as she and Zane inspected the construct. Zane regaled saddened, “I barely have memories left of it. I remember my father made her to pull wagons to help when we went out to get resources from the woods or local settlements and that she was badly damaged by a young Treehorn attack. By that time my father was too weak to repair her. I tried but I didn’t know enough about how to do that. It wasn’t long after that he would pass for the first time and wipe most of my memories.” As they looked at it and what was in the room both took note of something odd. There was a collection of modern robotics materials in the room most stored close to the construct and investigating further into her opening the body cavity much of the inner workings were highly updated with modern synthetics and other materials. Most of the original metal was replaced by titanium. Someone was making recent repairs and updates to it! There was no evidence however anyone had been there recently and outside them and the other ninja no one knew of his father’s workshop.
“Maybe Jay or Nya have been coming here in secret to work on it,” Pixal hypothesized and Zane stated, “maybe. If so I wonder if there is a reason they’re keeping it secret.”
“We could ask them about it or maybe they have a reason to keep it secret,” Pixal noted to which Zane hypothesized, “we could or just let them tell us on their own terms. You’re right they could have a secret reason for doing this maybe as a gift hence why they haven’t said anything.” They left things as they were to investigate the other rooms. Things were left just as they had been left since Zane had first left after his father had wiped most of his memories. While investigating what used to be his bedroom Zane finding a simple music box his father had gotten him when they had visited a village and he’d become fascinated by it they heard what sounded like something enter the workshop and come down the stairs.
“Who could that be?” Pixal wondered to which Zane noted, “I don’t know. I don’t know of anyone else who would come here.” They cautiously approached the hall door pausing behind it to peer into the main workshop. Both were surprised to see a creature native to the region come down the stairs. It was an animal known as a Birchwoods Hawk-bear. While having a bear like build and teeth the creatures were actually a very strange lineage of birds which their feathery plumage, reptilian paws and beak coated snout on a bird like head revealed. They were noted for their high intelligence which had them able to craft crude tools and structures when they needed them along with being able to mimic sounds and even words like parrots. While at times they could be dangerous unless provoked they usually were rather harmless. Zane remembered a few times encountering them. They were generally indifferent to him and his father; the only problems they ever had was them creating a mess with compost piles and taking metal scraps once in a while likely to work into their shelters or for displays to attract mates. They never bothered with the creatures, they never truly caused harm and were just following their natures, and the creatures never bothered them. To see one wander into the workshop was strange. There was no food there so it wasn’t coming for that but what then was it there for? Both were quick to note it had something in its jaws. Once in the workshop it strolled over to the worktable they’d set the lantern and picture on pausing to look at the items. It then reared up onto two legs and placed the item it had in its mouth on the table; a strange looking candle. It then raised a fore paw up to the wick. A flame that started green before turning to normal fire started on the candle and the creature lowered its forepaw before sitting down in front of the table gently wrapping its short bushy tail next to itself. It just sat there quietly for a few seconds before looking around. Zane and Pixal communicated via their cybernetics to avoid catching the creatures attention by audible sounds confused about the creature and its actions. While some had speculated these creatures were capable of magic no one had ever been able to confirm it. They were seeing proof to this. Stranger however was what this creature was doing. Why was it there and looking to be in memoriam like it too was taking part in Day of the Departed traditions and who was it honouring? These things were long lived the oldest being recorded at over two hundred years old so it could remember them however Zane and his father had never kept one of these and didn’t have any real relations to any and strangely never needed to help any. Even when rescued from traps these creatures strangely would be free of injuries and would just run off once free. Was it simply mimicking behaviours it had been taught or seen maybe from being a released pet someone had once had or was it really paying respects? If so to who? Him, his father or both? If so why? While hiding the two were surprised when the creature without warning looked straight in their direction just staring and both could feel a strange sensation. They felt it knew they were there and it wanted them to come out and be with it. Despite their confusions after a moment’s hesitation they cautiously came out to join it. The creature watched peacefully as they approached and stood next to it.
“Are you here to remember my father?” Zane inquired to which the creature responded with a deep grumbling coo noise. It was a noise known to correspond with positive things from these animals leading him to guess that meant yes. Zane then asked, “did you somehow know us cause I don’t remember you?” The creature looked at him for a moment before placing a paw on his arm. The moment its paw touched him Zane saw visions flash in his mind; memories he had no memory of. They were from when he was younger living with his father. They showed the creature sometimes watching them while they were outside doing things like fishing or getting wood or when traveling or working in towns and it would even sneak into the workshop to secretly observe them and his father looking curious over his work. It always kept some distance just to observe them. It seemed fascinated by them and his father’s creations. There was then a time he had been out collecting kindling late one evening on his own and he’d caught glimpse of this creature as it moved through the woods near him. He stopped for a second to watch it and it stopped to look at him for a couple seconds even cautiously approaching to inspect him as he remained still unsure what to do before it then went on its way. Next was a time he and his father were travelling back home from getting some supplies and were attacked by some bandits. He, his father and the Diamurhea construct were managing to hold their grounds but weren’t getting free until this creature came in to attack some of the bandits with them. The creatures attack drove the bandits off empty handed. Once the bandits were gone the creature put their cart back up for them before leaving him and his father alone. It didn’t take anything as it wandered into the woods where they had thought it left but it had actually followed them keeping hidden till they were home like it was guarding them. A little later his father had put some fish out for it as a thank you knowing it frequented their area and it had taken it. Last was after his father had passed. It had taken note of this and noted him leave the workshop. It followed him as he went about wandering the Birchwood. It seemed curious and confused to him and what he was doing. When he’d made himself a home of ice in the wilderness it had hung around watching and even helping him. It would bring him food all the time largely in the form of fish, small animals like rabbits, frogs and ducks, bugs, berries, fruits and roots; it would bring him worn blankets and pillows as if it didn’t understand that he had a high tolerance to the cold, it showed him how to get fish even through the ice and where to find and how to get other food items even how to build simple traps to catch them, it would follow him and show him how to avoid dangers in the Birchwood like the notorious Treehorns, it also showed him the best way to defend himself against dangers in the Birchwood, how to create fire even when surrounded by snow and to cook using it, how to craft tools and simple items like bowls and cups out of wood or stone to use, how to navigate the woods and tell time without technical devices, though they had no easy way to communicate with each other they had started developing a method of communicating through images drawing them in snow or dirt or carving into wood or stone or painting them on stone and it even attempted to show him how to properly and fully use his powers; the creature was able to mimic elemental powers. It even sometimes brought him to hot springs to relax or clean things the creature even taking care to groom him like he was its own cub. Sometimes they encountered others of its kind some of which were cubs all of which had some interest in him; this individual would protect him from more aggressive members of its own kind if they attempted to threaten him but most didn’t many seeming equally interested in him as this individual. It was like the creature had felt some connection to him which compelled it to treat him as its cub taking care of him. When he’d been welcomed into a village of people it had decided to let him go feeling he was better off with the humans than in the wilderness with it. It had visited him one night to tell him this before leaving him for good. Even though it didn’t know words he somehow sensed it from the thing. It took its paw off and the memories faded. He barely had any memory of these events, why’d he forget these memories? Then again it had been so long ago and he’d been with it for a fairly short time it would have been easy for the memories to be damaged and erased from his memory banks just from the passage of time. They left Zane with a mix of emotions. He felt warmed that the creature had done that for him though was confused about why it had done this and why it was so attracted to him and his father.
“You knew me and cared for me after my father passed? Why? Why were you so attracted to me?” Zane inquired. The creature looked at him twisting its forepaw so its paw faced up and it made an icy mist over its paw.
“My powers? Is it because we share powers?” he hypothesized. It made a motion with its head like it was trying to relay somewhat before making motions with its forepaws like it was spelling something on the ground. Analysing the motions it made in his mind Zane could understand it was trying to mimic writing certain letters of the common alphabet. It looked to be trying to spell the words ‘special kin’. It then looked into his eyes and somehow like it was telling him even though he couldn’t register any form of communication from it he understood what it what it wanted to say.
“You have an interest in technology so were fascinated by my fathers work and what I am. When my father passed you felt I’d be lonely and in danger so you wanted to keep me company and safe. You could sense my powers and wanted to help me not only learn to use them but keep me safe from those that would want to hurt me because of them,” Zane verbalized what he felt this creature was telling him and Pixal hypothesized, “these creatures are very smart the parameters of which is not well understood and are known to form strong social bonds much like corvids and parrots. It has also been noted that they seem to possess a strange sense to know and wonder over things others are unaware of or see nothing in. Perhaps all your time together and because you could use powers like it that caused it to take wonder in you sparking a desire to take you in as a part of its family.”
“Maybe then I’m guessing you’re here to pay tribute to my father for creating you a friend?” Zane asked the creature who gave a nod of confirmation. Zane then told it, “well then you’re welcome here whenever you want.” The creature gave off a soft purring cooing noise to express its happiness. They let it hang with them as long as it wanted.
Lloyd was spending the even with his mother and Wu at Ninjago Cities museum. Some of the curators were hosting a special for the night where some of the curators were telling scary stories and tales from mythology. That wasn’t why they were there however. Misako had been working late that day and decided to give them a look at the exhibit she had been working on. It was a very new exhibit opened just a week earlier with all of the components in it having come from an archaeological site discovered only a few months earlier when a farmer looking for some missing chickens fell through a sink hole stumbling upon some strange items. Nothing was thought of it till during the dig it was discovered the site was a fortress that had been buried by a mudslide sometime in the past. A multitude of strange artefacts, bones, weapons and armour had been found at the site few of which matched anything known from Ninjago and there were artefacts of Oni origin within the ruins.
“We are still trying to decipher the texts and reliefs found there however it is fairly difficult as while coming from the same ancestral language this language is notably different making translations longer to deduce,”
“What kind of people were these?” Lloyd wondered looking at the mummified remains they had found in bog sediments on the outskirts of the ruin. It looked human except for the fingers and toes which bore claws, patches of fur on the body and a head that resembled a cats the lips pulled back from tissues drying out to display the notably fanged teeth.
"We are unsure at the moment but from bones discovered in supposed graves it appears there was a mix of human like us and individuals baring beastial like qualities like this one. A few even looked to be ancestral serpentine and by the care taken with them it looks like they were allies to those here not enemies like usual,” Misako explained motioning to the various skulls in a display case next to the one holding the mummy. There were a few types looking to come from different races displayed.
“Strange, I wonder if these were possibly from foreign travellers to the realm,” Wu wondered and Misako added, “that could explain some things as individuals baring such beastial features as these are rarely mentioned in historical documents and outside serpentine almost never found today at least as far as we know. It would also explain this.” Misako showed them two skulls of a large reptilian creature. The one they recognised as a Grundle the other looked a lot like it but had notable distinctions in its horns and tooth arrangement in the jaws indicating it was a separate but likely related species.
“Both physical and DNA evidence points that this skull we found is a sister species to the Grundle but there is no record of it elsewhere in the realm. Even stranger equipment found near it and marks on parts of the bone reveal this creature was brought and used at the site by those there most likely for military purposes. It wasn’t a natural inhabitant to the region,” she regaled to which Lloyd wondered, “what would someone be using one of those for?”
“From some of the evidence left there we believe it was being harnessed for its powers to hunt Oni. While the words of texts are taking longer to decipher other points of evidence has pointed that those in this fortress were engaged in some form of combat against an isolated and remnant population of Oni and some entities we have yet to identify with them,” Misako explained showing them some reliefs, tapestries and scrolls found at the site that had been set up on the walls of the exhibit. They depicted various scenes in an old art style depicting humanoid beings fighting back Oni and strange monsters most of which they couldn’t recognise though most looked humanoid with greyish skin and a few had strange tentacle faces.
“We’ve found a large amount of items that have rarely been found anywhere else in the realm. This sword for example is believed to be specially made to harm those of Oni blood; we believe the leather that adorns the hilt is in fact Oni skin. This was one of the most complete and pristine ones we found,” she explained showing them a strange sword with a red tinted silver blade with golden metal hilt that was wrapped with a purplish black leather wrapping the grip and a large triangular red crystal built into the base of the blade passing into the guard.
“Really. So these individuals may have been Oni hunters?” Wu wondered as Lloyd looked over the blade feeling great unease from it. Misako continued, “most likely however these might not have been entirely good entities as we also found materials made from dragons including bones, scales and even fossilized blood. We found items made with and even raw chunks of a material we could only call dragons blood stone. It’s a reddish and sometimes bluish hued glass looking gem like stone that was worked into jewellery, armour and weapons that seemed to be or at least once had been enchanted. We found out when trying to figure out what this stone was that it’s made from fossilized dragon blood. It went under some form of magical process likely by magic users among these beings to petrify it much like how tree sap can become amber.”
“What kind of beings would hunt both dragons and Oni,” Wu wondered confused and Lloyd noted, “I’m guessing they were probably pretty nasty and dark.” Misako stated, “so far we don’t know but we think they might not have been from our realm.”
“What gives you that idea?” Wu inquired. Misako then led them over to a large stone structure. It bore some resemblance to a tori gate but was made of a blackish stone that bore small spikes that were tipped with a reddish hue cracking into the stone as if there was a different colored more crystalline material beneath the dark stone in these parts going up its side posts and adorning the top with a loose crescent shaped structure. In the top structure between the two crude forms resembling the lentils rate in the center was a large structure baring an indent roughly in a roundish shape which likely had at one point held a gem or orb of some sort.
“We’re not quite sure what these are but they match some of the structures depicted in the scrolls and reliefs we found which seem to offer that these are likely some form of stable portal device. To where or for what however we are unsure. We do know though that these are incomplete. It’s inactive with its activity reliant on some sort of gem or similar item which is placed in the top of the structure. No item at the location however matches with what is depicted and what can fit in this structure,” Misako explained.
“I guess we should be thankful those things aren’t discovered. We probably don’t want this thing to be active to where ever it’s connected,” Lloyd expressed to which Wu noted, “not necessarily. The fact they haven’t been found means these things could and likely are still out there and could be discovered at anytime and they may fall into the wrong hands.” Lloyd conceded, “I guess that’s true.”
While they were talking they were unaware till Lloyd got startled by being tapped in the back that two kids from the story telling in the main foyer had snuck into the exhibit. Both were dressed in costumes as ninja.
“See I told you he was here,” the one stated to the other before Lloyd stated, “oh hello. Were you looking for an autograph?”
“Those museum people are boring. We were wondering if you could tell some stories in their place,” the one kid stated. Misako whispered to Wu, “that’s because they’re curators and researchers not really storytellers.” The other kid said to Lloyd, “I’m betting you have lots of cool stories to tell!”
“I guess I do,” Lloyd stated before his mother told him, “why don’t you go ahead and regale them with some stories. We can continue to hang out later.” The kids were pretty ecstatic with those prospects so Lloyd agreed to it. The Kids wasted no time in holding his hands to lead him to the main foyer asking about his adventures and the other ninja.
“You’re up early for once,” Lloyd noted coming into the kitchen to see Jay in his sleepwear at the table on a laptop. He was usually one of the late sleepers so it was surprising to see him up so early. Not looking away from the laptop Jay mumbled, “had something on my mind, decided to look into it.”
“Really, what is it?” Lloyd inquired coming over to see what Jay was looking at. Jay however closed whatever he was looking at before Lloyd could see it replaying, “oh it’s nothing. How was the museum?”
“Okay. That new exhibit has some really weird things in it. They found some interesting stuff at that dig. A skull to a relative of the Grundle which oddly looked to have been tamed for use by those there, some strange scrolls and books written in a language no one could recognise, some possibly enchanted armour and weapons, some strange portal or gate thing they’re still not sure about it yet and strangely and a bit creepily an enchanted sword they think was meant for hunting Oni,” Lloyd explained to which Jay commented, “weird. Do they know who the site belonged to and what it was used for yet?”
“No not yet but they think most of the inhabitants weren’t from Ninjago but another realm,” Lloyd replied as Nya came in.
"This is a surprise normally you’re not one of the early birds,” she noted to Jay who expressed, “just felt like it today.” They decided since they were up to get breakfast started so began looking around to see what they could make. As they were taking note of what they had they were soon joined by some of the others.
“Are you okay?” Jay asked Kai who came into the room looking a little queasy. Kai replied, “yha just need a moment to settle.” Kai was followed by Cole who came in with the first aid kit and a cloth crudely tied around his right arm.
“Could I get some help?” he asked to which Lloyd inquired, “what happened?”
“Well I don’t know if you heard him last night but Zane was having a bad dream…” Cole began the others cutting in to add their agreement.
“Yha, he woke me a few times,” Jay noted to which Nya added, “between him and your snoring it was a noisy night.”
“Well I went to check on him at one point and he was close to the edge of his bed so to keep him from falling out I tried to reposition him. He wasn’t waking up so I had to do it on my own. As I was repositioning him he bit me. I crudely dealt with it so I could sleep but I think I need a better treatment of it,” Cole explained.
“You know what we’ve told you about that. Nindroids are unpredictable in their sleep and can bite if they feel threatened which happens more often when they’re dreaming,” Jay noted to which Cole stated, “I know but I didn’t want him to fall out of bed. He didn’t bite too bad, it was more of a nip than a true bite, but it did break skin…”
“I don’t know if I’d consider something that cuts that deep and bleeds that bad a nip,” Kai expressed uneasy to which Nya noted by Kais state, “he tried to get you to help with the bandage didn’t he.” Still uneasy Kai responded, “yha, thought I could handle it till I saw the wound.”
“Considering what he could do it’s not that bad. I already cleaned it I just need some help bandaging it,” Cole stated all but Kai coming to check it out. The bite was prominent leaving marks a couple millimetres deep even leaving distinct marks for each tooth. It didn’t look to need stitching but defiantly needed to be covered to keep clean and stop bleeding.
“I’ll deal with it,” Lloyd stated while Nya noted, “I’d make sure to treat it for infection; bites from droids are like those from cats they almost always get infected and it can sometimes be really bad. You are up to date on your Tetanus shots right?”
“Yha, that’s something I don’t want to catch. When Zanes up don’t tell him about this, I don’t want him to bother over it. I know he didn’t mean to do it and it was partially my fault. Since the events in the Never-realm despite his attempts to hide it he’s been a bit sensitive about harm he’s caused to any of us even when it’s an accident,” Cole stated as Lloyd put an anti-septic on the mark and wrapped his arm in a bandage. He flinched a bit from the anti-septic.
“Yha I’ve noticed that. When he accidently gave me a black eye that time he punched me when I tried to wake him when he was having a bad dream he acted a little strange to me for a few days. He kept telling me he was sorry even when I told him it wasn’t his fault plus he was keeping his distance from me for some time,” Kai noted to which Nya explained, “I think it has to do with his time in the Never-realm. I think he worries he could lose control and become like that again and do serious harm or worse to us. He knows his nature makes him very dangerous to us, enough he could best most of us and do serious harm to us if he really tried, and I think he worries about losing control of himself again and becoming a monster because of it.”
“Do you think some of his nightmares involve what he did there?” Lloyd wondered as he finished with Coles arm to which Jay stated, “most defiantly. We’ve tried to erase as much memories he has from the events to try and help him forget things to ease anxieties and stress caused by them but he has quite a bunch still deeply buried and locked away that we’ve been unable to access. We think he might not even realize or remember he’s buried those so deeply.”
“What do you think they’re memories of?” Kai wondered to which Nya suggested, “we don’t know but they’re probably very bad.” Jay added, “probably of him doing terrible things to others, being a tyrant and taken advantage of by that guy Vex. I’m betting there’s lots of innocent beings he probably destroyed just to maintain his empire or simply to be cruel… I know he doesn’t say anything about it but I sometimes wonder and worry he might have actually enjoyed some of what he did.” The rest of them were quiet for a minute all feeling a bit of an agreement with Jays comment.
“Even though it’s not something I don’t think any of us like to think of despite how gentle and kind he normally is his time as the Ice Emperor really showed he does have a dark side…” Cole began Jay cutting in to add, “a really dark side possibly the darkest of all of us.”
“Yha and he can be pushed into having it surface under the right conditions,” Cole stated and Nya noted, “very true and unfortunately that dark side could surface anytime in the future again.”
“He at least wouldn’t ever turn on us even then would he?” Lloyd wondered nervous over that idea and Cole noted, “well for some of us he might be sparing depends on what’s going on in his head. For those that don’t do their chores or force their chores on him I don’t know he might not be so kind...” Kai, Jay and Lloyd were made nervous from that comment and got even more nervous over hearing the noise of someone approaching the kitchen. They all went silent. If it was Zane they didn’t want him to over hear their talking. Luckily it was just Pixal letting the three relax but they still felt she would not be happy to hear them talking about Zane like they were.
“Hey Pix Zane still sleeping?” Nya inquired to which Pixal replied, “yha, he’s settled now so I decided to let him sleep more. I’m not sure how much sleep he got last night so I feel we should let him sleep in a bit.” Lloyd agreed, “sounds good, we’ll make sure Cole doesn’t eat all of breakfast so we can save him some.”Cole was not amused by that but everyone else was amused by it.
“What are we planning on making?” Pixal inquired to which Lloyd offered, “pancakes, maybe some bacon, we also have some grapes that need to be eaten they’re starting to go bad.”
“Do you need any help,” Pixal inquired and Kai playfully stated, “sure we could use someone to make sure Cole gets the measurements right.” Again everyone but Cole was amused by the statement. Cole commented, “I’ve gotten better since taking those cooking classes haven’t I?” Lloyd, Pixal, Kai and Cole began to make breakfast. While the others got to work Nya came over to talk quietly to Jay.
“Am I to guess what you were looking into involved what we talked about last night?” she inquired to which Jay quietly responded putting his laptop up so they could quietly talk behind it and hopefully avoid the others, “yha. I couldn’t stop thinking about it. Did you know there is no mention of my birth father getting married or even being seen or knowing my birth mother. You’d think for someone famous someone would have seen or noticed something.”
“They must have been careful about their relationship then. Considering how risky things would have been that’s pretty impressive,” Nya quietly noted and Jay whispered, “I guess it is but it makes it hard to find anything. I can barely find anything on my mother almost like she didn’t want to be known.”
“Considering she was apparently quite the talker that’s impressive,” Nya noted and Jay expressed, “again true but it makes finding out the truth very hard.”
“Well we could look into it more later when there are fewer around to overhear us; I’m pretty sure you don’t want the others to know about those ‘events’ much either,” Nya quietly noted to which Jay agreed, “yha that’s true.” Only she and him remembered the events with Nadakhan so knew his parents were really adopted parents; they were keeping that and other events of that time a secret. The others didn’t need to know about it. Surely Wu also knew as he’d known Jays real mother. If he did know however he never said anything leading them to believe Jay’s birth mother wanted the truth to be kept secret and likely had sworn him to secrecy long ago. Jay put his laptop down as they got to work helping the others. While they believed no one had overheard them that wasn’t entirely true. Cole had overheard the word mother catching his attention. He often felt a bit sensitive at this time of year about that word and anything to do with mothers. It often brought up memories he had of his own mother and her passing bringing with them painful and unpleasant emotions. Even though he didn’t wish to listen into Jay and Nyas conversation as it was clear about how quite they had talked and Jay pulling up his laptop to talk behind told him they wanted to keep things to themselves but his feelings to the time of the year with the word mother made it hard for him to ignore them talking. He didn’t hear much just what sounded like Jay was trying to find out more about his mothers past. Not wanting to make things awkward or hint that he’d overheard them he kept quiet about it.
To the south along the western shores of Ninjago came a strange sight. The inhabitants of a coastal settlement were going about their day as usual. Several small vessels were not too far off shore most collecting fish, a few were harvesting a kelp used for oil production and food and one vessel was doing some ocean studies. The day was overcast but calm so no one had reason to be on edge. Around noon however coast guards had started noting they had lost contact with several vessels as a cold fog had started rolling in from out at sea. It had steadily obstructed views of the horizon and swallowed up all vessels out there. It was now creeping closer to shore. The coast guard had turned on the villages lighthouse which stood on a peninsula near the harbour to help any ships lost in the fog but its light was eerily unable to penetrate the fog. The guard were unable to contact the ships out in the fog and the missing vessels weren’t even showing up on radar now. How could boats just disappear like that? The coast guard were starting to organize potential search parties to see if something had happened to them when the research vessel contacted them in a panic. There was heavy static and they were talking in such a rushed tone it was hard to make out what was being said. They could make out the words boats, dragons, warriors and monsters. It then went silent putting everyone there on edge. They were about to decide to send out their parties when a woman who had been tying up her small pleasure boat after coming ashore due to the fog came rushing in yelling at them to come see. The group of five individuals working in the coast guard station followed her out to see what was going on. As they exited their building which sat next to the harbour they could see the fog which when they had last seen it was a light greyish color had darkened as some unfamiliar looking vessels sailed out of the fog their prow decorated by a large really dark green dragons head with icy green glowing eyes. They were longboats large in size with large metal looking scale plates lining the rails, a prominent sawed metal ram on the front of the bow, the central mast had a large square sail striped with dark green and blue with a dark purple dragon in an ancient knotwork style. A lightly built cabin which was open at the front sat at the back of the ships underneath it bathed in shadow. Strangely clad figures were waiting on board till the ships beached themselves then with a loud cackling noise an individual on what looked to be the lead ship due to its solid purple with green dragon sail emitted. The entities of the ship hopped onto shore some even jumping off their boats before their ships reached shore and strolling through the water to shore. The individual who made the noise wore a red hooded and long sleeved cloak atop plain commoners looking shirt and pants. Their feet bore reddish foot wraps with the toes exposed and the hands bore fingerless gloves letting their finger claws be exposed. They held a strange wooden staff that had a strange green crystal fused into the top. As they cackled they raised this staff above their heads before slamming it down onto the deck of the ship. When the staff hit the deck the dragon head on the ship and others that were beached began to leach a thick dark mist from the mouths and the weather changed unleashing a storm with greenish hued lightening unto the area. The mist which brought a chill to everything around it making the area feel like winter had grasped the area creeped ashore with the entities who had been on the ship which began an assault on the village attacking and capturing anyone they found and trashing places, vehicles and structures.
The entities wore scaled metal with leather and fur armour with helmets that bore a dragon like design with notable horns. These warriors wielded swords, daggers, maces, axes, bows, crossbows, tridents and hammers made of a strange obsidian looking metal that seemed to bare a greenish glowing core to some parts and blades. Not all had this armour. Some wore plain cloth attire revealing while looking human these entities weren’t human like most could recognise. While having an overall human form their bodies had a coating of fur, they bore clawed hands and feet, they had semi bushy tails and most notable their heads resembled a hyenas and wasn’t human. Some bore piercings in their ears which looked more cat like on some with even furry tufts like a cat to some of these more pointed ears. Some also were decorated with studs in their face or implanted metal plates largely on the forehead and a few had tooth extensions that gave them tusks or short sabre teeth. They seemed to come in a few colors; a pale dirty cream, grey and dark but not yet black in color. A few rare individuals were nearly pure white, blonde or black. Those that weren’t white, blonde or black had darker spotting or stripes to parts of their bodies. About half had some human like hair colored blonde, brown or black which was short often done up mane like or in a short braid on the back of their heads. Some; even in the females, had short moustaches or beards which in some were braided. All had almost glowing and unsettling looking icy green or blue eyes. Some of these beings appeared almost un-dead like with patches where flesh seemed missing or heavily scarred all of which was coated or infused with a strange ice looking substance, plenty had damaged ears with plenty of nicks and tears to them, a few had at least one near solid white eye like the eye was either damaged or blind and some even had patches of flesh missing from their snouts revealing the teeth in the jaws below. These less armoured individuals also wielded weapons however some didn’t or instead bore staves. These individuals instead utilized their claws as their weapons along with some form of magic none could recognise. It could mimic elemental powers however everything they mimicked had a strange green hue to it, they could summon strange creatures like a creature that resembled a hyena but had a bird like head, a bipedal reptilian creature with large clawed hands and beaked frilled head, summon swarms of ravens which would come out of the mist their ships were leaching to attack individuals, ethereal wyrm like entities that seemed to be made of elemental energy, suck the energy or courage from individuals and paralyse individuals. A few particularly large and muscled individuals wore pelts of animals including hoods made of their heads or very little just cloth pants and on what looked to be females chest wraps with large parts of their bodies exposed. These large individuals were the only ones to not use weapons instead using their clawed hands and even their jaws to tear things apart and take out challengers. Some of these individuals were powerful enough to pick up and throw vehicles like they were a sports ball.
Most in the village didn’t dare stand up to these things and attempted to flee. Their attempts were in vain however as these entities destroyed anything they could escape with and cut off any means of escape from the village with fires sparked by strange wyrm beings which burst out of the black mist from their ships which spread out to encircle the villages perimeter then lit up with a strange green fire that spread up to two stories tall. Those that did attempt to defend the village found their attempts of little use and cops were shocked to find tasers had no effect on these things. A vet had even tried tranquilizing some of them but while it worked on the beastial entities it didn’t affect the humanoids. These beings just pushed defenders away and continued the attack. In no time the entities had taken the town capturing all there and dragging them to kneel in the town square. In front of all of them stood one of the warriors who wasn’t wearing a helmet. He was a pale blonde individual with green eyes with a large scar across his face that was scabbed over with a strange opaline icy substance. His largely metal and leather armour bore a green diamond in the centre of the chest and he bore a metal plate with the same kind of green gem melded into his forehead. He had blonde hair which was worn in a short braid on the back of his head. The sorceress who had started the attack stood next to him hunched over a bit baring her teeth.
“Play your cards well mortals and you will be spared. You are now a part of our empire. I am Kamal your new leader,” the leader proclaimed.
It was afternoon and most of the ninja were in the Hanger Bay. Pixal and Lloyd were going over some things on the computer while Zane, Cole and Kai helped them. Jay and Nya were there too but were at a separate table they had set up working on their own quietly looking into something private. The others were curious what could have them distracted but were giving them their privacy. Instead they were busy going over some things. About a week earlier they were alerted that some satellites had picked up an unfamiliar energy surge on the dark isle. The location and its unfamiliarity had them worried. What could it be? Given where it came from and the unrecognisable energy it had them worried. They were going over the data they were given to try and identify the precise or close to precise location of the source of the energy and what this energy was.
“What could have caused this energy burst?” Lloyd wondered as they went over data on the bays computers and Pixal noted, “at this point there is nothing to indicate a possible origin though we are getting closer to a location. It appears to be in the mountains of the north east of the isle.”
“Why’s it taken so long to identify the source location?” Kai wondered to which Zane noted, “we had to triangulate data from several satellites but the most damming is a strange effect the energy has to technology. It can hinder detection and even stranger create what appears to be an empty void. No data is there to analyse.”
“Luckily whatever first gave off the energy still gives it off currently allowing us time to properly triangulate it. Hopefully however we can identify the source soon as the energy appears to slowly be weakening,” Pixal explained. Cole wondered, “that’s quite strange… do you think it could be some strange volcano tainted by dark matter maybe?”
“That could be a possibility. If that is the case then it shouldn’t be too much of a concern,” Zane stated. Lloyd offered, “if it isn’t then we should be on guard. Who knows what this could bring or mean.”
“Big mutated fish?” Kai stated drawing all the others attention. They looked at him a mix of confusion and un-amusement.
“What? Whatever that stuff is could mutate things it contacts right?” Kai defended his statement. After a moment’s thought Zane replied, “that could be a possibility; from current data a very low possibility but the potential is still there.” They continued on their analysis for a couple more minutes before they picked up something surprising.
“Is that a glitch?” Lloyd wondered as they looked at their work. Zane and Pixal did some work on the computers before Pixal noted, “no that’s no glitch. It’s real.”
“It’s on the shores of Ninjago though. How is that possible?” Cole question and Zane replied, “whatever is causing the energy burst now has a location on our shores.”
“Why is it here?” Kai wondered while Cole stated, “well there is one sure way to find out and it could help us find out what’s caused it on the dark isle.” Lloyd agreed, “well go find out.” They all wasted no time to get to the Bounty and head out even Jay and Nya who had been drawn away from what they were doing by the fact this energy was now in Ninjago. As they headed to the location they continued to look into the energy. As they headed to the location driven by his personal research Jay shadowed Cole working up his courage to ask him a question. Since it involved his mother this made Jay nervous. They all knew the topic of his mother was something sensitive to Cole and he rarely liked to talk about it and it could affect his performance on a mission if he said something that upset him. He had a burning question however nagging him that he needed an answer to. As they approached the location they did some research and came upon something odd. The location of this energy and a good deal of the surrounding area had become a sort of dead zone. Nothing had been heard of from the area and those that went there seemed to disappear. No one was sure what was going on. A few adventurous types had attempted to sneak in and film their experience live on social media but it always failed. They’d lose signal when they got close and were not heard of since. As they approached the area they were surprised by a few strange looking flying reptiles with long tails of gory bones and skull heads came to land on the Bounty inspecting its sails and the glass of the cabin. The creatures looked to be un-dead with exposed bones, the abdomen cavity missing, exposed skull and ethereal wing membranes.
“What are those?” Lloyd who had been piloting the ship inquired. Zane and Pixal who had been working at the computers came over to look at the one that was inspecting the glass giving it a few pecks.
“That creature does not match with any known fauna of Ninjago,” Zane noted after a quick inspection and Pixal noted, “it is radiating a necromantic related energy indicating it is either a creation of a necromancer or possibly an entity from the underworld.”
“If it’s from there then how did it get here?” Kai wondered. Nya suggested, “maybe someone accidently opened a portal to there?” While they agreed that could be a possibility they all weren’t too sure which option it could be. They did know however that they should deal with these things before they caused problems; some were attempting to dismantle the sails. All but Lloyd who stayed steering the ship went out to shoo the creatures off. While they headed out of the cabin to the deck Jay seized his chance to hold Cole back in the hall to ask his question.
“Can I ask you something? Something personal?” Jay nervously inquired. Cole was wary unsure what Jay could be asking but agreed, “sure.”
“Was your mother ever in danger? Like were there those out to get her because of her powers and work?” Jay cautiously asked. The question hit Cole hard. It was something he never liked to think of. Despite what he was feeling Cole held back his feelings to calmly ask, “why are asking about that?” Nervously Jay asked, “I’ve just been wondering about my parents and if there is a reason they keep their lives secret.” Cole was a bit confused about what Jay was talking about. Sure his parents didn’t have a big social life but they really didn’t have a secret life working their scrap yard. Then again they weren’t his parents so he didn’t know everything to them so maybe Jay knew something he didn’t that was leading him to suspect his parents were keeping secrets from him. Despite the question bringing him unpleasant feelings Cole honestly replied, “I don’t really know but the chances are probably. If there was she never let me know, probably cause she didn’t want me to worry. Why do you ask?”
“I was just wondering about the origin of my powers which I know came from my mom so I was wondering…” Jay began unsure how to finish his sentence. Cole offered, “why she never told you of them?” Relieved by Coles suggestion Jay stated, “yha; if she knew about them why’d she keep them secret from me?”
“It was probably for your protection. I could imagine if something ever happened to you because of the powers you inherited I’m pretty sure it would have broken her heart and she’d never be able to forgive herself,” Cole suggested and Jay stated, “I guess that makes a lot of sense… thanks for the talk and sorry if it brought up any bad feelings.” Cole expressed, “it’s okay. You had a question and needed an answer I could give. If I couldn’t give it to you then what are friends for.” The two then headed out to the deck with the others who were trying to deter the creatures attention from the ship. It worked to some extent as the creatures became attracted to them and flew down to inspect them. They were bold and showed no fear to them as they crawled on all fours towards them and attempted to steal their weapons.
“Shoo, shoo. These aren’t toys for you,” Cole told one that had grabbed his warhammer and attempted to take it from him while Nya stated bopping one several times in the head with the bottom of her trident the creature unbothered by the hits, “do these things have brains? They don’t seem to get the hint to leave.”
“Maybe they’re just thick skulled,” Jay offered hitting one with a mild shock after giving it a few hits with his nunchucks didn’t work at deterring a creature from trying to bite him. It could be shocked but it seemed only temporarily stunned by the act and not deterred. Other than being a nuisance the creatures weren’t really dangerous even though their appearance had some like Jay and Kai unnerved and their decay smell they all found rather gross. Seeing as their mild attempts to remove the creatures wasn’t working They decided to give them some mild hits from their powers. At first they didn’t seem bothered by it but soon decided they had better things to do then get attacked so left.
“Finally it seems to have sunk in,” Kai expressed as the creatures left. Once they were gone Lloyd who was still driving the ship contacted them through their communicators to state, “I think we should be over the town this energy is coming from. Can you see anything down there?” With the creatures gone they went over to the sides of the ship to look down below. Things looked oddly calm. The town looked to be going about their business as if nothing was wrong. Zane and Pixal however noted they could no longer access technologies outside the immediate area and they couldn’t access anything in the town below nor even the Bounty. They were in a communication dead zone. Oddly however but to their comfort they could still connect and communicate with each other. At first nothing but a feeling of coolness like winter was creeping into the area seemed off till they noticed the people. There were far more than what seemed reasonable in the town even for a festivity or event and most of these extras fit into two categories. One was a group of humanoids who wore leather or cloth garbs even attire made of animal pelts including hoods made of the animals head. They looked like old time hunters and gatherers all of which wore masks bearing beastial looks largely of carnivores like wolves, bears and big cats or of birds like ravens or owls or wore headgear that resembled the skulls of deer. The other were humanoid but bore heads, tails, fur and clawed hands of some form of feliform creature, hyenas Pixal and Zane deduced. These were dressed as commoners or warriors with some dressed like the other humanoids. Both were going about like they owned the place keeping an eye on the normal folk who seemed nervous of the individuals. As they flew low over the town both these strange groups looked up at them and seemed to watch them. Their gazes unnerved the ninja; there was something off about their eyes. These beings matched nothing Zane or Pixal could identify from Ninjago neither past nor present.
“What are those things?” Kai wondered to which Jay expressed, “I don’t know but something about them is creepy.” Nya noted looking at the harbour of the town, “don’t know but I bet they came here on those.” She pointed out the strange longboats sitting in the harbour and along the beaches of the town. A few had been turned on their side and propped up to make makeshift shelters some of the strange beings were hanging out under. Zane and Pixal recognised the ships as longboats like what had been used historically by some groups in the north of Ninjago but aspects of the ships didn’t fully match those plus outside some personal recreation, traditional ceremonies and museum exhibit specimens these kinds of ships especially in this up kept condition were not normally encountered.
“What do you think these could be from then?” Cole wondered. The first to respond was Jay who suggested, “time travelling raiders?” They all turned to look at him not really amused.
“What it would fit. These are old time looking ships how else would you explain it?” Jay offered to which Zane noted, “the designs of such vessels are well know so anyone could easily build replicas for modern use.” Jay grumbled, “I guess. Time travelling raiders would be way cooler though.”
“Whatever they are I think we should begin our investigation in the harbour by those ships,” Cole suggested. They were in agreement. They took the Bounty to the harbour and landed it in the water there parking by the breakwater. Lloyd came out to join the others and they all left the ship. They made their way to one of these strange ships one that was notable in having a different colored sail from the rest. Strangely instead of sea birds like gulls perching on it there were ravens sitting and cawing on the mast and the cabin like structure at the back of the ship.
“Strange I am having difficulty assessing anything from scans of this vessel,” Zane noted and Pixal agreed, “something is interfering with scans giving the impression that these vessels do not exist however what we can get is they appear to be made of wood, metal and a mixture of animal hair and plant tar are shoved in seams between the wood likely to aid in its water tightness. Such construction is old and typically animal hair and plant tars are not used by modern reconstructions largely as modern sealants work better. Along with these there is something else that I cannot identify to these vessels.”
“Is it just me or do you get this unease by this thing like it somehow shouldn’t be here. Like it’s wrong to the world,” Cole noted. All the others could agree with him getting strange feelings to this thing. Zane commented, “so that’s how to describe this feeling.” Jay expressed, “we don’t have to go on it do we? Something about that idea seems very unsettling. Like just touching this thing could curse us kind of unsettling.” They all too got the strange feeling from this vessel as Jay. Lloyd had been feeling a strange draw to the ship pulling him to touch it and had slowly started to but Jays words stopped him in his tracks making him step back a bit from it. He had to agree with their feelings so why was he also getting an urge to touch this thing?
“I think we could skip it to investigating the town first,” Cole suggested. They were in agreement and began to head into the town. As they left Lloyd got an unnerving feeling of being watched from the ship. He paused to look back feeling drawn to the crude cabin built on it that while open at the front was oddly rather dark within casting everything in shadow. Despite this darkness he could swear to see a set of near glowing green eyes in the darkness looking at him its gaze he could swear was peering straight into his very being. The unnerving feeling had him quickly catch up with the others and avoid looking back at the ship. Getting into the town they noticed things felt a bit chilly and there was a feeling of tension to the air. There were some dock hands working by the mariners outpost in the harbour they attempted to talk to but they all refused to talk clearly very scared of something.
“You can’t be here. You have to leave,” one who was knelt down inspecting some mooring lines told them not stopping their work or even looking at them. All the others they talked to in the village talked to them in the same manner. Never looking at them and keeping at working. Some even glanced at the strange beings who while taking note of them never made attempts to interact with them. All the people were clearly scared by these beings.
“You need to get out of here before they catch you,” one individual told them and another stated, “you need to leave and build an army to defend the rest of the realm.”
“An army? Why? Defend from what?” Jay wondered. The only thing anyone could tell them was, “these things.” They would look at the strange beings who just watched them.
“Who are these things?” Cole inquired. The individual he asked only replied, “demons.” Anytime they asked about these beings they got similar answers. Monsters, living nightmares, unholy spawn from another realm. All claimed these beings were some sort of unnatural monsters yet it didn’t match up. Sure some looked quite rough but they seemed mortal. Zane and Pixal did note an unidentified and strange energy to them but they otherwise appeared normal. They also didn’t seem to be monstrous. They were just going about their business not threatening or harassing anyone.
“Maybe it’s their eating habits they’re describing. They’re worse than Cole,” Kai noted when they observed a group by a restaurant where they had an eating area outside. Two of the hyena beings got in a fist fight over a remaining burger clawing and biting each other over it before both ganging up on another and starting a mini fight when it tried to take the burger while they were occupied. The fight ended when one of the restaurant workers nervously brought more food over to their table and set it down.
“I have never acted like that!” Cole exclaimed un-amused by Kais comment and Jay joked, “yha your way more civil but then again none of us would ever dare to try and take food from you.” Cole wasn’t happy with Jays joke. As they went through the town they started to notice one of these strange beings what appeared to be one of the hyena folk following them. They only guessed what it was from their ears and snout which stood out from the red hood of its hooded and sleeved robe like cloak and the claws on the hands and feet that wore wraps and gloves that exposed the digits. Under the robe it wore fairly plain commoners attire in a dusted pale blue color. It was carrying a staff with a strange gem in it and hung back to watch them green eyes glaring from the shadow of the hood. The individual didn’t seem to care if they noticed it. It seemed curious to them but they couldn’t tell why.
“Is it just me or is that one following us?” Jay inquired at one point when noticing the individual. Zane noted eerily calm for the situation Jay felt, “she has been following us since we left the docks.”
“She? How do you know that things a she? It’s really hard to tell with these things,” Kai wondered and Pixal explained, “while these beast folk do seem to share the highly masculinised females of the beasts they resemble making it hard for humans to tell the difference you forget us nindroids have more advanced senses than humans much more akin to animals. Like them we can detect the chemical signatures organisms give off as a means of communication and identification and she bares the scent markers of a female.”
“Really we give off a smell?” Jay wondered starting to smell himself and Zane noted, “you do but you can’t smell it. Humans have fairly poor scent receptors and lack the proper scent organs to detect pheromones that most animals possess so you cannot properly analyze your own kinds chemical traces. We however do have receptors able to pick such things up and analyze them.”
“So you two are kind of like cats then in that regard; at least you don’t do that weird lip thing cats do when they smell things cause that would be weird,” Kai commented stumping Zane and Pixal. Zane wondered, “why do you compare components of our being to those of a cat?”
“He’s just playing around and not actually comparing you to a cat,” Cole explained to ease Zane and Pixals confusions. Nya who was still focussed on the figure wondered, “why is she following us?” Zane noted, “she may just be curious but surely the rest are curious as well so why just she is following us is odd and likely has deeper intentions.”
“Excuse me but can you tell us what is going on here?” Lloyd asked a townsperson sweeping a pathway getting more annoyed by the lack of co-operation from people to them. The individual replied, “you won’t stand a chance against them please leave while you can. You’re the only ones possibly able to stop these things.” Lloyd had been getting more irritated as they went along and not getting any real answers. Out of irritation Lloyd stated, “why can’t anyone just tell us what’s going on?”
“They all seem scared but why?” Nya noted and Jay added being quite trying to not let the strange beings hear, “wouldn’t you be even just a bit scared of these things? They’ve got features of dangerous meat eating animals. Who knows they could be people eaters and here to farm people.”
“Maybe,” Cole commented as they approached a building they believed to be the town hall. They reasoned surely someone there would tell them something. They were expecting to find the mayor and some town councillors but were instead startled to stumble upon a group of armoured beast folk going over a map on a table in the main foyer. Their armour was a mix of leather, fur, metal and cloth with open horned helmets. When they opened the doors to the town center all inside turned to look at them startling them. The ninja were a bit embarrassed to have everyone’s attention on them.
“Uhm sorry for the intrusion but you don’t think you can tell us who you are and what you are doing here?” Jay asked putting on a brave face to the beings. They all stared at them quiet so Jay asked, “maybe I should have asked first if any of you can speak the common tongue?”
“Who are you?” a voice demanded drawing their attention to an individual at the table who was leaned over it inspecting it. He was pale blonde with green eyes and a large distinct scar on his face that looked to be a scar made of a strange icy opaline substance. He had blond hair that was confined to the center of his head lying flat to the back of his head where it went into a short braid and a soul patch of blonde hair on his chin. His fur and skin was pale and a bit greyed in colour with a darker muzzle a typical trait to hyenids. He wore dark metal and leather armour that had fur trimming some parts and bore a green diamond in the centre of the chest and he had a metal decorative plate with the same kind of green gem that seemed to be melded into his forehead. Some pieces of leather were a greenish color and he had green cloth pants. Some parts of the metal to his armour had a scale pattern to it. He wore pauldrons that resembled the skull of a predatory bird and had some teeth from something decorating his braided leather belt. His metal fronted leather boots exposed his clawed toes. Since he was addressing them they were guessing he was the leader.
“Uh we are the ninja. We are warriors that fight back evil…” Lloyd began as this individual straightened up and strolled over to them coming to stand rate in front of them. He sniffed at Lloyd who was nervous of the being especially after it commented, “I smell darkness here.”
“They came in on a flying ship. They have a strange smell to them. I don’t think they are what they seem,” the one that had been following them stated pushing them all into the building into a row in front of everyone by the doors and moving to stand with the other individual. Now that she was close and in front of them they could see while overall pale and greyed like the leader she had dark extremities to her limbs and muzzle like the pattern on some breeds of cat, green eyes and a strange dark greenish arcane mark that appeared to be burned onto her forehead under her hood. She had a few scars like the other on her face and greenish metal implants in her face above and below her eyes looking like she had large metal beads stuck in her skin.
“We told you who we are seems only fitting you tell us who you are,” Jay stated. The leader paused a moment before stating, “you can call us the Lost Clan ozone smelling one.”
“Ozone smelling?,” Jay wondered unhappy and confused over the figures comment giving himself a few sniffs to try and see what the figure was talking about. He couldn’t smell anything. The figure continued speaking to them, “I am the Jarl Kamal and this is my sister and court wizard Rosic the Augur of the Veil. Does that satisfy your curiosity?”
“Jarl? Augur?” Kai wondered confused before Cole inquired, “okay but what are you here for?” The two didn’t seem too interested in chatting and appeared fixated on Lloyd.
“I smell an Oni. Why does this one smell of such a creature?” Kamal stated sniffing at Lloyd. His comment got some of the others agitated causing them to narrow their eyes and bare their teeth. A glow came to Rosics eyes and the marking on her forehead for a couple seconds before she responded, “he smells of it cause he has Oni blood; he has Oni heritage.”
“Where does its darkness sit in the prospect of things?” Kamal wondered he and Rosic getting closer to Lloyd making him nervous and confusing the rest of them. Rosic noted, “I cannot tell but he does not have proper control of it nor is fully aware of it. Our presence is pulling at it and he does not realize it meaning he could lose control to it.”
“Is it just him with this blood? I can see two metal kin; I smell is that merlopian here too?” Kamal wondered and Rosic went over each of them closely investigating them. She was rather forward and touched them with what they were surprised to be unsettlingly cold clawed hands. As she inspected them Rosic commented, “yes. Two Scymkin not of Scymer make however, two have some Merlopian in them and are they related? Smells like it. Strange then for the one to smell of burning; a water folk with connections to fire very interesting. This one isn’t one but he doesn’t appear to have the best control of his bladder. This one isn’t either; is that refined tree blood on your face? From some form of meal I presume likely coating some matter like dough or meat; I doubt you would just drink it straight up. Didn’t clean yourself too well after breakfast huh?” Making things even more uncomfortable Rosic licked Cole on the face disgusting him before continuing, “yes that would seem to be the case.”
“Why’d you do that?! You’re tongues rough like a cats and I think you go it in my mouth!” Cole complained wiping his face and tongue while spitting a bit. Rosic was unbothered the rest of the ninja were grossed and uncomfortable.
“I think then we do not need to tell him what we are doing. I believe it best the Oni descendent and his companions do not get involved in this. We will let you go for now to head back to your lair and sit this out but in the future if you try to interfere or get involved we will not be so lenient,” Kamal stated turning his back on them and heading back to the table.
“That’s not a good enough answer. We’re not going anywhere till you tell us your intentions here. By the looks your conquerors and have enslaved this town leading everyone to be fearful,” Lloyd stated. Kamal stopped in his footsteps to pause looking over his shoulder at him to state, “is that what you think? Typical Oni jumping to conclusions and always assuming others think and act like you.”
“What is that supposed to mean?” Lloyd wondered feeling oddly agitated and triggered by these beings. He could sense some form of energy around them that he didn’t like and it had him on edge. That was worsened by the fact these things could somehow tell about his heritage just by smelling him and the weapons and armour these things wore; it matched some of what his mother had shown him in the museum. The stuff used by entities that appeared to be hunters to both Oni and dragons.
“You should know. The answers in your dark blood and you can feel it even if you don’t realise it. For the safety of all it is best the likes of you are left in the darkness in this,” Kamal stated turning to look at him.
“I think we should just go and rethink this,” Cole commented noting tensions growing. Lloyd however wasn’t listening and proclaimed, “no we’re not leaving till they tell us what they are doing.”
“If you’re not going to listen to your stable friend and leave willingly then we’ll have to make sure you leave through force,” Kamal stated and Rosic expressed, “his oni blood is starting to show.”
“I think it wise we listen to him. Getting in an altercation at this moment would not be a wise idea and could lead to unnecessary harm and danger,” Zane noted he and Pixal getting strange and unsettling readings from these individuals. Kamal stated, “listen to your companions half breed or do you think you could take me. Go ahead as they say hit me with your best shot.” Kamal presented himself for an attack facing Lloyd and holding his arms out in a come get it bro manner.
“Uhm I don’t think that would be a good idea,” Jay noted and Kai stated, “yha something about that seems a bad idea. There’s something off about these things.” Lloyd was hesitating knowing they were right and the right thing to do was to just let things go and head back to do further investigations but he could feel a strong urge building to attack this thing. These things looked dangerous, he could feel something radiating off them much like how he felt around the Oni and if his suspicions were true that these things were somehow related to what his mother had found at that site they were hunters of Oni and dragons so could be enemies to all beings. After a moment’s hesitation feeling his emotions and anger building from the presence of these things Lloyd declared, “alright. Let’s see how tough you are.” Lloyd charged up his powers before shooting it at Kamal. To everyone’s shock Kamal was unaffected instead looking to absorb the energy blast which he built up in his one hand then shot back at Lloyd sending him flying back and out the doors breaking them. Lloyd came to lay stunned and winded on the ground outside the hall. The ninja quickly headed out to check on him Kamal and Rosic following to stand on the doorstep of the hall. A crowd made of these beings from the Lost Clan had gathered around the building along with strange hyena looking creatures with bird like heads and feet and bipedal reptilian creatures that looked a bit like small Grundles. There even seemed to be a gathering of ravens in the area. As she came out of the building Rosic lifted her staff up giving off a cackling noise before slamming it down into the ground causing a dark fog to emit from it and the skies to turn stormy with cold winds and strange green hued lightening.
“We warned you half breed but you insisted on this. If you won’t retreat willingly then we’ll make you leave by force,” Kamal expressed before charging in to attack them equipping his sword. With his lead the others rushed in to join his attack even Rosic who left her staff standing there as it emitted the dark fog which poured out from it and crept over the ground. The ninja wasted no time in defending themselves Lloyd taking a bit of time to recover from the initial attack. It wasn’t long till they understood why the people were scared of these things. There was a strong un-naturality to them. They seemed immune to attack and showed little to no fear. Weapons didn’t leave as bad damages as they thought they would on them, when cut along with an icy blue substance they were guessing were these things blood a black mist would drip out as well and they could heal surprisingly fast even without magic. Even stranger and rather worrisome they had either some form of immunity or a really strong resistance to elemental energy. When hit they’d react like it hurt but quickly just brush it off seeming to absorb the energy and even sometimes wielded it back at them. They couldn’t gain on these beings and worse the mist was getting more prominent spreading out and to their shock strange monstrous entities like strange elemental made serpentine creatures popped out of the mist to attack them. An icy one went through Kai shocking and freezing him preventing him from using his powers while leaving frost on his skin. He was crippled by the cold for several minutes unable to defend himself and barely able to move. A fiery one burst out of the mist when Jay got close to it and went through his one arm. He felt searing nearly unbearable pain go through his arm collapsing him to his knees. Nya who was helping Kai as he struggled to quickly get warm in order to defend himself quickly came over once Jay was attacked fending off the entities attacking them while Zane came over to inspect Jays arm Jay in a panic from the pain which he felt was unbearable. She defeated the fiery serpentine creature first blasting it into a steaming mist with water.
“What happened?” she demanded as Zane scanned Jays arm being defended by Kai who had followed her starting to warm up again. After the scan Zane pulled up Jays sleeve exposing what looked to be a fire burn on his arm where the entity had gone through him. After his observations Zane explained, “whatever that was that went through his arm has caused burns akin to those as if he had been on fire in those areas. The damage appears close and worst at surface level but there is minor damage deeper and it appears to be slowly working deeper causing more damage. He needs to be treated for burns to prevent the damage from worsening and going into serious shock and Kai appears to be suffering early stages to hypothermia.” To ease some of his pain and soothe the burn and counter the magic continuing the burning Zane coated Jays arm in ice.
“I th…think we need… need to fall…all back,” Kai stated through shivers. While they were occupied Cole was being faced by a fairly large and bulky individual who was besting him with a strength greater than even what his lava arms could muster. He was pretty sure this was because she was absorbing the energy of his powers when he touched her letting her wield his own powers against him. In the struggle he got knocked back into the dark mist which quickly began to climb onto him. As it climbed onto him he felt a dark dreaded feeling creep up his spine. It began to paralyse him which was made worse when it brought a dreaded feeling to him. He could feel it as a crippling pain in his heart which brought tears to his eyes as memories he’d longed to try and forget flashed in his mind. Memories of his mothers final days where she was suffering badly from her illness, how he had wished there had been something he could have done for her, her funeral and the after effects with him and his father as they had grown distant and cold to each other because of the pain her death had caused them. The overwhelming of emotions collapsed him to his knees unable to hold back tears. With the others focussed with Jay Pixal was the first to react to him and come to his aid. She quickly pulled him from the fog noting its effects on him. She defended him till she could get through to him. Whatever had happened had left him distraught and she couldn’t make sense of his words. He was muttering something about missing someone and wishing they were there for him and how he felt terrible they couldn’t spend time together and that she couldn’t see what he’d become or get to meet his friends and family.
“Cole you have to shake out of this we need you,” she told him shaking him to snap him out of this odd state. He started coming to his senses. He wasn’t fully back and was clearly still troubled by what happened but got focussed enough to continue the fight. While they were all facing defeat Lloyd struggled against Kamal. He was not only strong and resilient but agile and crafty. Lloyd went for a swing at him and Kamal caught his sword in his bare hand with a counter swing snapping it in half leaving to Lloyds shock not even a scrape to his hand. While he was shocked Kamal swung at him cutting his upper left arm. Lloyd jumped back in pain and surprise to grab his arm. Kamal looked at his sword which bore some of Lloyds blood and with an eerily calm tone muttered, “just as suspected, the darkness is rising in you.” Lloyd pulled his hand off his arm curious to what he was talking about and Lloyd was startled to find his blood was tainted by a purplish color in it. It scared him. What did that mean?! Upon seeing this he quickly declared to the others to fall back. They needed no convincing. They headed for the Bounty in the harbour. They had to fight their way free of the group they were facing some of them out of commission. Nya had to help Jay move as he was in serious pain, Kai was stable enough to move on his own but still struggled from the cold while Cole had recovered enough to flee with little problem helping the others get to safety. As they fled through the streets Zane and Pixal made obstacles for these beings to keep them from getting too close as they followed or sprung up from around town to attack. They knocked over things, broke down awnings, tipped over cars and carts and Zane made barriers of ice. Once on the ship Pixal wasted no time in getting into the cabin and getting the Bounty running and up while the rest followed into the cabin for shelter. As they got up and on their way the strange flying reptiles again swarmed their ship this time attacking more fiercely at it and even leaving some damages to the rigging and sails. Nya and Zane were going to head out to deal with them but without warning as they moved away these creatures attack stopped as they left the area. Pixal took them some distance to the north before landing the ship further up along the shore so they could settle and deal with the aftermath of all that. They were all fairly shaken and some were worse than others.
“What were those things!?” Jay screamed before yelling at Lloyd, “why did you think to attack that thing!? He was letting us go but you had to rile them up and start a fight. If you hadn’t done that we’d be fine!” They all stopped looking at Lloyd. What he said was true and they all knew it but none of them had been wanting to so quickly blurt that out and as drastically as Jay had.
“I’m sorry just something about being around those things… I couldn’t help myself,” Lloyd stated. Nya wondered, “what do you mean?” After a moment’s hesitation Lloyd stated, “I could feel this dark energy around them. It was making me feel angry to them; I couldn’t help myself.”
“Wh…what were were those things?” Kai wondered still shivering.
“I don’t know but there was something strange and familiar to their signatures,” Pixal noted and curious Nya wondered, “when you say familiar what do you mean?” Zane responded, “like how they could smell Oni to Lloyd we could detect hints of dragon and Oni to them.”
“What could that mean?” Nya wondered and Zane expressed, “we will have to look into it. First though we have some we should get to a hospital as soon as possible first.”
“Agreed. Pixal can you get us there ASAP,” Nya agreed and Pixal agreed, “I can do that.” She headed over to the controls and got the Bounty up again. Nya then took Jay, Kai following, to their room to give the two some temporary first aid. Lloyd kept to himself for a few minutes putting his hand over the cut on his arm. He could feel it still bleeding. Curious he pulled his hand back down to look. His blood was back to normal; no purple color. Why had that happen he wondered getting a feeling it wasn’t a good sign.
“Did you get hurt?” Zane inquired noting the blood on Lloyds hand. Lloyd responded, “oh yha. It’s not too bad. I’ll go clean it.” He then left leaving Cole with Zane and Pixal. With the others gone Zane went over to Cole to ask, “are you okay? Pixal told me about how that mist affected you? What happened?” Cole had been quiet hanging back staring strangely into space by the computers in the middle of the command room. Zane and Pixal weren’t sure if the others had noticed it but they had and kept quiet not wanting to put Cole in the spotlight feeling whatever he was going through was something he didn’t want others to invade in.
“It… it just brought some things to my mind,” Cole commented after some hesitation. He seemed distant. Unsure if it was okay to ask but curious to know Zane asked, “is it okay for me to ask what it brought up?” Cole was hesitant again.
“Jay had asked about my mother… I guess that had her on my mind and when I stepped in that stuff. It brought back memories. They were so clear like I was reliving it…” Cole started before going silent. Zane was hesitant to say anything knowing what he was probably going through after all he’d experienced it when getting some of his memories back of his father. Zane stated, “it was about her passing wasn’t it.” Cole refused to speak just nodding clearly trying to fight tears.
“If you need to talk you know we’re here if you need it,” Zane commented. Cole was silent while Zane and Pixal looked at each other both unsure what to do. Whatever that mist had done to Cole had hurt him deeply in a way that couldn’t be easily fixed. It was a deep emotional harm that looked to have opened buried pains. Zane thought of doing some quick research over what he could do but something told him that might give him a too impersonal decision and this needed something much more warmer to deal with it. He instead looked into his memories for possible similar experiences he’d had and things he’d been told by the others when they or others around them were going through such things. It brought one thought to him. He gave Cole a hug telling him, “you don’t have to stay strong in front of us. We are your family and we won’t judge if you have to be vulnerable.” Cole was still for a second before hugging him back and beginning to breakdown.
He was getting strange feelings from this place; a very odd sensation as ever since ending up in his current state he couldn’t really feel anything. After his failed attempts to find the teapot of Tyhran to become mortal again Clouse had decided to take the risks and try something he had only heard of but due to the dangers had been saving as a last resort. Considering his failed attempts however and his failings to punish the ninja for their interference in his doings he’d decided this was now his best option. He had made his way to the dark isle and travelled to a deep ravine in a wasteland in the interior of the continent. The ravine was dark and filled with strange creatures many of the insectoid variety such as nearly two meter long centipede he had scared off when he had first had entered the ravine and it attempted to attack him. Luckily as a ghost navigating the ravine and avoiding dangers was easy. While there was a small creek in the bottom of the ravine and it was damp the moisture was not enough to pose a threat to him. He was using a spell in his one hand to light up the area while holding a map in the other trying to locate what he’d came for. A hidden vault built into the wall of the ravine long ago in times before written history. So far he’d seen nothing but soon he found signs he was getting close. Strange crystalline structures seeming in rocks before he found the entrance into what he was looking for. The outside of the cave was decoratively carved with dark oni looking designs. Inside the cave was fairly empty. Nothing decorative like arts or carvings but also strangely not normal cave features either it was smoothed as if it had been carved and polished out of the rock. The cave went for several meters winding in and down into the earth only the strange crystalline seams and soon crystal growths of this material becoming more prominent. Soon he came to a large cavern these strange crystalline structures now decorating the place and lighting it up, strange glowing lichens and fungi looking organisms growing on walls, the floor and ceiling and even strange creature like entities just hanging around like small glowing translucent jellyfish looking creatures that just seemed to float around the place. A strange circular gate looking structure was built into the wall at the back of the cavern while a bar held up between two posts with several bells running largest to smallest in size from left to right on it sat in front of it. In front of this was a pedestal. This was what he had come for. While feeling these bells were key to unlocking what he needed he wasn’t sure what the combo was but he did know though that they weren’t the only things he needed. One had been very risky and a pain to get. He’d needed a piece from the body of an elemental master of electricity to provide power for the contraption to unlock the portal; technically he needed the master but he was hoping the two fistfuls of hair he’d gotten and carried in a special pouch to keep them charged and untainted would be enough. The builders of this contraption had set it up this way to try and thwart the wrong hands from opening it; the master had to have active powers, be unaffected by any corruption and of the light for it to work. He knew just where to get it unfortunately the getting it part had been a pain.
He’d snuck into the ninjas monastery one night to get some samples of Jays hair preferably while he was emotional particularly scared that way the samples would be charged to some extent higher than base levels. At all times elemental masters tended to carry in all parts of their being some minor energies of their element this could be enhanced by making them use their powers or through emotions. He knew that wouldn’t be hard for Jay; his skittish disposition made it easy to get him agitated and spooked. The problem was getting him alone and getting the samples. To his misfortune all of them had been there that night. He needed a way to distract them all to keep anyone from sensing him. The nindroids he felt would have been the worse. Wu and Lloyd had seemed to sense something in the monastery but all he had to do was remain invisible and quiet and they couldn’t find him. The nindroids however had senses that could sense him even when he was invisible. Luckily the female had been in the Hanger bay with Nya and Cole working on some repairs to the Bounty. Using some ghostly tricks he lured Wu and Lloyd down there with them. The two were confused wondering if the others had heard and seen things and while they were all distracted he sabotaged the monasteries breaker box shutting off the places power. While the Hanger Bay did have a backup power source separate from the main grid he also sabotaged the doors and elevator to the place so they wouldn’t be able to escape. While they worked on fixing the damages that left him free to get what he needed. He just needed to separate Jay from Kai and Zane. When the power went out Zane who had been doing some clean up in the library had gone to check the breaker in the basement of the Monastery thinking a circuit had blown. Since the droid was the biggest threat to his plan he ambushed the droid in the hall using a spell to knock him out before it knew he was there. That had left just Jay and Kai who had been playing a video game in the entertainment room. The two had gotten up to investigate when the power went out. Nya had contacted them to tell them about the damaged breaker and elevator so Jay went to work helping them with the elevator while Kai went to get Zane to help out. Kai found Zane in the hall and was confused why he appeared to be sleeping in the middle of the hall. He had decided to put Zane in his bed but before he could do anything Clouse had knocked Kai out by hitting him in the back of the head with a wooden spoon from the kitchen. After that he was free to get what he needed. He had started up by making noises and moving objects in the room to startle Jay and get him on edge. That didn’t take much to do; alone in a dark room with the power out had Jay on edge already. Jay quickly suspected a ghost was their but luckily never picked up it was him. His anxiety led him to keep threatening any sound or unexpected movement with a shocking display threatening what he couldn’t see that he wouldn’t fear attacking them if they didn’t leave. While he was giving the display Clouse would cut hair from him careful to not let Jay feel his touch. This just upped his anxieties causing him to wander the Monastery looking for Kai and the male droid. After he’d gotten what he needed just for some amusement he stuck around to see the aftermath. Jay had found Kai and Zane laying in the hall and guessed the two had run into each other in the dark and knocked each other out something Jay felt pretty surprising that Kai had knocked Zane out by bumping into him making some jokes about Kai having a thick head as he dragged the two into the entertainment room and laid them on the couches so they were together with him Jay anxious about the feeling they were being haunted. After two hours the others had gotten things fixed and the power on. When they came back up to the entertainment room Kai and Zane were up and not believing Jay who was freaking out thinking they were haunted. Clouse had made sure to be extra careful to avoid the attentions of the droids. While Jay freaking out about ghosts had Cole nervous the rest felt what they had just went through had probably been the result of rats. They did note Jay missing some hair but thought he’d accidently singed it off in his fear to an imaginary haunting. They just went on with the rest of their day and he left.
The last items he had needed were two small skull looking items made of a dark obsidian looking material in the shape of an oni skull. He’d also already gotten those. They had been a bit difficult to find as they had been lost in a ruin that had been buried long ago leaving no traces behind. It had been hard to find as few records mentioned the location. He had to strike up a deal with a strange being of tentacles that seemed to just float around that he found in the Cloud Kingdom known as a Scribe to finally get the information. The being had demanded a serious price, upon his death he was to end up where this being was from in servitude to it and this sort of realm it came from but he was willing to strike the deal for this. If this proved true then this would be something the ninja would not win against and it would be very unpleasant for them. When he’d got to the location of the ruins he’d used some mind warping magic on a nearby farmers livestock including some chickens, a few cattle, the guard dogs and even the farm cats to dig a hole into the ruins to help him find it and get the items out. His actions had drawn in archaeologists to the site but he didn’t care. He’d already found the most important things the ruins had they could have everything else.
Once by the contraptions he placed the hair on the pedestal and the skulls in the inlays for them at the sides of the portal. The pedestal lit up with a yellow light. He wasn’t sure how long the hair would power the pedestal so he had to act fast. It was active now what did he do? He had no clue where to go from there. To test he hit one of the bells dust from years of abandonment falling out of it. It made a noise but nothing happened. He hit another. This time darts shot out from a pillar built into the wall of the cave.
“Such simple traps are no obstacle to one with no corporeal form,” he muttered before hitting another bell. This time along with the noise the bell developed a reddish glow and hummed with energy. Was that one right? Which one was next? He attempted another and the glowing bell dimmed before a bolt of strange energy from one of the crystals in the cave hit close to him. While it largely missed him he was shocked to find as it grazed his arm to feel pain from it. What the heck had that thing been? Looked like he had to be more careful; apparently some things here could hurt him. He hit the bell that had worked before then looked over the other bells before looking over the cavern for clues to which one was next. He noticed a symbol on the rim of the portal was glowing red like the bell. It looked to resemble some form of writing. Looking he could see more symbols though these ones weren’t glowing. That was interesting. Could it be a clue? He looked around some more before noting beneath each bell was a symbol. Beneath the active bell the symbol matched the symbol on the gate that was glowing. These symbols were a clue but in what order were they. He didn’t recognise the letters so had no clue to what they spelt. The way the symbols on the door were positioned it looked to read starting on the left then going up along the top and down to the right the same spelt word. It was hard to read however because of the lack of clear definition to the carvings and dim lighting. He looked around to see for any possibly clearer revealing structures. Nothing not even on the bells. He then glanced as his map remembering seeing something written on the top left corner running from top down in strange symbols. He looked at it then at the gate. That was it. Using the map he hit the bells in sequence to spell out the writing on the map the symbols on the arch lighting up with each correct note till it was fully spelt. Once he hit the last bell and the last letter lit up a portal of dark energy opened up in the gate.
‘Yes it worked,’ he thought as the portal formed. At first nothing happened as he peered into it expecting something to happen then slowly creeping out of the portal with a rather creepy swaying walk a strange humanoid being with no discernable face crept out of the portal. There were hollow pits to its faceless head with tentacles coming off the head on the cheeks and a trunk like tentacle with hollow pits ending in a strange grasper on its end in the middle of the face. Its skin was grey and ashy looking; it wore a dark red and purple grey robe and had clawed hands and feet.
“Who may I ask has released me from my prison?” the being asked its unsettling un-human voice just emanating from the thing as there seemed to be no actual mouth to it.
“I am Clouse a master in the dark arts. I have freed you in hopes you can give me back my mortal form and so you can aid me in the overthrow and enslavement of a group known as ninja one of which is the grandson of the first Spinjitsu Master. You are the being titled Dagoth Mendras am I right,” he told the being. Even without notable facial features the being seemed intrigued.
“That is correct I am the great and dark Dagoth Mendras. The first Spinjitsu Master you say interesting. It is he and his companions and allies who imprisoned me so long ago,” the being noted and Clouse asked, “so do we have a deal?”
“It would be nice to see the descendants of those that imprisoned me so long ago suffer plus it could help my master with his plans in the future that those of the light be eliminated,” the being noted and Clouse inquired offering his hand out for a hand shake to seal the deal, “so do we have a deal?” The being seemed to look at him before reaching out its trunk wrapping it around his hand to shake it.
“You’ve got a deal,” it proclaimed sending a strange yet painful energy through him his body slowly gaining its physical make again from the beings touch.
It was dark and cold, a cold not even he could handle. He was in an unfamiliar land a dark conifer forest filled with strange sounds with a dark nights sky above dominated by two moons one a bit bigger and reddish than the other the bigger one looking to sit further back in space as the smaller whiter one just barely looked to beginning to cross its path. He wasn’t sure why but Zane had the feeling he was being hunted. Every now and then he would see shadowy humanoid figures moving in his peripherals or the shadows of the understory. They had him on edge. He was trying to find his way out of the woods to somewhere he felt he’d be safe but he couldn’t find that. As he went he started getting more anxious moving quicker and being more on edge. He came to pause for a rest in a small clearing. He backed himself into a group of large trees to feel safe. He was pretty sure he was in serious danger. While he rested shaking from nerves he was startled when an arrow nearly struck him in the head hitting into the tree trunk next to him. He jumped back before pulling the arrow from the tree to inspect it. This wasn’t just any arrow. The tip was large with two serrated prongs and the shaft wasn’t just simple wood. It was made of technology. He recognised this kind of arrow. It was a specialised design with an inbuilt USB that carried a virus that acted like a poison to droids. It was a design that while illegal was still used by many undesirable types as a tool for hunting and fighting droids. When it pierced their skin the prongs on the tip acted as conduits allowing the virus to be transferred into the makes of a droid by just contacting any wires and even some synthetic tissues of their make. Shortly after he pulled it from the tree it dissolved into a strange burning ash and fell from his hand. That arrow confirmed it, he was being hunted. But by who and where were they? He suddenly felt a sharp pain in his right shoulder, Seconds later he was aware of a virus infiltrating his systems trying to mess with his senses and hinder his mobility. He pulled the arrow from his arm. It was the same kind and again fell to ash. Looking for where it came from he saw standing on a large boulder nearby a humanoid figure bathed entirely in black with only its burning red eyes being the only discernable feature to them. The figure looked to be wielding a bow and prepped to shoot at him again. He started hurrying off to get away from the being as it shot at him again this time missing. He started off fairly well able to still move quite well but soon he was having problems as the virus he was infected with started to mess with his systems. His energy was not being distributed right making his limbs tired and harder to move and he started having trouble with his lungs causing him to have serious coughings. While he didn’t need oxygen so his lungs not working wouldn’t hinder him the pain and severe coughing he was having from them was hindering him as he’d have to slow down or stop to cough. This entity was still following him and he could pick up others nearby following likely to also hurt him. He continued to struggle away till not fully aware of his surroundings because of his struggles he slipped off a rocky ledge. He landed hard on the ground below entering a coughing fit from the landing. He was sore and stiff as he propped himself up on his elbows. He was instantly shocked and nervous to see in front of him gathered in a large clearing an army of solid shadow figures. They were humanoid with green eyes and while largely humanoid he could vaguely make out that they resembled the figures they had just faced; this Lost Clan. Even more startling to them was what shadowed the sky behind them. A massive shadow figure of a man with the head of a stag loomed. He felt terror grip him to see this figure especially as it looked down at him with green eyes that seemed to burn into him. A noise above him drew his attention to the ledge he’d fallen off of. Standing there looking down at him were these other shadow beings the ones with red eyes. He was caught between two factions both looking to be hunting him. Zane wanted to get up and flee but the virus was making it hard for him to control his own body. He managed to crawl a bit away from the ledge before the elk headed figure began to speak its deep masculine commanding and eerily calm voice declaring, “darkness is coming; they were born in it and it is all they know. They are coming for you and all you know. Choices will have to be made; dark and dire choices.” The larger of the moons in the sky which the figure half eclipsed turned into a blood moon as it continued to speak declaring, “will you choose the right side and actions or doom the world to its end? Let the battle begin.”
“Zane! Zane!” Pixals voice came through to him waking him up. He was lying on his side on the floor in the hanger bay by the computers. Pixal, Kai, Nya, Lloyd and Jay were around him worried and trying to wake him by gently shaking him.
“Are you okay?” Kai wondered and Zane wondered, “huh?” Jay explained, “we got back and the place was dark, we couldn’t find Cole and we found you on the floor surrounded by frost, ice building on your skin and making a coughing sound. Were you attacked?” Zane slowly got up ice falling off himself.
“There was no attack. I must have just fallen asleep,” Zane replied confused a bit by everything. He’d originally been at the computer. After dropping the others off at a hospital Pixal had dropped him and Cole off at the monastery to keep an eye on the energy signal of those beings and look up what they could be while she went back to the others. They found nothing and those things hadn’t left the region. After some time Cole had gone out; he said he needed some time to himself. Zane had let him go feeling he needed it guessing he might have wanted to visit his father after what had happened. With not much going on and the others out he had started playing a relaxing game on the computer while keeping an eye on things in the background. It was a simple city builder simulator where humans were extinct and the world was instead inherited and being built by beavers. The game was off a more relaxing nature to him and he guessed that led to him getting relaxed and eventually falling asleep falling out of the chair at some point while he slept. He wasn’t too sure how long he’d been asleep. It must have been some time though as quite some time in his game had passed though with how well he’d set up his colony it was stable and thriving without his control surprising Jay who could never get a hold in such games and often ended up leading to chaos and the destruction of his settlements.
“Are you sure you’re okay? You looked like you were hurt and why were you coughing?” Nya inquired as he got up and went to the computer closing his game to look at their surveillance. It still hadn’t changed. Those things didn’t appear to be moving out yet. Zane replied to her question confused, “I was?”
“Yha and you lost control to your powers,” Kai noted and Nya added, “Pixal tried to get through to you but you weren’t responding.” Pixal noted, “you were having a nightmare and acting some of it out in your sleep weren’t you?”
“I guess you can call it that,” Zane replied and Lloyd asked, “what were you dreaming of?” Zane was quiet for a second unsure he wanted to say anything about the dream. It had left him a bit shaken and greatly confused. He decided to simply offer, “it was about those strange beings.”
“Yha I’m probably going to have nightmares about them too tonight,” Jay proclaimed.
“Those things were pretty nightmarish. I can see why all the people were scared of them. Invulnerable and able to summon monsters to their aid… how are we going to deal with these things,” Kai wondered. After a moment’s pause Lloyd stated, “I don’t know. We’re going to have to look into it… for now why don’t we get some rest and we’ll get started tomorrow into this. We’ve probably got a lot of work to be done.”
“True. Why don’t we get started with some relaxing now after all we got dinner on our way back,” Kai stated. They agreed to that. They headed out of the Hanger Bay and into the Monastery. Along the way Jay thanked Zane giving him a big hug thankful for his quick thinking to freeze the burn he’d gotten. The cold and moisture of the ice he had put on Jays arm had stopped the magic continuing the burning and had soothed the injury enough to help keep him from going into shock. They’d had to wrap Jays arm up to treat the burn and the blisters that were around and within it. He’d have to treat it for several weeks like a normal severe burn and likely would have scars from it but he at least wouldn’t lose his arm. Kai was lucky to escape hypothermia and while that creatures freezing powers had disrupted his powers in a sense temporarily shutting them off once they had come back he was able to warm up and counter the effects of the cold. Lloyd had ended up needing stitches for his arm but not much else. The hospital had wanted to keep Kai and Jay there for observations for at least 24 hours however since they lived with nindroids whose advanced senses could keep an efficient eye on their conditions they were let go early. They’d left the food in the kitchen so picked it up deciding to have it in the entertainment room while watching TV for the night. They each got their helping before sitting down Jay taking the box and loading up a public video service asking what they wanted to watch. Kai suggested something funny and while most were in agreement with that something under a section labelled breaking news caught Lloyds attention.
“What is that?” he asked. Jay clicked on it and they were shocked at what they saw. The footage was of a news caster trying to broadcast while at the same time remaining hidden as the monsters they had faced were now attacking another settlement not far from their established zone on the shore. They were invading inland with airships resembling their ocean going vessels and land based vehicles carrying a similar style and others were riding incredibly bizarre looking creatures that looked like someone had given a bird or reptile the form like a horse. They were using more of their strange monsters wrecking havoc on the town while these raiders attacked the place. Despite their attempts to hide the reporter was found and captured. The camera holder was knocked back and threatened by one of the warriors who spoke threateningly at the camera, “for the dawn.” It then punched the camera breaking it and ending the footage.
“This isn’t good. They’re already spreading,” Kai noted while Pixal who had picked up a tablet they had on the table to look over their analysis expressed confused, “we are not picking up any changes to that energy signature and there appears to be no changes to the state of the area. There are still radio signals available and things seem fairly calm. No reports of attacks.”
“This was posted less than half an hour ago,” Jay noted. Pixal refreshed the data several times. At first she didn’t see anything but then she noted glitched signals appearing revealing much larger dead zones dominated by the strange energy for a brief couple seconds as it refreshed before once loaded the data went back to the original view that only the original region was under affect.
“What does that mean?” Kai wondered; he didn’t have the best understanding of technology. Nya explained, “it means there is a good chance these things can affect and influence technology. If they can do that they can easily hinder combating them. They could make it harder for us to track their movements, they could hide their locations from us, steal information, alter information among other things.”
“Those things didn’t seem very tech savy though. If anything they seemed quite primitive,” Kai noted to which Jay stated, “looks could be deceiving though. Just look at birds. You know I saw someone teach a parrot to play a video game with a modified joystick and it worked! For an animal too it was pretty good in the game; I don’t know if it understood what it was doing but it looked like it enjoyed it.”
“Not to mention we just got a glimpse of them. There is likely more we need to uncover of these beings,” Zane noted. Jay added looking at his injured arm, “I think it best we learn more about these things before we face them again.”
“Have you ever heard of blood turning purple?” Lloyd wondered as he helped his uncle search through the Monasteries library on anything related to these entities. He was worried over what had happened to him but nervous to let his uncle know about it pretty sure it wasn’t a good sign.
“Purple blood? It is said the Oni have purple blood; why did these things have such a blood?” Wu inquired looking through some various scrolls and books on the Dark Isle. Since the energy originated there they had a feeling these things were related to the isle in some way. Lloyd was hesitant to respond but the fact Oni had purple blood and he was part Oni didn’t give him good feelings.
“Not really, we couldn’t actually hurt them much… though as you saw they could easily hurt us. Their leader cut me in the conflict and when I was around them… my blood had turned purple,” Lloyd nervously explained bringing a book to the table Wu was working at. Wu stopped what he was doing to look at Lloyd concerned. After a moment of silence Lloyd quickly added, “after we’d gotten away from them though it went back to normal. There was this strange feeling I was getting when around them…”
“What kind of feeling?” Wu asked sounding calm but looking wary and Lloyd explained nervous to reveal this, “I felt agitated and… I couldn’t help myself. I might have started the altercation that led to the fight.” Wu become more concerned.
“I have rarely had that happen but your father had it happen quite a bit,” Wu noted and Lloyd couldn’t hesitate to ask, “it’s bad isn’t it?” There was a moment of silence before Wu stated, “that is right. It is a sign of the Oni in you surfacing.”
“What does that mean for me?” Lloyd worried. Wu responded, “that depends. Why was it surfacing? Were these beings somehow behind it, was it just a coincidence? If they can be behind it then how and why?”
“Zane and Pixal both registered scents and pheromones like the Oni coming from them,” Lloyd noted and Wu proclaimed, “they did? That isn’t good. That greatly changes things then.”
“How?” Lloyd worried and Wu explained, “if these things are indeed related to Oni in some way their desires and intentions could be disastrous. They could be intending to follow in the Oni’s footsteps maybe even to attempt to resurrect them. Even if that isn’t what they are up to whatever their intentions are they likely are not for good and if they indeed are having an effect on you then why. At worse they could be directly influencing you trying to awaken the darkness in you possibly for their use or to hinder or even destroy you and the others. At the milder end if it is indirectly they are doing this it could still be bad. If you lose control to the Oni in you it could lead to serious harm to the others and may even lead you down a path that befell your father.” Lloyd was not liking what he was hearing.
“Do you think we should warn the others about this?” he wondered. Wu thought about it for a moment before asking, “that depends. How bad do you think this effect they are having on you is? If you encountered them again could you keep control? Do you feel their effect when away from them?”
“Well I don’t feel anything now but I did end up initiating the fight when near them… I didn’t realise though at the time why I felt the way I did…” Lloyd began. After a moment’s thought Wu stated, “now that you understand what happened do you think you could better control yourself around these beings if you encountered them again?” Lloyd thought about it for a moment. While thinking about it all he felt was worry not the strange feelings and anger he got when around those beings. That was a key though; he wasn’t around them and the strange energy they brought with them. He wasn’t sure if he could keep control with that energy around.
“I don’t know,” Lloyd commented. Wu then expressed, “I think then for now we do not let the others know best not give them any reason to worry or doubt you being on their team. If these things are as bad as you say they are and are related to the Oni it’s going to take all of you to defeat them. In the meantime we will work on giving you ways to control the Oni within you. First we will work on ways to help you keep control of your Oni side in case you face these problems around these beings again. Next time you encounter them try to determine why you feel the way you do around them and see if you can find if they are affecting you on purpose or by accident. If even after that you are still having problems we will decide if we should change our stance on this after that and after we get a better assessment to just how bad these things effects on you are. Whenever your next near them try to determine if their effects are direct or indirect; the answer to that could mean everything in this situation and greatly affect our analysis of these entities.”
Meanwhile Pixal, Zane, Cole, Nya, Jay and Kai were down in the hanger bay working on their research and keeping an eye on the signals. They could confirm the regions covered by this strange energy was growing but didn’t match with how much area these beings had conquered. It was like there was a several hours delay between when the region had been conquered to when the signal began to show up there.
“What is a Jarl (yarl) and what is an Augur (og-er)?” Kai wondered to which Zane explained, “a Jarl is a title for leader. It was historically used by clans in the north in fact some settlements in the Birchwood forest still use it. While some liken it to a king or emperor it does not match up well with those. Jarls did not just sit back and delegate but actively engaged in roles in society particularly in military action. Augurs are individuals said to be able to through supposed supernatural ways see hidden knowledge including what the future can hold. They are beings of myth as all supposed Augurs have always been found to be hoaxes.”
“I don’t know about that. This one was quite accurate. She could tell Lloyd was part Oni,” Jay noted to which Pixal countered, “because she could smell it first. Given their beastial traits it is no wonder she could smell it as they likely like us nindroids likely share physical attributes with animals that let them detect not only more smell but chemical attributes such as pheromones.”
“Okay but how about Nya and Kai having merlopian ties?” Jay countered to which Zane replied, “again smell and chemical receptors such things can reveal a great deal about an individual not just personal identity but relations and health. That is why animals use it as a major form of communication. Such things seem supernatural to humans cause you cannot utilize such abilities but to say for a cat who can there is nothing special to it as they can use these abilities as well.”
“Even if she truly has no augur abilities she is capable of using magic,” Nya noted to which Pixal agreed, “indeed and I have yet to determine which form of magic she is using. Whatever it is it is not common and may be ancient possibly even a lost form.”
“Where do you think these things came from? Jays time travelling idea does seem crazy but things about these well things seems to match with that. Old style transport methods and weapons and armour all of which match styles that hasn’t been seen in decades, using outdated terms again from decades ago. Could there be some truth to that?” Cole wondered. They all stopped and looked at him for a time before Zane admitted, “well there is a possibility. It would explain some things. They could also just be from another realm where these things still exist as modern uses and terms. The fact they call themselves the Lost Clan could also mean that they could hail from an isolated region or isle where they have been isolated for a long time leading to these seeming outdated attributes persisting as modern to the present day.”
“I still think time travellers would be cooler,” Jay commented. Kai stated, “well whatever it is these beings are truly something else.”
“Physically they appear humanoid with physical modifications giving them hyena like head shapes and tails, claws to their digits and a fur covering to their skin. Internally it is very difficult to determine but they likely are structured human like with alterations mainly to skeletal, neurological and sensory systems,” Pixal deduced as they went over readings she and Zane had picked up from the beings. They were going over readings and memory data from the two on these beings and trying to match anything from known historical and scientific documents. So far they could find nothing. Zane added, “for all their similarities to those of the realms these entities have some very bizarre traits. Most notably they emit an energy which is what is giving them their strange eyes which is matching the strange energy we have been investigating which we still have not been able to identify.”
“What is so strange about this energy?” Cole wondered and Zane explained, “when we can detect it the energy resembles some form of major unidentified radiation but most of the time it’s like it doesn’t exist. To all sensors it’s an emptiness devoid of all information. There is nothing there yet somehow we can see and sense otherwise that is not the case. There are things there. They are physical and as tangible in every sense just like the rest of us.” Jay expressed, “that’s creepy.”
“We cannot identify any know entities resembling them or these beasts they have as mounts and service animals however some of their monster allies are known such as the small bi-pedal reptiles and elemental serpents,” Pixal noted. The mention of the serpent creatures unsettled Kai and Jay. Nya inquired, “what do we know of them.”
“Honestly not much,” Zane noted and Pixal elaborated, “they are all entities described as monsters. Otherworldly beings originating from unknown origins often delegated to beings of myth as most documents on them are tales from history and mythology. Little physical evidence correlating to them is known.”
“What kind of stories are these?” Kai wondered. Pixal loaded up on the computer images from texts, artistic depictions and the few physical evidences of these monsters while she explained, “largely your standard tales of heroes fighting monsters.”
“Wait monsters are real?!” Jay expressed startled by realising this fact. The others just brushed off his comment Cole inquiring, “do any of these tales tell where these monsters come from. If they are working with these beings then is it possible they are from the same place right?”
“That is a strong possibility but if they are from the same place then that makes their origins even more difficult to ascertain,” Zane noted and Jay asked, “why or do I really want to know?”
“All these monsters have no confirmed originating realm. There are speculations for some but most are unknown,” Pixal explained to which Kai sighed, “so we’re pretty much in the dark with these things?” Zane replied, “currently it would seem so. Unless we can uncover more or better resources it is basically like we are working with something entirely new here.”
“If these things are something brand new then we’re in for a great deal of trouble,” Cole commented not happy with those prospects; none of them were. After a few days and unable to find anything on these things combined with their increasing dominance to the realm the ninja decided to face these beings again. Their first try was to reclaim a town that had already been claimed. They snuck into town and instigated a fight with those of the Lost Clan able to muster support and allies from individuals in the town. They thought things would be easy. It wasn’t. Kamal and Rosic weren’t there but their clan didn’t need them to win the battle. Others were capable of the sorcery Rosic used and all were skilled fighters both on foot and while mounted riding strange horse like reptilian creatures they came to learn were called Lepidimares that these beings used as mounts. Some were even mounted combatants termed Skybax that rode beasts in the air using them to drop into fights and the creatures were trained to attack opponents. The creatures used by Skybax were called Glowbacks and were like someone gave a reptilian hyena wings and jaws like bear traps. In this fight some beings summoned monstrous creatures like bug eyed and dragon fly winged serpents, serpent creatures with arms and the head of a parrot, more of the bird headed hyenas and smallish bi-pedal Grundle like creatures. All these monsters were capable of at least some minor magical ability along with their beastial weaponry and though they could be defeated easier than the Lost Clan it was tough. They had sharp claws and teeth, powerful jaws able to dent or even crush metal, the serpentine creatures could constrict, the parrot hybrid one which they uncovered to be called Gorgayhurra (gorg-a-yur-a) could trick them by mimicking their voices luring them into trouble and the Grundle like creature they learned the clan called the Voidfear though in Ninjago it was known as a Feardrake had a dangerous venom that could grip them with debilitating fear even Zane and Pixal being severely affected by the stuff. These creatures tended to attack in groups and were surprisingly crafty able to set traps and tricks to catch them and they could escape almost any traps they or anyone else set to capture them.
Along with summoning these strange beings members of the Lost Clan could utilize magic’s that could create dark fogs that unsettled their emotions and confidence and dampened their powers, could sap energy from them, summon dark tentacles to whip from the shadows at them or attempt to restrain them with, members could temporarily turn invisible to launch a stealth attack even to Pixal and Zane whatever they were doing messing with their senses to keep the two from sensing the entities, some could use spells that temporarily blinded them or paralyse them even Zane and Pixal, they could mess with technology making it not only act up or animating it but shut it down and even fry common tech even mechs; droids were the only tech safe from these attacks. Some even had the ability to create portals or temporarily turn to a flock of ravens to rapidly teleport themselves between locations to get the upper hand and some could even change the weather stirring up a storm. Even more damming they could use elemental magic’s against them and an individual was not limited to one element like they were. They could use multiple elements on them. The Lost Clan and their allies gave them a serious hard time. In the end they ended up having to flee the townsfolk urging them to leave to avoid capture while they submitted to the clan. They took the peoples advice knowing they were likely their realms only hope to stop these beings from whatever they were doing so it was imperative that they didn’t fall to capture by these beings. They tried to get some of the more vulnerable members to come with them but they refused preferring to stick it out together rather than being separated. They fled the town leaving the people to their fates. They weren’t sure what the clan was going to do to the people but were pretty sure it wasn’t going to be good. They tried again and again trying different locations with different numbers of opponents and new allies from both in the town and those outside wishing to help; a forming militant group wishing to fight back this enemy that had termed themselves the Golden Order though most referred to them as the Ninjago Defence Force. It was a collection of individuals from across the realm with members from various races even serpentine who had come together to fight back against these monsters of the Lost Clan. Turned out not even the serpentine were being spared the conquest of these beings and their powers were useless against those of the Lost Clan. The group had come up with their own symbol a red dragon silhouetted against a golden sun on a red background, armour, weapons, machinery and were working on tech to try and combat this ever increasing threat. While they considered the ninja honorary members and helped them whenever they needed it they were working on their own separate from them to try and take back lands or at the least rescue or help individuals escape the forces of the clan. If the ninja needed it however they would send aid and fight alongside them. Like the ninja they had no luck liberating regions but unlike the ninja had some luck helping others escape the clans forces during invasions.
Even with these allies every fight they had against the clan failed having them forced to flee as the clan progressed. With each fight just as with the first fight members brought up monsters including new ones like impish creatures with vulture heads and humanoid beings with the heads of owls and legs like a bison’s. A few could even shape shift into half beast half human creatures; monsters they had thought were mythical known as lycanthropes. That really freaked some like Jay and Lloyd out. The clan would also manipulate the weather creating storms matching the environment they were in stirring up various kinds of storms including electrical, rain, ice and dust storms. The clan was spreading through both land and sea. They tried combating them in both environments with no success. After multiple fails at combating the clan both alone and with allies they even tried once on their own against a group of five overseeing some rice fields and its workers. While this time they managed to defeat the five the members disappearing in a whitish unsettling colored green mist, something they all seemed to burst into when defeated, vanishing when defeated before they could do anything with them. Within a few hours of freeing the fields the entities were back and had reclaimed the area and this time were ready for them when they tried to again liberate the area. They got roughed up and embarrassed this time from the fight forcing them to flee. After some failed attempts at reclaiming territory they decided to change up their strategies and attack freshly captured areas and even to try and halt some attacks hitting one of the clans forces before they reached a settlement. Things didn’t go any better there especially when they ran into Kamal and Rosic the few times leading some of these forces.
“So you insist on getting involved. Guess we’ll have to teach you a lesson Oni pup,” Kamal told him the first time they encountered him getting in his way of conquering a town. They didn’t win that battle but were able to at least rescue some civilians plus a farmers entire flock of chickens and few cattle. Once someplace was conquered a small contingent of members from the Lost Clan was left behind with some of their beasts, monsters and machinery to keep the place under their control while the bulk of their forces continued on their conquest. Kamal and Rosic were clearly the leaders and headed the conquest often leading attacks to major locations but they had many sub leaders each just as skilled as the two in military and arcane arts who led plenty of separate attacks and conquests helping to rapidly expand the Lost Clans hold. The constant failing to this group and the steady loss of territory to them began getting on their nerves especially as everyone else in the realm was looking to them to end these beings assaults as no matter where they went any local organization or guards for keeping peace and upholding laws and public safety stood no chance against these beings and were rather powerless at holding them back or recovering territory. Even the Ninjago Defence Force were no match for these beings and did worse without the ninjas aid than with them. All they could really do was hold the clan back long enough for some to escape the impending forces and get escapees to safety. With their powers everyone seemed to think the ninja were the only ones able to truly hold back these monsters even though it had become well documented that they weren’t faring very well against these beings just like everyone else. That still didn’t seem to hinder many in feeling the ninja were their only hope in hindering these beings, thwarting their conquest and restoring peace. That pressure alongside the disappointment and frustrations from their failures started stressing the ninja as they continued to try and figure out more about these things and try to get a break in fighting them. It didn’t help that interactions with this Lost Clan always gave them a restless nights sleep after with rather vivid dreams which only made things worse for them leaving them tired and sometimes temperamental, even Zane and Pixal, because of their drowsiness. Some of these dreams seemed different from normal dreams and all of them got them. These dreams involved a strange landscape of hilly and mountainous rocky moors and conifer woodlands with scattered lakes, rivers and bogs with strange creatures and sometimes settlements resembling designs of these Lost Clan. These dreams were clearer and they could remember quite clearly the visions of these dreams; sometimes the dreams would feel so real even to their waking senses that it felt like they were actually in this place. Those dreams made them wonder if something about the clan, maybe the strange energy they emitted, was having an effect on them causing these visions and if that strange land they saw was where the clan came from. If so that didn’t help much as many places both in their realm and other realms resembled that place. It didn’t give much insight either into the Lost Clan.
As time went on and they interacted more with these beings Lloyd steadily noticed himself having more problems controlling his Oni side. Ever since they had become aware of it Wu had him practising a form of meditation at least once a day to keep things under control. It took him a while to get the hang of what he was doing. Doing it in a peaceful environment of the Monastery where these beings were not was fairly easy; actually trying to do it around the clan or especially during and after a fight with them was something else entirely and he had strong problems doing it. To help with his work on this meditation Wu suggested he get something from the clan to help practise with the presence of the clan around. Luckily for him during some confrontations they ended up getting a hold of a few things from the clan which they were hoping to use to study the strange energy these clan members emitted hoping it could reveal something about them. So far they were having extreme difficulties with this. Something about this energy made it extremely difficult, in fact almost impossible, to study. The items they had gotten included a shield, a sword, one of the decorative teeth imbedded in some of their armours, a bell that had been on the attire of a really bizarre creature used as a beast of burden by the clan known as a Soiltere and a strange carved stone one of them had crafted which was carved into the shape of some sort of bird. When not studying the items they had them locked away in a special trunk in the Hanger Bay. All of them got feelings of unease to the energy that came from the items so they felt it best to keep the items away from areas they rested so they could feel relaxed and get sleep; some of them felt the items might give them nightmares if they had them close by while sleeping. Once they had these items Wu began getting Lloyd to practise the meditation when surrounded by the items. The two would go down to the Hanger Bay in secret usually late at night when everyone else had gone to sleep to work with the items every few days to work on it. Wu had to agree something about the energy had him greatly uneasy and while he could feel the Oni in himself reacting to the energy he could keep it in control. Working around the items was much harder than without them and the first few times not only did Lloyd struggle with the activity but he nearly lost control. Wu had been able to keep him in control by splashing a calming tea, tranquil-i-tea, in his face to settle him. Eventually he started gaining some control. Unfortunately the control he was getting was countered by a rise in what would set off his Oni side. At first it was only around these beings but steadily soon just the thought of them or seeing footage or photographs of them could cause him to become temperamental. He would easily become angry even over the littlest things often to the confusion and misfortune of others. If Kai or Jay screwed up he’d sometimes take it out on Nya telling her to keep the two under control.
“If they screw up it’s their faults not mine. I’m not their keeper,” she told him the one time to which Lloyd had replied with, “well you should be. They’re like dogs someone needs to keep the two on a leash to keep them from messing up.” That had Kai and Jay being very cautious to not mess up or even just play around when on duty around Lloyd. A few times he’d snapped at the others getting into arguments with even a few times even nearly coming to physical altercations especially after confrontations with the clan. The one day he’d come down to the Hanger Bay where the rest were working on researching the clan and trying to deduce a possible pattern to their activities to try and find a way to predict the clans actions and act before they could reach an area giving out warnings for people to prepare to evacuate or for possible attacks ahead of time to their arrival. So far all they had found was often within an hour prior to an attack a murder of ravens sometimes over a thousand strong would descend upon an area like scouts roosting everywhere around a settlement and perching fairly still but noisy. Apart from moving out across the continent and even along shores like a wave the locations the clan attacked to dominate a region seemed to be at random. They had been working a few days at it nonstop letting a bit of a mess gather in the area around the computers with pizza boxes and containers from takeout, dishes of all sort some with some scraps of food left in them, empty cans cartons and bottles, some books and scrolls and even some clothes left lying around the place. Zane and Cole were at the computer, Kai and Nya were looking in the books and on their laptops at a table behind them, Pixal was out on a scouting mission and Jay was with Kai and Nya on his laptop splitting his work between what the others were doing and still secretly doing some research of his own on his parents. Lloyd had come up to them already triggered likely from seeing some news the rest of them felt and snapped at them for the mess. He even started targeting Zane wondering why he hadn’t cleaned the place up and claiming he smelt bad and looked filthy.
“I’ve been meaning to shower; I didn’t think it was that bad… I did some gardening to relax earlier using some compost and was working on…,” Zane tried to defend himself nervous and confused by Lloyds attitude and singling of him out. Cole cut in to defend him and try to change Lloyds mood, “hey it’s not his fault. He’s cleaned up most of his messes. Most of what’s here is largely from me, Kai and Jay. We’ll clean it up; Zane shouldn’t be having to clean up for everyone. He’s not a servant. As for smell I think we could all use for a shower but we’ve been busy trying to solve things around this Lost Clan. I think that’s more important rate now than smelling nice wouldn’t you say.” Lloyd couldn’t agree chastising them further with, “it smells like a barn in here and the mess is going to attract vermin I’m pretty sure you already have flies here...” Without thinking unable to help himself just wanting to state a fact Zane explained, “that would be because fruit flies lay their eggs within the skin of fruit even before you bring them home and even before they are put out in stores and their eggs cannot be washed away. With that since they can hatch and develop to adult hood within just a day or two no matter what we do there are bound to be some anywhere fruit has been brought.”
“I don’t care how the bugs got here Zane you guys are just helping them by propagating this mess. Do you want rats and roaches in here too cause with this mess we’ll have some soon. If I find any in here I’m going to make you all eat them! And you Zane what are you an animal? You should keep clean more or people are going to start thinking you are one,” Lloyd growled unsettling them.
“Hey that’s uncalled for,” Kai stated defending Zane who couldn’t understand what was going on upsetting him. Cole demanded, “what’s gotten into you? This isn’t like you. I think you need to go out for a walk or do some meditation to get out of whatever funk you’re in cause your words and actions are really uncalled for. I get your stressed we’re all stressed from this but that’s no reason to act like this and say the things you’re saying.” Lloyd was still angry but left muttering under his breath as he left about the others claiming they were all no more than animals and he couldn’t believe he was having to work with such inferior species. What he was saying as he left had them a bit confused and worried. The way he talked was rather out of character for him and as if he saw himself as something else something non human; like an Oni. They had also noticed something off to his eyes at the time. They wondered if the stress they were under was causing some of his Oni side to surface. That had them all worried; they’d never seen what could happen if Lloyd did let the Oni in him out and they didn’t want to see what he could be like in that state. To prevent Lloyd from snapping again not wanting to push him further they decided to stop their work to do a cleanup. They cleaned up the Hanger Bay and even cleaned up in the Monastery a bit before cleaning themselves up.
While they did this Lloyd who was having trouble controlling his anger took Coles advice and meditated in his room to try and calm down using some of the methods his uncle had been teaching him to keep control of it and subdue his Oni side. It involved a special incense and essential battling his own self in his mind to wrestle the Oni within into submission. He was finding it more difficult than he had originally thought it would be to control it and subdue his dark nature especially when things from this clan were close to him. He had thought he had been doing well but he had soon developed a feeling he was not doing as good as he thought he’d been. He’d started to notice after sometime his Oni fuelled aggression tended to slip out at times and it took a while before he realised it had. Always it was the reactions or words from the others that let him know he was losing control; he often was unaware when he did lose control. Maybe because it was a part of him he didn’t feel any different from usual. He had started to notice when he did lose control he could sense the others fear; he didn’t know how but he knew it couldn’t be smell cause he could sense it from Zane and Pixal as well who unlike organic beings didn’t emit smells related to emotions or stress. He could only guess it was a power of the Oni letting him do this. He’d also experienced some other things he felt were likely tied to his Oni nature like better vision in the dark and a few times especially when meditating he’d found he could sense what he could only describe as the energies of the others and not only able to tell the difference between human and droid but exactly who was who even without seeing them or hearing them talk. He found it a bit cool but also unnerving. Unlike Zane and Pixal who had a similar ability built into their nature as an everyday sense to comprehend the world around them like animals who could also use their senses to achieve the same ability both using it just to help sense the world around them he was pretty sure for Oni this ability was for a dark purpose or at least they used it that way unsettling him over it. It also scared him as it wasn’t something he could normally do and he felt it a bit invasive for the others even though he didn’t tell them about it. When losing control he had also come to realise something felt a little off like he was in a dream state sometimes and he would get a bit destructive. He’d obliterated some training equipment, left damages on walls, broken a few doors which Kai and Jay were really unpleased when it was the bathroom door and he’d even broken a microwave getting mad at it for not heating up food fast enough so blasted it with his powers; he’d also startled Cole and Zane who were in the kitchen as well at the time. Their startled looks and the damaged microwave had snapped him out of the state at the time. After a while of his uncharacteristic aggressive episodes he had noticed the others had started walking on eggshells around him. He was pretty sure they were wary of saying or doing anything that could set him off. He couldn’t blame them.
As he calmed down and thought over what he’d just done he was hit with how cruel he’d just been to the others and he realised he was not doing as good with his control as he thought. The whole ordeal in the Hanger Bay was a bit hazy to him and he felt he hadn’t been fully there so hadn’t been himself but he recalled quite clearly things he’d said and the reactions of the others. Realising what he had done helped cool his emotions and switched his anger to regret. He remained in his room for sometime before working up the courage to face the others and apologise for his words and actions. He was nervous of confronting them when they were together luckily however they had separated to spend some time by themselves after getting cleaned up likely feeling hurt and down from what he’d done he felt. Most of them were in their rooms. Kai was in the entertainment room playing a video game. He wasn’t doing so good though appearing lost in thought when Lloyd apologised. He felt Kai was stuck on some of the things he had said and done with him while under his angered Oni state in the past. Jay was in his room and quickly covered something that looked like a portable white or cork board with a blanket as he came in then quickly hid a strange box and amulet under his pillow. Jay pretended to not acknowledge them just brushing it off as private stuff when Lloyd questioned his odd reaction to when he came in. Lloyd knew it best after his outburst earlier if he wanted to apologise to Jay to just let it go and not pry; he was probably just planning a special date for him and Nya. Nya was in her room finishing drying and doing her hair after having gotten clean. She was rather mad and chastised him for his actions correctly stating because he was having a bad day that didn’t give him the right to take it out on the others.
“When I’m mad I don’t take it out on my brother or Jay. You got problems just play a video game. Killing NPC monsters, cultists and bandits isn’t going to hurt anyone and is better for taking your anger out on than those around you especially those that are emotionally sensitive like Zane and Jay,” she told him; he knew she was right. Cole was in his room on his laptop sounding to be talking with someone when Lloyd went to him. When he entered his room Cole quickly closed the laptop when he entered to apologise. He didn’t bother asking who he was talking to not wanting to start anything. He saved Zane for last knowing he’d been meanest to him and worried how Zane would react to him. Zane seemed pretty at ease playing a video game on his laptop with a gamepad sitting on his bed with the laptop on a small bed table. He had out a special cybernetic teddy Nya and Jay had made for him that had recordings of Pixals voice to give him comfort when she was gone for long periods from him. He was occasionally talking to it like it was her as he played. Lloyd had a feeling his attitude to Zane had upset him and unable to properly process his emotions wanting aid from Pixal but she wasn’t around then he was getting comfort from the closest thing he had to her contact. He was playing a fantasy RPG and commentating about what he was doing to the teddy which he had rested on his lap and leaned onto his one arm holding it close to him. Zane was nervous of him as he approached to talk; he couldn’t blame Zane. He’d been particularly rude to him. Luckily Zane was willing to forgive him and accept his apology. After that outburst Lloyd realised he needed to work harder on controlling his Oni side and needed to practise more the meditation Wu had been teaching him. He didn’t want to see how bad his loss of control to his Oni side could be. He was pretty sure it would lead to more being hurt than feelings.
While they worked on the issues with the Lost Clan Jay continued to secretly look into his birth parents. He had quickly come to a dead end however until their first time getting into an altercation with Rosic and Kamal. During the fight he was startled by Rosic who jumped him after he shocked out two Voidfears. His shock burst them into the strange whitish green mist and dissipated making him uneasy; as if the Lost Clans lack of fear wasn’t unnerving enough already. They believed because they couldn’t truly be destroyed their physical forms only being displaced for a time then they could reform like nothing had happened these beings didn’t care if they got hurt or worse in a fight making them very bold and fearless. Rosic startled him more by jumping him. Instead of continuing to fight however she spoke to him.
“Interesting a cub of Donar, a QoSos,” she stated after he defended himself trying to shock her. She blocked his attack with a ward. Confused he asked, “a what?” She replied with, “one of lightening blood. You bare the powers of lightening just as we suspected. Interesting we’ve met one of you before I wonder if you bare relations to her.” He was greatly confused. What did she mean by that? He tried to get her to explain but she refused to answer instead attacking him. Shortly after they were forced to flee the battle; as they left Jay could swear he saw this Rosic watching him with a strange questioning look to her face. After that he wondered if these beings knew of or had something to do with his mother. He hadn’t found anything relating to it then again everything he’d uncovered really told him very little and he’d never suspected these things could be related in some way to his mother. His wonders switched to confusion the next time they ran into Kamal and Rosics group as they invaded a town. Jay had been keeping an eye out for Rosic wanting to confront her again and try to get some answers. She found him. He chased after a pair of Voidfears which were also called Feardrakes which led him into a dead end alleyway between two four story tall apartments. The creatures amazed him with their ability to scale the vertical walls of the building to climb out away from him. Turning around he was stunned to find Rosic cornering him in the alley.
“The lightening one just who I wanted see,” she stated and he asked cautious, “why?” She tossed at him a small stained wooden box with a carved and gold painted symbol matching his, the symbol of an elemental master of lightening, on the top. He caught it and she told him to open it. He was nervous but slowly opened it. Inside was a necklace with an amulet made of a strange whitish gem like material and underneath that folded in half was a picture, a picture of his birth parents together looking to be on a honeymoon. He was shocked and baffled. Where’d she get this?! How’d she get it and how’d she know of his mother?! He was feeling so surprised, confused, shocked and to his surprise scared that he was shaking a bit and starting to feel sick.
“Where’d you get this?” he asked his voice cracking a bit with emotions and she replied, “she told me she wants you to have it. She’s been watching over you and is proud of you.” He wasn’t pleased with her answer so demanded, “how did you get this? How do you know of my mother?”
“Where we come from she also resides unlike us however she cannot leave let’s leave it at that for now. If I were you I’d catch up with my clan mates. They’re retreating already,” Rosic told him. Frustrated he went to punch her but she dodged him turning into a flock of ravens to port to the roof of the one building of the alleyway. Jay wanted to go after her but Nya calling him to tell him to hurry back to the Bounty so they could leave making him reluctantly abandoned going after her. He brought the box with the necklace and photo with him. He kept it secret from the others only letting Nya know when she came in to check on him later when they were back at the Monastery. He’d told her about the strange things Rosic had said to him before so she was wondering if he’d managed to find her and get anything from her this time. He showed her the box and its items. She was just as shocked and surprised as him asking, “where’d she get these?”
“I don’t know but she said my mother would want me to have this and she claimed to know where my mother is,” he explained. Nya suggested it might be time for him to talk to Wu about this. Clearly these things potentially had some form of connection with his mother and there might be things Wu was unwilling to tell them that could be critical to what was going on. Jay was nervous as he went to talk to Wu. He was in the library staring at an ancient looking strange map when Jay approached. He had the strange box with him. It had taken him a while to think of what he was going to say before he actually said it. He didn’t want to hint that he already knew the truth about his parents due to the events surrounding Nadakhan which only he and Nya remembered.
“Can I have a moment to ask you something? Something personal?” he asked and Wu replied, “you should know you can always come to me when you need to.”
“Well a few times now when we’ve run into this augur Rosic she’s said some strange things about my mother then today she gave me this,” he explained putting the box in front of Wu opening it up and pulling out the necklace and picture to show him.” Wu was confused before starting to look worried.
“How did she get these?” Wu asked and he replied, “I don’t know she wouldn’t tell me.” Wu was quiet for a moment before stating, “I’m betting you have lots of questions.”
“What do you know of this?” Jay inquired and after a pause Wu began clearly upset over what he had to say, “I promised to keep this secret for your safety but now with this I think it’s time the truth comes out. Those you know as your parents aren’t your birth parents. They know this and of what happened and have agreed to keep the secrets as well for everyone’s safety. This photo is of your real parents; your father Cliff Gordon and your mother Gale. This was taken before they had you. Your parents wanted to keep their union secret. Being a ninja is dangerous and you can easily gain enemies. It was better no one knew of their personal life especially when you came into the picture for everyone’s safety. Before they had you your mother ended up entangled with some dangerous beings a small but powerful group of cultists that had appeared calling themselves the Sunless Dawn. We don’t know where they were from and never got a good look at them. They stuck to the shadows, wore all black attire and plain metal masks that bore an eerie resemblance to an Oni’s face. The few times their skin was witnessed it was described as dark and sickly and there was something wrong to them but no one could tell why. Where ever they went some felt like they’d had their energies drained making some wonder if these things who looked human really weren’t human. All we know was they appeared to be looking for something. Your mother looked into them and took down a large group of them. Afterwards they disappeared we thought that was the end of them. After some time your mother had you. Even after she had you she kept up her work and it wasn’t long till she found she was in danger. The remnants of the Sunless Dawn had not vanished just gone into hiding. Likely because she had intervened before they went after her in revenge. Out of fear something could happen to you your parents made a drastic plan. Should anything happen to her or these beings got too close you were to be taken to be essentially adopted out. Your fathers job and position in the public eye would draw too much attention to you and he couldn’t just disappear that would also draw too much attention. They weren’t just going to give you to anyone however. Those you know as your parents weren’t just any random couple. Your birth parents needed those who they could trust, where you wouldn’t be in the public eye so few would come looking, those who they knew would take good care of you and know what to do when the time came and your powers awakened. Your birth parents knew of your adopted parents and knew you’d be safe with them as your adopted father is your birth mothers brother. Since becoming a ninja they’d hadn’t had much contact for his safety so he didn’t know of all that was going on till your parents came to them for aid. They were told of the plan and agreed to it but I don’t think they thought it would ever come to that till you ended up on their doorstep. Of course you can guess since you weren’t raised by your birth parents things didn’t go well for your mother. Somehow the Sunless Dawn found her. No one ever saw her after that. We don’t know what became of her. One day after she disappeared this amulet showed up at the Monastery in a letter wrapped in a burned piece of her clothes. I had given her this amulet in hopes it would protect her. It’s made with a rare gem that goes by many names throughout the realms but here we call it Sun Stone for it is said to bring the light of the sun to the darkness. Apparently it didn’t work. The letter was from this Sunless Dawn who bragged about what they had done claiming she was now in a place none of us could ever reach her. The Sunless Dawn vanished after that. Nothing has ever been found or heard of them since. For your safety your father cut ties with you and your adopted parents and we buried this amulet in a shrine to your mother in her home town. You were not to find out about your real parents till after your birth father passed but it appears this Rosic wishes to let the secret out ahead of time. Why I don’t know but it might not be out of good intentions.” Jay was quite for a moment being flooded with a mix of emotions especially sad over this news.
“Did you ever find out what they did with my birth mother?” Jay asked. After a moment of silence Wu explained, “I’m afraid there is only one place they could have sent her, the departed realm.”
“Are you sure?” Jay asked and Wu replied, “yes 100 percent. Why?”
“Cause Rosic claimed where they came from she resides as well,” Jay explained stumping Wu who stated, “that’s not possible. If they did come from there they would be ghosts’ not physical beings… unless.” Wu moved the items Jay had placed on the table looking at his map and brought over a book on the realms.
“What is it?” Jay wondered confused to which Wu replied while looking through the book, “I have to do some research. All these years I may have assumed wrong and she may still be alive. If we can find where these beings come from then we could potentially find your mother; she may still be alive and just trapped in this foreign realm. Why don’t you go have some time to yourself; I’m pretty sure you have lots to think over in the meantime I have some things to look into.” Jay collected the box, photo and amulet and left the room. Later that night he’d had a rather vivid dream. It was of his mother. She was caught and being held prisoner by this Sunless Dawn cult. They were just as Wu had described them; dressed in black robes and plain metal Oni resembling masks covering all but the blood red eyes of their faces. They were in some dark temple with no windows. He didn’t know where the temple was and while baring some resemblances to Oni architecture he didn’t recognise the designs of the structure. The place was dimly lit by dark cryptic looking braziers and flags of red with a black sun rising were hung on walls. There was a group of these cultists about twenty individuals two of which held his mother who had been equipped venge stone cuffs to keep her restrained in front of one who by the red trim on his robes was likely the leader of the group.
“Struggle all you want there will be no escape for you. You will not interfere with our work. We came to this realm for a purpose and we will see it done one way or another; whether directly or through the aid of others our work will get done. The dawn of darkness shall rise and the end of times shall commence,” the leader proclaimed before stating, “as for you my dear you will not live to see that day. You meddled in the wrong affairs now it is time you pay the price.”
“You can send me to the cursed realm but I have friends who will do what they can to save me and stop you,” his mother told them and with a sly voice the cult leader proclaimed, “do you think we use such pathetic means of disposal of our enemies as the cursed realm; even the departed realm is too nice a place for where we are sending you. Where we’re sending you none of those you know can reach you. It’s a place rarely spoken of in most realms a place both of a realm and of no realm said to be where all came from and must especially if we get our way one day return to.” The cult leader walked to a pedestal behind them and picked up a dark creepy looking book before walking over to stand in front of his mother opening the book and starting to read a spell. Those holding her let her go but she couldn’t move from the spot a dark energy oozing out of the cracks in the stone floor of the temple to hold her in place and slowly creep up her body as the leader read out what he could only assume was a spell. When the ooze was above halfway up her body she was engulfed in an eerie green colored fire and within seconds she was dissipated into a black mist vanishing. The leader had stopped the spell by that time and once she was gone the fire died and all that was left of his mother were some burnt scraps of clothes, the cuffs and the amulet Wu had given her. It had been emitting a faint glow then steadily went dark. He woke startled in the dead of night. Somehow he got the feeling that was no mere dream; it was a vision. That was what happened with his birth mother! Where had those beings sent her and who were they? He didn’t know but with these new leads his urge to investigate her was reignited and he had new avenues to look into to find the answers.
While they worked on fighting back these enemies and trying to uncover what they could about them they each spent some time undercover in settlements under the Lost Clans control to try and learn more about these entities. These undercover missions gave them some insight to these beings. They infiltrated clan dominated territory as common workers looking for documents or listening in to these beings while filling in as cleaners in maid services, mechanics, craftsmen, repair men or curriers for delivery services. These entities were very secretive about their doings. They didn’t talk about their operations in public instead just sticking to idle chatter with each other, when they did talk in private it was to report on goings on in their empire mainly if there were signs of uprisings or suspicious activities and all their documents were in an ancient script that would take them a while to decipher and never really gave them much insight. They were either reports on things they already knew, plans for modifications for their vehicles to improve them, shopping lists, notes between members often to complain or reprimand others over random things like one individual wanting another member to stop cooking and eating bananas around them as they were allergic to the fruit and one note was some strange ramblings of a poem to cinnamon buns. They did though find some that really unnerved Lloyd; they were speculations from the clan about if they culled Lloyd while he was overtaken by his Oni side what powers could they acquire from parts of his body like turning his skin to leather. They were pretty sure these were just speculations as no one in the clan had attempted to awaken Lloyds Oni side or attempted to hunt him but the thought that they might consider this was unsettling. Something they did note while undercover was for conquerors these beings were rather passive to conquered areas. They did bring a strange coolness to the environments even in the tropics making regions cooler than normal and it tended to be more overcast or rainy than usual in areas they visited the rain sometimes having strange smells or colours to them. It was also noted strange creatures mainly those believed to be monsters like those that aided them in battle often came to dwell in the region as well where they would keep people from wandering outside settlements chasing them back and often terrifying those living in the wilderness keeping them restricted to their dwellings and nearby areas. They were a bit of a nuisance as well as they raided waste bins, sometimes broke into people’s kitchens or would attack livestock even pets particularly dogs and goats who never seemed to get not to challenge or pester these creatures. Most others would back off though eerily cats and chickens seemed pretty chill with some of them. When it came to the clans interactions with the people they weren’t engaging in notable cruelty to civilians. Civilians were stuck under curfews, had to keep working and some of their makes had to be given as tributes to their forces but they weren’t being worked to exhaustion, put in cruel conditions or denied rights. The clan members were actually quite civil beings. Other than taking over an area the clan weren’t acting like conquerors. Clan members just hung around working on their own things or patrolled controlled regions often to make people comply and to do that all they had to do was look at someone with a glare. Then again when they thought about it seeing how powerful and the great unknowns to these beings plus their apparent unnatural states had most too scared of them to challenge or go against them so they didn’t need to do much to get people to bow to them. For those that did challenge them things didn’t go well. They were easily put in their place and would be locked in jail for a night. Afterwards whatever went on during that night would have them so scared they refused to speak of it and they wouldn’t try to challenge the clan again willingly bowing to their rule.
To see what went on in these jails Kai and Jay caused a ruckus the one time leading both to get captured. They tossed some potatoes at a patrolling guard before getting in a fist fight with some clan members who came to put them in their place. The two made sure not to use their powers or Spinjitsu in order to keep their identities secret. It seemed to work; the clan made no acknowledgement to who they really were going with their undercover identities. The two were taken to one of these jails which was located in the basement of the quickly made stone and wood outposts they often made as their headquarters in regions they had claimed. Other than being dark and smelling of earth like a damp basement things didn’t seem too bad in the dungeon. There wasn’t chains or torture equipment or at least none they could see there. They did note however the bars to the cell were made of something like vengestone which blocked their powers but it also gave off strange dark vibes as the two described. There were two sets of simple bunk beds for them to use with animal pelts instead of typical blankets to keep warm with which they did note it did feel oddly cold in there. The clan just left them in there alone for hours leaving them confused. How if they were just being left alone were people ending up so scared? They found out after dark. The two had been hesitant to fall asleep in that place worried what would happen if they did but they both eventually fell asleep. It was then they found out what was happening. After being awoken from terrifying nightmares that they couldn’t remember they found themselves tied down by one of the clans beast men sorcerers to the bars of the cell. The sorcerer who wore the decorated skull of an animal they couldn’t really recognise flooded the room with a strange and fear inducing mist while forcing the two to look into a strange glowing orb he held in his hand. The two tried to resist but felt drawn to look into the orb. Upon doing so visions of a desolate world of decay and destruction crawling with shadowy monsters with all those they knew having perished flashed through their mind and vision and the sorcerer claimed if they didn’t back off from the clans actions that would become their world and their future. They were the only ones who could keep that fate at bay so they needed others to back off and let them do their work. They then had the visions stop and they were freed left alone again in the dark misty cell where they could swear they felt and saw strange and creepy spiders, centipedes and snakes moving around in the dark and even crawling on them. The two sat huddled together on the one upper bunk the rest of the night unable to get any sleep terrified of what was around them and the strikingly real visions they had seen. By morning the mist was gone and the two were let out with a warning to not cause trouble again. When the two returned to the others they were so shocked and shaken by the ordeal that not even a calming tea could settle them and it was over a week before the two could sleep without a nightlight even Kai. From this they deduced the clan was using mind tricks, mental attacks and nightmares to subdue problem individuals scaring them to the point they broke and willingly gave in to the clans doings; a very cruel yet shockingly effective and powerful method of attack to instil obedience. It just proved looks with these things were very deceiving. While they seemed passive they still were quite dark.
Strangely the one who had some of the hardest time in going undercover was Zane. Normally he didn’t have too much of a problem as he had the uncanny ability to just blend in with the background. Using his cloaking ability he could hide his looks so he looked no different than any other human and since he was quiet and rarely did anything that would catch the attention of others just sticking to the work he was supposed to do and keeping quiet he could easily be overlooked and ignored by others making observing and listening to others rather easy for him. Possibly because of their strange natures these beings could detect Zanes true nature likely able to smell his difference. Interestingly however they didn’t act aggressive to him. Instead many of them seemed interested in him inspecting him and asking him questions. With them getting so close to and interacting with him it did offer Zane some insight to them. They were quite intelligent for their appearance and were quite knowledged in technology even having encountered cybernetic beings before usually however they were much more primitive than him. Some of the words they used particularly the phrases in our realm gave him the sense that their idea these beings weren’t from their realm was true but he could never get from them what this realm they came from was just that it was now lost to them. They wouldn’t reveal secrets to him but were quite passive to him and never gave him a hassle or threatened him. This was the exact opposite to what Lloyd got. He by far had the worse attempts at undercover work. Like how they could identify Zane when he was disguised they could also identify Lloyd when he was undercover. He did not get a nice treatment like Zane though. Instead they would turn hostile and very aggressive to him attacking and chasing him off not holding back in their attempts to hurt him forcing Lloyd to flee for his life. They quickly decided for safety Lloyd shouldn’t go near these beings especially undercover or alone. Secretly Lloyd felt that idea was better than the others realised. Lloyd had quickly come to realise after some of their earlier battles he did have considerable problems keeping control of his Oni side around members of the Lost Clan. Whenever he got close to these beings or some artefacts from them he would feel agitated and he could feel the Oni within him surfacing. Not only did he have problems keeping his emotions especially anger under control but it would start to infiltrate his powers changing their color and some of their properties. They appeared to become more destructive damaging things with ease and even sparking fires and causing electrical surges leading to power failures if he hit or got too close to the wrong things like wooden objects or wiring and transformers during fights. When this happened he was relieved the others would blame Kai or Jay thinking them responsible as it was usually those two who would cause such screw ups plus since the fire looked like normal fire it looked like their powers. He did note though a few times even though they kept largely quiet Zane and Pixal were suspicious and not entirely convinced seeming to note something about him. Along with the strange effects to his powers he could feel dark urges to harm and destroy things and others around him. To learn control he and Wu started working in secret on ways to work on keeping this side under control. Much of it involved various methods of meditation. At first he didn’t think it was doing anything but he slowly started to notice some changes. He could hold back the agitation and anger better. He could still see effects of his Oni side infiltrating his powers but it was milder than before and if he put more control in his powers to prevent harm and destruction he was better at keeping it from causing damages. It took a great deal of effort however to keep control so he felt it best to avoid close proximity to the members of the Lost Clan as much as possible.
Out of all of them going undercover Cole had the best luck of it managing to uncover quite a bit by going undercover as a bartender at a restaurant in the one town. They had tried at first using a tea to get members of the clan to spill secrets but it didn’t work on these entities which they found quite shocking. After testing it and it failed they tested the tea back at the monastery thinking maybe they had a faulty batch. Lloyd and Cole had been the ones working with it. Lloyd had some and it worked causing him to accidently slip about a secret stash he had of dessert foods he had that Cole suspected he had but didn’t know where it was. They even tested it on Zane who was confused over why they were so insistent that he drink the cup of tea they gave him while he was having some down time playing a game on his laptop in the entertainment room with Kai and Nya who were watching TV. He drank it anyway just to appease them. They didn’t think it worked till Lloyd asked him ‘so Zane do you have anything on your mind lately?’ This lead Zane to suddenly blurt out some things he was keeping to himself like complaining that Kai had on something with a strong smell that was bothering him, he’d been the one to have the last of the tuna casserole and a piece of chocolate cake Cole had hidden in the fridge both of which Cole had blamed Jay for. He’d also put maggots in Jays bed as punishment for him not taking the garbage out when he was told to leading maggots to end up in the kitchen; the rest of them had thought Jay crazy for thinking someone had put them there believing he was responsible by eating in bed and leaving a mess. Zane had been the one to lower the volume on Wu’s phone which had led to Lloyd getting mad at his uncle cause with his phones volume so low he couldn’t hear it which Lloyd felt dangerous cause if they needed to contact him in an emergency he wouldn’t pick up cause he wouldn’t know they were calling him; Zane hadn’t meant to cause problems with this he was just bothered by how loud Wu’s phone was so lowered the volume to not be bothered by it. Zane was startled to find himself revealing these secrets and at first didn’t understand why he was doing it till he remembered the tea and deduced they’d given him something. He was not happy with their trickery and embarrassed about revealing his secrets picking up his laptop and retreating to his room till the effects of the tea wore off. Seeing it could work on both Lloyd and Zane that told them whatever these beings were they were immune to the tea and possibly immune to other methods to sneak information out as well meaning they’d have to work harder to uncover secrets.
Without the tea Cole found a different method to get these beings to open up, charisma. Using the right words and acting as a friend to them had some of them letting their guard down around him and being more open to him. While undercover Cole had managed to befriend a few of these beings who became open with him and some of his questions. As they suspected the Lost Clan was not from Ninjago. The members weren’t however from the same places. The hyena traited ones were a race known as Hunyeenmer (hun-yeen-mer) or in an easier to pronounce commoners term Gnollsvic (nol-svic) and were from a realm they stated was now lost to them. When Cole asked what that meant they would reply that long ago they had been torn from their native realm and now could no longer return; they were bound to a new place so could never call the place home again. The other members who looked human were a group known as Huntsman. Under the masks they wore most of the time they looked human with pale to tanned in color skin that often bore faint striping or spots like an animal, they had small bumps like growing antlers on their foreheads and eyes that were not very human looking; they looked more like those of animals some even having pure black eyes. Huntsmen apparently while looking human weren’t truly human. They wouldn’t divulge exactly what they were just that they could take on various forms but when in service to their master in the realms would take on human forms especially to deal with people. Some of their descriptions were confusing like what did they mean by when in the realms? According to them they were from a place they could not speak of in front of mortals like him as they quoted it but it was a place both within yet not of the realms. The ninja could find very little on such a supposed place. No realm matched this description and while there was speculations of a supposed realm counter to the actual realms a supposed sea surrounding the isles of existence that was the realms there was no evidence of such a thing just hypotheses. There was some evidence for this supposed lost realm the Gnollsvic spoke of though; it was a realm barely talked about with little known of it outside the realm itself. It’s name came from the belief that it was lost to all other realms making travel to it difficult just as bad as the Never Realm. With this knowledge they wondered if maybe these beings were somehow looking for a way to get home however when inquiring about this the members of the Lost Clan ruined this idea. They had no intentions of returning to their home realm. They wouldn’t say why but they could not return home so they had no desire to do such. They were in this realm for a purpose in their realm however they could not speak of this purpose to those outside their group.
When he inquired about this supposed master of the Huntsmen they were surprisingly willing to talk about him. Both groups shared this master as their lord, a great and highly powerful spirit that went by various names though those of the realms often called him Storabek a being often symbolized as a primal nature based entity patron to hunters and beasts. They took guidance and leadership from him with the Huntsman claiming he was in a sense their creator teaching them their form and being from the chaos they came from. According to them however he was not involved in what they were doing. Their task they were doing was on their own separate from any desires or control of their master though he would be proud of their actions. They could find very little of this Storabek being. Tales of him were rare mostly coming from cooler wilderness regions particularly in the north of Ninjago in places like the Glacial Barrens and Birchwood. Zane remembered at least one shrine to these beings near his fathers workshop. Even though it had been abandoned for years and was mainly ruins when his father had set up there his father always felt uncomfortable if he got too close to it and warned Zane not to go near it. Zane had once disobeyed his father curios about the place. He didn’t remember much of it just remembering he felt uneasy in the place which was largely a stone structure buried in a mound of earth with only a stone entrance into it. It was lit only by strange greenish coloured crystals that gave off a whitish green light and grew out of surfaces like a strange fungi. There were bones and animal pelts lying around inside but he wasn’t sure if those had been left by the original inhabitants who worshipped this being or animals using the place as shelter. One thing he was pretty sure was from people was a stone with primal looking paintings and carvings of beasts on it and the painted skull of a deer fastened by iron fastenings onto a pillar in the back of the circular room inside the mound. He’d gotten a very unsettling feeling of being watched there so had left and never went back. From information they did have they could confirm worship of this being had largely died out in most of their realm long ago though it was unsure why. They had very little in their own libraries on it and no known groups actively did anything revolving around this being making research on him difficult. There was however some groups such as some druidic monks living near the Birchwood did know of this being and recognised his existence. They were able to find out a bit more from the library of these monks monastery and members of this group on him. This Storabek was said to be an ancient dangerous and temperamental spirit being of unknown origin with no known originating or home realm. His demeanour matched the harsh environments he had commonly been worshipped in. While in modern and especially urban society he was seen as a demon, a being of evil, to many with a better understanding of the natural world and an understanding to the harshness of surviving in the more rugged and tough rural settings he was neither good nor bad but just was as any beast apart of the natural order. It was said he taught some mortals the ability to shape shift often into beasts and had been the one to gift the Formlings of the Never Realm their beast shifting abilities. They apparently still worshipped him as a guardian and parental figure for survival in their harsh realm. Entities known as huntsmen who could take on human form often wearing masks with resemblances to beasts and birds were recognised to be associated with him often as messengers, guardians or to bring punishment or even to hunt those of the realms often as a form of punishment or for the musings of their master. No one though was too sure what these Huntsmen actually were as while they could mimic a human being there were many traits to them that didn’t align with a true living thing leading many to speculate they were actually some form of spirit entities but from where no one was sure.
While Huntsmen were mentioned in association to this Storabek these Gnollsvic were not. In fact they could find nothing on such entities and very little on a so called Lost Realm. In their research to anything they could uncover they went to several sources such as the libraries of the Royal Palace and the Library of Domu for knowledge they didn’t have in their library or were readily available by other means. They’d go together to look for things. Their researching led to some rather odd encounters further confusing them to what this Lost Clan was up to. They thought they wouldn’t have had any luck with the Explorers Club to see if they had acquired anything relating to these beings due to past problems with them but were surprised this time that they were quite welcomed and the club wanted their help. The members of the club had been rather startled by members of the Lost Clan barging in to their hall and freely going through their stuff like they were looking for something. The club members had tried to stop them but in the process had been turned into beasts, largely chickens and pigeons, by a Gnollsvic sorcerer while the clan went through their stuff. The club wanted them to capture these clan members and reclaim what was stolen. They’d already tried the police and those that had shown up like the club members had been turned into livestock by the sorcerer. They had been contacted by a club member who was in hiding from the intruders. The club had denied them access to their inventory before when they asked to look into it so they took this situation to their advantage to work out a deal to get what they needed. The club was obviously quite scared of their visitors and agreed to their terms. When they showed up clan members were still there going through some things the club had recently acquired from various locations including from the archaeological site Lloyds mother was working at. Lloyd had been worried she’d been caught up in this mess and turned into a chicken but he was relieved when he contacted her that she was safely at the archaeological site. Most of the stuff the clan was looking into in the club was still in boxes. While some members were going through the stuff a few were wandering the halls likely to make sure no one else infiltrated the area to disturb them. All but Pixal who was dealing with some issues elsewhere went. They snuck in through the roof to sneak into the building. While he wouldn’t tell them the truth that he worried what could happen if he encountered anything from the Lost Clan in the confined space of that building which held plenty of dangerous items Lloyd stayed outside claiming to keep watch for any trying to sneak out of the building while they went in. They others were a bit suspicious but went with it. They got in without a problem finding a few members and the hyena birds which they had uncovered were a species called Skurocs, some form of otherworldly beastial monster, herding all those they had turned to livestock into a room locking them in.
“Well at least we don’t have to worry about them getting in the way,” Jay quietly commented as they watched the group Kai quietly joking, “plus keeping Cole from getting distracted with trying to eat them.” Cole was not amused by the comment before quietly stating, “that’s mean you know… I am thinking of BBQ now though. Maybe we could get some later?” Nya got them to focus so they could sneak in and take out the intruders. When those ones were dealt with they bursting into smoke and disappeared once defeated. They decided to leave the cursed club members and cops locked up for their safety. Sneaking around they found the intruders still going through items. The clan members somehow had a feeling they were there so they had to work fast. They rushed in to subdue the intruders hoping to catch one for an interrogation. The clan members were ready apparently not only able to smell Kais Hair Gel in the area but they had special crows, what they called Shadowland Crows, hanging around outside that had seen them arrive and heard their planning then regaled it to those in the building. They got in a struggle with the beings which included both Huntsmen and Gnollsvic. During the fight the sorcerer who had turned those in this place into livestock opened a portal to let the others escape. To distract the ninja to keep them from following as the intruders left taking items and some crates with them the sorcerer hit some of them with the spell it had used on the club members and cops. It ended up turning Cole, Nya and Kai into chickens causing Jay and Zane to abandon pursuing the enemy to deal with the three who were greatly confused about what had just happened to them the three only able to cluck and move around as chickens unable to communicate with them. They at least still appeared to be mentally well and fully there. They weren’t sure what to do to fix them and were rather embarrassed when they returned to the Monastery with the three still as chickens Jay carrying Nya, Zane holding Cole and Lloyd holding Kai. While they hoped the spell would ware off in time just in case they searched for a way to counter the spell. In the meantime Cole and Nya followed the others unbothered going about their day with them even though they really couldn’t help much or play video games with them. Kai on the other hand followed them around flopping himself down dramatically on the floor at times clearly not happy with what had become of him and wanting the others to know of it. Nya didn’t appear amused with his actions and would sometimes peck at him to get him up a few times plucking some feathers out as she did this. Nya did figure out about using a tablet to communicate words and the other two quickly followed her lead. Nya was not happy with being a chicken nor was Kai but Cole wasn’t too bothered he just didn’t want to stay as a chicken especially as he was starting to get curious if he tasted like chicken and was worried he was going to at some point try to eat a piece of himself. Unfortunately waiting didn’t seem to cause the spell to wear off luckily though they were able to find a tea to fix everyone. Once the three were back to normal they headed back to the Explorers Club to fix the club members and cops. After they went through with them to identify what the clan had taken. It could offer some insight into what they were doing. Unfortunately however it didn’t. The club luckily had a catalogue of what had been in the boxes but hadn’t really looked into them. A few notable items the clan had taken included a strange compass that didn’t point north however what it did point to was unknown, a strange crystal like material that had been carved into an oval shape, a strange object that resembled a dragons foot with claws made of a jewel like material which they likened to Amber, some weapons and armour that were possibly enchanted and some scrolls and texts. Nothing was known of the items so they had no clue why the clan would want them. The only thing they could tell them was some of the crates they had taken had stuff from the recent strange archaeological dig that Lloyds mother was working at. Unfortunately that couldn’t give them some help. Very little was known from the site and it was currently not open for visitors not even them. Misako did however promise to secretly send them documents on all they had on the place and keep them updated on any new finds at the place. In the meantime they kept up their search while trying to find a way to get the upper hand on this enemy and drive them back.
When visiting the library of Domu the one day they were shocked to stumble upon some Huntsmen there. They had set up a room for themselves to look into requesting anything the workers there had on topics revolving realms, this Storabek, strange entities and monsters and other such things. The monks that operated the library were more than willing to help. While they were there Jay who was still trying to find what he could on his birth mother and this Sunless Dawn that had taken her secretly looked into works revolving around those topics. Only Nya seemed to notice what he was doing but she let him do his research; it wasn’t hurting anyone or taking away from their efforts in looking into the Lost Clan. What he didn’t know was Cole had also become aware of what he was doing overhearing a bit of him and Nya talking and noting he was looking into texts different from the rest of them. He didn’t say anything however as he’d heard them mention the word mother and didn’t feel he wanted to get involved with whatever Jay was doing. Things started off fine till after a few hours one of the monks came to them very unsettled. They had gone to re-shelve some of the books the ninja were done with and been startled to stumble upon strange entities in that part of the library. No one recalled letting them in, they weren’t scheduled to be there and the monks and librarians got bad feelings from them. Worse was there was strange beasts they couldn’t recognise hanging with these strange people which the library workers described as looking human but had the eyes of beasts with some wearing the skulls of beasts. By the descriptions and the descriptions of the beasts these beings had with them of hyenas with the heads and feet of birds they knew instantly who these were. It was a group from the Lost Clan. The ninja snuck over going undercover to see if they could learn what these beings were doing there. The Lost Clan did not yet have any territory near that location nor had seemed to make attempts to capture it so why were these beings here? The most likely answer was looking for information but for what and why?
Zane and Pixal went to observe the beings through security cameras as these beings could recognise them even when undercover. Lloyd went with them as he too was easily identified by these beings who would turn hostile to him. Lloyd also secretly felt it was best he didn’t go near them. For a while as they had worked there he was confused why he was feeling highly agitated like when this clan was near them. He had been able to keep his emotions under control thanks to the meditation Wu had been teaching him. When he’d heard about these beings in the library he’d understood why he felt the way he did and he was worried how he’d react around them. He felt it best he avoided getting too close to these beings. Cole went to guard the main door to the library which was secretly closing for everyone’s safety only workers remaining there pretending to continue working to prevent these beings from thinking anything was up. If the entities tried to escape that way he was going to cut them off. Kai, Jay and Nya donned attire of the monks that worked there and entered the section these beings were in receiving aid from Zane and Pixal to properly restock items to make it look like they were workers while listening in to these beings. They didn’t seem to notice the three busily going over books and scrolls. They were in a section covering history of Ninjago. Strangely it wasn’t just the humanoid Huntsmen reading the texts and skimming the shelves. The monster beasts were doing it too. Even though they lacked the hands to hold and work them the Skurocs were using some form of magic to hold the books up in front of them and turn the pages using a gentle swiping motion of a forepaw in front of them to turn the pages. One had even settled to sit laid back but upright in a comfy chair to read and another was even working a computer to look through the libraries catalogue somehow able to work its paw like forelimb to type on the keyboard using two of its three digits, the only ones which actually touched the ground, of its bird like forefoot.
“Are those things reading?!” Kai quietly stammered to the other two very confused over seeing something so beastial doing something not expected from an animal. Jay quietly commented, “maybe. Animals like being read to, I don’t know if they can really understand what you read them but they like when you read to them. You ever read to a cat or parrot; it calms them. That being said are those things really animals? I’ve not seen things like them before and there is something unnatural to them.” Jay was then startled to hear growling. One of these hyena birds had strolled over to him and was growling at him.
“What do you want? Please don’t hurt me,” Jay stated holding the book he was putting away defensively up to his face and Kai quietly worried, “have we been uncovered.” The creature came over and bit onto the book Jay had trying to pull it from his hand. Jay refused to let go of the book wanting to use it as a shield for himself till Nya told him, “just let it have the book.” Jay let the book go and the creature took it placing it down then sitting by it making a flipping motion with a forepaw like it was using a spell. They book lifted up and opened the creature relaxing as it focussed on the book.
“It just wanted to read; that’s rather strange,” Jay noted. They stayed quiet as they worked listening in to these beings only whispering through their communicators from time to time to get Zane and Pixals help for re-shelving things. While the Skurocs didn’t seem to speak using their beastial sounds the humanoids used a language they could understand. By the sounds these beings were looking for something. They referred to it as the Interrum. They didn’t describe what the Interrum was just that it was critical to their endeavour. They were searching texts for clues to its whereabouts but having no luck. They felt either it hadn’t been found yet or was misidentified to inhabitants of the realm. Whatever it was they needed to find it before anyone else. From some of their talking it sounded like this Interrum was potentially some form of powerful weapon. The ninja didn’t like the sounds of that. These things were already nasty enough they didn’t need these things getting a hold of anything that could make them even more dangerous. The three had a feeling because they were there the Huntsmen might have been keeping a lot hidden not wanting to reveal any secrets with them around so they left. They moved out of the area then snuck back to hide behind some shelves to listen in. Their hiding didn’t appear to change things much. The clan members didn’t even seem to be aware they left. The rest they got from the beings was some wondered they might be in the wrong section while others stated it had to be in this section as texts there lined up with the time period in which the Interrum had last been used and observed. The clan members continued to search while Kai, Jay and Nya continued listening in trying to piece together what they were talking about.
While the three had been closely observing these entities Zane and Pixal were having extreme trouble getting anything from surveillance. These beings were interfering with the signal making it highly choppy to nonexistent. They were relying on communications with the others which were getting a great deal of static as they tried to figure out what was interfering with the signal. While they worked Lloyd hung back finding a steady rise in his agitation and anger though he didn’t know why. He hung back focussed on keeping control of his Oni side while letting Zane and Pixal work with the computers; they were much more skilled with technology than him. They were at a large table with several monitors that were hooked up to the surveillance systems which sat against the one wall, strangely all but the room they needed to see were working fine. Against the wall across from this was a water cooler and couch. To the one side of the room were two cells for holding troublesome individuals. A futon sat in each cell. In front of the cells against the wall with the couch was an empty desk and chair. The room was dark as they found strangely the lights in the room were not working though they couldn’t tell why. It wasn’t really bothering Zane or Pixal though; the light from the monitors was all they needed to do their work. Strangely Lloyd was finding something about the dark oddly invigorating. He had a feeling that was from the Oni in him making him unsettled over it. Strangely the guards weren’t there either but they guessed they were just hiding with the other workers. While the others worked Lloyd decided to get a drink from the cooler. When he went to use it however nothing came out, there was nothing in the jug that should hold water. Inspecting it he noted claw marks and punctures that likely came from claws and teeth on the sides and back and a decent sized chunk had been bitten out of the back of it. Its water was spilled on the floor around the cooler. He could also see some wet footprints on the couch. They were bird like with three toes and from something of a pretty decent size, at least human sized. They disappeared however leaving no clue where the creator of the footprints went. He inspected the area around the couch. There was no way whatever made the footprints was hiding behind or under it, the footprints indicated a creature too big to fit in those locations. He looked in the cells. They were locked and he doubted the creature could have slipped between the bars unless it had the flexibility of a cat. He couldn’t see anything in the cells. He then went to the desk to check under it. As he approached the desk he started to hear a growling noise which got louder as he leaned down to look under the desk.
“What is that?” Zane wondered as he and Pixal noted the noise as well. As Lloyd looked into the dark under the desk to see what the noise was he could swear he saw a set of eyes in the dark before he was bowled over by a blur of feathers and scales that burst out from under the desk. It was a Feardrake. It had knocked Lloyd over and pinned him down one of its feet on his chest. The creature seemed agitated. It hissed in Lloyds face showing off its teeth and claws to him before quickly rushing out of the room.
“That’s not good,” Pixal noted while Lloyd quickly got up yelling, “we can’t let that thing reach the others. It will spoil everything.” He quickly got up chasing the creature as it fled. Zane and Pixal followed feeling Lloyd wasn’t entirely right and it would be more damming for their efforts for these beings to find him. They tried to tell Lloyd and get him to stop but he refused to listen and chased the Voidfear as it rushed to the clan members. It went straight past Kai, Nya and Jay who were hiding behind some shelves not seeming to care or note them.
“Was that a close call?” Kai wondered as the creature rushed to one of the Huntsmen hissing at it. The Huntsmen apparently could understand it as it commented while Lloyd rushed in, “it’s here?” The moment the members saw Lloyd they became aggressive. One of the Skurocs lunged at Lloyd who wasted no time in blasting it to a mist with his powers.
“So you are here half-blood. Trying to interfere again are we,” one of the Huntsmen commented and Lloyd declared, “you’re not getting out of here.” He instantly got into a fight with the members not holding back on them while Zane and Pixal arrived at the room. The others were confused.
“Uh should we get involved?” Kai worried as they started to note Lloyd was being rather aggressive; there was a strange color to his eyes and a purplish color was starting to infiltrate his powers.
“Is it just me or does something seem wrong with Lloyd?” Jay wondered and Nya noted, “it does kind of look it. He’s blown our cover. Our best bet now would be to capture one of these things and try to interrogate it.” The rest of them joined in the fight but it quickly became apparent that stopping Lloyd was more important than capturing one of the clan members. He appeared to have lost control getting caught up in his anger causing danger to the rest of them. Whatever had gotten over him was bad enough that some of the clan members strangely forwent their animosity to them to keep them from getting hurt such as a Skuroc that shoved Nya out of the way of a falling statue Lloyds powers unbalanced in the room taking the full blow of its impact instead of her getting it, a Huntsmen tackling Jay to keep him from getting hit by one of Lloyds energy blasts which when it hit a wall not only blew a hole in it but hit the wiring in the building blowing the circuits of the building and blowing up the light fixtures from the energy of his blast and a Huntsmen put itself between Kai and Lloyd pulling up a magical shield, a ward, in defence against one of Lloyds attacks which would have hurt Kai as well. The Huntsmen told him they needed to get Lloyd out of there. As the fight went on it was clear something had come over Lloyd. His skin was developing blackened spots, his eyes and powers were now purplish in color and his powers were turning destructive in nature. Even worse he was starting to turn on the others. Zane was putting out fires Lloyds powers sparked up trying to stop damages and Lloyd snapped at him telling him to ignore it and focus on the monsters. The others sided with Zane that they shouldn’t be damaging things but Lloyd wasn’t listening to them. When Lloyd noticed Zane wasn’t listening to him he attacked Zane even going so far as to attack him with a Spinjitsu spin tossing Zane against a shelf having left some damages to Zanes left shoulder and upper arm and right forearm from his sword. Jay quickly came over to help Zane who was startled and in pain.
“Hey what was that for?!” Jay exclaimed and Lloyd stated, “I told him to stop it and he didn’t listen to me.” Jay expressed, “but that didn’t mean you had to do this!”
“Are you disobeying me too? I’ll teach you to disobey me,” Lloyd proclaimed hitting Jay with a blast of his powers. He was tossed hard back into the bookshelf. Jay was tossed with so much force it unbalanced the shelf which bounced off the wall behind it before falling forward onto Jay and Zane pinning both under the shelf and its contents.
“What did you do to him?!” Kai demanded from a Huntsman who responded, “what do you mean? We’ve done nothing, this is his doing.” The Huntsman then ordered the Feardrake to lead Lloyd out of there while Pixal and Nya lifted the shelf off Jay and Zane. It hit the creature with a spell that made its eyes glow, strange glowing markings to appear on the extremities of its limbs and ethereal dragon like horns to appear on its head. The reptilian creature then quickly rushed out of there Lloyd becoming focused on it and chasing after it yelling as he did, “come back here you demon!”
With Lloyd gone the one Huntsmen opened a portal and all the members of the clan fled through it. Even though he wanted to follow them Kai let them go going over to help his sister and Pixal dig Jay and Zane out of the mess.
“What’s gotten into him?” Kai wondered as they moved some books Jay complaining that he felt like he’d broken something in his leg. Pixal explained, “I don’t know. For a while since we’ve been here he’s been giving off indications of agitation and when encountering the clan members it was like something took over him. He is now emitting smells and energies similar to an Oni.”
“Why is that?” Kai wondered as they got Jay and Zane free. Zane was in bad shape from the damages Lloyd had left which had broken his skin open and exposed wires and some of his inner makes and he was struggling with using his left arm holding it with his right. Jay didn’t have a broken leg like he thought but defiantly had pulled muscles and had bruising not only on his leg but also on both his back and chest where Lloyds powers had hit him. Lloyds powers had also left a mild burn on his chest that resembled a mix of the burns from fire and electricity.
“Don’t know but we need to subdue him before he causes too much harm,” Pixal explained. As they helped Jay and Zane Lloyd chased the creature out of the section down a few halls to the front foyer where Cole was waiting. The moment the creature saw Cole who readied to face the creature the moment he saw it froze up for a second clearly not interested in fighting him. It turned round to head the other direction but found itself confronted by Lloyd who didn’t hesitate when he got there to blast the creature with his powers. He hit it turning it to a mist that quickly vanished. Upon seeing Lloyd Cole became a little nervous; there was visibly something wrong with him. He wasn’t privy to what had happened in the one section with the others so he had no clue what was going on with Lloyd. He could just see there was something wrong with him and he was getting bad feelings from him. There were dark patches on Lloyds skin, his eyes were a purplish color and his powers had been purplish as well.
“Geeze are you okay…” Cole began to say before Pixal came through his communicator to warn him, “avoid fighting Lloyd.”
“Why?” Cole wondered confused and Pixal quickly explained, “something happened with him and these clan members and it has awoken something dark in him.”
“Those monsters got away and the others are being disobedient,” Lloyd growled at him. Being cautious Cole asked, “how are they being disobedient?”
“I told them to focus on the demons not play with fire but they refused to listen. Kept wasting their time and powers on the environment to play with fire,” Lloyd growled Cole noting his voice was a bit off.
“Okay… I could have a word with them about it,” Cole commented as the rest of the ninja arrived at the foyer Jay limping and held up by Nya while Zane moved slow having problems with his left leg and holding his left arm to his body.
“Lloyd what’s gotten into you?” Kai wondered as they approached. Lloyd turned around to chastise them, “you five. I can feel it those monsters escaped! How dare you let those demons get away!”
“Lloyd I think you’ve gotten a little carried away and need to calm down,” Nya began de-escalating. Lloyd was too far gone in his strange headspace however to listen and stated, “no we’re here to stop those monsters and instead of stopping them you were playing with fire and shelves while they got away.”
“The texts and artefacts in this library and the knowledge they carry are incredibly valuable. Knowledge is the most valuable asset one can have and as protectors to our realm we are also protectors to its most valuable resources of which knowledge is by far it’s most important so we must not damage it like you were. I was not doing anything wrong,” Zane regaled unable to help himself to point out a fact forgetting for a moment that Lloyd was in a state where he would not listen to logic. Lloyd didn’t even take a second to think before growling at him, “I don’t care Zane. I don’t care the costs I need to see those monsters destroyed.” He then blasted Zane into the one wall of the foyer. He was dazed but still conscious as Pixal and Kai went over to him. Cole had snuck up behind Lloyd while Zane talked and after he finished his attack to Zane Cole jumped him from behind trying to restrain him pinning his arms to his body.
“Let me go traitor!” Lloyd growled his voice starting to sound off to the others. He couldn’t shake Cole who had activated his lava arms so Lloyd couldn’t out strength him so Lloyd built up his powers in his arms then let it burst out startling and flinging Cole into a wall of the foyer knocking him out.
“Hey cut it out we’re just trying to help you,” Jay stated causing Lloyd to turn to him Lloyd declaring, “no you’re traitors. You’re in league with those monsters aren’t you? That’s why you’re disobeying me isn’t it!” He shot at Jay with an energy beam Jay knocking Nya out of the way so he alone took the full blast getting knocked into the wall. He was dazed but still conscious as he landed. Lloyd then continued to rant more of his Oni side seeming to surface further darkening his skin and altering his voice, “they’re here to hunt me aren’t they and you’re helping them; what did they offer you? Some of my power? A piece of this realm for yourselves?”
“Okay I have a feeling we’re no longer talking to human Lloyd here,” Kai noted and Pixal stated, “it would appear the Oni part of his nature has not only surfaced but is taking control.” She then whispered to Kai pulling two small round objects from a pocket on her attire, “when I say so we’ll jump him and try to subdue him.” Kai recognised the items she had as smoke bombs. Kai nodded an agreement. Pixal then tossed the items at Lloyd where they hit him and exploded surrounding him in a dense smoke. While he tried to clear the smoke complaining about not being able to see and claiming even blinded he could still sense them there Kai and Pixal who called for Nya to help them jumped him and attempted to restrain Lloyd who was turning out to be much stronger in this state than normal. They were managing to hold him down but Lloyd built up his powers and released them like he did with Cole tossing them off him. Lloyd was now much angrier.
“I knew it you are trying to hunt me aren’t you?!” he proclaimed to which Kai stammered, “no just trying to get some sense back into you. You’ve really gone off on some crazy deep end here.” Lloyd started building up his powers declaring, “I think it best I take you all out before you get me. I’ll show you what happens when you betray an Oni!” Before he could do anything Lloyd was suddenly frozen in ice. While the others had tried to subdue him Zane had struggled to get to his feet falling over a few times before managing to balance enough while kneeling to hit Lloyd with a blast of ice freezing him to end his chaos. Once Lloyd was entirely encased in ice Zane collapsed from the pain of forcefully using his damaged arm. While Pixal came over to help him back to his feet and support him Kai and Nya inspected the frozen Lloyd. The dark patches to his skin faded and his eyes returned to their normal color.
“Do you think that will have cooled his mood?” Kai wondered and Nya stated, “I can’t tell.” Coming over with Zane Pixal scanned the ice and determined, “the ice is blocking my ability to fully analyze him but by his eyes and skin returning to normal I think the cooled state is calming him back to normal.”
“How long do you think we should leave him in there?” Kai wondered to which Nya replied, “don’t know but probably not for too long." They waited a few moments before Nya instructed Kai to melt the ice freeing Lloyd. Once free Lloyd was dazed and confused Nya having to catch him and sit him down to prevent him from falling over but he was no longer under whatever had gripped him.
“What happened?” he asked cold and shaking. Kai replied, “you tell us; you went crazy attacking the enemy then turned on us thinking we were going to hunt you for being an Oni.” Lloyd was quiet looking worried for a second before stating, “no no this is bad very bad. It’s worse than I thought!”
“What are you talking about?” Kai wondered the rest of them confused. Lloyd explained feeling it was no use hiding this anymore, “these things of this Lost Clan whenever I’m around them… they give off this energy that when I’m around them I can feel the Oni within me surfacing taking control wanting to destroy and harm. I’ve been trying to keep it under control but this time I slipped up and let it get control of me.”
“Uhm what?” Jay commented as Nya helped support him while Pixal and Zane went over to help Cole who was coming back to his senses checking him over for a concussion. Lloyd explained, “my uncle and I have been trying to work on my control of it but when that creature started fleeing and was going to blow our cover I forgot to keep control and just let my feelings get out of hand losing control.”
“Losing control alright and going crazy by the sounds of it thinking you were an Oni and we had sided with this Lost Clan to hunt you,” Jay explained startling Lloyd who wondered, “what do you mean?”
“Don’t you recall what you were doing?” Kai wondered to which Lloyd replied, “somewhat, it’s all kind of fuzzy rate now.”
“You were clearly being taken over by your Oni side and you seemed to think the clan is here to hunt you even though we’ve found no evidence of that,” Nya explained and Lloyd commented starting to realise something, “wait I thought they were going to hunt me? That could explain the agitation I feel around them…” Kai noted, “yha and you kept calling us traitors thinking we were going to join them in hunting you.”
“Have you or Wu been able to deduce why their presence is bringing your Oni nature to surface?” Pixal inquired and Lloyd replied, “no which just makes it harder to control it.” Zane deduced, “maybe if you knew why it could help you get control.”
“Yha cause you’re dangerous like this Kamal and his sister Rosic when you’re like that,” Jay noted and Lloyd apologised, “I’m sorry.”
“If you were having these problems you should have told us earlier. We could have helped before it came to anyone getting hurt,” Cole noted. Lloyd looked at the rest of them becoming upset and ashamed as he realized the harm he’d caused them.
“You’re right I am very dangerous… I think it best rate now I lock myself up to prevent any more damages. I’ll see myself to a cell in the Bounty. When we get back to the Monastery I think it best you lock me up till you can be sure I won’t be a danger,” Lloyd expressed heading off out of the library. The others weren’t sure what to say but agreed at that time it was best he was kept contained. They collected their things helping restore some of the damages they had caused which thanks to Zane was kept to a minimum before heading out. As they headed back to the Monastery Pixal dealt with the others while Nya drove them home. Lloyd had put himself in the prison cells on the ship feeling he was too much of a danger to be free at that time. Cole was fairly fine just some bruising and a cut on the top of his head. Pixal cleaned and sewed it up to keep it clean and help it heal faster even though his wounds didn’t necessarily need it. Jay just needed some bandages for some cuts he’d gotten including some paper cuts from books and scrolls that had fallen on him and he had bruising and some pulled muscles in his right leg from the shelf falling on him. The burn mark on his chest wasn’t too bad and would heal on its own. Despite his injuries Jay helped Pixal fix up Zane who had a major cut in his left arm running into his shoulder damaging his synthetic muscles and under skin and damaging his metallic outer skin, a minor cut to the outer and inner skin of his right forearm and some disconnected components in his left leg from the shelf landing on him. They put him offline as they worked on him. Once back at the monastery Lloyd headed straight for the jail cells they had attached to the Hanger Bay that they used for those they had to interrogate or transport to authorities. He felt that was where he belonged after what he had done. The others just let him go. They felt he probably needed some time to himself. Cole and Pixal carried Zane who was still offline from the work on him while Kai helped Jay into the entertainment room. They laid Zane on the one couch placing the tablet they had connected to him to monitor him on the table while Kai and Jay sat on the other couch Jay using an ice pack on his sore leg.
“He’s recalibrating from the repairs. Once that’s done he’ll wake up,” Pixal explained as they settled Zane on the couch Cole placing Zanes one arm on his abdomen to better rest him on the couch and Nya placed a blanket on him to help keep his body temperature stable while he was offline. Pixal continued, “he shouldn’t need help but if any trouble arises Jay you should know what to do.” Jay stated, “yha we’ll be good.”
“Why don’t you and Nya write down what we uncovered; I’m going to let Wu know what happened then I’ll get us some dinner. I think something out will be best with some of us out of commission tonight,” Cole stated. Nya told him, “I already let Wu know about it as we came home. He’s probably already down having a talk with Lloyd. As for dinner we could easily make something here. Four of us are still well enough to do some work.”
“True… I just thought of getting something so we could take the rest of the evening easier it was a pretty intense day,” Cole expressed. Kai stated as he turned on the TV, “I’m okay with that.” While Kai looked for something to watch Nya thought over the idea. She felt a bit of suspicion to Coles offers to go out for food but kept it to herself.
“Fine I guess we could do that for tonight,” Nya finally stated and Cole stated, “great. Text me any of your suggestions and I’ll get them.” He then left. Nya turned back to the others to find Jay and Kai had fallen asleep leaned into each other. Pixal was switching the TV to a nature ASMR for them to sleep with so they wouldn’t be woken up. With the boys settled and Cole gone Nya pulled Pixal aside to talk quietly with her. She had noticed lately Cole heading off on his own being a bit secretive about it often waiting for the others to be occupied so they wouldn’t see him leave or sometimes offering to head out to get things usually food of some sort when they didn’t need to. While he would do that from time to time he’d been doing it rather frequently lately especially since this Lost Clan had shown up. Normally she wouldn’t bother knowing he’d want his privacy but with the threat of this Lost Clan and the fact his leavings had increased since after the clan had appeared she had started to wonder if there might be a correlation between the two. For safety she wanted to look into where he was going and what he was doing. She didn’t want to get Kai or Jay involved because if it wasn’t anything dangerous and was of a more personal nature they may tease Cole. Lloyd had his own problems to deal with and even though Zane was respectful he was not good with sensitive issues so might not do the right thing over a sensitive issue. Pixal was the best option. While she didn’t always react the way one should with issues like Zane, that was just the nature of nindroids, she was better at it than him plus she might have some gadgets to help look into what Cole was doing.
“I was wondering if you could help me with something,” Nya quietly asked and Pixal replied, “sure what is it?”
“I don’t know if you have noticed but Cole has been sneaking out a bit frequently lately especially since this Lost Clan showed up,” Nya explained and Pixal noted, “yha I’ve noticed that. I have also noticed it becomes more frequent after encounters with the clan. Are you worried he may be up to something?”
“Yes, I was thinking that we follow him to see what he is doing you know to make sure it isn’t anything dangerous he’s getting into,” Nya suggested. Pixal was in for it and she had some ideas to help them. Nya went and got dressed in her street clothes while Pixal went down to the Hanger Bay to get things ready. When she got there Nya was quite surprised with what Pixal already had set up. She’d tracked the signal from Coles phone despite him having turned off the location on it clearly wanting to avoid anyone following him. Cole wasn’t the most tech savy so didn’t know even when your location was turned off your phone could still be tracked. She also had a little remote controlled robotic scarab beetle she had been working on for scouting especially in tight or small locations. Further to Nya’s surprise she and Zane had secretly been working on her body implanting in her the same device they had given Zane to allow him to cloak his appearance so he could mask his nature from people. While they had no problem with it a lot of people were untrusting and either scared or un-tolerating of Zanes robotic nature. This not only led to problems while working but also could be upsetting to Zane as it reminded him he truly wasn’t human making him feel isolated and alone. Jay and Nya with help from Cyrus Borg had come up with the device and implanted it in Zane. It had taken him a while to get used to it and learn full control of it but he was rather pleased with it. It did have problems mainly it tended to glitch when his emotions become highly elevated but it didn’t hinder him very much. Zane had felt Pixal could benefit from the device so they had secretly replicated it and implanted it in her. Because the device was hidden beneath her hair the others hadn’t noticed. Zane and Pixal had even a few times tested the device around the others while they were out and none of them had noticed her while she was disguised. Pixal used her new device to make herself look human giving her skin and hair the same appearance Zane used which mimicked his original skin; pale skin with blond hair which mimicked the looks of those from his ancestral home with his father the region of the cold northern region of Birchwood where the pale coloring not only worked well for the low sun levels but was really beneficial to help hide in the pale colored woods to avoid being hunted by Treehorns and the other dangerous fauna of the region. She disguised her attire to that of her street clothes. Dark blue pants and white shirt under a violet with red trim hooded zipper up sweater. With their gear ready and a lead on the signal from Coles phone they headed out using a vehicle she and Pixal had made from an old van for use in daily mundane tasks like for getting groceries and acquiring household goods so they didn’t have to drag the Bounty out for such things. It was also much easier and less noticeable to drive this little vehicle around. It was really going to come in handy for this task.
They followed the signal to a small diner in a town a bit of a distance away. Knowing Cole that wasn’t much of a surprise. They checked in the window to see what he was doing. Was he meeting some? If so it wasn’t someone with ties to the Lost Clan was it? He’d gotten pretty friendly to some, that hadn’t possibly led him to think of betraying them had it? Normally that didn’t seem like something he’d do but the invulnerability and power of these beings, the stress from losing to them constantly and what they now knew as Lloyds Oni fuelled aggressive episodes might have made him start to consider switching sides. They hoped it wasn’t coming down to that. The place was not too busy but there was still plenty of people there. Cole was sitting at the back of the diner in his street gear with another person both had a plate of cake. She was a girl looking to be there age with long dark reddish wavy hair with a streak of blue in it in the front. She didn’t look like a member of the Lost Clan. Pixal couldn’t recognise her; Nya couldn’t either but felt there was something familiar to her. The two went in and sat at a table in the front. Cole didn’t notice them, he didn’t even look to register anyone new come in. He just kept staring at the back of a spoon like he was looking at his reflection in it a blank look on his face. Once sat Pixal released the little spy beetle and directed it to rest under Coles table. Through its audio sensors they could hear through their communicators what Cole and his companion were talking about. There was some silence with his companion clearly looking to want to say something to him but possibly unsure of the words.
“Is there something you want to talk about?” his companion finally said. Nya felt her voice was familiar. There was a second before Cole responded, “did you say something?”
“I asked if you’re okay. You haven’t touched your cake. That’s not like you,” she commented. The two had to agree that was odd, cakes were rarely safe around Cole. After a moment of silence Cole responded, “I guess I’m just not interested rate now.”
“That’s not normal for you. Is something on your mind? Every time we’ve met recently you seem a bit distant. You’ve also wanted to meet up a lot more frequently than usual. Not that I’m complaining it’s really nice being with you but you often seem like you have something on your mind bothering you lately,” she stated to him putting a hand on one of Coles as he put the spoon down to look at her. He stated, “I guess I’ve just been feeling rather down lately and wanted your company.”
“Well it’s nice to have your company too,” she told him. That made Cole smile a bit. She then asked, “what has you so down?” Cole was quite for a minute before replying his expression saddening, “I know he doesn’t mean anything by it he’s just trying to look into his family history and in his circumstance I would be too but Jays been looking into his mom a bit trying to find why she never said anything before about his powers or her life as an elemental master but his work just keeps reminding me of my mother… doesn’t help those things in this Lost Clan can somehow bring back some of the worst memories with her with that creepy black fog and some of the spells they can use.”
“Worst memories? What are the worst memories of your mother?” she asked confused and Cole went silent looking unsteady from thoughts of the reply. After hearing her voice a bit why she seemed familiar came to Nya.
“Now I know why she looks familiar. That’s Seliel from the town of Nom, she’s the daughter to the town’s mayor or at least when we were last there he was the mayor,” she quietly stated. Pixal was confused and asked, “who?” Nya explained, “you wouldn’t know as you weren’t there. During the Nindroid crisis we ended up in the town of Nom which had been taken over for manufacturing parts for the Nindroids. She and her father had been taken prisoner by them but she had been sneaking around trying to thwart the Nindroids as the Phantom Ninja. She helped us dismantle their operations.”
“Why is Cole seeing her?” Pixal wondered to which Nya explained, “I believe he has feelings for her like you with Zane. Some of us noticed when we met and worked with her that Cole seemed to have feelings for her but in typical Cole fashion he’s avoided addressing anything to do with it…” Cole talking quieted them as they listened in.
“All of them have involved her final months and her…her death; she was so sick and she just got worse… I wanted to do something to help in anyway but… there was nothing I could do…” Cole stammered clearly trying to hold back from breaking down but having a few tears roll down his cheeks. Seliel told him concerned but comforting, “there wasn’t anything you could do though. Even with modern technologies there’s not much anyone could have done. Her chances of survival would be slim. She at least passed peacefully with you and your father at her side that’s the best you could have wished for and at least now she’s no longer suffering.”
“What did his mother die from?” Pixal wondered and Nya replied, “I’m not too sure. Cole doesn’t like to talk about it; in fact he rarely talks of his mother. I think his father mentioned lungs and some sort of carcinoma once. Neither likes to talk about it. She had been sick for quite some time and had been ever since Cole was young. They’d treated her once and she got better for a while but it eventually came back much worse after a few years. By that time there was nothing they could do...”
“I know just reliving those memories… these enemies can bring them back in a way they feel like they just happened. The feelings are so sharp and painful… I can barely stand the pain from it,” Cole explained still clearly trying to fight his feelings. Seliel stated, “I can’t imagine how terrible that is. I was still young when my mother passed but I remember that day and her final hours; it still hurts to remember it but with time the pains no longer as bad as when it first happened. That pain especially at the start, there is nothing like it and you never truly heal from it. To be put through that again and again I can imagine that has to be one of the worst feelings imaginable. I can’t say I will ever be able to understand how you feel but I know I can be there for you whenever you need it. Greif’s terrible and the worst part is the one you wish to talk to the most about it is no longer there. Have you talked to anyone about it? Maybe your friends or at least your father?” Seliel wondered and Cole replied, “no; no one else, just you. You’re… you’re the only one I feel comfortable talking to about this.”
“Really, why is that?” Seliel inquired curious. Cole hesitated a second his emotions calming from the thoughts before replying with, “I’m not sure. I just feel comfortable and safe in your presence. Being near you I feel warm and I don’t feel I have to remain strong like with the others. They look up to me to be the stable one, the leader, one they can count on… I need to remain strong for them.”
“How good are you going to be for them when they need it if you are in just as troubled a state as them? Mountains may be strong but they are also weak. The elements can tear them down in time just as much as build them up. If you don’t address this it’s going to continue tearing at you till it crumbles you and there may be nothing anyone can do for you. Your mother wouldn’t want you to feel like this would she?” Seliel wondered and after a silent moment of thought Cole stated, “no she wouldn’t.”
“She’d want you to remember the good times and carry on in her memory wouldn’t she?” Seliel asked. Cole took a moment to respond clearly struggling to keep things together, “true.” Seliel noted Cole struggling with his emotions so suggested, “I know how it means a lot for you to remain strong and you’re clearly struggling with that would you like to head somewhere where there is not so many people to continue talking?” Cole just nodded a yes clearly getting close to a tipping point. Seliel got up to go talk to a waiter to get some to go containers while Cole remained at the table just staring at the cake. Pixal and Nya decided to give the two time to themselves and head back to the Monastery. Pixal recalled the beetle drone and they headed out. As they walked to the van Nya commented, “I wonder why Coles been so quiet about this. We wouldn’t make fun of him for it or think any different of him.”
“Which are you referring to? His affections for a potential mate or the emotional troubles surrounding resurfacing pains from his mother’s death?” Pixal inquired a bit confused. After a moments thoughts Nya replied, “both I guess. You’ve seen with him he’s not one to readily show his emotions especially to the point he’s in a vulnerable state and he is rather closed off and doesn’t open up much to others. For him to be so vulnerable in front of someone else is strange; he’s probably been seeing her for quite some time now defiantly over a year or two. You know he took the longest to open up and let himself be vulnerable when me and Kai joined him at the monastery even more so than Zane; being a nindroid you would know and understand it took Zane a while to open up around us. You guys can’t help it it’s just your natures and you have good reasons to be cold and apprehensive to strangers. Unlike Zane though I could never understand Coles apprehensions not to mention when something happens to any of the rest of us or even himself he just seems to bottle up his emotions and not address the issues; surely that can’t be good for anyone.”
“I have noted that to him. Through analysis having his mother ill for most of his life including as a child when he would need her most would have been very hurtful to him then to lose her while still fairly young would defiantly leave scars on his psyche. To add on from what I understand he and his father had a rather rocky relation especially as he got older which was probably made worse by his mother being sick plus he had no siblings and not many friends growing up that has likely made it hard for him to form attachments and open up to others. He likely has a fear whether he is consciously aware of it or not of letting others into his life worried of losing them and unable to handle the pain of just thinking about that let alone for it to actually happen. When it does it’s like he doesn’t know what to do. I know after we lost Zane both times and when we lost you for a year it took a while before he would say more than a few words when talked to. He was more closed off than usual and refused to let emotions show. He just dug harder into work pushing himself to do more than needed like he was trying to keep from addressing his thoughts and feelings,” Pixal deduced as they got in the van. As they were prepping to leave they noted Cole and Seliel come out of the diner talking Cole carrying his piece of Cake in a to go container. Within an instant to Pixals confusion Nya slid down the seat to the floor.
“What are you doing?” Pixal inquired and Nya replied, “I don’t want them to know we followed them. They’ll recognise me.”
“That would be true but they are not looking in this direction so you did not need to hide,” Pixal noted to which Nya replied, “just drive and tell me when the coast is clear.” Pixal did as she asked and headed out. When they were out of view from the two Pixal stated, “you can get off the floor now. Are we going to let anyone else know about what we found?”
“Well considering he hasn’t talked to anyone about it I think we keep it secret, he obviously wants it a secret. You could tell Zane if you want he’ll act responsible with all this and keep it a secret but the others not unless something serious comes up. You know how Jay and Kai would be with this information. They’d find some way to play around with Cole about Seliel also I think we should try to limit talks involving mothers for some time to prevent opening old wounds on him and you know they’ll want to talk to him about it which will only make his feelings worse and we don’t want to do that to him,” Nya replied as she got back properly in the seat. As they returned home Cole contacted them about dinner having not heard anything from three of the others and only being able to reach Lloyd; they had a feeling the others were still out. They gave him some suggestions. Sure enough when they got back to the Monastery Kai and Jay were still asleep. Zane was also asleep but looked to have been awake at some point having rebooted, disconnected the tablet from himself and moved onto his side to sleep. Lloyd still had himself locked in a cell and was refusing to come out so they let him be. Pixal and Nya sat with the others while they slept switching the TV over to play a game making sure to keep the volume down for those sleeping.
“They still sleeping?” Cole asked when he came into the room after returning.
“Yha, we thought just to let them sleep,” Nya replied and Cole stated, “sorry I took so long. Things were a bit busy out there.”
“That’s okay you don’t need to apologize when you need some time for yourself,” Nya comfortingly told him. Cole didn’t seem to note her tone; she was pretty sure he was just hiding any reactions to it. After a pause Nya expressed, “you know if you ever need to you can talk to us about anything no matter what it’s about.” That made Cole a look a bit suspecting but if he had anything on his mind he didn’t say it. Instead he commented, “well dinners here should we wake them?”
“I believe so that way we can consume the materials while they are at desirable temperatures without having to reheat anything,” Pixal agreed to which Cole joked remembering the Oni fuelled episode he and Zane had witnessed where Lloyd had blown up a microwave, “if we do have to reheat anything best not let Lloyd anywhere near the microwave.”
“Speaking of Lloyd who’s gonna give him some?” Nya inquired making them stop to think. They decided for Wu to do it. He agreed wanting to get a chat in with his nephew. He’d so far been avoiding it thinking over what Nya had told him of what happened analysing it and thinking over what he was going to say. While the three woke up the others and they had dinner Wu brought a plate of food down for Lloyd who was sitting on the bed in the cell with his knees up and arms and chin resting on his knee caps. Wu opened the door and came into the cell placing the plate on the table that was in the cell.
“I brought you some dinner,” Wu stated. Lloyd didn’t say anything or react. Wu stated, “I heard about what happened. Would you like to talk about it?” Lloyd was quite for a second before stating, “I really screwed up this time. I entirely lost control and turned on the others even hurting them.”
“It would seem not only are the others now aware of your issue but it is worse than we feared,” Wu stated and Lloyd wondered, “why do I have to have this problem? How come I couldn’t just get something mild like growing horns or having my eyes or hair change color from time to time? How come I have to turn into a monster?”
“It is not your fault it is just part of who and what you are. That is the curse of being part Oni. It is their nature to be destructive, dominating and aggressive just as it is for dragons to be creative, free spirited and full of life,” Wu told him coming to sit next to Lloyd who stated, “it’s so hard to keep control especially around those things… how do you do it?”
“I have had many years of practise and to be fare I do not know if properly confronted by these beings if I could maintain full control. I have yet to come into contact with more than just artefacts to them. You are not getting it that easy. You are facing them fully being exposed directly with the strong energies given off by these beings you’re also young and this is all new to you so it isn’t going to be easy for you to keep control especially this early in your training,” Wu comforted and Lloyd countered, “but I ended up hurting some of the others… my own family.”
“Unfortunately that is true and until you gain better control that will remain a risk and a possibility. The others are a bit mad that we kept this a secret however they do not hold it against you and are concerned for you,” Wu explained. Lloyd was quiet for a minute before muttering, “I was going to destroy them cause I thought they and the Lost Clan were going to hunt me.”
“You thought what?” Wu pondered surprised and confused by this revelation. Lloyd explained straightening up a bit, “when my Oni side took over I apparently said to the others I thought they and the Lost Clan were hunting me. I remember saying and thinking that.” Curious Wu inquired, “why did you think that?” Lloyd thought it over a moment relaxing more as he sat there.
“I recognise some of the things these beings have and use as those from the site my mothers been working on with the Oni and Dragon hunters. Kamal and Rosic have also said some strange things to me involving my heritage,” Lloyd stated. After a moments thought Wu wondered, “maybe we’ve been going about this all wrong… have you noticed if anyone is doing anything to stimulate your Oni side into surfacing when you interact with them?”
“No, they prefer to just attack me; the more my Oni side shows the more aggressive they become and they even boast of triumphs over Oni and they wonder what powers parts of me could give them. So far they haven’t acted on them but just the thought of it is un-nerving,” Lloyd stated. Wu then replied, “I wonder then if the problems you are having are not just simple losses of control like we originally thought but a result of a primal fear from our Oni heritage to whatever these beings are. That confuses what they could be and why they’re here if they are Oni hunters but it could explain your problems and maybe give us a leg up on your problem. If we can address your fears and work on control of them then that may help you get better at control. Take some time for yourself and why don’t you go be with the others, you’re not a danger to them, in the meantime I need to work out a new plan for tackling you’re control issues.”
“Where are we going?” Clouse inquired as he stepped through the portal behind Mendras. They came to be in a strange temple that was built into a cave on the dark isle. The entrance to the cave had been buried by a cave in so they had to port into the temple. Inside the temple it looked to have been abandoned for some time. The architecture of the structure bore resemblances to Oni architecture, old dark metal braziers sat in the place all out with some of them having fallen over a few even crunched under debris fallen from the ceiling. Flags of red with a black sun rising were hung on the walls. As they entered Mendras used a spell to light up the braziers still standing.
“We are here to acquire some assistance. We will need it to accomplish our task,” Mendras noted moving deeper into the temple looking around. Clouse followed looking around a bit annoyed at this side tangent Mendras had them on in getting revenge on the ninja. Clouse stated, “no one’s here. This place looks like it’s been abandoned for years.”
“Yes abandoned but those that used this place are still around. They are not here or in this realm now but I know how to get them back,” Mendras commented. He paused for a moment before casting a spell. In front of him an individual materialized dropping to the floor looking to have been reading in bed their book even falling next to them. He was human but somehow Clouse felt he wasn’t truly human anymore. His skin was a sickly grey and clammy looking with the area around his eyes darkened like it was bruised and his eyes were a sanguine red. He was in fancy looking silk black with red trim PJs and wearing snake headed slippers.
“Can’t I get a break?! I told you I’ll deal with those knights and guard poking around our workings tomorrow,” the being stated before realizing where he was and who had summoned him, “my apologies Dagoth…uhm not to be rude or anything but which one are you? I don’t recognise you.” They quickly got up straightening themselves up.
“Mendras,” Mendras replied and the figure stated, “oh you’re free! Well that’s some good news. I’m guessing it was your companion here who did it. That would mean he managed to find an elemental master of lightening then. Sorry about leaving you trapped for so long but well we would have freed you earlier but we did a bit of a screw up. We banished the only elemental master of lightening we knew of in this realm before we realised we needed one. We found later she had a son but we have no clue where he is and we lost her after we banished her. We thought of bringing one from another realm but we didn’t know of any either plus we felt it best to lie low for a while to avoid attention and it just kind of slipped our mind to come back. Things have been a bit busy in the Lost Realm for a while now. Back home we’re getting some pressure from some goody goodys buttin’ in on our dealings… sorry I’m digressing. I’m guessing you’ve called me here for a purpose?”
“Yes my companion here has advised me that there is a grandson to the first Spingitsu master here and he has allies who could prove a danger to our endeavours. I think it is time you resurrect the Sunless Dawn and we get to work on orchestrating their ends,” Mendras explained to the being who became very excited with the declaration replying with, “indeed. I’ll let the others know. I’m Nazeem leader to the Sunless Dawn, don’t mind my complexion. It’s a harmless affliction; don’t worry it’s not contagious. Unless of course you’d like it then with a bite I can give it to you. It can be a pain at times but in the end for what you get the plusses outdo the minuses.” Nazeem held out his hand for Clouse to shake. Even though he was a bit hesitant he reached out and shook his hand which Clouse was surprised to find was surprisingly cold.
“My names Clouse and no thank you I just got cured of an infliction I’m not looking to get a new one,” he stated as he shook Nazeems hand.
“So do you have a plan for dealing with these filthy light bringing scums?” Nazeem asked after the handshake. Mendras stated, “have you ever heard of the Interrum?”
“Are you sure you don’t want to hinder me in some way while doing this?” Lloyd asked as Cole and Nya positioned the small cage in the doorway to the pen they had made from clearstone in metal frames of vengestone in order to contain Lloyd if something went wrong. Now that the others knew of his problem they were helping him trying to get control of his Oni side. Lloyd was stuck inside the pen they had come up with to potentially keep him from causing harm or damages if he did lose control while the others were outside it. They were in the Hanger Bay working on this. Zane and Pixal were occupied at the computers working on analyzing data on the Lost Clan and looking up what this Interrum could be while the rest worked with Lloyd. Once the cage was in place they opened the cage letting the Dread-rabbit they had trapped inside out. The monster waited a second before slowly hopping out into the pen before stopping to sit up and look around. It then started to groom itself.
“Really you think this thing will have an affect on me?” Lloyd commented un-amused and Kai stated, “hey it’s nastier than it looks trust me I had to help wrangle the thing!” Kai and Jay had some bandages on from getting clawed and bit by the creature which they had been tasked with catching while Cole and Nya had been working on making the pen.
“We’re starting small and mild before working our way up,” Nya noted to which Cole added, “yha if you do lose control we don’t want to deal with you and something really dangerous like a Feardrake.”
“Do you feel anything from the creature?” Wu inquired; after a moment’s thought Lloyd replied, “a bit of agitation and unease but not much else.”
“Maybe we should make it do something?” Jay wondered and Kai pondered, “like what?” Jay responded with, “I don’t know. Maybe Lloyd should try to pick it up. It really hated when we did that.” Lloyd took their advice and went over to pick the creature up. As he got close to it the creature stopped grooming to look at him. It waited till he was in arms reach before giving him a hopping kick knocking Lloyd back a couple feet and onto his back. The others couldn’t help but laugh at its actions even Zane and Pixal who had stopped what they were doing to watch what was going on.
“Told you they don’t like that,” Jay commented. The Dread-rabbit began making some animal like noises mainly hisses and growls while looking at Lloyd who quickly got up startled to comment, “that thing can talk!” Everyone else was confused.
“Uh no, it’s just making noise,” Kai commented the rest of them stumped. They weren’t hearing anything but noise. Lloyd countered started to get scared, “no it’s talking calling me a half breed and making fun of me.”
“Interesting I can hear that too. Zane, Pixal what do you hear from the creature?” Wu inquired. Zane responded, “it sounds just like an animal.” Pixal added, “there are no sounds matching with any potential of language being emitted by that creature.”
“But it is talking I can hear it!” Lloyd exclaimed before yelling at the creature, “how dare you call me that! I’m not a demon you are… we’re not the same… I’m not from where ever your kind come from… I don’t share heritage with your kind you corpse demon.” Whatever the two were talking about the others could see was not only angering Lloyd but starting to awaken his Oni side his eyes changing color and patches of his skin darkening. It was long till Lloyd went to attack the creature. He tried to use his powers but the vengestone was working to some extent and dampening them. When that didn’t work angering him more Lloyd tackled the creature the two getting into a physical fight with each other to which Lloyd was not doing the best in. The Dread-rabbit could bite, kick and scratch with considerable power and was much faster and more agile than Lloyd getting the better of him. The rest just watched as the two wrestled still arguing with each other in the pen Lloyd getting all bit, kicked and scratched up by the creature.
“Should we do something?” Cole wondered as they watched. Jay asked Wu, “maybe in a minute first how come you and Lloyd seem to hear this thing talking but the rest of us just hear an animal?”
“I am not too sure. It is quite strange,” Wu replied and Nya asked, “what was it saying?”
“It recognises I and Lloyds heritage with Oni and Dragons and claims where they came from it also came from. It considers us inferior half breeds for associating with mortals as it calls the rest of you,” Wu explained.
“It’s from the First Realm? I don’t recall seeing anything like this or the others of this Lost Clan there,” Kai noted. Wu thought a minute before stating, “true the Oni and Dragons come from the First Realm but there are tales ancient and rarely spoken of that the First Realm nor any other realm is where they originated from. The First Realm was just their home in the physical mortal realms. They never say though where they came from just stating they are the products, the offspring and living embodiments, of the primal forces of creation and destruction and that they existed before time and existence itself existing in a place outside time and space; a place mortals like us cannot truly comprehend or understand.”
“What then would that mean for that thing?” Cole wondered as they watched the Dread-rabbit manage to pin Lloyd down sitting on his back and chewing at his hair while Lloyd yelled at them, calling them lowly mortals, to get the monster off him. They decided to intervene. Cole moved the one wall out of the way to let them in. Wu splashed the two with a calming tea. It stopped the fight settling both and letting Lloyd gain some control. He got up the Dread-rabbit dropping off him as it started cleaning the tea off itself. With the creature distracted Jay and Kai put it back in the cage to avoid problems later.
“Well that didn’t go too good,” Cole noted as Nya, Jay, Kai and Wu went to talk with Lloyd who was returning to normal now that he was calm. The first thing Lloyd asked was, “you can’t catch anything from those monsters can you?”
“We do not think so though some records we found on these creatures suggest they can sometimes inflict certain curses and diseases. We will have to keep an eye on you for a while to make sure you have not caught any of these,” Pixal regaled. While the others talked Cole went over to Zane and Pixal who went back to work on their research.
“So found anything on this Interrum thing yet?” Cole asked the two droids.
“Unfortunately no; it is almost like whatever this is it doesn’t exist either that or all knowledge of it has been lost possibly even purposely destroyed over time,” Zane noted.
“Lots of lost things we’re dealing with huh,” Cole commented confusing Zane and Pixal who inquired about what he meant. Cole responded with, “nothing just this group called the Lost Clan who may be from this Lost Realm or lost in time are looking for something lost.”
“I guess that is an interesting and strange fact,” Zane noted while Pixal expressed, “is there something else that is the reason for you talking to us? I sense nervousness from you. Coming to ask about our research shouldn’t make you nervous.” Cole was quiet for a moment before quietly asking, “Zane you’ve had these vision like dreams before you know where things seem so real and deep down you can’t help but shake there is more to them than just being a dream like you wake up and feel the universe is trying to tell you something.”
“I am not sure that I have,” Zane commented looking uneasy and Cole replied, “don’t deny it buddy you do dream there’s nothing wrong with that. Dreaming proves you’re not just some machine but something more and special.” Zane was intrigued and muttered to himself thinking it over a bit, “it does?”
“It does; anyway I was wondering if you could help me make sense of one I had last night, a dream that is though I wonder if it was more than that,” Cole inquired. Zane replied, “I’m not sure I could help. I cannot really explain what I see in mine so I do not know how well I could understand any of yours.”
“We could try though,” Pixal noted and they both agreed so Cole began to explain, “well it all started from what I remember climbing a tall nearly vertical cliff. There was nothing but a black fog below with various tree and even really big mushroom tops sticking out of it. I couldn’t tell how far it went down but I know I felt scared of it and felt like there was something in it wanting to get me. I think I may even had seen some things in it like maybe a big snake or centipede slithering through it. I think there were eyes that looked out at me a few times too. I was climbing to get away from it all but I was struggling to get out. My mother was there. She was at the top of the cliff I was on calling for me and reaching down to help me up. I couldn’t get to her though… I was struggling to get up the cliff. There was this volcano nearby that blew and the ground shook and I lost my grip and fell into the fog… I woke up after that so scared of falling especially into that darkness… do you know what any of that could mean?” The two thought about it. Cole was clearly rather shaken from what he dreamt but they had no clue where to start.
“It sounds like you may be scared of something, falling and heights likely being two of those things,” Zane noted and Cole sarcastically remarked, “yha I know that. What about the fog and the monster in it, my mother, the volcano…”
“Could this possibly relate to when the mist touched you and awakened dormant memories of your mother?” Pixal asked. Cole stopped to think about it for a moment before replying, “maybe but I feel it’s more than that, that it’s something deeper.” The nindroids thought about it for a minute. Neither could really think of what else it could mean.
“If you were to see a picture of this monster in the fog could you recognise it? Have you seen it in relation with the Lost Clan?” Pixal inquired. Cole replied, “I don’t know if I could recognise it. It was largely in that fog nor have I seen anything like it with the clan. I do remember it was dark maybe black but not like a black black if you know what I mean.”
“How can a colour not be its well colour?” Zane wondered the two confused and Cole regaled, “I can’t tell if it was actually black and not just a dark color but looking at it there was this feeling like it was there but not wholly there like it was made of shadows and I think there was some greens to it. It had scales and I think there was more than two eyes but I can’t recall how many.”
“That does not sound like something pleasant to encounter,” Zane commented and Cole agreed, “yha it really wasn’t. With your logical minds what do you think it could all mean?” After a moment’s thought Pixal wondered, “it sounds like your dream could be trying to warn you of a potential danger in your future.”
“Why would my mother be there though?” Cole wondered. The two droids thought it over for a moment before Pixal offered, “it could be from a subconscious desire for the comfort and safety your mother once brought you possibly as a result of this danger you feel may be coming which might be tied to that fog the Lost Clan uses.” That made quite a bit of sense to him.
“You could be right. Thanks for the talk, can you please keep this just between us. The others don’t need to know about it plus we have more important things to focus on,” he stated and Zane replied, “we can do that.”
“Hey whatcha three up to over here?” Kai wondered as he came over to see what they were doing. Cole responded, “not much. Just going over this Interrum thing.”
“Have anything new for us?” Kai wondered to which Zane regaled, “not really. Whatever this is there is no known historical evidence of it. That does not mean it does not exist as records of it could have been lost or it was for whatever reason never recorded but that makes our work harder.” Pixal added, “we did note the name however Interrum shares similarities to the word inter which means to bury within something. If the name shares etymology with this word then it could be a reference that this Interrum was or is used to store something in it.”
“Ety what?” Kai wondered stumped by this word. Both Kai and Cole had not really ever heard of this word before.
“Etymology, it is the study of the origin, evolution and meaning of words,” Pixal explained and Cole commented, “well that’s something I never thought would exist. What do you think this Interrum thing could hold if its name is a reference to its purpose?”
“We are afraid unless we can find anything on this thing it is likely only the clan knows that answer but we could infer that it is likely holding something; likely something dangerous and powerful,” Zane commented.
Cole had the Monastery to himself for the next few days. The others were all out. Misako managed to work out for Wu and Lloyd to stop by the site and get a look at some things. Nya, Kai and Jay were out dealing with an insurgence of monsters related to the Lost Clan that were pestering some farm lands to the east while Zane and Pixal had gone to look into some suspicious activity leaving him to oversee things at the Monastery. Things were fairly calm; the Lost Clan had grabbed more territory recently but were fairly dormant now. They’d started to notice after claiming a region the clan would settle for a couple days while small bands of them wandered the surrounding area likely scouting and securing the region they felt. With being on his own he had invited Seliel over for the night. She had skills as a ninja, she worked secretly as the Phantom Ninja in her home town and surrounding area, so if he had problems he could get help from her plus he felt he could use her company. He was feeling lonely and down and while he had others he could have called in for company even if she didn’t have ninja skills he felt only her company could uplift him and take away his loneliness. She was tough and strong yet also had a much softer side and was deeply caring and loving when it was needed. Despite her strengths and skills she was humble about them and didn’t like to boast or brag much about them and despite her societal rank as the daughter to the town mayor she didn’t act like it. She acted more like she was just another commoner than someone of high rank. In ways she reminded him of his mother with her tough yet caring demeanour plus she was a good dancer like his mother. She also reminded him a bit of Zane she was smart and crafty like him and at times she also reminded him of Nya. Like her Seliel was very skilled at craft works ranging from metal working to alchemy and even cooking. Seliel wasn’t afraid of doing hard work or getting dirty and had many similar likes to him; she enjoyed the same music and video tastes as him, enjoyed dancing like him and also enjoyed being a ninja. He’d secretly had her join him on some of his solitary missions without the others knowing and they were pretty good as a pair; defiantly better and more in tune with each other than he was with any of the others.
Lucky for him Seliel was not too far away staying in a small city outside the capital due to her hometown of Nom having fallen to a group from the Lost Clan. Cole had helped her rescue as many as they could out of the town as it had fallen and for a short time after. They’d worked extremely well together managing to secretly get most out seemingly without the clan knowing about their actions but some in the town had been too scared to flee still remaining there and working for the clan. She was still working on getting those few left out of the town but as they were too scared to flee from the Clan it was taking some work. Strangely the clan didn’t seem to care about the people of the town leaving. Cole and Seliel had a feeling the Lost Clan had no interest in the people of the town instead being attracted to the tons of scrap and discarded nindroids left in the town from the nindroid crisis. They weren’t sure why they wanted the scrap but figured they were going to repurpose it all. Seliel arrived that night within an hour of him contacting her. The two were going to just hang out at the Monastery for the night making dinner and watching TV. Before starting dinner they made a chocolate cake for after dinner. Cole used a box mix worried of screwing up any homemade recipe; he wanted to impress her with his skills. Seliel was a pretty good cook thanks to her skills in chemistry; she’d made her own equipment and weaponry after all, while he was still getting better. He was secretly taking cooking classes to get better, he had to agree some of his cooking had been pretty bad and he wanted to get better and he was but he knew he still had much to learn. He had been taking cooking lessons to not only improve his cooking skill and so some of the others would stop teasing him about his cooking but also so he could make things he liked and didn’t have to rely on others or restaurants all the time to have them. He felt it was best if he could do things for himself instead of relying on others to do it for him. The two were talking as they prepared the batter Seliel quite impressed with how well he’d gotten with his cooking skill happily enjoying their conversation.
The relation between him and Seliel had been a slow build. He’d thought the others quite immature for how quickly they’d fallen in love with others, they’d felt deeply before they even really knew each other and he didn’t want to be immature like that. It was unfitting for someone as strong and sturdy as him to act with such immaturity. He could give an exception to Zane as since he wasn’t truly human things were different. It was harder for him to form close connections with others and there was also not many nindroids out there especially those that were not more mindless beings who didn’t try to be more than a machine like Zane was so there wasn’t many like him to form a deep connection with. Pixal was unique for a nindroid just like Zane and like him wanted to be more than just a machine wanting to understand what it was like to be not just human but an aware living being like other living things. When it came to the relations of the others however he felt they should have been more mature in their relations and gotten better acquainted before admitting feelings for each other and not just falling head over heels for each other at first sight. When he’d met Seliel he’d quickly developed strong feelings for her which made him nervous. He’d felt scared to get to know her but he wasn’t sure why. He’d come to realise it was because he was scared that if he got to know her and if he was to for any reason loose her he wouldn’t be able to handle it. He still struggled with this fear though he was trying to get over this fear. They’d secretly kept in contact as Kai and Jay had made some teasing to him about his feelings which made him uncomfortable. He had also been confused over some feelings for Nya at the time making him confused about his feelings. He’d normally seen Nya as a sister but she’d started showing deeper affections for him and he wondered if he had similar feelings. He did and enjoyed her attention but at the same time he could see how much it bothered Jay. At first he was willing to fight for her attention but eventually seeing how it was driving a wedge between him and his best friend and not wanting to loose or make enemies of both Jay and Nya he decided to let her go to be with Jay. He’d felt for her first and truly she did a lot of good for Jay, more than she did for him, not only bringing him happiness but giving him courage and a reason to keep fighting even when things were at their worse. She was Jays rock; he’d have to find his rock elsewhere. He’d since come to accept loving her as a sister and holding off any deeper feelings. Since then both he, her and Jay had also come to realise the overlord had been playing with them messing with their feelings to try and create tensions or even break their family apart to hinder their ability to fight him. He’d still kept up contact with Seliel seeing her as a friend though he felt a much deeper connection with her but didn’t know how to deal with or express his feelings. He was after all the rock in the group and needed to be strong, mature and stable for everyone else. Admitting to falling to someone he just met would be immature and he couldn’t be that. After Zane sacrificed himself he’d gone low contact with everyone feeling he needed time to himself and not in the mood to be close to anyone. His fear of losing anyone else had him wanting to cut ties to everyone so he wouldn’t have to go through those feelings ever again and so no one would have to get those feelings about him. Seliel had understood and gave him his space like everyone else. After things had gotten a bit hectic with the tournament and being cursed as a ghost he’d lost contact with her until they lost Wu. He’d grown in that time and with this loss he felt he needed the company of others and not to be on his own this time. Through no fault of their own the others were focussed on family at the time sort of ignoring him; Kai and Nya were busy getting to know their long lost parents, Lloyd had become hyper focussed on finding his uncle with his mom, there was Jay but he was hanging with Nya who was getting him to meet her parents and then there was Zane. Zane didn’t have family anymore and while he was there for him after some time Zane became a little distant. Zane had been upset about Pixal who he felt he had lost till they found her infiltrated into the computers of the Samurai X cave. That had left Zane very torn and confused. He was happy to have her back but it upset him that she was stuck in the computers with no body of her own. It wasn’t Zanes fault that he became distant and distracted leaving Cole fairly alone. He’d just found someone he deeply felt for that he’d thought he’d lost; Cole could agree he would have done the same. He did have his father but they weren’t really close and Cole felt he needed someone closer to talk to. Someone he felt warmed and comforted by. That’s when he remembered Seliel. He’d gotten back into contact with her and they’d hit it off rather quickly. They’d been in contact since then and secretly been hanging out and even went on some missions together. He wasn’t letting the others know about their sort of relation as he wasn’t comfortable talking about it to them. He felt it a bit embarrassing to admit his feelings over others in the open and he also worried some of them might tease him particularly Kai, Jay and maybe even Lloyd. They had made some teasing and comments to him about Vania who had shown affections for him and while he had feelings for her he knew it was wrong to accept those. Not only did he already have Seliel which he shared more in common with but she was also close to his age unlike Vania; Vania was still a child! She was only in her teens and there was more than four years difference in their age and his; he knew that wasn’t right for someone his age to have emotions like that for a child. Despite his feelings he knew it was best for him to have a fatherly or brotherly relation to her instead of a romantic one. Something else was keeping him from letting the others know about him and Seliel and sometimes made it hard for him to express feelings or what was on his mind with Seliel; fear.
He couldn’t understand it; why did he have an almost fear of expressing his emotions particularly those of affection? Trying to figure out why he was feeling this fear led him to notice this fear with his family as well like if something happened to one of them or they showed certain emotions or if someone was keeping a potentially dangerous secret from another. The worst was if someone was hurt or sick, seeing that made him scared and he’d become overly focussed on their well being to make sure they were okay and got better all while hiding from them his true feelings so he came off as solid and strong. True his ability to hide his feelings and remain strong and solid proved very useful. It helped him care for the others when they needed it like when after not following aftercare instructions after getting his wisdom teeth removed Jay got a serious blood infection. Without being asked Cole had taken care of Jay making sure he’d take his medicine, making sure he brushed his teeth to clean the area the infection had started and at the start had to help him move around and even clean himself as the sepsis had him very unstable and frequently collapsing and falling over with periods of memory loss. Along with taking care of Jay he managed to keep everyone’s moods stable during the whole time which wasn’t helped by Jay being near paranoid his infection would lead to serious harm or worse to himself which had Nya very worried about the same things, Kai of course was very uncomfortable and squeamish with Jay due to his un-comfortableness with injuries and illness and Lloyd was actually kind of mad at the others for getting distracted while working as Nyas worry kept her from focussing when needed and any mention of Jay and his condition had Kai getting distracted trying to keep from fainting or getting sick. He was the only one able to get the others to focus and keep the peace as well as properly care for Jay till he was better. Sure Zane and Pixal were level headed and able to keep focus and they tried to help care for Jay but while they had technical knowhow the two lacked the emotional and understanding part of caring for someone who was sick making them come off as cold, harsh and strict. That really wasn’t their fault; it was just a flaw in their nature. The two didn’t understand they needed to be more gentle and soft with things.
This problem of his had also helped a few months back when dealing with a fairly tech savy cult trying to create some giant automaton in order to take over part of the realm infected Zane and Pixal with a new highly dangerous variant of a virus that caused them to become highly aggressive and violent to everyone else around them; Robot Rabies 2.0 was what Jay had called it. They had the two caged in some cells they had in the basement for a couple days to keep them from causing problems as Jay and Nya worked on a cure to the virus. They’d all felt it too cruel to put the two offline during that time however the two still needed care to keep healthy and properly functioning plus to eventually be subdued to manually put them offline so they could receive the cure. Everyone else was too scared to get close to the two as they seemed to have little control even around them and were highly unpredictable when they attacked. He was the only one to brave up and care for them in that time. The rest of them had made things comfortable for the two which had to be kept in separate cells to keep them from hurting each other. It was a little hard to make things comfortable for the two as they didn’t want them accidently hurting themselves so the two largely had just soft bedding in their rooms and a teddy each to offer comfort for their time in there. Jay had hooked up outside their cells so they couldn’t accidently hurt themselves on the wiring a TV with videos he knew made the two happy or calm and gave them something to keep them from getting bored. Seeing how this virus had turned the two feral like wild animals unable to fully control themselves and barely able to comprehend their surroundings or even themselves plus when he brought them some food and drink while spending some time with them so they wouldn’t feel like they were abandoned, he was the only one brave enough to visit them while they were in this state, he could see they didn’t want to hurt him and it took great effort for them to resist the viruses control of them when he opened their cells to give them what he had brought for them. The struggle looked to hurt them both physically and mentally. They were able to keep control and never hurt him. Seeing the twos struggles and the worry they might not be able to cleanse them of this virus meaning the only way to cure them would be to terminate them he’d lost some control to his emotions breaking down in front of them. At the time they’d been fairly calm around him and didn’t seem to register his actions and emotions. They just watched him like an animal minding its own business would. He’d thought in their states the two might not have remembered what had happened and while some of their memories from the time were damaged they did confide later with him that they did remember it and had been able to feel for him through the viruses corruption. They kept quite to everyone else about it and were keeping it to themselves to respect him surprisingly seeming to hint they had some inkling towards his issues around relations and displaying certain emotions. That surprised him a bit as they were the last two he expected to pick up this trait of his. Surely then if those two could pick this up he wasn’t just imagining it and it was a real issue of his. Ever since he had acknowledged this fear he had around expressing certain emotions around others he had been doing some soul searching in his down time about it. It took him a while to figure out why he felt like this but it wasn’t till recently he had come to realise the reason and not only did he not know what to do about it but what had made him realise it had disturbed and really upset him making it hard to investigate it further. After some of the experiences with that strange mist the Lost Clan used which brought back memories of his mothers’ illness and her passing he’d started to realise this fear he felt was tied to those events. Why he couldn’t fully understand and it made him nervous and brought down his emotions to try and think deeper into it so he hadn’t delved much into it but he was pretty sure losing her and having her sick most of his life had left him with wounds in a place that couldn’t easily be seen nor did he feel could ever be healed.
“Oh you have company. Sorry for our intrusion,” Zanes voice startled the two. Zane and Pixal had returned early to the Monastery looking a bit rough. They were dirty with mud and sticks stuck to themselves and their attire. It looked like they had been wandering in a bog. They had some groceries they placed on the kitchen island as they entered the room the two surprised.
“Zane, Pix you’re both home early!” Cole stated getting nervous. No one knew he and Seliel were seeing each other and he didn’t feel ready to let the others know yet. He was very unprepared for a situation like this.
“We ran into some complications. You remember how you all warned us about that settlement near that outpost we were looking into?” Pixal began and Cole stated, “Notomation the city for those with a hatred to robotics.” Zane continued embarrassed, “yha we ran into problems there. We were doing well and managing to remain undercover till we found some clan members scouting the town…” The two droids looked embarrassed along with potentially being upset and nervous.
“Wait how did Pixal manage to go undercover? Surely they would have recognised what she is?” Cole wondered. Pixal surprised him by activating a cloak like Zane could revealing her human disguise looking to be human like Zanes cloaked look while wearing street gear of a dark blue pair of pants and white shirt under a violet with red trim hooded zipper up sweater instead of her Samurai X gear.
“Wow, when did you get that ability?” Cole wondered impressed. Pixal replied deactivating the cloak, “a while back now. Anyway our investigations led us into trailing this group of Huntsmen into the town and they didn’t like us getting close so hit us with a spell that temporarily disrupted our systems shutting down our disguises. Safe to say the town was not pleased with our presence.”
“Yha I imagine so,” he commented before Zane finished explaining, “we were in a populated area when they did that which made many mad. They said some rather mean and cruel things, threatened and even… tried to attack us so we fled. We had to take shelter in a nearby swamp to escape them. They luckily didn’t follow us thinking we’d electrocute the water on them. We got pretty dirty from our escape. We decided it safest and best for others to look into the area. Nya, Jay and Kai agreed to look into it when they are done their current work.”
“Sorry to hear about that,” Cole commented. Zane getting a bit nervous explained, “we felt since you were alone we’d come home early to get cleaned up and we could give you some company so you would not be lonely. We even got groceries so we could make a meal to have together but we see you have some company… if you like we could get cleaned up and leave you two to your time together.” Cole was unsure what to answer with. He wanted to spend the night in Seliels company but he didn’t want to be rude to Zane or Pixal; they looked like they’d had a rough time and even though they wouldn’t openly admit it could use some comfort. It wasn’t their fault they had stumbled on the two together. Since he wasn’t telling anyone of him and Seliel how were they to know he wouldn’t be alone then. They just wanted to spend time with him likely wanting some comfort after what happened and they might have been wanting to give him comfort; they were the only two to know of how the fog the clan attack had affected him and had left him feeling lately. They were also the only two he’d let his guard down with exposing his recent feelings and issues to. All he could think of was at least out of all of his family to stumble upon them it was Pix and Zane. They were respectful and wouldn’t tease him plus they could keep this a secret. Seliel made up his mind for what to say.
“You two can stay; we wouldn’t mind your two’s company. We haven’t started making dinner yet so we could get it made while you both get cleaned up,” Seliel stated. Being welcomed to hang out cheered the two droids up.
“Thank you… I feel I should recognise you but I cannot currently bring up any memories from my memory banks of someone matching your appearance,” Zane stated thinking and confused. Seliel stated, “Seliel, we met in the town of Nom during the Nindroid Crisis.” Zane paused for a moment to think things over, likely looking into his memories Cole felt, before he looked to remember something.
“Oh… some of my memories from that time are a bit foggy but I do remember some of that,” Zane replied before Pixal started leading him out of the room. The two droids headed off to get clean while he and Seliel put the cake they were making in the oven and got out the groceries Zane and Pixal had got starting to make the meal; stuffed pepper casserole. A mix of rice, ground meat chicken in this case, bell peppers, seasonings and tomato sauce. It was something Zane and Pixal really liked; one of a collection of foods they considered a comfort food. Relating to his fear Cole had developed around his relations he’d come to realise even without consciously thinking of it he’d come to recognise and memorize signs even some of the slightest that something was up or wrong with the others and he felt a strong desire to do something about it to make things better for them. He’d noticed this was something only he was really strong with. Kai and Jay were fairly clueless with the emotions and problems of the others, Nya was pretty bad too but better than her brother; through no fault of their own Zane and Pixal were pretty bad at it but that was a problem with being a nindroid it was just part of their nature they couldn’t help it. They could at least recognise something was wrong but they were very bad at knowing how to react and what to do about it. As for Lloyd it was mixed. Sometimes he could note it but other times he could be as clueless as the others. Given what had happened to them and their choice of food Cole felt the two droids were more shaken up about the events than they were letting off. He felt they were probably not telling them everything that happened. From past experiences with the town of Notomation they probably had a pretty bad time and he could feel he wanted to make things better for them.
“That was really nice of you to let them stay with us for the night. They’re probably not wanting to admit it but they likely went through a rougher time than they’re letting off in the town of Notomation,” he told Seliel as they prepped to make the dinner. Seliel responded, “I did notice they looked a bit shaken; they could probably use the company. Besides this is their home why should they be forced to leave while we hang out especially if they need somewhere safe to be? Plus I could use the time to get to know them. You’ve talked about them quite a bit and I’ve never really gotten the chance to get to know any droids not under dark influences.”
“Trust me you’ll like them. They’re not what most like to claim they are. They’re not monsters or heartless machines. They can be cold and it takes a while for them to open up and trust you and they seem emotionless but they do feel and rather deeply too just like anyone else even if they don’t show it like they were there. Think of them like cats; they sometimes remind me of cats. Jay meanwhile sometimes reminds me of one of those big friendly breeds of dog like a retriever,” Cole expressed the two getting a chuckle over his comparisons before he continued, “just some pointers direct eye contact makes them uncomfortable, don’t move too fast as that can startle them nor make too loud of noise also it will take them a while to let their guard down around you so don’t be surprised if they act a bit odd or distant especially over dinner. Due to some fears and myths from the populace about man eating droids plus it tends to scare a lot of people the two tend to be rather reserved about eating and drinking around strangers to avoid scaring anyone not to mention they have rather specialised diets so can’t just go dine at just any place. It’s often best for them to make something here that way they know it’s safe and won’t disrupt their systems. Sorry I’m getting a bit off topic just don’t worry if they seem to act a little odd or nervous over dinner; it’s not because of you well in some ways it is but it’s mostly because it’s just part of their nature. Anyway something you should also remember is it can be hard to read their non-verbal and sometimes verbal communications. If you have any problems you can ask me; I’ve gotten very good at understanding the communications of droids.”
“You care a lot for them huh,” Seliel commented. Cole replied, “well they are very special and the others sometimes neglect that they have special needs and forget to include them in things plus despite how much they try and wish to think they aren’t as fully functioning as a normal person and need the added care. Not to mention the two have always been caring and respectful to us even if they show it in weird ways or don’t really do things right; it’s at least the thought and caring that counts. They mean well it’s just they commonly don’t know how to properly show or communicate this caring very well. That being said I can tell they’re defiantly hiding something; I think they were probably attacked and maybe even hurt.” Seliel commented a bit worried, “really? Do you think we should check on them to see if they’re okay? If they’re hurt is there anyone we should call? I’m guessing they would need very special care.”
“Yha they do. Normally it’s Jay and Nya who look after the two. The rest of us can do some mild things but anything serious those two have to deal with it,” Cole stated to which Seliel commented, “what do you do when they’re not around? Is there others who can help them.”
“Not many, especially not many we can trust. They’re very special so we have to be very careful with their care. Of course they can treat each other as long as they are in good enough shape to do so. Outside that there’s really only Pixal’s father Cyrus Borg; Zanes father passed a while back plus he’s got a more advanced body than the one his father knew now so I don’t know how well he would be able to repair the two,” Cole replied. There was a moment’s pause before Seliel noted, “you know you’ve mentioned how they have fathers. Did they ever have a mother figure?”
“Not really. Zanes father lived alone in the woods and of course Borg wasn’t married when Pixal was with him. Sometimes Misako acts like a mother to them but I’m not sure if they ever see her as a mother figure. I don’t think I’ve ever seen hints that they do see her like that,” he replied. After another moment’s pause Seliel noted, “I guess they both have only really known a father figure in their lives then huh. That’s kind of sad… I feel bad for them. They’ve never known what it’s like to have a mother or a mother like figure in their lives. Everyone needs a mother and father. Things are probably different for droids so they don’t have the same emotional or development needs like a human so maybe it doesn’t matter to them but still they never got to have a mother’s love or caring. Even your pals Kai and Nya still had a mother like figure despite their true mother being kidnapped and though we’ve lost our mothers at least we had them and got to know them. Those two never got to have that and will never know what it is like.” Her comment made Cole pause what he was doing to think it over. He felt a bit of tightening in his chest and some tears come to his eyes at the thought of a mother. He’d never considered it or thought of it like that but he’d had something in his life that Zane and Pixal had never had nor probably understood what it was like to have. She was right because they weren’t human it probably wasn’t something that bothered them or ever came to their minds maybe it didn’t even register to them what a mother was and that they’d greatly missed out in having one but it made him sad to think that they’d never got that; that they’d never got the love, comfort and caring of a mother like he’d had.
“Do you think we should give them some help?” Seliel questioning stopped Cole from his thinking. He gained control of his emotions wiping the few tears that had started to appear from his eyes before speaking.
“No they’ll be okay; they’ll take care of each other. If they need it they will ask us if they need help. Nindroids, especially those two, generally prefer to do things for themselves. I think they don’t want to be considered a burden to others and want to do things as much as they can for themselves. They can do that to a certain extant but even if they don’t want to admit it they do need someone to help care for them. They’re not as self reliant as they like to think but they’re very cautious of asking for help and appearing vulnerable. They’re very cautious of others because they have trouble recognising who is a threat and who is. Not to mention I think it embarrasses them that they have to have aid from others and can’t be as self reliant as a normal person; they don’t wish to be a burden to others but unfortunately they need others to help care for them. We don’t mind having to care for them. They do it for us when they don’t have to so we can do it for them,” Cole explained. Seliel commented, “why would they feel embarrassed about asking for help? It’s not a sign of weakness and they shouldn’t be ashamed for asking for help.” Cole thought over her words for a second. There was a great deal of truth to that however he couldn’t fully agree to it. He could understand Zane and Pixals view as well; the others often described him as their rock to lean on in times of hardship and they could always count on him in troubled times. How could he be their rock if he wasn’t sturdy or able to handle things on his own?
“I guess that’s true I think though for those two it just reminds them that they’re not truly human which makes them feel isolated from the rest of us. They don’t fully understand what it’s like to be human just like how we don’t understand what it’s like to be a nindroid. I think they just want to belong and feel connected to us but no matter how hard they try they really can’t which makes it even harder for them to ask for help when they need it cause they don’t know if we can truly help them and they don’t want to burden us with their problems which we might not be able to help them with,” Cole explained. There was silence for a moment before Seliel noted, “that’s quite sad; the poor things they shouldn’t feel like that; they can’t help what they are and they shouldn’t be ashamed for not being human.”
“I know but there really isn’t much we can do about that though. We treat them like they are one of us but most others… you know the first and last time we were at Notomation with Zane they were cold to him and when we separated for some work and he was on his own a group ambushed him and shocked him offline. They were going to take him apart but we managed to save him before they could do serious harm to him. Luckily Pixal was still in his head at the time so she was able to take control of his body while he was unconscious to keep him from getting hurt. She was able to send a signal for help and puppeteer him to keep them from truly hurting him till we could save them. Unfortunately they ended up pulling off his one arm and breaking a leg while trying to contain him but it wasn’t anything we couldn’t fix when we saved him,” Cole explained lightening the mood.
“That must have been quite scary for him.”
“Yha it was. We haven’t taken him or Pixal near there since to keep them safe plus the rest of us are not very welcome much there either. When we heard about what they were doing to Zane some of us got a little aggressive and did some damages to the town. In our defence they were threatening one of our family and were not being co-operative or nice to us even when we were being nice. I may have broken some walls, windows and doors and maybe collapsed some structures; Kai and Jay ended up lighting fires that got a little bad which Nya refused to put out as punishment to them so they had to put the fires out on their own. Jay also blew up a power station. We left quite a bit of devastation to the town. We got into trouble for that luckily considering the circumstances the authorities let us off a bit easy. We had to help with clean up and rebuilding as a community service plus they have a restraining order on all of us not permitting us within 100 meters of the city limits but that’s okay. We don’t plan to go there unless we have to.”
“Really?!” Seliel commented with a chuckle amused by the story. Cole agreed, “yha; there’s a few places that aren’t too fond of us that we’re not either welcome at or have restraining orders against us. Not all of it was on purpose. Most were misunderstandings or accidents but some we did some things to warrant it. Nothing really serious largely just defending our droid siblings from those with a hatred to them; we don’t take very kindly to those that hurt our family especial to Zane and Pixal. Just because of what they are many target them with hatred. The two are far more fragile than they appear; they may be built of metal but emotionally and mentally they’re more like a soft wood under the right pressures they are easily damaged or even break.”
“They’re so lucky to have a caring family to care and love them. Most I’ve encountered who have nindroids don’t treat them very fairly or nicely,” Seliel commented and Cole had to agree. Zane and Pixal took a while getting cleaned up; considerably longer than they would usually need. Cole felt they were probably taking some time to relax in a hot shower from their ordeal. While the water didn’t affect them like people they could still feel it in their own way and like people warm to mildly hot showers had a calming effect on them. Cole and Seliel made the dinner putting it in the oven once the cake was done. Zane and Pixal were still in the shower at that time. Cole couldn’t help but peek on them. He opened the door to the room a bit to peak in at them hoping they wouldn’t be aware of him. They were both still in one of their own of the four shower stalls in the room occupied on getting clean. Sure enough as he suspected they must have received some minor injuries as they had some of the supplies for repair work on themselves sitting in the middle of the room. He let them be to continue getting cleaned up not wanting to make them uncomfortable. Instead he went to hang with Seliel till the dinner was ready. They hung out in the common room talking till the timer for dinner was done. Seliel went to get the dinner out of the oven while he went to get Zane and Pixal. The two were drying off from their shower and would be out soon. Cole decided to pick a movie for them to watch over dinner; he’d originally planned a romance movie for he and Seliel and while he was going to stick with that he was going to change the one he had chosen to cheer up Zane and Pixal. It wasn’t much of a bother as he liked the movie too plus seeing others happy especially those he was close to made him happy and was more important than a movie. The movie took place in the past and was about a couple in love who were cursed by a jealous and corrupted monk; by day she was a falcon by night he a knight was a wolf and they could never touch while human. They were being helped by a stealthy thief who’d escaped prison accidently getting caught up with them in the process and eventually a lone monk who’d taken to living on his own and was good friends with the couple. They were in search of a cure which was for the two to appear before the monk during an eclipse back in their original forms holding each other’s hands. Zane and Pixal joined him and Seliel for dinner the two in their PJ’s.
“Sorry about not being in better dress… it is all we had,” Zane apologised for his and Pixals attire. Pixal added, “our everyday and work attire is currently being cleaned.” Cole thought that a little odd as he was pretty sure they had clean clothes but he said nothing and brushed it off. If they wanted to wear their PJ’s he didn’t have a problem with that. Seliel responded to the droids with, “that’s okay; if you’re comfortable that’s all that matters.”
“You chose one of our favourite movies; you did not have to do that for us,” Pixal noted as they sat down on the couches each with a bowl of food. Zane and Pixal sat on one couch with each other while he sat next to Seliel on the other couch. Cole replied, “it’s a good movie for a date night; we’re kind of on a double date wouldn’t you say? You two together and us together what do you think?” They were in agreement. They hung out over dinner while watching the movie. Cole wasn’t surprised that Zane and Pixal weren’t very talkative; generally it would take a while for them getting used to someone they didn’t know for them to be talkative towards or around the person. While not talkative they would respond if Seliel spoke to them. The two droids did seem a little nervous or at the least uncomfortable over dinner and were clearly cautious of doing anything to scare Seliel but he expected that; Seliel was fairly new to them so it would take some time for the two to get comfortable around her and they didn’t know that she wasn’t scared of any of their actions or behaviours like most people were. Eventually they had a bit of quiet time while watching the film before Cole got a message from a nearby town asking him to look into reports of dark figures in the area and a missing child. He decided to get on it. Seliel was up for joining him in the endeavour. He was going to inquire if Zane and Pixal would be up for the mission but instead found the two sleeping leaned into each other. They decided to let the two sleep while they went out to deal with the disturbance Seliel getting into her Phantom Ninja attire. They rode out on Coles rock-cycle to the location. The call for aid came from a farming town not too far from the Monastery. When the two got there the place was quiet and seemed peaceful. It was night and there was a storm approaching in the distance. The town was a walled settlement surrounded by farm fields of rice and wheat with some small plots of other crops and paddocks and pastures of cattle, pigs and chickens. Outside these were patchy woods and fields. All was calm. They parked outside the town and started to head out to the fields to look for the missing child. They both had a flashlight from some storage on his bike.
“What are we to be looking for?” Seliel inquired and Cole commented, “a little girl from the town has gone missing. She disappeared two hours ago. They found her footprints leading out into the fields. Some from the town went out to find her but couldn’t. Instead they found a strange structure that appears to be made by unknown forces in some nearby woods. That and combined with reports of strange shadows, lights and sounds in the fields and nearby wilderness over the last week everyone’s too scared to go back out and look for her. Everyone’s scared and thinks something supernatural is going on. The mayor doesn’t think so but he can’t convince anyone to go back out so wants us to try and find the girl and look into what the towns folk are scared of. The mayor worries some bad folks like criminals or cultists could be behind this so we should work fast.”
“Defiantly sounds like it could be criminals or cultists, they often do creepy things to use fear to keep others from looking into their actions or… could some of this Lost Clan be here?” Seliel wondered as they started walking around looking for traces of the girl following a dirt road between two patches of crop fields in the direction the mayor of the town who had contacted him had told him traces of the girl and this strange structure was in.
“I don’t think so. We haven’t recorded any signs of them in the nearby areas. If I was to make a guess I’d have to say it’s probably cultists,” Cole commented.
“Why would they go after a child?” Seliel wondered and Cole commented, “not sure. She could have accidently stumbled into actions of theirs that no one was to see. If that was the case then they probably will not be doing anything good to the girl so we need to find her fast.” It took a short while but they soon found traces in the dirt of a road that went through a wheat field of the girls’ footsteps. Oddly it was just hers; there were no other footprints with hers. Clearly she was fine while on this road. Whatever happened to her occurred somewhere further down the trail. They followed the footprints along the road into the woods. The road was not lit by any light sources making it dark which was further worsened by the cloud cover that covered the sky blocking out any moon light. They had to agree there was a creepiness to the area but they weren’t exactly sure what made it creepy. Was it the circumstances that had brought them there? Was it the things the villagers had claimed to see and hear? They could admit at times they could hear some pretty unsettling sounds. Most of those however were likely just animals with those that weren’t entirely animal likely just being from more artificial and mechanical things like a large old windmill that was out in the one field or trees moving with the wind and nothing supernatural. The road led into some nearby woods which were darker than in the more open fields. With how dark it was in there the two couldn’t see why a young child would wander into such a dark place. Children were afraid of the dark; both he and Seliel could remember being scared of the dark as a child and things they would do to combat it. Things like seeking their parents, nightlights and crawling under covers just to name a few. For a child to wander into such a dark and creepy place something had to be up. She likely had not come willingly into the woods or had maybe been scared of something in the fields forcing her to hide in the dark woods. While they couldn’t see any other persons footprints on the road that didn’t mean someone hadn’t been following in the fields. After a short distance on the road into the woods the prints veered off the road into the undergrowth. As they followed the prints they noted something unsettling not too far off in the undergrowth along the trail the girl had taken. There was some sort of structure sitting there. There were no external light sources on the structure but windows on it let the internal lights shine out revealing its existence in the dark and giving them hints to its form. Cole had a strong feeling this structure was the one he had been told of that was scaring the locals. It was a couple meters off in the woods largely hidden by foliage and could easily have been overlooked especially in the dark if it wasn’t for the light coming from inside the structure. The two cautiously approached the structure. It was a crude stone structure looking like some form of old barn with a tower at the front where the door was or some ancient chapel. There were some small glass windows on the sides of the structure with a large rounded stained glass one on the front of the tower portion. This window had the design of the overhead silhouette of a black flying raven with a red diamond at its center on an eerie green colored background. The structure was made largely of stone and the two sided shallow pitched roof. The roof was made of wooden shingles with some patches of moss and sod having grown on it and on the peak were short somewhat rounded spine like projects with the end at the back having a decorative projection resembling a dragons head. The front tower was fairly open with a thatched peaked roof making a sort of watch tower out of it. Just upon seeing it they got an uneasy feeling. There was something off to this structure like it didn’t belong here and possibly might not entirely be of their world. According to the town this structure had not been here before just appearing a few weeks earlier. There had been no construction which they could confirm by the lack of trampling to surrounding foliage, no trails from vehicles or people leading to the site and no evidence to construction like traces of scaffolding being used. Further adding to the evidence that this structure wasn’t a new build was this structure looked old with worn stone and a fairly decent and established minor collection of foliage growing on and around the structure. Overall while maintained to some extent the structure look to be at least a few hundred of years so it couldn’t be recently built but according to the town mayor it hadn’t been there before. The two braved up to slowly approaching the structure to investigate it. Cole noted the feeling of a strange energy coming from the structure, an energy he recognised as being similar to the one the Lost Clan gave off. The energy however was mild compared to what they would encounter when around the clan. Curious if there was anyone inside the two cautiously approached the door of the structure. The crude wood door to the structure was unlocked and opened with ease. The moment the door was opened they were startled by a white raven that flew out of the structure past them the bird vanishing in the darkness of the woods.
“Okay it was just a bird,” Cole calmed himself a little startled by the bird. They took a moment to settle before Seliel led the way in Cole following a bit on edge feeling this place looked like someplace that would be haunted. Inside the place was fairly clean and clearly being lived in. Along with the stone walls and wooden roof there were wooden rafters and beams lending structure to the roofing inside. The structure was just a single large room with the only separate room being the entry foyer under the tower which had a ladder built into the one side of the inner wall which led up to a hatch to the top of the tower leading up to roof of the section. Inside the building it felt like they’d gone back in time by hundreds of years. Simple tapestries and rugs decorated the place, there was no indications of electricity in the building however the light fixtures which resembled candle and oil lamps were not lit by fire but some form of magical light. There was a simple wooden bed with a surprisingly modern looking mattress which had a blanket folded on the end of the bed shoved in the one corner by the entrance positioned with its one side pressed against the wall. A small writing desk was positioned by the end of the bed looking out a window in the wall. Next to the desk was a bookshelf filled with old books written in a writing neither of them recognised though both felt they had seen it before on some artefacts in the Ninjago City museum. The side of the room opposite the bed was a small cooking area with a mixed fireplace and ancient style oven for cooking, several cabinets, a counter which had a small keg with an unknown liquid on its one corner and a cold box; a form of furniture that was essentially an ancient pre electricity form of fridge. Towards the back of the structure there was a floor cushion which sat a bit back from a small strange alter looking structure with a metal basin in it. There appeared to be water in the basin with a strange residue in the bowl and on the plain stone of the alter around it. A kneeling cushion sat by the alter and a gong sat behind it. Was someone living there? Possibly and by the looks of things it most likely was some form of monk but what kind of monk? There really wasn’t anything that could give them a clue to answer that other than the place looked out of place in time. The two felt like they had walked into a portal to the past at least a few hundred years back possibly even more.
“This place is really strange. I don’t know why but it feels like it doesn’t belong here; that it’s out of place,” Seliel noted and Cole added agreeing, “I’m getting the same feeling too. I wonder who’s been using this place and how did it get here?” They did a quick inspection to the place but found nothing significant. Seeing nothing significant was there they left the structure to check the woods nearby. Surely whoever was tied to this structure had to be nearby. The place looked like whoever was living here had just stepped out for a moment and would be back soon. They started looking around the outside of the structure. They were getting a very unsettling watched feeling in the area and a few times heard something moving through the woods nearby. Was that also some faint talking from someone or something? They couldn’t make out most of the words so they weren’t entirely sure if that was actually speaking they were hearing or if they were just confusing natural sounds with potential speech. There was one sound though that was clearly speech and not something else that came out of the woods sending shivers down their spine. At one point a gravelly voice stated rather loudly and clearly the words ‘I see you’. It creeped them out making their blood cold and causing their hearts to skip a beat. They paused to see if they could see anything in the woods around them but they couldn’t. There was no one there!
“I’m getting the feeling it might not be bandits who took her,” Cole commented trying to keep his cool starting to get the fear ghosts might be nearby while Seliel wondered, “who do you think it was then?” Cole was getting shivers thinking of it before commenting, “can a forest be haunted?!” The two were getting more scared and on edge.
“Maybe, don’t worry though if it is I’ll be your rock if it gets too scary; I know how ghosts scare you. To be honest they kind of scare me too,” Seliel stated and Cole commented, “you call yourself the Phantom Ninja though?”
“Yha cause I wanted something to scare my enemies and it was one of the scariest things I could think of. Plus I wanted to work like a phantom; you couldn’t see my actions unless I wanted you to.”
“You’re name is very fitting then,” Cole commented agreeing with her. Snapping in the woods caught their attention. They paused and shone their flashlights in the direction. At first they couldn’t see anything. They paused to listen to better pinpoint where the sound came from. They heard the rustling some more. Whatever it was at least didn’t sound too big. That wasn’t much of a relief however as they still had no clue what was moving around the forest and making the noise. Using the sound of the rustling they were drawn to look at the forest floor by the woods edge. There was a strange emaciated and scarred looking rabbit creature sniffing and digging around on the forest floor as if it was looking for food. The scars on its ragged haired skin were glowing a warm blue as it ruffled through some foliage with its muzzle, the tusks of its top jaw and the projections on its lower jaws minding its business. The creatures presence gave them feelings of dread giving Cole a bad feeling. He’d seen creatures like this before. He had only seen them in association with the Lost Clan. He whispered this to Seliel who nervously whispered back, “do you think that means some are out here?”
“I want to think it’s a slim chance but it probably does mean some are here. It would also explain this structure; it fits their lost in time aesthetic.”
“Why would they be here?”
“Probably scouting for an attack we should…” Cole began to state slowly reaching over his shoulder to grab his hammer before something ploughed into him from behind shoving him to the ground before grasping onto his hand where he was holding his hammer with its jaws keeping him from equipping himself or even just fighting back. By the feels of it on his back he felt it was one of the Zkuroc creatures of the Lost Clan pinning him down. Before Seliel could help him she was forced into combat with a Feardrake that jumped out of the woods at her. It tried to pin her down but Seliel was able to hold her ground against it. It had its jaws gripped on her sword trying to pull it from her but she managed to get an upper hand by hitting the creature in the face with one of her smoke bombs. The smoke irritated the monsters eyes causing it to let go of her sword letting her break free to help Cole by giving a hefty swing of her sword into the Zkurocs neck knocking it off of Cole with such force that some of its teeth broke off as its jaws were torn from its grip on his hand and weapon leaving scratches and even one canine stuck in Coles hand. Despite the pain Cole got up equipping himself to help take down the monsters. Working together the two were able to defeat the monsters who were joined by some Serpent Flies and even the Dread-rabbit in the fight. They kept their backs to each other preventing the monsters from attacking them from behind. Seliel would use her smoke bombs to temporarily distract the monsters hitting them in the face to irritate their senses while he would use his powers to create a localized quake warning Seliel when he did this so she could prepare and not loose balance. She was quite sturdy on her feet keeping herself steady every time and to Coles surprise and nerves so was the strange building. The monsters would stop to brace themselves or stumble from the quakes but the building showed no signs of being affected by his powers. No shaking, no damages being made not even just bits of dirt or dust being shaken off. That further confirmed to him that something was off to this building. They worked so well together that within a few minutes they were down to just one of the monsters. The Feardrake which Cole finished off with one of his earth punches tossing it into a tree trunk where it took a chunk out of the tree with it before bursting into a dark mist which disappeared. With the monsters defeated they took a moment to relax Cole having to pull out the tooth stuck in his hand.
“You’re hurt do you need my help?” Seliel worried coming over to help him. Cole didn’t want her to worry so brushed off the injury as not being too bad despite it stinging pretty bad. She wasn’t convinced however especially with the blood coming to cover his hand once he got the tooth out. She pulled some cotton pads and wraps from a pouch on her attire and bandaged his hand.
“You didn’t have to do that,” he told her as she finished bandaging his hand. Seliel replied, “consider it an apology for knocking that creature off you causing this wound.”
“Apology accepted,” Cole stated looking into her eyes feeling warmed and comforted by her gaze. They stood looking at each other for a second before a noise caught their attentions; sounded like there was still something moving through the woods. Looking at the source of the noise they could make out in the forest understory a pale figure moving through the woods in the distance headed in the direction of the town. They looked to be humanoid and likely wearing pale robes but not much else could be determined of them. Cole was at first nervous it was a ghost till he realised it was solid in make not transparent.
“What is that?” Seliel quietly wondered. Neither were sure so they quietly snuck over to find out who this figure was and what they were up to turning their flashlights off in the process to avoid catching the figures attention. As they got closer they were nervous to note this figure was one of the hyena beings of the Lost Clan with pale tawny skin and fur, brownish head hair that went down to his shoulders and brownish beard lining his bottom jaw and up his cheeks. He wore pale tan to cream hooded monks robe with a reddish waste wrap. His hood wasn’t over his head and he was barefoot. He was carrying something in his arms held carefully against himself. It was a small child; the small child they were looking for! This being of the Lost Clan had the child! That wasn’t good! What was it intending to do to with her and why had he taken her? The two quickly worked out a plan of what to do before rushing out to confront the figure. Cole put himself in direct confrontation of the being while Seliel snuck around to sneak attack them when distracted.
“Let the child go,” Cole ordered the figure who stopped to look back at Cole appearing to look over assessing him. He placed down the child and moved them to behind himself. With the being distracted Seliel quickly moved in to knock the figure off balance knocking him aside and Cole moved in to grab the kid and pull her back to safety.
“Don’t worry we’ll get you back to your parents that being won’t hurt you,” Cole told the child who countered, “he wasn’t going to hurt me.”
“I was helping her,” the figure stated surprisingly calm as he got up. Cole demanded standing the kid protectively behind himself, “why would one of the Lost Clan be here kidnapping a child?”
“I did not kidnap her; I found her wandering through the wilderness. She should not be wandering alone at night out here. It’s too dangerous. The beasts who have joined us on our endeavour do not share the moralities of humans and may attack her by accident driven by their primal and chaotic natures to maintain balance to the cosmos. They like us are bound to different laws of just and morality than you humans however while my kind can put that aside in your realms to work in peace with your kind they have trouble doing this,” the figure stated no emotion appearing in his voice. Cole commented, “by beasts I’m assuming you mean those monsters that were hanging around what I am to assume is your dwelling.”
“I am guessing you ran into them,” the figure stated and Cole noted, “yha they weren’t too happy to see us.”
“I would expect not,” he commented and Cole asked him, “who are you and what are you doing out here?”
“My name you need not know nor do you need to know my purposes,” he replied his tone and emotions still unchanging.
“If you won’t give us such basic information how can we trust you or your word?” Seliel questioned. As they talked to this figure both Cole and Seliel both noted a strange feeling coming over them. It was a calming feeling lowering their desires to challenge or attack this figure. The girl then talked up, “he was helping me find my kitty; Beans.”
“You named a cat after beans?” Cole commented stumped by the name. The kid explained, “the door was left open and Beany got out. Mom and Dad didn’t want to help me find him saying it’s too dangerous but I don’t want anything to happen to him so I went out on my own to find him. I don’t want anything happening to him!”
“I found her wandering out here and came to help her to keep her safe my beastial allies will not harm her if I am present,” the figure commented. Cole asked, “you still haven’t answered your name or what were you doing out here?” The figure explained, “as I said before you need not know my name as for what I was doing I was minding my own business.”
“You’re apart of the Lost Clan aren’t you, I’ll ask again nicely what are you doing out here?” Cole demanded. The figure responded, “yes I am apart of the Lost Clan. I am a monk, a Raven Priest one of our spiritual members. I was out here to meditate and seek guidance from the cosmos.”
“For what?” Cole questioned and the figure responded, “it is not for bad deeds if that is what you are worried about. I am on my own simply looking for some peace to ponder over some personal things. I am on temporary leave from the clan while I rest and meditate from some stressful work I was engaged in; none of it was anything bad in your views.”
“You’re out here to scout for attacks aren’t you?” Seliel questioned. The figure replied, “no I am not.” A light brown tabby cat was suddenly dropped on the ground by them and a white raven flew over to perch on a tree by the figure muttering in the gruff voice they had heard mutter ‘I see you’ earlier ‘there’s kitty kitty’. It had been the raven they’d heard talking; it was probably an ally to the clan one of their strange ravens often encountered alongside the clan. The moment the startled cat landed the girl rushed over to it calling the cats name to pick it up and hug it holding the cat tight so she wouldn’t lose him.
“Now that she has her beloved companion you should take her home. It’s going to rain soon not weather a child should be left out in especially at night… without the radiating light of the sun the powers of darkness are strong at night,” the figure stated prepping to leave. Cole decreed moving over and putting a hand on the figures shoulder, “oh no you’re coming with us. We want answers and those like you are too dangerous to be roaming free.” The figure just stopped and looked at him fairly emotionless and unbothered.
“Are we really that dangerous?” the figure asked. Cole responded, “you’re conquering our realm…” The figure looked at him to decree, “are we really that dangerous though? You have seen how we work. We do not hurt the innocent? We punish those who deserve it; we may dominate an area but we give everyone free will, they do not have to pay us for anything and they are free to do as they please we just ask they stay out of our way, keep working as they have always done and do not get involved in our works unless asked to. We help build and maintain places so they will remain well in the future and protect them from a possible darkness… you and your allies are too occupied on us to see it but there is a great darkness hiding in your realm; a deep terrible darkness that if unleashed will lead to destruction for all. Your focus on us is a hindrance to your roles as protectors. Continue to interfere in our works and this great hidden darkness will be unleashed. For your realms safety you of the dragon and your kin should do the right thing and not interfere with our work.”
“What exactly are you and your clan up to?” Cole questioned confused and feeling suspicious. The figure declared, “it is not for mortals to know. Our endeavour must remain secret for the safety of all now I would recommend you get going; the weathers not going to stay fair for long.” The figure then headed off vanishing in the woods the raven following them. Cole and Seliel decided to let him go feeling oddly that it was the right thing to do. Instead they led the girl with her cat home. Her parents were waiting at the town gate worried waiting for news. The moment they saw their daughter they rushed over to hug her and comfort her. Cole watched the families interactions as they comforted and loved each other especially the interactions between the mother and daughter. While heart warming it also brought pains to his heart and tears to his eyes as it brought up feelings and memories of his mother. It had been long since he could feel that special love from a mother and he’d never again get to feel that kind of love, at least not in the living world. Even when he could use it he could never get it. She was gone. What should have been a happy moment with the family reunited and safely heading home had Cole only feeling sadness.
“Come we got everything settled. Why don’t we head home before the weather turns,” Seliel said comfortingly noting how the scene was affecting Cole. She put her arm over his shoulder and led him off to his bike while he dried his eyes. Since it was late Cole decided to take Seliel to where she was staying before he was going home to bed. He stopped outside the apartment she was staying in and walked her to the door.
“Sorry things didn’t turn out the way we had planned,” he apologised to her. Seliel stated, “that’s okay. It was still pretty fun and it was nice to meet Zane and Pixal. Maybe next time we hang out with them they’ll be in a more relaxed mood. If you need to talk or just want to hang out don’t be afraid to contact me. I can make time for you whenever you need it.”
“I should be fine,” Cole stated giving Seliel a hug and she gave him a hug. They hugged for over a minute.
“Not that I don’t like the attention but it is getting late; I think you can let go now. You could use for the rest and don’t worry everything will be okay,” Seliel commented.
“Sorry,” Cole commented stopping the hug. He gave her a kiss on the cheek as a farewell before heading home once Seliel had entered the building she was staying in. It was chilly and raining heavily as he got home parking his cycle in the Hanger Bay. When he got up into the common room everything was off and Zane and Pixal weren’t there; likely in bed he felt. First thing he noticed once in the Monastery was it was colder in there than outside. That wasn’t normal which made him a bit nervous. While he wanted to get out of his wet clothes to get dry and warm he looked into the chill. He was pretty sure he knew its source. Sure enough he was right. Zane was having a rough sleep and lost some control of his powers causing the chill in the building. There was a teddy parrot on the floor by his bed which Cole felt Zane had originally been sleeping with for comfort. Zane was shaking in his sleep but Cole wasn’t sure if it was due to a nightmare or if he was cold. Zane was on his left side twitching quite a bit in his sleep and despite Cole calling to him Zane was clearly in a deep sleep and wasn’t responding to him.
“It’s okay buddy it’s just a dream and can’t hurt you,” Cole comfortingly stated as he picked up the teddy and carefully placed it in Zanes arms. The moment it was in his arms Zane hugged it tight relaxing a bit. He was still shaking a bit so Cole felt just to be safe he could get Zane a blanket in case he was cold; if anything a blanket on him might give him a comforting feeling and help calm him.
“I’ll be rate back buddy,” he stated giving Zane some strokes to his side hoping it would help calm him. He left the room heading to a closet in the bedroom hall to get a blanket to put on Zane so he didn’t have to disturb him to get his blanket out from under him as he was sleeping on it. Disturbing Zane while he was in this state could lead to him getting hurt. Before he returned to Zane he checked on Pixal. She too seemed to be having a rough sleep. She had a kangaroo teddy that had fallen from her hands and she had kicked her blankets off and looked to be cold; she wasn’t as resilient to the cold as Zane. He set the blanket he had gotten for Zane on the bottom of her bed as he pulled her blanket up over her tucking her back in and putting her teddy back in her arms careful to not disturb her. As he did this he could confirm his suspicion was right and they had been hurt. A spot on her shoulder was fairly warm and smelled of Synth-repair a product for repairing the synthetic makes like muscles, some organs and skin of droids. Pulling her shirt back a bit on her shoulder he could even see scarring to the skin of her shoulder that he was pretty sure hadn’t been there before. He was careful to not cause pain to her as he tucked her in; the area repaired was often sensitive for a while after being repaired which nindroids would register as pain. She stirred a bit as he tucked her in wondering what was going on but he relaxed her telling her, “it’s alright you knocked the blankets off so I’m just tucking you back in.” She laid back down going back to sleep. He gave her a kiss on the cheek telling her goodnight before leaving the room to tend to Zane. He was still shaking a bit. Cole put the blanket over him. As he did this he noted scarring on the back of Zanes right wrist that he was pretty sure hadn’t been there before; the fact the area was still fairly warm and smelled of Synth-repair while the rest of him was cold was also pretty indicative that this repair had been made that day probably in the last few hours. Cole was pretty sure Zane along with Pixal probably had more damages elsewhere on their bodies though the cold Zane was making was making it difficult for him to note any warm spots on Zane who was still rather cold to the touch and twitching.
“Hey buddy just relax your safe here I won’t let anyone hurt you,” he comfortingly told Zane stroking his side a bit before giving him a hug to help calm him down quicker. Zane slowly calmed down the cold leaving him and he slowly warmed back up as he relaxed. Cole stopped his hug telling Zane, “that’s it buddy now get some rest. No one will be able to hurt you or Pixal while I’m around.” He gave Zane a goodnight kiss to the cheek. Before he left the room he carefully took another look at the damage on Zanes wrist. Pulling back the sleeve he could see the damage went almost halfway up his forearm as well. The people of Notomation must have been really terrible to the two and he could barely understand what they’d used to hurt the two. The metal plating of Zanes skin was made of titanium; what could the people of that town have used that could hurt the two enough to cut through the metal of their bodies? After inspecting the injury he let Zane be making sure he was tucked in before heading to his room to get dried up and into his PJ’s. He contacted Seliel to let her know he’d got home safely before getting in bed and not long after laying his head on his pillow he fell asleep. He started to dream. Darkness; figures moving in a dark fog. The others were calling for each other lost in this darkness. There was a voice calling his name; was it his mother’s voice he was hearing? It was cold… was that cold in more than his dreams? He was woken up from his sleep. It was cold in the Monastery again. He got up to check on Zane. Sure enough he’d gotten restless again kicking the blankets off himself. He was laying on his back still holding onto the teddy but ice was building on his skin. He was clearly having a bad night no doubt a result from their encounter in the town of Notomation and Cole felt likely needed some comfort to get some rest and stop chilling the place.
Cole thought over what to do. Something he had come to realize in his time of soul searching over his emotions and memories was while they were family to him Coles relations to Zane and Pixal was different from his relations to the others. While he saw the others as brothers and sister his relation to their droid siblings he felt was a bit deeper. He wasn’t sure why but at times he felt like they were more than siblings; he felt like they were his children. He knew he didn’t need to think of them like that, mentally they functioned like adults and physically looked like them but there were things to them that made him feel like they were more like children. Maybe because they weren’t truly human so lacked some of the features of humans namely the dark and cruel sides of the human nature along with their inability to grasp a good deal of human things like social cues, concepts, interactions, structures and social media he often got the feelings of a childhood innocence and lack of understanding to the human world from them. Even at their cruellest the two still were nothing like people. They were incapable of true evil anything that they did that appeared evil was either by being controlled by dark forces or were always a misplacement or misdirection of caring and empathy or a misunderstanding that it was something humans viewed as wrong; they didn’t understand what they were doing was wrong in the eyes of humans or they were thinking they were doing the right thing. They were incapable of true greed, cruelty, selfishness and other evils only humans could do.
He was pretty sure the two also shared a slightly different relation with him than they had with the others seeing him at times as more than just a big brother but as a father figure. If something was up or they were nervous or scared and couldn’t deal with it themselves they would seek him out for aid, protection or comfort. They often wouldn’t say anything when they did this, they were not ones to readily express their emotions or problems, but he had gotten pretty good at deciphering behaviours and non verbal communications of nindroids so could just tell when something was up. Because of this view the two had of him they tended to confide with him more than any of the others even Wu and sometimes even each other. Because of this Cole was pretty sure outside Pixal he was the only one to know deep down Zanes feelings and some of his memories Zane had from his time as the Ice Emperor and how troubled they made him. Ever since they had rescued him Zane from that ordeal he had been incredibly quiet about things he had done then. He wouldn’t really speak much about it and Jay and Nya had found he’d locked most memories to keep anyone from uncovering them. A few weeks after they had gotten him back to the Monastery to cheer him up Cole took Zane out on a break with him just the two of them to a lakeside cottage in some northern woods for a relaxing four day weekend just to relax. They planned to do some hiking, bird watching and fishing and while they got to do some of that it rained quite a bit during the time so they spent quite a bit of time cooped up in the cabin. For some reason possibly helped by the bad weather and maybe because he was the families rock Zane eventually broke down to him the one night about some things from that time. Zane couldn’t understand the pure evil and cruelty Vex had made him do and it disturbed him. While he could reason himself to accept some of the things he did as him just acting like a force of nature and change upon the realm there was many he couldn’t that left him hurt and troubled like Vex using him to do things like torturing the innocent, theft and hoarding of more resources than they needed and sometimes it was as harsh as slaying others even entire villages or species solely for hatred without a logical cause like they were a danger to others instead it was out of things like they were in the way, out of greed or even just for amusement Vex getting enjoyment out of their suffering and the cruelty. Despite how hard he’d try the power of the scroll made it too hard to disobey Vexs orders leading him to do this stuff even if he didn’t want to. Even worse he felt some of the things he did he had actually liked and felt right to do like slaying criminals. While that didn’t bother him very much it had him worried that those actions had left a mark on him that could lead him to lose some control in the future leading him to no longer distinguish between good and evil and lead him to hurt the innocent or do worse to them leading him to become what he felt others would consider a monster. Seeing how all that had affected Zane and his inability to understand the greed, cruelty and evil of humans Cole had come to realize despite their apparent humanity droids weren’t human nor could ever truly be close to it no matter how much they tried. They were much more innocent beings devoid of the true evils that truly separated humans and other humanoid races from all other life forms. Coming to that realisation he’d started to develop a strong desire to protect the two as much as possible from the evils of the world to keep them safe and so they’d rarely have to suffer the cruelty of humans.
Thinking of children Cole got an idea from his childhood when he’d have bad nightmares crawling into his parents bed with them to feel safe and protected. He went to the common room and moved all the furniture aside to make a clearing in the middle of the room. He then got some floor mattresses, pillows and blankets out of the bedroom storage closet and made a large bed on the floor for them. He went and got Pixal first as she was calmer in her sleep. She stirred a bit as he carried her to the bed but went to sleep when he told her he was taking her to bed. Both of them were very trusting to him so often wouldn’t question or challenge his actions so she wasn’t questioning why he was taking her from her bed. He laid her down on her left side on the bed he’d made in the common room. He then went and got Zane having to break ice off his body before carefully picking him up to avoid doing anything to cause him to react in defence; Zane was clearly on edge in his sleep so could react dangerously if he felt in danger. Zane surprisingly relaxed a bit as Cole picked him up. He carried Zane to the bed he’d made and placed him next to Pixal on his right side before tucking both in and placing one of their hands in the others hand. To help make a relaxing environment he put an ASMR video of a fireplace on a covered deck in the rain on the TV in the room.
“There we’re all here together nice and safe in each other’s company. Everything’s calm and peaceful. You two should get some better sleep now and I’ll be rate here to keep you two safe and company,” he talked as he laid down on the mattress near them getting tucked in. He wasn’t sure if they could really hear him in their sleep but he felt he needed to say it anyway. As he lay there waiting to fall asleep a thought came to his mind. It was what Seliel had commented earlier about Zane and Pixal never really having a mother. She was right about that and there was nothing that could change that however he thought while he could never truly be a mother to them maybe he could try his best to step up a bit and be like a mother to them giving them a motherly type caring and loving. While the two probably would feel they didn’t need it he felt they could benefit from some motherly type love and care and he felt he was the best suited for that kind of role. None of the others were really well equipped for that task. While Nya seemed like she could be a candidate Cole felt she didn’t have the right skills or temperament for the task; she was more like a big sister. Kai and Lloyd didn’t really have it in them either and Jay especially didn’t have the demeanour for it; he was more like a little brother. He was the only one with the caring and protectiveness to qualify for that kind of role.
It was only a short time after getting tucked in before he fell asleep again. Again there was darkness. He was knelt on the top of Borg tower in the capital looking down at the city below. It was flooded in a sea of a thick black fog that reached over ten stories tall. Everywhere he looked all he could see was this fog which seemed to have something massive slithering through it. To the south of the city were a few volcanoes that were smoking dropping ash over part of the city. A trumpeting noise in the sky startled him. Looking up he was startled by a massive tear that opened up over the tower dark anchored chains dropping down out of it and swinging to anchor in various areas in the city. Once they anchored the dark fog started to climb the chains and he could see the fog also starting to climb some buildings and even pouring out of the tear which was morphing into a circular shape with some of the dark fog exiting it morphing into a metallic ring structure around it in the sky. Dark balls of smoke fell from the dark clouded red tinged sky all across the city alongside some strikes of lightening. He was terrified, he looked for somewhere safe. There was only one place he could see; in the building. He rushed to the roof access and tried to open the door but it refused to budge. A chilling feeling creeped up his back causing him to turn and look back. He was terrified to see a figure made of shadow with two sets of burning red eyes looming there rising up out of the fog below the building. It was serpentine looking and massive staring down at him. For some reason he could hear some of the words that figure of the Lost Clan had said to him in his head; ‘there is a great darkness hiding in your realm; a deep terrible darkness that if unleashed will lead to destruction for all. Your focus on us is a hindrance to your roles as protectors. Continue to interfere in our works and this great hidden darkness will be unleashed’. The monster stared down at him with an unsettling look before it spat the dark fog around them at him. All Cole could do was cower terrified… he jolted awake. It was still night and he was laying on his back sweating a bit and heart racing. He wanted to sit up to look around but found himself held down. To his surprise Zane and Pixal were cuddled up to him one on either side of him both with one arm laid over his chest like they were hugging him. The two were still fast asleep but looked to have really calmed down. Looked like his idea had worked; having close contact with each other and him made them feel safe and had comforted them enough to give them a peaceful sleep even though they weren’t where he had left them. He was betting he might have woken them up while he was dreaming and the two had come to give him comfort to help him sleep. He felt touched by that. If he’d lost control of his powers during his sleep he could easily accidently hurt them but they cared deeply enough for him they were fine with taking the risk of harm to comfort him. The contact with the two, warmth from them and the sound of the two calmly breathing helped relax him from his nightmare. To some the normal sounds of nindroids which were quite human like yet off from a normal persons would unsettle or scare them. For him though they were a more comforting and relaxing sounds. He laid there for a while as he relaxed thinking about the dream that had woken him. It sent shivers down his spine; he knew it was the dream that gave him shivers and not Zane as he was actually fairly warm now that he was relaxed. He was also making a quiet mild snoring noise which Cole felt was oddly adding to the calming of his presence. Cole remembered how Pixal had suggested dreams like this might be trying to tell him something. Was it trying to tell him something and if so what? He started to think it over? He defiantly got the sense of danger from it. He felt danger was coming; a dark and serious danger. What was this danger though? What that figure from the Lost Clan had said came to his mind. It claimed there was a darkness hidden in their realm. What was this darkness? Did his dream hint to what this darkness was? Was it some sort of weapon or a being like the Overlord? Was that why this clan was there to unleash this darkness on their realm?! The thought was very unsettling to him and it was a while before he was able to fall asleep again.
It had been a rough day all of them having been roughed up and worked to exhaustion from trying to hold back an attack on a city from the clan. They’d lost the city falling to the clan, most of their vehicles including Pixals Samurai X mech receiving heavy damages during the attack and they’d been roughed up quite a bit from the clan. They were unable to rescue many and sent fleeing from the area. They were now all just laying around in the common room tired and feeling defeated. Cole was laying on his back on the pool table with his one arm over his eyes resting, Zane and Pixal were laying head to head on the one couch Pixal working on a tablet while Zane appeared to be asleep or close to it. Nya lay on the other couch with her brother who was sitting up just blankly watching the TV which had on some guy building terrariums for his pet reptiles on it. It wasn’t something he’d normally watch but he was too tired and defeated to change it; he was at least finding it strangely relaxing. Jay was laying face down with his head turned to the side on the floor below them like he was playing dead an ice pack on his one ankle. Lloyd sat on the floor against the couch Zane and Pixal were on just staring at the floor still a bit wet with a bit of a film on his skin from a calming tea the others had to use on him when he’d lost some control to his Oni side. He was wanting to get cleaned up but was too tired and defeated to do that.
“How can those things get the upper hand on us so easily?” Jay moaned. After a moment’s pause Kai commented, “cause they’re probably not mortal.” They had a few minutes of silence before Cole commented, “anyone else hungry?” Some of them groaned an approval but no one moved.
“Should I order something in?” Cole asked to which Jay sarcastically muttered, “do you feel like making anything?”
“Not really; I’ll call for something. Where’s my phone?” Cole stated feeling his attire for a moment for his phone before stopping tired to lay still muttering, “I’m too tired to find it; I guess I can wait a while… maybe after a nap I’ll order something.”
“A nap sounds nice rate now,” Nya noted and Kai stated, “a nice nap in a warm sauna would be nice… hey Jay did you and Cole get that sauna you were working on building in the basement done?”
“Yha… that does sound like something nice to do but I don’t feel like moving rate now,” Jay commented before freaking out for a second thinking he saw a spider cross the floor before realizing it was just a dust ball blowing around causing him to comment, “I think we need to vacuum again.” They relaxed for a few minutes before Pixal exclaimed sitting up, “that’s it.” Her getting up woke up Zane who remained laying down but looked up at her to see what she was doing.
“What’s it?” Lloyd wondered to which Pixal expressed, “we’ve finally found the originating source of the energy that proceeded the Lost Clan.” The others stirred a bit eager to hear where this energy and the likely source of this Lost Clan was. Nya sat up, Jay propped himself up on his arms while Cole struggled a bit to sit up before having to push himself into a sitting position.
“You did? Where is it?” Lloyd inquired. Pixal used the tablet to take over the TV to broadcast what she had found. The source had been pinned down to mountains in the central north of the Dark Isle.
“Recent satellite readings from the isle has recorded a sudden and fairly recent burst of volcanic activity in the area that appears to have begun around the time this energy started,” Pixal noted to which Cole wondered, “interesting do you think whatever occurred caused the volcanic activity?” Pixal answered, “possibly.”
“Okay we know where they likely came from; what are we to do with this information then?” Kai wondered. Cole replied, “since we’re not having any luck finding anything here from this clan we might get lucky finding something about them there where they came from.”
“On the Dark Isle; you want us to go to the Dark Isle? A place that is tainted with stuff that can turn anything evil then to go to this location with this strange energy that causes Lloyd to go Oni crazy? Am I hearing this right?” Jay questioned not liking the sounds of that. His statement got the others thinking; he wasn’t wrong. While investigating this could prove incredibly useful there was also a lot of risks.
“I think for quick trip we should be fine against the dark matter there; Lloyd and this energy however…” Cole began getting cut off by Jay who commented, “a very bad idea. You made me roll on my ankle when you lost control today. Do you know how painful that is?!” Lloyd was quiet for a moment before stating, “it’s probably safer I stay here but I should go with you.”
“You could remain outside this location on the Bounty while the rest of us explore the location and during that time you could work with Wu on gaining better control of your Oni side,” Pixal suggested while Kai jokingly added, “if anything if you do cause problems we could always lock you in the brig.”
“Do you think you could handle that?” Nya inquired. After a quick think Lloyd stated, “I think so. I am getting better at maintaining control and Pix is right this could be a good way to get more practise.”
“We can always pack extra calming tea in case you do lose control,” Cole offered. Still a bit apprehensive Jay asked, “so are we going to do this?” After a moment’s thought Cole declared, “I think it highly important we investigate this. It could give us what we need to solve some mysteries to this clan and even help us get ahead of them in this fight.” They were all in agreement.
“We’re not going to leave rate now are we?” Jay wondered to which Cole muttered laying back down, “I think we can all agree we need some rest first. We’ll leave tomorrow.”
He wasn’t sure how he got there or even where he was but he knew he was in danger. The place was dark made of stone, lava rock to be precise and there was a seam of lava nearby giving off light. Reddish orange crystals with glowing cores grew out of the walls and ceilings of the cave which didn’t appear to have a way in or out. The other ninja and Pixal were trapped each having been caught in cages of lava rock that had grown around them where they were trapped against the walls of the cage. They were trying to get out but couldn’t, these rocks were oddly immune to their powers even Coles. He was the only one not trapped but Zane was far from safe. He was fighting for his life against strange monstrous beings. Most were simply shadows in a human form or grey skinned humanoids who looked to have some serious skin issues making the skin look very dry to the point of cracking on some spots but the main one attacking him was a highly unsettling monstrosity that while having a human like body had a bloated tentacled head that ended with a strange trunk that ended in a bizarre grasping structure at its center. It had no eyes but hollow pits where eyes should be on its face with more of these pits lining the sides of the top of the trunk with a set also behind and one below the eye pits. It was attacking him with magic while its allies wielded shadow weapons. It countered his attacks from his powers with ease and knocked him back with ease till it hit him with a strong blast that flung him against the wall. He was dazed as he tried to recover. The monsterous being wasted no time while he was dazed to erupt bars of lava rock up around him to trap him just like the others. He had nowhere to escape as the tentacle faced monster slid over to him. The bars surrounding him dissipated as two of the other beings grabbed hold of him restraining him while the tentacle creature which appeared to be the leader got close to him reaching out at him. It held out its one knarled clawed hand at him reaching for his heart as it spoke the unsettling voice just emanating from it.
“You have been able to weather the threats that have befell you and your realm before but this time you will not succeed; this time it will be your end,” it proclaimed reaching for his heart. He squirmed as much as he could to escape terrified of what this thing would do to him but it was of no use. As the things hand got close to his heart he could feel an intense heat coming from the creature which brought a strong burning feeling to his heart which brought serious pain to it making his fear much worse. Just before it could touch his chest the monster became distracted by something hitting into a section of wall behind it. It was like something was trying to break through the rock. He could hear Cole state ‘that’s not from me’ while Jay panicked ‘now what?’The wall was hit a few times cracks in a blue glowing technologic design appearing and growing on the wall till the affected region exploded out into the cave with them catching everyone’s attention. Things were dusty as the rubble settled making it difficult to work out what had broken the wall. Amber colored markings suddenly appeared in the darkness before five figures burst out of the darkness to attack the monsters. All five were knights decked out in high tech looking knights armour.
“Knights never yield,” the one proclaimed as he led their attack. They were all humanoid though their heads had beastial looks to them and they bore some other beastial features. The leader bore the head of a falcon with blue and white feathers and he had scaled hands with bird talons on the fingers along with bird like wings on his back. His crest on his shield was blue and white with a falcon on it and he wielded both a sword and light magic. Along with wielding different weapons along with their unique shield each of the knights bore a different appearance which matched the crest on their shields. One welding a mace with the crest of a dragon bore the head and tail of a red dragon with red scaled and clawed hands and dragon wings coming out of her back. One who wielded a crossbow while strangely riding his shield which worked like a hover board bore the tail and head of a fox with ginger fur and clawed dark colored hands. He also wore headphones on his head. A large bulky individual resembled the mythical minotaur with the head, feet and tail of a bull with a purplish color and amber markings and horns. He wielded a war axe. Then there was a white with pale blue individual wielding a lance who bore the head, feet and fur of a horse with a blonde mane and golden hooves on his feet. With these knights strange powers they dealt the monsters a serious blow defeating them and freeing him and his friends. When the beings that held him were defeated by the bolts from the individual with the crossbow Zane was dropped to lay on his front on the floor a little too shaken to get up and aid in the attack. Zane was still rather shaken from what nearly happened leaving him hesitant to move. All of his friends were too shaken by the capture of those monsters as well to offer aid leaving the knights to destroy them. The tentacle faced monster was the last to be obliterated getting run through by the falcon knights sword. The one knight, the falcon one, approached him after the monsters were destroyed and held out his hand for him offering assistance.
“You are safe now metal man,” the knight told him. Getting a feeling of safety to this figure and his companions Zane reached out and took his hand so the knight could help him up.
“Was what that monster saying true? Our doom is coming?!” Jay expressed beginning to panic to which the fox knight proclaimed, “I’m afraid so jabber mouth. You’re going to face plenty of pants wetting times ahead.” Jay was unhappy with the knights statement though Cole and Kai were amused by it.
“Darkness is coming. Monsters and a great evil are awakening and rising from the shadows seeking to consume everything in their darkness. Our kingdoms are falling into chaos as the light is ripped from them and their annihilation creeps ever closer,” the dragon knight proclaimed. The cave then crumbled around them dissolving into a dark swampy landscape. A storm with a strange eerie greenish hue penetrating its dark clouds appeared to be building in the sky above them. In the distance a crumbling decaying looking city dominated by a massive whitish tower that was emitting a purplish beam of energy into the dark stormy circling clouds above it could be seen. They all turned to the city scared.
“Alone we will all fail but this time we are not alone. Together we shall stand and face this enemy to save the realms. We will either succeed or die trying,” the falcon knight declared to which Jay mumbled unsettled, “did you say die trying?!” The falcon knight then led them all in a charge towards the city… a shock of electricity suddenly jolted him awake. Zane found himself laying on his front on his bed in the sleeping cabin of the Bounty. The others were all up and congregated near him. Nya and Cole were focussed on Kai who was holding a cloth to his nose with bruising starting to appear on his face. They were standing in the middle of the room while Jay and Pixal were focussed on him. Lloyd was nowhere to be seen. It looked to be morning and everyone was still in their PJ’s. No one had made their beds and Zane noticed there was some ice on his bed alcove.
“What’s going on?” he inquired confused. Jay explained, “you were starting to freeze the room from a bad dream. I had to shock you to safely get you up.”
“What happened to Kai?” he wondered to which Jay commented, “he made the mistake of touching you to try to wake you and you punched him in the face.” Zane started to worry. Without meaning to he could seriously hurt his flesh made siblings even without putting any real force into his actions. His equivalents to their bones, skin and muscles were stronger and more resilient than their flesh and bones. He had more often than he liked accidently cut, bruised and nearly fractured parts of the others without meaning to most often from his restless sleeping, accidents when training or practicing, when startled like from pranks the others would pull or if he lost control of himself like when under dark influences.
“I’m sorry,” Zane apologized starting to get up. Kai responded with, “no it’s okay the faults all mine. I should have known better than to touch you when you’re very restless besides it’s not that bad just some bruising and a bloody nose.” As he spoke Lloyd came in with an ice pack for Kai to put on his face. When he put the ice pack on his face Kai flinched and cried in pain causing Nya to comment, “I think it might be a little more than bruising.”
“I’ll be fine,” Kai maintained. Lloyd inquired to Zane, “you were pretty restless and making things pretty cold in here. What were you dreaming of?” Zane was unsure if he wanted to say anything about his dream. He could still remember it quite clearly but a lot of it was very confusing and considering their current circumstances and location could lead to unnecessary anxieties particularly to Jay who was already on edge and not happy with where they were he decided to keep it to himself.
“I can’t really remember,” he responded. The others looked to accept that Cole commenting, “it’s probably from being on the Dark Isle. I know I had a rough night last night.” The others could all agree to some extent. It had taken several days but they had reached the north eastern shore of the Dark Isle before spending a few days to reach the inland location near the energy source the day before. They had decided to land for the night before heading to the exact location the next day to investigate the site. So far everything seemed fine despite passing through a few pretty serious storms on the way there. They weren’t too sure if it was just their anxieties or an effect of the radiation the source of the Lost Clan was leaching out into the world but the storms had seemed nastier than usual. They couldn’t fly through them, they nearly capsized several times, the gales seemed unnaturally strong so much so that even with his lava arms active Cole struggled to help them restrain the Bounty’s rigging to keep it stable, the clouds always seemed to have strange colored hues to them, the rain had an odd smell to it every time and Nya had noted through her powers she could feel something felt wrong about the sea both during the storms and the times around the storms. While the storms had been rough on all of them Kai had the roughest go as his fear of drowning combined with how bad things got sent him into a serious panic a few times and he’d taken to wearing a life jacket during the storms in case something happened. When they finally got to the isle everything felt okay. Nothing felt too off though they had a sense of unease and agitation from the dark matter on the isle which had led them all to be what Jay referred to as moody. They’d get cranky, quicker to anger than usual and a bit temperamental. It wasn’t bad but had some particularly Jay weary of what they said or did around others in order to avoid setting them off especially Lloyd. It wasn’t too bad and Lloyd wasn’t having any serious problems, mainly just mood issues, but they all still didn’t want to risk anything that could trigger his Oni side into surfacing. As they had gotten closer to the site they had started to experience worsening emotions. Their agitation was getting bad enough to make them jumpy, they started to feel chills from time to time even Pixal and Zane, there was a slight feeling of unease to the environment and every now and then they got a strange dread feeling.
So far despite the feelings and energy they were having luck with Lloyd; he was keeping in control with little problems though he admitted a few times that something in the area made him feel like he was in danger and like he was being hunted causing him to have a much greater struggle in keeping in control of his Oni side. While he kept it quiet from most of the others Lloyd let Cole, Zane and Pixal know the one day about his struggles. He stumbled upon the three alone while they worked on navigating the ship and let them know that he was putting in a great deal of effort to maintain control. His problem was so bad that he was using his attire and make up to hide some of the signs of his struggles to avoid scaring the others particularly Jay. His emotions were harder to hide but luckily the discolorations to his skin could be hidden by clothes and makeup and contact lenses could hide any changes in his eye color. He wanted to give off that he had more control than he actually did to keep the peace and not jeopardize the mission but as they got closer to the source that was getting harder. Because of this he felt he needed to confide in someone in case things turned bad that way he could give them permission that no matter what if things went bad with him they had his full permission to do what they had to in order to protect everyone else. If it came to causing serious harm to him or even worse they had his permission to do it. He felt Cole was the only one of them with sturdy enough nerves to properly deal with any issues and he was pretty sure despite his attempts at hiding it Zane and Pixal had already detected his issues. While Lloyd didn’t want them to say anything to the others the three had told Wu about this but agreed for everyone’s sake they didn’t tell the other three anything.
“Well since we’re all up now might as well get the day started,” Lloyd commented. Cole stated happily, “I’ll get breakfast going.” He then left the room headed to the kitchen before Jay moaned, “great Cole’s cooking.”
“Don’t be so moody his cooking has actually gotten quite good,” Lloyd commented and Jay stated, “true but he’s still sometimes makes some weird things.” They got their day going having breakfast, cleaning up, making the beds then gathering in the command room with Wu to get the ship up and going. Wu had come along to work with Lloyd on his control. When they’d gotten to the command center Zane noted Kais face and felt guilty. He had some serious bruising on the bridge of his nose and put some bandages on it to cover up cuts his metallic nails had given him. Zane could deduce from observations and some scans picking up the area was hotter than the rest of his body, the smell of pain and stress from injury Kai was giving off, the fact he was breathing a bit oddly and the few times Kai had tentively poked at the area when others weren’t looking getting pain from the action he’d done more than bruised him; he’d most likely fractured Kais nose. He was pretty sure Kai knew this but he wasn’t saying anything. Zane was unsure why and was feeling his guilt steadily increasing about hurting his brother. Even though he had never meant to do it on purpose, it was an accident, he’d still done it. As they traveled to the site his guilt got to him and Zane pulled Kai aside to talk to him.
“What’s up Zane?” Kai asked with an upbeat tone hiding his pain and Zane replied with a lower tone, “I am sorry for hitting you earlier. I do believe I’ve ended up breaking your nose.” Kai began to look a little upset as he stated, “yha I think there is more than some bruising but I’ll be fine; it’ll heal.”
“When we get back to Ninjago you should see a doctor to make sure it heals properly… if it doesn’t it could give you problems with breathing which could have serious implications in your life.”
“Zane buddy don’t worry; I’ll be fine no doctor needed. It was an accident. You’re not at fault and I’m not mad at you. Just let it be,” Kai told him. There was a moment’s pause Kai clearly recognising he was still bothered before Kai commented comfortingly putting a hand on his shoulder, “I guess though it wouldn’t hurt to see a doctor when we get back just to be safe and don’t worry my tetanus shot is up to date so your scratches can’t hurt me.” The talk relaxed Zane relieving most of his guilt letting him relax more during their journey. It took them a few hours to get to the location all feeling the unease in the air get worse as they got closer. As they neared the location they noted many of the Bounty’s systems particularly those involving navigation began to malfunction. The ships digital and even classic compasses weren’t working eventually unable to determine any direction. Even Zane and Pixal’s inbuilt compass systems could no longer register magnetic directions leaving them like everyone else having to use visual cues to determine magnetic directions. As the ships compasses and computers malfunctioned they sent Cole, Kai and Zane out on deck to look for visual cues. Luckily a large plume of ash was rising from the volcano of the area they were headed for giving them all they needed to properly direct themselves to the site. As they got closer they passed through a section of woodland clearly sickened by the recent volcanic activity the greenery starting to wilt and grey. Seams had opened in the ground of the forest floor letting out volcanic gasses and steam from below while off looking water was pooled in low spots. There appeared to be little animal life not even many insects not even flies in the area but there was quite a bit of fungi starting to pop up to feed on the steadily dying matter.
“Okay who did that?” Kai commented covering his nose from the terrible sulphuric smell starting to reach up to them. Cole was quick to comment, “wasn’t me.” Zane noted, “those are volcanic gasses you are smelling. The region appears to still be highly active and is having a negative effect to surrounding areas. Heat and build up of the gasses below ground are ripping seams in the earth to let them out releasing the pressure and by the looks the local ground water is likely tainted by sulphuric compounds common chemicals in volcanic activity which are toxic to both plants and animals.”
“Is that why everything here looks dead?” Cole wondered and Zane replied, “yes. The sulphuric waters are killing the plants and making their tissues unpalatable to animals driving them from the area and the gasses which includes the deadly gasses carbon monoxide, hydrogen sulphide and hydrogen chloride which among many other nasty effects will suffocate any animal close to the ground especially in low lying areas where the gasses build up. You two should be safe up here but just to be safe try not to breath too deeply in order to avoid pulling in too much of any gasses that could have reached this high up.” Those facts did not make Kai or Cole feel very uplifted. Soon they reached a band of burned forest where Pixal who had been driving stopped the Bounty to hover there just before the burned woods transitioned to a large plain scarred by lava flows. For several city blocks all around a few tall peaks were lava fields. They were blackened, burned and coated from recent lava flows some spots looking to still be rather warm and consisting of liquid lava in low pits and rifts a few of which still seemed to be erupting. One of these seams even had strange greenish hued lava in it. Most of the foliage had been burned and stripped from the area with the lava flow while some strange rock eating fungi and lichens some which had glowing parts in dim light were growing on the recently cooled lava deposits. Steam and volcanic gasses were seeping from some spots in the ground including on what looked like seams that had ripped open in the earth and out of some of the bubbling pools of water that had coalesced in low lying areas or was seeping into pools in the rock from underground springs. There were strong burning and volcanic smells wafting from the area. The peaks which consisted of a triplet of volcanic mountains were in various states of volcancy. The one furthest from them was the largest and still highly active smoke rising from its peak. Meanwhile the one closest and to the left of the furthest appeared dormant though its top had been blown off recent with cooled lava on parts of it. Just behind and a bit to the right of this one was another smaller one which appeared to have had a rather violent eruption in the form of a pyroclastic flow that had devastated the region to the east and north-east of its location and demolished a decent chunk of its side from the event. It too looked to be dormant now.
“For safety I think it best this is as close to the source that I get. My agitation is getting worse the closer we get,” Lloyd expressed looking a bit ragged and clearly fighting to keep control of his demon side as he, Jay, Nya and Pixal came out onto the deck.
“So then I’m guessing we’ll have to go in on foot from here?” Cole inquired. Nya responded, “yha but first we have to figure out exactly what we are to be heading for.”
“All I see is lava and rock,” Jay commented as they started to look around for anything significant. Kai and Cole had brought out spyglasses with them and were using them to scan the distant regions by the foot of the mountains. None of them were sure what they should be looking for. They did note scattered through the area along with some charred dead trees were strange tall standing stones and a single strange stone obelisk all of which stuck up out of the field. The Obelisks went at least three meters tall and was topped by five spikes. Four stuck out from the corners curving sharply out then up while a fifth sat at the top center pointing up. Several strange indents including a groove up a good portion of the center of the obelisk emitted a greenish glow. The standing stones had one side that had been smoothed and polished on one side with this side also bearing what appeared to be writings and a carved symbol of some type near the top but these etchings were too worn for them to efficiently make out what these symbols on the stone were. None of them were sure what these stones were and both Zane and Pixal were unsure who or what could have built them. There had not really ever been any real studies on the Dark Isle and its past however even then these structures didn’t really match anything of known cultures from Ninjago. They were clearly artificially made with even what appeared to potentially be some form of writing etched onto both of the types of structures however it was too weathered to identify what if the etchings were truly writing what they were or if they were just effects from weathering. It didn’t take them long to note these structures were positioned in a strange way. While spaced out by a few yards from each other the stones appeared almost like they had before the region been levelled laid out following a path through the sub-tropical woodlands that would have dominated the area. Following these stones from closest to furthest they ended at the Obelisk which sat just out front something built into the base of the closest peak. The architecture was not something they recognised. There was a slight resemblance to a temple made of stone and carved into the rock of the mountain. A couple stairs also built into the side of the hill led up to the entrance of this structure.
“Do you think that’s it?” Kai wondered pointing out the structure. They all looked over at it Nya borrowing the spyglass Kai had to get a look at the structure. Pixal deduced, “Considering that appears to be the only significant non natural element here and the structure appears oddly untouched by the volcanic activity I would have to deduce that is likely the location we have come looking for.”
“So we have to cross this to get to that place which we know nothing about?” Jay commented nervous motioning over the volcanic field. Pixal explained, “if we navigate properly we can avoid any dangers. I and Zane can detect potential hazards from chemicals and heat…”
“And I can sense active regions thanks to my powers,” Cole added. The rest agreed even though Jay was still agitated by the thought of wandering through an active volcanic field. Lloyd expressed, “I think you’ll have to go alone… with the dark matter in this place and I can feel the energy from the clan strongly here. I feel it best the rest of you go alone down there. I’ll just be a danger if I follow you.”
“Are you sure?” Nya wondered and Lloyd replied, “I’m very sure. Me and Wu will stay out here and keep an eye out for trouble and I’ll work on my training for maintaining control. Besides someone should stay behind to help care for my uncle; despite what he thinks he’s a little too old to be dealing with hazards here on his own. Not to mention last thing we probably want are venomous snakes or scorpions getting on board when we’re not around.”
“Yha that’s pretty true,” Jay agreed. They all agreed though only Cole, Zane and Pixal understood that wasn’t entirely the reason why Lloyd was staying behind.
“Okay, we’ll try to make things quick but we have no clue what we’ll face in there so it may take longer than we expected. Radio signals probably aren’t going to work very well…,” Cole began Zane cutting him off to explain, “they are barely functioning in this area with almost no signal being found and being interfered with heavily by strange energies emanating from this place.” Cole continued, “yha so when we get out we’ll find a way to signal to you that we’re out.”
“We’ll park the Bounty nearby and wait for your signal,” Lloyd stated. They dropped down a rope ladder and Nya, Jay, Kai, Zane and Pixal climbed down to the ground. Cole stayed back a moment to quietly ask Lloyd, “are you sure you want to be alone? You know you can tell me; you’re not coming because you will lose control won’t you?”
“Yha, I’m really struggling just being here,” Lloyd commented letting the illusion of control down. He looked quite exhausted and disturbed from his efforts. Cole asked, “are you sure you’ll be okay here alone? You’re uncle won’t be able to help you if you lose control.”
“Yha I’ll be okay. I think because of our shared Oni blood I have no desire to hurt him just the rest of you, especially Zane and Pixal for some reason,” Lloyd responded. Cole noted, “that’s a little strange. They’ve been the most accepting and tolerable to your states why do you feel such anger to them?”
“I don’t know but I feel my Oni blood has something against them more than the rest of you,” Lloyd explained and Cole commented, “well okay. We’ll try to get this over with quick but we have no clue what we’re going into so who knows how long we’ll be.” Lloyd expressed, “that’s okay.” Cole then headed down to join the others who were waiting for him in the lava field. Once they were all down they slowly started navigating their way to the temple cautious of still warm and not fully solidified pockets of lava. Cole could sense these dangerous spots and lead them safely around them.
“What do you think those were from?” Jay asked nervous as they passed by several large skeletons their bones all charred from the lava they were stuck in including a massive and long ribcage likely from some form of snake they guessed by the skull at the one end of it.
“By the looks of the bones species native to the region who were unlucky to get caught up in the lava flows possibly by breaking through the thin crust of rock that formed atop it as the lava cooled while they either just travelled through the area or came looking for prey. From the skeletons here I would have to deduce at least two species both large and reptilian are the ones to get caught here. From the pieces of the skeletons left I would likely deduce several members of a crocodilaform native to swamps and jungles of the Dark Isle known as a Crocolisk while the larger serpentine remains are from the around 20 meter (65 ft) long Pythonid known as the Dark Swamps Boa,” Zane explained after giving the remains a quick look over. Kai commented unsettled by the bones, “I’m guessing by just the looks of the bones we probably don’t want to see what these things would look like in the flesh.”
“Yha, I’m not so bothered by snakes anymore but I don’t think I’d feel comfortable getting into a confrontation with a snake that big,” Cole commented. They moved silently for a few minutes before Kai commented uncomfortable from the quiet, “so how old do you think these lava flows are?”
“Hard to determine at first glance; the best method for dating volcanic material would be through uranium isotope dating on fully cooled samples of rocks,” Zane explained before Cole commented, “about four to five months I’d say.” Confused Pixal wondered, “why would you assume some date without the data required to formulate the date?”
“Kind of a gut feeling which I think comes from my powers. Probably because of the rocks and lava I feel my powers are stronger here than normal,” Cole replied. Jay commented, “really so do mine. Your powers I could get but why mine? They feel stronger but there is nothing really of electricity here.”
“That is very strange especially as mine feel the same too despite no elements from my element being present,” Zane added. Nya noted, “four to five months you say… that lines up with the time the Lost Clan arrived from this landmass. Do you think there could be some form of correlation?” They stopped for a moment to think things over. Pixal commented, “it could just be coincidence but if not the complications of such are strange and intriguing.” While they talked over the idea they were unaware they were being watched from the shadows of the woods from a nearby ridge overlooking the lava fields.
“That’s them… I don’t see the green one though,” Clouse commented. He stood with Mendras and Nazeem and a few members of the Sunless Dawn overlooking the field. Clouse had now donned himself in a black hooded robe with a dark almost black coloured steel Oni mask like the others. He had the mask off as they talked. They had been busy working on some weaponry and constructions for their plans in their temple on the isle when Mendras had got a strange feeling. He’d teleported some of them out there to look at what he was feeling. Clouse had been surprised to see the ninja with their flying ship there. Why were they there? There was no way they were there for him; they looked to be heading to some strange temple built into a mountain. Six had dropped from the ship.
“So these are some of the realms current elemental masters. I sense descendants of the First Spingitsu Master are aboard that ship,” Mendras commented watching as the Bounty soared to a bit of a distance away before landing and settling in the burned forest region. They could see no movement from it after it landed.
“The green one you told us of is not with those in the field. I see one in red, one in black, one in is that silver or grey, one in blue and the white one with metal skin, that one must be the droid. Who’s the one in largely dark blue with snow white skin and silver hair?” Nazeem who was in his cult attire his mask pulled up as he looked through a spyglass at the ninja asked.
“Another droid; a female. She doesn’t have powers like the others but is just as dangerous, is rather crafty and pretty unpredictable. The male considers her his mate and she thinks of him in the same way. The two are very protective of each other meaning if you deal with the one you’ll have to deal with the other as well and they’re very aggressive in their defence of each other. You’d be safer dealing with a pair of wolves than with those two,” he replied before asking, “should we make a move on them now?”
“No we don’t want to draw unnecessary attention besides wouldn’t you rather see them succumb to what we have planned more than just finishing them off in a plain and mellow way?” Nazeem commented and Clouse noted, “I guess that’s true plus as you said we need the green one. He’s probably on their ship still. Where are the ones in the field headed?”
“It would appear to be some sort of structure built into the one mountain,” Nazeem answered and looking at the structure Clouse wondered, “what is that they are heading to; I don’t recognise anything looking like that?”
“Hmm, it’s the entrance to something… a temple maybe? I don’t recognise it then again we didn’t often come here,” Nazeem noted turning his focus to the structure.
“A Genesis Vault; a ruin built over a stable tear in the fabric of the cosmos. They can take various forms from simple caves to architecture matching local designs particularly in populated areas to those looking like this. They are places of great confusion and fear to mortals for they can barely comprehend what happens within. Some of these vaults like the Fire Temple in Ninjago simply lead to other realms like the Underworld others hold pockets of realms within that have seeped into the bounds of these vaults through tears creating miniature regions where realms are mixed merged to form some strange unrecognisable regions, some hold vast passages and rooms that test and confuse mortals and even rarely some lead to a place few mortals wish to speak of or know; a place which strikes fear into their hearts just by its name. It is where all things started and where they eventually must all end. It is and isn’t a realm a place that both holds and divides the realms. Some believe the Departed Realm and it are the same thing; their relation is far more complicated than that however. The Departed Realm is just a piece of it a pocket isolated and elevated to the state of being a realm by the energies and will of the cosmos for sheltering the fragile souls of mortals from those like what we will be working with,” Mendras commented. Clouse had heard of such a place. It was said parts of this place were far worse than the Cursed Realm to be in; places so horrid and torturous especially for those of the light like the ninja that no nightmare could compare and descriptions could not properly describe them. Seas of toxic waters, fields of sharpened rocks that cut and poisoned those not native to this place, labyrinthine valleys of noxious gasses, lakes of ever burning fire, places devoid of all heat where even a master of ice would find it unbearable, seas of a black liquid as dark as tar and just as noxious, caves decorated with fangs that dripped the foulest of venoms from their rocky walls, lands caught in eternal and terrible storms the like of which were un-comparable in the mortal realms, waterways of sulphuric like liquids, dark dead forests and dense jungles of darkness with plants of toxins, that burned at the touch and even struck such unbearable pain it feels like only death can save you from it and many more . He hoped the ninja would end up in those places when they were done with them here to suffer in those tormented lands for all eternity.
“Okay but why are they going there?” he inquired. Nazeem questioned, “I don’t know? I haven’t been here in over 15 years. You know them and this place better than the rest of us. You’d know more than us.” He replied with, “I don’t keep up with current news. It’s all idiots and their stupidity, lies and clout chasing. Plus those ninja like to keep very secretive about their lives so others can’t know their activities; well all but one are secretive. The red one loves posting the most boring and mundane things on social media quite a bit. No one cares about his hair or the dirt ones cooking or how mere humans like he and the others can beat the droids at video games.”
“Something has likely drawn them here likely something to do with that vault. The recent volcanic activity indicates the tear here has been more active than usual,” Mendras commented noting a spot of cooling greenish lava near the temple. One of the other cult members wondered, “should we just leave them?”
“For now yes but first I want to see how good these protectors really are,” Mendras commented noting the bones in the field. He then stated starting up a spell, “let’s give them a little test.” Back in the field the group had come to the suspicion the volcanic activity may not be entirely natural due to the strange energies of the place which they could all feel was having a strange effect on their powers and the green hued lava in a few spots. They were now continuing their journey to the temple. Along the way Cole stopped them suddenly sensing something. Looking around he felt something stirring behind them. There was an active rift filled with Lava nearby they had avoided that looked to be bubbling a bit more than when they had passed it.
“Looks like a minor eruption starting up; we should probably put some distance between us and it. I don’t want to get burned by boiling lava!” Jay commented. The others agreed but Cole was fixated on the seam drawing Nya to ask him, “what is it?”
“There’s something there,” he commented looking for a loose rock or piece of rubble.
“It’s lava what could be hiding in lava?” Kai wondered to which Jay suggested, “lava monsters.” Zane and Pixal began to go over to inspect the place but Cole stopped them before finding a descent sized rock. He then tossed it at the seam. It bounced on the edge but before it ended up in the lava jaws made of volcanic rock snapped out of the lava to chomp on the rock. They were all startled. Its ambush ruined the monster crawled out of the lava. It was a large reptilian resembling creature with six limbs, an armoured back, four eyes, croc like jaws and a large frill that it could fold against its neck when at rest and erect in display. It appeared to be made of lava its eyes, mouth and insides glowing with a fiery hot lava while its exterior was coated in cooled lava rock with a few seams and pits letting its more hot liquid insides coming to the surface.
“What is that?!” Jay yelled as a second then third of these monsters started crawling out of the seam.
“They resemble the native Crocolisk to this region however they appear to be made of lava. How is that possible?” Zane noted and Pixal wondered, “maybe it has to do with the strange energies and lava here? They could be some form of elemental taking on a form from creatures that have passed in its elemental make.”
“I can sense they’re made entirely of rock and lava,” Cole noted. The creatures took a moment to assess their surroundings before turning their focus on their group. They didn’t wait to rush towards the ninja forcing them to quickly arm themselves. Nya and Zane hit the one with ice and water hoping if they cooled it that would destroy it. The act was harder than they expected however as the creatures heat and rocky skin protecting its internal heat took longer for their powers to cool it. The creature didn’t like the act screeching and rearing up holding its arms out in protection as their powers hit it causing it to smoke as it slowly cooled. The two others went after the others to distract them. Pixal and Kai got into a fight with one while Cole and Jay attacked the other.
“You can’t fight lava with fire,” Pixal noted as Kai hit the monster with fire. The creature paused during his attack but was unbothered waiting for him to stop before continuing parts of its body still on fire from the attack.
“What am I supposed to do with it then?!” Kai demanded slashing his sword across the creatures’ snout as it went to bite him. Pixal explained tossing smoke bombs in its eyes, “we just need to distract it till Zane and Nya are done with theirs in order to freeze the others.” Theirs was irritated by the smoke bomb and rubbed at its face for a few seconds before continuing to attack hissing and displaying its frill at them. The one Nya and Zane were working on was solidifying struggling to move as the ice and water cooled it.
“Hey if this thing is made of rock and lava do you think you could control this Lavalisk?” Jay questioned shocking the creature which he was referring to as a Lavalisk. The electricity briefly jolted it causing it to spasm for a couple seconds but it soon brushed this off and continued the attack. Confused Cole wondered, “Lavalisk?”
“Zane said these things look like this Crocolisk creature and they are made of lava so we should call them Lavalisks,” Jay commented as Cole smacked their creatures head with his hammer as hard he could smacking it into the ground and cracking the rocky skin of its head.
“Instead of coming up with names for them let’s just focus on getting rid of them before they do anything serious to us secondly I can’t control material already being animated by something else. I feel there is more than geologic materials to these things,” Cole expressed before the creature flung its head up tossing him back to land on his back. Once Nya and Zane had cooled theirs turning it into a stone statue they focussed on the one Kai and Pixal had. Kai had made the foolish mistake to stab his sword in the creatures chest to try and hurt it. His sword did go in but the molten interior of the creature melted the blade.
“That was a mistake,” Kai commented looking at what was left of his sword Nya noting to him, “after all the time you’ve smithed it never occurred to you not to stick a steel sword in a creature of molten temperatures?”
“I had a lapse in judgment okay,” Kai defended himself while Pixal helped Cole and Jay distract their Lavalisk. Cole tried trapping it with rocky spires but the heat and the creature belching out lava from its interior melted the spires freeing itself. It wasn’t long till the second was frozen before they moved onto the third and got that one petrified.
“Well that was a surprise,” Kai noted. The effort from cooling the creatures took a bit out of Nya and Zane.
“Do you want to take a break?” Jay asked Nya who responded with, “no I’m good. Let’s just get in there and out of this lava field.” Cole asked Zane if he was okay to which Zane commented, “I will be better when we are in the structure. The heat out here I am finding highly uncomfortable and combating it is starting to become very taxing on my cooling system.”
“You could have just said I’m finding it too hot out here. That would have gotten your point out without having to say too much,” Kai joked with Zane as they started to continue on their way. After getting a few yards Cole stopped to look back at the Lavalisks getting an unsettling feeling from them. The others stopped looking back as well. The statues were smoking looking to be heating back up.
“I think we should get moving faster,” Jay commented before the statues exploded into pools of lava. Kai commented, “I think we’re good.” Cole then commented, “I’m not too sure about that.” The pools slowly coalesced back into the form of the lavalisks who now looked very angry.
“Okay so we just freeze them again right?” Kai suggested to which Nya commented as the creatures began to charge them, “I’m pretty sure Zane agrees with me but I’m not in the mood to be constantly refreezing those things.”
“What should we do then?” Cole wondered. Jay wasted no time to yell, “Run!!!” He also wasted no time in taking off headed for the temple. The others couldn’t help but agree with him and joined rushing towards the temple. They hoped there was some doors to it that they could close to block these creatures from getting them. There were doors but they were made of wood. Thick wood which took two of them pushing together to open but they were still wood so when they closed them hoping that would block the creatures they lit on fire and burnt open from the heat and lava of the lavalisks. The inside of this temple consisted of a cave like corridor which went deeper into the mountain. With the lavalisks blocking the entrance they decided to rush deeper down the corridor while the doors burnt down hoping to find a more secure location deeper inside. Zane and Nya hit the lavalisks through the burning door as they worked on breaking through it with ice and water to slow the creatures a bit giving them more time for an escape. The corridor was dimly lit by strange warm pale greenish glowing crystals and seams of a crystal material in the walls and ceilings giving them enough light to see decently enough to navigate. They soon came to a large round room. The room was lit by the same crystal structures and had a tall roof covered in lichens some glowing with various roots hanging through them. There was a large circular design carved into the floor of the room. They could see a doorway on the other side of the room opposite from where they entered the room. Jay stopped in the entrance to the room before stepping on the circular design of the floor which separated them from the opposite hall scared of the strange floor. Since he was ahead of everyone his stopping stopped everyone else.
“What are you doing just keep going!” Kai yelled at him to which Jay commented uneasy, “something about the design on the floor doesn’t feel right.”
“It’s just a floor keep going those things are getting closer,” Cole demanded shoving Jay forward to get him moving. Despite his reservations Jay continued with the others more scared of the monsters than the floor. They got halfway across the design on the floor before they all stopped when they felt a jolt from the ground and an unsteadiness feeling creep into their legs. The floor didn’t feel as sturdy as it looked! They could swear they felt the floor creeking beneath them! They were all afraid to take another step especially as they could see cracks appearing in the floor and when they tried to move they could hear some cracking to the floor.
“The floors not as thick as it looks… I can sense it… we have too much weight on it,” Cole noted nervous. Kai was quick to joke, “bettin’ your regretting those extra pancakes this morning aren’t you?” Cole was not happy with that.
“I told you this didn’t look right! What do we do now?” Jay worried as the monsters reached the room. To their luck the lavalisks appeared to sense the floor was unsteady and stopped at the edge of the design nervously inspecting it.
“Well at least those things aren’t foolish enough to try and get on this,” Nya noted and Kai suggested, “maybe the heaviest of us should get off first? Who’s the heaviest here?”
“Not me,” Cole quickly defended himself before Nya noted, “technically Zane and Pixal.” Zane explained, “our artificial makes are heavier than your comparable organic makes. We aren’t notably heavier but we are heavier for our size than an equally sized human.”
“You two then should get off first,” Jay stated. Zane and Pixal inspected the floor for a moment before slowly trying to move ahead to get off the floor. They were very nervous as they moved getting a few feet before stopping feeling the ground was too unstable for them to take another step.
“Okay… is there some way we could stabilize the ground? Cole can your powers do anything or maybe Zane can create a thick enough ice to stabilize everything?” Jay suggested. Cole stated, “that could work. Zane…” They suddenly felt a serious jolt go through the floor with more cracks appearing.
“What was that!” Jay panicked. Looking back to the lavalisks they could see one of them was slamming its front end down on the floor causing it to start breaking more. Terrified the ninja started to move again hoping to reach the edge of the design before the floor collapsed. Unfortunately the lavalisks and their actions broke the floor before they could get more than a few steps causing it to crack and crumble falling down into a pit below taking the ninja with it.
Notes:
The Lost Clan is like a mix between Vikings and the Huns, interesting fact when doing research I found that those that would become Vikings in the medieval period were descendants of those once part of the Hun empire which was prior to the renaissance the largest and most powerful empire there ever was once spanning at its max from eastern Europe as far west as Germany stretching to western China and from Siberia to as far south as northern Turkey and lasting from older than the roman empire into the medieval period. The Huns were not a distinct group but a collection of groups that shared a lifestyle and were unified under an empire.
The game Zanes playing at the one point is inspired by a fun game I found called Timberborn.
Chapter 4: Clan of the Lost chapter 2: Investigations into Shadows
Summary:
After I finished the original story and started on a sort of epilogue story a prequel to the story came to mind and I started working on it. This is that prequel.
The ninja believe they have found where the Lost Clan came from but things don't go as planned when they go to investigate it. They stumble upon a strange place and learn the Lost Clan is darker than they thought and as they return home the Clan unleashes their forces on the capital.
Notes:
You do not need to know anything from the original story as this is a prequel to it.
Pictures relating to story can be found here: https://www.deviantart.com/nerdy-hyena/gallery/72478681/story-project
They are really good and help to visually flush out several aspects of the story including environments, characters, outfits, locations, creatures and other aspects often important ones in the story. All images I post in my work can be found there if you want a better look at them. Defiantly make sure to check them out.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
“Should we go help them?” Lloyd worried as he and Wu watched from the Bounty’s deck the others get chased into the structure by the strange lava creatures that had erupted unexpectedly from the ground behind them. Lloyd was anxious wanting to rush over and help but he was scared that would cause him to lose control and he’d become a greater danger to everyone. His uncle voiced his thoughts with, “if you went out there could you maintain control?” Lloyd was already struggling with control and knew getting into a confrontation now would make him loose control.
“They can handle themselves you know this just have patience,” Wu told him. The others disappeared into the structure the monsters hesitating at the entrance for a few minutes as they had to break down the door before entering the structure as well disappearing into it. They waited for a while waiting to see something; any sign the others were okay. In the meantime Lloyd found his anxieties giving him problems controlling his Oni nature. He was fighting to stay there and keep control instead of rushing out towards the structure to see what was going on when the creatures reappeared slinking out of the structure. They paused looking at each other sometimes looking back in the structure seeming nervous. Lloyd wondered aloud, “did they beat or get away from those things?”
“I do not know,” Wu stated as the creatures suddenly looked off into the woods at the side of the lava field before slinking off in that direction. Lloyd scanned the jungle area the creatures were heading to with the spy glass wondering what they were looking at. On a ridge overlooking the field was a humanoid figure in full black hooded robed attire with a dark metal mask that bore an Oni imagery on it.
“Who is that?” Lloyd wondered confused drawing Wu’s attention. There wasn’t any known permanent settlement on the Dark Isle, at least not from good or decent folks, so seeing a person there was not only unexpected but highly suspicious. He took the spyglass from his nephew to get a look for himself wondering aloud, “what do you mean? There should be no one here.” After a few seconds of observing the figure as it motioned to the monsters to head into the forest Wu felt a cold sinking feeling from the beings appearance. There was something familiar about that attire. He wasn’t 100 percent sure it was what he thought it was but if it was then this was really bad and things were far worse than they thought. He needed a closer look however.
“Stay here and no matter what you do not follow me or come to my aid,” he told his nephew handing him back the spyglass. Confused Lloyd wondered, “what are you doing?”
“I must get a closer look at that figure. There is something to them… I think I have seen them before. If my hunch is right then things revolving this Lost Clan are far worse than we first thought.”
“What do mean?” Lloyd inquired not liking what he was hearing but Wu didn’t respond. Instead he just left climbing down the side ladder to the ground before hurrying as fast he could to the location of this figure. After motioning to the Lavalisks to get into the woods, the creatures obeying without question, the figure followed them not looking back into the field so unaware of Wu’s approach. When he got to the location the figure had been Wu cautiously snuck along the path they left trying to avoid getting noticed. He found them in a small clearing with more of these robed figures. There was six of the robed figures and the three Lavalisks. Wu hid in the forest undergrowth observing them as they talked amongst each other. With his close look his fears were confirmed. He recognised these beings and their sight brought chills down his spine. He had hoped to never see this cult again; they were the Sunless Dawn!
“Who are these?” he was startled to hear Lloyd quietly ask behind him. Quickly turning to see his nephew had disobeyed him he confronted Lloyd with, “Lloyd! I told you to stay at the ship.”
“You shouldn’t be going off alone in this place especially if dangers are nearby,” Lloyd replied. With his confirmation of who these figures were Lloyd wasn’t wrong; things were more dangerous now; much more dangerous.
“Can you maintain control here?” he asked his nephew who responded with, “I think so. I am getting a very unsettling and creepy feeling from something around here though.” Wu had to agree he felt it too. A deep dark feeling like that of the presence of an Oni; a creepy unsettling feeling that sent shivers down the spine and brought a near overwhelming feeling of fear and dread. When he had dealt with some members of the Sunless Dawn before he’d gotten these feelings however he didn’t think it was the members of the cult themselves that were responsible for these feelings, they were mainly just plain humans and humanoid races not other worldly beings, but he could never figure out what caused the feelings. He could only hypothesize that it was either some artefact like their attire or masks or some monster they had with them at those times giving off the energy causing those feelings.
“You two get out here and show yourselves,” one of the cult members, the one that looked like the leader demanded. The two went quiet and hesitated for a second. They were hidden and had been talking quietly; these cultists couldn’t see them could it? They could see the cult members looking at their direction. While they hoped they hadn’t been spotted they were pretty sure they had but how had they known they were there?
“We know you’re hiding there descendants of the first Spinjitsu Master,” the cult leader proclaimed confirming to them they were spotted but even worse somehow these cultists knew who they were! Wu knew why they knew that but Lloyd didn’t worsening his agitation to these beings. While Lloyd didn’t want to reveal themselves Wu knew there was no escaping confronting them now and these were not individuals to turn your back on. Before they could move they felt a magical energy wielded by the one who looked to be the groups leader pull them out of the undergrowth and drop them on their knees in front of the cult.
“How did you know we were there?” Lloyd wondered as he and his uncle got to their feet Lloyd startled by how easily this being had been able to do that with him. Wu wasn’t as bothered but on edge for potential hostilities from these beings.
“We could sense your presence in there. Try all you want half bloods you can’t hide from the likes of us,” the leader proclaimed before stating when he saw Wu, “my you’re looking old! I know I’ve been gone a while but I didn’t think it’s been that long!”
“I am to presume you are Nazeem,” Wu stated un-amused to the cult leader who pulled up his mask to reveal a gaunt dark greyed figure with bruised eye sockets and blood red eyes; he looked almost half dead. Nazeem proclaimed, “yes that is I and I’d say I’m aging far better than you well to be fair I’m no longer truly aging so it’s not a fair contest is it?” Nazeem chuckled at his last statement.
“So you finally have decided to continue whatever it is you had been planning to do. I’d started to think you’d crawled back to whatever shadow you came from and wait till I was no longer in the picture. Might I ask what has drawn you out from the shadows now? Here to eliminate more of the elemental masters or are you just after me this time? Are you the ones who brought this Lost Clan to our realm to wreck havoc so you and your friends can slink around in the background and continue your foul deeds?” Wu inquired to the cult. The next one to speak was a surprise for them. At first they didn’t recognise him but it didn’t take long for them to figure out who he was especially after he pulled up his mask revealing his face.
“We’re going to make sure it will soon be the end for you two and your fruit colored PJ pals,” Clouse expressed to them.
“You?! You’ve finally showed up out of the woodworks; I thought you’d gone to cower away to someplace like the underworld and no longer be a problem. You’re not a ghost anymore, how’d that happen?” Lloyd wondered getting agitated by Clouse. He was not a fan of this man; he was part of the reason his father was gone and he was guaranteed to be up to no good. He was one of a handful of people who without a doubt he could feel nothing but evil come from him making him feel some were just born of evil and couldn’t be changed no matter what.
“It was a thank you gift from my new pal Mendras after helping him out of his imprisonment,” Clouse boasted looking around before getting confused, “where is Mendras? He was just here?”
“That’s odd normally he’s not one to back down from a confrontation,” Nazeem stated looking around. The fact they had another cult member who was hiding put Wu on edge. That wasn’t good. This individual could be sneaking around to ambush them while they were distracted. He felt they should probably make a retreat putting a temporary truce between them and the cult till they were in better circumstances however Lloyd wasn’t listening distracted by confronting Clouse.
“Are you the one who created those monsters? Seems like something you would do; what did they do to my friends?” Lloyd questioned to which Clouse stated, “these are Mendras’s work. You like? If they did their job right then your friends will be no more.”
To Wu and Lloyds surprise they could hear these monsters talk! It wasn’t talking like what humans registered as talking. There were no verbal words even though the creatures made some grumbling sounds. It was more of an arcane based communication like a method used by the Oni to essentially talk without talking; they’d heard it before from that Dread-rabbit. They could hear the words in their head more than their ears. The one monster muttered clearly nervous, “well they fell into a pit…”
“Did you follow to make sure they were finished off?” Nazeem questioned somehow able to understand the monster as well. By Clouse asking what it was saying that told them he wasn’t able to hear, use or understand this communication. One of the other Lavalisks replied, “well it was steep and smelt odd plus they fell with rocks and other debris so surely they couldn’t have made it right?”
“They might still be alive; at least though they might not be in too good a shape. They fell down into a deep pit,” Nazeem explained to Clouse who stated, “well that’s good enough for now I guess. At least that will keep them out of our hair for a while. Now how should we deal with these two?” Lloyd could feel his anger steadily growing getting fuelled by worry for the others and feeling a steadily growing need for revenge for whatever harm or worse these beings had done to his family. It was letting his Oni nature creep in more and start influencing him. Wu was also angry at the cult but was more worried for the others and started to worry Lloyd may lose control. He could note not only the news but the nature of the Dark Isle and the energies from the nearby rift was causing him to quickly lose control. His eyes had already changed color and dark patches were starting to appear on his skin spreading out from the patches he’d been hiding under makeup for the past couple days. He attempted to get through to Lloyd to remind him to keep control but it was clear by what he did next that not only was he not listening but Lloyd had lost control.
“I’ll tell you what you can do. You can have a one way trip to the Departed Realm starting with those monsters!” Lloyd growled quickly building up a dark purple blast then wasting no time in hitting one of the Lavalisks obliterating it to ash in seconds. The other two took off into the woods but Lloyd was quick enough to destroy one of them before they could get out of his reach. His actions and the steady darkening of his skin with the sudden appearance of small horns on his forehead had the cult members suddenly scared even Nazeem and Clouse.
“What’s going on?” one of the cult members asked and Clouse responded with, “I’ve never seen this before!” Nazeem expressed, “I’m not too sure but I think we should make for a hasty retreat now.” Nazeem then disappeared in a sanguine tinted black smoke. Everyone else was afraid to move clearly not having the skill Nazeem had to escape and too scared to turn their backs to Lloyd.
“Don’t you dare try running from me!” Lloyd proclaimed his voice sounding off. It was then Wu realised he could feel a dark presence in the woods nearby. It distracted him from his nephew who tried to hit the cult members with his new found dark energy blast while they dodged it trying to look for a way to escape. This presence he could feel was not a normal dark. It was like an Oni but there was a distinct burning to it like it was burning all light and creation from its presence; that it was a burning pit of darkness. He had felt this darkness a few times before around this cult but he could never find where it came from. Wu scanned the woods in the direction he felt the presence. It was oddly very dark there even for a forest understory. Large dark looming shadows unrelated to those cast by the sun stretched out towards them from the area. A few times he thought he saw a dark humanoid figure moving in the shadows before the shadows seemed to glimmer as if glitching like in some of those video games the ninja liked to play. The glitching slowly as shadows swaying in the shadows got more solid as it got closer to them. The shadows morphed into a tall dark figure that moved towards them with a slightly swaying shuffling walk their overly long looking arms just hanging limp almost dragging as they moved. Wu had never seen anything like this in person before but had heard of them before and hoped to never encounter them. Strange demons of shadow and conflict that had appeared in old tales including a few his father had told him of that he’d experienced. To hear of such a monster was one thing but it couldn’t compare to actually experiencing it in the flesh. Like what those tails told of the sight of these things had him overwhelmed by feelings of terror, dread and despair. Wu knew they had to get away from there. These monsters were fuelled by darkness and conflict and the two of them couldn’t fight it off on their own especially with Lloyd consumed by darkness. Only forces of the light could counter and destroy them; darkness and conflict fuelled them. As it got closer and more solid he could get a better look at the thing which further worsened his feelings. It had two sets of what he was guessing were eyes, narrow long glowing red structures which he felt might be sunken into the head, a set of tentacles came off its cheeks which drooped down next to the trunk on its face. This trunk though was not like that of an elephant. It ended not in nostrils but two sharp looking prongs in fact there didn’t appear to be any form of nostril on this creature. Its arms drooped lower than its body so it had the two long thin sharp pointed digits of its hand curled up and in to keep them from dragging on the ground. Its arms had several joints to them giving them almost tentacle like flexibility. Even though it appeared to be made of pure shadow its skin looked to have a texture similar to that of a squids or an octopus. The thing overall looked gaunt yet it had a swollen looking belly. It was looking straight at them as it creepily approached. Wu wanted to get them out of there before the thing got too close but Lloyd was too focussed on the cult till this thing was within striking distance to him. Wu was too scared of this things presence to give his nephew a warning.
“What is that?” Lloyd commented feeling the entities presence seconds before it swiped at him with its one arm before he could look in its direction. It tossed Lloyd aside like he weighed nothing. Lloyd quickly got up to confront this monster. He blasted at it with his dark powers. The creature stepped back from the initial hit of the attack but was unharmed and retaliated by swinging up its trunk the tentacles on its face swinging out with an unsettling unearthly roar revealing the round mouth filled with sharp spines of teeth before it slashed its trunk down knocking Lloyd down with considerable force leaving large scratches on his chest from the prongs on the trunk. With Lloyd distracted the cult members escaped rushing off into the jungle disappearing in the undergrowth. While Wu wanted to help Lloyd he knew it was best not to get between the two fighting and more importantly they needed to escape this monster and preferably get into a well lit area in full sun and not confront it. After getting up from the attack Lloyd wasted no time in entering his Spinjitsu tornado which was tainted by his darkened state. He attempted to hit the creature and knock it off its feet but while he was able to make it stumble a bit after hitting it in a few spots it still remained standing and stable. Instead it held its ground raising up an arm before swiping it down tossing Lloyd aside into a tree. After hitting into it and landing at its base Lloyd quickly got up pulling out his sword and rushed at the monster. Before he could stab the monster though the creature caught him with its trunk and facial tentacles; the prehensile structures wrapped around parts of his body to immobilize him as he struggled to fight its hold. Its trunk was around Lloyd’s neck while one tentacle had his one arm and the other had one of his legs. It then used its arms to restrain his remaining limbs. Lloyd was struggling to break from the creatures hold cursing at it and threatening it as the monster began to suck energy from Lloyd.
“How dare you feed off me you demon!” Lloyd growled building up his powers in his hands. Unlike the previous attacks he’d done on the monster he was mustering his normal untainted energy for the blast. He struggled to direct his hands at the monster aiming for its head before letting the blast out; it came out much more powerful than any of them had expected. The blast was powerful enough and shocking enough to cause the monster to let go and be sent flung back to land in the undergrowth and even causing damages to the surrounding area from a shock wave which broke branches off trees one of which came to land atop Wu who was calling to Lloyd trying to snap him out of his state. Seeing the branch land on his uncle and pin him down had a major effect on Lloyd the dark possession that had come over him leaving returning him to normal and fading his anger steadily changing into fear. He rushed over to his uncles aid lifting the branch off him and tossing it aside before helping him to his feet.
“Are you okay?” Lloyd worried helping his uncle up and Wu responded, “just bruised and winded. We need to get out of here and into the light.” Lloyd questioned as Wu began leading them back to the lava field, “what about the monster?”
“Those monsters are fuelled by darkness and conflict. Our best bet currently is to avoid contact with it and get into the sun. They are not fast so hopefully we can out pace it,” Wu explained glancing back to see the monster had got up and was moving towards them with its unsettling shuffling gate. Scared by the monster the two quickly headed back through the woods to the open lava fields. Even though the two managed to make it to the lava fields with time to spare they made their way towards the Bounty in case they needed to get some further distance. They were not going to take any chances with this thing. They weren’t even halfway there when they heard the monsters scream. They stopped to look back worried over what they would see. To their relief the monster had stopped in the shadows of the forests edge the sunlight irritating it keeping it from following them. It glanced at them with a look of hatred before it slowly turned around and wandered back into the woods disappearing in the shadows.
“Is it gone?” Lloyd worried. Wu thought a moment before hypothesizing, “as long as the suns up it will not venture out here. Hopefully it will lose interest in us and leave or it is here on a temporary summons and be forced back to where it came from in some time. Just to be safe I think we move the Bounty to a new location for the night so it and the cult cannot so easily find…” Wu began before Lloyd quickly cut him off to proclaim, “the others!” Lloyd wasted no time in rushing to the temple. While Wu felt they needed to check on the others as well he was torn over the fact they might want to take precautions against the cult first especially since they had that monster. Lloyd wasn’t listening however and rushed to and into the temple. Wu followed him knowing it best now that they stuck together…
Meanwhile in the jungle after getting away from Lloyd when the monster attacked the cult re-gathered in a clearing about ten meters away.
“What in the name of the master was that! That’s not something Spinjitsu masters can do!” Clouse noted as Nazeem removed his invisibility spell revealing himself. Nazeem stated, “I’ve been around for some time and seen some things… that wasn’t something elemental masters can do. It was like he was possessed by an Oni!”
“It is more than just possessed he was revealing part of his true nature,” Mendras stated moving out of the shadows to join them. Clouse quickly questioned a bit mad, “where were you in all that? For something so powerful you were being quite the coward.”
“I was not being cowardly I was being decisive. Just as I could sense them those two would sense and know what I am and for the benefits of our plan it is best they do not know of my involvement yet. Also my presence will only unleash his darkness if I get too near. For our safety we must keep his dark side from showing itself at this time,” Mendras commented before another of the cultists wondered, “his true nature? What do you mean by that? What is his true nature?”
“He like his uncle and father are more than they seem; more than most know of. Most will recognise them as mere human but those with greater senses will know otherwise. They can tell their true beings. They are no mere humans like everyone else; they are part Oni,” Mendras explained. One of the cultists then questioned, “he’s an Oni? One of the greatest demons of darkness! And everyone thinks he’s some sort of hero even though he’s part demon? How? He’s a monster not a human!”
“Few know of his true nature. He and the others keep it hidden well and for good reason; not many would likely be fairly keen on having such a being let loose among the populace especially one that cannot control his Oni nature. What the green one was showing… he does not have control of his Oni nature like his uncle clearly does. Without control his Oni side can greatly wreck havoc and even be manipulated. That is good we will need that power in the future. In the meantime it is best we avoid interacting with him till we need to. We do not wish to set him off on us; he could do serious damage to our efforts if that happens. Even though he is not a full blooded Oni he is still very powerful especially without control. From now on it is best we steer clear of him and his friends,” Mendras stated. Clouse then wondered, “yha I’ll agree with that. During our confrontation they said something about this Lost Clan? That must be why they are here, what is this clan they spoke of?”
“I think I’ve heard something about that long ago. It was back in the realm I came to consider home after getting my blessing. What was it?” Nazeem began thinking to himself while Mendras stated, “cursed demons from a realm damaged by chaos and conflict between the ultimate powers of the light and the dark. For them to be here and now… their presence in the realm is a great benefit to us. Come we will put this little scuffle behind us and get back to work; we have some things we must change in our plans in order to work with these monsters.”…
Back in the temple Lloyd and Wu quickly went through the halls of the place looking for any traces of the others. Once inside the temple Lloyd made a green flame in his hand to shed light for them to see. Lloyd was struggling to keep from panicking worried over the others while Wu was able to maintain his calm knowing no matter what they found to help the others they needed to be calm. The entrance to the place had opened into a foyer which had a hall that led to a circular room with a floor that boasted a strange design to it. Another hall opposite the entrance then ran into some ruins which appeared to have been a burial place at one point with crevices in walls for bodies to be laid out however only things made of metal or ceramic like metal adornments from attire armour and weapons, coins, urns, strange statuettes largely of animals and some of the teeth some of the decayed skeletons which did not look to come from just humans were all that remained of those once buried there. It was lit by strange braziers that looked to have something like fire burning in them yet it wasn’t burning anything; there was no smoke and it didn’t look to need fuel at least not fuel in the sense they knew of even though it smelt, looked, acted and sounded like fire. At the end of this hall was a large room again lit by these braziers and their strange ‘fire’ with a strange wall at the back of the room. This wall was a slightly curved wall with what looked to be the overhead imagery of a dragons head in a style Lloyd didn’t recognise at the top center. Wu recognised the design as a very ancient design from a foreign realm. Writing in a language Lloyd couldn’t recognise was written on this wall below the dragon image. Wu had seen this writing before but didn’t know or understand it off hand. Few did.
“What a time to not have Zane or Pix with us; they could probably understand this,” Lloyd noted as they inspected the room. Wu explained, “they might not know this language. It is not one I would suspect a nindroid to readily know; not even my father fully knew it. According to him it is an ancient language from a place he would not speak of. Few know it or speak it. Dragons and Oni are the main users of it in the realms.” He’d need some texts to translate this writing which he luckily had back at the Bounty. He’d had a feeling for a while of where this Lost Clan had come from so had brought some things to translate any potential texts they might have encountered in this place that related to this realm. He was pretty sure he had what was needed to translate these texts. Using the phone his nephew had gotten him he took some pictures of the wall making sure to get all the texts present. This was one of the few times he was glad to have one of these phones. He normally had no care for it but had accepted it to ease his nephews desires that it was very useful for him to have one in case of emergencies. As he documented the texts for later translations Wu had a feeling Lloyd wasn’t listening to him as he was looking around quickly for another direction to travel. Two doorways lay on either side of this strange wall. One was collapsed by debris while the other was clear. Luckily they went to the same place, a hall behind the decorated wall which led to a small room with a locked door at the far end. Some shelves with decaying books and scrolls were all that was in the room. There didn’t appear to be any keys in the room for this door though by the looks a key would be of no use for the door. There was no place to insert it. Despite there being a door handle there was no key slot which made the door even stranger. If there was no key slot then how was it locked? Something else was the locking mechanism for this door but what? Wu couldn’t see a way through and it clearly wasn’t through physical attacks or elemental powers. Lloyd tried using both shoving himself into the door pushing it with his shoulder and hitting it with blasts of his powers and even a Spinjitsu tornado. None of it affected the door not even leaving a dent or scratch. There appeared to be no levers or switches in the room to unlock and open it nor was there any hints to how it opened. Did it swing out like a normal door or up or down into the wall? The door didn’t even budge from Lloyds attacks.
“Lloyd stop you are just going to hurt yourself,” Wu stated. Lloyd replied with, “we have to get through this though. We haven’t seen any pit so far so they must be behind here!” Wu couldn’t explain it but he had a feeling going behind this door was useless in this endeavour. They weren’t behind there; in fact he felt they hadn’t even gotten this far in the ruin. Something had happened to them earlier in the ruin. He told Lloyd this and for a second Lloyd didn’t seem to be listening to him but he soon stopped looking defeated to comment, “maybe we missed something before.” In his panic to break the door open Lloyd had ended up hurting his right shoulder and upper arm. Nothing was broken but he was pretty sure there was now some serious bruising there. They decided to take a slower more thorough look of the ruin Lloyd having calmed a bit from his panicking.
“This Sunless Dawn, who are they?” Lloyd inquired as they went through the ruin. While he was still very worried for the others his panicked state had settled letting him get a more stable mindset. Wu hesitated a moment before replying.
“A very dark group of individuals. They are very secretive in their actions and desires. I first experienced them not long after the time twins disappeared though they have been here for sometime longer likely long before I or my brother were even born. They had just been waiting in the shadows for centuries for the right time to strike. The first time they had made their presence known in the realm however was when I was young. It was in a settlement in the foothills of some mountains known as Hackmouth when I was a child. At first no one knew who they were or even existed. They blended in with everyone else and nothing seemed wrong. Through trickery, passive aggressive tactics and lies they hid as regular folks as they quickly worked their ways into positions of power in the town and started enacting odd laws and regulations. Slowly but steadily those following and liking the ideals the town leaders were making began to move in. Those in the town highly against them left to settle elsewhere regaling about the unpleasant things they had experienced like some barbaric and primal actions tolerated and engaged in by towns people ranging from petty crimes, depraved acts and destruction of property and private things to much worse including animal sacrifices and even rumours of possible child sacrifices. Hatred by those following these ideals towards those not following their beliefs was rampant, being treated unfairly especially when not following the unnecessary laws and activities of the town were more than common and some swore they had been constantly watched and stalked by some of these individuals all of which among other things made them feel they were not safe in that area. Some even claimed to get a feeling of evil in the town and witnessed strange individuals or creatures during the night stalking the area. My father was suspicious but didn’t see the need to intervene wanting to give freedom to people to make their own choices,” Wu began to explain. Lloyd commented, “I’m guessing something changed.”
“For the longest time what really went on in that town and the true darkness there was hidden from the public. A system of natural caves that had been turned to mines before being abandoned lay beneath and around the town. The cult had repurposed these tunnels as a secretive base for their darkest doings. By day everything seemed normal. People went about like nothing was up though many who had visited or had dealings within the town had noted a great unease and a sense of darkness in the location. Eventually some people who went near there started to disappear and there were reports of strange happenings inside and around the town. Out of concern my father sent one of his elemental masters, a previous master of form, to go undercover in the town and report on goings on. It was not good. Everyone was cold and intolerant of outsiders not liking him there but things at first seemed fine. It wasn’t long though till he noted oddities. He noted first thing that he could not get into the temple of the town nor see into it through any windows or cracks. People would chat behind his back but never to him and kept mentioning when they thought he wasn’t around things about a deep one and brethren. At times he thought he was being followed by some and some books being sold in a shop there were in a language he did not fully recognise but did know it to be a dark language often associated with dark magic’s; a language forbidden to be dealt with in the realm. Then during his first night staying in the town my fathers investigator was ambushed in his sleep in the inn he was staying in. He managed to overcome his attackers and escape. Investigating the attack he uncovered a hidden door in the floor of the basement to the inn which went down into the caverns beneath the town; they had expanded the pre-existing passages linking all the buildings together through this network. He was able to access the temple from there and found some disturbing things in there. A strange book in the forbidden runes, tapestries and banners of red bearing a black rising sun and masks and other items bearing the imagery of Oni on them. There were even a few statues of Oni in there one of which showed signs of sacrifices of the living occurring beneath it. My father decided then that this was not unhappy individuals over reacting and people engaging in harmless expressions of freedom but things far worse; it was time to intervene. At first my father thought the town had just made some forbidden deal with some serpentine or a rogue Oni but what he found was much worse. They had formed a cult and were not only worshipping the Oni but they had some sort of belief a powerful Oni was buried in the area and that they could find them through those tunnels. They were seeking to free this demon to set about the destruction and conquering of the realm. That was this deep one the town referenced while the brethren were those most affected by this cult worship which had turned them into deranged and dangerous beings. My fathers spy had noted some of the people went around town all day fully covered in dark robed attire with only their eyes showing; he had noted something about those eyes didn’t look right. They were large almost bulging in dark bruised looking sockets. Their attire too bore a questionable look; there was symbolism to it that my father later realised related to the Oni. Why they were covered and had those eyes they figured out later when my father led an attack to the town to quell their actions and end this cult. Something had happened to them. My father couldn’t tell if it was because of their worship or dabbling in forbidden magic’s but under that attire their skin was greying and looking almost like it was dying, they were clearly not well kept with oily hair and being rather dirty. And for some reason they didn’t like the sunlight very much that was why they remained fully covered when out in daylight; touching the light made them feel as if they were burning. At night, indoors or in the tunnels they were fine and disrobed but outside in the day they remained covered. My father razed the village burning it to the ground and destroying everything there. After they searched the area and those caves thoroughly to see if there was any truths to this cults beliefs however no evidence of a supposed deep one was ever found. My father had the master of earth at the time collapse the tunnels in the area as for the town members and this brethren group. The damage had been done and they could not be saved. So corrupted and brainwashed by their dark doings and beliefs they had become they could not be fixed so were all banished to the cursed realm to eliminate the dangers of them. The place as far as I know has remained abandoned ever since being swallowed up by the forests of the area and few go near there. Just as a precaution to make sure no one would seek to investigate the site my father propagated rumours of the place claiming it was haunted and even bound to the location monsters from a realm he refused to speak of that were loyal to him to patrol the area and scare off those that delved too deep. My father thought that was going to be enough of that group from then on and so did I,” Wu continued pausing for a moment as they re-entered the room with the strangely decorated floor stopping there as they continued to chat. Lloyd asked getting more intrigued and focussed on his uncles story forgetting about their task there, “I’m guessing they returned?”
“Indeed. I caught word of some strange goings on in a town; people acting odd being disrespectful to outsiders, appearing to worship something I had never heard of, building strange monuments, becoming aggressive and rioting and looting in nearby towns. I had no reason to believe the Sunless Dawn was related at first. The town was not located near the ruins of Hackmouth and we had thought this cult had been destroyed,” Wu began and Lloyd commented, “something changed that thought didn’t it?”
“Indeed. A scout reporting back to us about what was going on changed everything. They described how many were donning dark and red trimmed robes, they had erected a large obelisk in the center of the town made of an unknown black stone that bore carvings on it that they were bowing to a couple times a day while mutter in a strange robotic like manner some strange ramblings and they appeared to be building a fort and more obelisks around the place but the revealing detail was all throughout the town were red flags bearing a black rising sun. Knowing that we had to act fast to stop this cult from gaining a foothold; we rushed in to clear the place. Luckily unlike in Hackmouth the townsfolk were not really into the actions they were doing. Most were under some form of mind control emanating from that dark obelisk entrancing the people drawing them to obey and worship whatever the cult wanted. Those that were in on it were not too far gone that we could not undo the mind warping the cult members had started. We destroyed what they were working on freeing the people however most of the cult members escaped. I knew we needed to stop them as quick as possible to prevent them from completing their goals whatever those were. We had no clue and any members we caught destroyed themselves before we could interrogate them. They managed to escape us several times before we managed to outsmart them and caught a large group of them defeating and banishing them to the cursed realm. Unfortunately some escaped. Because his mother played a major role in their downfall they went after Jays mother,” Wu regaled. Lloyd stated surprised, “really Edna was an elemental master? She doesn’t strike me as such. I’m guessing you managed to stop them then since Jay still has his mother.” Wu hesitated a second before stating, “unfortunately Jays family is not as it seems. What I am about to tell you I need you to keep secret. Jay already knows and he most likely has told Nya but he has not told the rest of you and in truth it should be up to him to let others know of such a personal matter.”
“I can keep it a secret,” Lloyd replied growing more curious. Wu took a deep breath before continuing, “Jays parents are not his birth parents. In truth they are his aunt and uncle. For his safety he had to be separated from his birth parents. The Sunless Dawn got a hold of his mother and before any of us could rescue her they banished her. For the longest time I thought they had killed her before they vanished from the realm but then Rosic gave Jay something of hers that had been buried claiming to know her and gotten the items from her. She had been banished not killed.”
“Well that’s good then maybe after all this we could help him get her back,” Lloyd stated but what Wu explained next dashed his hopes in that and didn’t bring him good feelings. Wu continued, “I had hoped it was not the case and yet do not know how to break this to Jay but there is no way to bring her back. If I am right where she was banished to is not a true realm. It is a place little spoken of or known of to most individuals and for good reason. It is a place most refer to as the Void. The spawning place of all things and the existence outside the realms; little is known of this place but it is known it is not a place for those of the realms. To end up there is a fate worse than death. How this Lost Clan can have contact with this place I do not know but given what they can do I have a feeling there is more to them than meets the eye. As far as I am aware only Oni and the Dragons can contact and venture to this place without harm though there is an ancient and highly forbidden art of magic that deals with this place that can do things no other magic’s can and from what I have seen the Lost Clan is using this magic. What this means of our enemies I do not yet know but it does not bode well. What is worse is from what they did to Jays mother it is obvious the Sunless Dawn also uses this magic. I have not seen evidence the two groups are working together but then again I had no reason to think they were; I thought the Sunless Dawn was gone but it appears they have just been lying in wait all this time. Is it just a coincidence the Sunless Dawn has shown up when this Lost Clan has or are they related in some way? I hope not but if they are we are in serious trouble and the fight for our realm this time is going to be unlike anything we have faced before and I am unsure if we will be able to succeed this time.”
“We defiantly won’t if we’ve lost the others. I haven’t seen this pit they mentioned but the others aren’t here,” Lloyd noted starting to worry again. Wu meanwhile began to notice something about this place. There was an odd energy in it. It felt like the boundaries between realms was thin leaving what he could only describe as a feeling that felt as if he was walking through sheets of mosquito netting or damp cobwebs in the air.
“I think I can feel that too. What does it mean?” Lloyd noted as his uncle explained this to him. Wu paused to think it over a second taking in the surroundings. The place looked no different from most other caves other than some strange flora on the walls and ceiling and most notably the odd floor with its circular design which now that they weren’t rushing through there he got a better view of. It took a moment before he was able to make out what it was. It almost resembled some form of seal of a dragon or dragon like creature that had been hybridized with some sort of bird possibly a raven. It was odd and he’d have to look into it later. He then got distracted by a noise above. Sounded like wings. Looking up he at first didn’t see anything before catching glimpses of something moving in the shadows. He couldn’t really make out its full form just catching glimpses of its dark green reflecting eyes; it looked to resemble a bird likely a crow which was perched on a ledge high up on the wall. The bird just looked down at them silent and unmoving. Lloyd didn’t seem aware of the bird. Looking up at it and into its eyes Wu got a feeling they didn’t need to worry about the others. They’d be back soon with no need for searching for them. He just had to have faith that they could work things out on their own.
“I think it means there is more to this place than meets the eye. I do not think we are going to find the others here any time soon. I think it best we return to the Bounty and re-situate it elsewhere preferably in a more secluded area to avoid any more encounters with the Sunless Dawn. After that we can try searching again,” he explained starting to leave the place. Lloyd was terribly confused and worried. He didn’t want to just leave the search but at the same time he didn’t want to be alone in this place. He was getting very uneasy feelings from this place. He decided to leave with his uncle hoping his feelings on the issue were right and they’d find the others soon.
He was dreaming of his mother. She was in a dark place the sky thickly clouded and hazed greatly blocking what appeared to be a sun in the sky leaving the place as dark as sundown with dark dead knarled and creepy looking trees creating a dense forest around her. Strange, sometimes creepy or dead looking fungi and flora some of which had parts with red, dark blue, sickly green and purplish glowing hues grew in the woods. There were even some very tree like fungi that resembled knarled arms and hands reaching up out of the ground growing in the woods. She was knelt on the damp ground lost and scared her hands over her face and crying upset that she would not be there for him as he grew up, to be there for him when he would need it. Her attire was all burned and torn up and dark marks were slowly appearing and crawling up her skin from the ground. There were things moving in the shadows, monsters made of shadow stumbling and stalking looking like they wished to attack her. They were slowly getting closer to her. Twisted and eerie sounding creatures and a faint distant chant in an unrecognisable language could be heard along with the distant rumble of thunder. She seemed to be unaware of the monsters creeping in at her. They were slowly closing in. Before these shadow beings could get too close though a bright bolt of light suddenly appeared striking from the sky scaring the monsters back and lighting the area up. Where the light had been now stood a figure; he was a dark tanish grey with green eyes humanoid with the head of a stag. There were blackening patches on his hide in a piebald style pattern. He was carrying a wooden staff which bore a strange crystal that seemed to be growing on its top that emitted a bright warm light. He wore ragged off white pants with a torn dark and dirty red cape on his shoulders. The figure strolled up to his mother and held down his hand for her in offering. She sensed his presence and stopped her crying to look up at the figure silent.
“I am sorry for what has happened to you; do not worry though your death will not be for nothing. Your son will be okay without you,” the figure stated his voice deep masculine and while sounding human something about his voice wasn’t human. His mouth didn’t appear to move properly with his words as he talked. Despite the deer like head its mouth was more like that of a dog or bears including the pointed canines. Jays mother asked scared and confused, “who… who are you?”
“Deep down you know me. You may not know my name but you still know me. I am one with the void; the source of all things even you. I am the living embodiment of the void heir of its light; of life and creation to which you served in life,” he told her. His mother was quiet for a moment clearly still scared and apprehensive before she asked, “where am I?” He responded to her, “spawns of the greatest darkness have cursed you to their lands of darkness in the plane of existence of all things and no things; the void.” She was confused but started to feel safe by his presence so took his hand and he helped her to her feet. With his touch the darkness was peeled away from her curing her and her attire slowly repaired itself.
“I’m in the departed realm aren’t I?” she asked tears still in her eyes. Despite his mothers emotions this figure was eerily emotionless. He responded his tone unchanging, “in a way. The departed realm is a part of this place and not just sitting in it like the other realms but you are not in its borders and from what they have done to you it will be some time before you can safely enter there. No they cursed you damaging your spirit while sending you to one of the darkest regions of the void. Unfortunately what they have done to you bars you from returning to the mortal realms even in a spectral form within your son’s lifetime; a further method to curse you. You are now trapped in this place.” His mother started to tear up again.
“Do not worry your offspring will be fine without you, you chose his guardians well, and one day you will get to see him again. For now though you must remain in this place isolated from those you love. You however are not going to dwell in this cursed region. I am here to shepherd you to a better place; a safe place. Lands more tailored to your light where the darkness cannot get you. I have there some followers who will protect you and when the time is right they can leave this place and commune with your offspring for you now come let us get you to your new home,” he stated taking his mother’s hand then leading her off through a portal of light that appeared behind him…
When he came to Jay was laying on the ground with everyone else. After the floor had given way beneath them they’d dropped down into a tunnel and slid down slippery wet algal covered rock surfaces that had started steep but steadily shallowed out dumping them into a large cavern where they’d all been rendered unconscious from the tumble and debris that fell with them. They’d landed on a bed of glowing lichens in an alcove of a rather large and strange cavern. The cavern was several stories tall and rather expansive with various hills, mounds, cliffs and low spots. Strange glowing fungi and even flora grew throughout the cavern growing on and out of and even coating walls, floors, ceilings, columns, growing near the base of the walls and even on or out of other fungi and flora. Every now and then firefly like bugs lit up in the area and they could hear strange sounding frogs and insects possibly even some birds in the caverns. Despite being underground the place was not a barren rocky, dark and dirt place filled with guano and creepy crawlies like one would expect from an underground realm. It was surprisingly lush with fields of lichens and patches resembling forests made of largely fungi. The cavern was lit up enough by glows from various things like the flora and even some rocky structures in the cavern for them to see fairly well. All the flora much of which was fungal were strange looking. They were larger than most of the fungi they were used to seeing some reaching the size of trees or bearing strange structural designs. Oddly for a place devoid of sunlight there were some plants growing in the cavern. Small flowering plants, ferns, mosses, vines, some shrubs and even small trees which were short more knarled looking and chunky trunked than trees above ground were just some of the plants they could see. Both fungi and plants grew from more than just the ground; out of cliff sides and the sides of the cavern, down from the ceiling, out of columns and on and around stalagmites and stalactites. Quite a few of this flora, particularly the fungi, had parts that were glowing mainly in hues of blues, greens and ambers but purplish and reds could also be seen in a few places. Strange roots to what they belonged to they couldn’t tell grew along walls and from the ceiling to the floor in places even forming columns or coating stone pillars of the cavern. Various rock and gem deposits some of which glowed were scattered over the area and seaming or growing out of the walls, overhangs, pillars, rock structures and ceiling helping add enough light for them to still see casting a dim light through the cavern. Strange stalactite like structures bearing warm glows on parts of them were scattered around the place and in a few spots bones most of which were probably fossilized sat on the ground or stuck out of rock surfaces flora unbothered with growing on or near them. Some of these bones were massive and all they could not identify what creatures they came from. As they all began to stir they took note of their surroundings particularly around them. Scattered around them was rubble from the floor they had fallen with. It lay scattered around them with some chunks on them. Luckily nothing big was on them largely just smaller pieces. They were all lying there slowly coming to sore and scratched up. They had at least been lucky to not have the Lavalisks follow them down there. The creatures probably felt they had perished and no longer had an interest in them.
“Who’s still alive?” Kai wondered as he started to get up only to find Jay lying on top of him pinning him down. Everyone pitched in a word or two to prove they were there. Zane and Nya didn’t have anyone on them nor were on anyone while Pixal had come to land on Cole. They all took a moment to asses themselves before slowly getting up.
“I think I’ll defiantly need a doctor’s visit after this,” Kai commented getting up once Jay had gotten off him; Kai was pretty sure he had either pulled something or partially fractured his left forearm. It was sore and he was having trouble moving it and when he did move it there was a great deal of pain in it. He was also pretty sure it looked to be swelling and bruising. Jay was finding it painful to stand and noted his right ankle felt swollen and he was pretty sure from the stinging feeling he had a descent sized cut on the left side of his forehead by his hairline; when he touched the area it stung more and felt wet confirming his suspicion. Nya was having trouble with her right shoulder with a cut on her right upper arm and back. Cole had a cut on his left leg, left shoulder and a pulled right wrist. Zane and Pixal hadn’t got off free from harm. While trying to grab something during the slide to stop his descend Zane ended up pulling and damaging his right shoulder damaging wires, connectors and the joint giving him problems moving that arm. He also had a cut on his forehead and a cut on his chest which were letting some of his internal makes stick out and leading to some of his internal cooling fluids to leak from his chest. Pixal had damage to her left ankle and a serious cut on her back letting some of her inner makes poke out and cooling fluid to leak out as well.
“This is bad. How are we going to get out of here especially in this state?” Cole wondered as he helped Pixal up before getting himself up. Zane noted as he helped support Pixal who was having trouble standing from her damaged leg, “there is no access to communications outside this cavern in fact there is no signal in here’ we’re completely cut off from the rest of the world down here.”
“That’s not good… I don’t think any of us will be able to get up the way we came,” Nya noted helping to support Jay who was having trouble with his one leg. Jay began to panic, “we’re trapped down here in some unknown cave with no way out and no food or water!”
“Jay just chill. There has to be a way out of here. Give me a moment and I’ll see if I can use my powers to find a path,” Cole commented to which Jay quickly freaked out, “and if you don’t find a way?”
“Jay we’re elemental masters. If we can’t find a way we’ll make one,” Kai commented. They took a moment to relax and find their footings with their injuries. Nya helped support Jay who couldn’t put much weight on his swollen ankle and Zane helped Pixal who was having trouble using her injured leg. Cole took a moment to meditate with his powers to try and figure out a way out of there. Using his powers he was able to sense through the rocks two ways out his powers creating visible marks on the ground around them showing the ways out like it had back in the mountains of Shintaro. One path was the passage they had dropped down but that was steep with slippery algae coating the surfaces and none of them were in any shape to try climbing that. The other led deeper into the cavern.
“We have to go deeper?! Are you sure?” Jay worried. Cole commented, “that’s what I sense. It’s either that or you can try climbing out the way we came.” They all stopped for a moment to look at the steep slippery tunnel. There was no way especially in their current state any of them would be able to climb up that and get out. They then turned and followed the trail from Coles powers that headed deeper into the cavern. Their movement was slow and they stuck close to each other worried over what could be down there with them. While there were strange geologic structures and flora giving off light it was still dim with a fairly short field of view for all of them, not to mention the unfamiliarity and unknowns of the place made them very uneasy with the dark, so Kai created a fire on his hand to give them more light. They stopped for a moment at one point to cut parts off one of the root structures in the cavern to make some torches for them so they could have more light. The fire also gave them some warmth; the cavern wasn’t cold but it was damp and cool making their injuries feel even more unpleasant. The air was also surprisingly not as stale as they thought it would be with a slight breeze every now and then. Zane and Pixal felt temperature differences likely sparked by flora, water sources and possibly seams of lava and even cracks or holes in the rock above leading to the outside were powering the wind which unlike in a normal cave thanks to this caverns size was not hindered in its movement allowing for better air flow. As they went through the cavern they had to pick their way around and through the foliage of the place. There was no real path even though a couple times they stumbled across what looked to be trails made by large animals that had moved through the area trampling small flora and knocking down some of the large flora of the place. That had some of them very uneasy. What kind of large creatures could be down there? At one point they had to navigate around the fallen trunk of a large fungi of the cavern. It lay in their path but they were all too weak to cut a path through it or climb over it and it was too large for them to move so they had to go around it. As they passed around its base where something looked to have purposely chewed it down likely to get at the fruiting top Zane and Pixal took a moment to inspect the internal structure of the fungi curious about it. The others just kept moving unaware the two were distracted till Jay who paranoid something in the darkness might get them was keeping an eye on where everyone was noted they were lagging behind.
“What are you two doing? Now’s not the time to be lagging around to inspect everything. We need to get out of here before worse things can happen to us!” Jay scolded the two.
“As we suspected to support their structure while growing to a much larger size than usual these fungi have developed a woody internal framework to which the normal makes of the fungi coat,” Zane explained to which Kai asked, “have you two satisfied your curiosities then?” Pixal stated, “why should we abandon our curiosities here? It could help us understand where we have ended up.”
“That’s fine but we need to stick together. We can’t risk getting separated down here. This place looks massive and it’s poorly lit with creatures and possibly other dangers we don’t yet know of that could seriously hurt us or worse so we shouldn’t be wandering off from each other. None of us are in a state where we could defend ourselves should we get in trouble,” Cole explained. They were all in agreement with that idea.
“What do you think is down here?” Jay worried as they continued on his eyes wide as he kept alert to everything not lit up by their lights. There were lots of things giving off glows in the dim light some of which would disappear at random or flash with varying brightness or patterns as if something was communicating through the lights. At first they weren’t sure what was causing the lights uneasing Cole who worried it was something ghostly however soon as their eyes grew more adjusted to the dark and some of these lights appeared close enough to them it was within their short field of view they could see they were on dark figures that looked animal like. At first they were worried it may be some form of monster but after catching a couple more thorough glimpses of some of the figures these lights were on they realised they were some form of animals.
“Probably lots of bugs; defiantly got to be spiders and centipedes…” Kai nervously chimed in. Visibility was poor especially in the distance thanks to the darkness, some of the higher roofed sections even looked to have clouds likely some form of fog forming in the higher reaches and the glows from flora and fauna encased in the darkness made differentiating things in the cavern difficult. At first other than the firefly bugs they didn’t notice any other life however as their eyes adjusted to the dim light they started to notice things moving in the caverns. Strange creatures often dark colored with pale stripes and spots making their outlines difficult to make out in the dim light of the cavern. The creatures appeared to be uneasy of them and rushed away from them when they came by the critters preventing them from getting a close look at them. Most of them were okay with that though as they weren’t too sure they wanted to know what kind of creatures dwelled down here. The inability to make out what the creatures were had them uneasy to them. Luckily none of the creatures seemed to have an interest in attacking them despite with their injured states they were prime targets for any animal seeking an easy meaty meal. The animals didn’t appear scared of them like normal animals but they weren’t bold. They were weary keeping an eye on the ninja their bright icy blue eyes reflecting highly in the dark around them and the creatures were keeping at least a couple feet away from them at all times. Some of the strange creatures they eventually were able to make out in the darkness included strange frogs that had a bright visible glow in their chests, dark colored rheas with bright spots on their finely plumed bodies, large beetles that were feeding on the fungi which were unbothered by other creatures riding on their backs like some strange bipedal yet furred reptiles that looked like someone had crossed a bird with a lizard, roos which quickly hopped out of their path upon seeing them, creatures they could only assume was some form of large flightless bird likely some type of parrot that showed off their strange looking clawed forelimbs to scare them off when they stumbled too close to the creatures, strange little hoofed mammals climbing up and on surfaces or running quickly to hide at the sight of them and some strange mudskippers chilling by a river that was running through the area. They even without meaning to walked over a strange armoured reptile that had buried itself in the ground for some reason with only its back and top of head sticking up like some form of earthen crocodile. It was still till they had stepped on its back causing it to get up knocking off Jay, Kai and Nya who had walked onto its back. The thing had a leathery armoured back which was lined on the neck and front end by large spikes, fleshy feelers like some form of mole grew over the top beak of the snout, the nose area of the snout was upturned like some kind of pig, it was low slung, had a furred underside and a large strange scute on its forehead which made it look like it had a third eye. The creature made some noise at them making them all hurry off quicker to avoid an attack. Luckily it didn’t chase after them instead lumbering off into the rest of the cavern. They were so on edge as they navigated their way through this strange place that any sudden movement or loud sound had them jumping or getting tense in reaction such as when a strange lizard looking creature with long strange scales sticking out in paired rows down its back put on a sudden flashing glow show of an amberish color from its markings when they unknowingly got too close to it. It had been laying minding its own business on a boulder when they walked by startling it. Its sudden display startled them. Zane and Pixal tensed up to observe what caused the display wanting to assess the situation before reacting, Cole and Nya jumped moving back a bit from it startled while Jay panicked sparking Kai to panic resulting in the two stumbling and tripping over each other in an attempt to get away. While they reacted the creature stopped its light show then jumped down from the boulder before rushing off awkwardly getting onto its hind legs to rapidly run on two legs into the darkness.
“What are these things?” Jay wondered as he and Kai recovered nervous of the creatures while Nya noted a bit on edge from them, “I’ve never seen anything like them.” Cole who was also uneasy by them added, “by the looks it doesn’t look like they’ve seen anything likes us either.”
“They probably haven’t seen anything like us before. To I and Pixals knowledge we have very little records of places like this,” Zane noted. He and Pixal were uneasy with the place but unlike the rest weren’t really fearful just wary and were much more intrigued by the location stopping every now and then to observe and get some scans of the place. Pixal added, “there have been rumours and tales for centuries of strange caves leading to bizarre underground environments. They have often been delegated as myths however as eyewitness testimonies have rarely provided evidence and expeditions to uncover anything about them have always resulted in the crews having issues preventing them from finding these locations or they go missing.”
“Missing you mean never seen again cause they died down here!” Jay complained as they continued on their way to which Cole stated, “Jay chill we’ll find a way out. I have created a path for us to get out of here.”
“Yha and how far does it go! It could take days and we have no food or water and are all banged up,” Jay continued to panic getting more anxious the deeper they went into the cavern. Who knew what was waiting deeper in there.
“While what is down here Zane and I could likely consume even though it may not be fully safe for us chances are most if not everything may be toxic to the point of being fatal to humans,” Pixal explained. This further didn’t help Jays nor any of the others feelings. They kept going determined but steadily getting more tired to find an exit to this place. At one point they had to cross a deep ravine which was filled a little over halfway with a river of lava. Luckily for them the ravine was gapped by stone overhangs and root structures which grew around and even encased rocky bits of the ravine forming natural bridges across the ravine in many places. Some of these ‘bridges’ were rather thick and wide at least a few meters in diameter with even parts of the wood from the root structures looking to begin to fossilize from minerals being leached into the plant and its remains through the water and soils of the cavern. Flora grew on many of these bridges with the largest even starting to support trees and tree fungi especially on their largest and thickest sections. Luckily for them where they bumped into this ravine one of these large natural bridges was situated not far from their path and by the trail made by animals it was clear this structure was in frequent use. They were still cautious as they crossed the ravine despite having plenty of space for them to cross together with three of them able to walk side by side and still have space between them and the edges of the bridge as there was nothing to stop them from slipping over the edge. While crossing the lava made them a bit nervous the heat the lava was giving to the area felt nice. The area around this ravine on both sides held hot springs where the strange stalagmite like structures with glowing patches to them were thriving. Despite the landscape rising and lowering through the cavern they luckily didn’t encounter too steep or severe a grade nor had to climb over steep cliff faces the ground worn down from creatures, flora and water to be more gentle and levelled. They did however come to a low lying swampy section which gave them a bit of trouble. They needed to cross a bit of a lake at one point but didn’t want to waste time walking around it; they were also not too keen on getting wet. Nya attempted to see if she could try to move the water at first to maybe make a path for them through it but she didn’t have the energy for it. Zane tried to make a layer of ice on the top for them to cross. He was able to make some ice but he too had trouble mustering the energy to continue and nearly shorted himself out forcing him to stop. Cole came over to support Pixal to take some of the strain off Zane so he could recover. To their dislike they had to navigate around the lake and cross at a shallow river to get to the other side. A short time later after some time with no apparent end in sight for their travels they decided to take a break sore and tired by some boulders with various large flora like woody spires with patches of fern leaves growing out of it and various fungi including some large stalked ones with warm yellowish glowing pods on top which gave them some more light. They sat close together in a sort of circle placing their makeshift torches which were quite burnt down in the center of them. They’d have to get fresh wood for new torches when they set off again. Luckily there were plenty of sources around them for that; some of those vine or root structures were nearby with moss that had glowing berry like structures on it hanging on them. Cole was curious if he could eat the strange berries on the moss but he didn’t wish to risk trying them and Pixal and Zane were not wanting to risk trying them for him. The berries could negatively affect their systems and they did not want to risk anything that could cause operating problems for themselves. With their multitude of ways to analyze the world around them, heightened senses and intelligence they felt it important that they remain as highly functioning as they could to aid them all. Cole couldn’t disagree with that thinking.
“So when we get out of here are we still going to search for what we came for?” Kai wondered holding his injured arm to his body. He was pretty sure as he felt over it that it was at least fractured possibly broken. Cole stated, “I think we should just focus on getting out of here first and getting fixed up; and of course having something to eat. After that we can decide what to do.” They sat for a minute resting before Jay felt something prick him in the back by his left shoulder.
“Ow, what was that?” Jay commented nervous to which Kai wondered, “what was what?” Jay could feel something on his back making him anxious. He was pretty sure it was a bug and he was not happy with that thought.
“There’s something on my back,” he stated too scared to see what it was. Instead Zane took a look and ended up picking off him causing him some pain a strange furry mouse sized creature. Zane showed them the creature stating, “this thing was feeding on you like a mosquito.”
“WHAT?!” Jay exclaimed while the rest of them became nervous. The creature looked like someone had crossed a small mammal with a grasshopper. It was dark colored with a long hard proboscis made from its fused front teeth and large ears like a bats. Its body was compact and furry with slim finely fuzzed longish limbs the back of which bent backwards looking like the back limbs of a grasshopper.
“I think it is some form of bat; maybe? It’s teeth appear to have fused into a proboscis like structure in order to drink blood, the jaws might even be immobile as well or at the least have a limited range of motion and its wings have been lost with only one digit still retained…” Zane suggested giving it a scan as the creature struggled in his hand to get free. It then stabbed him in the hand with its proboscis like teeth causing Zane to drop it in surprise. It luckily didn’t damage him but did surprise him. The creature landed on its back flailing its limbs a bit like an upturned beetle before righting itself. It then began hopping back towards Jay who hit the area by it with a shock startling the creature. Instead of leaving however it switched towards Kai who was greatly unsettled by the creature so he blasted at it a fireball in panic. It hit the creature flinging it back several feet. It landed on its back again some of its fur singed but rather unhurt. It took a moment to right itself before hopping away now finding it wasn’t worth trying to feed on them. They all looked around themselves on edge in case there was more of these creatures. They could see a few of the creatures hiding in and around foliage and rocks around them where they were likely slowly stalking towards them to strike when they least expected it. Cole decided, “I think it best we get going again and get out of here before taking another rest. It’s clearly not the safest place here.” They were all in agreement. They all got up as quickly they could despite pains and tiredness checking the whole time to make sure more of those creatures weren’t crawling on them and got back on their way stopping for a moment by one of the roots to make some new torches. They continued on moving slower now. It wasn’t long till they wanted to rest again but they were not too keen on letting their guard down in this place especially after they stumbled upon a cat in this place. Apart from its coloring which matched those of the others in the cavern it looked like a regular cat prompting Jay to want to pet it. It seemed friendly since it didn’t run from them or attack instead it just looked and sniffed at them. The others cautioned him not to do it as this was a wild animal not a house cat but Jay didn’t listen; it was a cat and who wouldn’t want to give some pets to a cat? After all petting a cat was healthy, it lowered stress and blood pressure and gave a calming effect three things Jay was really wanting at that time. At first it seemed to be fine with his approach but when he went to pet it the cat let out a hiss puffing up and starting to growl while sparking its markings to glow with an icy blue glow. This startled Jay who fell back taking Nya who was helping support him with him. As the two got back up the cat picked up the strange small hopping mammal it had caught and rushed off into the darkness.
“We told you not to touch it. Just because it looks cute and cuddly doesn’t mean it’s friendly,” Cole chastised Jay as he and Nya got back up. Jay stated, “fine. Can we just hurry up to get out of here!”
“How much longer do you think it will take to get out of here?” Kai asked as they continued on. Cole replied, “I don’t know. Hopefully not too long; I don’t think it would be a good idea for us to fall asleep down here.” They were all in agreement with that. They wanted to be out of that place before they got too tired and had to sleep. They were feeling that time was coming quicker than they wanted as they continued on in their injured states through the cavern. Luckily within about ten minutes they found the path lead them to an unfamiliar structure built into a wall of the cavern. It bore some resemblance to the temple outside however there was iconography of a bird all over the structure, most likely a raven from what Zane and Pixal could tell. It was at least two stories tall with the main floor raised a couple steps off the ground of the cavern. The path led strait up to the only door of the structure. The door the path led to was situated in the center of the structure in the open maw of a giant ravens head the bottom jaw split and framing the doorframe while the top made an overhang over the door. Bluish purple glowing gems made up the birds eyes and the braziers did not have fire but held football sized amber glowing crystals which gave off light. Along with the strange braziers lanterns lit by unfamiliar plasmatic orb like things also lit up the structure. They stopped outside the temple nervous of entering.
“This is where the path leads?” Jay questioned unsettled by the structure. Cole commented pointing out the path his powers had made which led up the stairs of the structure to the door on it, “that’s it can’t you see the trail my powers made.”
“I can see that I just wanted to be sure we really want to go in there; who knows where it leads and what’s on the other side!” Jay expressed. The others could agree they all had reservations against it but they needed to get out of there. Even if they had further to travel getting out of this massive and unknown cavern was a good idea. Once inside they could take a break in better safety than out there. They stuck close as they approached the door and slowly opened it. What they found on the other side was something they weren’t expecting. There was a darkness in the doorway forming a wall that swallowed all light. There was a green iridescent black mist coming off the darkness. They were all confused and nervous.
“Uh what is that?” Kai wondered while after giving it a scan Pixal noted, “I cannot sense anything from it. It appears to be an empty void.” Nya wondered, “are we going to brave it? There’s something very unsettling about this.” While she talked Zane took the torch he had and gave it a gentle toss at the void. The torch went through it disappearing yet shortly after it disappeared there was a muffled sound like it landed on something stone on the other side further confusing and unsettling them.
“Sounds like there’s something in there or on the other side,” Nya noted. Pixal wondered nervous, “well are we going to try and see what’s there?” They looked at each other for a moment wondering who was going to make the first move or say something. Cole decided to take the lead and cautiously approached the darkness before passing through it his light vanishing as he entered the darkness. There was a moment of silence as they wondered if they should follow him or wait and see if he came back. They soon got their answer as Cole came back unharmed but very confused.
“Is it safe?” Jay wondered. Cole replied, “looks like it but…” he paused looking at the darkness for a second confused till Nya asked him, “but…”
“I don’t know if this is a portal or just some weird doorway but there’s a large forested area on the other side not another cave or building interior. There’s something odd about this forest though. It’s hard to explain. The place looks fairly normal but it feels sort of out of place, there’s this odd feeling in the air… I can’t really put what’s over there into words very well. You just have to see for yourself what I’m talking about,” Cole explained. Interested Zane and Pixal lost some of their fear and followed Cole back through the darkness then the rest of them followed nervous of what may be on the other side. Upon entering the darkness they felt a strange weightless feeling their bodies going numb and oddly cold for a brief while and their senses blacking out for a brief couple seconds as they felt as if they weren’t fully in their own bodies for that time before everything came back to them in an instant and they found themselves in what almost looked like a dojo built four stories up into the side of a mountain. It was largely enclosed with a stone back wall and wooden side walls however a large opening was in the front wall leading out to a covered deck then on to this forested area. The roof and floors were wooden. They took a moment to understand what they were looking at. The structure was largely empty with only some decorative hanging lanterns that were giving off a warm light hung on the walls. There was no arts or any kind of furniture in the place. Though it looked abandoned the place was pristine and clean as if the occupants had just moved out the day before. The doorway they had entered in the cavern emptied out a doorway in the back wall of the structure which was framed by a tori gate carved into the rock with the head of a fanged stag built into the top middle of the gate. Outside there was a forest resembling a cool temperate environment with various conifers and deciduous trees while also being dominated by tall ancient species of giant trees like sequoias, firs, cypress and gingkoes scattered throughout the woods. There were even a few large fungi most reaching about two to three meters tall with a few tree sized in the forest. Ferns, tree ferns, lichens, heathers and various fungi dominated the understory including various forms that had glowing parts like flowers, fruits, cones and undersides of fungal tops. Moss and lichens coated many surfaces like rocks, the ground and trunks and branches of foliage and tall fungi. Some mosses even hung off branches and fungal tops in some spots and had what looked like glowing berries on them. There appeared to be a mild mist or fog in denser parts of the forest adding to the cool dampness of the area and lowering the visual distance in the understory. The forest itself appeared to be in some form of large quite wide valley or crater with tall mountains edging it. By the light and sky it looked to be twilight but that made no sense to any of them. It had been mid day when they entered the temple and there was no way they had taken that long in the cavern; had they? Zane and Pixal had determined through their inbuilt sense of time that they’d only been out for about 20 to 30 minutes and had only been in the cave for about an hour and forty minutes so it shouldn’t be this late. The two attempted to confirm it again through their inbuilt clocks however they were surprised to find these weren’t working now. Those weren’t the only senses they were surprised weren’t working. They were unable to determine magnetic directions leaving them lost over what was north, east, south and west. The inability to be able to sense direction or time had the two uneasy. As they took in their surroundings they all became aware of a strange feeling in the air around them. It was unlike anything they had ever felt before. They somehow felt not entirely connected to their bodies, there was an energy in the air that they couldn’t identify or describe and even though these should have them scared something in the air was calming them over these feelings making them feel these odd feelings were fine and not a threat even though they felt they should be scared of them.
“I wonder then if we’re somehow in another realm?” Nya hypothesized as they tried to make sense of their surroundings and the strange feelings they were getting to which Pixal agreed, “that is a possibility.”
“Great if that’s true then how are we getting home?” Kai wondered. Cole thought aloud, “we’ll have to find someone who knows about realm travel here.”
“Okay what do we do rate now though?” Jay wondered his anxiety worsened by the fact Zane and Pixal couldn’t sense directions, that they may have been gone far longer than they thought they had and that they may be in another unknown realm. Cole focussed like before hoping to use his powers to help give them a direction but he was shocked to find not only did it not work but his powers felt weak now as if dampened by something but he couldn’t tell what. The others could sense it too; something was messing with their powers. They guessed there might be a deposit somewhere nearby of vengestone or something like it causing that or maybe it was something in the nature of this realm that weakened them. Without the help from Coles powers they were now left with little clue of what to do and where to go. They could see a worn old stone path leading down and through the forest from the temple but they had no clue where it went and it was getting dark; their torches had gone out when passing through the doorway the roots they had been using were not in an ideal condition for reuse. There was though the lanterns in and on the structure. They were the perfect size to carry and there was enough for each of them to have one. Zane and Cole went over to inspect one of them to see if they could use them. The lantern had a handle which sat in a hook to hang them from the walls and whatever was inside them giving off light they couldn’t identify. Zane could only recognise that it was some form of plasma but it wasn’t fire. Whatever it was didn’t appear dangerous and stuck in the lantern when they took it off the hook and moved it around.
“Okay we have some light now what?” Jay wondered as they each went to a lantern in the room and picked it up before gathering again in the center of the room. Cole responded with, “well we can’t stay here. Anything could follow us through that portal and this structure really isn’t ideal to spend the night in; it’s too open and there is nothing to meet our needs here. I think our best bet will be to follow that path. It’s bound to lead somewhere a village, farmstead or logging camp at least and there could be some individuals there that could help us out at the least they could offer us a safe place to stay for the night and maybe some first aid supplies, food and water.” They were hesitant but all agreed that was the best option. The path was bound to leave somewhere. Though tired and sore they slowly followed the path into the woods alert for potential dangers lurking in the understory. As they went through it they got a deeper look into this forest. Along with the flora they had initially seen there was plenty more deeper in the forest including quite a few with bioluminescence. The place had an odd mix of familiar yet somehow alien feel to it. They recognised flora from their world like the birches from the Birchwood forest and some that looked to be the same as those from their realm like the giant redwoods and firs though they couldn’t tell 100% if they were; the same species of flora could be found in multiple realms so that was not impossible. Plenty of flora though they couldn’t recognise and were quite strange. Even some of the flora from that strange cavern was their growing in the dark understory. Along with the flora there were on occasion strange standing stones standing randomly through the woods some just being bare stone others having something painted or carved on them and some baring glowing markings in the form of some sort of writing on them. Once or twice they noted strange large crystal deposits that grew from the forest floor. These crystals bore a faint glow and attracted strange wisps of energy that flew around them once in a while like insects to a lamp the wisps appearing for only a couple seconds at a time before vanishing. They encountered these wisps away from these crystals a few times too the things appearing out of nowhere for a couple seconds to flit around at random before disappearing again. Most of them were simply confused by these wisps however Jay was very unsettled by them. Overhead while partially overcast they could see two moons in the sky one lighter and bigger than the other the lighter one almost full while the smaller darker one was a bit under half in phase. Despite the late hours plenty of animals could be heard. There was a familiarity to the sounds but also a great strangeness to them some sounding rather creepy and unsettling. Despite being able to hear the creatures most they couldn’t see. Every now and then they caught movement of birds through the trees or something small rustling the foliage of the forest understory moving the foliage but they didn’t get a proper look at them. There were fireflies which bore amber, red, green and blue glows in random areas of the understory flitting around now and then. At times they could swear to see bigger things moving in the dark woods in the distance but whenever they went to get a better look they’d lose sight of it. The whole time they were wandering there they felt they weren’t alone as if something or someone was following and watching them even though they couldn’t see it. The feeling had them on edge with Jay constantly pausing to look behind them feeling they were being followed. Jays actions eventually led Kai to keep looking behind them as well; he wouldn’t admit it aloud but he felt Jay might be onto something. A few times they saw something fly over head; some sort of dark skeletal bird humanoid being with black wings like those of a crow. These beings didn’t seem aware of them or just didn’t care about them just flying by doing their own thing barely visible through the crowns of the foliage. It wasn’t long till they noted they were being followed! At first it was a few small long tailed conure parrots that were largely a dark blue with golden breasts and face cheeks that appeared to take an interest in them coming to perch in the trees above and near them to watch and follow them. They kept following like they expected they were going to get some food. These were soon followed by two pairs of greyish green doves with pale golden heads, necks, breasts and wing primary feathers.
“They seem friendly,” Kai expressed and Zane noted, “their friendliness could be a good sign. It could mean there is a human presence here that frequents the area likely feeding them making the birds lose their fear of humans and come to think all humans are friendly and going to give them food.” While the parrots and pigeons were a nice sight the flock of ravens most being black though a few were white or piebald in color that soon joined the other birds were not a comforting sight.
“That’s not good! Ravens eat the dead… they think we’re dying don’t they,” Jay stated getting nervous from the ominous birds. Zane didn’t help his anxiety by explaining, “their presence does not necessarily mean anyone is dying. They do eat carrion and will pluck damaged tissues off the living if given the opportunity but so will parrots and other birds including jays, game birds like chickens and sea going birds like gulls. They are opportunistic omnivores so will take anything they can to acquire the proper nutrition and necessary energy for their health and life. Like the other two species the ravens are likely not here to feed on us but looking for easy free meals from us most likely highly sugary treats like breads which unfortunately we do not have that or anything else for them. When they realise that we have nothing for them they should move on.”
“I hope you’re right; I’m not wanting to be pecked apart by a flock of birds. That is not the way I wish to go. It sounds like an embarrassing and painful end,” Kai commented. As they continued through the woods the birds kept following them just calling to them and watching whatever they did. Strangely even though they now could see some followers of them they still got an unsettling watched and followed feeling that wasn’t coming from the birds but coming from in the woods. This kept them alert and on edge despite their travelling with injuries exhausting them making them want to conserve their energy and be more careless and relaxed; Jay was already complaining of wanting to just pass out on the path and having the rest of them leave him there and come back for him later. The stones of the path they were following sometimes vanished under leaf litter and dirt but the lack of foliage growing on it allowed them to keep on the path even if they couldn’t see the stones. To their relief the path was fairly level and smooth giving them little problems with movement which was getting tougher as they went due to their injuries however there were some rough patches on the path where roots grew over the path, water had washed out patches of the road and some sections were steep as the path wound over the rather hilly and rocky forest covered landscape. These they had more problems with especially with their injuries giving them a hard time moving through the area. At one point they came up to an interesting bridge that gapped a canyon that wound through the woods. The bridge was made of stone and had a mild curve up over the ravine with what looked like some form of gatehouse on its center. The house was worn and along with the gate that went through the middle had a section for someone likely a guard to live in going over the gate. Along with the gatehouse three pairs on either side of the building sticking up from the sides of the bridge were short rib like projections that got taller as they went closer to the building. The gatehouse was fairly even in position on the bridge with an entry into the building on both sides of the path through it where the gate was beneath the upper part of the structure. This led into an entry way with stairs that led up into the main living area that went over the passage through the gatehouse below. Inside some stairs led to the covered flat terrace that was on the roof of the house for observations of the area. They stopped to inspect the building hoping to find someone there that could help them unfortunately there was no one. In fact the place was abandoned with only a few pieces of old wooden furniture, damaged and empty crates, heavily worn rugs and some pieces of lower class wooden and pewter cutlery left behind. The fact this place was abandoned they felt very odd as lanterns that hung on the buildings walls were lit and new looking. Zane and Pixal deduced that may mean while no one currently lived there that could indicate a nearby settlement and whoever had once lived here just commuted to this site to light the lanterns for the night and no longer lived isolated out here. That gave them some hope. Beneath the bridge in the ravine was a river that wound through the forest originating from a waterfall some distance up stream. They continued on a bit their travelling getting slower as the pain and tiredness from travelling with their injuries was really starting to get at them.
Clouds appeared to be getting denser now blocking the sky with the smell of rain in the air telling them rain was likely coming soon. Along with the cloud cover the sun was probably nearly set as things were getting much darker in the forest understory. Oddly the birds still continued to follow them seeming unbothered by the coming of night; odd as the groups these birds belonged to were not known to really be nocturnal and should have been heading for a nightly roost instead of following them. While these unfamiliar species might have different behaviour patterns to those they knew Zane also felt they were too focussed on looking for free food from them to care much about the coming of night. Eventually they came to a stream that brushed next to the path for a few blocks. They’d been going for a while with no water as they had no containers of water, they hadn’t expected to be gone for long so hadn’t brought any, leaving Cole, Jay, Nya and Kai thirsty and starting to get dehydrated. When they got to the stream they decided to take a break the four inquiring to Zane and Pixal if the water was safe to drink. The two droids took a moment to investigate it. The water was cool and clear but that didn’t mean it was safe. As far as the two could tell it looked safe. For a moment though they noted a faint glow come to the water when they first touched it. That was odd; the glow didn’t appear again though making them wonder if the glow had just been a trick of their minds maybe a glitch to their vision caused by their damages.
“The birds are drinking it,” Kai noted as the birds that had been following them came to roost around the rivers shores to get a drink from it. Nya explained, “that doesn’t mean it’s safe. Birds are more resilient than humans so can handle things that are dangerous for us. Just be patient and let Pix and Zane do their work.” The two droids couldn’t see anything wrong but they couldn’t guarantee it was fully safe. There were still risks but the two knew at that point it was better for them to take those risks for the health of the others. With their injuries, being active and not having had water in a few hours they needed the drink to keep going and stay healthy.
“It appears safe enough for you four to consume,” Pixal stated. With the droids confirmation the four went and got a drink using their hands to collect some water to drink; Cole however just drank from it like a dog. Nya had to help Kai as he was having trouble using his one hand. Zane and Pixal decided to join them feeling an overwhelming urge to get a drink as well. They didn’t need the drink able to last much longer than humans without water, it wasn’t as essential a substance for their functioning as in organic beings, but felt compelled to drink as well. It was possibly driven by wanting to fit in with the others but something made them feel it was something deeper compelling them to do this but they didn’t know what; they just went with it. They weren’t sure if it was just a result of having a cool drink after going without water for so long and feeling hot from their activity or a result of something else but after drinking the water they all felt refreshed with some of the pain from the injuries numbed. Even Zane and Pixal felt these refreshing feelings and since they had shut down their cooling systems to prevent losing too much of its fluids the cool water helped them feel cooler. To keep from overheating they had shut down several of their non-essential functioning’s and processors and Zane had been using a bit of his powers to help keep himself and Pixal cool. After their drink they all felt a renewed energy that made them feel as if they could keep going now when only seconds earlier they felt like just lying down and giving up for the night. They also felt a cool calming feeling come over them. They all thought it strange but said nothing to each other unsure if they were all feeling the same things or if they were just imagining things; a result of their sore and tired states. After they all had a drink they decided to take a moment to rest sitting down on the path.
“Do you think we should just spend the night here? I don’t know how much longer I can last hobbling on one good leg,” Jay complained. Cole stated, “while we should I don’t think that is a good idea. We are in unfamiliar lands, possibly an alien realm, with no clue what is out there. Not to mention we’re all injured. We should keep going till we find a settlement or some form of shelter where we’ll be safe before considering resting.”
“And if we don’t find that soon or they’re not friendly?” Kai wondered. Nya offered, “maybe we should head back to that gate house on that bridge for a rest. It’s made of stone and has doors we can close so should be fairly safe to shelter in.” Kai chimed in with, “yha and along the way we could collect sticks and stuff to make a fire to keep warm.” Cole thought it over for a moment. He had to agree he didn’t feel like continuing on trekking in his current state. A rest could do them some good plus wandering in the dark in this strange unknown realm in their state would be a very dangerous task.
“I guess getting some sleep back in that shelter would be the best option for the night. We’ll just have to take shifts with someone staying up to keep alert for danger just to be safe,” Cole declared before noticing Zane and Pixal were hyper focussed and distracted by something in the woods across the river. He asked the two, “you two okay? What has captivated your twos attention so much?” The two didn’t seem to hear him so he touched Pixal on the shoulder to get their attention. Clearly they were too distracted to note his actions so when he touched Pixals arm it caused her to jump in surprise which caused Zane to also jump startled. Cole asked them what they were looking at looking into the woods to see if he could see what they were looking at. He couldn’t see anything.
“We could sense something moving in the woods nearby; sounds, possible visual movement... it sounds like something big,” Zane noted to which Kai nervously questioned, “just probably an animal right?” Pixal noted, “while that is most likely the case as we are in an unfamiliar place with no knowledge of what is out there we cannot fully guarantee that it is just animals nor if it is animals they are safe or passive.”
“Even if it is animals we know nothing about them and they could be dangerous particularly if it is a predator or large or armoured herbivore,” Zane added. Jay who was getting anxious over a possible threat nearby in the dark stated, “maybe we should head to that shelter now?” They all listened and watched the woods for a moment. They could hear along with the strange unfamiliar sounds of animals some of which were quite creepy to hear, some even sounding like human voices talking or crying, sounds of foliage being disturbed and twigs snapping in the woods not far away from the opposite shore of the river. They were pretty sure they couldn’t see anything in the dark though at least once they thought they saw something move; was it something or just a small tree or two moving from wind? Even though they couldn’t really see anything they got the strange sense that something was there. They agreed they should probably seek shelter before things got too dark so got up keeping an eye on the opposite side of the river the whole time. Strangely the birds seemed unbothered by whatever was out there not even seeming to be aware of it. Instead they just followed the ninja as they headed back to the gatehouse on the bridge. As they travelled the uneasy feeling of something following them got stronger and they could hear at times something moving through the woods behind them putting them further on edge. That wasn’t the only thing putting them on edge. While the forest had gotten quieter with the coming of night there was still noise of wind through the trees, distant noises of what they were guessing were insects and frogs but since they were in an unfamiliar realm and the sounds were a bit off and strange they couldn’t confirm they were such creatures. Not to mention it was quite dark in the forest now that night had set which wasn’t helped by the cloud cover that had come to cover the sky blocking the twin moons. Every now and then they could also glimpse more of those strange wisps flit through the dark wilderness though now other strange small lights which they hoped were fireflies or other small bugs could be seen in the dark understory. By the time they reached the bridge it had started to rain. The rain was cool and smelt normal and while they got wet from it there was also another feeling it brought them that rain usually didn’t bring. They weren’t sure if it was from the rain or just a result of how tired they were but their injuries started to feel even more numbed while the area around the injuries felt warm with strange tingling sensations even for Zane and Pixal. The feelings confused them and had them more eager to get into that bridge house worried there might be something more to this rain, like it might be some form of acid rain, even though Zane and Pixal couldn’t detect anything strange to it.
The house and bridge was still lit and abandoned when they got there. They entered the structure closing the door behind them which they were happy to note had a lock that functioned; more safety for them. It was dry inside and the temperature was fair. They headed up to the living quarters feeling safer by being above ground level and built a fire with some sticks they had collected on their way in a fireplace in the main room before clearing an area for themselves to rest near it. There were several old windows a few blurred by moss, dirt or algae that had developed on them to the structure. One of these windows which faced out to the ravine was missing the glass. It likely had fallen out at some point which let the birds that had been following them fly into the building to join them where they gathered to roost just outside the area they had cleared in the structure to sleep. The birds behaviour they felt odd but they had started to get a calming and comforting feeling from the birds presence. It was clear they meant no harm to them as they would have already done something if they did and the birds could easily act as an early warning system as they would likely alarm should anything considered a threat come into the building. As they built the fire they paused as they heard something walking on the bridge approaching the structure. By the sound Zane and Pixal could deduce whatever it was had either large claws or bore hooves, was likely large and had four limbs. The sound went quiet for a moment whatever it was sounding to stop just by the structure before whatever made it sounded to wander off away from the bridge back to where it had come from. None of them dared to try and see out the windows what that had been worried to draw in its attention not to mention they were nervous to see whatever that was. They were in an unknown realm so had no clue what creatures called this place home. For all they knew the creatures of this place could be very scary looking especially in the dark and dim light. They were in no state to deal with a potentially large and dangerous animal or something else and so they could get a fairly peaceful nights sleep they didn’t wish to potentially see anything that could frighten them. How good a sleep they were going to get though with their injuries they were pretty sure wasn’t going to be that good; they were going to have a rough night. Any sleep though would be better than no sleep. They were hoping whatever that had been that had followed them had lost interest in them and left; it sounded like it had so they went back to making their fire. Once they had their fire going they relaxed to dry off and get warm. Since it wouldn’t hurt them as much as the others Zane and Pixal decided to take the task of staying up on watch while the others rested, they remained awake for a while after the others had fallen asleep keeping the fire going by burning some of the furniture left in the structure spending the time trying to analyze the strange birds that had followed them which bore no fear to them and were giving them strange readings. There was a strange energy coming off them that they couldn’t identify. Despite their attempts to stay awake the two ended up soon falling asleep with everyone else.
“Jay cut it out I can’t help that I snore,” Cole commented swiping at the space in front of himself. He was awaken by something pecking at his nose. A loud cawing in his face hurried him up. He’d thought it had been Jay poking at him annoyed by him snoring as that was something he did from time to time however he was startled by finding himself face to face with a large sharp pointy beaked bird. It was one of the ravens that had followed them the night before. It was pied in color with a white collar and wing primaries with some white speckling on its back and an almost ying yang like mark on its chest. It held its wings out a bit shaking them a bit as it made a noise that sounded like it was amused. He shooed the bird back not wanting to be pecked at any more. Now that he was up and it looked to be morning he decided it was best for them to get up and get going. They had a long day ahead of them. The others were still asleep. The fire had gone out but they were all safe even though no one had been on guard at night. Most of the birds that had followed them in had already left leaving just a few ravens still hanging with them one of which was perched resting on Zane who lay on his side tucked in a bit like a cat sleeping Pixal on her front above him with one of her hands reached out towards him like she had been intending to hold his hand in her sleep however his arms were tucked in as he slept. He thought the scene was cute so got a few photos before starting to wake the others wanting to leave Zane and Pixal for last not wanting to disturb the birds so the others could see the scene. The others thought it cute too as they woke up Kai taking some pictures and a short video to post later on social media. He and Jay had been working on a few social media pages to ease the fears and hatreds many had to nindroids and bring a positive image of them to others as most of what was out there was not very positive. They were pretty sure even though the two made no signs it bothered them Pixal and Zane had to at least to some extent be bothered especially as most of what was out there painted them more as monsters than living beings and a lot of kids found them scary; surely having kids often crying, cowering and screaming from just seeing them didn’t leave Pixal and Zane with good feelings. So far they’d made a few videos with mixed results from people with the most popular and liked a comical sort of documentary they’d made where they had filmed, sometimes secretly, and narrated over the footage of the two like they were exotic wild animals as they went about their day for a few weeks. The two droids had been confused over what they had been doing and why they kept filming them, sometimes getting uncomfortable if they found out they were being filmed like when they were in the bathroom or cleaning or repairing themselves but never objected not wanting to get involved or bothered by what they had been doing. Zane and Pixal had not been amused by the video. So far that had been their most successful video with overall positive reviews and had even gone viral for a while though it hadn’t helped improve the image of nindroids much. People just seemed to hate them no matter what.
While Kai caught the media Cole continued to wake up the others. Cole didn’t have much trouble getting Nya or Kai up while Jay wanted more time to sleep giving him a bit of a hassle. When he got Zane and Pixal up the raven hopped off Zane to perch in the window with the one that had woken Cole up to watch them. The nindroids were a bit slow to wake up a bit surprised they’d fallen asleep when not intending to but were up before Jay finally reluctantly got up. All of them were at first dreading the struggle they were going to have to face that day with their injuries especially as they would have to go without breakfast which they all knew would make Cole rather hangry but they quickly came to notice something. Their injuries, they were gone! Nothing felt broken, cuts seemed to have disappeared, bruises and swellings were gone, even the damage Zane had done to Kais nose was gone and even the damages to Zane and Pixal were gone entirely repaired and all their systems were back to functioning as normal without their control! It was like they had never even been hurt!
“How is this possible?” Jay questioned inspecting his ankle that had just a couple hours ago been feeling swollen and sore but now felt as good as new. He was very questioning of what could have done that. They hadn’t just imagined their injuries but at the same time there was no way they just disappeared. They couldn’t have just rapidly healed though especially the damages Zane and Pixal had received. They did note that the cuts and scrapes they’d had while closed up and healed bore scars that had a faint light blue iridescence to them even the repaired damages on Zane and Pixal had this quality to them. Interestingly while their injuries were fixed they still bore the damages and stains to their attire that marked where the injuries had been. Whatever had fixed them had only affected their bodies and nothing else.
“Injuries just can’t heal themselves like this can they?” Kai questioned inspecting his arm greatly confused and starting to get unsettled. Zane noted very uneasy with something having happened to himself that he could not explain or reason out, “not naturally. Some spells, potions and magical teas can but we were not exposed to anything like that; at least not that I am aware of.”
“By any chance the birds couldn’t have done it could they?” Cole questioned looking at the pair of ravens that were watching them. Zane stated, “I have not heard of normal birds being able to do that however those might not be normal birds.”
“What do mean not normal birds?” Jay questioned getting uneasy of the birds. Zane explained, “there is a strange energy coming off those birds that we cannot identify. It is possible birds in this realm might have some form of powers.”
“If that is the case then whatever kind of birds you are we greatly thank you for what you have done for us. Unfortunately we have nothing to give you as an offering o great mystical birds of ill omen,” Jay proclaimed kneeling to bow in front of the birds who just tilted their heads looking confused. The others were embarrassed by Jays actions Kai commenting, “Jay you’re embarrassing everyone else besides we can’t prove the birds did anything.”
“It could have been the water last night. It appeared like normal water though it did give off a strange feeling,” Pixal noted and Cole agreed, “so I wasn’t the only one feeling that?” They all agreed to have felt it. That made them all more confused. How could plain stream water have done that to them?
“It is possible that it is not the water itself but something in it. Bodies of water exposed to certain plants that grow along their shores like tea bushes are known to have the tannins, sap and the like seep from parts of the plant such as roots or leaves dropped into the water taint them with their components essentially creating a watered down version of tea which does give some of the effects of tea to the tainted water,” Pixal explained. Cole simplified, “so a powerful alchemical plant could be leeching into the water giving it healing properties.”
“Precisely,” Pixal stated to which Nya wondered, “what kind of plant though has such powerful healing abilities that have the same effects on humans as nindroids?”
“Don’t know but we could take a look when we pass by there,” Zane noted. Cole stated, “sounds good. I think we should get going anyway. We have no clue how far away any settlement is so we should use as much as the daylight hours that we can. First though we should maybe see if we can see anything from the top of this structure before leaving. Zane, Pix come with me.” The two nindroids followed him to the roof of the structure where an observation platform was. Unfortunately they couldn’t see anything through the woods. They went back in to the others so they could leave the structure together. The lights of the lantern had gone out and they could see no way to relight them so they left the lanterns behind. They could always make torches out of tree branches if they needed a light source. Things were fairly calm out. The rain had stopped and it was still fairly cloudy. It was cool yet warming up and misty in the woods with plenty of animal calls to be heard. There looked to be no danger in the area though they still had that strange watched feeling they’d had the day before. They could see no evidence of whatever had followed them to the bridge. That was okay though. They felt it might have been best to not know what that had been. They made their way back to the spot at the river they had been at the night before to stop for a drink, Zane and Pixal again getting the strong un-resistible urge to drink the water as well. They felt refreshed by the water but didn’t feel the other odd feelings from it this time. They were joined at the river by 3 creatures that stood on the opposite bank which they believe they had seen in that strange cavern; they had the dark color with light markings and icy blue eyes of the creatures they had seen in the cavern. This place had a connection to that cavern so it was not too surprising to find creatures from that place here. These creatures were the large bi-pedal bird creature that had startled them when they wandered too close to the creatures. Now that they could look at the creatures in the daylight they could get a better look at them and they could see these creatures weren’t really that scary. By the shape of the skull they defiantly looked to be some form of parrot whose wings had turned back into clawed limbs boasting two digits which they rested folded at their sides like wings where a mane of long hair like feathers from their backs rested over part of them like they were wearing some weird shawl. The creatures looked at them giving off some noises to acknowledge they could see the ninja. After that they went back to drinking from the river scooping water up with their beaks clearly not bothered by them. While the rest preferred to keep their distance from the creatures curious Zane and Pixal wandered over to get a closer look at them. They were rather friendly and equally curious to the two droids inspecting them back. After the two got a good look at the creatures who wandered back into the woods once finished their drink they joined back with the others. While there they took some time to inspect the river bank looking for any possible plant that could have given the water its healing powers. They couldn’t see any nor did the water appear tainted by anything but then again they weren’t entirely sure what to look for. They did though find something else in the river bank and given the size pretty unsettling; large footprints. They were big enough one of them could stand in just one of the prints. There were two types of the footprints. One was cloven hoofed like some form of deer while the other was of a rounded compacted foot with three stubby toes that ended in hooves. By the look they belonged to the same animal just representing that each set of limbs ended in a different foot type. By their assumed path of movement the cloven hoofed type came from the forefoot while the other was from the hind foot. Following the footprints they could also see some trampled foliage and broken branches that went pretty high up in the trees.
“Those by any chance aren’t from some like giant mutant giraffe or deer are they?” Jay questioned as they inspected the prints. None of them were quite sure. All they could tell was whatever this had been had headed in the direction they’d gone that night meaning the maker of these prints could have been what had followed them to the bridge. Given the size of the prints they had to agree it was probably a good idea they had avoided contact with whatever this had been. As they inspected the prints Zane didn’t say anything but something about them he felt familiar but he had no memory of footprints like this or anything that could leave prints like this at this size. Looking at them he found himself almost mesmerized his vision momentarily snapping to something he felt was a memory and not really from his vision as he was finding himself alone back in the Birchwood forest.
He was out collecting wood during the late evening and was dressed oddly. He was wearing animal pelts including a hood made from the head of a wolf with small antlers coming from its forehead and gloves that had the claws of bears sewn into the knuckles pointed foreword to stab at things if he was punch while wearing them. It took a moment before some things came back to him. He was wearing attire from a local group that worshipped Storabek to protect himself. For a short period of time the Birchwood forest had gone from decently peaceful to a rather dangerous place as a group of rebellious tribes from the south east were at war with the Empire of Ninjago trying to create an empire of their own. Because of its dangers and difficulty navigating the tribes were using the Birchwood as their final base as the empire got close to finishing them off. His father wanted nothing to do with the conflict and so far they’d managed to escape the conflict. While the empire was okay with and knew of their presence in the forest so would leave them in peace the rebels were not so forgiving and had no qualms with attacking them for resources if given the chance. For safety when venturing outside their home they’d taken to donning the attire of the Storabek worshippers known to inhabit the woods which both sides called the Volka-olenkul’t in a regional tongue or Cult of the Stag Wolf in the common tongue and steered clear of them. The Empire had no bother with the group regarding them as harmless eccentrics while the rebels were oddly terrified of this group though he and his father never really knew why. Hoping they’d be mistaken as one of this groups members and left alone by both sides they dressed like them when venturing outside and so far it was working. That day however he’d wandered a little too far from their home and while he was distracted setting up a trap to catch rabbits which they used for food and to sell the furs for cash he was ambushed by three rebel soldiers. They wore iron armour and wielded sabres while all he had was his hide attire and a hunting dagger. The rebels spoke a different language than what he knew and he had no knowledge of the language. He pleaded that he meant no harm and they spoke to him in the commoners tongue as they backed him against a rock cliff threatening him. They had been watching him for a while and knew he wasn’t really one of this cult so planned to use him for their purposes. They were going to rough him up maybe break some bones, these soldiers didn’t know he wasn’t truly human. After they hoped to ransom him to his father for whatever they could get. These figures seemed to think his father had money that’s why the empire left them alone and weren’t listening when he told them they were fairly poor and the reason the empire had left them alone was they weren’t going against the empire and to make some coin his father had offered services to repair some of their machinery and amours. He remembered them throwing him to the ground, they started to kick and punch him yelling something at him. He hadn’t received the gift of his powers yet so was fairly defenceless and had very little knowledge of how to actually fight so was scared and helpless. Prior to the gift of his powers he used to be much more timid and scared individual especially to people. The next he remembered was something swinging out of the woods to smack the soldiers to the side. He’d thought it was a Treehorn at first attacking the soldiers but from the clips he could remember it was something that kind of resembled a giraffe with what looked like short tentacles which were about a third in their length glowing in an icy blue color in the dark shadows of the evening woods on its head, there was an eerie and deep animal noise and a calming voice telling him as he quickly got up and fled terrified “I mean no harm to you metal born human mimic; do not fear me”. The vision quickly faded as the others questioning him if they were ready to continue on the path brought him back to the forest. The others had noted his distraction and were a bit confused. He kept what had happened to himself and confirmed he was ready to continue.
With their brief reprieve over they continued on the path. Things were fairly calm for their journey and they could hear the forest was alive with animal calls. As they went along the path they observed their surroundings trying to figure out where they were. As they had noted the night before there was a familiarity yet also an alieness to this place. Along with the trees were large fungi that reached as tall as some of the trees some of these even looked to mimic trees in their form. Some of the flora from the caves was growing out here some looking identical to those of the cavern while others had slight variations in colors. Ferns, plants, fungi, moss, vines and the likes grew not just on the forest floor but on rocks and boulders, possible ruins in the undergrowth and even up trees and tree like fungi. Even as the day went on getting brighter at the forest floor in this full forest with plenty of large and even some giant trees it was fairly dark like the day was heavily overcast. The place looked like the forest had grown untouched for decades with only the path and some strange rune stones looking to be the only parts routinely up kept and interacted with by a human presence. Some ruined structures most other than a few crumbling towers, statues, columns and arches over the path were too ruined and buried in the undergrowth to identify what they had once been. They stumbled across one structure of artificial make a stone dome shaped structure formed by the outer dome encasing a walkway with the inner wall having large oval holes and a doorway round back in the wall leading into the open center which lacked a roof. The way in was a cut in at the front of the dome. By the moss and some flora growing on it and some foliage overgrowing in the center it was clearly an abandoned ruin now. Unfortunately there was no writings or drawings on or in the structures to give any hints to who built it just some broken urns and old almost fossil looking bones were lying there. Overall the path was fairly easy to follow even when things that should be obstacles presented themselves. Boggy areas had wooden boardwalks built over them one the boardwalk being tied into the crumbling stone arches that may have once been a stone bridge or walkway over the bog. Trees that had fallen over the path were cut through sometimes due to the sheer size of the trunk just creating an archway through the trunk with even one of a giant redwood hollowed out creating a woody tunnel that harboured moss and fungi inside it and where hills intersected the path instead of winding around or over some of them passages had been cut out through them. A few times they stumbled upon semi shiny and almost jewel like fossilized trunks and stumps from trees and the tree fungi in the woods and even a section of path went through the ribcage of some massive creature these bones and the semi buried bones of the rest of the skeleton scattered in the forest nearby looking to have been fossilized by some kind of rock that bore a typical rock look outside with parts broken or cracked to expose an opaline material inside. Some plants and fungi still found root in the cracks and pits worn into the fossilized bones and plant matter. Despite the looks things like the boardwalks, path and runestones proved clearly there was a human presence here yet they were seeing no one nor any signs of a settlement. Just the road, occasional runestone, rock cairn, broken pieces of stone fence, tunnels, trimmed back foliage from the path debris or road marking post indicated the signs of a human presence. They did however eventually start seeing some of the wildlife of the area. It wasn’t just the flora that was weird here but some of the few fauna they witnessed were equally as strange. Most they didn’t get very good looks at as they were off in the distance or only got fleeting glimpses as the animals fled from their presence. They no longer had any birds following them like the day before or at least they didn’t think they did as they didn’t see any close by. They did see some birds most just passing by or from a distance like one which looked like some really big hawk with what looked to be deer antlers on its head. Most creatures kept their distance and just watched them from there to observe them. At one point they stumbled upon a herd of what they had mistaken as large deer like an elk at first glance only to realise with a closer look that they weren’t deer; they didn’t even look to be mammals. Instead they looked to be some bird or reptile that had converged to have a similar design to a deer. There was a small herd of about ten individuals of these things. All stopped their foraging to look at the ninja as they walked past as if they were curious. By their coloring these creatures too looked to be denizens from that cavern that had found their way out to this valley. While most of them were a little scared to get close to the creatures their curiosity over the creatures drew Zane and Pixal to get a closer look at them. The creatures were wary of the droids but let them get fairly close to inspect them even letting the two touch them. The others were not too pleased with the droids getting distracted but they let the two do their work as it could prove helpful in helping them to figure out where they had ended up. Seeing the creatures appeared friendly and looked kind of cute Jay went to try to pet one. This resulted in causing one of the creatures to bugle (the term for the loud long calls of deer and antelopes) at him before head butting him away tossing him a few feet back to land on his back in some ferns. While they didn’t mind droids getting close it was clear as the creatures then took off into the woods as if startled that they weren’t too fond of humans.
“That was a fairly good sign,” Pixal noted to which Jay angrily questioned as he got up, “how was that thing attacking me a good sign?”
“They do not appear to recognise droids as threats possibly as they have never seen anything like us before but they clearly recognise humans or at least some form of organic humanoid who may hunt them for their resources as a threat giving strong indications that there is a humanoid presence somewhere here,” Pixal explained. That brought them some hope. As Jay got up he was startled by a strange creature that had three limbs two forming arms and a strange tail limb with four digits. It also had a long tube like body, fins on its back and a head with a long narrow bird like snout. Jay found it crawling up onto his shoulder clinging on and giving off a hissing sound while holding its narrow beak like mouth open ready to bite. He began to freak out not knowing what this thing was and wanting someone to get it off before it attacked him. The others were hesitant to touch it not too sure what it was either. Zane and Pixal stepped up to the task Pixal distracting it so Zane could grab it. Once the droids had it Jay rushed away from it while the two droids took a moment to inspect it before letting it go. The creature was not happy to be held but it didn’t try to hurt them and relaxed when the two droids let it go on a tree branch where it crawled away with a motion reminiscent of an inch worm.
“It looks to be an insectivore possibly an omnivore. It is harmless and was likely just scared by you landing on where it had been residing at during the time you landed on it,” Pixal explained. The others got some amusement from Jays over reaction to Jays dislike Jay grumbling unhappy, “well I didn’t want to land on it.” They continued on along the path renewed in their assurance by their encounter with the deer like creatures that there was civilization and therefore salvation somewhere around here. They stopped at one point for a brief rest not wanting to over work themselves as none of them had any water or food or at least they thought. While taking the break Cole was surprised to find a strange cat sized creature with a body like an opossums but head like a gulls pick his pocket and steal the only snack bar he’d brought and been hiding hoping to have it when the others weren’t looking. Cole was not happy to have his food stolen and gave chase as the creature took off with the bar and rushed up a nearby tree out of his reach. It then began to tear the wrapping off and start eating the bar before being joined by two others like it who also wanted a bite. The three creatures got in a fight over the bar each trying to get more bites than the other. Cole was upset and starting to get hangry over losing his food. Most of the others didn’t care much though Kai and Jay were angry that Cole had been hiding food that he could have shared with the rest of them. The three got into a bit of an argument drawing Nya to comment un-amused about the three acting like the creatures in the tree. Zane and Pixal weren’t fully understanding her comment and the threes behaviour. They preferred not to get involved in the squabble and were curious about the strange creatures observing and trying to study them; they could sense something odd to these creatures but couldn’t pinpoint what it was. The ninjas squabble was over quick the three feeling they didn’t have the energy for it before they started off again some of them clearly getting moody from a lack of food. After a few miles they came to a split in the road. There was one path that looked to head up while another continued on in the woods. There was a plain looking wooden sign post there pointing at the directions the paths went including where they had come from however none of them could understand the writing that was carved and painted in what appeared to be a faintly glowing golden pigment on them. They did note however that this writing bore an awfully strong resemblance to that used by the Lost Clan in fact they felt it was their writing.
“Do you think this realm is where the Lost Clan came from?” Jay wondered prompting Kai to state, “I hope not. I don’t want to run into one of their villages; they probably wouldn’t be nice to us.”
“We don’t know that though. They might not be aware of what’s going on back home here so if we play things right we might get a warmer welcome here,” Nya proposed and Kai commented, “I hope your right.” They decided to try the path that led up. If it didn’t lead to a settlement it could at least lead to a possible watchtower which could give them a better look over the woods. It did continue up gradually climbing over and through the rolling landscape for a few kilometres before coming to some stairs carved into a large, at least over six stories tall, cliff side which as they suspected led up to a watchtower at the top of the cliff. The stairs were a bit steep and clearly quite worn given how fairly smooth they were making them have to be careful about where they stepped but not too bad. Still it was good they were better cause in their injured states from the day previous they defiantly would not have been able to easily make it up these steps. As they got to the top of the cliff they were both shocked and amazed at the sights before them.
“We’re defiantly in a different realm,” Kai stammered as they looked over the horizon and at the sky above getting a decent look at where they had ended up at. They appeared to be in a massive rift or crater edged by mountains that they could just make out in the blue tinted haze of the distance while it appeared they were close to the mountains bordering the other side of this rift. The forest below looked rather continuous with largely lakes of various sizes and some more large cliffs like the one they were on scattered throughout. It was hard to tell if there were more open spaces in the forest through all the trees. They could tell though how the forest rose and dipped through the valley that the landscape was pretty hilly with tall rounded hills beneath the foliage as if the area countless eons ago had once been a mountain range but had now been eroded to just a shadow of its former state. Mist appeared to be rising from some spots in the forest and shadows were cast on others by the large deal of clouds still in some spots of the sky. While not frequent the wind on the cliff top was strong and cool. The landscape while impressive was not what had them stunned; there were places like this back home. It was the sky above that stunned them. While it was day with still large amounts of large puffy pale grey clouds they could still see faintly through breaks in the cloud cover the moons in the sky and more surprising off rising over the horizon in the distance much more visible than the moons what appeared like a bluish gas giant of a planet that was a bit bigger than the larger moon in size in appearance though due to the effects of distance was in reality defiantly much bigger than this moon in person.
“I’m betting that’s an impressive thing to see overhead at night,” Jay commented before they went to investigate the tower. It was an old stone structure fairly crude, primitive and simple in design. It was only two stories tall but at least gave them a bit more of a vantage over the surrounding landscape. Like the cliff top it was anchored into there was lichens and plants, mainly just some vines, ferns and vine like lichens in the towers case, growing on it. Inside the place was not really significant lacking any decorations being just a plain stone structure with just a plain old wooden bench at the top to sit on which Kai and Jay both hurried to be the first one to sit on it for a rest. They made their way to the top platform to get a look over the surrounding area. When they got there they were rather surprised at what they saw at the top. A few of the Vrimp creatures that they knew worked with the Lost Clan where perched there just looking over the landscape. To their confusion however instead of attacking them the creatures just looked at them, made some noise before flying off into the forest below the cliff apparently having no interest in them.
“Well does anyone see anything?” Nya inquired after they surveyed the landscape for a while to which Kai joked, “how about you Zane and Pix; what do your twos eyes of a hawk see?” The two nindroids became puzzled distracting them for a few moments.
“Why do you like to compare our eyes to those of a bird of prey? You do realize our non organic makes are not a good comparison for those of an organic being” Pixal stated. Kai replied with, “I’m just playing with you. You know cause you have better vision than the rest of us like a bird does.” The two nindroids thought it over for a second before accepting and getting his comment.
They all took a few minutes to scan the landscape for signs of civilization. There appeared to be nothing.
“We are unable to observe any signs of a settlement,” Zane noted and Pixal offered to keep up the mood, “that does not mean however that there isn’t any. Any signs might just be hidden by the forest cover and difficult to observe from this location.”
“Well let’s hope it’s that. Clearly by the presence of architecture there has to have been some form of humanoid presence here some time recently,” Cole stated to which Jay offered nervous and bringing some downing to their moods, “could the humans here have gone extinct? We could be the only people left in this realm; what do we do then?”
“Jay let’s try to stay positive okay. We’re not going to make any assumptions till we have proof,” Nya told him. Zane added, “just because we see no signs of habitation in the immediate area does not mean we are alone here. We could just be in some protected wilderness area like a national park or conservation area where people are allowed to visit but not live so it may take a little while to find a settlement.”
“Yha Jay why don’t you stop thinking of the negatives most of the time,” Kai expressed. They took a couple minutes to sit and rest before Cole decided to get them moving again stating, “well since this path clearly ends here I think we should now head back and take the lower path and see where that leads.” They all agreed that was likely the best option so they got down from the tower and headed back on the path to the crossroads they’d been at before. Once there they took the lower path. This path continued to wind through the forest eventually dipping down heading through a minor valley or crater in the landscape. This low spot started off like the forest they had been wandering through before quickly changing as the ground went lower in elevation and became soggier the path they were following turning into a boardwalk that stayed pretty level with where it started as the ground continued to sink through a boggy wetland into a strange flooded forest with patches of open water. The boggy wetland was still quite forested however the forest changed from the sequoias, firs and gingko dominated environment before to that of strange cedar looking trees, giant clubmosses that looked like trees and tall bamboos that were a bit tree like in form with weeping branches like a willow. Instead of ferns dominating its understory grasses, mosses and reeds dominated. As the water level deepened as the bog transitioned to an open lake instead of ending back where the ground would be more stable and soil dominated they were surprised to find the trees which now looked largely to be some kind of cypress continued into more open water. They were still anchored into the soil of the lake bed going down beneath the water to as deep as what Zane and Pixal were assuming was at most four to five stories deep. That appeared to be the max depth these strange trees could reach as water that appeared to be deeper than that did not have these trees growing in it. As usual Zane and Pixal stopped to analyze what they were seeing unable to resist their curiosities; Nya joined them this time interested over this strange aquatic environment. The trees had a thick underwater trunk with a large flaring of the trunk at the average height of the water level making a sort of natural dock around the trunk. Where these trees grew close together this flaring was fused together joining the trees as one and creating structures almost like islands. The flaring of these trees collected debris like leaf litter and dirt on their bumpy surface which was letting wetlands loving plants and fungi grow on them and bog plants to creep out off them to grow on the water next to them creating mini bog islands. Like at the edges of a bog floating plants like water lilies and hyacinths grew. There was also a strange floating small tree found there. It had a lily looking base but tree structure of the strange scale trees that grew in this place. These floating plants grew and floated near the dock trees and in the open water between them. Under the water various kelps, algae’s and underwater plants and corals grew on and around the trunks creating a home for various fish and other aquatic creatures some of which they recognised from their realm while others they didn’t recognise and were quite strange. Some of these aquatic individuals even looked to resemble creatures known only through fossils or from myths. Familiar fish like trout’s, bass, perch, sunfish, carps and salmons swam with ancient looking jawless fish like relatives to Lampreys and armoured fish with heads made of bone plates, lungfishes and relatives of theirs that bore more amphibian looking bodies and even furred trout’s a creature considered a myth in some northern parts of Ninjago as no proof of such a thing had ever been proven to actually exist. Fish weren’t the only animals there. Strange amphibians like a frog with flaps of skin on its body that it fold out to make itself look like a lily pad, a large soft shelled aquatic turtle with a long neck which they recognised from back home; birds like ducks, gulls, cormorants and a wingless diving bird like some odd loon; strange winged reptiles whose hind legs had developed into flippers so they could swim more efficiently while also remaining strong fliers and invertebrates like a rocky skinned lobster, a chunky looking sea scorpion and even aquatic ants who’d learned to make floating nests of mud and forest debris stuck together were inhabiting the place. After noting the fish Cole quickly inquired letting his hunger show, “do you think those are edible?!”
“I would believe so,” Zane commented and Jay inquired, “are you going to catch them for us cause we have no fishing gear and I don’t want to spend the rest of the day with wet clothes. Plus I’m not getting in that water; who knows what is hiding down there!” Cole thought it over for a moment looking into the water before deciding, “uhm they look to be hanging pretty deep down there… I guess we could find something elsewhere that’s easier to catch.” They continued on the path which to Kais great dislike went out over open water of the fairly large deep lake. This water was fairly deep and dark; most spots especially in the open regions you couldn’t see the bottom of the lake. Despite his fears knowing they had to cross it to find a way home he braved up the best he could and tried his hardest to not think about what he was walking over keeping to the center of the boardwalk the best he could. They were less than two meters out in the open water when Kai made the mistake of looking over the edge to see how deep this water went only to see the black nothingness of the water below. He froze up afraid to take another step out over the water. It was too deep for his liking and he was afraid the dock they were walking on which had no railings or barriers to keep anyone from falling over the edge and didn’t appear to be anchored into the ground in these deep spots instead just floating on the water would sink and he would drown. Zane and Pixal tried to encourage him noting from a quick analysis that the dock was held together with metal framing underneath connecting it to the sections anchored in shallower spots supporting it over deep sections so it wouldn’t sink. Jay even went out a bit over the open water and jumped on the dock to prove it was stable enough and wouldn’t sink. The dock moved a bit with Jays actions but it always rose back up and didn’t sink. That didn’t help Kai much. Due to his fear he lay on the dock moving as slow as a sloth to pull himself foreword knowing they had to cross the lake but too scared to stand up and struggling to not flee back to the shore. His method to cross the lake caused him to fall behind some distance as the rest of them continued on as usual. In order to get him to cross at a reasonable pace so he wasn’t falling behind and to keep him from panicking the others had him close his eyes while holding his hands over his face to keep him from seeing anything while Cole and Nya walked on either side holding him to guide him so he wouldn’t have to see that he was over deep open water and so he didn’t walk off the boardwalk. He only took a peak once in a while to see where they were, how much further they had to go or to see what the others were reacting to when they reacted to something like getting startled by a creature or noting an interesting creature or feature.
The boardwalk wound a bit in the lake looking to string between patches of shallower water which could be distinguished by the patches of the strange flooded forest biome that grew in those areas. The flora and fauna of these flooded forests were always the same but there were some unique features to some of them which added character to their biomes. Shipwrecks of various kinds of boats from all kinds of ages and likely various realms some sunken some partially or half submerged in shallows or caught up on rocks or the dock cypress trees sat scattered through the lake and Dock Forests. There was even a sunken submarine at one point and remains of a blimp at another. It was like these vehicles had been dropped by magical forces into the lake after being ripped from the realms they had once come from. Along with the vehicle sunken ruins and statues of an ancient civilization they couldn’t identify sat in various places and even in a few spots they could make out the coiled shelled fossils of ammonites some massive in size, large bones some fossilized and fossil trunks and stumps of trees embedded in the lakebed below often getting covered in aquatic flora and shellfish. On the edges of one of these shallow patches towers almost like lighthouses had been built. Even though they were pretty sure the vantage from these towers would not offer them any aid in their endeavour they still took the chance to get a look at the view the towers offered which they found pretty cool; all except Kai that was. He refused to go up the tower or even take his hands away from his eyes while they were over the water. The others weren’t too bothered by the lake though while passing through one of the Dock Forest patches they all got a bit startled for a moment when long dark snake like figures rose up out of the water faintly glowing red spots lining the sides close to the underside of their being. Despite first looks they weren’t snakes just the really long necks of a strange bird headed plant eating reptile that could feed off the trees of this strange forest by holding their long necks out of the water. The creatures had no interest in them just wanting to feed off the trees. Most of the creatures of the lake had no care in them just going about their day as usual swimming or flying over and under the dock and clambering about the trees and the bogs they made as if the ninja were just another piece of the environment like the rest of the animals. The only creatures that took interest with them were biting insects like flies and mosquitoes which were a bother to even Zane and Pixal who were frequently trying to keep the insects away from their eyes and to keep from accidently swallowing them. At one spot almost two thirds the way across the lake they came onto a small rocky island in the lake and decided to take a break so Kai could relax before they continued over open water. The isle was not too small as it was big enough to have a decent sized cabin with a couple meters around it on all sides having land before they reached the shore and even then there was a bit of this flooded forest which Zane and Pixal had started referring to as a dock forest around the isle. The cabin looked up kept and still in use however no one was there and it was locked. Looking into the windows they could see no signs of anyone currently living there. They guessed this might be someone’s summer or vacation home and they weren’t currently there. They sat down outside this cabin where the path went rate past it. The isle was dominated by conifer trees mainly what looked to be a species of redwood possibly some form of metasequoia which had the ground of the isle colored reddish from its shed leaves along with some ferns and other flora including a tree looking fungi. The flora on the isle was fairly dense creating a secluded and sheltered site on the isle; they were guessing that was why the cabin had been built there in the first place. Someone had wanted a nice secluded and quite place to get away from it all.
“So what if we don’t find a settlement here?” Jay asked while they sat there picking up small stones and pinecones every now and then to then toss them at a wall of the cabin.
“Well we’ll defiantly have to find Cole something to eat before he tries to eat one of us,” Kai joked irritating Cole who wasn’t amused by the comment and getting hangry. Kai as well was tossing small objects at the building. Zane was not happy about the two throwing stuff at the building steadily getting more annoyed at the two.
“Can you please not do that,” he commented. Not sure what Zane was talking about Kai expressed as he tossed a pinecone at the building, “not do what?”
“That,” Zane stated. Picking up what was agitating Zane Jay quietly told Kai to film before teasing Zane as he tossed a pinecone with, “you mean this?”
“Yes. This structure is someone else’s property and you could end up causing damages to it,” Zane explained. Kai asked while filming, “how could pinecones damage a building?” Zane didn’t seem to realise he was being filmed.
“You could break a window and we have nothing to fix it nor do we know when the owner will return so it could be left open for days or even months leaving access for creatures and weather to get into the structure causing much more damage which could cost the owner a great deal in funds, time and even their health should mold or dangerous animals take inhabitance in the structure,” Zane explained. Jay expressed, “that’s why you aim for an area of the wall without a window on it.” Pixal questioned confused, “why are you committing such an action? There is no logical reason to throw random objects against a wall.”
“It’s just a chill thing to do to alleviate boredom,” Jay commented. After a moment’s pause Zane commented, “can’t you just use your brain for stimulation like visualizing your thoughts or you could use your time to analyze and study the world around you.”
“We’re not nindroids; our brains can’t so nicely visualize things like yours can plus we don’t share your twos curious and analytical minds,” Kai commented. Jay then stated, “because it gives your hands something to do. Haven’t you every just picked things up and tossed them for the fun of it? There’s no harm in it plus you can turn it into a game. You know see how good your aim is and how close you can get to a target.” Zane and Pixal looked at each other for a moment confused before Pix commented, “no.”
“Why don’t you give it a go; just pick up something and give it a toss at something,” Jay proposed. Again Zane and Pixal looked at each other a bit confused before Zane looked around himself for a small object. He picked up a small stone and looked it over.
“Okay now give it a throw at something,” Jay encouraged. To Jays shock but everyone else’s amusement instead of throwing the stone at the building or tree like he expected Zane tossed the stone at him with considerable force. It smacked Jay pretty hard in the chest knocking him back and momentarily taking his breath away.
“I guess I can see some of the attraction to this,” Zane commented as Jay sat back up to angrily proclaim, “you don’t throw it at living things!”
“You did not say that was not an option,” Pixal noted and Cole commented, “to be fair you sometimes deserve to be hit by stones. If words don’t get through to you then stones sure will.” Jay was not amused.
“I haven’t done anything wrong,” Jay commented and Zane noted, “you kept up an action I told you to stop.”
“It’s just a building!” Jay stated and Pixal commented, “yes but it does not belong to you. How would you feel having someone throwing stones at your home?” Jay was silent for a moment before commenting a bit defeated, “I wouldn’t like it.”
“See now will you not throw stones at it. Why don’t you analyze these strange cones instead,” Zane commented tossing a cone from the forest floor at Jay. Jay caught it and looked at it not too amused. Cole quickly commented picking one up that sat by him to ask, “can we eat these?”
“Possibly; they might need to be cooked to render them safe for human consumption but that is not a guarantee so best not to test it out at this time,” Pixal noted while Jay worked on trying to open up the cone. He had to use a pocket knife he had in a pocket of his attire to cut it open. When he got it open he remarked looking at the inside, “this is weird. It’s like someone shoved dried beans into that stuff in a dragon fruit and it smells funny like fishy funny. I don’t want to risk eating this.”
“What do those cones come from?” Kai asked reaching for one of the cones near him which looked to be buried a bit in the leaf litter and Zane noted, “most likely the strange trees forming this dock forest. We’re calling the trees Dock Cypresses.” As Kai picked up the supposed cone he was startled to find this ‘cone’ was some strange hedgehog like mammal with armoured plates on its back that made it look like a pine cone. The creature was not too pleased with being picked up and yelled at him displaying the massive almost tusk like fangs in its more wolfish snout at Kai who quickly tossed the creature away from himself worried of getting bit by it. The creature ploughed about a foot on the ground as it landed before getting up to rush off into the undergrowth Cole commenting as it ran, “do you think we could eat that?”
“Possibly but you would have to find and catch it first,” Zane commented. Cole was not up to trying to find the creature.
“You know maybe we should continue on before Cole gets hungry enough to try and eat one of our arms,” Kai commented. Cole was not happy with them joking about him but they all agreed they should continue on their way. They got up and continued on their way Kai again needing to be guided as he covered his eyes. They went through open water before passing through a patch of Dock Forest. As they went through the wooded patch they were surprised and very confused when a group of winged fish flew across the dock.
“That gives new meaning to the name of flying fish,” Cole commented as they stopped to watch the strange fish fly by. They were all suddenly startled when a strange large creature lunged out of the water as the strange fish passed snapping at them with its crocodilian like jaws. It landed on the dock in front of them managing to catch and eat a few of the flying fish. They were all scared by this creature. With nothing but a long body, strange front flippers which worked like limbs and a dual row of fleshy sails on its back it was something they had come to know as a Seastrell. It was a monster that aided the clan joining them in battles by bodies of water and in coastal regions. Not only could they wield the element of water even creating storms but they could also spit near boiling water not to mention they had those thin but strong sharp serrated jaws.
“That just further proves we must be where this clan comes from,” Jay commented as the creature looked at them. It was growling with its jaws open looking at them as if prepping to attack. They prepared to have to fight this thing as it hissed at them but to their surprise and confusion it relaxed then dove back into the water swimming away.
“Uhm… is it not going to fight us?” Jay wondered looking into the water where the creature vanished. Cole noted as they continued on, “guess not. Maybe those here have no qualms with us.”
“Let’s hope so,” Nya commented continuing to help her brother cross the water. Soon they were back in a bog that transitioned to dry land; a relief for Kai who could go back to walking like normal. It was like the bogs elsewhere on the lake however the massive fossilized shell and head cask of an ammonite was half submerged in the mud and entangled in foliage on the shore. There was also some of the strange glowing jellyfish creatures they had witnessed a few times in areas around places of clan activity floating in the air of the wetlands on this side to Zane and Pixals great dislike. The creatures were attracted to the twos eyes frequently getting into the twos face despite their attempts to shoo them away. Those weren’t the only creatures to bother the two. Through their travels there and in the caves various insects like flies, fireflies and mosquitoes had been plaguing the two from time to time attracted to the glows of their eyes. The worst had been some really strange creatures that looked like a weird mix of bird and wasp that had come out of an unsettling and smelly mound of mud, grass, bones, fur and what they believed to be dried blood that they had come across earlier that day. Along with being attracted to the droids eyes those creatures had tried to stab the others with their beaks. For a reason they couldn’t explain they had a strong feeling they couldn’t let those things bite them so fought them off as they fled the area. Luckily the creatures had left them when they got a couple meters away from their nest. Luckily for the droids when they got out of the wetlands the Jellyfish creatures left them alone wanting to stick to the wet lowlands and not follow to the drier highlands. The wetter lowlands transitioned back to the forest they had been in earlier that day as they slowly climbed in elevation in the landscape as they moved away from the lake. It wasn’t long before to their relief they came up to a small settlement; about twenty houses, a few shops, a small temple and a tavern with one of the strange obelisks they had seen outside the temple in the towns center. At first they were relieved but soon their relief changed to unease. Despite looking lived in there was no one there. Not even pets or livestock. All the buildings were weirdly unlocked and when investigated they found no one there and to Coles great dislike there was no food anywhere not even in the inn.
“This is strange… shouldn’t people be here? It’s too clean and up kept to be abandoned?” Jay commented as they stood outside the inn all confused over what they were seeing. Zane was about to say something but Kai cut him off to comment unhappy, “don’t tell me you were going to say this town is just some site seeing attraction or a movie set.”
“I was going to suggest that it is possible we might not easily find anyone here. If this is where the Lost Clan came from then it is possible they abandoned many of their settlements at least for the time being in order to join in the attack back home,” Zane explained a bit annoyed from being cut off.
“Well that’s not good,” Nya commented and worried Jay wondered, “so what then do we do now?” They paused to think for a moment Pixal coming to suggest, “well we could make our way back…”
“No I’m not going over that lake again!” Kai expressed before Pixal continued, “then we could continue on the path in hopes of finding a larger settlement whose inhabitants have yet left this realm. With its size and lack of notable farming infrastructure this town cannot be too far from a larger settlement which supplies its necessities like food.” They weren’t too keen on that all tired from their walking and hungry from going a day without food. While they wanted to just give up they decided they had little option and should just continue. They left the town. An hour out and there was no sign of another settlement just more forest.
“What was that?!” Jay expressed at one point startled as something shot from the undergrowth ahead of them across the path into a bush in a small clearing in the woods just off the trail. They all paused for a moment worried it could be something dangerous. The brush rustled a bit before cautiously a creature that looked like a rabbit slowly crept out from the brush nervous. Overall it looked like a rabbit though it had hooves instead of claws on its forepaws, its hind feet looked like those of a kangaroo, bony armour on its back, a beak tipped lower jaw and fleshy whisker like structures on its snout and coming up over its head from its forehead. They relaxed as this creature wasn’t a threat to them; it actually looked to be scared of them.
“It’s just some strange rabbit creature,” Kai commented starting to continue on their way. They were all going to continue but had to stop when they noted Jay wasn’t coming with them. He was trying to coax the creature to let him pet it.
“What are you doing?” Kai questioned to which Jay replied, “it looks so cute I just want to give it some pets.”
“Why?” Kai groaned. The hunger and tiredness was starting to get to all of them making them moody and more irritable.
“I’m not feeling the greatest. I’m tired, hungry, this place and being lost is so anxiety inducing I need a pick me up like cuddles from a soft and friendly critter,” Jay commented getting to pet the creature as it came over to smell him. Jay noted, “it’s so soft.”
“Okay you ready to get going now?” Kai questioned after Jay gave the creature some pets.
“Hey do you think it would be safe to eat that?” Cole inquired to which Jay was quick to express, “no you’re not going to eat the cute rabbit creature.”
“Come on people eat rabbits all the time, you can buy some at grocery stores,” Cole commented to which Jay expressed, “no you’re not eating it!”
“There is nothing wrong with eating it. Rabbits are routinely eaten in various cultures and are safe to consume; I, Pixal and Cole have had it before and you will not find its taste too bad. Do not worry prey animals like rabbits and those humans have tamed for food like cattle and chickens understand that in the end they will be eaten and do not hold it against their predators for consuming them. Technically humans also sit halfway in the prey scale and should not be upset by being eaten yourselves. It’s nature and in the end even your physical remains are consumed at the least by bacteria and other decomposers no matter what you do with them. Interesting fact studies have found even beings you would not expect will feed on human matter when given the chance. Deer for example have been found to have a fondness for the rib area on humans,” Zane explained. Unsettled by Zanes comment Kai inquired, “you’re not admitting that you two would eat us if given the chance are you?” It took a second for the two droids to recognise what Kai was asking and why before quickly proclaiming together, “no.”
“We’d never do that to any of you; you’re our family,” Zane expressed and Pixal explained, “we are just saying there is nothing wrong in using this creature for food.” The two became a little uneasy and embarrassed clearly aware they’d unsettled some of their family. Despite their comments Kai took a few steps back from the two still a bit on edge. As they talked they were unaware of the rabbit creature hopping off a few feet into the understory to keep munching on foliage no longer interested in or scared by them.
“So can we eat it?” Cole eagerly questioned and Jay defended, “no. We’re not going to eat this one.”
“Why not this one? Come on all I’ve had today was a few handfuls of berries and fruits. I need things with more substance than that to keep going,” Cole countered clearly letting his hanger get to him. Confused Kai wondered, “have you just been eating anything you saw growing here? How do you know what’s safe and what isn’t?”
“We made sure they were okay,” Zane noted. The others noted Zane and Pixal looked a little unwell prompting Nya to ask, “he’s been making you two eat things to prove they’re safe hasn’t he?”
“Yha but we are okay with that. It is better than him randomly trying things on his own,” Zane noted which Kai countered with, “you two don’t look to good though.” Not long after he had lost his snack bar to those creatures letting his hunger get to him Cole had been getting the two droids to test anything he thought edible. The two didn’t want to not wanting to compromise their functioning by eating something that could have a negative effect on them but they knew with his hanger Cole wasn’t going to listen to them and would just start eating things he felt were fine. They couldn’t have him accidently poisoning himself from something. They had no clue how long it would be till they would find civilization and if they did if they could cure poisons from fruits or berries. To keep him safe they would test things for him first. If they ate something poisonous it would not kill them just make them sick and disrupt some of their functioning. That was better for everyone than having Cole poison himself. For the past few hours they’d been having problems with their synthetic digestive systems being negatively affected by some of the things they’d eaten. They’d been hiding the signs they weren’t feeling well for most of that time not wanting to make the others worry but it was now starting to really get to them as the disruptions to one of their systems was causing functioning problems with their other systems.
“Our states are not entirely Coles fault. A good deal of it also comes from the strange bugs, those bird bug monsters from earlier and those jellyfish creatures from here,” Pixal noted and Jay questioned a bit grossed by the thought, “you two haven’t been eating those things have you?”
“Not on purpose. They keep trying to get at our eyes… why do they want to attack our eyes?” Zane commented and Pixal inquired, “we do have droidic gastrointestinal biome stabilizer back on the Bounty right? I believe we might need it when we get back home. There are some things here that are causing considerable imbalances in our systems.” While they talked the rabbit creature stopped feeding picking up a sound in the undergrowth nearby.
“Droidic what?” Kai wondered confused by the long complex term Nya clarifying for him, “their ‘medicine’.” Kai understood what that meant. Curious he inquired, “so then if you two have analyzed some of the things here could you show us what is safe and what isn’t? I’m starving.” Jay chimed in to joke, “yha and we need to feed Cole before he tries eating one of us.”
“We can do that. I believe we passed a shrub with some berries that are safe for human consumption not too long ago,” Pixal noted. A loud calling suddenly caught their attentions. Turning to look at the source of the sound they were able to just witness a few feet away the rabbit creature rush through the clearing and into a burrow under the roots of a tree as three Feardrakes rushed after it only to just miss catching it as it escaped into the burrow. The Feardrakes began clawing and biting at the roots and digging at the entrance while investigating it looking for a way to get at their prey. The ninja were scared to see these creatures and from experience back home with them knew they were not something they wanted to get into a fight with at that moment. They were tough opponents and most of them were pretty low on energy after not having had anything to eat in over 24 hours and spending most of that time walking around.
“See if we don’t eat it those things will,” Cole commented before being silenced. Nya whispered, “if we remain quiet hopefully they won’t notice us.” The creatures continued their attempts to get the rabbit creature before they began sniffing at the air. After a few sniffs the creatures turned to look straight at them.
“I don’t think they need to hear us to know we are here,” Kai commented as the creatures began to stalk towards them. Jay added, “yha especially when someone has some serious BO.”
“Hey you don’t smell the greatest either rate now,” Cole commented annoyed at Jays comment.
“Whatever we do we should not run. Running attracts predators attentions kicking in their predatory instincts and causes them to give chase,” Zane explained and Kai asked, “then what do you expect us to do?”
“We outnumber them so if we can make ourselves appear bigger and more threatening to them they may decide it is better to not bother with us and they will retreat,” Pixal explained causing Jay to yell, “and how do you expect us to do that?!”
“Yell at them and throw things at them,” Zane explained picking up a stick and tossing it at the Feardrakes as they closed in. The others joined in looking around and picking up sticks and stones to throw them at the creatures while yelling at them. Unfortunately even if they hit the creatures with the objects it wasn’t scaring them off and the ninja quickly ran out of things to throw dampening their courage.
“What do we do now?” Jay worried. The creatures got closer within striking distance then… they stopped looking up at something before taking a few steps back to look at the ground as if being scolded. The ninja were confused Kai muttering, “what is going on?” Noting where the creatures had looked before their demeanour changed they looked in the same direction; up and behind themselves. What they saw there made their blood run cold and froze them with fear. A massive dark creature loomed there. The looming figure had long lanky legs, a giraffe like silhouette and long neck tipped by a strange head with two pairs of thin fleshy tentacles one set coming off the snout like whiskers the other coming from just in front of the eyes like antenna. A set of small fleshy whiskers sat on the lower jaw a few inches back from the chin. It was overall a dark bluish grey color with greenish neck which had an erect mane of fur along its back and green on its tail which was a short upturned fluffy structure like the tail of some ground birds. Whitish stripes and spots decorated its hind legs and rear half and capped the ends of its toes. Its eyes were a bright almost glowing green color. It was standing rate behind them looking down at the Feardrakes the strange tentacle structures on its head raised up and the last third of the structures glowing in display. Upon seeing the creature the memories that had come to Zanes mind earlier when he looked at that footprint came back to his mind for a couple seconds. This thing, it was different colored but it was one of these he had encountered that day. He was too shocked however to say anything to the others.
“What is that?!” Jay screamed as they looked up at this creature. The creature turned its attention from the Feardrakes to them scaring them even more. Their fear overwhelmed them and they stumbled over each other in an attempt to get away. The creature didn’t take its gaze off them as it began to follow them at a calm pace giving off a long deep bellowing call. The ninja didn’t get far before their path was cut off by the Feardrakes which rushed to stop in the path in front of them. They came to a quick stop not wanting to get into an altercation with the monsters. They looked around for a quick escape but before they could move they found themselves restrained and constricted by vines which erupted from the ground around them. The vines held them up about a meter from the ground with tendrils that came off the vines that restrained their limbs keeping them from fighting the vines. As they fought to free themselves they were even more startled to hear a voice in their heads; just their heads. This voice couldn’t be heard through their ears.
‘This land is not for you. It will be your doom,’ the voice which sounded deep, masculine and un-human spoke to them. In fear Jay exclaimed, “we’re sorry we didn’t mean to be here. We got lost; please don’t hurt us we’re just trying to get home!”
‘I am not here to hurt you,’ the voice proclaimed as the large creature came to stand in front of them.
“How can we trust you? Who are you and where are you?” Kai demanded. They were looking around trying to figure out what was speaking to them. There was just the Feardrakes and this creature that they could see. They doubted it was the Feardrakes; they’d never experienced them doing this. That left this other creature as the only possibility unless there was someone around there they couldn’t see; someone hiding in the underbrush or behind a tree maybe.
‘I am right in front of you,’ the voice stated as the creature lowered its head to look Kai in the face scaring him. That confirmed to him that somehow it was this creature talking to them. Jay wondered scared and starting to panic, “how are you talking to us? You’re mouths not moving and I hear your voice only in my head! What are you going to do to us?”
‘I can tap into the energies in your brain and commune through those in a way you can understand. As for what I am going to do I am going to help you,’ the voice proclaimed as the creature moved its head over to Jay. The creature showed no emotions on its face to indicate any signs of emotions or honesty making it impossible to know if this thing was being truthful or trying to trick them. Considering it had the head of an animal which looked to somewhat resemble a beaked giraffes that wasn’t all too surprising. The heads structure likely was incapable of displaying emotions in a way they could understand. The creature stretched one of the fleshy whiskers on its snout down to Jay. The tentacle looked to be wrapped around something.
“What are you doing?” Jay panicked as the creature reached its appendage towards him before to his surprise it unfurled it to reveal it was holding some sort of fruit. It looked like a peach but was dusted light bluish in color. As it unfurled its tentacle the tendrils holding one of Jays arms retreated letting one of his arm free.
“What is that? What are you trying to do? Are you trying to poison me?” Jay worried refusing to take the fruit as the creature brought it closer to him.
“That fruit is one that is safe for human consumption,” Zane noted to which Jay chastised, “how do you know?!” Zane and Pixal both looked at Cole a bit annoyed Pixal commenting, “by being someone’s test subject.”
“I’m sorry for any problems I caused you two and I promise when we get out of here I will make it up to you I swear,” Cole apologised before the creature urged Jay, ‘you have not had anything to eat all day and the metabolisms of your kind demand you must eat daily to properly function.’ Jay really didn’t want to take the fruit even though Zane said it was safe. Zane would never do or say anything that could lead to serious harm to him but Zane also would not know if this thing had done something to the fruit. He was starving though and the sight of the food not only reminded him of his hunger but made it feel worse.
“You speak like a droid,” Kai commented as a bit hesitantly Jay took the fruit. The creature looked at Kai to comment, ‘I will get something for each of you.’ The vines then dissipated dropping and freeing them all. They all just sat nervous worried if they moved the creatures would attack. Jay held onto the fruit wanting to start eating it but scared to try worried it was dangerous. While they were freed the creature moved over to the woods to bite onto a tree branch from a tree that was bearing the same fruit it had given Jay.
“By any chance you two don’t know what that thing is do you?” Kai quietly questioned to Zane and Pixal. Zane replied, “I remember tails from the Birchwood describing creatures like this. Sprigowarry I think some called them. They were considered more of forest spirits than animals.”
“Are they considered friendly?” Nya wondered as the creature began to return to them. Zane replied, “they can be but they’ve also been known to eat people that displease or anger them.” That was not a comforting fact for any of them. When the creature returned it lowered its head to hold the branch by them as if offering each of them to take a fruit. They were hesitant but took one not wanting to risk angering the creature; even Zane and Pixal took one not wanting to object to the creature. Once each of them had a fruit the creature put the branch down at the side of the path before looking back at them. They were all hesitant to start eating it worried it wasn’t entirely safe. Despite not wanting to put Zane and Pixal through it again considering Cole had been doing it all day to them they convinced the two droids to try the fruits first to make sure they were safe. The two inspected the fruits first before eating a bite.
“They okay?” Cole asked. Zane commented, “they are the same type of peach you made us try earlier. Like before it is safe to eat.” With that confirmation the others began eating it. Most of them ate cautiously though Cole wolfed his down.
“Careful not to eat the pit,” Kai commented to Coles actions. Cole expressed pulling the pit out of his fruit in order to throw it away after eating half of it, “I know; I’m not a dog.”
“No but he sure eats like one,” Jay quietly joked to Nya the two getting a chuckle. Overhearing Kai’s comment Zane wondered, “are we not to eat the pit?” Zane had already finished the fruit he had been given just swallowing the pit with everything else a habit he typically did. Noting his confusion Pixal comforted him knowing Zane had a harder time understanding human concepts than she did telling him, “that does not apply to us. It is okay for us; it is humans that can’t eat it.” Her words calmed him. Once finished his food Cole didn’t hesitate to ask the creature for another. Everyone else was fine and though, with the exception of Zane and Pixal who had been eating weird things all day, were still hungry they were hesitant to have more still a bit worried the fruits weren’t fully safe.
“So do you have a name?” Kai inquired as the creature picked up the branch and dropped it by Cole so he could help himself. He took two more fruits as the creature spoke to them, ‘my true name is in a language you cannot speak nor understand. In a language you can understand you can call me Strider.’ With their hunger getting to them Kai, Nya and Jay got Cole to hand them another fruit.
“Okay Strider what are you?” Jay asked. Strider looked at him to respond, ‘I am what you would class as a species that has many titles in the realms but to my kind we are titled Xercel(zer-cel)-striders.’
“Is this place your home?” Nya asked. Strider responded with, ‘at times. At times my home is elsewhere. I dwell in this forest and other forests. I am he who walks the woods and watches over their beings; he who guards them from darkness and evil a task my kind were bestowed to perform. I know and understand the nature of the wooded realms more than you could imagine so trust me when I tell you if you stay here this forest will be your doom.’
“What do you mean by that? Is it from them?” Jay worried looking back at the Feardrakes which were just standing there on the path in a submissive posture just watching them and the Strider. Strider asked, ‘no it is not them. They are just existing like the animals do. They mistook you as prey and did not take note of your true natures. No they understand who you are now and will not harm you. Are you aware of where you are?’
“No, we fell into a strange cave that led us to a portal which led us to here. We believe it is another realm however we do not know which one,” Nya explained. Strider explained, ‘you are not in your realm that is true but this place is not a realm.’
“What do you mean?” Pixal inquired. They were all confused. If this wasn’t a realm then what was it? Strider explained, ‘this is as you may call it a border realm, a pocket realm, a splinter of the realms; a place where the boundary of your realm has broken along against the boundaries of others and together they are now spilling out into each other creating a miniature echo of what lies within them where they struck. As the wounds of their impact healed over to keep damage to a minimum the source of all things created what to your mortal minds will understand as a bubble or crater to contain what the tear broke off and what should fall through after its creation keeping matter from that spill through the tear from being lost or damaging the realms as they float in the sea of the void. Through the tear matter from the realms flows like water into the bubble of this pocket realm gently mixing and becoming one.’
“Wait are we in another realm or not? I’m getting confused,” Cole commented and Kai agreed, “yha what exactly are we in?” Strider looked them over before continuing moving the tentacles on his head a light coming to them making energy appear in front of them like a hologram displaying what he was describing.
‘The realms as you know them float in the cosmos; a sea of a place mortals refuse to speak of. At times the realms bump into each other pieces from the realms joining as one from the impact and remaining behind in a small bubble, a scar from the impact. These scars remain attached by strings to the parent realms pulling them along where they may bump into another realm, another pocket realm or the strings of another realm increasing the size of the scar or creating new ones. Through time this has happened many times creating many of these pocket realms where places of the realms mix creating many stable scars that can be accessed by the realms to which they connect,’ Strider explained visualizing for them what he was saying to help them understand. As he talked they watched as a few balls of energy danced around every now and then smacking into each other. With each impact a piece would stick from each ball together coming off the main ball but remaining attached by many strands resembling those of melted cheese or spider webs. These broken off pieces became mini sort of worlds pulled and dragged around by their parent balls. The balls continued to slowly move about. If the mini balls hit another of the bigger ones it would tear a piece off it becoming a bit bigger and becoming connected to that realm as well and when connecting strands touched each other they would form mini balls at the connection sites becoming connected to the other mini balls and the bigger balls eventually leading everything to become a big web connecting all the balls of energy both big and small. At first everything moved more rapidly and chaotically but after several collisions the connections that formed from these collisions stabilized and slowed things down drastically lowering collisions and balancing everything out so they moved together as one connected and stable.
“Okay so if we are in one of these pocket realms we should be safe shouldn’t we? How are we in danger?” Nya asked. Strider responded, ‘because it is not just the realms that have spilled in here. Waters from the sea they float in which are highly toxic for all kinds of mortals frequently seep in here. The realms are kept safe by their size and the energies within them that make them unique from these waters like a great ship in a storm their hulls are too big and strong to be affected by most waves however as these pocket realms are much smaller they cannot repel the seas energies and are diluted and can even be sunk by them like a rowboat at sea in a hurricane. All that lives here are echoes of what they had been back in their realms overcome and changed by these waters. In a sense they are closer to spirits than living mortals making them no longer mortals like you. If you remain here for too long the waters of those seas will soak into you like it has them and claim you stripping you of your mortality, your life and turning you into a being like myself what mortals consider monsters or spirits. Eating the foods from here and drinking the water can stave off the effects for a time slowing them down but if you stay here too long you will eventually be consumed.’ The energy showing the balls representing the realms vanished to be replaced by representations of them with a distinct glowing spot in their chest where their heart was. Mists and waves of energy washed around the figures like water slowly with each wash over of the energy the figures were losing the bright green color they had been slowly but steadily turning a greyed purple and the spot for their heart dimming until it vanished and the figures went black before dissolving which they didn’t need words to understand meant they had died greatly unsettling them. Strider ended his display as he finished his explanation.
“So is that what happened to the Lost Clan, they got trapped here and turned into monsters,” Cole noted and Strider asked, ‘Lost Clan?’ Zane explained, “they are why we are here. A group made of largely two races the Gnollsvic and Huntsmen who have invaded our realm and are conquering large parts of it. We have reason to believe they are from here so we came looking to find out more about them.”
‘I know of them. While parts from their realm are here and they did have some settlements here this is not where they were from nor is that how they came to being,’ Strider commented.
“What are they and where did they come from then?” Pixal inquired to which Strider explained, ‘they are from the sea outside the realms; what many would call the void. They were once mortal like you but how they came into being is not from getting trapped here. No they’re cursing is a result of much darker makings. Come there is a place you should visit. It will take you home and show you what you need to know.’ They looked at each other to determine if they were going to follow this creature or not. Could they trust him? So far they’d encountered no one here to help them and this being was the first one that was offering help. They decided to see what Strider had to show them. Strider waited for them to get up before urging them with motions of his head to continue down the path which they obeyed. The Feardrakes moved aside to let them pass not bothering them before heading back into the woods after they had passed. Strider followed next to them walking with a pacing gate like a giraffe his footsteps surprisingly quiet despite his size. They walked for sometime the ninja still uneasy with Strider and so a bit hesitant to interact with him. He led them along the path shepherding them down specific paths when they reached crossroads. He was leading them up in elevation by the looks towards a peninsula of a mountain that jutted out from the mountains creating the crater wall. As they headed along Zane and Pixal noted Striders footprints resembled those they had seen by the river.
“By any chance Strider have you been following us for some time?” Pixal inquired. Strider replied, ‘yes I am the one who followed you last night and left the prints you saw earlier. You were new to my forest and I wished to know what you were. I have been following to keep an eye on you. It is a very long time since mortals have found their way here and you are different from mortals we have had visit before. There is a strange energy to you not to mention you were badly injured.’
“We had an accident and made a bad tumble into a strange cavern. Thinking back it was probably a bad idea for us to be wandering around in that state but we were in an unfamiliar place with no food or water and no way to get help,” Cole explained Jay chiming in to proclaim, “not to mention it was dark and there were creepy creatures everywhere.”
“Hey Strider do you know how that river healed us?” Nya inquired and Strider answered, ‘that was an effect from the energies to the sea outside the realms. The place I came from; what mortals sometimes call the void. They taint everything here. The powers of the void are far beyond your comprehension but it seems you are favoured by the void and so restored to a healthy state to efficiently continue your work.’ As they continued climbing in elevation they began to follow a loosely winding path that went up the mountain side the forest changing a bit with elevation going from the lush temperate rainforest like environment to a dryer and rockier sub alpine region plants like junipers, pines, short stocky cedars, Bristlecones and heather becoming more common. Despite the steeper less even terrain which would normally give difficulty for such a large more lanky and leggy built creature like himself Strider had little trouble navigating and keeping on his feet.
“If you could help us before why didn’t you?” Kai wondered and Strider replied, ‘you were doing fine enough on your own so I did not feel the need to intervene but when the Feardrakes took to hunting you I knew I had to do something as you were in no shape to challenge them. Since I have intervened I might as well aid you till I can no longer help. You will still have more to go then but I have faith you can do that without me; I am not the only one watching you.’
“What do you mean by that?” Jay asked not liking the sound of Striders words; he didn’t want anyone watching him! He began stopping to look around every now and then to see if anything was following them. He couldn’t see anything. Strider commented, ‘there are many things… let us just say you go wandering in a forest that has not seen the likes of you before and anything that can see will be drawn to check you out if only for a brief examination.’
“Are there others like you?” Zane inquired. Strider responded with, ‘indeed many. We live in all the realms changing our skins to blend in with the woods we call home. We prefer to avoid interacting with humans.’
“Why?” Jay inquired and Strider replied, ‘let us just say we do not get along with humans. Our kind were born of the light and let us just say humans were not so much so therefore we do not get along very well. Not to mention humans tend to be very scared of creatures of my size.’ They approached a valley ripped into the mountainside they were climbing which looked to have had large chunks of the ground pulled up or more of exploded out leaving the chunks of the ground now floating in the air around the tear. To their misfortune the tear ran through where the path they were heading went breaking the path with a gap too big for them to jump across and too steep to climb through. While most of them were just unpleased with this obstacle the floating pieces of land in the area had Zane and Pixal confused and on edge. The two were quiet nervously inspecting the floating rocks trying to understand how they could possibly be floating.
“Well that’s not good,” Kai expressed. Strider commented, ‘it would appear some damage has occurred here likely from the eruption of the mountains that house the entrance in your realm. I have noticed damages elsewhere here as well. I will need to get some aid to repair it.’
“You’re aware of that?!” Nya noted and Strider replied, ‘yes I am. It sparked earthquakes and other disruptions to this place so I searched the connections to here and found that as the source of the problems.’
“The Lost Clan was responsible for that weren’t they,” Kai commented and Strider stated, ‘I would believe their entry into your realm is what caused that. Entry into your realm of such numbers and strength as the Lost Clan was bound to leave considerable ruptures to the realm. In time the damages will heal but they will not completely disappear. Traces of the event will forever exist there and the tear to here will remain. Luckily with its location few should end up falling through it preventing serious harm to those of your realm.’
“Okay so how are we going to get across this,” Jay wondered. While they were talking Cole had been trying to see if he could use his powers to move the chunks of land. He had some influence on them and could move pieces of them a bit but it was hard and he couldn’t get them to move very far. It was like the rocks were made of something that hindered their powers.
“I don’t know what it is but something here is hindering my powers making it difficult to move the rocks,” Cole explained taking a breather from his attempts. Strider expressed, ‘because of the energies of the void that wash in here your powers have a much weaker effect than they do in your realm.’ Kai expressed unhappy, “great.”
‘Do not worry I can create a temporary path to get us across,’ Strider expressed. With motions from his facial tentacles Strider looked to use some kind of magic which affected some of the rocks pulling them down to fill the gap making a bridge a visible but transparent green energy encompassing, bordering and filling gaps to this makeshift bridge. They were impressed with the action but nervous to cross the bridge unsure how sturdy it actually was. Strider was unbothered calmly strolling across his bridge a few footsteps falling on the energy and not the earthen chunks the energy holding up like it was solid ground beneath his feet. He stopped halfway across waiting for the rest of them to follow. They all looked over the bridge wary of moving across it. Nya was the first to brave it hopping to one of the rock chunks too uneasy with the energy portions to step on them. Her brother was next cautiously stepping onto a piece of the energy to see how sturdy it was. He was surprised to see he was safe and not sinking through the energy; it was as sturdy as rock boosting his confidence letting him cross the bridge with little fear. Jay followed next nervous but putting on a brave face. Cole was next sticking to the rocky sections his fear of heights keeping him from touching the energy sections where due to their transparency he could see the drop to the ground below. Zane and Pixal did not follow too uneasy with the floating rocks and energy to start crossing the bridge. The others were almost fully across when they looked back to check on their droid siblings noting they hadn’t even started crossing.
“Come on you two. Jay and Cole could cross it you two sure as heck can do it,” Kai called to them. Zane and Pixal didn’t look to hear them. Nya commented, “I think they’re brains are overwhelmed.”
“Overwhelmed? By what?” Kai questioned and Jay explained, “a nindroids brain is wired for logical thinking so their minds have a great deal of trouble understanding and comprehending magic. I think they’re brains have seized up trying to understand what they are seeing.”
“They usually don’t have such a bad problem though,” Cole commented and Nya explained, “that’s because they usually haven’t been fed a bunch of random things all day some of which is upsetting their systems.”
“Sorry I let my hanger get to me. When we’re back home I’ll make it up to them I swear,” Cole expressed and Kai wondered confused, “How is that affecting their mind?”
“Their bodies are very complex and all their systems are connected. If something goes wrong in one of them it can cause problems in another. Commonly it’s their brains that suffer the most from problems often by lowering its functioning so they can’t think as clearly or quickly which can more easily cause them to get confused or have slowed thinking. I think that’s what’s happening now. We’re going to have to help them,” Jay explained. Before any of them could move to help the two Strider headed over to them commenting, ‘I will get them across.’ The two droids were so un-eased and confused they didn’t acknowledge Strider till he picked them up with his whisker tentacles to carry them across the gap. The two were uneasy at first but relaxed as Strider got closer to the opposite side of the tear and placed them on the ground on the other side.
“You two having a bit of difficulties,” Jay asked as the rest of them got to the other side. The two droids took a moment before Zane expressed, “we might be.”
“I’m really sorry for that. I promise I’ll make it up to you two,” Cole expressed. Pixal commented, “that’s okay we know you are not at your best when you’re hungry.”
“So how much further do we have to go?” Kai wondered. Strider stated looking further up the mountain, ‘you see those arches up there. That is where we are headed. There is a temple there that holds what you are looking for.’ The path continued up the mountain winding up the hillside a little less winding then what they had been traversing so far as it headed up through a snowy region that started not too far away from where they currently stood. The path wound up to a plateau a few kilometres above and to the south of their position. On the snowy plateau they could make out some mildly pointed arches that looked like ribs on the plateau. They continued on their way up the path. While cold hardy plants like junipers, pines, bristlecone pines and some shrubs continued through the snow they didn’t form the dense forests like in the lower elevations being more open. As they got closer to the plateau they came across a few stone cairns marking the path through the snow and the structures attached to the arches became clearer to see. The path went up to stairs which went up to a platform that created a level ground on the slightly slanted plateau. From there headed back into the mountainside were a few more platforms going slightly higher every few meters till they reached a structure that ran into the mountain. This structure was fairly rectangular in shape with inlays in the walls and an extension for the entrance door that bore a rounded roof. The arches they had seen below which resembled ribs atop the plateau were almost evenly spaced across the platforms with one over the entrance way into the structure. A few smaller arches sat on the tops of the structure that merged almost seamlessly into the mountain. The arches themselves had a loose upside down V shape with three pillars on the underside of its form to help support it. The tops of most of the arches were fairly bare with on average one or two sets of claw looking projections that angled out then down. On the arch above the door and in front of it the central pillar was larger and thicker than the other pillars matching the thickness of the arch itself and peaking the top of this pillar and the arch was a crude stone carving that looked like the back, neck and head of a perched raven coming out of the pillar. At the opposite end of the structure were two covered lookout posts that bridged back to the platforms. These sat at the corners of the platform, in the center was a post with the raven top however this one had the wings of the raven sticking out to the side in display. Everything was made of stone with almost no decorative marks on their surfaces just some crude ridges on the bird structures to emphasize where its eyes would sit and patches of feathers on the neck and wings. Overall the place looked old, ancient even, and had the smoothed yet pitted look of being worn by time. Snow dusted the structure with no signs of humans recently being in the area.
“What is this place?” Cole inquired as they got onto the platforms of the ruin. Strider explained having to lower his neck a bit to get under the arches, ‘this is Lake Point Barrows a ruin belonging to the Gnollsvic. In life it was a burial ground but since their rebirth into the entities they are now it has become a reminder of where they came from and the deal they made. Within there you will find the answers to what you seek.’
“Are you coming with us?” Jay asked. Strider looked at Jay confused before replying, ‘he is not being serious is he? I will not fit in there.’ Kai joked, “no he often runs on only one brain cell.” Jay was not amused by the comment however everyone else was. They headed for the door to the structure. The door looked to be a dark metal feature with a peaked top and bearing etched in designs to it.
“I guess we should thank you for the aid Strider,” Pixal expressed as they opened the door to head in. They expected to hear a response but when there wasn’t one they stopped to look back only to find Strider wasn’t there. He’d vanished. His footsteps had followed them but it was like he’d just disappeared where he’d last stood. There was no evidence he’d turned around and walked away and there hadn’t been enough time since they had last seen him for him to get far enough away he wouldn’t be seen. With his size that was impossible.
“Where’d he go?” Kai expressed he and the rest of them a bit unsettled to find Strider had just vanished. Jay questioned, “did we hallucinate him.”
“No we weren’t hallucinating… was he some kind of ghost?” Cole commented getting nervous. Zane explained, “well according to the mythologies around those creatures they are considered some kind of spirit entity even though they live like animals.”
“Well he could have let us know he was popping off before just disappearing. That’s creepy,” Jay expressed as they entered the ruin. His slang confused Zane and Pixal leading Pixal to ask, “popping off?”
“It’s basically a slang term for leaving,” Cole explained to the two droids as they entered the structure. Inside wasn’t very remarkable. Plain stone walls, floor and ceiling with patches of moss or lichens in a few places formed a large foyer with a doorway at the opposite end of the room. The only thing of real note in the foyer were the braziers and sconces which were burning with the strange fire like plasma that had been in those lanterns they had used the night before. It emitted light and heat like fire but appeared to be feeding off nothing even though it appeared to be erupting some kind of ash and burnt wood that sat in the cups of the braziers and sconces. They headed deeper into the ruins which headed into the mountain. A bare hallway came from the foyer heading to a smaller but double story tall room a few meters down the hall. This smaller room had a gate blocking access through the arched doorway to the next room. Next to the gated arch on either side were three sided short pillars which looked to be able to rotate. A third of these pillars sat on a platform above the entry doorway with paired L shaped stairs leading up to the platform. A pull chain was anchored into the wall to the right of the door. Some various sized urns some big enough to hide a body in likely indicating they were entombing burial urns were rested by the side walls and what looked to be roots likely from trees that grew on the mountain side outside had broke through parts of the ceiling growing across it and down the walls a bit. Each corner of the room had what looked like a crude stone bust of the neck and head of a raven built into the corner the birds looking out and down into the center of the room their eyes looking to be made of some kind of jewelled material. Other than that the room was fairly bare.
“Okay what do we do now?” Kai wondered as Jay went over to one of the pillars to investigate it finding and proving they could be rotated. Pixal commented, “well there is likely some form of locking mechanism that must be operated in order to move the gate. Considering the only notable objects in the room are those pillars they likely play some role in the gates lock.” Nya went over and checked the pull chain to see what would happen. The next thing they knew they were all dodging what looked like fire erupting from the eyes of the ravens which spread across the floor filling the room causing them all to jump up onto whatever they could to get out of it. Cole and Kai got onto the steps for the platform, Zane and Pixal had to hop onto the largest urns and Nya and Jay had to climb onto the pillars. Whatever was spat out looked rather like fire but it didn’t burn them instead seeming to suck something from them. If it touched them they started to feel weak and sick, they got strange cuts and rashes where the stuff touched even Zane and Pixal received odd cuts and what resembled rusting on their skins. The plasmic blast lasted a few seconds before stopping. They took a moment startled before slowly climbing down from where they had put themselves rather shaken from the encounter. Strangely the strange cuts, rashes and rusting slowly disappeared the areas going back to a healthy state now that the blast was done.
“What was that?!” Jay exclaimed. After a moment to assess the blasts effects on themselves Pixal and Zane came up with a suggestion still not too sure what that had been. Zane noted, “it would appear whatever that plasmic energy was it appears to have been negatively affecting our health’s.” Pixal elaborated, “it was like it was somehow draining us of our wellbeing. If we stood in that stuff for too long it could prove fatal.”
“Great the place is booby trapped. Why do all these ancient places have to be booby-trapped?” Kai questioned. Not realizing Kai was making a rhetorical comment Zane replied, “well to many cultures it is considered disrespectful and offensive to disturb the remains of the departed which through history have been taken for let’s just say undesirable purposes like necromancy not to mention they are often buried with valuable and sentimental items that living do not want stolen so places like this have good reason to set traps to keep the wrong kinds people out of the place.”
“I really wasn’t looking for an answer Zane; are you having problems recognising sarcasm now?” Kai stated. Zane and Pixal looked a little disappointed before Pixal expressed, “possibly.” Cole was quick to comment, “if it’s because of my actions I’m sorry and I’ll make it up to you I swear.” The droids didn’t say anything but Cole could tell by the way they looked at each other after his comment they believed that was the reason for some of their current problems but they didn’t want to single him out and cause tensions amongst the rest of them.
“Well we don’t want to set that off again so what should we do?” Nya wondered. Pixal noted, “well those strange pillars are likely a key.”
“There looks to be three sides to them. Which side do you think is the right ones?” Jay commented slowly rotating one of the pillars looking for a sign that indicated he had it in the right position. To his dislike there was no visual clues and the click sound it made when rotated obviously was just the gears from the mechanism below connecting when a side faced outward and not a sign that the outward face was the correct one. On each of the three sides of the pillars was an embossed crude symbol looking to represent some kind of animal; one symbol per side. One symbol looked to represent a bird likely a raven, one a snake and one a wolf. All three had the same symbols. Kai went up to inspect the pillar on the platform while Cole went to one of the ones by the door and Nya went to the one Jay had to stop him from playing with it; he’d started slowly twisting it with his ear against it trying to see if he could hear a difference in sounds to indicate the proper position. He couldn’t hear anything.
“I guess trial and error,” Cole suggested and Nya noted, “and if we get it wrong? That trap will go off again and I don’t think we want to be standing on the ground when that happens.”
“True… Zane, Pix go stand up on the platform so you’ll be safe when we pull the chain. Jay you’ll operate the chain. Wait till I give the command and when I do get up onto the gate to avoid getting touched. They all agreed. As Pixal and Zane went up onto the platform the others set their pillars. Cole put his to a wolf, Nya and Kai set them to a raven. Cole and Nya then climbed onto and balanced onto their pillars before Cole gave the order. Jay pulled the chain and quickly jumped onto the gate climbing it a bit. The ravens released their blast again.
“Okay that one didn’t work… we’ll try this again,” Cole stated. As they worked on the pillar puzzle Zane and Pixal looked around the room for a clue. There wasn’t any they could see. The group tried their new combos. Again it didn’t work setting off the trap; as they looked around both Zane and Pixal noted something on the floor. There was a pattern on the floor. The floor was a little worn though and the others failing again made it a little difficult to make out the oddity. A thought then came to their minds.
“These Gnollsvic have traits of hyenas. Hyenas are feliform carnivores which are capable of seeing in the ultraviolet spectrum of lighting,” Zane thought aloud and Pixal continued his thoughts, “if these Gnollsvic have a sense of smell like the animal they share looks with then they may have vision with similar traits as well.”
“What are you two on about? Kai asked as they had another failed test. The two droids activated a setting for them to pick up ultraviolet light. If anything had pigments in the ultraviolet range they would see it showing up as a highly reflective iridescent like patch of coloring. Very quickly the picked up something; the pattern they were having trouble identifying on the floor instantly stood out with three figures. Standing out with a bluish-purple tinted silvery color was a wolf which was following a dark purple colored raven which was chasing a dark greenish snake. The animal symbols were positioned in a circle in the middle of the room looking like they were chasing each other. The animals were each notably positioned by a specific pillar; the wolf in front of the platform, the raven near Nya’s and the snake by Cole’s.
“That’s it!” Zane exclaimed catching the others attentions the two droids shutting off their ultraviolet vision. They were just about to take another try when Zanes words distracted them.
“What’s it?” Jay wondered as Pixal set the pillar on the platform with them to the wolf.
“They placed the clue to the pillars on the floor in UV pigment. Cole yours needs to be the snake and Nya yours needs to be the raven,” Zane explained. The others were confused Cole wondering, “UV?”
“Ultraviolet light. Part of the light range humans are incapable of seeing in,” Nya replied to Cole before Jay asked, “are you sure?” Zane replied, “89 percent.”
“Well it couldn’t hurt,” Cole commented. They set the pillars and prepped to pull the chain. Jay paused a moment before pulling the chain. There was a moment of nothing then the gate blocking the doorway slid up into the wall.
“Hmm so you were right,” Kai comment as they came to gather by the door. Jay asked curious, “how’d you know to look in the UV spectrum for the answer?”
“Analysis and deduction; the Gnollsvic seem to have hybrid features of human and animal notably the hyena which are related to cats who can see in the UV spectrum so we hypothesized they may share the ability to see in that light field like the animals they share traits with we do after all know they can see better in the dark than humans like animals so it seems fair to reason they share other animal traits of their vision as well and it turns out our hunch was true,” Zane explained. Jay expressed, “that’s cool. Hey what is it like to see UV light? Do I look special in any way under it?”
“You can’t see it but all humans have unique stripping patterns on their skin that can only be seen in the UV spectrum,” Zane noted and Jay started pulling back his sleeves to look at his arm surprised and eager to find hints of these markings but he couldn’t see anything disappointing him. Pixal noted to Jay, “no human can naturally view those markings. We can tell you though that even when we can’t see your faces we can identify you each solely by those markings.”
“That’s cool… hey what do my markings look like?” Jay asked. Pixal explained, “likely as an effect of your powers your markings are rather different from normal peoples. They are less stripping and have more of a resemblance to your element. Jay for example yours look more like lightening, Nya’s resembles reflections of still water, Coles resembles cooling lava and Kais has a resemblance to the seams of burning found in burning wood.”
“That’s cool, hey how about Lloyds?” Kai wondered as they each looked at their arms surprised to hear of this feature they didn’t know they had. Zane and Pixal took a moment before either responded. Pixal explained, “until we encountered the Oni we didn’t realise what they were but since then we’ve come to realize that he bares markings like those of an Oni on his skin. It’s all a mixture of unnatural rather occult line based symbols. He, his uncle and father all share those kinds of markings.”
“It makes sense given their family history but still that’s creepy,” Jay expressed. Cole commented, “while the science lesson is fascinating we should save it for later and focus on our task here rate now.” They all agreed heading into the next room entering in the middle of the room. This room had a lower roof being like a normal room but was a bit long with a platform on the one side with a dragon statue of a lung type dragon looking to be made entirely of jade or something like jade with some urns near it including the large entombing urns in each corner. At the opposite side of the wall was an alcove with old blackened and carved stone shelves holding scrolls and books. In the middle of the room was a circular pit with a spiral ramp of wood that looked to head down to more corridors and rooms. Before heading down to continue deeper into the ruin they inspected the room and what was in it. Just like before the room was lit by the strange plasmic holding sconces and braziers and added in this room metallic floor candelabras with brazier tops holding the same plasmic light source. There was nothing really special about the dragon statue and to their misfortune the books and scrolls were written in a language they couldn’t understand; it was the language of the Lost Clan. The books and scrolls they did note were made of some strange material. The paper acted like paper but had a sheen and feel like metal. Even the leather like covering of the books had metallic qualities to it. It was very strange. Since they couldn’t translate the texts they decided to just leave them and continue on into the ruins. The ramp led down to another room this one fairly small. There was nothing special to it and it looked to just be a separator from the room above to the rest of the ruins which looked to be the burial section. Past the small room the place opened into a zigzagging corridor like room with walls lined with inlays and alcoves that had likely at one point held remains of the dead but were now empty as the Gnollsvic who had been buried there were now resurrected into whatever they now were. Not much was in there mainly just burial urns. Despite nothing being in their they still felt uneasy knowing this had once been a tomb.
“Is it just me or is it rather chilly in here?” Kai commented after a while. The cold seemed odd to him as so far it had been a decent temperature in the place. Sure it wasn’t that warm but it had been warm enough that they weren’t able to see their breaths and it didn’t hurt any exposed skin. Now though temperatures defiantly felt like they were below freezing. The others agreed that it was starting to feel cold. Noting Zane was rather quiet when this seemed like a time he’d give some kind of possible explanation Cole looked back to check on him. When he did he felt guilty.
“I’m sorry it would appear the cold is coming from me,” Zane expressed embarrassed. His arms almost up to the elbow had become encased in ice which he and Pixal were trying to break off despite it constantly re-growing. Zane had picked up a small decorative urn to look it over when he’d noticed his powers starting to malfunction causing the urn to get stuck in his one hand as ice had encased the two. Not wanting to damage the item as he felt wrong breaking an ancient possibly sentimental belonging from someone else he refused to just break the ice risking breaking the item as well. Instead he was trying to chip the ice off as delicately as he could with his other hand all while keeping up with the others not wanting to fall behind or draw attention to his problem. Pixal had been helping him as both his hands and arms had become encased in ice but she’d ended up getting her hands iced over while trying to help him. He was now also getting patches of ice springing up all over his body.
“I’m sorry. You’re having problems because of me aren’t you?” Cole expressed as they all noted Zanes situation. Zane replied, “that is a strong possibility.” Zane was still not wanting to cause tensions amongst them.
“You can just say it is; we’re all already aware and a bit mad at Cole for using you two like guinea pigs,” Jay expressed. Nya added, “don’t worry we’re not going to be mad with anyone. We all get it; Cole isn’t entirely himself when he’s hungry.” Kai went over to help the two warming up his hands with his powers before touching them to Pixals then Zanes to melt the ice away before taking the urn from Zane to place it in one of the inlays of the wall to keep Zane from getting it stuck on his hand again.
“How long’s this going to last?” Kai wondered as he helped Zane free himself from the urn. Jay replied, “at the least an hour at most a day or two.” Zane expressed, “I’m trying to control it the best I can but some things are malfunctioning…”
“You don’t need to apologize Zane. We know how bad some things can mess with your systems and you can’t help it,” Nya comforted Jay adding, “yha and at least the cold is just coming from you. I was worried it was something way worse you know with this being an old tomb and all. It could be haunted or have some creepy crypt guarding monster in it. Just try not to pick anything up and we’ll be fine. If it gets too cold we could always use Kai as a walking space heater.” Jays comment cheered Zane up and amused the others as they continued on. After a few turns the corridor went out to a large cavern. Some of the flora from those strange caves was in there but so was some of the flora from the woods outside like the pine trees and even a few redwoods these flora able to grow thanks to large holes in the caverns ceiling above. They worried they’d get lost in there but luckily there was a stone path that led through the area with braziers placed occasionally along its sides to help lead them through the cavern. So far they’d seen nothing to tell them anything about the Lost Clan. As they went through the cavern they had to cross a small river and went past some skeletons of large creatures that had likely fallen through the holes in the rock above. One of these skeletons looked to be one from a fairly large mammoth. The cavern was nowhere near as big as the one they had gone through before taking only a couple minutes to get through and seemed fairly empty of life. They didn’t see any creatures even though they heard some. The path led them to another corridor that went into the mountain again. When they got to the entrance to the corridor though they stopped.
“That’s where we have to go?” Jay questioned nervous. The others were equally unsure. Before them the corridor started off lit before quickly becoming void of light. It would have been pitch black if it wasn’t for light in the room at the opposite end of the corridor showing the exit on the other side at least a yard or two away. Added to the uneasiness of the darkness was a black mist looked to be creeping along the floor coming out of this darkness and even while not in it they could feel a coldness blowing out of it. They knew it was this corridor not Zane as while he was still having problems controlling his powers the cold they were feeling was blowing out from the corridor like a breeze.
“I didn’t see any other path did you?” Cole commented and Jay responded, “yha no I didn’t.” Pixal noted, “that darkness is sharing the same qualities as that portal we went through before.”
“What do you mean?” Kai wondered and Pixal explained, “it is showing up as an empty void to our sensors.” Cole noted trying to calm his unease, “but we can see the other side of the tunnel… right? That is the other side down there isn’t it?”
“I cannot tell… it is possible our senses are just malfunctioning due to something we have consumed and there is nothing strange to that darkness,” Pixal explained and Jay wondered, “that is possible… who should we send down there first?” They all looked at Kai who was further put on edge causing him to utter, “no I don’t want to be the first one going down there!”
“You’re the only one whose powers can produce light,” Nya noted to which Kai quickly commented, “what about Jay? His can produce light too.” Jay commented, “yha but not safely and I’m pretty sure some of us don’t want me playing with lightening especially in such cramped quarters.” He looked at Zane and Pixal who were both nervous about talk of Jay using his powers around them.
“Come on Mr. Macho why don’t you prove how brave you are,” Cole teased. Kai didn’t want to be taken as a coward. He braved up taking a deep breath before slowly walking into the hall. He created a fire in his hand but to his dislike due to the odd dampening effect given by this realm it wasn’t as bright as he wanted. He slowly approached the darkness. He got a couple feet in then froze as the flame in his hand went out.
“Did you do that on purpose?” Jay asked. There was a pause and Kai stated trying to hide some of his fear, “no… this fog did it.”
“Are you okay?” Nya asked after Kai didn’t move for about a minute. Kai responded, “I don’t know… there is something wrong to this darkness…” Kai seemed to be frozen by fear.
“Maybe we should just go together,” Cole suggested. They decided to give it a go. They cautiously entered the corridor. When they got close to him Nya tapped Kai on the shoulder to get his attention causing him to jump and whip around startled.
“Oh it’s just you… it feels like something’s watching maybe even stalking me in this stuff. It feels so creepy and cold…” Kai explained. They had to agree something about this darkness felt worse than a normal darkness. It wasn’t just the cold that felt off but something in the dark made their hair stand on end and their body feel numbed. As they continued through this darkness the numbness got worse and they got that strange disconnected from their bodies feeling they had when passing through that portal the day before. When they got out of the dark corridor into the light of the next room the strange feelings left them and everything felt normal.
“That was odd,” Jay commented and Cole expressed, “I hope we don’t have to go through something like that again. Those were not comfortable feelings.” The others agreed. Once in the room they noted the room was dimmer lit than it had looked from the other end of the hall. They thought that strange but chalked it up to an illusion caused by the darkness of the tunnel. This small room they had come into passed into a larger room. To their dislike this room looked like a dead end.
“Great what do we do now?” Kai asked and Cole commented, “well I’m not really wanting to go back through that corridor.” Jay offered, “maybe there is a secret passage somewhere. Like Zane explained before they probably wanted to make it hard for people to get in here so there is probably some hidden thing in here to unlock the rest of this place.”
“You play too many video games,” Kai commented as they inspected the room. The place was pretty bare with some urns in it, there was an odd circular pattern on the floor which Jay became focussed on, a ledge which creating a table coming out of the one side wall which had a sort of alter built on it and a large tablet with strange writing written on the back wall. The altar consisted of a table cloth that looked strangely fresh for a ruin colored cream with red decorations, there was some candles burning the strange plasma light, a strange gem, a set of flat black iron antlers with decorative carvings on them and a small decorative metal made what looked to be a hawk all positioned by a statuette of a 4 limbed dragon its front limbs made into wings. The dragon statuette was reared up nearly vertical in position with wings out in display and roaring at something in front of itself. The tablet on the wall looked to be embedded into the wall and was made of a darker grey stone than the more lighter tan grey stone the rest of the ruin had been made of. At the top center of the wall was the flattened overhead view depiction of a dragons head. Below this was writing in the language of the Lost Clan. While Jay focussed on the circle in the floor Cole, Kai and Nya inspected the altar while Zane and Pixal inspected the tablet and rest of the room.
“What do you think these were for?” Kai wondered picking up the metal antlers looking them over. Cole commented, “probably something symbolic.” The altar didn’t look to offer any aid. Zane and Pixal started their search by using their UV vision. Sure enough that offered aid in noting on a strange half pillar on the one wall they had just brushed off as a structural anomaly to the room a pattern carved into a section which became much more visible in the UV spectrum likely as a result of UV pigments painted into the carvings.
“That must be a clue,” Pixal noted as the droids shut off their UV view and began to head over to the pillar. Noting them head over Jay followed the two to inspect the pillar as well. Zane didn’t get far though feeling drawn back to the tablet to give it a better look while the other two continued. Neither he nor Pixal could understand this writing but as he looked over it this time he could almost swear to hear a voice talk to him. The voice was fairly deep and calm. It said to him, ‘entombed within the tunnels here lay the passages of reminder for the tribe forgotten. Banished to a place time nor mortality dwells tasked by the prince of all that is known and unknown to rise when the end of times approaches.’
The voice and words startled him and raised his fear levels. Zane quickly looked around startled. No one else was in the room with them and no one else looked to have heard anything. What had he just heard? Was that just some malfunction of his senses or nervous system? He was still having problems from eating some of the stuff in that valley but somehow he got the feeling that hadn’t caused this. While Zane tried to figure out what had just happened the rest investigated the pillar. The odd section could be slid round into the wall revealing an alcove with some kind of holder.
“Looks kind of like some kind of battery holder,” Jay commented while Nya wondered, “what do you think goes in there?”
“Well these don’t look to have the appropriate shape,” Kai commented holding up the metal antlers which he was still carrying. They looked at what they had in the room Cole commenting, “there is not much else here.” He went over to the altar and picked up the gem to remark, “this looks to be the only thing here that could fit in there but it’s just a gem. There doesn’t look to be anything special to it.”
“Looks can be deceiving,” Jay commented before Pixal commented, “we can always give it a try.” Cole brought the gem over and worked the gem into the holder. Once in place they heard a click and a faint glow of energy came into the gem. They were then drawn to the circle pattern on the floor which rotated upwards revealing a rotating staircase in the thick pillar that rose from the floor.
“There we go my ideas were right,” Jay expressed with a chuckle to which Kai expressed, “you got lucky this time.” Nya gave her brother a punch to the shoulder then whispered to him, “just let him have this one.” They headed down the stairs. The stairs went down into a corridor. The corridor had one end continue on into another ruin of the room while the other was blocked by a blackish metal door that bore some kind of decorative design to it. Like elsewhere in this ruin braziers and chandeliers with the strange plasmic fire light lit up the corridor which was both wide and a bit arched in shape. Along the sides of the wall between the few supporting pillars were running parallel on each side decorative carved murals looking to depict something. They had come down at the opposite end to the door in the center of the corridor. Once in the corridor they wondered where they should go. Which direction were they supposed to go? The door or the ruin side? While the others thought over where to go Zane and Pixal investigated the murals trying to decipher what they were trying to tell.
“Why are you still carrying those?” Jay asked Kai who had brought the metal antlers with him. Kai replied, “I don’t know. For some reason I feel like bringing them with us.” Nya asked, “why do you feel that?”
“Again I don’t know; I just can’t seem to put them down. Anytime I try I get this worried feeling that I need these. It’s not like these things are cool looking. I could make something way cooler looking,” Kai stated and Jay expressed, “you shouldn’t have picked them up in the first place. They could be cursed! Maybe that’s why you can’t put them down.” While Jay, Kai and Nya talked about the metal antlers and the possibility of them being cursed Cole went to see how Zane and Pixal were faring. The two were studying the murals. Cole could see by the patches of ice on Zanes skin and ice growing on the tablets if he got too close to them or touched them they were likely still having problems because of him. His loss of control was clearly bothering Zane unsettling and annoying him.
“How you two doing?” he asked the two droids who looked at him as Pixal finished removing some of the ice Zane had caused to build up on the one tablet. After a moment’s pause Pixal stated, “okay.”
“I know I’ve said it before but I am really sorry about any problems I’ve given you. I know I’ve been told before to control my hanger but I’m not really good at it. I’m not joking when we get back to the Bounty I’ll make it up to you two I swear,” he expressed to them. The two droids were silent taking a moment to look at each other before looking back to Cole for Pixal to explain, “you do not need to apologise to us.” Zane added, “we get you don’t have good control when foods involved besides we’d rather be unwell than have something bad happen to you.”
“Yha but I shouldn’t put you into that situation,” he expressed. The two droids were silent. He was guessing they were having problems determining what to say next so he changed the subject to ask as the others approached to see what they were doing, “so what do these pictures mean?”
“From what we can deduce it looks to show some history to the hyena folk of the Lost Clan,” Pixal explained. Kai noted looking at one of the later panels still holding the antlers, “is that what I think it looks like?”
“An Oni; that’s what you’re seeing right? I’m not alone with that view am I?” Jay asked and Zane responded, “no you are not the only ones. It is hard to tell but it is possible that figure is meant to represent an Oni.”
“So what are the Gnollsvics story?” Nya wondered.
“That is hard to tell. We have no context to put the images to and there are no words just pictures. From what we can determine is the images seem to be depicting a possible tale or historical event. It begins with the Gnollsvic in a fight against another army then being joyous of their win,” Zane began to explain. Cole commented, “well they do seem like the types to take joy from fighting.” Zane continued, “after it is a little confusing but we believe this panel is referencing either a meteor passed by possibly referencing a sign of ill omen or maybe one struck their lands but there is imagery referencing that a volcanic eruption took place which could be the result of a meteor impact lending us to believe it’s referencing a meteor impact. If a meteor was to land in a volcanically sensitive area it would result in sudden or increased volcanic activity due to the force of the impact which depending on its severity could have been very devastating for the people. The next panel shows it likely was a devastating eruption as serious hardships with crop failures, extreme cold, poor hunting and fishing and deadly fogs came. Those defiantly would be results of the impact and eruptions which would have thrown chemicals, dust and ash into the atmosphere leaving terrible effects on the climate and environment. That is not an uncommon effect after serious eruptions or massive meteor impacts; one just has to look at past events like the year without a summer to see that.”
“There was a year without a summer?” Jay asked and Kai expressed, “history was never your strong suite but yha there was a year without a summer. A massive volcanic eruption around 200 years ago led to the following year being so cold and wet that many places barely made it ten degrees above freezing. Things were wetter in some areas with snow being seen not far from the equator while other areas became dryer than usual. Worldwide crops failed and what did grow was very poor quality and often mouldy, livestock starved or fell to disease or weather and famine and disease became common. It took several years for things to warm up and go back to normal. It would not have been a nice time to live in; strangely there was a lot of paintings with yellowish or red skies from that time,” Kai explained and Zane added, “that would be a result from the gasses and debris released into the atmosphere from the eruptions one of the most prominent of which would have been sulphuric compounds which give off a yellowish or reddish hue depending on the height of the sun.” Jay wondered, “how does a volcano cause such devastation?”
“The debris they throw into the atmosphere would create a fog or haze in the atmosphere which would block solar radiation which plants need as fuel to grow, live and reproduce and would block the suns heat from entering the atmosphere cooling the world. Not to mention the sulphur in the air would cause acid rain which would further devastate plants and poison waters. Combine the cold with lack of food and clean water and humans and animals weaken quickly fall prey to famine, poisoning and disease. Such devastating volcanic winters have happened multiple times through history including much worse events like the 60 Years Winter which occurred around 1,500 years ago which left several decades of disruption and hardship from what is believed to be only three poorly timed massive eruptions in a span of the first ten to 15 years of the period. A historian from that time he wrote in the first few years of the event that ‘during this year a most dread portent took place. For the sun gave forth its light without brightness and it seemed exceedingly like the sun in eclipse, for the beams it shed were not clear the rays weak and bluish. Even at noon no shadows could be found not by man, beast or other. The winter was without storms, spring without mildness, and summer without heat’,” Zane explained and Jay commented, “that sounds creepy to have experienced.” A little lost in thought Cole wondered, “yha defiantly that would have been a terrible time to be alive. You know sulphur stinks… like rotting eggs; I wonder if there was an under laying stench in the air from that haze.”
“Of course you’d be wondering about smelly gases,” Jay joked causing Cole to remark, “what s that supposed to mean?”
“Sorry if there is a smell you find unpleasant. Some of what Cole fed us is badly upsetting I and Pixals systems…” Zane began to comment he and Pixal looking embarrassed before Nya commented to comfort the two, “it’s okay you two we understand besides we smell nothing bad; just the dusty smell of these ruins. I’m betting they haven’t cleaned in here in years.” Kai added, “that would explain why my sinuses feel swollen. With their powers you’d think it would take them nothing to give this place a cleaning at least once every few months. I swear I saw cobwebs on top of cobwebs in some places.”
“If we continue on with the panels it appears the ill conditions of this volcanic winter lead to what looks to be an outbreak of some kind of devastating plague likely as the harsh conditions of the volcanic winter had weakened them. We cannot determine what plague hit them but it must have been terrible as in the next panel it looks like many perished while those that still lived prayed for aid from the dark deer headed figure we have seen depicted in some of their arts and designs. Next it looks like some other race of humanoids came bringing them aid to weather the sickness and hardships. It looks like they were getting better however the next panel indicates these other humans betrayed them,” Pixal continued bringing their focus back to the panels pointing out the various panels they were referencing as they went down the corridor. Zane continued, “by the looks these other humans slew all of the Gnollsvic trapping them in the cursed realm. There they look to have suffered in anguish for how long though it does not say. While there though something came to them; the figure for some reason in all his depictions is badly worn which is odd as everything else looks fairly pristine despite the apparent ancient age of these ruins. The damage done to it however is not due to aging but looks as if it was scratched away like something was trying to hide its identity. From what remains the figure is human like with what may be horns on its head.”
“That kind of sounds like an Oni,” Cole noted and Jay noted as they looked at the later panels, “it kind of looks like an Oni.” Zane stated, “it could be. That aside they look to make a deal with this being. The next panel is a bit confusing but we think it is supposed to symbolise that they were in a sense reborn through some kind of fire or magic into something else.”
“So they made a bargain with an Oni, what happened next?” Nya inquired and Pixal finished, “their deal if we are reading the limited information these images appear to depict caused them to became whatever they are now and they now serve this Oni.”
“Well that doesn’t sound good,” Jay expressed before Kai commented, “okay I think we’ve hung around here long enough. I think the dusts starting to bother me plus we should probably continue on so we can get back to the Bounty before Cole gets hungry again.” Cole was not happy with that comment.
“Well we have two options. More rooms or whatever is behind this door,” Jay commented. Nya noted, “speaking of door how does it open?” The door was large and arch shaped with no apparent split down the middle meaning it was one solid unit. It also lacked any handles and even hinges making it hard for them to tell which direction it moved. Most of the designs carved into the door were largely random curving and coiling designs however in the center was a very distinct design; a silhouetted figure of a humanoid with the head of an elk. Only the head and arms which were held crossed down in front of it could be distinguished as most of the rest of the body was just an etch-less patch of the metal. It resembled symbols they had seen carved or painted onto marking stones, wood and metal that the Lost Clan used to mark their presence. Two other distinguishing features were in this design. One was the additions of what looked to be jewels embedded into the design. A set of green ones for the eyes, a trio set with two facing horizontally and one vertically on the forehead and a large red one embedded in the chest of the figure. The other distinguishing feature was where the antlers sat were shallow indents in the shape of antlers. As they looked the door over trying to figure how it worked Kai couldn’t help but notice the indent for the antlers looked a great deal like the metal antlers he’d picked up. He held them up to compare the indents with the antlers. They looked like a match. Had that been why he had picked these up he wondered. Had something somehow drawn him to pick these up and take them with him because they needed them. Surely that couldn’t be it. The thoughts of this and the idea of something in this place influencing or controlling him had him very uneasy. Despite those feelings wanting to know if his ideas were right or not he placed the antlers in the indents in the door the feeling of needing them vanishing as he did this. That just further creeped him out. Could Jay have been right and those antlers were cursed or possessed in some way? Once placed in the antlers going in with ease and a satisfying click the door jolted a bit before sliding back a couple of centimetres to then slide down into the ground.
“Okay looks like you had good reason to be carrying around those antlers after all,” Jay commented Kai noting, “that still doesn’t take away the creepy factor something drew me to carry them here… I think after this I want to spend quite some time away from ruins and ancient artefacts.”
“I’m pretty sure after this Cole’s going to spend most of his time in the kitchen for a couple days,” Jay joked as they went through the doorway curious to see what was on the other side. Cole commented, “no I’m going to have control unlike you. You’re probably going to spend time playing video games.” On the other side of the doorway was a stone floored caged walkway that went through a dark canyon in the mountain. About two to three stories below the walkway was a river that filled most of the crevices bottom. Due to how dark the canyon was as it was still encased in the mountain they could not see where the canyon and river started or ended. Some of the flora from that cavern they had been in before let them know that this canyon likely had a connection to that cavern. The only light in the canyon came from some of the ever-flaming braziers fastened to the side of the walkway. The walkway gapped a span of about ten meters across. On the opposite side the walkway looked to enter a fairly large room however they were not too keen on entering the room. There was an eerie green light in the room and they got very unsettling feelings; the same feelings they got around the Lost Clan and their magic’s.
“We’re not going in there are we?” Jay worried and Pixal noted, “I believe that is what we came looking for.” Jay expressed, “I was afraid of that.” They cautiously approached the room. When they entered the room they stopped. They entered onto a platform about halfway up in what looked to be a three to four story tall massive room. The platform they came in on went down to a large open room that was fairly bare. At the far end up some platforms that went up to about two stories up on the opposite end of the room where they were topped by a large platform the width of the room with what looked to be a possible altar at the center and decorative tablets on its three surrounding walls. Between the platforms was a large level room with some supporting columns each decorated by a dragon statue that coiled around the top of it down a third of the column looking down to the center of the room where a strange structure that they could only guess as some sort of gateway sat. Four widely spaced pillars each pillar backed against a support column for the room reached up curving up into each other ending in a circular capstone with a whole at its center about 3 stories up. Within these posts at half the size of the circumference of the structure was a circular pit structure in the floor from which the green light was emitting and a short beam of energy erupted out of. Along with the light and energy a black fog was seeping out of the portal having coated the ground in a layer at least 30 centimetres deep. It was hard to see much through the fog. Other than the large circular structure the portal was coming out of they could see more urns of various sizes positioned near the outer walls which were bottomed by troughs along the whole lengths that were filled with ash. On the walls sconces as large as braziers were anchored but had nothing in them and decorative simple designed tapestries hung.
“Somehow I get the feeling we shouldn’t enter that fog,” Cole noted as they hung up on the platform overlooking everything. Zane and Pixal could both agree with this getting clear, strange and unsettling readings from the fog which they could also identify as stemming from the portal.
“Okay we found the source now what do we do?” Kai wondered and Pixal deduced, “well given it is radiating a dangerous energy it would be wise that we close it to prevent the energies from continuing to seep out and cause harm.” Nya expressed, “okay then how do we do that?” The two droids looked around scanning the place for whatever was powering this portal if there was even anything powering it. Considering how bare the room was and looking at the most prominent aspects of the room the two droids had a feeling the dragon statues on the columns had a key role to play in the functioning of the portal but how. The eyes of the statues were glowing in the same color as the portal. That was a good proof of a link. They studied the statues looking for something on them that could hint to how they connected to the portal. They were having trouble identifying anything that could be linked till they noticed in the slightly open mouths of the dragons were large gem looking objects with a similar glow to the light coming from the portal and the statues eyes. Curious Zane tried to hit one of the gems out of one of the statues mouths with a blast of ice. Due to his malfunctioning powers however he ended up just encasing the statues head in ice. His failure upset him.
“Why’d you do that?” Jay asked confused unsure why Zane attacked the statue. Pixal explained, “we believe the gems being held in the statues mouths is the key to closing the portal. We just need to dislodge the stones from their holders and that should close the portal.”
“My powers kind of… didn’t work properly,” Zane commented embarrassed. Jay expressed, “that’s okay buddy I can help you.” Jay hit the ice Zane had made and the temperature difference between cold ice and hot electricity caused a minor explosion blasting the ice into pieces and the shock from the explosion dislodged the gem from the holder holding it in place in the dragons mouth. Once dislodged the glow to the stone and statue disappeared. Seeing that work Kai didn’t hesitate to blast fire at one of the statues knocking the gem out of its holder darkening the statue. As the statues were made of stone Cole used his powers to break the holders of the gems in the remaining two dragons mouths knocking the gems out. With the gems all knocked out of place the portal shut down a section of floor slid out from the surrounding floor to cover the pit and raise up in it to level out the floor the energy that had come from the energies disappearing as the portal shut down. The place went fairly dark for a moment. Cole began to ask Kai to see if he could light one of the troughs they had noticed in the room to give them light but they were all startled when without aid all the braziers, the troughs and other lighting structures in the room lit up with the strange plasmic flame substance they had been seeing all throughout this ruin.
“Okay that was creepy,” Jay noted. They all agreed. They waited about a minute to see what would happen with the fog. The fog slowly dissipated. Seeing the fog disappearing they cautiously went down to the floor of the room to get a closer look at the portal structure. As the fog dissipated they could see some debris scattered on the floor. Mainly some rubble, scraps of cloth, quite a bit of bones likely from adventurers and pirates who had come looking for treasure in this place and met their ends trapped here, the rusted weapons and attire of these fallen adventurers and pirates, a few large darkened bones to what they came from they weren’t very sure, some broken pottery and a large very creepy looking mask that was leaned up against one of the columns. As they got close to the portal structure they began to inspect it. Even with the portal closed they could feel a great unease and discomfort by being near the structure. Overall the structure was not very remarkable just plain stone construction. They did note however there was a strange oily substance on the floor of the structure and to the bases of structures posts which gave them an iridescent sheen where the oil touched. While they investigated the structure Zane and Pixal kept getting uneasy feelings and a few times thought they heard movement in the room, largely various shuffling and ruffling noises, but anytime they looked for the source they couldn’t see anything.
“Heads up you two there is a strange oily substance here. I know droids like the taste of oil but please control yourself and don’t try to eat this stuff,” Cole joked. None of the others picked up he was joking instead Pixal noted, “why would we willingly consume something without knowing what it is especially something found in a highly dangerous location on a potentially highly dangerous device.” Jay joked, “yha they’re not like you Cole, they have more control than you.” The others liked Jays joking annoying Cole.
“What do you think this oily substance is?” Nya wondered and after a quick inspection Pixal hypothesized, “possibly some kind of residue from the energy of the portal.” Zane added, “we should try not to touch it too much as we do not know much about it. If possible we might want to take a sample to analyze the matter.” Hearing some noises both Zane and Pixal took a moment to look around the room using extra visual receptors to better analyze their surroundings. While in normal vision things were fairly calm when assessing temperature through infrared they noticed the temperature in the room was uneven with notable cold spots in parts of the room mainly around the edges of the room. Even odder in the UV spectrum these cold spots showed up as dark iridescent shadows over the area and they could see by a faint dark purple shadow mist rising from the floor that energies from the portal were still present even if they were invisible to the human visual spectrum. They went back to viewing things in the human visual spectrum like they normally did getting an uneasy feeling from the odd anomalies they alone were aware of in the room. They didn’t say anything to the others not wanting to make them uneasy; especially Jay. He was the last one they wanted to make uneasy.
“That might be very difficult. We don’t really have anything to take a sample with,” Nya noted and Zane agreed, “true and by the time we get back to the Bounty it might be dried up and inefficient for the task.” Curious Kai hit some of the oil with fire. Sure enough just like any other type of oil it lit on fire however this fire oddly burned with a greenish flame. The fire quickly spread to consume all the oil coating the structure the sudden erupting of fire startling the others who were unaware of Kais actions and jumped back to not get burned.
“Oops my bad… I just wanted to test its flammability,” Kai apologized drawing everyone to look at him.
“Next time warn somebody when you do that!” Jay expressed. Nya stated annoyed as the fire started to die down, “you know all oils are highly flammable so why need to test this one out?” Kai expressed embarrassed, “just curious.”
“Well one notable thing from burning it is the oil causes fire to develop an uncommon color and there is a highly notable metallic smell to the combustion of the substance. Those indicate that this oil has a notably different chemical composition than more common and typical oils,” Zane noted watching as the fire died down. Pixal then noted, “it would also appear that the oil is fully consumed by the fire leaving no residues or evidence of having been present. While not unheard of with oils it is strange that no smoke damage or soot was left behind from the burning.”
“Well with that evidence burned up we might as well see what else we can find,” Cole commented annoyed at Kais reckless behaviour. They continued their investigation inspecting one of the columns. While the others investigated the portal structure Jay couldn’t help but check out the creepy mask Kai coming to join him to avoid doing anything that would get him in trouble with the others. The mask looked like an Oni mask with a muzzle shape resembling that of a big cat with four sets of tusks in the muzzle the canine sets being the largest, large empty sockets for the eyes and sockets likely for a set of horns which weren’t present were on the top of the mask. It was overall reddish in color with tints of purple washed onto parts. It was nearly impossible to identify what it was made of though it clearly wasn’t stone and it looked untouched by age. The mask was way too big to fit on a person’s face making them wonder if it was meant to be part of a large statue however they couldn’t see a statue it could have come from. To make it creepier the mask was propped up against one of the columns so that it looked into the main walkway of the room where they were standing.
“Dudes look how creepy that thing is!” Jay expressed. All but Kai didn’t seem to acknowledge him. Kai was hanging back not wanting to cause a mess up again. Feeling unnerved by the mask Kai asked coming to stand with Jay, “how much would it take for you to go touch that?”
“What? I ain’t touching that, if something here was cursed that would be it,” Jay commented and Kai offered, “how about 50 bucks?”
“No I don’t want to touch it… why don’t you touch it?” Jay stated and Kai quickly proclaimed, “no I don’t want to touch it.”
“Come on you could get some cool picks for social media,” Jay encouraged. Kai took a moment to think before stating, “that’s true… I don’t want to get close to that thing on my own though.”
“Fine I’ll follow you but I’m not touching that thing,” Jay commented. Kai expressed, “I’m not touching that thing on my own.”
“Fine we’ll touch it together,” Jay stated. Kai took a picture of the mask with his phone then they approached the mask. They took a moment to gather their courage timing themselves so they would touch it at the same time before they reached out and touched the mask. Just having his hand on it Kai felt even more uneasy from the mask. He quickly snapped a selfie before taking his hand off. Jay expressed with some laughs, “ha, ha you touched it and I didn’t.” Kai had been too focussed with getting the picture to notice Jay pull his hand back before he actually touched it. Kai was annoyed that he’d been tricked.
“Hey I touched it so you have to touch it too. We made an agreement,” Kai declared putting his phone away and Jay expressed, “yha but I had my fingers crossed behind my back.” Angry Kai declared, “you’re not getting out of this so easily.” He began to try and push Jay into the mask while Jay held his ground.
“No I don’t want to! It gives me the creeps!” Jay expressed making Kai declare, “you made me touch it so now you need to touch it.” Kai eventually managed to trip Jay up so he stumbled into the mask. Jay quickly backed off yelling, “I touched it! I touched it!”
“What are you two doing?” Nya asked as Jays panicking caught the others attention. Kai expressed, “nothing.” The others decided to not get involved so went back to inspecting the portals framework.
“That was a dirty trick,” Jay growled at him mad and Kai countered, “we promised to touch it together. You tricked me into touching it alone so I made you touch it alone. Now we’re even.” They were then going to leave to get away from the mask but something in the eye sockets caught their attention. For a second they thought they saw a purple reflectiveness in them sending shivers down their spines.
“Did you see that?” Kai wondered and Jay stated, “so I wasn’t just seeing things? Good.” The two slowly approached the mask to figure out what they saw. Before they got too close the two were sent rushing to the others in fear as a black mist collected under the mask lifting it up off the ground. The two rushed to the others who stopped their investigation to look back and see what the two were running from.
“What did you two do?” Nya asked them and Kai quickly expressed, “it wasn’t us, that mask is cursed.” The mist continued to build and the large blackened bones and pieces of fabric that were scattered on the floor of the room were pulled into the collecting mass which was steadily taking on a shape, a very large shape. As the form took shape the mask positioned itself as the face on a very large figure which wore a hood over its head four large ram like horns erupting from the top of the head while the body was dressed in a robe where the legs should be being just a black mist. The most striking feature of this thing were the six gaunt arms ending in hands with three bony fingers and a thumb. The arms were covered in a purple tinted black skin that looked sickly and corpse like. The figure was mainly black in color and apart from the mask, horns, robes and arms looked to be made of pure shadow. The eye sockets of the mask were empty black pits that had a bright fiery red ball of energy erupt into them as it completed its formation. As the monster finished its formation it let off an explosion that sent a mild shockwave out from itself. The shockwave wasn’t powerful enough to knock them over but did unsteady them for a moment.
“IT HAS SIX ARMS!” Jay screamed once the monster had formed and Kai yelled, “WHAT IS THAT?” Cole began to panic expressing, “is it a ghost? It looks like a ghost!” Zane and Pixal took a moment to analyze the monster but before they could try and search their data for an answer the monster started an attack the fire in the room turning a purple color and shadowy mists creeping in from the seams between the floor and the side walls. The monster created four swords out of shadow leaving one set of its six arms free. It rushed forward to swing at them and they dodged the swing before quickly prepping for their defence. None of them wanted to get close to this thing. Kai hit it with a blast of flame but the fire disappeared in its shadow of a body leaving it unfazed as it swung at him forcing him to dodge. Jay took a blast at it and again it was unaffected simply turning to attack Jay who used his nunchucks to bat the swords away from hitting him. Zane threw one of his shurikans at the entity but it passed straight through it just taking some smoke with it and creating a temporary hole in the monster. They worked together to attack it at once but not only did it have six arms but as it lacked a true physical form it could twirl these arms in a full circle around itself without the rest of the form spinning with it creating a sort of tornado of itself. It interrupted their attack with little effect flinging them all back causing them to land scattered in the room. They decided to try their Spinjitsu tornadoes next wasting no time to get into it so the monster had no time to get the upper hand on them. Again this tactic proved futile as it spun its arms round tossing them away again giving off a deep un-human and eerie laugh from its actions. Some of them could swear they could hear some cawing like a crows echoing through the place but they couldn’t see what was making it nor had time to look.
“What is this thing?” Cole wondered and Pixal explained, “I’ve been going through our data as best I can while in combat and from what I can tell I believe this thing is an entity called a Harrowing Reaper. A monstrous spirit of mythology said to have been created and used by Oni as guards to their encampments and temples.” As she explained they all had to dodge as the entity stormed around the room its arms spinning in their tornado mode trying to hit one of them. Some of them attempted to get onto one of the platforms in an attempt to escape the monster but before they could get there the enchanted flames erupted over the platforms and up the stairs trapping them on the main floor with this thing. It made a sweep around every area of the room forcing them multiple times to dodge the monster as it made its round. This task was made worse as due to his fear of this monster Zanes problems with his powers got worse and without meaning to he was leaving patches of ice on the floor when landing during his dodge attempts and from some of his footsteps creating slip hazards. Each of them slipped at least once on these patches and Kai had to keep melting them to prevent anyone from slipping. Any time they got the chance they’d throw their powers at this monster and any chunks of rubble from the floor, pieces of bone, pottery and rusted weapons or armour that they came across hoping to leave some kind of harm to this thing but everything just went through it seeming to have no effect on it. Once it had done its rounds it came to rest in the center of the portal structure. Once there it wasted no time in pulling its arms in looking to build up an energy in its chest. For a reason they couldn’t understand they had a feeling they needed to put something solid between themselves and this being. Again some of them noted something cawing.
“Does this thing have any weakness?” Kai wondered as they all ran to hide behind one of the columns and Pixal explained, “I don’t know and it would be too distracting and take too much time to search for the answers rate now.” They were all forced to take refuge behind the pillars in the room as the reaper let go of the energy it had built up throwing its arms out and sending an energy that resembled flames in an eerie blue green color. As these flames reached out the fires in the room changed to this eerie color. Once the flames it shot out ended together at the same time they hit the thing with their powers. The thing pulled its arms in crossing the swords it held in four of its hands in front of itself as their powers hit it. It looked to absorb their powers which it then shot back out with a thrust of its arms outward at them knocking them all back off their feet while hitting them with someone else’s powers. Zane was hit by Jays lightening stunning him Pixal who was the only one spared from an elemental attack as she didn’t have elemental powers coming to his aid. Cole was splashed by Nyas water soaking him, Kai got chilled by Zanes ice, Jay got dusted by Coles earth powers the dust making him cough and sneeze as he breathed some in and having to rub soil from his eyes from the blast while Nya got hit by Kais fire forcing her to have to put herself out the fire dampening her control of her powers. The creature gave off its eerie laugh at them as it then used its weapon free arms to do some kind of motion that looked like it was casting a spell.
“What did it do?” Jay wondered wiping the dirt and dust off himself as they all got back up. Movement in the corner of his eye drew his attention to the black mists that had been seeping from the floor by the room edges. They’d gotten thicker and spread further inwards and something in it was moving and rising. Slowly humanoid forms emerged from the mist looking to resembled people wearing highly worn and ragged robes. They were almost entirely black as if made of pure shadow as the reaper with the exception of their faces which bore an aquamarine glow and no visible features within.
“If I am not mistaken they look like an entity that goes by many names; Yūrei, Dybbuk, Mogwai are some names though shades or wraiths are more common universal titles.” Pixel expressed getting scared of these beings as they slowly formed and walked out towards them. While they were all getting scared of these beings Cole was the most scared expressing, “they’re ghosts aren’t they!”
“In a way but these are worse. They are the souls of those lost to evil. They’re mindless, savage entities intent only on causing harm and dragging you to destruction in the darkness with them,” Pixal explained. Cole mumbled as they collected together back to back towards the center of the room as these shades stalked towards them, “so worse than ghost?” Nya commented after hitting some with water to find it had no effect on them, “defiantly worse than ghosts; water has no effect on them.”
“Probably because they are not the same kind of beings; ghosts are the plasmic vestiges of the soul in the realms these things from what I can quickly recover are what’s left when the soul is consumed and twisted by dark forces,” Pixal explained as they tried to fight the shades who were unaffected by their weapons and most of their powers. Only Jay and Kais powers looked to have any effect on them. Not only did it hurt them but they didn’t seem to like the light produced by either backing away from it. The reaper came at them again with its spinning arms attack to knock them out of their defensive group and separate them making them easier targets for the shades. These shades luckily didn’t have weapons but they probably would have preferred if they did as their main attack was to swipe at their opponents and as they lacked a physical form seeming to be made of pure shadow or dark smoke their arms could reach rate inside their bodies where they felt a great cold and feelings of dread, sorrow and terror from the contact. Along with these they also got feelings of chest pains, nausea and general pain from the contact with these creatures. It took a great deal of fighting to keep from trying to flee from the emotions the attacks alone left but the pain, cold and sick feelings hindered their ability to act. Hoping to keep their attacks at bay Kai made a circle of fire for them to stand in and they all quickly got into it, all except for two that was.
“Where’s Pixal and Zane?” Cole asked. While Kai and Jay kept the shades at bay Cole and Nya looked for their droid siblings. The two were sat backed against a column nearby. Clearly something was wrong with them as there was no color to their eyes, their eyes were dark as if shut off however they weren’t unconscious as they were looking around and reacting to things. The way they were reacting and looking around though looked like they were having vision problems. Pixal had her swords up crossed in front of her and up as if trying to block an attack while Zane had created a partial wall of ice around the two to try to block the shades. The two were jumping and looking around at every sound as if relying on their other senses to identify where any threat was. Shades were creeping in towards them messing with the twos remaining active senses to distract them from the real locations the shades were approaching from.
“I think something’s wrong with their visual sensors,” Nya noted and Cole expressed, “we need to help them.” Before they could help the two they had to deal with the reaper as it attacked them sandwiching them between it and some shades. While focussed on the reaper having to swat away the swipes from its swords and hands they were able to give Zane and Pixal some aid. Nya flooded the area around them where the shades stood and Jay struck it with lightening creating a shock pool. It didn’t destroy the shades but after getting the shock they backed off quite a bit hesitant to step in the water that separated them from the two droids. With the shades backed off a bit Cole hurried over to the two droids.
“Are you two okay?” he asked them as he reached the two. Seeming to realize now that Cole had crossed the water without getting harmed the water was safe so the shades began to approach the two droids again.
“Cole is that you?” Zane asked clearly very scared of his predicament, the two looked terrified, and Cole expressed, “yha. Are you two okay?”
“We can’t see!” Zane expressed starting to panic clearly scared with the loss of one of his senses and Pixal who was equally scared explained, “our visual sensory systems have been shut down.” Getting a feeling of guilt Cole asked, “My actions have caused this haven’t they?”
“No… the shades; they did something; one of their swipes through us… it shut down our vision,” Pixal explained.
“We’re trying to reboot our vision but the shades…” Zane began and Cole expressed, “don’t bother with the shades. We’ll keep you safe just focus on getting your vision back.” The others had rushed over to join them getting overwhelmed by the reaper and shades. Kai created a border of fire around them. It kept back the shades but not the reaper. While they held back the reapers attacks Zane and Pixal focussed on getting their vision rebooted from the shades doing. Luckily for them all the shades had done was shut down their visual sensors so it didn’t take much for them to get their vision back online. Once they had their vision back up they took a moment to assess their surroundings so they knew what to do when they got up. Things weren’t looking good for them. They were surrounded by shades and the reaper and were backed against a column. Before Zane and Pixal could get up to get back in the fight they got distracted by a sound. It was the cawing of a raven. It sounded to get closer before morphing into some more roar like noise. The next thing any of them knew there was a flash of light that ploughed into the reaper like a comet it and whatever was making the light flying through the portals arches to crash in a mass of black smoke on the ground on the other side. They all, even the shades, stood for a moment stunned trying to figure out what had just happened. After a few seconds it was hard to make out anything in the black mass but then they saw movement. Wings, a tail, green eyes; a dragon unlike any they had seen before took to the wing out of the fog coming to land on the top of the portal structure sitting up with wings out in display.
“What kind of dragon is that?” Jay wondered and Cole wondered, “where did it come from?” While by no means the largest dragon they had ever seen this dragon was still fairly large about twice the size of an elephant. It had six limbs four for walking like a typical animal and two as wings on its back. The hind legs were longer than the front but not by much and both were fairly lean like a birds legs, they were scaled like them too and ended with three digits on both. The forelimbs had a fan of feathers on the outer side running from below the shoulder to just past midway of the forearm while a feathering of feathers was on the outer side of the ankle. The wings were large and while made of skin had a shape that looked like a ravens wings. There were no claws on the wings. The tail was long and sleek with no extra features while the long neck bore a ruff of feathers on its underside, large scale plates along the back and three sets of frills. Two edged the plate scales separating them from the feathery ruff while the third ran down the spine from the base of the head down to just past the hips. The large head that topped the neck had a beak with a large tooth like projection on its side on both top and bottom jaw. Along with the beak there were teeth in the mouth and it had large green eyes. Three notable spikes ran along the ridge above the eyes where it moved to a spiky looking cheek and jaw edge. Two fleshy whisker like projections stuck out from the underside of its jaw while feathers topped its head along with back swept three pronged slightly antler looking horns. Overall it was a dark grey to black colour with flares of a whitish cream color. The whitish color faded up the tail from the tip and from the rear edges back on the plate scales along the back and belly. The whitish color faded in from the exteriors on the frills, the horns, spines and whiskers of the head and the feathers on the limbs faded from blackish where they attached to the body down to whitish on their tips.
The dragon gave off a roar at those looking at it hints of a ravens voice to its call. It then built up an energy starting in its chest and rising to its head a golden glow coming from under the plate scales of its chest and neck before filling its eyes and mouth. It then released from its mouth a bright gold tinted white blast of energy. The shades attempted to flee scattering in all directions but a good deal of them got hit by the blast instantly bursting them into a black smoke. The dragon took flight to chase the remaining shades the flames of the room changing color again to a slightly more golden hue of normal fire. The ninja fled as well unsure whose side this dragon was on if it even had a side. They hid behind one of the columns and looked out to see the dragon trap the shades in the one corner. It landed in front of them standing tall and wings out in display as it built up its light attack before releasing it on the shades obliterating them. A noise caught their attentions. Turning to look the dragon crouching down and pulling its head round to look they could see the reaper reforming. It looked at the dragon growling in anger. The dragon turned round keeping low as it stalked towards the reaper who drew closer to it. The dragon pounced at the reaper but before it could land its attack the reaper hit it with a blast of dark energy that flung it back to land on the entrance platform to the room. It took a moment after landing before the dragon got up holding its wings out in display at the reaper. It then launched up before diving at the reaper ploughing into it shoving it to the ground with its jaws gripped around one of the arms. It looked to be trying to break the arm off as the reaper got back up trying to fight to free its arm. The dragon was holding on tight crushing the arm while trying to rip it off. It built up its energy while holding tight before letting the blast go while still clamped down. The energy blast severed the arm of the reaper causing it to scream in pain whitish tears of energy striking up the stump of what was left of the arm on the shadowy figure. The dragon then ate the arm swallowing it whole like a gull eating a hotdog before it head butted the reaper back. Whatever this dragon was not only could it hurt the reaper but unlike it was to them the reaper appeared more solid in make to it.
Again in defence the reaper hit the dragon with a blast of dark energy. The dragon quickly got back up and launched at the reaper who smacked it away where it smashed through part of the portal structure. The impact caused some shaking to structures in the room and worried of something falling on them the ninja put a bit of distance between themselves and structures in the room cautious to not get near the two monsters. They wanted to flee the room but were afraid to touch the strange fiery energy that cut off all ways out of the room getting a strong feeling it would help them. The dragon quickly got up and got too its wings to hover while building up its energy while the reaper came at it with its tornado arm attack. The dragon let out its blast attack on the reaper shooting it back to slam into the entry platform. Where the blast impacted it a whitish wound looking mark appeared on the reaper. The dragon swooped at the reaper grabbing another arm in its jaws. The reaper worked to free its arm to keep from losing it. It managed to shake the dragons grip loose. The reaper tried to toss the dragon into the wall in the process however the dragon caught itself before it could hit into the wall instead flying a circle around the perimeter of the room building up its attack. As it came back round it let out its attack on the reaper who put is swords up to block the attack sending minor beams of this energy out into the room. The ninja had to dodge some of these beams. The reaper was pushed back a bit by the energy and the dragon came to land in front of it reared up in display. The reaper made some swipes and slashes at the dragon who used its forelimbs to block and parry the attacks. The dragon managed to disarm two of the reapers swords before the reaper hit it with a dark blast knocking the dragon into the one side wall of the room. The reaper then used a spell to lift up the chunks of rubble it had made when smashing the dragon through the portal structure. It then proceeded to toss these chunks at the dragon who quickly got to its feet and ran on all fours along the wall as the reaper tossed the stones at it. As it neared the end of the room the dragon took to the wing building up its energy again. It made a quick turn round then dove at the reaper letting out its blast attack ploughing the reaper into the platforms lower wall. The dragon then crashed into the reaper pinning it to the wall. It raised one forepaw and slashed it across the reapers chest which was steadily being cracked by light from the dragons attacks. The reaper was clearly getting weaker as it was struggling to fight the dragons hold. The dragon built up its breath attack before unleashing it on the reaper. The reapers body began to become cover in cracks that emitted light; these light cracks even began to appear on the mask. There was suddenly a bright flash as the reaper exploded with a scream into a golden dust all that came to remain was the shattered bits of the mask. That came to lie scattered across the room. With the reaper finished the flames died down settling back into the troughs and braziers freeing the way to the entrance of the room. The ninja came to huddle behind the one column scared and unsure what to do.
“Okay that monster is gone… what do we do now?” Jay worried and Kai commented, “is that dragon on our side or not?”
“I don’t know, it’s hard to tell,” Nya noted and Cole suggested, “maybe we should leave this room for a while and hopefully that thing will leave and we can comeback.”
“Wait where is it?!” Jay worried peaking around the corner to see where this dragon was. He couldn’t see it. The others looked into the room but couldn’t see it either. They got a feeling of something behind them. It sent shivers down their spines. They quickly turned around to see the dragon clinging to the wall behind them staring down at them with its green eyes. It terrified them. Now that they could see it the dragon crawled down off the wall seeming unfazed by the fires in the trough as it crawled over them to reach the floor. It moved on all fours to put itself between them and the entrance. It was blocking their way out. It stared down at them slowly reaching its head down to get a closer look at them. Now that things were calm they noted overall the dragon looked like the statues of a dragon carved onto the columns that powered the portal making them wonder if this was maybe a guardian for the place.
“Please don’t hurt us! We didn’t mean to trespass on your space,” Jay expressed worried the dragon would attack them. They were then shocked as the dragon was engulfed in a bright light that shrunk down and when it died down there stood in the dragons place a raven; a pied raven with an almost ying yang looking symbol on its chest like one they had seen earlier that day.
“That bird looks familiar… has it been following us?” Cole wondered and Zane noted, “maybe but we were unaware of it.” Indeed it had been following them all day keeping out of sight of them as to not interfere with them. A greater force had tasked the raven with watching and following them tasked to observe but not to interfere till the time was right as they needed to work things out on their own and not be guided or coddled to complete their task. Things were going to get tough for the ninja and they needed to keep strong and build and hone their skills to prepare for the hard times they had ahead so for their benefit they had to do things on their own and make their own decisions. Everywhere they went the raven had followed sticking to the canopy, hiding behind rocks, urns and statues and even managing to cling to ceilings or walls to stay out of their view. It had even played with Zane and Pixals senses to keep them from sensing it. It had remained quiet most of the time it had followed them. In the puzzle room it had hid on one of the statues in the corner of the room, it had then followed walking most of the way behind them through the ruin making a B line to the passage out of the forested cavern where it waited for them by the tunnel as it knew they needed to pass through there, it waited for them in the undergrowth to pass through the tunnel before it followed unbothered by the energies of the tunnel to chill in the shadows of the tunnel as they had figured out the hidden entrance in the following room getting impressed with their co-operation and problem solving; after they had left it followed to watch them in the corridor. When they had opened the door and began to pass through the raven had gone back up to remove the gem from the device so they would be unable to exit that way and hurried to get back to the corridor before it was cut off. To get home they could not go that way so to avoid temptation the raven had removed the option. After that it had followed to sit on the platform watching the ninja look around the large room. It had been uneasy of them interacting with the reaper knowing what that thing was, what it could do and that they were no match for it. When the reaper had formed and attacked it became anxious. It wanted to help but the timing wasn’t right leaving it to only caw out in frustration. It understood why it had to wait to help; the ninja needed to see a taste of what could end up in their realm if they failed what was to come but it was not happy to sit by. Finally it felt the time was right so wasted no time to swoop in and save the ninja using one of its other forms the form of a dragon to save them. Unfortunately for the raven it was unable to tell any of this to the ninja so they guessed it had been following them thinking they were going to give it food. The raven was fine with that. The ninja didn’t need to know why it did what it did or who it was. It had done the task it had been sent for and was happy to have succeeded. That was plenty a reward for itself. The ninja were sure enough able to help themselves with what needed to be done to continue their endeavour.
“Sorry you very special raven but we don’t have anything for you. You kind of saved our lives and deserve to be repaid but we don’t have anything to repay you with,” Jay expressed. The raven cawed at him before jumping up to perch on his head.
“I guess it’s our friend,” Cole commented and Kai expressed, “okay can we finish our search here so we can get out of here. I don’t know about you but I’ve kind of had enough of creepy old ruins for a while.” Jay agreed taking the raven off his head, “yha me too.” Once taken off Jays head the raven squirmed out of Jays hand and climbed up to perch on Jays shoulder.
“Well we couldn’t find anything really special about the portal,” Nya noted and Pixal stated, “the only thing we really have left to inspect in this room is the back platform and the tablets on the wall up there.” They headed over to the platform. What they thought was an altar turned out to be just a table and giving the embalming tools on it and urns around it was likely used for prepping the dead for burials in this place. Large floor braziers sat on the four corners of the platform to light up the area. On the one side of the altar was a solid stone carved lectern which atop was placed a closed book. Zane and Pixal went to inspect the book. It looked surprisingly new and clean for being left in a ruin. The book looked to be made like some of the books they had seen in the ruin before; the ones with the strange metallic like leather and paper. The moment Zane touched the book to open it he quickly pulled back from it.
“What is it?” Cole wondered and Zane commented, “I’m not sure. I got a weird feeling from touching it.”
“What kind of weird feeling?” Jay wondered and Zane explained, “it felt like it was trying to read my mind.”
“Creepy,” Jay commented as Zane picked up one of the embalming tools on the table and used it to open the book. The raven hopped off Jay to sit on the table and watch as they inspected the book.
“What does it say?” Kai wondered and Nya stated, “it’s probably in the language of the clan so we probably won’t be able to read it.”
“No surprisingly it is in our language,” Pixal noted as she and Zane made a quick read through the book using the embalming tool to flip the pages. There was only a few pages in it a few of which had pictures drawn on them.
“Written within this book is the agreement signed in blood by the prince of the Hunyeenmer who sold the souls of those of his self and kin who were slain by the pawns of the lord of chaos, corruption, destruction and shadow to the lord of the hunt; cleansed through the white fires of the void they were reborn as the Drekavac the cursed fallen, the demons to the void who wield the powers of the void in service to the hunt master to fulfil his bidding for the rest of time,” Zane read from the book, “there is then something in a language that isn’t translated which given the stains that look to have come from blood on it is likely the terms of this agreement they made. There are pictures showing the agreement made, their re-birth and what they have become slaying various monsters and daemons even Oni and dragons. There is then something that may be a prophecy at least the way its phrased matches that often used in the wording of such things.”
“What does it say?” Jay inquired and Pixal read out, “as chaos grows ever prominent and grips the realms. As empires crumble and war amongst themselves; as corruption and evil rise and dominate. When serpents rise and make the realm quake; when realms of souls fall and stone giants awake. When snake and men forgo rivalries and become one; the tribe of the forgotten shall walk the realms and bring upon their heals the end of days. Realms shall fall to ice and fire; darkness shall expand and consume all in its wake. Dragons and knights of masters will fail to scions of ash which shall awake; the walls of realms begin to crumble allowing realms to mix and mingle; realms must turn to knight of powers and dragons of whirlwinds for escape; but all must fall for darkness to awake and the dawns of light to re-awake.”
“Creepy,” Jay stated and Kai commented, “sounds like something one of those crazies in the city preach at street corners.”
“Tribe of the forgotten… that can be translated as the Lost Clan,” Cole noted and Jay then worried, “they shall walk the realms and bring upon their heals the end of days! Are we talking about the end of the world?!”
“That is a possibility. This prophecy it is not new. It is well known and has been around for centuries. Scholars and theologians are not entirely sure what it means. While most agree it is relating to some kind of apocalypse or end of the world many are divided over what that entails or if it is meant to be taken as literal or figurative or a bit of both. Some say it is just tales while others think it could be foretelling some form of doomsday,” Pixal explained.
“Theologian?” Kai wondered confused and Zane explained, “someone who studies mythologies.”
“Well whether it’s real or not I don’t like the sounds of it especially with mention of this tribe forgotten which is just another way to say the lost clan,” Cole expressed. Nya noted, “while this is creepy and all it does not explain what the Lost Clan is doing.” Jay blurted out, “they’re bringing the end of the world!”
“We don’t really know that,” Nya noted she and the others a bit annoyed at Jay. Cole stated, “what do these tablets on the walls have to say?” They all turned their attentions from the book to stone tablets on the wall. The panels on the walls were made from a dark grey stone unlike the warmer lighter coloured stone of the majority of the stone that made the room around them and most of the ruin. The panels like those in the corridor were carved with a crude yet still fairly realistic look and had a depth to the way they were carved making the images look 3D. For something so ancient some of them, mainly Cole Zane and Pixal, were impressed by the craftsmanship to these structures especially as it was made of some fairly tough rock. Four panels were on each side the panels being identical on both sides. The first two panels looked to portray what they felt was things that had already happened and they knew of; the Lost Clan sailing to Ninjago and their conquering of the lands. The last two didn’t match with anything they knew.
“What is that thing? It looks creepy,” Jay commented looking at the last panel. Pixal explained, “we are unsure. It seems to depict the Gnollsvic who are now this Drekavac beings finding something. Due to the two dimensional and simplistic art style it is hard to tell if they are depicting an egg, some form of portal device or possibly something we don’t know of but this what could only be described as a monster comes from it. The last panel is hard to tell what it means as well. Either they are going to war at it or are pledging to serve it.” The third panel depicted clan warriors around a large roundish item with something coming out of it. This something was only partially out mainly just the head to after a second pair of legs. The last panel showed this full monstrosity. It was large with a snake like head that had three sets of eyes; it had a long snake like body with six sets of limbs like it was some kind of horrid cross between a snake and a centipede. In the last panel the clan members were standing around this monster with swords held up as it destroyed what looked to represent a more modern looking city leaving devastation in its wake the thing looking massive compared to the buildings portrayed with it. The monster depicted didn’t match anything they’d encountered in the Lost Clans forces before so whatever it was must be unique and it was clear from these panels that this thing and what held it was what the Lost Clan was looking for. Upon seeing the last panel of this serpentine creature memories of some of the dreams he’d been having of late came to Cole. That monster; that was what he had been seeing! What did the dreams mean though? Why was he often seeing this monster dominating places in their world or landscapes he didn’t recognise often trying to destroy him? He kept quiet about his dream and thinking. He’d rather think it over himself than get others focussed and distracted on it; especially Jay. He could often come up with strange or crazy ideas that would be of no help.
“Whatever they’re going to do with it I don’t think we want them to find it,” Kai expressed as they moved to look at the large panel on the back wall. Compared to the others it was massive taking up almost the entire two stories of the back wall and covering its entire width. It was very difficult for them to understand what was going on with the panel. Everything seemed chaotic with imagery carved everywhere. If there was a pattern or narrative to the panel it was difficult to find or read it. Some things on it they believed to relate to things they knew about such as the serpentine wars, the rise of the overlord, the cursed realm and preeminent arriving in Ninjago, the Oni’s attack and Wohjiras attack. Others they couldn’t recognise though one did have this monster from the other panels with what were likely members from the clan. They could have been things they didn’t know about, were foretelling things that were prophesized to happen or they could be events from other realms depicted there. They didn’t know how to tell. At the center of the panel were a couple figures some human looking others more monster like. The most recognisable was a dragon rising up, there was one of the wolf skin-changers commonly called werewolves that they had seen a few times in the clan but the others they weren’t too sure of. In the middle of these figures standing larger than them were two figures facing off to each other likely for combat. Unfortunately for them the two figures were impossible to get any real idea of who or what they were resembling. Other than they had likely been humanoid at one point any other identifying information was gone as the figures for some reason had been carved out leaving heavily scratched and carved pits in the vague shape of the figures. The last notably thing they could identify on the panel were what they felt the carvers of this were trying to depict as a fog which surrounded the panel like a border with stretches of it that reached towards the center of the panel some stretching quite deep inwards. These stretches of the fog almost looked to split the panel into sixteen parts. As the events relating to their realm seemed to be separated from the others but kept together by two of these fog lines and seemed to follow a somewhat fairly loose diagonal line inwards to the center of the panel they got the feeling that was evidence that many of the things on this panel related to events in multiple realms. Not all the separations were of equal size likely indicating a different relevance per realm and its events to whatever this panel was relating to. Their realms line was one of the biggest of the sections. Looking it over they could work out a smaller one with a few events they recognised as Zanes impact on the Never Realm and one of the bigger ones possibly showing their effect in the First Realm.
“What do you think this all means?” Cole wondered as they looked over the panel.
“I do not know. There is so much and such little we know of these beings and where they come from it could mean anything,” Zane noted. Kai expressed looking at the last panel on the side wall, “that can be for later for us to look into. This is what is relevant now. The clan is after this monster and by the looks they wish to use it to destroy our world.”
“Indeed, we need to get back and stop them before they can find this thing and unleash it,” Nya declared.
Lloyd and Wu had been passing the time on the Bounty Lloyd getting his uncle into a video game when they got contact from the others wondering where they had gone as they had gotten out and couldn’t find them where they had left them. The two wasted no time in rushing to get the Bounty up and headed over to get the others. After their brush with the Sunless Dawn the two had repositioned their location to a few kilometres away so it would take them a couple minutes to reach the location of the others. They told them to hide while waiting. The others were confused but agreed. When they got there the others wasted no time in getting aboard. After finding what they needed the others had left the ruin. The way they had gotten in was closed off, a trick of the ruin they felt, but the raven that had helped them led them out. They had to pass a couple more burial corridors and various rooms that likely had held ceremonial items, weapons, armour, attire or other things for burial purposes. They had to pass a door that Cole had to smash thru as for some reason there was no handles on it and Zane and Pixal believed whatever mechanism to open the door had gotten damaged over time and now didn’t operate. After some more of the ruin they had come back to the room that had dropped them down into that cavern. When they had gotten there they were startled, anxious and confused over what they had found. The floor was back to normal as if it had never broken in the first place. They were scared to cross it even when a few tests indicated the floor seemed more stable and thick than it had been before. Instead they clung to the wall going single file around its rim to the other side not wanting to take the risk. The raven didn’t care and walked straight across the middle. When they had gotten to the entrance they had left while the raven stayed behind likely to keep its home protected they felt.
As the ninja and Pixal came into the bridge they were surprised as Lloyd rushed over to them almost in tears. He rushed over as they entered and hugged Kai as if he hadn’t seen him in ages… or had thought he had died.
“You’re finally back and okay… you are okay right?” Lloyd expressed looking all of them over before touching and feeling parts of each of them like their arms, chest, shoulders and face as if not believing what he was seeing.
“Yha, we had some problems we can tell you about later but we made it out okay,” Cole commented while Kai expressed, “are you okay? You’re acting like you haven’t seen us in a long time… or seen a ghost? We were just gone a day.”
“A day, no you have been gone almost two whole weeks,” Wu explained coming up to them. They were all confused.
“No it was just a day. I and Pixal would know,” Zane explained. Jay questioned, “are you playing a joke on us?”
“No we are not,” Wu expressed and Pixal stated, “our systems do not register such a long passage of time though.”
“Are you sure? Check your systems with the Bounties systems and you’ll see we aren’t lying,” Lloyd told the two droids. Zane and Pixal didn’t really see the need to do that feeling their systems wouldn’t be lying to them but did it anyway to humour Lloyd. After a moment to connect to the Bounties system the two became anxious and greatly confused.
“It can’t be…” Zane expressed and Cole asked, “what?” Pixal replied, “they are not lying. 12 days and nine hours have passed here since we left. Yet we only experienced the passage of one day where we were.” Cole, Kai, Nya and Jay were stunned and confused.
“That’s a big difference,” Kai noted and Nya suggested, “the only explanation for that would be that time worked differently where we were.”
“Where were you?” Wu asked. Jay explained, “well those lava lizards chased us to this room where we fell through this paper thin floor then we woke up in this really weird cave filled with plants and weird shrooms and bizarre animals but we were all banged up with broken parts. We couldn’t climb back out so Cole did this thing that showed us another way out but we had to go through the alien caves. That led us to a door which was actually some kind of portal which took us to this strange forest valley. We wandered through there till we came to a river where we all got a drink from it before we back tracked to sleep in this home built over a bridge for the night. Oh did I mention the water from this river healed us up like nothing had ever happened to us even Zane and Pixal, we found out about that the next morning. Well then we continued going through this valley to try and find a way out. There was a lot of weird things and more weird creatures. We climbed up to this watchtower on a cliff top but didn’t see any way home from there then we had to cross this really strange massive lake that had a forest growing in it…”
“A forest growing in a lake? You mean an island?” Wu cut in confused and Jay elaborated, “no like literally a forest growing up out of the water with trees growing out of it like reeds. There were these weird trees that grew out of the lakebed and had a bulge on their trunks at the top of the water kind of making a dock; Zane and Pixal called it a Dock Forest. Anyway that place was really weird to be fair though everywhere there was pretty weird but I think that lake made things weirder. Well we had a little problem getting Kai across because his fear of water had him terrified of walking over the docks that crossed the place but we found a way by Nya and Cole becoming like guide dogs to lead him across while his eyes were closed. Anyway we took a break on an island there where Zane hit me with a rock before we continued on into the woods on the other side of the lake where Cole tried to eat this cute but weird rabbit creature before some Feardrakes tried to eat us but we were saved by this giant bird giraffe forest spirit thing who gave us food and led us to this ruin which he said was once a burial ground for the Lost Clan but now is like the forest spirit called it something like a reminder for their task. Anyway we went in there and had to solve some puzzles to escape booby-traps and find hidden entrances where in like the final massive room we found this portal thing we believe the clan used to get here. We shut it down but then this daemon thing with six arms; SIX ARMS! It rose up from this big creepy mask thing that was in there. It was invincible to our attacks and summoned these creepy shade beings which only mine and Kais powers could affect. We thought we were goners but then this raven dragon showed up and beat the daemons butt with some kind of light energy then after that we found these tablets revealing what the clan is after plus this big weird tablet we couldn’t make sense of then after that well we came back here. Hopefully we can get a shower and an actual meal before the days out.” Jay then pretended to be telling Lloyd in secret as he joked, “don’t know if you can tell but some of us aren’t the best smelling rate now plus if we don’t get Cole something to eat he may just snap and try to eat one of our legs.” Cole was not amused at Jays joke while Kai worried Jay was commenting that it was him that smelt gave himself a couple smells. Lloyd and Wu just stared at Jay for a moment as if trying to process everything he had just said.
“So if it’s been like what two weeks then what have you two been up to?” Jay asked when it looked like the two wouldn’t respond. Lloyd replied, “well after those things chased you into the temple we followed them as they slunk out into the woods where we found some cultists hiding and they told us you had all fell down a pit. I lost a bit of control and scared them off before we were chased out by this dark creepy monster then we went into the temple to find you guys but we found no pit just a dead end from a door we couldn’t find a way around. We tried a few times to find other ways in or passages in that temple but we couldn’t find any. After that we have largely been lying low to avoid this cult and some creepy monsters they have the whole time worried of what had happened to you all. We were starting to worry the worst and thought we’d have to head home without you all but luckily you have returned.”
“Cultists? What kind of cultists?” Cole asked and Lloyd began, “according to my uncle they’re called the Sunless Dawn…”
“Wait what are the Lost Clan after?” Wu cut in. Nya explained, “from what we could make out something that is either a portal or some kind of container or egg holding this multi legged snake creature.”
“A multi-legged snake…” Wu mumbled to himself getting worried and Jay chimed in, “yha it kind of looked like someone had crossed a snake with a centipede. Why would anyone want to do such a thing? Centipedes are creepy enough already.”
“Lloyd you remember what I told you about how this cult had brainwashed a town and they were bowing to a dark obelisk?” Wu asked and Lloyd replied, “yha?” Wu then continued, “there was a figure carved onto that obelisk… a multi-legged serpent wound round that thing.”
“You think the Sunless Dawn and Lost Clan are after the same thing?” Lloyd noted and Wu explained, “I will not say that is what is going on but the evidence we have points to that as a possibility.”
“Great now we have cultists working with those daemons to deal with as well now,” Kai expressed before Pixal cut in to express, “is it okay if we go lie down?” Looking at their droid siblings the rest realized the two looked very unwell. They looked like they were going to be sick, they were swaying a bit looking to be unsteady on their feet, a little shaky and the glow to their eyes was rather dim and off colour.
“Are you two okay?” Lloyd asked a bit worried and Zane replied, “not really. I think we might short circuit.”
“What happened to you two?” Lloyd asked confused and Nya stated, “Cole.” Even more confused now Lloyd asked, “what did Cole do?”
“He couldn’t control his hunger and used the two like guinea pigs to test if things were edible in that weird place. He fed them a bunch of weird things plus they ended up eating some of the weird bug things there that wanted to get at their eyes,” Jay explained to which Cole expressed, “I said I was sorry.” Cole went over to support Zane while Kai went to support Pixal in case they fainted. Nya noted, “that’s a good deal of it. Combine the system malfunctions caused by being fed a bunch of weird stuff that isn’t agreeing with them with finding out about the big difference in time we’ve been through that they weren’t aware of and I think their brains are seriously overwhelmed which has put them into a sort of shock.”
“How could so much time pass and our systems didn’t pick it up?” Pixal wondered before have some sparking come from her neck as she twitched a bit from thinking about and trying to understand the discrepancies in time.
“Well we are back together and can go into further detail about findings later after all we have a long journey to get home. Considering we have been gone longer than intended we should be setting off soon. It is a little late tonight to start the trek home so we will have to set off first thing in the morning. For now why do you all go get some rest,” Wu expressed.
“Sounds good, come you two we’ll get you set up to have a nice rest and get you some of your medicine so hopefully you’ll start to feel better soon,” Cole stated to the droids and Lloyd commented, “yha, hopefully we can get you two feeling at least somewhat better before nightfall. You should see the auroras in the sky at night here; we’re pretty sure you two would love it. They’re cool but creepy… me and Wu think the energies in the area from whatever the clan did here are causing them to appear oddly so far south and with such striking colors compared to normal.” Cole and Kai then led the two droids out of the room. Wu and Lloyd went to drive the Bounty to put them in what they felt would be a safe location from the cultists they worried were out there.
“I think we should do some scans and examinations of Zane and Pixal to make sure Cole didn’t feed them something dangerous and that some of those weird bug things haven’t caused internal damages to the two. If anything we can calibrate their senses of time to help them overcome the confusion its giving them plus we could get some images from their memories of those tablets to show Lloyd and Wu,” Nya told Jay who agreed, “yha it’ll be gross but we probably should do it sooner than later. Those creepy bird wasp things probably weren’t too good for their systems. Why don’t you get started and I’ll be there in a minute.”
“You have some questions about your mom to ask Wu don’t you?” Nya quietly asked and he whispered back, “yha.” Nya then stated as she left, “I’ll be seeing you soon then.” After she left Jay waited a moment before he went over to Wu who was talking with Lloyd the two going over an idea that this Sunless Dawn had purposely unleashed the Lost Clan either as aid for themselves or as a distraction for the ninja. Given they were possibly after the same thing they felt the two were in co-operation.
“Can I talk to you for a minute?” Jay asked Wu who stated, “you know you can ask me anything?” Jay was silent for a moment looking at Lloyd before expressing, “in private.”
“If it’s about your mother you can say it. I already know what’s going on,” Lloyd stated stunning Jay who questioned Wu with, “you told him?! I want to keep this quiet; I’ve only told you and Nya!”
“When we found out we were dealing with the Sunless Dawn I had to tell him so he would get a better understanding of what is going on,” Wu explained. Jay was quiet for a moment before responding.
“Fine, you can’t let Zane, Pixal, Kai or Cole know; especially Cole. He has some mommy issues,” Jay stated and Lloyd agreed, “well he did lose his mother in a very terrible way that probably didn’t leave a good mark on him. That aside I promise I’ll keep quiet.”
“What did you want to ask me?” Wu inquired and Jay asked, “in that place we learned the Lost Clan comes from a place called the Void. I’ve never really heard of such a place. I was wondering if you knew what that is? I was wondering if it is just another term for the Departed Realm as some of what we found stated the Gnollsvic are un-dead daemons but something feels like that isn’t exactly the answer.” Wu was quiet for a minute his expression a mix of dread and worry.
“I thought I would never have to deal with such a thing as this,” he finally expressed and Lloyd asked, “what do you mean?”
“Saying the Departed Realm and the Void are the same is like saying ice and water are the same. They are both the same yet at the same time they are not,” Wu explained and confused Lloyd asked, “how?” Wu continued to explain, “the Departed Realm is not like other realms. There is a reason it is impossible for a living being to reach or enter the Departed Realm. It is not a physical place like we know here and it is only part of a much bigger and more complex place; a place that contains and connects the 16 realms. Because of its nature it is not a realm itself though it can mimic and mirror the realms. It is the place outside the realms; outside of all we know where all that we know began and according to legends where it all must end one day. It is the source of all creation and destruction the primal originating force of everything. In the beginning before time even existed the First Realm and the Departed Realm came into being. They were the first realms in existence beginning time and the mortal physical existence that we know. The First Realm was the spawning of life and creation springing forth the remaining fourteen realms from itself while the Departed Realm remained a part of the source that spawned them and created no realms of itself as it was the realm of death so was incapable of creation itself. Instead it became a part of the primal chaos that spawned all things what some call the Void. To visualize it imagine it like a tree the Departed Realm and the void are the roots of the tree the Departed Realm being the anchor point, the root bulb, of the tree from which all roots spread out below. The First Realm is the trunk while the branches are the remaining realms,” Wu began Jay cutting in to comment, “That sounds like a very bare tree.”
“I am using a metaphor to help you understand this not describing a literal tree now let me continue… As I was explaining it can be very hard to understand but put in a simple term in nature the Departed Realm is like a gated community within the Void and acts not only as a connector between the void and the realms but essentially the border passing for mortal souls. It is said the souls of some mortals like humans differ from those of most other mortals bearing a damaged connection between us and the void so we must come to rest within the Departed Realm to prevent destruction to our beings from the void. What happens to souls once there and if they can somehow fix the connection and escape has long been debated; my father himself was unsure of the answer. That aside this void is not devoid of life itself. It is full of life however it is not like the life of the realms. Everything about them is alien to what we recognise or understand. The only exceptions to this are the Dragons and Oni who as direct children of the sources of creation and destruction of the void itself. They are born of both worlds so are unhindered and freely able to pass between the realms and the void without ill harm and can live in either place. The void itself is said to be an endless expanse comprising things we could not even begin to understand or comprehend. From things that mimic the realms as we know it to places and existences we could barely begin to understand filled with all sorts of entities that have been called things like monsters, spirits and daemons when they invade the realms,” Wu continued.
“How come I’ve never heard of this?” Lloyd wondered and Wu replied, “because this place is so dangerous and the powers and beings that dwell within so powerful and chaotic many of those in power in the realms long ago including my father decided it best for the populous to not know about it in hopes to keep the people from searching out anything that this place or things from it could offer. Of course while the vast populous is unaware of it there are those who insist on keeping this knowledge known and use it to their advantage; those that dabble into the dark arts like necromancers, dark sorcerers and occult worshippers for example. While I have heard of it I have never seen the place nor had my father. He told me to never look for this place nor let anyone know of it. Living mortals cannot enter it let alone begin to comprehend it and should they end up there they will never return.” Jay wasn’t liking what he was hearing; it did not bode well in his search for his mother.
“If the Lost Clan is from the void what does that mean about my mother?” Jay wondered. After a moment’s pause Wu explained, “I am afraid it is not good. On the good side she is departed and safely in the Departed Realm on the bad… she was banished to the Void where she may be lost in its vast expanse. Either way it means we cannot save her.” That news was not very uplifting for Jay whose emotions were lowered by the news causing Lloyd to put a hand on Jays shoulder in comfort.
Things were starting off just like an ordinary day. After getting up, having a shower and breakfast Skylor was now heading out to her restaurant for her job. She was waiting at a stop for a bus. Things had become quite busy of late with an influx of costumers. The capital was having an influx of people even serpentine fleeing this Lost Clan that was terrorizing the continent and it wasn’t just those who’d lost their village to this groups conquest that were fleeing. Some afraid of a potential attack were also fleeing. The city had become over run with more than it could handle by these migrants. Hotels, temples and community centers were already filled up and even at least one park had turned into a trailer park with some who were using their RV’s to quickly leave whenever the threat of an attack came up. While for business all the extra people was a boon in the long run it was a burden. She didn’t have the staff to deal with a permanent increase like this and couldn’t afford to hire more than a few temporary workers and worst of all eventually it would become difficult to get enough resources to supply the restaurant especially with the disruptions to shipping thanks to the clans effects which if the clan continued as they were was just going to get worst. This overpopulating of the capital was also not good for the populous. The city didn’t have the infrastructure for it; getting around town was taking longer everyday thanks to increased traffic and more people taking public transit, hospitals were under equipped and staffed, some stores couldn’t get enough product especially necessities like food and water and worst of all crime had dramatically increased and the cops and jails were ill equipped to deal with it. She’d thought about offering aid as a citizen aid for the cops however she was already part of the Ninjago Defence Force and already had her plate quite full with work from them and running her business. The Defence Force was at least helping ease some of the issues in the city by helping with guarding and police work in the city and had set up outposts to offer aid and act as outposts for its workers in the city in case of attacks. As she stood their thinking about the problems they were facing she couldn’t help but agree with what Cyrus Borg had addressed the public with a few days earlier that this overpopulating was not only bad and unsustainable but a serious danger. No one yet still knew what this Lost Clan was after and with their propensity to attack settlements putting large numbers in one spot was creating a giant target for them. So far the clan had shown no attention to the capital outside some plundering of shipping routes and attacks to trains, trucks or ships that went in and out of the city but the clan had proven to have streaks of unpredictability and could without warning attack the city and currently they didn’t have the ninja to aid them if something went wrong. It would be better to set up refugee encampments outside the capital or in other towns than pack everyone in one large area. The politicians however didn’t really care about that or agree with Borg; they cared more about their looks, ratings and income than solving the issues they were letting overwhelm the city.
Skylor wasn’t the only one waiting for the bus. A couple other people were waiting there including a mother serpentine of the Venomari tribe with her two children who looked to be coming back from a shopping trip to the grocery store by the cart the mother was dragging behind her. She was guessing they were probably recent arrivals and headed to the Serpentine settlement under the city. It appeared the Lost Clan didn’t discriminate and the serpentine were just as big as targets to them as normal people. The five other people were standing a bit away from the serpentine a bit apprehensive to get close to them. All the people were on their phones minding their own business. The one serpentine child starting to whine caught her attention. He was scared of a raven that had come to perch on the sign for the bus stop making weird noises. The kid was scared feeling the bird was out to get him. This wasn’t helped by the fact the bird looked at him and cawed like a fish crow at him. The mother told the child that he was just imagining things that the bird was just a bird and to ignore it if he didn’t want it to bother him. Skylor was going to mind her business but something about the raven caught her attention. It didn’t look or act special; it acted just like a bird. Ravens were a normal sight in the city and sometimes proved a nuisance. They’d pick through garbage, try to steal your food when you ate outside or sometimes they even broke into people’s homes to steal food; they liked to steal peoples clothes off their clothes lines to weave into their nests and would hunt small animals’ even peoples pets. For some reason though she got an odd feeling from this one; she couldn’t tell exactly what it was that felt odd about this raven she just got a feeling that it was. The arrival of the bus took her attention away from the bird. They all got on the bus. It was a double decker unit. To accommodate the increased number of passengers of late the city was using all the extra capacity transport vehicles they could get including those originally for tourism and from nearby cities. Even with that the bus was pretty packed already so Skylor had to stand for the ride.
Most on the bus were minding their own business just going for the ride however two caught her attention. Two individuals were talking about some news largely how after addressing the public Borg had left the city to set up shop in a town about an hour outside the city in mountains to the north-east; they were jealous they couldn’t just leave like that wanting to get out of the mayhem the city had become. Cyrus Borg was a major member of the Ninjago Defence Force so he couldn’t have his workings disrupted by an attack from the Lost Clan making Skylor wonder if he might know something. He did have contact with the ninja; could they have alerted him to something? A potential attack or theft maybe? Surely though she would have been alerted to something through the defence forces network or from the ninja directly if he had. Last she’d heard they’d headed to the Dark Isle to look into something. Signals and communications on and near the isle were poor to nonexistent so they would have no contact with anyone while there. There had been a few weeks of silence from the ninja before two days ago they’d been alerted that the group was coming back. They’d been about 2/3rds the way home at that point. They’d apparently found some things while there but were being pretty quiet about it. She’d tried to get some information from Kai last night about it but he was hesitant to say much. He didn’t understand much of what they’d gone through there and even Zane and Pixal had very little understanding to it all but they were working on trying to understand it. The fact Zane and Pixal couldn’t make much sense of it all had Kai a bit scared by it all. All he could say is this Lost Clan were just as they feared and not of their realm however it appeared they might be worse than just some entities from another realm. This Lost Clan were something they could only interpret as Drekavac; a form of demons! They had once been entities of flesh and blood in the mortal realms like them but from what they could interpret they went through some form of change making a bargain with a shadowy figure they believe to be some kind of demon possibly an Oni. They had yet to work out everything they had found there. If that was true and these beings of the Lost Clan were actually some kind of demon not only would it explain much about these entities but also meant they were all in serious trouble. How could you defeat demons like this?
While they waited at a traffic light Skylor heard a commotion coming from outside the bus through one of the windows someone had opened to get some airflow in the crowded vehicle. The commotion caught some people’s attention but after a look most went back to what they had been doing uninterested. The commotion was a shop owner getting into a fight with a murder of five ravens who were throwing stuff from a table he had set out for selling some goods all over the sidewalk. Most of the items were things like soaps, sunhats, wooden cutlery and bowls and towels. Nothing the ravens could really damage. Skylor was going to ignore it before she noted one of the ravens. While the others distracted the shop keep this individual was hiding something up on the awning wedging it between the frame and the building it connected too. She couldn’t make out what it was but brushed it off. She didn’t know much about birds but did know they liked to hide food for later sometimes so guessed that was what it was doing. Within a couple minutes the bus pulled up to her stop and she got off and began to walk the block from the stop to her restaurant. Not much was different in the neighbourhood lately though there were a few more unstable individuals hanging around on the street. She did note a pair of ravens on the sidewalk that were messing around a water drainage grate. They each had a chunk of something large and almost metallic looking in their beaks. The one raven dropped its chunk down the drain and the two looked down to watch it fall giving what almost looked like a happy caw and bounce when whatever the one had thrown down hit the water below. As she got close to them they took off the one still holding whatever that chunk was. Curious she looked down into the drain to see what it had thrown. It was too dark to see anything. Looking back for the birds she noticed the pair sitting on a building ledge looking at her the one cawing in anger. The other was placing its metal object back out of sight on the ledge. While strange she guessed the two were just playing and continued on her walk. Not much was going on. The most notable happening on the street was one guy in ragged and dirty attire which looked to be rather worn PJs and had ragged shaggy hair who was pacing the block talking to himself and mumbling something about birds while another notable person on the street was a doomer who had recently taken up residence on a corner preaching about how these monsters attacking the realm were a sign of the end of times. He was wearing worn brown monks attire and had ragged shoulder length hair. Generally everyone just ignored these people including Skylor. She couldn’t really do anything about them; they weren’t doing anything illegal and she was unsure for the one who clearly had something mentally wrong if anywhere could take them or if he was already getting care and was just occupying his day by wandering out here. She just ignored them as she went into her restaurant. They were already fairly busy with a brunch rush. She wasted no time getting to work with her employees behind the counter.
“So how things going already today?” she inquired to her manager who had opened the restaurant for her that morning. His attire was a bit ragged and stained already from work.
“Well busy and the delivery for today has yet to arrive so we are getting low on some of the produce. Also someone left the lid to the dumpster in the alley open letting a flock of ravens get into it and they made a mess. Had to get Kevin to clean it up…,” he told her as he cut up some carrots before Kevin expressed as he cleaned some scratches on his hands and face putting on workplace approved blue bandages by the sink, “those birds seemed nuts today. I’ve never had them attack before when I clean up their messes. Not even coons or feral dogs do that! Those birds just seemed like they had it out for me! What did I ever do to deserve their wrath?!” Kevin looked a bit shaken up by the birds attack.
“They’re probably just getting bold because people might be feeding them. We should put up a sign to our patrons to not feed the birds,” her manager stated to which Skylor noted, “that won’t help. They’re likely just riled up and bold from all the extra people in town which means extra waste in the city making it easier for them to get an easy meal.” Things kept busy for the next few hours but instead of lightening up as they would like it instead got busier as the lunch rush started up. Luckily the delivery truck arrived just half an hour before things got too busy and it was a good thing it did cause they were nearly out of several key ingredients for several menu items by that time. Skylor, the delivery driver and her manager worked quick to get everything in the shop so they could be ready for the lunch rush. Despite that they were struggling a bit to keep up with the demand which was not eliminated much even when another of her employees arrived for her afternoon shift. This employee was a bit late due to a traffic jam delaying her transport but wasted no time getting to work once there. Not even ten minutes later there was a commotion in the dining area. Skylor instantly headed out to investigate. With the increased crime of late there had also been an increase in altercations. People were more on edge, angrier and seemed more eager to get into confrontations even over the littlest things. She went out expecting a confrontation however was surprised to find instead the commotion was a result of a raven having somehow got into the restaurant to land on a groups table to help itself to their food biting, pecking and loudly making the uh-uh calls of a fish crow whenever anyone tried to shoo it away or take anything from it.
“Sorry about that; it must have snuck in earlier when we were getting a delivery and had the doors open,” Skylor expressed as she cautiously got a hold of and wrestled the bird into submission. She held it close to her body wrapping one arm around it and pressing it into her side to keep it from opening its wings while the other hand she had holding its head to keep it from pecking and biting. It kept making sounds however and kicking its feet trying to get free. She took it outside before letting it go giving the bird a bit of a toss to keep it from retaliating. It didn’t retaliate but when it landed on the sidewalk it looked back at her and gave an angry squawk clearly not happy with her before taking off. She turned to head back into the restaurant but before she could enter she became distracted when she noted the doomer and the unhinged man were arguing with each other only a few feet from the restaurant. They were getting quite loud and sounded a bit aggressive.
“The birds have nothing to do with it. It’s them the tribe of the forgotten. They’re the sign. The ancients foretold of this. When the tribe of the forgotten walks the realms they bring the end of days in their wake. Why would stupid birds have anything to do with this? They’re just dumb animals. They’re not aware of anything,” the doomer grumbled to which the unhinged one was quick to utter, “Shh… don’t let them hear you say that! The birds; they’re smart smarter than you think and they know! They’re in league with the demons! They know more than they show. They’re rooting for the end so they can feed on our remains pecking our eyes out and tearing our guts out to feast upon.”
“No they’re not.”
“Yes they are!”
“Do you speak crow or something?”
“No.”
“Then how do you know they’re in league?”
“Cause I was there during one of their attacks! The crows they were the first to show up. They watched us… quietly spying and when the demons attacked the birds helped in the attack! They attacked us laughing and trying to peck us apart on command of their masters!” the unhinged man began to yell. To keep the argument from getting out of hand and leading to more than an argument Skylor intervened.
“Hey I know tensions are high rate now but do you think you can accept you have different views and just head your separate ways. We don’t need any more squabbles breaking out here,” she stated getting between them. The doomer expressed, “no. This idiot is spreading lies. Birds have nothing to do with what is going on. It was foretold long ago and it never mentioned birds.”
“Those are just old tales they mean nothing. I was there I saw it with my own eye,” the unhinged man expressed. Skylor delegated, “you ever thought that maybe you both have some truths. I’ve heard of the tales you speak of. You do understand they were written in a more metaphorical sense than literal right?”
“How would you know that?” the doomer questioned and she replied, “well it just so happens I know one of the sons of the Spinjitsu Master himself who was around when many of those were written. He himself explained those back then tended to use more symbolic and metaphorical wordings for their writings to help people visualize and understand concepts that are hard for most to understand since as mortals our minds were never built to understand much of what they talked about. Our minds were built to survive the daily struggles in this world not unravel the mysteries of the cosmos or foretelling the future. As for the birds he isn’t entirely lying. The Lost Clan has strange ravens that like to follow them around and which they utilize as allies for themselves.”
“How do you know that?” the doomer asked and she replied, “cause I work part time with the Ninjago Defence Force and have been in battles against the Lost Clan. I’ve experienced firsthand the workings of the clan and they do use ravens in there workings. They even have individuals who specialize in working with these birds like ones they call Raven Priests. As for you…” she turned to talk to the unhinged man, “do you know the reasoning behind many of those old tales?”
“No,” the unhinged one replied and Skylor explained, “unlike tales of today that can focus on just entertaining thanks to the better lives we live those old tales were meant to teach people to encourage them to live better, more humble, respectful and co-operative lives. While not all of them were true many were and they were all told to improve the lives of those in the future and keep people from repeating the bad things of the past or regal those of the future how to make it through hard times. As for the tales he’s talking about they could just be tales meant to warn people of unknown dangers or to keep prepared for potential harsh times. You have to remember they didn’t have things like refrigerators back then and pests like rodents and insects were common problems so it helped for people to plan ahead in case serious problems did arrive to help them survive.”
“Well it never seemed to work; you know how many times people of the past fell to problems and they were never prepared?” the doomer expressed and Skylor commented, “well face it people are stupid.” The unhinged man expressed, “I can agree with that.”
“Okay you can agree on some things now can you two accept your differences and put your squabble aside to have some peace here. There’s enough tension around here already we don’t need more,” Skylor expressed. The two seemed to think her words over before both agreed to let their fighting go. Just as they seemed to come to a truce a sudden noise caught everyone’s attention sending chills down Skylors spine. She recognised the sound and knew what it meant. It was a trumpeting sound like some monstrous horn.
“It’s them! It’s them! They’re here!” the unhinged man screamed as he ran off in terror while the doomer proclaimed, “that’s a sign just as our ancestors proclaimed there would be! The trumpets would sound the end of days is upon us.” The civilians in the area were clearly scared but also very confused. They were unsure what was going on. Skylor however knew what that was and what was going to happen.
“Those aren’t trumpets… they are here,” she mumbled to herself before yelling at civilians, “get inside, hurry you have to get inside it’s an attack! The Lost Clan is here.” That sound was from one of the strange Carnyx horns the Lost Clan liked to use upon launching, during and after their attacks to strike fear into opponents. This Carnyx of theirs was a tall elongated somewhat S shaped bronze or brass construct with a long straight vertical central portion with a head at its end that bore a mixed resemblance between a boar and a dragon. Along with its underlying loud trumpeting sounds it could make there was an eerie deep animal like wailing or yowling sound mixed in with the trumpeting at times making the horn sound even creepier and more unearthly. The sky began to darken and in some areas a mist manifested about five stories off the ground spinning into a ring which pulled a bunch of chunks of metal out of random places in areas nearby. These metal chunks Skylor noted looked familiar; they were the chunks she’d seen those ravens playing with. Those ravens must have been ones in league with the Lost Clan and been leaving things in the city for their plan. While disturbing she had to admire the Lost Clans tactics; sending in the most unsuspecting units to lay the foundations for the clans attack rate beneath their very eyes without drawing their attention. What had they been setting up though? The mist and metal chunks merged forming into a large metallic circle that when completed its formation let off an explosion of light from its center as the bright greenish glow from some kind of portal developed in the center of the ring and chains materialised from the ring and anchored into surrounding buildings to stabilize the ring. A dark mist came out of the portal flooding to the ground below and out of the mist came members of the Lost Clan and their monster allies erupted out to launch into the attack. Seeing the attack starting Skylor rushed back into her restaurant and into the back to her locker. Fearing an attack any day she had started keeping a set of her ninja equipment in her locker there. She could see from a TV playing in the restaurant that these portals were opening all over the city and riders from the Lost Clan were riding in from outside the city rushing in to join the actions of those entering through the portals. As the battle begun the city began to play the warning sirens to let the inhabitants know of the danger and get them to take to shelter as quick as they could.
“The cities under siege what do we do?” one of her staff asked her as she got dressed in her attire for combat.
“Normally I would say get into the country side and we’ll find you after but in a city as big as this that might not be a good idea. They’re probably here in their full force and I wouldn’t be surprised if they brought new tools or allies,” she replied and another of her workers commented, “people are fleeing to get home, should we do the same?”
“That’s a bad idea. We have no clue what they might be here for and you could get seriously hurt or worse out there. I’ve seen one of these parrot snakes take down an ox it could surely do that to you and we’ve lost fighters to them and their monsters. Your best bet is to stay here till the fighting’s over. Stay indoors, keep all doors locked and bring down the disaster shutters. If you can try to get people fleeing to shelter in here till the fights over,” she responded as she finished getting dressed. Once done she rushed out into the streets to put on an offensive. So far it was just cops and members of the defence force engaging against the clan and their monsters. People were running everywhere some trying to run home others just trying to find a place to hide while clan members and monsters attacked them and laying waste to the city. Skylor decided to take a look at the strange portals they were using to enter the city. It would be a good idea for them to somehow shut those down to slow the entry of these beings into the city. She tried to get close to one that had erupted over an intersection by her restaurant. A Soiltere ridden by a huntsman and decked out for a fight in armour had been released from the portal to plough through the street knocking vehicles off it and flipping some cars as it ran through the street. As it ploughed the way through the street it created a path for the rest of the clans forces to move in and spread out. The cops and defences were outnumbered and overwhelmed by the forces of the Lost Clan. Skylor was quick to note not only how they were entering the city was new for the clans attacks but the members of the clan all had glowing icy green eyes as if they were charged up by something; it seemed to make them stronger and more resilient than usual making them tougher opponents. She knew their best option was to destroy or at least disrupt those portals making it harder for the forces to pour into the city cutting down the defences they had to put on so they could focus more units and resources to a more restricted zone for a better defensive stand. Skylor made her way towards the portal to get a look at it to try and figure out how to disable it. She had to fight past a Feardrake and a huntsmen decked out in fur armour with the head cap that worked as a hat and mask of a sabre toothed cat in order to reach the portal ring. The Feardrake was the first she had to fight. Wielding a sword it was hard work to avoid getting bit by the creature but she managed to defeat it by using a door from a car that had been smashed off by the Soiltere that had charged through the area as a trap. She hid behind it and as the Feardrake went to bite at her through the broken window instead of going around the door she used a piece of scrap metal broken off from one of the cars to wedge its head to the one side of the window wedging the metal to get stuck its head stuck in the window of the door. With it trapped she could hit it from behind. It took some serious effort to slash and stab at the back of its neck while it tried to simultaneously defend itself and break free from the door kicking, clawing and whipping its tail before she was able to deliver the fatal blow to its neck to destroy it. She thought she’d have a clear path from their but then the huntsman intervened. He had gloves that were embedded with bear claws so even when she disarmed the sword he had he was still highly dangerous with his punches and he had the speed of a cat with the strength of a bear as he fought unarmed. No matter how many times she managed to deliver a cut to him he seemed unfazed as he worked her back into a wall to corner her. As she was backed against an immovable object to break free from his punches she ducked as he made a punch and before he could react she shoved her sword up into his chest bursting him into dust. After that she was able to get close to the ring. She knelt down to hide behind an overturned car to observe the ring looking for a possible weakness. It was made of metal so clearly couldn’t just be cut. It looked quite stable and she could see nothing operating it nearby. Whatever was powering them was located elsewhere possibly outside the city. She couldn’t see any kind of weakness to this portal. She wasn’t sure if there was anything they could do to them; then she noted the chains. They ended in barbed spear points which were pierced into the walls of buildings as if anchoring the rings. Where they pierced the buildings a darkening with glowing icy green cracks surrounded the area as if the matter was being tainted by some unknown dark energy. She hadn’t taken much note in how the portals had formed but she was pretty sure she remembered that the anchor chains had erupted after the portals were already open. Were they maybe acting as tethers to anchor the portal into their realm to keep it open and stable?
Before she could make a move to get a closer look at the chains an unusual cawing caught her attention. Looking up she saw just in time to dodge it as it landed a strange monster she had not seen in the Lost Clans forces before. It had a vaguely human form with features of an un-dead crow; large black feathered wings, bird like legs made largely of a sickly greyed skin with sparse feathering that ended in bony toes, arms with the same skin with three bony fingers, ragged black feathered neck and a crow skulled head with golden glowing eyes in the eye sockets. It wore a dark to black tattered hooded robe that went to above the kneecaps metal trinkets and some of its shed feathers decorating the hood while it wielded a sickle weapon. The weapon had a golden handle that went into a golden raven head that had the blade coming out of it the head toping the back part of the blade. The blade was made of what looked to be obsidian. As it landed it swung the sickle at her but as she dodged its attack it missed her the blade scraping the ground.
“What does this female think it is doing?” a deep un-human voice came from the creature as it stalked close to her. She responded with, “why would I tell my enemy my actions bird brain.”
“True answer but I do not need your speech to note you are wanting to mess with our devices,” the crow monster stated before letting out a bolt of lightning from its one hand at her. Skylor dodged the attack and got an idea. This creature could use elemental powers; she could steal that. After dodging its attack she quickly rushed forward to grab the creatures arm. The creature was a bit confused but tossed her off. She landed on her back on the road and the crow creature pounced at her; before it could land though she hit it with a blast of lightening. The shock flung the creature back where it landed heavily on a car crushing it in. It lay there stunned a minute as she got up before flailing its limbs to help get on its feet again.
“So you are an elemental master then; that explains the smells and marks. The Master of Amber I would presume,” the creature commented as it stood up.
“That’s right, you scared?” she questioned charging up to hit the creature. As she let a bolt out of lightening out at the creature it jumped out of the way taking to wing.
“No but that changes things a bit,” the monster declared as it flew up to perch on the side of a building standing on an overhang to give off a display of calling while holding open its wings. Skylor didn’t realise what it had done at first till she heard a noise. Sounded like an elephant. That was odd. Elephants didn’t live in the city and there was no zoo there. The sound of something large charging towards her made her look back. She was forced to duck from the swinging tusks and trunk of a massive mammoth. While she had seen mammoths before this was not like the ones she had ever seen. This one was overall a more grey color than the brown to golden color of the species she recognised and its massive curved tusks, some spikes on its face, a plate over the tusk base and nails appeared to be coated in some kind of magical ice. The mammoth had been decked out for battle wearing armour plating while a huntsmen sat atop its neck riding it and controlling it. There were several clan members on its back who hopped off to join the fight below. She managed to dodge the swinging tusks and trunk ducking under the beast and managing to avoid getting stepped on as it charged over her. As it turned around to face her the crow creature landed atop her pinning her down then proceeding to peck at her. She put up a struggle before shocking the crow monster back. She hit the mammoth as it charged towards her again and while it did rear up clearly hurt from the jolt it quickly recovered and continued the fight tossing about vehicles and people with its tusks and creating icy spikes to spring up with stomps of its feet while the rider who had fallen off climbed back onto the beast to focus its attention. Clearly this beast had ice powers. Quickly looking around she realised she was in over her head at that moment. The cops and force members had quickly fallen back with civilians from the clan forces that were becoming overwhelming either fleeing the area or trying to take refuge in buildings. The clan had brought along new toys in the forms of siege weapons like rams, siege towers to get into and atop buildings that had barricaded their lower levels with threat shielding door and window covers and ballista’s along with new allies like the crow monster, strange winged and feathered serpents, large emaciated looking dark hound creatures and the icy mammoth. They’d likely been planning this attack and prepping for some time. She was not going to be able to get close to the portal they had at least not without help. She decided it best to retreat from the area and get to the headquarters the Ninjago Defence Force had set up in the city and see if they had any plans.
She fought herself free of the clan members attacking her using the shock power she had siphoned from the monster to give them a stunning shock. Once done that she quickly looked for a vehicle she could use to get to the headquarters as quick as she could. The headquarters was located some distance away and it was best if she could get there as fast as she could which was best done by a vehicle. Most of the vehicles around there were in pretty bad shape bashed around by clan forces. She knew of one potential vehicle that had likely escaped damage. Rushing round to the alley behind her work she could see one of her restaurants shipping trucks still sitting there. The driver wasn’t there likely sheltering in the restaurant luckily though he’d left his keys in the vehicle. She wasted no time in getting the vehicle started and driving off. She had several blocks to traverse. The force had set up their base in the central police station as they had been heavily working with the cops. She thought she’d have trouble with vehicles on the road but luckily most had been shoved aside or flung off it by the clan. She managed to avoid hitting anyone however she did make it a point to hit and run over any monsters or clan members that got in her way. Even when run over these beings got up fairly unbothered with the act just cussing at her. As she got near the headquarters she was disturbed as more loud trumpeting went out. The sky then began to darken as thick dark clouds built up over the sky of the city darkening the city making it look almost like night there. As she reached the headquarters Skylor could see the place was crowded by clan forces who were probably trying to hinder or destroy their forces. The cops had set out crude wood and metal barricade walls they’d recently made of scraps of wood and metal to create a barricade to keep the enemies out and keep a safe and secure space in front of the station to operate in case of an attack like they were experiencing now. That wasn’t proving too good as some of the clan forces could fly and some could climb over the barricade. As she pulled up there she made sure to drive over a group out front of the barricade knocking them back. Once there she hopped out and got behind the barricade rushing into the building to talk with the leaders there to see what was going on.
“They’re overwhelming us. We’re calling in as many of our forces as we can but it will take them time to get here,” the head of the forces stated as he tried coordinating everyone there who were mainly the police dispatchers and force tacticians who were giving remote communications to all cop and force members out in the city. Most were isolated and overwhelmed unable to get far to come to the aid of others who were barricading and fighting inside buildings to keep the clan members and monsters out.
“We could really use the ninjas help,” one of the dispatchers commented and Skylor wondered, “how far away are they?”
“Don’t know we can’t reach them. The clan is disrupting our signals sent to them,” the chief of the forces commented and one of his tacticians noted, “the first sign of conflict disruption or destruction of communications… we should have known something was up last night when certain radio signals went down.”
“What do you mean?” Skylor wondered and the chief explained, “some of the coastal cell and radio towers were experiencing severe weather conditions. Some of them were badly damaged or even toppled and the storms disrupted radio waves. We didn’t think it suspicious that it was just bad weather but I don’t think that’s the case now.” Skylor then wondered, “the ninja were getting close to home… what are the chances the clan chose this time to attack the capital while they were away?”
“Wouldn’t be surprised but then why did they take so long? The ninja have been gone a couple weeks why wait till they are almost home?” the chief wondered and one of the force members commented, “maybe they were building up their forces? Maybe we got lucky and they weren’t fully prepared and are attacking while they have the chance?”
“I don’t care the reason. We need to focus on the now and keep them from taking the capitol. If they take this spot the rest of the continent will descend into turmoil and we could lose everything to these monsters,” the chief declared and Skylor expressed checking her phone, “they haven’t messed with local cell towers have they?”
“The police are on the way just stay there and don’t throw potato salad at the monsters. Just like wild animals don’t feed them they’ll come back for more… No the local cell signals are fine but so many people are calling the systems are overwhelmed and signals poor… Hello Ninjago PD what can I do for you, what do you mean mini Grundles have invaded the museum? No they look a bit like mini Grundles but they’re not…Feardrakes… lock them in the cafeteria with food tossed around if you can till help arrives that should distract them,” a dispatcher commented between answering calls. Skylor wondered, “if I got closer to a tower would I have a better signal?” One of the tacticians stated, “possibly.”
“Where’s the closest one?” Skylor asked and one of the dispatcher stated, “I think one of the skyscrapers nearby has a cell tower atop it.” Skylor went over to the glass doorway and looked up at the top of the nearby buildings. Due to their large height it was hard to see the tops but she was pretty sure one of them did have a cell tower on top. After a few minutes searching one of the tacticians came over to her to show her on his tablet a map with regional cell towers. He pointed to the nearest one. It was only a block away on a mixed commercial residential building. The lower floors had some shops while the upper floors were residential. She was going to make for that building. She headed out the door. She had to help the force members and cops fight back some of the enemy forces that were trying to break into their base in order to get out. To get over the barricade the clan had brought over one of their siege towers to climb over the barricade while one of the mammoths was bashing at the one section of the barricade trying to either smash through it or knock it over. It already had several holes in the barricade. As the forces started to enter the secure area those out there began retreating into the building as those inside began shutting the defence shutters for the lower levels to keep the forces out of the building. Using the lightening power she had siphoned from the crow monster she struck the siege tower lighting it on fire which as it was butted up to the largely wooden barricade walls the cops had built started parts of that on fire. The erupting fire startled the mammoth who knocked off its rider as it reared up in fright. Knowing she’d have trouble fighting her way a block on her own as the forces and cops were occupied and overwhelmed by clan forces while trying to get people to safety she came up with an idea. To control the mammoth the rider was using chains that were anchored into bracers attached at the base of the tusks which wound up onto its neck. She rushed over getting into a fight with the mammoths rider while the mammoth tried to defend them by attacking her. The rider was a Gnollsvic who wore fur armour like some kind of hunter and could wield a warhammer with one hand. Considering they were heavy built she didn’t find that too surprising; he was fitting the stereotype of pets looking like their owners. Fighting the rider and his pet was tough but she managed to take out the rider by giving him a shock then slashing at the back of his legs dropping him to his legs before stabbing him through the chest. Even after its rider exploded into a mist that disappeared the mammoth continued to fight her. She dodged its attacks getting to its one hind leg where she proceeded to climb up onto its back where she then crawled to the base of its neck where the chain rested. It went to reach up with its trunk at her but she slashed at its trunk with her sword making it pull its trunk away. She sat herself at the base of its neck and grabbed the chain. It tried reaching her a few more times but each time she struck its trunk away. It then tried to shake her off but she held onto its shaggy fur keeping from getting knocked off.
“Okay you’re clearly not on our side but I’m not going to give up so easily. Just co-operate with me for a couple minutes and then you can go back to trashing the city,” she told the beast which made a low grumbling noise. She was guessing it wasn’t happy but that didn’t matter. One way or the other she was going to get it to co-operate. She pulled on the one side of the chain tugging its head to the side to face where she needed to go. It was not happy but turned in the direction. Now she needed to get it to move. Using the power she had siphoned she gave it a mild shock to the back of the neck. It threw its head back and reared up in protest but Skylor held on keeping from getting thrown off. When it landed again she gave it another shock. This time it moved forward.
“There was that hard,” she proclaimed. As the mammoth moved forward she would pull on one side or the other of its chain to keep it in the right trajectory. The mammoth would move slightly to that side swinging its head in anger in the process. She quickly learned that by doing this she was able to get the mammoth to knock over some opponents mainly large monsters in the process. The opponents were quick to take note that she was controlling the mammoth and a few tried to intervene crawling up onto the mammoth to get her. The Huntsmen and Gnollsvic were easy to knock off but the Gorgayhurra (gorg-ay-yur-a), a strange parrot headed and armed serpentine, wasn’t easy. It climbed up secretly onto the mammoth and slunk to behind her to launch atop and coil around her just as she reached the building she needed to get into. To her misfortune the ground level already had the disaster shutters put down. She didn’t have time though to work around that as she had to find a way to break free of the Gorgayhurra which was trying to bite her with its powerful beak. She’d managed to get her sword arm up as it wrapped around her so she was able to shove her hand with the sword into the back of its moth hindering its ability to close its beak. She had her other hand on the chains for the mammoth however she could barely move it with the constriction from the Gorgayhurra which was tightening its coils to constrict around her as tight as it could to take her out of the struggle. Unable to break the Gorgayhurra’s hold she gave off a shock from the powers she had siphoned. This stunned the serpentine creature who loosened itself before falling off her and the mammoth which reared up in pain from the shock.
“Sorry about that but if your parrot faced snake friend had held off its attack I wouldn’t have had to do that now just co-operate a little longer and you’re free to go,” she told the mammoth as she urged it with the chains to stand next to the building so she could climb onto a window ledge of the second story. Once on the ledge she knocked on the window while clinging to the frame and slim ledge of the window to see if anyone was inside that could let her in. While everything from the second story up was residential that didn’t necessarily mean anyone was home then and it didn’t seem like anyone was. She’d have to break the window to get in. Before she could make a move though she was sent smashing through the window as the Gorgayhurra launched off the mammoth as it slowly moved off to plough into her from behind. They smashed through the window landing in some ones apartment. As they landed the Gorgayhurra quickly coiled around her and began squeezing tight. As she had been unprepared for the ambush she was unable to react in time to hinder the serpentines coil. It got tighter with each of her breaths making it harder and harder to breathe. She was struggling to breathe and her vision starting to blur when the creature let out a startled cry and loosened on her. It didn’t let her go but loosened up enough that she was able to breathe and regain her senses. She could see she was in the apartment of a family with three kids, two daughters and a son, who were huddled hiding against the wall in the kitchen of their open floor plan apartment. The father had smacked the creature in the back of the head with a frying pan when they had realised this creature had someone in its coils. This had distracted it with new targets making it loose interest in her. The father was still using the frying pan to smack the creature whenever it got close to them while the mother was hitting it with a baking sheet. Those weren’t hurting the creature but were irritating it making it let her go more so it could better attack them. Back to her senses and with the creatures grip loosened she manoeuvred her way out of the few coils it still had on her. The creature looked back at her as she got up clearly mad she’d got free. She hit it with a shock momentarily stunning it. While it was stunned she positioned herself between it and the family. The creature clawed and bit at them in attack and she slashed at the creature with each of the attacks to keep it back.
“Where’s the front door?” she asked them and the mother asked, “why?” Skylor explained hitting the Gorgayhurra back from one of its attacks, “I may need you all to make a run for it.”
“Over there,” the mother expressed pointing in the direction of the doorway as one of the kids through a glass jar of what looked to be a jam at the creature. The jar smashed against the Gorgayhurra’s beak breaking open and leaving some jam to drip off its beak while the rest fell to the floor. The Gorgayhurra was unharmed just annoyed so yelled at them showing off its hand claws scaring them all back into the counters Skylor holding her sword at the creature in case it made a sudden move. Before it could attack however it got distracted after licking some of the jam that was dripping on the tip of its beak off. It looked to like it. It licked the jam off its beak then began picking up the pieces of glass from the jar to lick them clean before throwing them away to then lick up the jam that had gotten onto the floor.
“What did you hit it with?” Skylor asked the kid who had thrown the jam who responded with, “peach jam.” Looking around the kitchen she noted an open picnic basket on the counter with some fruits, sandwiches, lidded bowls and containers. While monsters Gorgayhurra’s were very animal like so could be distracted by things they viewed as food.
“We’d been packing to have a picnic before the chaos,” the father stated as she went over to inspect the basket making sure to keep the creature in her field of view. The Gorgayhurra took note of her movement before noticing the basket.
“You want this?” she asked tilting the basket up to give the creature a better look at it. It moved closer to the basket so she picked it up. The Gorgayhurra watched the basket as she slowly moved back to the window they had smashed through. The Gorgayhurra moved away from them to follow the basket. Once at the window she waited a moment for the creature to get closer before tossing the basket out of the window. The Gorgayhurra wasted no time in lunging out of the window to wrap around the basket to land with it on the street below where it proceeded to dig into everything there getting into fights with other monsters looking to come and see what it had and see if they could get some.
“Sorry about the mess and the basket. You should probably sweep up the glass and find something to cover the window for the time being,” she expressed after a moment’s pause after turning to the family. They were scared and a little too stunned to reply. Only the father was able to express still shaken with, “that’s okay better it has that instead of us.” She quickly continued on her mission. She went into the hall where a small group of the apartments inhabitants had gathered to see what was going on in that unit. She rushed to the elevator managing to catch one from people from another floor that had come to see what was causing the commotion on that floor. She rode the elevator to the highest floor it could go, the twentieth floor; she then found the stairs for access to the rooftop. Unfortunately the roof access door was locked; fortunately though she’d seen in the hall an axe in a fire emergency box hung on the wall. She went and retrieved it breaking it out of the glass front panel and took it to the door. She used the axe the smash at the door handle damaging the lock and making it easy for her to break the door open. There was some of the Glowback and Corpse Bird creatures roosted up there just watching the chaos below. She hit them with a shock and they clearly were not up for a fight as that was all that it took to get them to fly off and leave her alone there. Once on the rooftop she went over to the cell tower anchored to the center of the roof. She pulled out her phone to get a look. The signal wasn’t at full bars but it was much better than it had been below. She quickly dialed up Kais number. The first time it didn’t go through. She tried again. To her joy it made it through…
The ninja were almost home. They were sailing the ship to save some fuel and take a calm break after having been through a serious storm the night before whose winds had been too intense to stay air born in. They were hoping the rest of the trip home would be fairly relaxing. Before heading to the Monastery they were going to stop at the capital to get some groceries. Not much was going on. They were all hanging around the control deck occupying their time till they returned to the mainland. Jay and Nya were driving the ship, Kai and Lloyd were having a tea brake with Wu at a table they had set up in the one corner to relax while Zane and Pixal worked on the computer trying to understand more of what they had found in that strange temple on the Dark Isle. Cole was hanging around the two to help them trying to make up to them for making them sick. It had taken two days to get the two’s systems healthy and properly functioning again. Sure he hadn’t been fully responsible for their ill feeling, those strange bug bird creatures had done a good deal for that, but he still had played a role in some of it. The two had been unwell for largely two days. Jay and Nya had to pull out of the two’s stomachs a beak and stinger from the strange bird bug creatures from each of them and had to repair damages to their throats from the creatures scratching them. The strangest part of their examinations of the two was they found the two inflicted with a minor virus disrupting their senses of balance and co-ordination. That wasn’t something that happened from them being fed something they weren’t supposed to. It was also confusing to the rest of them as the two had their anti-virus software up to date yet the virus had somehow bypassed that to embed itself in their droid siblings. The only thing Jay and Nya could think of that could have given them a virus was those wraith beings. Luckily Jay and Nya had no problem clearing the virus from their systems; it was an old simple virus that was easily cleaned from their droid siblings systems. The problems, mainly digestive, he had left the two with though were not something that could be quickly fixed. Despite his hand in making them sick Zane and Pixal insisted they had no ill feelings to him for his involvement in that but he still felt guilty and felt they were covering up their true feelings to not hurt his feelings.
Zane and Pixal were looking up all they could find on supposed strange portals and anything they could find about something holding a monster. Other than the tales revolving around the Sunless Dawn cult there was no mention of buried monsters in anything they could find. They were hoping they had something back at the Monastery that could give them some more information. They did however find out about places like that temple that held passages to other realms like the Fire Temple which housed a gateway to the Underworld. Ones like what they had gone through however appeared to be a much more complex and lethal gateways; it was a structure known as a Genesis Vault. Unlike normal places where the boundaries between realms were thin allowing safe travel between two realms like at the Fire Temple these Genesis Vaults held what could be described as tears between realms often multiple ones or these strange pocket realms as they had learned where aspects of realms merged together as echoes to the outside world. These Genesis Vaults as they had found were encompassed in a strange energy that could mess with electronics and local magnetic fields and seemed to have unpredictability within the structures that almost made it like the place had a mind of its own revealing, hiding or changing pathways to mess with those trying who tried to investigate them. Strange creatures and monsters were known to be witnessed in the areas around these vaults and they were suggested to be responsible for some mysterious disappearances over the ages. Outside this they could find little else on the vaults as due to how dangerous they were as they could lead anywhere and leave you trapped in foreign realms and were often located in remote areas little visited by the mass populace very little study had gone into them. Not only that but there was a good deal of superstitions and taboos about these places leading most to avoid going near them or working on them.
“Why don’t you guys take a break? We’ll have plenty of time to continue investigations when we get home plus probably some serious work. Might as well have some time to just chill while we can,” Kai told the two droids to which Pixal responded, “to us things like research is relaxing.”
“Okay but why don’t you have a seat while you’re doing it and maybe we could make you some tea or hot coco to have as well huh? And don’t worry we’ll keep Cole from making it,” Jay commented throwing in a joke to Coles dislike. While Cole was trying to help Zane and Pixal with their research he wasn’t doing too good having accidently closed pages they were looking at on the computers and shutting down searches they had the computer doing by pressing the wrong buttons or entering in the wrong codes. Plus he had kept asking them if they wanted his help. He was pretty sure he was annoying the two a bit. The two had given him one of the books they had brought on the journey about notable landmarks and structures of the Dark Isle to try and find what that temple had been. Because the Dark Isle was poorly studied they didn’t expect to find an answer in that book but they never knew so had him looking through it anyway. Cole was finding nothing and starting to wonder if they’d just given him the task to keep him from bothering them. He did have to admit he had been a little clingy and foreword to the two who were not used to being the center of attention like that nor being coddled like he had been doing to them. While ill despite not feeling the best the two had wanted the others to just continuing with their days and not get worried or bother with caring for them. The others respected this desire of the two though had to keep forcing the two to leave the daily work on the ship to the rest of them and take the time to rest till they were better as they insisted with continuing on as if totally fine even though their functioning was not at its best. He however had insisted on doing things for them, bringing them things to try and make them feel better and frequently checking on them to make sure they were okay. He’d bring them drinks like tea or hot coco with their medicine mixed in and wrap them in blankets while they rested to help them stabilize their temperatures as Zane had problems keeping his powers under control while not feeling at his best making the ship much cooler than it should have been. He kept forcing them to rest when he caught them up and about and often went with them if one of them went off on their own somewhere; he worried what could happen to them if they suffered balance or co-ordination issues or other functioning problems while alone even though Jay and Nya had told him they’d be fine. Zane and Pixal never said anything to him but he had picked up at times from their body language that the two were uncomfortable with his attention to them but they were too polite to tell him they were uncomfortable.
“I guess we could do that,” Zane commented after a moment of quiet as the two droids thought the idea over. The two then became agitated over their work. Looking to see what was bothering them Cole was amused at what he saw. The two had went to access the Library of Domu’s online archives however to access them the site was asking them to prove they weren’t robots. It was just a small box they had to click to get through but the two were stumped over it and acting anxious to it.
“What’s wrong?” Jay asked and Zane commented, “we’re not allowed to pass this. We are technically robots.”
“You can lie to those tests I’ve told you this before,” Jay stated and Zane commented nervous, “but then I would be lying.” Kai encouraged, “but it’s a harmless lie. You’re not stealing anything or committing a crime or wanting to do harm. Is it really a crime to seek knowledge? To seek the truth?”
“No,” Zane commented but he was still reluctant to interact with the test. Pixal commented confused, “this sites never asked us this before, why all of a sudden is it not allowing those like us to use it?”
“They probably are just upping their security due to recent events; honestly I wonder what’s taken them so long. You’d think they would have done it after the Nindroid Crisis,” Kai expressed. Jay commented, “just ignore that it says no bots and do what it wants. It just wants you to click in a little box right?”
“Yha,” Zane stated and Jay encouraged, “then do it.” Zane and Pixal were still highly confused and nervous about doing that.
“These tests are not trying to stop nindroids like you guys,” Cole expressed and Nya added, “yha they are made to stop bots.” The two droids were confused so Jay explained, “not bots like you. It’s those mindless bodiless and soulless software programs that are coded to do menial things online or in games like pretend to be peoples followers on social media, cheat in games, buy up tickets for things and sell them on different sites for ridiculously more expensive prices and probably why they have done this to hack into things to steal information.”
“Why would someone create a software to do that?” Pixal wondered and Jay stated, “it’s a human thing. We’re pretty sure you two wouldn’t understand.” The two were still too hesitant to do anything so Cole came over and gently took Zanes one hand holding it by the wrist and put it on the mouse pad. He could feel through his hand that Zane was putting up a bit of resistance wanting to pull his hand back still not comfortable with what he likely felt as a criminal act but he also didn’t want to rip his hand out of Coles possibly hurting him in the process. While Cole worked with Zane Kai got a call on his phone and picked it up. He was having a bit of trouble hearing who was on the other end as if they were frequently cutting out.
“You two are not bots like that so you have full permission to complete these questions like people and if anyone asks or questions you two you have our full permission to do this. Now we just move the cursor over like this and then we click the confirmation box like so and there you go you’re in and no harm done,” Cole stated as he led Zanes hand on the mouse pad to move the cursor to the box and click on it. He then let go of Zanes hand which Zane didn’t waste to pull away as if scared he would get in trouble. The site loaded up without a problem but the two still looked a little nervous.
“See that wasn’t hard. No matter what those sites or others say you two have full permission to answer those tests as a person would. You guys aren’t bots; you’re way more. You’re honorary people,” Cole expressed to the two. His words looked to calm the two and make them happy.
“How long would it take for us to reach Ninjago City?” Kai suddenly asked sounding worried as he got up and rushed towards the steering where Jay and Nya were standing.
“Probably ten to twenty minutes. You can just make out on the horizon where the city sits. Why?” Nya wondered and Jay asked, “yha looks like a storms hitting the area either that or the smog is bad today… who’s on the phone?”
“Skylor, apparently the city is under attack,” Kai expressed before telling Skylor how much time they had. The others were all shocked. Lloyd and Wu got up to rush over to the wheel Lloyd expressing, “what are you sure?”
Kai put his phone on speaker so they could all hear and Skylor came through to comment, “I don’t know about you but does this sound like a calm day?” They could hear the sounds of fighting and monsters come through the phone and the cities air raid sirens going off.
“That defiantly ain’t calm,” Jay commented before Pixal noted as she checked out the computers looking for any communications, “but no one has contacted us?”
“Cause they’re interfering with communications to keep anyone from contacting you,” Skylor explained and Nya noted, “hold on we’re going to speed things up and hopefully get there quicker.” She and Jay then got to work getting the Bounty air born and increasing their speed.
“We’re on our way. Where are you rate now so we can meet up?” Kai asked while Pixal worked on the computer. Skylor came through to state, “a block from the police headquarters. I’m on a rooftop so it should be easy to see me. I had to get up here to get a better signal.” After some searching Pixal stated, “we have her location.”
“We’ll be there…” Kai began to comment before they heard come through phone the sound of a Carnyx horn like the ones the clan used. Jay was quick to ask, “what was that?”
“Oh great what are they doing now,” Skylor expressed. Serious static came through the phone worrying them.
“Skylor… Skylor you there?” Kai panicked. Through the static a few words from Skylor came through but it was hard to make out what she was saying. As he, Pixal and Zane came over to the console Cole commented, “that doesn’t look good.” He was looking out the front window at the city as they approached. The haze they’d seen at a distance was a thick dark storm over the city that now was developing a fiery glow in its core as burning rocks like little meteors began to randomly fall from the sky setting fires within the city.
“Really not good,” Jay commented as they entered the cities outer limits, the harbour. As they entered the city they slowed down so they could safely move through large buildings of the inner city. The clan forces instantly took note of them as they entered the city and began to attack them corpse birds and one of the Skybax riders of the clan coming to attack their ship. With being attacked and a hail sized chunk of rock landing on the deck starting a fire they decided to take action.
“Wu take over here,” Nya ordered as she and the others began to rush out of the command deck in order to defend the ship. Wu didn’t hesitate to take over the controls of the Bounty while the rest ran out to deal with the enemies. Nya and Zane quickly put out the fires before joining the rest to take on the monsters. Apparently word that they were there spread quickly as more enemies came so no matter how many they took out or drove off at least one other was there to replace them including some new monsters they had not experienced before like a strange winged and feathered serpent and an un-dead humanoid crow beast.
“They really are pulling out some new tactics for this aren’t they,” Jay noted as they fought back the monsters. At first things were clearly tipped in the monsters favour but quickly it tipped in theirs as they noted Lloyd was starting to lose control. This had the monsters not only fleeing from the Bounty but avoiding it.
“Whoa okay there demon slayer,” Kai commented to Lloyd whose one eye had turned a purple colour and some of his skin was turning a black colour.
“There’s too many of them… and there’s this energy here… the clans using it to create all this destruction… it’s much worse than what they usually use,” Lloyd mumbled as he fought to keep control of himself. Wu then let them know they had arrived at the location as he pulled the ship up next to the rooftop Skylor was at and hovered it there. She waved at them as Nya stated through her communicator to Wu, “I think we’ll get off here. I think it best you take the Bounty out of the center of this chaos.” Some of them started hopping off the Bounty onto the roof of the building.
“Agreed, I’ll make for the harbour. When things are done here come see me there,” Wu stated. Lloyd was going to join the rest of them who got off the ship but Cole stopped him, “I don’t think you should go down there. If you’re having this much trouble up here then going down into the chaos below will be a disaster.”
“What am I supposed to do then?” Lloyd demanded the anger from his Oni side clearly showing. Thinking quick Cole responded, “help your uncle. He’s going to need cover to get the Bounty out of here then maybe you two can create a sort of shelter from those fleeing the clan by the harbour.” Lloyd was clearly angered at being told to stay behind but he seemed to have enough control of himself to agree to that idea. Cole then hopped off to join the rest on the building leaving Wu and Lloyd as the only ones on the Bounty. The Bounty headed off while their group headed into the building.
“So what’s going on?” Kai asked they headed in then packed into the elevator to get to the ground floor.
“We’re not entirely sure yet but we could learn more back at the base if we can reach it. They’ve made these large strange portals big enough mammoths and two story siege towers can come through them to get into the heart of the city with little effort. They built them rate beneath our eyes in broad daylight,” Skylor noted and Nya wondered, “how could they get them so deep without someone seeing what they were doing?” Skylor responded, “would you believe me when I say birds set it all up for them.”
“Normally no but the birds that serve the Lost Clan aren’t normal birds so that seems reasonable,” Cole noted and Kai wondered, “what do these portals look like? If we can shut them down we can hinder their forces.”
“I was thinking the same. You’ll see one of these portals. There is one not far from here,” Skylor explained as they got to the ground floor and quickly exited the elevator. A group of civilians and the towers guards were huddled in the lobby looking nervously at the danger shutters they had drawn over the doors and windows to the lobby. Something was on the other side trying to break in its efforts having bent the metal shutters and broken the glass behind them. The group in the lobby began to panic as the ninja opened the shutters wanting them to keep it closed but they did it anyway. They opened the shutters covering what had been the doorway prior to the creature on the other side ramming into it enough for them to get out. On the other side a group of clan members had gathered clearly aware they were there and had one of their armoured Soilteres there to ram into the shutters to break in. Once outside they wasted no time getting into a fight with the forces making sure to keep the forces from getting into the building. Once they were outside those inside closed the shutters not wanting to take risks. First thing they did was Cole used his lava arms to punch the Soiltere in the forehead as it came charging at them his punch sending it to fly backwards bowling over a few huntsmen and Gnollsvic before slamming into the building across the street and bursting into smoke signalling its defeat. Working together they quickly took out the group gathered there before continuing their quest to the Police headquarters. Along the way they made a slight detour to investigate one of the portals the clan was using. It was down a side street positioned over an intersection. Most of the forces had moved out from the area already leaving some Feardrakes as guards to the area which was empty of anyone else all having been scared away by the clans attack. They took out the Feardrakes and came as close to the portal as they dared. None of them dared get close or enter the blackish green tinted mist that spilled out of the large metal ring above forming a dark column directly beneath it that they could not see through. They could however feel a great unease from the structure and it made the area around it feel cold and unsettling. Just as Skylor had noted from the ones she had seen before the portals used four chains to anchor them. The chains were all at the height of the ring five stories up and had embedded themselves into the stone and concrete of buildings at the corners of the intersection around it each chain anchored into its own building.
“Birds built that?! It’s too big for them,” Jay commented and Skylor explained while Zane and Pixal made an analysis of the structure, “they carried it in as small metal chunks that they scattered through the city hiding them everywhere they could. When the attack started the clan used some kind of magic to put them together.” The others kept guard for potential attacks. Sure enough it wasn’t long till the clans forces began to move back onto the street to engage them clearly not wanting anyone to interfere with the portal.
“We cannot tell where the portal itself is coming from as it unsettlingly is not registering to our senses but we are picking up a major energy radiating from the column of mist which we believe is the physical portal itself. The ring and its anchor chains seem to be stabilizers containing and balancing out the portals energy to keep it stable here and prevent the highly unstable energy the portal is emitting from hurting the surrounding environment. The chain and ring are acting as the anchors to our realm from where ever they are coming from keeping it stable and secure here. If we do something to disrupt that stability the portals instability may just be its own undoing causing it to collapse in on itself,” Pixal explained as she and Zane finished their quick study of the structures. Cole wondered, “okay how do we disrupt them then?” The droids took a moment to think it over looking the portals over while the others kept the enemies back.
“The chains; if we break or dislodge them that may lead to the portal becoming unstable and it might collapse in on itself,” Zane hypothesized. Cole quickly stated after knocking back some enemies, “leave that to me.” With some punches to the ground he manipulated the ground to create some rocky steps up to the one chain. He ran up the steps to jump off the last one slamming his warhammer into the one chain. The links he hit broke apart. He then realised he hadn’t fully thought that through and now found himself falling terrifying him. Luckily for him Zane wasted no time in creating an icy slide to catch and take him safely to the ground.
“Thanks buddy; I should have better thought that through,” Cole commented as he took a moment to settle before getting back into the fight. Pixal kept an eye on the portal the whole time and noted that without the chain anchored into the building the ring began to tilt a bit to the side of the broken chain and the portal beneath became unstable the mist being less solid and waves like a green aurora crossing the mist a few times. Pixal stated, “that looks to have done something.”
“Okay, I’ll get one of the others but this time I’m going to try a different tactic,” Cole expressed rushing over to one of the buildings stowing his warhammer and activating his lava arms while the rest continued their fight against the enemies who now had one of their mammoth riders joining in the attack. He gave a punch to the wall of the building using his powers to manipulate the concrete of the building sending cracks up to where the chain anchored and crumbling the material the chain was anchored in. The anchor fell out with the material of the building. Again the ring lost some of its stability starting to slowly spin along with its tilt and the mist started to pour out from it all choppy. Seeing the success Cole did this again to another of the anchors building. With the third anchor lost the ring became unstable enough and its spin became strong and fast enough to tear the last anchor out of its building. The ring stopped emitting the mist and began to spin out of control getting faster the chains and anchors spinning with it smashing through the buildings at parts in the area or tearing grooves into the road as they spun forcing them all to flee out of the reach of the chains to escape their chaotic spin. As the anchors created their devastation some of the clans forces were caught by it being obliterated into mist by them. Even the massive mammoth got slammed aside colliding it into one of the side buildings taking parts of the building down with it as it collapsed onto its side before bursting to mist as the rubble from the building fell onto it. The ring kept getting faster a bright light forming in it before it burst with a bright flash all of them ducking and coving their eyes from the light. As the light dissipated they looked back to see the ring gone a mild dark mist being crossed by a few electric waves over it before it faded away vanishing.
“Okay they can be destroyed but it they create a good deal of destruction in the process,” Cole commented as they looked over the scene they had made. There was just a few clan members left for them to deal with their which didn’t take them long to remove. Once that was done they hurried to the police station. The place was a little worse from when Skylor had left it the barricading wall having been smashed down by a mammoth who was now working on breaking the defence shutters of the building while some of the defence forces units attacked it and its allies from the higher levels of the building. Despite having a ballista in its back behind the left shoulder and multiple arrows in its hide the mammoth seemed unbothered and just kept ramming at the building with its tusks. That was however till it picked up there presence turning to look at them with a low growl.
“Is it just me or does that mammoth look like it has a grudge,” Jay wondered and Skylor noted, “yha it probably does. I’ve got some history with that one.” The mammoth came charging at them. They dodged out of its way Kai wondering, “what did you do to it?”
“We can talk about that later,” Skylor stated as the enemies trying to get into the building switched their attention to their group. After a quick squabble they managed to clear the enemies even the mammoth which Cole, Zane and Pixal focussed on the droids using their advanced senses to as Cole termed it ‘sniff out’ a weakness to it in order to bring it down. With the immediate enemies removed the cops let them into the building as more of the enemies including riders on the backs of the clans strange horse lizards began heading towards them. Once inside the shutters were closed and those inside were able to brief them about what was going on.
“As you can see everything is in turmoil,” the general of the defence force stated as they were brought into the main booking room. Cops and force tacticians were working on computers trying to co-ordinate any possible way to stabilize the fighting. Everything was too chaotic and there was too many of the enemies forces for them to get things under control.
“We know how to shut down their portals so that should help slow their infiltration into the inner city,” Cole stated and the general asked, “which type of portal?” His question stumped them all.
“What do you mean by which type?” Jay asked and the general showed them a wall the forces had strapped covered with TV and computer monitors showing a multitude of things from news reports to sensors, maps and multiple security cameras from around the city. In the multitude of security footage they could see a couple different types of portal structures set up around the place. There was the ring and chain ones like what they had destroyed, a rocky arch like one with the portal held in the arch, a largely near circular like one on the ground that bore a spiky outer ridge on its metallic stone frame, metallic claw like projections that formed an incomplete arch that rose from the ground and a large metallic constructs resembling a dragons head the mouth wide open and coming out of the ground like a croc in water the portal held in the back of the mouth of the structure were just some of the forms to the portals these beings had made.
“Oh…” Cole noted and Kai expressed, “it’s like they anticipated we’d find a way to close their portals so they outsmarted us.”
“It’ll take too long to find and shut all those portals… what are we going to do now?” Nya commented annoyed by the clan looking to have outsmarted them.
“Well you could maybe start off by investigating what they are doing around the Temple of Fortitude. We’re picking up some serious energy near the location and before cameras in the area went down we caught this,” one of the tacticians stated loading up on the largest screen on the wall security footage from a building outside the park holding the Temple of Fortitude. It was angled looking at one of the entrances to the park. A large group of the clans’ forces including two mammoths pulling what looked like a very large structure covered by a tarp on a massive cart headed into the park. The group was led by a very familiar looking figure decked out in a reddish hooded cloak. At one point this figure looked back to order commands to their companions and when they did this the camera caught their face confirming who they felt this was. It was Rosic.
“What is she doing?” Cole wondered and the tactician stated, “don’t know but all cameras in the area have shut down and those calling in from the area are describing a strange energy in the park.”
“We’ll look into that. Maybe if we can stop their leaders they’ll back off,” Nya expressed. They were all in league with that idea. They headed out from the headquarters having to fight back some clan members and monsters including knocking over one of their siege towers they were pushing with mammoths towards the building to get into it. After clearing some of the threats from the clan they got into the delivery truck Skylor had drove to the headquarters to get a quick transport to the park. As they took off Jay wondered, “if Rosics here then is her brother here too?”
“Probably, I’m betting most of their forces are here,” Kai expressed and Cole wondered, “then where is he?”
Lloyd understood why Cole told him to stay back and he knew it was the best if he avoided interacting with the clan members, he was barely able to keep control in that setting, but the Oni in him had a serious drive to get into the fight and cause destruction to his surroundings. As a sign of his lack of control a good deal of his skin had turned black and he could feel small bumps on his forehead as if he was starting to grow horns and he had noted his nails were starting to look odd, kind of sharp like. His uncle kept calling him to come back into the cabin with him but he didn’t want to do that. He wanted to get into the fight and obliterate these monsters. He was pacing across the deck cursing at the clan members and using his powers to shoot at any nearby monsters that flew by the ship. The monsters all clearly sensed what he was and wanted to steer clear of him keeping some distance from the ship to keep out of his range but every now and then a few would sneak close to try and tear parts off the ship behind him. They could never get away with it though as his Oni senses which surfaced as his Oni side took over were quick to pick them up and Lloyd would waste no time in retaliating. He always made sure they’d pay by blasting the monsters to mist with his powers in a second. The energies from the clans attack and the presence of so many of the clan and their monsters around was overdriving his Oni nature. They were nearing the harbour when something caught his attention. He could sense something nearby that had his Oni nature highly agitated and aggressive; Kamal. He rushed over to the edge of the deck in the direction he felt the energy coming from and looked over the cityscape for any signs of that monster. He quickly picked up where that demon was hiding; it was like Kamal was calling to him as if he wanted to fight. Though he couldn’t see him Kamal was on a rooftop a few blocks back. He needed to get there. His uncle defiantly would not turn around and take him there; he was insisting that he just ignore it. He was getting the same feeling but able to resist it. Lloyd couldn’t do that. His Oni side had taken over and he felt he had to stop that being. Even his human side agreed to this. Kamal was the group’s leader. If he could take that demon out then maybe they could start winning against these monsters. He looked around and noted one of the Skybax creatures flying by without its rider. As if by instinct Lloyd focussed a power he didn’t even know he had to grab the creature through some dark energy manipulation and pull it to the Bounty throwing it down onto the deck. The creature was terrified and confused not understanding what was happening to it. Once it was there Lloyd got on its back as if to ride it and pushed his fist into its neck to choke it.
“You’re going to take me to that daemon of a lord who rules you filth or I’m going to show you what an Oni can do!” he demanded his voice no longer sounding human to the creature which looked back at him terrified and shaking. The creature nodded a confirmation and he took his fist off its neck as it got up. He held onto the strange saddle that lay on the creatures back which was strapped on by a leather with metal buckle loop around the neck with another round the tail as it crawled to the edge of the deck then took off into the air. It was clearly terrified of him as it headed straight for the building Kamal was on. He was on an eight story tall apartment building next to one of the canals of the lower city. The area was one of the poorer regions of the city and was in an even more worse state than it usually was thanks to the attack. Some buildings in the area were on fire, a few had been damaged by the strange meteor shower that had since ended and the canals had flooded the lower first story in the area thanks to some strange aquatic monsters that were working with the clan like Seastrells and strange multi-flippered creatures like what the others had seen in that strange pocket realm. Kamal was standing on the roof of the building which was the largest in the area as if waiting for him his eyes glowing the strange green the attackers had. They were all charged by some kind of energy for this attack. It watched him as the Skybax landed on the roof and bowed down to let him off. Once he was off the Skybax wasted no time in getting out of there.
“So half breed you couldn’t stay away could you,” Kamal proclaimed as he approached. Lloyd growled, “your conquest ends here demon.” Lloyd didn’t waste any time chatting and rushed in with his sword. Kamal was quick to combat him swiping his swing away. They got into a fight Lloyd not only able to stand his ground but sometimes getting the upper hand able to give cuts to Kamal an icy blue liquid coming from the wounds like some kind of blood; just more proof these things weren’t normal beings. Kamal gave him some cuts but with his Oni side in control they felt numbed and he could better fight through the pain. It wasn’t long before Lloyd managed to disarm Kamal knocking his sword from his hand. Lloyd felt pleased with himself till to his surprise Kamal began to laugh; it was an almost maniacal laugh.
“So you’ve let your demon side out; would you like to see my demon side,” Kamal laughed. He then threw his arms out in a threatening pose pinning his ears back and baring his teeth the strange greenish glow of his eyes getting brighter and changing to an icy blue colour. As he did this a strange energy erupted on his body forming ethereal horns on his head, spikes on the outer line of his arms, spines down his back and glowing markings appeared on the extremities of his arms and legs, around his eyes and on his chest. The ethereal aspects and markings were in an icy blue color and Kamals presence was bringing a chill to the air around him. While the strange ethereal manifestations resembled something like Lloyd would expect on a dragon on Kamal it made him look even more like a demon. Lloyd was suddenly starting to feel scared even his Oni side. He hesitated in making any move and in that hesitation Kamal rushed at him getting into martial combat with him. Lloyd got into combat but quickly found they were no longer a match for each other; Kamal was now the lead. Whatever state he had put himself in had made Kamal stronger, faster and more agile and he now was using magic like his sister could using it to pull Lloyd closer to himself to keep Lloyd from putting any distance between the two, using it to momentarily stun or scare him and hitting him with a strange flame that burned with an icy green color and he was unable to tell if it was cold in temperature or warm. He just knew it hurt. Despite Kamal now taking the lead Lloyd wasn’t going to give up. He continued to fight even when with his bare hands Kamal knocked his sword from his hand grabbing it by the blade to rip it from his hand. Kamal never seemed to have an interest in going back to his weapon in the fight sticking to his martial combat. Lloyd was forced to use martial combat even though he wanted to get his sword back. Kamal though wasn’t letting him have the chance to get it constantly pulling and manoeuvring him away from it. A few times Kamal almost knocked him off the roof but every time Kamal pulled him back on throwing him back to the center of the roof proclaiming they weren’t done yet. Kamal clearly wanted a fight. At first Lloyd did too and was keeping up with it willing to go as long as he could against Kamal even if they were going to stick to martial combat. No matter what Lloyd tried though even with the powers and strengths of his Oni side Kamal was too fast and strong for him to keep an even level with him. It wasn’t long till Lloyd could feel he was getting severely beaten up and oddly he was losing control of his Oni side like it was scared and going into hiding. It was an odd feeling as he was used to it trying to take and keep control not trying to retreat. He could feel as the fight went on with Kamal frequently getting the better of him and proving himself a greater monster than his Oni side both his natures were getting scared. He needed his Oni side to be in control; he could feel and knew his human side was no match for Kamal. As his Oni side retreated Lloyds skin began to return to normal, he lost the horns on his head and every hit Kamal gave him felt worse as if leaving greater damage as if his Oni side had much greater defence than his human side so was able to weather Kamals punches, kicks and claws better. If this continued and he was reduced to just his human self he would be unable to stand against Kamal and he was pretty sure he did not want to see what Kamal had planned to do with him. To try and get ahead Lloyd tried using his Spinjitsu but with bird like speed and precision Kamal grabbed him straight out of it by the collar of his shirt then tossed him with considerable force into the door for the roof access of the building. He hit the door with considerable force enough to knock it off its hinges and slam onto the ground sliding down to the first landing of the stairs behind it. Lloyd was left winded struggling to breathe and move from pain. He was pretty sure he might have broken ribs or at least serious bruising from that impact. He would probably be worse off if he still didn’t have some of his Oni side surfaced. As he lay there on the door he felt his Oni side give up slowly fading away. He could hear Kamal approaching down the stairs to get him. He was no longer in a state to face that daemon. He wanted to run but couldn’t. He’d just got his breathe back but was struggling to move in considerable pain and dazed from the fighting and slamming into the door when Kamal reached him.
“I yield, I yield!” he pleaded between gasping breathes to Kamal as he reached him. Kamal said nothing as he lifted Lloyd up by the collar of his shirt and dragged him up the stairs onto the rooftop Lloyd pleading along the way that Kamal spare him. He was willing to try a truce, a treaty or bargain, anything to have Kamal spare his life. He struggled to get the words out while taking painful breathes starting to feel that he may lose consciousness from his dazed and winded state. He had a strong feeling Kamal was not going to do anything good to him. Kamal brought him to the edge of the rooftop overlooking the canal below. Kamal then pulled his face up to meet Kamals. Kamal then growled at him, “you asked for this half breed. We gave you a warning to stay out of our way and you refused to listen. Now you will pay the price.” The next thing he knew he was falling as Kamal tossed him from the roof top. He fell into the waters of the canal the pain from his bruised body impacting the water causing him to gasp just as he landed before he sunk beneath the water looking up to see Kamal just looking down at him with a scowl from the rooftop. He tried to hold his breath but it hurt and he struggled too as he also struggled to keep conscious. The water looked dark, was it normally this dark he wondered or was it because he was losing consciousness. Things were getting darker and the last thing he remembered was jaws clamping down around his waist.
They were almost to the park when they had to come to a stop. The clan had built a barricade on the street leading to the park out of large tree trunks like those of a redwood laid down and interlocked onto each other to form a log wall two stories tall with log braces helping hold it up. These trunks however were oddly made out of metal not tree meaning they were some kind of construct of the clan. In front of the barricade were clan forces including one of their mammoth riders who all looked to be waiting for them.
“We don’t have time to fight all these monsters and climb around that blockage. We need to get into the park and stop them now,” Nya expressed as they stopped several meters from the blockade. The enemies wasted no time in heading towards them so Skylor backed up stating, “we can try another street.” She turned the vehicle around and made their way to another street that led to the park. Again that street was barricaded so they continued on to try another street. The strange meteor shower the clan had unleashed had at least stopped by then but it had led to fires springing up everywhere, damages to many buildings and combined with the clans actions left a great deal of rubble in many places.
“Looks like they thought ahead to stop us,” Cole noted and Kai began to ask, “what if they have all streets blocked? What do we…” The truck was suddenly bowled onto its side taking them all for a tumble. The truck came to a stop on its right side and all of them found themselves lying on its side.
“What was that?” Jay asked a bit winded from the sudden impact. His answer came as something hopped onto the truck and began clawing at it. They all quickly got up and exited the vehicle to confront the monsters. They were surrounded by a gang of Feardrakes including one that was much larger than the rest. It was a bit bigger than a Grundle; by the way it was snapping and snarling at the others of its kind they were guessing this one was some kind of general or ruler for its kind its larger size likely a result of its rank. This large Feardrake had head butted the vehicle over to stop them. The street they’d found themselves on was dominated by these creatures who looked to have made it a sort of den for themselves in the area. A strange dark rock substance with speckling and seams of a glowing greenish mineral in them had grown on some of the buildings down the street like some kind of vine making the street resemble some kind of rocky canyon and there was clear evidence some serious fighting had occurred there. Cars were totalled, a siege tower from the clan had been knocked over and was on fire, some of the Ninjago Defence Forces equipment and machinery were scattered around and badly damaged and there was even one of the large circular metal framed portals of the clan which had been destroyed. Behind this portal that strange rock substance had grown up to block off one of the streets that could have taken them to the park. The ninja were quickly drawn into a fight with the monsters as they got out of the vehicle.
“There are civilians here,” Cole noted after taking out one creature that had been distracted by something in a smashed car. Inside were two people hiding on the back floor of the car one of them having a chewed on leg from the creature.
“We can’t take them with us; can they get out on their own?” Nya asked taking out a few of the Feardrakes with Jays help. She flooded an area where a group of them were standing before Jay shocked the water shocking the creatures.
“I don’t think so,” Cole noted as the two people got out of the vehicle behind him while he took on three of the Feardrakes that came at them. The person with the injured leg couldn’t walk on the damaged leg and their companion was in pretty bad shape too. As they fought back the Feardrakes they all found people most often injured scattered around the area often trying to hide behind or in vehicles or broken rubble from buildings. They’d all been unfortunate to get trapped outside and cornered by the monsters before they could find safety in a building all of which had locked up to keep the monsters out which hadn’t proved that efficient as winged monsters had gotten into the upper floors and the Feardrakes had climbed up to upper levels to brake in and pull people out of apartments to trap in their den site. Whenever one of them came upon a civilian they pulled the person aside and brought them to the safety of the truck. They soon had about 20 individuals ranging from elderly to as young as three years in age that they were protecting from these creatures all of them having been dragged there by those creatures as if they had been collecting them to feed on when the fighting was done. Luckily the ninja were taking a considerable dent to the monsters population and were getting close to clearing the Feardrakes out of the area however that was when the leader decided to get into the fight. As it was much bigger than the other Feardrakes it could leave much greater damage and pain with its attacks plus it was more resilient to theirs. To hinder its movement Zane tried to keep its limbs frozen. It was with a bit of work able to break through the ice however with fairly decent ease but the process of breaking free distracted it momentarily enough for them to get in some attacks on it. They took out the rest of the normal sized Feardrakes before focussing on the big one. It was proving rather difficult to take down till Jay noticed nearby one of the ballista’s from the Defence Force lying nearby. It was damaged the large flat cart like base it had been mounted to move it busted the one front corner smashed and the wheel missing so it tilted to point down to that corner but most of it especially the part that shot the bolts was still intact and looked usable; seeing that Jay got an idea. He called Zane and Cole to help him. The three went over to the device while the rest kept the lead Feardrake occupied.
“What are we going to do with this it’s broken,” Cole expressed and Jay responded looking in the rubble around it for one of the bolts, “it still looks fairly usable though. The important shooty part looks to still work. Cole you just need to hold up the broken corner while Zane shoots it.”
“And what are you doing,” Cole asked as Jay pulled out one of the ballista bolts from the rubble and Jay replied, “I’ll help you move and support it.” The others decided to give it a try; this Feardrake was a lot tougher than those they normally faced so any heavy aid such as this machine could be helpful. Jay helped Zane load the bow of the ballista and prep it before hopping off the platform it was bolted to. Using is super strength Cole lifted up the corner of the construct and held it up using himself to fill in for the missing wheel of the platform. Jay came to help him hold up the corner and together they manoeuvred the machine so it pointed towards the Feardrake who was distracted by the others.
“Aim for its chest,” Jay commanded and Zane replied a little annoyed at Jay, “you do not need to tell me where to aim. I know precisely the key points on most organisms anatomy to take them down.” Cole joked before expressing, “best not let the public know about that… can we hurry this up. This machine is heavier than it looks and hard to keep a grip on.” Zane took a moment to aim the ballista before shooting it. The bolt hit directly in the creatures side rate behind the arms and as it was unprepared for the hit the impact knocked it off its feet and onto its side. The bolt must have hit something vital as after it came to rest on the ground it exploded into mist indicating it had been defeated. With it taken out the three left the ballista and headed back to the others.
“Okay now that’s done with what are we going to do to get into the park?” Kai wondered and Cole wondered, “maybe we can get through here.” He went over to the stone wall that blocked the road and after a moment to assess it he used his lava arms to punch a considerable hole into the wall. The wall was not that thick and to their luck there was no blockade or enemies on the other side. It looked like the clan had deemed the minor rocky construct they had put here would be enough to keep them out.
“What about the people? We shouldn’t really leave them in the open,” Skylor noted and Nya suggested, “we could leave them to shelter in the truck till we get back.” Pixal questioned, “what if while we are gone enemy forces return?”
“Do you think any of you could drive if you had to?” Kai asked the people. A few felt that they could. Kai then asked Cole, “do you think you could get the truck back on its wheels.”
“No problem,” Cole expressed. He then went over and with help from Zane and Skylor who made sure it didn’t tip over lifted the truck up and got it back up right. With the truck up the civilians started to climb into the vehicle.
“There now if any trouble arises they can get out of…” Kai began before a crossbow bolt bouncing off the vehicle stopped him. Looking to see where that had come from they looked to see approaching from both sides enemy forces. They’d clearly been drawn in from the sounds of their fighting the Feardrakes. The enemies came in quicker than the people could get onto the truck forcing the ninja to fight them back so the people could get onboard.
“We don’t have time for this,” Cole complained as they fought back the enemy. As if to testify his complaint they heard one of the clans Carnyx horns go off and a strange noise come from the direction of the park.
“We are picking up a rising and strong energy coming from the park,” Zane expressed and thinking quickly Cole decided as the final few people got on the truck, “they should be fine now. We’ll give them a break to get out of here then head to the park.” Using their Spinjitsu tornadoes they cleared a space for the truck and using his powers Cole punched the ground to raise up two stone walls to create a sort of tunnel to protect the vehicle and give them a path out from the enemies. With that done they hurried over to the hole Cole had made in the wall. All but two made it through the hole. Kai and Skylor were shocked to find themselves tripped as they ran with the others and rock pillars sprung up over the hole blocking their way through the hole to follow the others. Looking at what had tripped them they were surprised to find one of the clans sorcerers had manifested dark energy vines that had wrapped around their legs to pull them down. With the two separated the sorcerer let its spell go letting them up. The two were then backed against the truck which hadn’t been able to get very far before one of the enemies Gorgayhurras lunged into the cabin to attack the one who was driving it forcing them to stop. The two pulled the parrot snake out of the vehicle tossing it at some of the enemies who encircled them…
The others were unaware Kai and Skylor had gotten separated till they were about to enter the park. Jay just happened to look at the others feeling for some reason that something was wrong when he noticed it.
“Wait where’s Kai and Skylor?” he wondered causing them all to stop and look around. Nya commented, “they were just behind us weren’t they?” They couldn’t see the two and though they wanted to go back and get them they knew getting to Rosic and seeing what she was setting up in the park was the most important thing to do at that moment. Cole ordered, “they must have gotten separated. We can’t help them now though we have to stop whatever those things are doing before they can complete it.” Putting aside their worry for their friends they rushed into the park. There they found what Rosic had been doing. They stopped a few meters from her to assess what they were seeing scared of the uncertainty over what it was. On the center of the path just in front of the Temple of Fortitude the clan had erected a massive three story tall metal structure. It bore some resemblance to a totem pole however it clearly wasn’t one. It had a somewhat rounded base with four fused together poles coming out of it each ‘pole’ topped by a rather simplistic frilled dragons head the mouth of which was wide open and the eyes were made of green gems that bore an unsettling glow. Lightening like cracks were on the outer surface of the pole revealing a green mineral deposit inside the structure which erupted as four entwined short spires made of a glowing green gem material. From this material erupting from the center of the center of the structure was an unsettling green energy that rose several meters up into the sky slowly fading out of the visual spectrum though Zane and Pixal could pick up that in both the UV and thermal spectrum the energy could still be seen reaching all the way up into the clouds which were swirling centered around the center of this structure. The wind was picking up around this structure and it felt like it was spreading a chill out from itself. In front of the structure standing ready to fight with her staff like she was waiting for them was Rosic her eyes glowing with the same strange glow the rest of the clan members had. She was not wearing her robe letting them see her short but shaggy reddish hair.
“We were wondering when you would show up,” she proclaimed before rushing at them before they could make a move. She swiped at Nya with her staff making her duck to avoid getting a hit.
“Hey don’t you want to have a talk first,” Jay expressed as he went to punch Rosic but she quickly whipped her staff to smack him in the abdomen with such force she took him off his feet and flung him over herself to land on his back winded a few feet away. She dodged Zanes shurikans even though she wasn’t looking at him when he threw them and in retaliation she hit him with an energy blast that tossed him back several feet. Using her staff she was able to block and parry every swing of their weapons that Cole, Pixal and Nya used on her. While she was distracted with the three Jay zapped her. This stunned her and in her momentary stun Cole used his lava fists to punch her back into the structure. While that would have been an end to the fight of a normal person as always for these monsters that just briefly stunned her and she got up laughing with an almost maniacal laugh.
“That was a good warm up. Now for phase two,” she proclaimed. She tossed aside her staff. She tugged her arms in for a second before throwing her arms out in a threatening pose her ears back and baring her teeth the strange greenish glow of her eyes getting brighter and changing to an electric yellow color. With this move of hers a strange energy erupted over her body forming ethereal horns on her head, spikes on the outer line of her arms, spines down her back and glowing markings appeared on the extremities of her arms and legs, around her eyes and on her chest. The ethereal aspects and markings on her body were a dark blue with yellow tips. The ethereal manifestations resembled something they would expect on a dragon but on Rosic especially with her manner and current pose made her look more like a demon.
“What did she just do?!” Jay expressed startled. None of them had seen any of the clan members do this before so they were unsure what it was but could only guess it was some kind of magic state. Scared of the unknown to what she had done none of them wanted to be the first to engage her however she was happy to make the first move. Rosic wasted no time in continuing the fight launching at Jay who was unprepared for the speed and force she came at him with getting knocked back from her punch. He could feel an electrical energy to her presence like she was emitting an electrical field around herself. Cole went to take a swing at her with his hammer before in mid swing letting go of his weapon in surprise as the hammer had a luminous blue plasma that emitted an electric crackling sound on it as he got close to Rosic.
“What the…?” was all he could say too startled to say anything else. He’d never seen that happen with his hammer before. While he was startled Rosic pounced on him knocking him to the ground declaring as she did, “you like my dragon powers.” She then launched off him to get into martial combat with Nya moving with lightening speed and too fast for Nya to keep up resulting in Rosic quickly knocking her weapon from her hand, roughing her up a bit before punching her off her feet and onto her back.
“That looked like St. Elmo’s Fire. An electrical phenomenon associated with strong electric fields or before lightening strikes,” Zane explained as Cole got up and got his hammer which no longer had the strange plasma on it. Rosic went to attack Zane and Pixal but the two kept dodging and trying to escape her clearly scared of her in this state. If she was emitting some kind of electrical field the others could understand why the two droids were scared to directly interact with Rosic. Pixal stated, “whatever she’s done she seems to be emitting a strong electric field now.”
“You two scared of it,” Rosic boasted and Cole expressed, “leave them alone.” He charged at her and jumped onto her back wrapping his arms around her to restrain her but within seconds he felt a surge of electricity go through him. He collapsed on his back dazed from the attack while Rosic laughed at him. While he lay dazed he was gripped with fear as he felt himself being lifted off the ground. Rosic was using one of her spells to lift him off the ground with a whip of energy. She then tossed him into Zane and Pixal using this energy letting the spell go as he knocked into the two bowling them over and leaving the three in a jumbled pile. Rosic began to laugh at them. Nya and Jay came at Rosic. With lightening speed Rosic countered their attacks while Cole, Zane and Pixal got up. Rosic grabbed Jays nunchucks as he swung them at her spinning around taking Jay off his feet spinning him with her a full circle before she tossed him aside into some shrubs nearby. She blasted Nya back to land in the shrubs on top of Jay. Cole decided to take some punches at her while Zane and Pixal got distracted picking something unnerving up. Rosic countered everyone of Coles punches and kicks before blasting him back with her magic sending him to land on his back a few feet away. Before he could attempt to get up Rosic used her energy whip spell to grab Cole around the one ankle then whipped him to behind herself a portal opening behind her as she did this so she ended up flinging Cole through it where she then ended her spell and the portal closed.
“Where’d she just send Cole?!” Jay wondered panicking a bit as he and Nya got up cleaning leaves and sticks off them in the process. They were down now to just four of them and clearly whatever state she had put herself in had made Rosic much worse to deal with than normal. They were likely not going to stand a chance against her for much longer especially if they kept loosing everyone.
“It’s a trick! She’s distracting us while they set up their major work at Borg tower; we need to get there and stop them before it’s too late,” Zane declared before he and Pixal took off rushing out of the park.
“Wait what?” Jay wondered he and Nya confused by the twos actions Nya calling to the two droids as they rushed off, “wait we need to stick together.” The two attempted to follow their droid siblings but a bluish green flame erupted in their way spreading to encircle them and trap them with Rosic who was cackling like a hyena.
“I was wondering how long it would take before those two figured it out,” Rosic boasted using her magic to pull her staff back into her hands as she lost whatever state she had put herself in the ethereal aspects and glowing markings disappearing. She then wasted no time in continuing her fight with Nya and Jay. They continued to fight for about a minute before they heard a Carnyx horn. Jay and Nya stopped fighting to look around wondering what that sound signified. Rosic just stepped back from them and stood at ease.
“What did that mean?” Nya wondered before they heard what sounded like a large explosion and a bright light flashed across the sky. As the light flashed Jay felt an intense pulse of electrical energy go through him causing him to express, “I think they let off an EMP.” While looking around trying to figure out what was going on the totem tower caught their attentions. A black mist was pouring out of the dragons mouths at the top of the tower.
“What’s going on?” Jay wondered. Rosic looked pleased as she just stared at them. The next thing they knew a wave of dark fog washed over the area. Jay and Nya clung close so they wouldn’t lose each other as the fog swept over them. The fog was so dark and thick as it arrived they couldn’t see more than their arms length away feelings of dread and great fear coming over them. This dark thick patch soon swept past lightening up a bit and visibility increasing to a couple meters away. As the fog lightened the two were disturbed to find Rosic had vanished. They were alone left near the strange totem whose creepy greenish glow was still being emitted making the fog around them feel even creepier. They were scared and unsure what to do now.
Notes:
The story about Hackmouth is inspired by the quest done in TES Oblivion called A Shadow over Hackdirt. It's a cool creepy quest inspired by the Lovecraft story Shadow over Innsmouth. I always try to save the character Dar-ma in that quest but that can be rather hard due to some of the NPC's in the town.
If you want to know what a Carnyx sounds like here's a clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRIQp4qZrrE
When creating the pocket realm the ninja ended up in I wanted an environment that would not only feel real like something that could exist but felt familiar yet alien to give the sense they are somewhere strange. While not gone into during the prequel the environments they visit here, both the caverns and the valley and dock forests, are environments from the Lost Realm. The pocket realm they fell into is a mix of Ninjago and the Lost Realm particularly regions apart of the Sheogorad Isles with bits of the Void seeping in.
Their exploration of the ruins was inspired by the delving of ruins in the Elder Scrolls games particularly the Bleak Falls Barrow and other nordic ruins in Skyrim.
The year without a summer was a real thing. It occurred in 1816 when the year prior mount Tambora blew. These Volcanic Winters have occurred a couple times in the past 10 000 years with the worst recorded being the Volcanic winter of 536 which lasted years and brought about the Justinian Plague; the earliest written recorded outbreak of the bacteria that also caused the Black Death Yersinia Pestis. The quote Zane gives comes from quotes from real scholars, mainly from the Roman Empire, from 536 describing what they experienced and saw during that time.
It wasn't the shades who gave Zane and Pixal the virus. It was the Vespar creatures but they don't know this yet; they've never encountered them before.
Chapter 5: Clan of the Lost chapter 3: Fall of the Ninja
Summary:
After I finished the original story and started on a sort of epilogue story a prequel to the story came to mind and I started working on it. This is that prequel.
Things didn't go well during the battle in Ninjago City. Now trapped in a dark fog the ninja joined by Skylor each have to find their ways out of the city if they are to have any hope of continuing their endeavor however something is hunting them in this fog.
Notes:
You do not need to know anything from the original story as this is a prequel to it.
Pictures relating to story can be found here: https://www.deviantart.com/nerdy-hyena/gallery/72478681/story-project
They are really good and help to visually flush out several aspects of the story including environments, characters, outfits, locations, creatures and other aspects often important ones in the story. All images I post in my work can be found there if you want a better look at them. Defiantly make sure to check them out.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
“What do we do now? I don’t think this fogs going to clear any time soon and there’s something off to it,” Skylor noted. Kai agreed, “yha I feel it too and is it just me or has it gone oddly quite?” Other than the sound of Kai trying to contact the others through his communicator there was an odd and eerie silence to the area. It wasn’t right. Before the fog had rolled in he and Skylor had been fighting back the clan members that had surrounded them trying to clear a space to get the truck out of there and get the people hiding in it to safety. The monsters had them cornered against the back of the truck surrounding them and even perched on the truck ready to attack when the sound of a Carnyx went off quickly followed by great thunder as if the sky had been split apart. The sound had caught everyone’s attention and strangely the members of the clan stopped their fighting just standing there waiting. If that wasn’t confusing enough for about a minute a dark fog slowly started to materialize around them before a large wave of this dark fog then rapidly rolled in from somewhere in the inner city encasing the area in a dark thick fog that swept in blinding them with its thickness for a few moments before thinning to a poor visibility of several meters in the fog. The fog was more than just hindering to visual distance. It brought unsettling feelings of unease and dread to all that it encased. Even worse the enemy had disappeared. They had disappeared during the brief moment of blinding fog. They had no clue what happened to the monsters; where they went or if they were coming back to finish them off. Kai had been quick to contact the others.
“I can’t reach anyone,” Kai noted after several failed attempts to get through to anyone. All he was getting was random static.
“This fog could be hindering signals,” Skylor noted and Kai stated, “that’s not good.” He looked around for a moment thinking about what to do. The place was empty; no one on the streets and no monsters. The fires that had existed in the city were out smothered by the fog. It was just them and those in the truck in the area. If this fog was hindering their communication it was likely affecting the others as well. This fog was clearly a sign they had lost this battle. The clan had likely summoned it to create a cover for their actions making it nearly impossible for them or their allies to co-ordinate attacks or fight back. Even though he didn’t want to resort to it he wanted to continue the fight and win the battle but he knew it was the only option they had left. They needed to retreat. They’d lost this round and needed to fall back to regroup and think out a winning strategy.
“I think it best we fall back for now. We can’t contact the others, we can barely see and things are too silent; I wouldn’t be surprised if they are planning something. We can get these people out with the truck and maybe help those we come across but I think we have to face it; we’ve lost the city. Hopefully the others will find their way out as well,” he declared and Skylor agreed, “sounds like a plan.” She turned to those in the back of the truck telling them, “don’t worry we’ll get you all out of here.” She got down out of the truck and closed the back before she and Kai got into the cabin Skylor taking the driver’s side. It took them a few tries to get the engine going; looked like the fog was having a bit of a negative effect on the engine. Once they got it started they slowly made their way towards the outer reaches of the city. They kept beneath the speed limit as they could not see very far and didn’t wish to compromise the vehicle. Without it they would not be able to get some of those they had out of the city. They would either get lost in the fog to have who knew what happen to them and some of the individuals couldn’t walk from injuries. They kept the windows rolled up nervous of what might try to ambush them through the fog. As they travelled they kept an eye out for hazards or anyone in need of aid while Kai kept trying to see if he could reach anyone; still nothing. The fog had everyone uneasy so to calm people Kai decided to put the radio on hoping to find something relaxed on it. The fog appeared to be hindering radio signals making it hard for him to just a station. A couple times something strange came through the trucks stereo. Clips of audio from songs, possible radio communications though they couldn’t understand much of what was being said as it was chopping and not very clear, strange beastial noises a few times came through and at one time an unsettling deep and clearly un-human voice uttered through the stereo ‘the seal hath broke, behold the steeds of doom’.
“What was that?” Skylor questioned while Kai fiddled with the radio trying to figure out what was going on. The radio acting up was further unsettling their moods which were already pretty frayed from the conditions they were in.
“I think it’s picking up a station somewhere,” Kai commented unable to pick up whatever signal had given that voice further commenting, “I think it was just one of those radio story things or maybe someone’s podcast.”
“Given the conditions what twisted mind would think to put something like that over the air waves,” Skylor expressed Kai agreed with, “yha or it was just from the clan trying to mess with us.” Skylor brought the truck to a sudden jolting stop. Kai looked out the front window to see what was going on. There were three people there by the side of the road who had fallen back to get out of the way from the truck as they had tried crossing the road in front of it. The one looked to have a broken leg and his two friends were helping to move him. Kai and Skylor got out of the truck to help them.
“Is it just you three out here?” Skylor inquired as they helped the three to the back of the truck and helped them in.
“We haven’t seen anyone else,” the one individual commented. They were quick to note as they got out of the truck the area had an unpleasant odour and there were plenty of flies in the area which kept trying to bite them and everyone else.
“Not a nice place to get trapped in huh,” Kai commented swatting away flies from them as he and Skylor got the three in the truck. The one individual commented, “it wasn’t like this a few minutes ago.”
“Well we’re getting out of here,” Kai stated as they closed the truck. He and Skylor then headed to the cab to get moving again. On his way to the front Kai paused noting a pool of water on the ground. That wouldn’t have been strange if it had rained recently but it hadn’t and they were in the higher regions of the city away from the coasts and canals. Not to mention this water didn’t look right. There was a dirtiness to it like stagnant pond water and the flies were hanging around it not to mention without getting close to it he could smell it was not pretty smelling. Investigating it more he noticed a city drain was not too far from the puddle.
“One of those sea monster creatures the clan has must have come up out of there during an attack. That means then this could be sewer water; no wonder the smell,” Kai talked to himself. He made sure to cautiously walk around the puddle so he didn’t step in it.
“I would have hated ended up fighting here earlier. Looks like something came out of the sewers around here,” he expressed getting into the cab. Skylor was already in there but even once he was in she didn’t continue to drive instead just staring ahead into the fog not responding to him when he asked what was going on. He looked into the fog ahead of them to see what she was seeing. For a reason he didn’t fully understand his blood ran cold. A rider stood there in the fog ahead of them; a rider on horseback. They were just close enough they could vaguely make out the riders form but still far enough away that they couldn’t make out much detail to them. It looked to be moving closer to them. As it got closer they could make more of the figure out. The rider was dressed in dark damaged attire. It looked to be black in color or close to it. The attire consisted of ragged pants the last third of which nearly torn to nothing with a robed top which along with being hooded split in the front at the waste and had the lower third of the bottom largely missing and tattered. Another top went over the robe with only about half still covering the body core and the lower third of the arms were tattered and gone just like the legs. This top was split in the front with the edges along this split crudely sewn together in the middle with the bottom of the shirt torn up like the bottom of everything else. The top of this shirt bore a large round metallic medallion. What was on the medallion they couldn’t really tell but another vile of something hung from behind this medallion. On the sash that went around their waste were what looked like vials filled with some kind of liquids they couldn’t identify strapped into it along with a pouch of something on its size, a metallic fastening resembling a ravens skull and a bell. Despite the missing patches of attire the figures skin could not be seen as old darkened bandages covered all of the body wrapping it like a mummy and the face was covered by a very distinctive kind of mask. The raven headed looking plague mask utilized through historical times by those that worked around carriers of plague and other health hazards. A sickly greenish glow was coming from behind the glass covers over the eyes of the mask which looked like black voids. Upon its back there looked to be a quiver however they could see no bow for it to use. Not only was the rider strange but their horse wasn’t just some normal horse. It was pale, almost a sickly white with patches of skin bare and scarred by mange with large tears in the skin glowing with the same sickly green as its and its riders eyes. Open sores being pestered by flies clustered in some areas of it skin, the one ear was torn in half the skin by the tear blackened by rot and infection, the mane was all but gone only a few unhealthy strands left of it and the tail was missing all its hair exposing the short skin and bone structure of a horses tail. Its saddle was just a dark torn cloth strapped around its sickly looking skin. It had a dark worn leather bridle and oddly parts of its legs particularly the thighs and lower regions of its hind and front legs bore worn bandages like those that covered its rider.
The rider got about two meters in front of them before stopping to stare at them; rider and horse staring with a highly unnerving glare. The two felt these figures were staring straight into their souls further unsettling them. A smell of sickness started to come over the area and there seemed to be a good deal of flies outside the truck now.
“What should we do?” Kai asked not taking his eyes off the figures. After a moment’s pause Skylor commented, “well for one I get the feeling we shouldn’t go out there and face this thing.” Kai was getting the same feelings. These figures clearly were not mortal beings. The figures were fairly motionless for a few minutes just staring them down before the rider held up his arm. Flies swarmed to him merging together and changing from many organic beings to a single inorganic item; a bow. The rider then pulled an arrow from his quiver and aimed the bow at them.
“Like the festering puss of a wound you must be cleansed for the damage to be healed,” the figure spoke his voice deep and clearly inhuman. He took a shot at the them his arrow piercing the truck penetrating the metal with ease and getting stuck in the console rate in the radio. Without thinking Skylor quickly put the vehicle in reverse and backed up as fast and safely she could ploughing through some parked cars to get out of the area in the process.
“His arrow could pierce metal like it was nothing!” Kai exclaimed looking at the part of the arrow sticking out of the radio. It was dripping some kind of foul liquid out of its metal. As Skylor came to a stop to think about what to do next Kai looked for something to grab the arrow and get it out of there. He had a strong feeling they didn’t want whatever this arrow was leaking to be leaking into the cab with them. He found some napkins in the glove compartment and used a few to create a barrier between his hand and the arrow as he grabbed what he could of it trying to avoid the point. He worked as much as he could out of the console having to break it leaving the last third in the console before opening the door on his side to throw it outside.
“Do you think we lost that thing?” Skylor questioned as he did this. They took a moment to assess their surroundings. The fog was too thick to see much ahead of them and sounds were muffled. After a few moments they could swear they could hear the sounds of hooves rushing towards them. Kai quickly closed the door seconds before an arrow pierced the one front light of the truck.
“I don’t think we lost him!” Kai expressed. Within seconds the rider was rushing out of the fog and stopping rate in front of them his horse rearing up in display its call sounding like an unsettling mix of horse and crow and the smell of sickness filling the area.
“Hold on,” Skylor expressed she backed up a bit before speeding around the rider. At first they thought they were going to be able to get away, there was no way this rider could keep up with them. To Kais shock however when he looked in the trucks side mirror this rider was rate on their heels and showing no signs of slowing.
“How fast are we going?” he questioned. Skylor wondered, “heading towards 70 km why?”
“Horses can’t run that fast can they?”
“What do you mean?”
“Whatever that thing and its steed are I don’t think they are mortal,” Kai expressed as the rider shot an arrow that broke the side mirror of his side off. They drove a few more minutes a few arrows hitting into the truck. After a notable pause in the hits Skylor asked, “is that thing still following us? I need to slow down so we can get on the highway. I can’t turn at these speeds.” Kai took a look out his window. He couldn’t see the rider behind them anymore. With that conformation Skylor brought the truck to a steady stop shaking from the experience.
“Would you like me to take over the driving for a while?” Kai asked. After a moment’s pause Skylor replied, “sure.” They didn’t dare exit the vehicle in case that rider was not too far away so they had to crawl over each other to get to the opposite side. They sat for a moment to get their bearings and calm down from the chase. Kai then drove the truck till they got to an intersection.
“A few more blocks and there is an entrance to the highway from here,” Skylor commented noting the street signs on the posts. Kai wondered, “think it will be safe to take the highway? Sections of it might have been collapsed during the attack.”
“True… look out!” Skylor expressed pulling Kai down to the cab floor seconds before an arrow shot through the side window of the truck on Kais side shattering it in the process before shooting through the cab to shatter the window on the other side and continue into a building.
“What was that?!” Kai exclaimed as they sat up fear gripping him as he saw the rider rush from the intersecting road to the driver’s side window rearing up in display. In defence Kai hit the rider with a fireball. To his shock however the rider was not only unharmed but even revelled in the act as fire erupted on parts of it and its steeds bodies the fire changing to a sickly yellow green color. With an unsettling laugh the rider declared its voice sounding to take joy in the attack, “you’re powers have no effect on a rider of doom now prepare for your cleansing.” Kai didn’t wait and took off hoping to lose this unearthly rider.
‘It’s mine I caught It,’ an inhuman voice snarled followed by another inhuman voice growled, ‘I’m willing to fight for it are you.’ He could then feel himself being knocked around and stepped on by something. The weight and impact from whatever it was on him helped him to cough up the remaining water that had gotten in his lungs letting him breathe better and gain more consciousness. As his senses came back he found one of the clans Seastrell creatures fighting a strange beaked croc headed creature with multiple rows of flippers running down its sides. The monsters seemed to think he was dead and free to make a meal of.
“I’m not your lunches demons,” Lloyd growled at them slowly and unsteadily getting up. He wasn’t fully there yet so he was a bit confused if his voice sounded off or not. He could see though the darkening of his skin had greatly receded and what was left was slowly receding. Upon seeing he was up the creatures stopped their fighting startled that he wasn’t actually dead.
‘I’m not going to take on an Oni; not even a half breed. He’s all yours!’ the multi flippered creature exclaimed jumping into the canal it had dragged him out of behind it. The Seastrell followed close behind it expressing, ‘I’m not messing with the half breed!’ Lloyd stumbled a bit falling back over. He lay on his front propped up on his elbows to regain his bearings before trying to get up again. Everything felt sore. Considering what Kamal had done to him he was surprised he couldn’t feel any broken bones or worse. He almost felt if it wasn’t for him being in that Oni state Kamal would have killed him! What they had found wasn’t a lie; that Kamal was a demon possibly one worse than an Oni. They needed to stop him and his allies. He looked around at his surroundings. A thick dark fog had come to encase the area. He could see a canal in front of him. Since he had been out he wasn’t sure how far he’d travelled from where Kamal had tossed him into the water. That creature could have carried him some distance in that time; while he was angry at the creature for what it was, who it followed and for it trying to eat him he felt he likely had to some extent be thankful to it for dragging him out of the water. That likely had saved his life. He slowly got up on his feet. He was shaky but eventually managed to stand. He took a moment to try and contact the others. He couldn’t reach anyone. He looked around; he could not see or hear fighting nor any of the clans members or monsters. Had they abandoned the area? He had a feeling they’d left the area. He was pretty sure that feeling was coming from his Oni instincts. He couldn’t tell if it was a residual effect from the fight, his near drowning or the fog but his Oni side was trying to rise up again though now it was much weaker and struggling to keep its hold. It’s control was receding but he could feel it wanted to control him; to send him to hunt down Kamal. He took a moment to calm and keep himself in control. Now was not a good time for him to go after Kamal. He’d nearly died from that! If it hadn’t been for the Oni in him Kamal would have annihilated him and he would have drowned. His Oni side had been the only thing to save him. If he was to face Kamal again he’d need the others to back him up. Thinking of the others he attempted to contact them. He couldn’t contact anyone, the fog was probably hindering their communications.
Seastrell
Voinacarnid
He looked around. This fog was difficult to see through and likely not going anywhere anytime soon. The enemy was likely regrouping and fortifying somewhere hidden in this fog he felt. He decided it best to fall back and hope the others would do the same and he’d find them. He wasn’t sure where to head. They didn’t come to the city very often so he didn’t know the layout very well and he didn’t have an inbuilt GPS like a nindroid so didn’t know where to go. He knew he was by the canals which were in the lower regions of the city near the docks; where Wu was parking the Bounty. If he just followed the canals he was bound to find his way out of there. He began to follow the canal keeping alert for danger. As he travelled he worked to calm and gain control of his Oni side to keep it under control luckily it seemed to now be going into submission now that he was fairly safe and none of the clan were nearby. It seemed the clan had moved on from the canals region of the city. He felt they were likely congregating towards the inner reaches of the city so he had less distractions but he could still feel the residues from their presence there and there was plenty of evidence of their attack to the area. Buildings were damaged, despite people having fled the area from attack the fires which should have been getting out of control were starting to smother out likely a result of the fog he felt and the canals were filled with debris from sunken boats and damaged buildings. Dreadrats were already starting to crawl around picking through things and getting into squabbles with Daemon-cockrels. Even some of the aquatic monsters that had been fighting over him earlier were going through things in the canals and even climbing ashore crawling around like strange reptilian seals as they searched out their new surroundings. None of the monsters seemed interested in him preferring to keep their distance. As he continued on he noticed the fog seemed to be slowly thinning; he felt that was a good sign. The fog likely was thinner towards the edges of the city so seeing it was thinning meant he was headed in the right direction. As he continued on his way Lloyd picked up the sound of screaming nearby. Taking a moment to figure out where it was coming from he headed in that direction. The sound was coming from a mother and father who had been backed against a pile of rubble their three children one of which was just a toddler were trapped under by three Feardrakes. The parents had just wood planks to defend themselves; defiantly something that would have no effect on the Feardrakes. As they came into view the one Feardrake jumped and pinned down the father trying to bite at his throat while the other had the mother pulled off her feet and trying to rip one of her legs off while the third began tearing at the rubble pile to get at the children trapped under it. Wasting no time Lloyd rushed towards them entering a Spingitsu tornado to attack the Feardrake holding the mother. The act clearly shocked it causing it to let her go and he tossed it into the one holding down the father knocking it off him. This caught the attention of the one trying to get the kids causing it to switch its attention to him. All three of the Feardrakes abandoned their previous targets and focussed on him. They began to stalk towards him.
‘This one thinks it can take us,’ one of them hissed and one of its companions noted, ‘does this one smell funny to you?’
“You three don’t stand a chance,” he proclaimed building up an energy blast. He could feel the Feardrakes were riling up his Oni side so he had to focus to keep it under control. He didn’t want to lose control to it here. There was innocents here that not only could he end up terrify them he could hurt them or worse if he lost control. He released the blast on the one Feardrake blasting it back into another building which collapsed onto it. He could see from the purple tinting to his energy blast he was losing some control. Luckily for him the remaining two Feardrakes picked up that he wasn’t what he seemed and got scared.
‘That’s no mortal, it’s the Oni hybrid!’ the one panicked as the remaining two Feardrakes fled as quickly as they could disappearing into the fog. Without them around Lloyd was able to quickly gain control of his Oni side burying it to keep control. With the monsters gone and his oni side in control he went over to help the people. They looked to be some of the poor of the canals. While the mother and father were roughed up pretty badly with plenty of scratches and bites the mother unable to stand on her one leg from the bites of the Feardrake the kids were dirty but okay. Lloyd hurried over to help the parents free their kids. They were happy and grateful to see him and have him help them. They were able to get the three kids free with little trouble.
“Is it just you here?” Lloyd asked them. The father replied, “I think so. Everyone else ran deeper into town or to the shore looking for shelter during the attack.” The mother asked having to lean on her husband to stand, “what do we do? Our home was destroyed and we have nowhere to shelter?” Lloyd thought a moment looking around. For a moment he felt something that sent shivers down his spine and gave him a feeling of dread. It lasted only a few seconds so he brushed it off as probably just a Dread beast nearby.
“Do you know where the docks are from here?” he asked and the father replied, “yha why?”
“Head there, we have the Bounty parked there. We’ll take you to somewhere safe. Anyone you find tell them to head there too,” he told them. One of the kids asked, “are you coming?” Lloyd took a moment to respond getting distracted by something in the fog making him feel he was being hunted. Maybe it was more than a dread beast out there.
“I’ll be close behind; I just have to check something. Go as fast as you can; we don’t know what these beings are up to,” he replied. The family headed off while he hung back looking around. Something was out there; he could feel it. What was it though? Was it calling to him and if so why? If not was it hunting him? Had some from the Lost Clan come looking to attack him? He had been feeling his Oni side steadily weakening and going into submission so far even though it was riled up by the fog but he could keep control of it. Now however something was doing more than riling it up. It was calling to him drawing him in. He felt he should be scared of this but his Oni side seemed to be taking joy in it. He didn’t like that he was getting that feeling from whatever this was. He slowly walked around the canals looking everywhere for what this was. Whatever it was had him heading back into the city. That made him reason whatever it was had to be something to do with the clan. He had to resist whatever it was. They were probably trying to draw him in to do who knew what with him. He found himself fighting with himself. He knew the reasonable thing to do was get out of there and while he was scared of whatever this was the Oni in him really wanted to find what it was. A sudden noise caught his attention. Something metallic was moving in the fog. He paused to listen. He focussed in the direction of the sound. It was on the walkway ahead of him headed back into town. The fog seemed much darker, almost black, there and it was very thick compared to everywhere else. He stared at the strange patch of fog. After a few moments in the center of the blackness something red like the glow from a flame erupted. He stood frozen getting a freezing mix of fear yet also joy as his human and Oni natures fought over how to react to what he was seeing.
“Is anyone there?” he called out. A gust of hot air came out of the fog before a deep un-human voice boomed, “granted to he upon the great red steed peace shall be the prize to take and slay so that mankind shall turn upon each other and shed the blood of friend and foe alike.” As if its voice and the feelings he was getting weren’t unsettling enough what he saw emerging from the black fog terrified him. He at first thought it was a rider of the Lost Clan but as it got clearer he could see this was no ordinary rider. Sat upon a dark reddish horse was a figure that looked like a cross between an Oni and a human. Overall he looked human but his eyes clearly weren’t and he had the horns of an Oni coming from his forehead. His skin was red almost blood in color with black patches on the extremities stretching onto the body core and across the back that gave the skin a resemblance to cooling lava in looks. He bore little in armour wearing plate metal pants with a dark purple cloth like a loincloth worn over it and a black leather belt embedded by extruding diamond shaped metal implants with a buckle that resembled an Oni’s face. He had metal bracers and bands on his upper arms and covering his mouth and nose region of his face was a mask resembling part of an Oni’s mask with six tusks coming out of the sinister smiling mouth of the mask; the distinctive large tusks of an Oni with two sets of smaller tusks protruding from the lower jaw. There was also a set of chin spikes on the mask which looked to be anchored to the face by being embedded into the skin of the sides of the face. He had black hair done up in a warriors braid the hair having a purple iridescence. His eyes like those of his steed were nearly glowing with a fiery yellow color and he wielded a sword that looked to be made of obsidian that was alight with fire on it. The rider wasn’t the only unsettling one. His steed was just as bad. While overall looking like a horse it bore large patches of dragon like scales largely on its shoulders, back, hip and face; it had the jowls like a bear on its horse head with a snout that ended in a skeletal reptilian like snout decked out with fangs and the whole mouth overall had teeth like a bears, it had eyes like a snakes and instead of ears it had horns like a ram in their place. The mane looked to be made of fire and the tail was reptilian like resembling those of the strange reptile horses the Lost Clan used. Its hooves were a black metal and while the top side of the creature was a burning red colour it faded to a dark sanguine down the legs to black by the hooves. Its saddle and stirrups looked to be made of burning blackened leather and metal. A strong heat was coming off the two and the twos presence sparked fires to erupt in the nearby area. The rider stared down at him and Lloyd couldn’t help but look into his eyes; upon doing so both sides of him felt nothing but terror. This thing was going to be no friend to him; it wanted him dead.
“Your Oni blood will not spare you the darkness’s wrath half breed nor will grovelling or bargaining. I am not without mercy however and I will let you make the first move before I paint the ground with your dark blood,” the rider proclaimed pointing his sword at Lloyd. The sight alone of this being was enough to fill him with fear but the figures words just made it much worse. Lloyd was filled with terror his blood running cold and heart racing. He slowly moved back the figure on his horse taking some steps towards him. His fear overwhelmed him and he quickly turned and rushed away headed to the city outskirts. The rider reared up in display then began to trot behind him further increasing his fear and making him feel hunted. When the rider got close to him it attempted to slash at him with his sword. Lloyd dodged the sword and ducked into a ruined house to escape the rider. The rider trotted around the structure taking a couple swipes at the building the fire from the sword lighting the building on fire. Lloyd was scared to escape the building not wanting to face that rider but he knew if he didn’t get out of the building he was going to burn alive. Terrified Lloyd jumped out of the building coming to land face down lying on the ground outside. Before he could get up the monstrous steeds hooves stopped rate in front of him. He looked up at the rider who was staring down at him.
“Why don’t you put up a fight half demon? You’re giving your kind a bad name. No Oni would ever give up the chance to face me,” the rider declared. Lloyd was too scared to reply just quickly getting up and rushing off. The rider followed still trying to attack him and threatening him to challenge it. At one point Lloyd thought he’d lost the rider as it wasn’t following him however he was startled to find as he turned back round after taking a moment to look behind himself the rider rate in front of him the steed raising up in display. As the steed came back down the rider swung his sword down at him forcing Lloyd to jump back. In his scared and shaken state however he didn’t so much jump but stumbled backwards. Despite his fall Lloyd quickly got up and continued his rush away from the rider. Lloyd was getting ever more scared as he fled from the rider and worried he was lost. In his attempts to flee he was not keeping check with what directions he had been going further worsening his fear. He was still very sore from the fight with Kamal and was quickly tiring. He didn’t think he could keep up his fleeing for long. The rider was cutting him off and catching up to him quicker and more frequently constantly swiping at him every time it got close forcing him to duck and dodge more often the longer the chase went on. As he went he was starting to wonder if the fog was getting thinner as he continued on. He didn’t have the time to think it over however as he was too occupied with fleeing to get distracted by anything else so when he suddenly found himself rushing out of the fog and at the docks he felt a huge wave of relief come over him. He could see the Bounty parked there on one of the furthest docks. He wasted no time in rushing towards it. As he rushed across the docks he heard an unsettling neighing noise which stopped him in his tracks. Quickly turning to see what the noise was Lloyd could see the rider had stopped at the edge of the fog like it was bound to the region of the fog and couldn’t venture out of it. The rider stood there staring at him and declaring, “so your human blood has made the Oni in you a coward. Very well then I will spare you this time. Remember this however half breed heed the warning from the riders of doom if you and your human companions care to keep your lives you will steer clear of this city and stay out of the doings of the tribe of the forgotten for if we will show you no mercy next time and as for you half-breed. If we find you here I will personally hunt you down and take your head and hide as a trophy.” The rider then pointed his sword at him while staring him down. Those words further scared him and with the figure pointing his sword at him Lloyd wasted no time in rushing to the Bounty to get onto it.
“Quickly get us out of here!” he declared to his uncle who was waiting for him on deck with many people including the family he had told to head there that had sought refuge on the ship. Wu was captivated by the rider for a moment before hearing his nephews panics as he prepped the Bounty’s deck pulling up the ramp caught his attention.
“What is that thing?” Wu inquired following Lloyd who in a panic was rushing into the control cabin to get the ship started and headed off as quickly as he could. His panicking was scaring many of the civilians taking refuge there. Lloyd responded to his uncle as he started the Bounty, “I don’t know! It claimed it was a rider of doom!”
“Lloyd calm down and tell me what happened?!” Wu demanded. It took a moment for Lloyd to calm enough to reply to his uncle. He was careful over what he said as there were civilians in the cabin with him. He explained quietly a little shaken, “I’ll have to tell you in greater detail when we’re alone but I faced Kamal who used some unsettling magic to make himself even more of a demon then he threw me in the canals. I’m not sure what happened after that cause I blacked out but after I awoke while trying to find my way out of that creepy fog that rider… he attacked me trying to hunt me.”
“You said he called himself a rider of doom?” Wu inquired and Lloyd responded, “yha… I don’t know what that means.” Wu was quiet for a moment before responding, “I might have an idea. I need to look up something from back at the monastery just to be sure though.”
If this fog wasn’t unsettling enough the song he could hear coming through it had him unsettled. While it was muffled a bit by the fog he could still hear it quite well. He hadn’t been able to figure out where Rosic had sent him before the fog had rolled in but he was pretty sure it was still somewhere in Ninjago City. She had thrown him into an alley way where he’d landed in a dumpster when she had tossed him through the portal. He believed he was by one of the market districts as he’d come across several shops as he searched around the area but apart from that he had not been able to figure it out before the strange fog had rolled in like a wave the enemies disappearing as it swept through the area. The only good thing this fog did was put out all the fires that had developed in the city. To his misfortune all the buildings in the area had their disaster shutters down leaving him stuck out on the street; in the open and alone. Not good circumstances he felt especially with the unknown of where and what the clan was up to. After the fog had rolled in he had been trying to contact the others before getting distracted by the song. He’d at first mistook the music as a possible commotion from fighting before realising it was music. He’d followed it thinking someone might need aid but as he got closer to the source not only did he find no one but he’d come to realise it was just a radio he was hearing. He felt it likely was coming from the radio a merchant likely had on as they had worked prior to the attack. Considering how quiet everything had been and the fact the clan had released an EMP in the attack he found it both odd and rather unsettling to be hearing music. While not too loud he could hear fairly clearly the song whose lyrics and heavy rock tone he might have enjoyed if it wasn’t for the surroundings he was in. That just made the tune unsettling. He’d followed the sound of the radio to what appeared to be a market street with various shops quite a few selling foods like produce and baked goods. He was now just blindly navigating through the street sticking close to the buildings on the one side looking for anyone else. So far he’d seen no one; not even this Lost Clan or their beasts. That was the most unsettling. The enemies had disappeared like ghosts when the fog first rolled in and was at its thickest which had really scared him. The area was dead; no one and no thing not even pigeons were out and about making the area feel like a ghost town. This was worsening his nerves which were already deeply on edge from the fog that now engulfed the city. It was thick and dark making it nearly impossible to see anything more than a couple meters away from himself and he got the unsettling feeling that not only was he not alone there but he was being watched by something in the fog. He was thankful this fog wasn’t like the usual one the Lost Clan used however it was much like that of the Oni though it didn’t seem to give off the physical draining and paralyzing effects of the Oni’s fog. It was still highly unsettling never the less and worsened his feelings of fear and dread.
‘It's hiding in the dark; It's teeth are razor sharp; There's no escape for me, it wants my soul, it wants my heart; No one can hear me scream’ he heard from the song causing him to comment, “great if things weren’t unsettling enough here that just made things creepier.” The radio then began to emit nothing but the sound of static with scatterings of was that just speaking or the song? He was having trouble identifying it as he became too distracted by the quickly overwhelming feeling of something terrible nearby. He couldn’t tell what or why he felt that he just knew he had the overwhelming feeling that he needed to hide from danger. He couldn’t be out in the open. ‘The nightmare's just begun’ was sung through the radio before it went back to static further worsening his feelings. What a time for that to play over the radio. Had that just been a coincidence or was something trying to tell him something? He was too scared to think of it. The feeling that he needed to get off the street was too overwhelming. He quickly tried to open the doors to several shops but all were locked and barricaded from within. Even the windows to the structures were blocked by metal shutters to protect from attacks. Clearly the shop keeps had barricaded the stores to likely try and shelter during the attack. Maybe they were still in there. He knocked on a few of them before realizing if someone was in there they most likely wouldn’t respond too scared he could be one of these monsters. Where were the monsters? Ever since the fog had rolled in all the forces of the Lost Clan seemed to have disappeared. Or at least it seemed like it.
There was something on the street with him he could hear hard footsteps somewhere in the fog down the road ahead of him. There were a few steps then it stopped. Where those from hooves? Metal boots? Did it sound like something big? He didn’t wish to find out. He thought about using his powers to break through the barricades to get into a shop for safety however resisted. The sound of that could draw the attention of whatever was out there in the fog and he had a strong suspicion he did not want to see what it was. Whatever it was had stopped as if waiting for a sound to direct it towards something. He needed to be quite but he also needed a place to hide. He slowly moved back on the street away from the footsteps continuing to quietly check shop doors hoping one was unlocked. None but he did find the entrance to an alley way. It wasn’t as secure as an indoor structure but it would get him off the main road. Hopefully that would be enough to protect him. He could hear the footsteps starting up again slowly coming towards him. He moved into the alley sticking close to a wall. He was shaking with fear. The footsteps stopped. They sounded not too far away now. He could start to smell something. It smelled horrible almost like rot; kind of like leftovers that had been sitting at the back of the fridge for several months he thought. These monsters they fought defiantly weren’t the nicest smelling things but this smelled way worse than those they were frequently encountering. After a moment of silence he began to wonder if he should dare a peak to the street to see who or what could be out there. He looked out into the clouded street pondering over taking a peak so when something touched his shoulder it sent him into a panic. He screamed jumping and activating his lava arms preparing for an attack. He prepped to punch fighting to hold back from pummelling whatever had touched him in case it was just a person. While it wasn’t what he expected he was relieved to see it was just a serpentine from the constricti tribe who clearly hadn’t been expecting his reaction and was cowering from him pleading, “I’m sorry please don’t hurt me!”
“What are you doing here?” he inquired dropping his lava arms starting to calm down. The serpentine explained in a hurried tone clearly scared, “some of us came up here to see what is going on. This strange fog is seeping into our tunnels and there are these monsters and daemons starting to patrol within them.” Cole heard the footsteps again. He told the serpentine to be quiet as he heard the footsteps start up. They both hugged close to the wall listening as the steps got closer and stopped. The rot smell got even worse and was now sickening. Cole felt on the edge of getting sick.
“What is that?” the serpentine inquired equally disgusted. Cole stated, “I don’t know but I’m guessing it is probably real bad… how did you get up here? Do you have an entrance into your tunnels nearby?”
“Yha why?” the serpentine asked and he responded, “I think that will be our best bet of getting out of here. I have a strong feeling we don’t want to know what that is.” The serpentine offered, “we could do that if you’ll come back to our settlement and explain what is going on up here.” Cole agreed to those terms. They decided to head on their way to escape whatever was out there. Before they left however Cole couldn’t help but peak out into the road to just get a glimpse of what was out there. He was curious to know what it was. He slowly looked out and around the building. He couldn’t see anything through the fog. Just the produce stand from the shop he was sheltering next to. Some of its produce had fallen off the wooden stand that stood out front the shop which had its metal shutters covering its windows and door. The sound of steps started up. Was there movement out there? Yes there was something moving towards them in the fog. It looked to be a rider of some sort on was that a horse? The smell got much worse as this rider slowly moved through the fog. Something drew his attention from the rider. A sickly green mist was creeping beneath the fog. When it made contact with any of the produce within seconds they went from fresh to a state of decay. Rot overtaking them blackening and moulding them in under a minute. The stand holding the produce even began to rot the wood crippling and falling apart as if decades of exposure to the elements and lack of care had overcome it in seconds spilling the steadily rotting produce over the road. Even more shocking the metal of the buildings shutters began to rust and even some of the bricks of the building started to crumble to dust. Cole was in a state of shock; what kind of monster had powers like this? Looking back up into the fog he could see more clearly the figure moving towards him. A dusted black emaciated looking horse carrying an equally gaunt emaciated person whose skin was greyed was moving towards him. The rider was nearly skeletal in appearance and wore tattered clothes mainly just a pauper’s shirt and pants with crude cloth wraps on their feet. A band of cloth made a gag over his mouth and his glazed eyes still bore an unsettling yellowish glow; a glow his horse’s eyes shared. He was carrying a staff with some kind of t shaped structure on the top which as the rider rode closer Cole realised looked to be a representation of the old style scales used for weight measuring. The rider stopped a couple feet away from him the rider just staring at the ground in front of himself with a blank look.
“What is that?” the serpentine whispered to him and Cole replied, “I don’t know… I don’t think we should let that thing see us though.” The two were then struck with horror when the rider addressed them looking directly towards them, “you will find no feed for thee here. From wheat to meat shall your needs of the day rot and decay within my wake.” The entity had a deep unsettling and un-human voice. It turned towards them taking a few steps.
“Just as you would consume the fruits of the trees the swarm shall consume you,” the rider proclaimed pointing his staff at them. Highly unsettled the serpentine asked, “What does he mean by that… what’s that sound?” There was a buzzing sound slowly getting louder. Cole was a little distracted frozen in fear as his eyes looked into the riders eyes. He got a feeling of doom from this thing. His attention was suddenly broken by a locust coming to land on his arm and bite him. He quickly smacked it looking away from the rider and coming to note a swarm of locusts emerge from the fog. They began to feed on the rotting food and wood in front of the store and began landing on Cole and the serpentine tearing at their clothing and biting them trying to tear chunks of flesh from them. These were no ordinary locusts. They were bigger almost the size of mice and even when hit or swatted didn’t squish instead just getting stunned before continuing the attack. Cole and the serpentine took a moment to try and swat the insects off them before deciding it best to flee for safety as they were being overwhelmed.
“Flee as you might but my swarm shall follow and strip all that is edible till nothing is left,” the rider expressed following them their horse trotting and showing a disturbing amount of energy for something that looked near dead from starvation.
“What is that thing?” the serpentine asked as they fled constantly swatting and fighting the locusts which followed them down the alley. The rider boasted trotting close behind them, “I am the Limos; rider of famine and decay one of the four great riders; the riders of doom who upon the foreboding and powers of apocalypse has been bestowed.” The two managed to reach the next block but the rider and his locusts was quick on their heels.
“Quick down here,” the serpentine proclaimed lifting the sewer grate and quickly heading down. Cole quickly followed pulling the grate back over managing to close it just as the rider reached them proclaiming as he did, “attempt to hide you may but we will find you and the swarm will feast upon you like they do upon the wheat.” They could hear the hooves of the rider upon the grate and the buzzing of the insects above as they lowered into the sewers.
“Well I think we’ll be stuck down here for a while. Might as well talk to your leaders; you’re going to have to help me out though as it’s a little too dark for me to see here,” Cole expressed as they took a moment to relax and assess themselves. They were both missing patches of attire and had bites and scratches from the locusts all over them. The serpentine took his hand and began leading him through the dark.
“We’re doomed, we’re doomed!” Jay was panicking as he and Nya snuck around in the fog headed away from the totem tower. That tower was giving them growing feelings of unease the longer they had stood by it so felt getting away from it was the best option.
“Can you be quiet,” she scolded him and Jay expressed, “how can I calm… the place is filled with that creepy fog the clan uses. It’s like the one the Oni brought but somehow better and worse at the same time.”
“Yha but we need to keep quiet to keep anything from finding us. The clan and its monsters could still be here. We don’t want to draw them close to us,” she explained as they came up to some cedar trees in the fog. They took shelter amongst the trees. Jay replied with a quiet voice, “I guess you’re right. What are we going to do now? I’m pretty sure we’ve lost.”
“Yha I think we need to give this fight up. It was like the clan was several feet ahead of us. I’ve bet they were planning this attack for a long time,” Nya commented and Jay added, “I’m betting they waited for this time too. We were unprepared and they started before we were close enough to help. It’s like they wanted to rub it in our faces as we returned home that we had failed… do you hear frogs?” While the fog was muffling sounds and the fighting had gone silent there was still some sounds they could hear. Some wind and trees moving but these were faint. The sound of frogs however could be heard fairly loudly.
“That’s because we’re in a park…” Nya noted before they heard a splash like something jumping into water, “and I think by the lake.” Jay commented, “as long as it’s just frogs… what are we going to do now?”
“I don’t know,” Nya commented and Jay wondered, “the two of us won’t stand a chance against the enemies alone and I can’t reach anyone else.” After the fog had rolled in Jay had made several attempts through their communicators to contact anyone but he was unable to reach anyone. After a moment of silence Nya stated, “we’ll have to retreat. Hopefully the others are doing the same.”
“What about Zane and Pixal? The clan released an EMP. That would have knocked them out,” Jay began to panic and Nya expressed trying to calm and focus Jay so he didn’t go into a panic, “yha but they’re not a simple laptop. They’d wake up in a short time then figure things out for themselves.”
“True and the clan might not find them. They look to have disappeared. Probably off celebrating their victory I bet,” Jay noted starting to calm down. He paused for a moment before wondering, “okay, what direction do you think we should go to get out of here then?”
“Not sure, can’t really see much through the fog,” Nya replied. They slowly moved out from their cover looking for any notable landmarks to get their bearings for directions; any statues, monuments or signs would do. After a while they came to something they’d been looking for. A statue and not just any statue, it was the statue that had been made to commemorate Zanes sacrifice during the nindroid crisis. It had been cleaned up recently as the whole park had gone through a revitalization.
“From what I’ve heard they really did this place up recently,” Jay commented and Nya stated, “we’ll have to come back and check it out later. We at least know where we are now. That’ll make it easier to find our way out of the city.” With the statue was a path they could follow which would lead to a road which they could use to navigate their way out of there. They began to cautiously make their way towards a road following the path in the park.
“Yha; do you think we could find some vehicle to use to get out of here? I’m not up for walking all the way out,” Jay commented and Nya agreed, “yha I’m with you there. Maybe there is a taxi nearby we can borrow.”
“Do you hear that?” Jay noted and Nya wondered, “hear what?” Jay replied, “the frogs are quiet.” They listened. Sure enough the frogs had gone quiet leaving the place even quieter than before.
“We’re probably just a little too far away to hear them,” Nya suggested and Jay countered, “I don’t think we’ve gone that far have we?” Before Nya could respond they heard a noise behind them making them stop to look back. Was that footsteps or just foliage rustling from wind? They listened but things had gone quiet.
“Probably just an animal,” Nya commented as a smell came to the area. It was a strong decaying smell.
“Smells like someone’s left out rotting meat, there must be a garbage can that needs emptying around here,” Jay commented as they started moving again. They got a few feet before stopping again hearing something behind them. They stopped to listen. There was defiantly footsteps but they didn’t sound human. The footsteps came closer before stopping and the two had a dread feeling come over them prompting Jay to comment, “do we dare look back?”
“Probably not but at the same time if we don’t we could be ambushed by something,” Nya commented equally scared to look.
“We could look together,” Jay commented. Nya agreed. They took a moment to gather themselves before slowly turning at the same time to look behind themselves. There was nothing there confusing and worrying them.
“We heard the footsteps right?” Jay questioned and Nya suggested, “yha we did. Maybe they are just a little too far away for us to see them through the fog?” Jay stated, “that could be true.” They stood for a moment looking into the fog. The footsteps sounded again coming towards them.
“Are those hooves?” Jay questioned. Something caught their attention. The grass in view of them began to brown as if dying starting from the furthest point they could see in the fog ahead of them slowly spreading towards them. When this invisible wave causing the dying grass touched any shrubs or trees they too looked to die their leaves browning and starting to fall off. Even the animals seemed affected by this invisible wave as a pigeon fell out of a dying tree landing as if dead on the ground most of its feathers falling off, the body going from plump to gaunt, its skin becoming a sickly decaying color with tears to the muscles appearing on its skin and the head, feet and tail turning skeletal. The sight of that terrified the two. The smell of decay got stronger and a deep unsettling cold swept over the area.
“I don’t think that’s an animal,” Jay commented as they started to notice something moving towards them in the fog. Slowly moving out of the fog was a rider on horseback. The rider was dressed all in black donning a hooded robe the robes hood covering its face which looked to be nothing but a dark void. It looked to be wielding a scythe which was stored on its back. Its steed was dark ashen in color and clearly un-dead looking. Its lower legs were skeletal moving into flesh above the wrists and ankles and its muzzle was stripped to just bone. The abdomen was gone concaving into the ribs the last few pairs of which poked out from its skin as bare bones. There was areas of its skin that were gone peeled off to expose the sickly colored decaying muscles beneath on parts of its body including the shoulders, hips, neck and face. The skin around the eye sockets were gone and the eyes themselves weren’t there either just the holes in the skull where the eyes should be. The one ear was gone along with the skin around it while the other was still skinned and there but it was badly torn. The horse had no saddle and its bridle was made of tattered black cloth. This being and its horse’s appearance alone was terrifying enough to the two but the feelings of dread and impending doom it seemed to emanate made it worse.
“You look upon the ashen rider of doom the embodiment and material representation of what mortals name death. Upon me the authority was given to reap the lives of the mortals of the realms by the decree of the void,” the rider proclaimed his voice deep haunting and in-human. The two were scared speechless shaking from fear but too scared to run.
“That’s death… we’re looking at death… please tell me we’re not seeing what we’re seeing?!” Jay gasped his voice cracking and struggling to get words out. Unable to fully grasp what they were looking at Nya mumbled, “we’re looking at it… how can this be possible? Such a thing doesn’t exist does it?” The two were suddenly startled as the pigeon they had just seen die and begin to rot sprung up and fly past in front of them as a zombie pigeon. Freaked out Jay screamed zombie pigeon several times as it flew off into the fog. They were then drawn back to the rider as it spoke.
“Upon me by the decree of the prince of the forgotten tribe has been bestowed the permission to claim the souls of those that defy the clans order,” the rider proclaimed as two large figures started to approach out of the fog. They were dark, as tall as a grown man with glowing red eyes. The figures came to stand next to the rider letting them see exactly what these were. They resembled massive black dogs but it was clear by the skeletal makes of parts of the body being exposed that these were no dogs. The head was almost entirely skeletal with red orbs of energy in the eye sockets while the ears remained with the flesh of the neck that connected the head to the rest of the body. Protrusions of the spine stuck up in the back, the tail was all bone while like the riders horse the tissues of the abdomen and chest were extremely concave so much so that the bottom rear end of the ribcage was stuck outside of the flesh. A red glow was emitted from this concave abdomen and some hair made a sort of sparse mane along the back. Overall they looked fairly skinny and the skin looked sickly with many cuts over half sewn shut scattered across the hides. These hounds reeked of metal and death as they stood next to the rider necks held low, jaws open a bit and growling with a gross un-animal growl.
“Do not attempt to flee and your pain will be kept to a minimum,” the rider proclaimed. Neither wanted to see what this rider intended for them and getting an overwhelming feeling of doom Jay and Nya quickly took off running for the street. As they took off the hounds quickly rushed after them. When they got to the street they didn’t stop till they came to one of the barricades the clan had placed on road into the park. Luckily for them the clans forces were gone unfortunately though they were blocked by the barricade.
“We’re trapped what do we do?” Jay began to panic. Noting the structure of the wall Nya urged, “we’ll have to climb this.” Jay was scared but was preferring the risk of the climb over those hounds he followed Nyas lead as they climbed the wall. The two quickly climbed up to the top of the wall then climbed down the other side. By the time they reached the ground on the other side they were shaking from a mix of fear and tiredness. They felt though that they were now safe. They could hear those monsters on the other side of the fence and by the sounds they couldn’t climb. Now that they were safe from those things they took their time being cautious and quiet to avoid catching anything’s attention as they searched for a car in decent condition. They found one not too far away. To their luck the car was unlocked. They got in the car feeling the worst was over. As they prepped to get the car started Jay happened to note in the one vehicles side mirror something moving in the fog behind them; the direction of the park. He notified Nya and they both looked out the back window of the car. The fog behind the vehicle looked oddly darker and thicker than it had before.
“That’s creepy… it wasn’t like that before was it?” Jay questioned. Nya responded equally as unnerved as Jay, “no it wasn’t… I think we need to get out of…” They were both then terrified by the one hound slamming into the driver’s side of the vehicle where Nya sat the force of the creatures impact damaging the window. The other hound then slammed into Jays side.
“How’d they get here!?” Jay panicked as the two hounds began sniffing and pawing at the vehicle to get inside.
“Hurry start the car!” Jay panicked as the one dog shoved its head through the glass window on the driver’s side where Nya was. It broke through the glass attempting to bite them but luckily for them it had been a little over zealous in its attack and shoved one forelimb in the window along with its head and neck getting both stuck limiting its reach. Nya gave it a few punches and kicks to the head trying to knock it out but the creature was unbothered. The other hound climbed atop the car and began pouncing on the roof to slowly cave it in. Looking quickly for a way out as Nya continued to hit the one hound to keep it from getting a hold of them Jay could see the rider slowly approaching through the mist from behind the vehicle. They were trapped by the hounds and no matter how much Nya hit the one it was not backing off. Thinking quickly Jay got an idea. He pulled Nya back then hit the hound with its head stuck in the window with electricity which passed from it into the metal frame of the car shocking the one on the roof as well. That had an effect on them. As they weren’t touching the metal frame protected by the cloth seating of the vehicle Jay and Nya were spared getting zapped. The hounds were stunned from the shock the one on the roof falling off to lay on the ground twitching a bit. With the hounds stunned Jay and Nya quickly got out of the car. As they got out they were terrified to see the rider coming out of the thick fog several meters behind the car. They wasted no time to rush off and get out of there and find somewhere safe. They were looking for another vehicle preferably something that would be easy to hide in like a delivery truck. They were not having any luck as most of the vehicles were cars or tuk-tuks and had been overturned or thrown by the clans forces. As they searched Nya noted a fire hydrant and got an idea to possibly buy them some time. While they couldn’t see them they could hear the monsters were following them.
“Wait I got an idea,” she expressed stopping Jay.
“What? We can’t just stop!” Jay panicked as Nya worked her powers on the hydrant. She made it explode washing the two of them in water causing Jay to express “what was that for?! How is soaking ourselves going to help!” Nya explained as they both got going again, “shh… it will hopefully wash away our smell making it harder for those dogs to follow us.” They got a few meters before noting a small RV pushed up onto the sidewalk. It was half off the road the front shoved up onto the sidewalk but wasn’t tipped over and looked road worthy. To their luck it was unlocked and a good thing as they could hear the hounds getting closer. They got in closing the door as quickly yet quietly as they could to keep the hounds from hearing them. They moved into the back of the RV where the windows were covered by curtains and laid down on the boothed seating by one of the windows. They peaked up under the curtains to view the street outside. All was quiet for a moment then they saw the hounds come into view out of the fog. They were sniffing around looking to be having trouble finding their sent. The rider was close behind them riding in calmly. He stopped on the road next to the RV. The horse just looked around while the rider looked at the hounds which to their nerve began to sniff at the trailer. Luckily the hounds left clearly not having picked up their smell and continuing on to look for it. The rider began to follow them but stopped after a few feet. He slowly turned to look back at the RV. Despite the lack of eyes to him they got the dreaded feeling this being was looking straight at them causing them to quickly duck down to lie as flat as they could on the benches. They waited terrified that thing would approach and look into the RV. A few minutes went by and nothing. There was no sound of anyone approaching and nothing looked into the RV.
“You don’t think it’s left have you?” Jay whispered and Nya responded, “I don’t know. We might just have gotten lucky.”
“Do we dare check?” Jay worried. They dreaded it but to know if it was safe to get out of there they had to look. They decided to do it together. They very slowly got up shaking and unsteady from fear. They paused a moment before slowly peaking under the curtain. To their relief there was nothing just the empty foggy road.
“That’s a relief,” Jay expressed before wondering, “do you think we should just use this thing to get out of here? I know it’s not the best but I don’t feel safe enough to go back out there.” Nya agreed, “yha I think we’ll just have to deal with this. We can return it to the owners later when things have cleared up.” They got up from the benches and moved to the front of the vehicle Jay taking the passenger’s seat and Nya getting into the driver’s seat. To their luck the keys to the vehicle were still in the vehicle.
“Do you think it will start? I’m pretty sure they released an EMP before they released the fog,” Jay noted and Nya commented, “as long as it was shut off when the pulse went out it shouldn’t have been affected; looks like it was so we should be fine.” Despite this Nya was hesitant to start the vehicle worried the engine noise might draw those monsters back to them. They had to get out of there though. A tapping on the passenger side made their minds up for them. Turning to see what made the noise their blood went cold and they lost the feelings of their pulse to see the rider on his steed standing rate next to the vehicle.
“You cannot hide from death,” the rider proclaimed. Jay screamed for Nya to drive. She wasted no time in starting the vehicle and heading off driving up onto the sidewalk in order to get the RV back onto the road. The rider was quick on their heels. To their shock they found they weren’t alone in the RV as a kid came rushing out of the bathroom yelling asking who was taking his families RV while a grown man who looked to be a garbage man or construction worker by his attire tried to stop them yelling at the kid to get back to safety.
“Who are you two?” Jay panicked and the kid stated, “who do you think you are stealing our RV? Mom and dad are not going to be happy when they get back with my little brother from the grocery store.”
“I’m sorry. I tried to get him out of here during the attack and into a secure building but he refused to leave till his parents returned…” the worker began before the kid cut in to proclaim, “mom and dad said I can’t leave.” The worker continued, “well then the fog rolled in and we felt it best to hide in here till rescue came. Who knows what’s out there?”
“I can tell you. Some crazed horse rider of death who won’t leave us alone!” Nya proclaimed trying to get away from the rider without getting into an accident the rider keeping up rate next to the vehicle and keeping pace at nearly 70 km. Every now and then the rider used a hand scythe it had pulled out of its cloak to take slashes at the RV leaving scratches some of them deep as it tried to stop them. Jay decided, “let me see if I can get him off our tails.” Jay put down his window proclaiming, “those hounds were hurt by this. Let’s see if it has an effect on their master.” He shot a bolt of lightning at the thing and it hit but to his shock the lightening just disappeared into the dark figure having no effect on the beings.
“Okay that’s bad,” Jay mumbled quickly closing the window again spooked. Nya wondered, “what’s bad?” Jay uttered, “that daemon rider is immune to elemental powers… or at least lightening.”
“It has to have something it is weakened by,” Nya commented. Thinking quickly Jay got up and began looking around the RV for anything that he could use on this rider. The worker wondered holding the kid back to keep him from helping and covering their eyes to keep him from seeing the rider pretty sure it would scar the kid for life; it was terrifying him after all.
“What do you use on a monster of death,” Jay wondered looking around. He found some cutlery and decided to give it a try. He had heard some supernatural beings were hurt by some kinds of metal. Usually it was silver, gold or iron which he was pretty sure these weren’t. They were probably just stainless steel but he was desperate for anything. He opened a window in the side of the RV next to the rider and began throwing different pieces of cutlery at the rider. To his disappointment they just bounced off him. He began looking around again.
“Mom and dad keep a first aid kit under the sink. It saved my granddad from death when he had a heart attack,” the kid muttered and Jay expressed, “that’s it. Maybe something that can save a life will have an effect on him.” Jay pulled the kit out from the cupboard under the sink and looked into it. Bandages, gauze… no those probably wouldn’t work; antiseptic cream maybe. He squeezed some on a few pieces of cutlery before tossing them at the rider. Nothing just more bouncing off. He went back to the kit. Before he could do anything Nya told them all to brace themselves. She had to make a quick drop in speed in order to turn without tipping them over. She hit the breaks rapidly decelerating from about 70 km to under ten. Jay, the worker and the kid all fell over to lie on the floor unprepared for the stop. Jay quickly got up while the worker stayed on the floor keeping the kid there to keep him from seeing what was happening outside. Luckily the rider was unprepared for the drop in speed and continued on a bit pulling its horse to slow and turn to follow them as they made a turn and began to speed up again. Despite the initial gap the manoeuvre gave them the rider quickly caught up. Jay found a bottle of hydrogen peroxide and quickly dumped that on the rider. It was unfazed and even creepier un-wet as if the liquid has just passed through it. Jay couldn’t see anything else he could think of and the rider boasting ‘nothing of the realms or mortality can harm the riders of doom’ had him terrified and lost at what to do. As a last ditch attempt he began bargaining with the rider hoping he could persuade it to leave them alone.
“Come on what did those monsters in the clan pay you? Maybe we could make you a better deal to leave us alone?” he asked but the rider proclaimed, “there is nothing of this earthly realm that can persuade me. I am bound and loyal to the void just as the clan.” Jay was lost over what to do. Nothing could hurt this thing and it was refusing to make a bargain. Their best bet now was to hope they could get out of this fog and that it would not leave the fog. It after all had only appeared after the fog had so surely there must be a connection unless it was just coincidence with this rider using the fog as cover to better ambush them. They continued on the rider continuing his chase his horse not appearing to tire or slow down; clearly whatever these things were they weren’t of their world.
A group of three Gnollsvic wandered through the fog. With them was a Yakuar a strange reptilian cow creature related to the Lepidimare pulling a wooden cart. The group was wandering the streets of the city searching. Two of them were warriors, one was a mage. Despite the fog they were not too badly hindered. They processed senses and powers that most mortals did not have that would let them find what they were looking for. The streets were empty and silent. The humans and serpentine had fled into buildings while their allies had regrouped back at encampments now that they had won the city. After the ninja had fled the city they had released a gas into the fog that seeped into every structure putting every living thing in the city limits into a stasis like sleep. It would keep enemies from getting too deep into the city and keep the inhabitants from being a problem. As the group walked the streets they were alert looking for something. The mage suddenly stopped holding up his hand to stop the group. He looked around before using his wooden staff that was tipped by a greenish amber like gem he held to create a light from the gem that moved the fog back from around them. They could make out they had stopped by an alley way. The mage walked a bit down the alley taking note of something reflecting a bit of his staffs light. He approached the object. There were two figures lying on the ground laying on their fronts next to each other. They had found what they were looking for. The mage inspected the two figures. They appeared lifeless clearly not breathing but the mage knew they were still alive. The lack of breath was not a sign of lifelessness for these creatures. On the mages command the warriors went over to the figures to pick them up before carrying them to the cart to lay them next to each other on it.
“Are you sure these things are alive?” the one warrior asked as the warriors placed the figures on the cart to which the mage expressed, “they are just in a sense sleeping. The EMP knocked them out but they will be coming back to their senses soon.” Now with what they had been looking for found and on the cart they headed back to where they had come from, several blocks away at one of the tallest towers in the city Borg Tower. The fog was thinner there than the rest of the city held back by the braziers holding more of the greenish amber gems like the one that topped the mages staff. A beam of greenish light erupted through the tower and up out of it to the sky above from the large conduit totem they had set up in the lobby that was connected by energy to three slightly smaller identical totems they had placed in a triangular set up around the city at key locations with strong energy like the Temple of Fortitude to help focus and stabilize the energy they were working with to create and maintain the fog and storm over the area. A small group of forces were gathered around the entry to the tower. Some of the Gnollsvic and Huntsman were starting to build some fortifying walls around the base while the few monsters there were just hanging around. A gathering of crows also hung around like watch dogs looking around and cawing at things from time to time. Amongst the members were Kamal and Rosic who were watching the totem and the energy coming out of it while the two waited for their group. As the group approached Kamal and Rosic turned to look at them. They stopped less than a meter from the two.
“We have found them the half Oni’s droids both the male and the female. As suspected the EMP knocked them out. They are still unconscious but are likely to awaken soon,” the mage reported as Kamal and Rosic came over to the cart to look at what they had brought. The two inspected the two droids. Rosic noted, “do not worry about that we’re going to make this quick.” She then cast a spell at them which materialised a set of metal cuffs on the droids wrists.
“They are ready for transfer,” Rosic stated and Kamal ordered, “take them to the keep. When they awake I wish to see them.”
The serpentine led Cole to their home cavern through the sewers. It was dark and in some parts like near manhole covers the clans fog was starting to seep down into the sewers unnerving the two. A few times they encountered the strange floating jellyfish creatures sometimes seen near the clans occupied lands. These really scared the serpentine who had no clue what they were. Cole had to help him get the courage to go around the creatures. Eventually they reached the Serpentine settlement.
“He’s with me. He knows what’s going on,” the constricti told the guards at the entrance. The guards were very on edge clearly scared of what might be out there. The constricti led him into their settlement letting go of his hand now that there was plenty of light for him to see thanks to the various lighting fixtures of the serpentines design that decorated their home. While underground and connected to the sewers the place actually looked quite nice and didn’t smell too bad. The place had a large river with some minor off shoots going through the place. They had moss growing all over the ground and up onto the some of the support pillars of their main cavern. Since becoming trapped down there the serpentine had worked hard to make themselves a home for themselves digging various tunnels and carving homes into the rock walls while using rock taken from their tunnelling to make a sort of concrete to build homes in the cavern some making column like structures that likely aided the caverns structural support. They used this concrete like material to make walkways and bridges through upper levels in the cavern. Any metal they found they used with metal scavenged or bought outside their settlement to create building parts, tools and the lighting which gave off a warm amber glow. The serpentine had even acquired materials like wood and rope to create bridges over the water sources in their cavern along with walkways and bridges at various levels in the cavern like the concrete material. They had decorative cloths and rugs near homes. While it was hard to grow stuff underground the serpentine had become quite good at growing fungi and some strange plants both of which Cole recognised as ones they’d seen in those caverns on the Dark Isle. They must be found in caves in Ninjago as well. Along with the flora the serpentine had learned to farm a strange breed of chicken and insects like beetles and ants for food. The place looked busy with many of the serpentine looking scared. A large group was gathered at the far end of the cavern where on a stage were the leaders of the serpentine tribes. The constricti led Cole to this stage. Those there were panicking unsure what was going on and what was going to happen. The leaders were trying to bring peace and calm everyone but tensions were too high. The first to notice Cole were some of the serpentine children who came over to him recognising who he was and wondering if he could help them. Some of the kids had their parents out of the settlement in the city above working or shopping and were scared they weren’t coming back.
“I can’t promise they are safe but I promise I’ll try and get them home,” he stated to the serpentine children. Deep down he knew he might not be able to fulfill that promise but he also knew rate now these kids needed comfort and hope to get them through the dark times ahead. He then worked his way closer to the front of the group. He got to a few rows back in the group to listen. It wasn’t long till he was noticed.
“You, I should have known if troubles abound above you ninja have a role in it,” Scales expressed upon seeing him clearly not amused by his presence. To Coles discomfort all the serpentine turned to look at him.
“Well we are the main protectors against threats like this,” Cole commented trying to hide his nerves. Skales asked clearly not in the mood for small talk, “well then protector care to explain what is going on rate now.”
“Well how much do you know about the Lost Clan?” he asked coming over to get up and stand on the stage with the serpentine leaders. The Constricti leader Skalidor stated, “not much just that they have no qualms with attacking us and taking over our settlements just as much as those of your kind.”
“Many of us have been displaced and forced to take refuge here because of their actions. We know none of our natural skills or powers have an effect on them and not much else,” the Venomari leader Acidicus explained and Skales commented, “and despite what you humans think we have no kinship to those bird headed serpent creatures that aid them. They wish to have no kinship with us no matter what bargain or treaty we offer them. They only wish to work with those monsters.”
“Okay well this Lost Clan is a combined force of monsters, some kind of human like entities called Huntsmen and what we just learned is a race of how to put this… what were once mortal hyena men who underwent some kind of corrupting pact that turned them into these demon like creatures called Drekavacs. Think of them like a hybrid kind of thing with some kind of un-dead and I guess an Oni,” he explained.
“What do these daemons want?” one of the serpentine civilians asked and Cole responded, “they’re looking for something that will unleash this giant centipede snake thing to destroy the realm…”
“Wait did you say Drekavacs?” Acidicus asked. Cole responded, “yha, why?”
“There is something we should show you,” Acidicus expressed. Skales gave permission to Cole to go with Acidicus. The two left the platform while the remaining leaders continued to try and calm the steadily gathering crowd of worried serpentine. Acidicus led Cole to the serpentines library.
“How much of our history do you know?” Acidicus asked as he led them into the library and Cole replied, “honestly not much.”
“Well to save you time I’ll get to the most important parts you need to know. As you are aware we are not the only races of serpentine to exist. There have been others some are extinct, some prefer to live away from people but there is one group who lives isolated from not just your kind but even us that is if they still live.”
“Why are you telling me this?” Cole wondered as Acidicus looked over the shelves before picking out a book and bringing it to a table for them to look over. It was written in serpentine which Cole couldn’t understand but there was at least some pictures for him to get some idea of what he was being told.
“Well a long time ago there were more races of serpentine than you see today. Like your species there are others of our kind in other realms. While our tribes originated in this realm there was one that once lived amongst us who did not originate in this realm. They came from another realm fleeing a great turmoil there. They described it as the sunless years when a haze blocked the sun and the world cooled. The realm was in turmoil as famine and disease swept the lands. The races of beast-men and serpentine that called the realm turned on each other fighting over what little there was in this terrible time. As they were a more passive and frankly skittish serpentine race a tribe known as the Grahtwyrms (gr-aught-wyrms) felt a call to leave their homeland and seek shelter in another realm. They were different from us but we accepted them here as part of our empire as they were serpentine like us,” Acidicus began to explain and Cole wondered, “when you say they were different what do you mean by that?”
“Well for one they had the odd belief that we should put our differences aside and create peace with humans and while our ancestors worshipped the Great Devourer they did not. They believed we’d been led astray tricked by the Oni who created the Great Devourer to draw us into following them. They instead followed a being they called Cohutl a spirit being they depicted as a great feathered serpent who came from the light some even claimed born of a great dragon. He urged they make peace with non serpentine not war with them to protect us both from the coming of the Drekavacs who would usher in a time of great danger that could see us both annihilated. Our ancestors considered the Grahtwyrms beliefs foolish and that they were the ones lost. This caused a great deal of tension between us and them and a rift we could not seal developed. Seeing we could not see eye to eye over these beliefs, unwilling to make peace with non serpentines like they wanted and annoyed by their lack of help in our endeavours our ancestors felt the Grahtwyrms needed to be destroyed. Our ancestors went to eliminate them but to their shock these serpentine had disappeared leaving only the words that translated into your tongue as ‘heed our warning of the Drekavacs for they’ll be your doom’,” Acidicus explained showing him pictures in the book and Cole wondered, “what did they mean by that?”
“Our ancestors thought nothing of it; thought they were the words of fools but with recent events we’ve come to realise we were the fools. The Grahtwyrms were right. The Great Devourer was a false idol, it wasn’t bad to have a truce with humans and these Drekavacs they often spoke of were real,” Acidicus stated and Cole asked, “what did they have to say about these Drekavacs?”
“Unfortunately as our ancestors thought they were myths they recorded very little of these beings. The Grahtwyrms claimed they were a race of savage serpentine eating beast folk who were cursed by the darkness into demons who would usher in the end times. If you want to know more about the Drekavacs you’d have to ask the Grahtwyrms yourself if you can find them that is if they are even still alive,” Acidicus stated and Cole asked, “where’d they go?” Acidicus stated, “No one knows at least no serpentine knows. There may be humans who know however I do not know where to look for that.”
“I’m betting we might have something in the Monastery that may offer a lead,” Cole expressed.
When his senses came back online as he woke up he looked around to assess his surroundings. He was in a stone cell with barred doors a sconce made out of the horn of a cow in a metal fitting was emitting a warm light from what looked like some strange light bulb but he was pretty sure it wasn’t and it was some strange material he couldn’t recognise. From what Zane remembered he and Pixal had been rushing to Borg tower to stop the clan from what they were doing there. The two had found an alley way the clan had not blocked off to get out of the park area when the clan had blown one of their Carnyx horns. The next thing the two had known was serious pain and disruptions to all their systems before blacking out. The clan must have let out an EMP; that was the only thing Zane could theorize that had happened to them. While they were knocked out the enemy had likely found them before their friends could so they were most likely imprisoned in one of the Lost Clans prisons. Thinking of her Zane quickly looked around for Pixal worried. To his comfort and relief she was laid next him and waking up as well.
“They got us. What about the others?” Pixal inquired when she had come to and had assessed their surroundings. Zane responded, “I cannot tell.” The two sat analyzing everything around them trying to assess where they were. For being prisoners these beings had treated them oddly well. They weren’t just laid on the floor like one would expect but placed on cots lined with soft furs and pillows. Other than their missing weapons and bracers made of an unrecognisable material that was emitting a strange energy now on their wrists they could not recognise anything having been done or taken from them. At least not physically.
“Do you think they copied data from us?” Zane wondered to which Pixal deduced, “most likely. We will have to warn the others and do scans to try and find what they looked into.” They heard the noise of a door being opened before three individuals came over to open the door to their cell. One of them was Rosic her robe back on now the other two were warriors of her clan.
“Finally awake are we; now we can get to work. Come Scymkin we would like to have some words with you,” Rosic declared motioning for them to follow her.
‘What do you think we should do?’ Pixal communicated to him through their internal communication circuits and he replied through the same method, ‘I don’t know. We don’t know these beings intentions but we also don’t stand a chance against them.’
‘And we cannot contact the others or determine where we are. We’re in what the others like to call dangerous waters here,’ Pixal noted and he decided, ‘then it might be best we go along with them; at least for now.’ They were both in agreement. They got up and cautiously followed Rosic as she led them out of the stone dungeon. She took them up into a large corridor. They went through it the warriors following behind them likely to keep the two from trying anything they felt. As they went the two assessed everything around them. They appeared to be in some sort of palace or fort. It wasn’t extravagate in design more plain made of wood and stone adornments and structural components. The roof was wooden and the floors were stone with large rugs that bore simple designs in blue on them. Tapestries hung on some parts of the walls. Most carried plain designs of flora or beasts and birds while some depicted strange figures they could not recognise. There were some paintings depicting northern landscapes and fauna some even looking to be more than paintings but actual pictures displayed on a technology based screen. The corridor was lit by sconces like in the cell and chandeliers seeming to be made of what looked like glowing antlers growing out of or encased in a metal fastenings creeped down from the ceiling. The corridor ran into an intersecting corridor which Rosic led them down one of the intersecting corridors which took them to a large long room with at least a two story ceiling height. The room was built and structured much like the others though with some notable differences. In the center running with the room was a wooden table decked with table cloths and tableware like it was set for a meal. A few strange reptilian looking skulls with strange light emitting crystals decorated the table. Along with a few tapestries and paintings the mounted heads of various beasts including half cybernetic looking ones decorated the walls with some mounted winged creatures hanging on the ceiling. The fact these beings had made trophies of beings with robotics in their nature had the two unsettled; these entities likely had no qualms with hunting them if they wanted so they had to be very careful. Troughs with the strange fire like plasma from the temple back on the dark isle lined the side walls and chandeliers like those in the corridors hung from the ceiling in a few spots. At the far end of the room up several stairs on a small platform was a throne which had the massive skull of a dragon behind it the mouth open with top jaw hanging over the throne and bottom split and spread to the sides of the throne. On the throne sat Kamal looking colder than before. He was leaned forward one arm rested on his knee the other on the pommel of his sword which he had pointed into the ground slowly rotating it back and forth a bit as he listened to four beings the likes of which they had never seen before. One was decked in black robes, another was a very gaunt and greyed figure wearing highly damaged attire, one looked like some kind of plague doctor their skin entirely covered in bandages and the last had a strong resemblance to an Oni though it had red skin, dark hair done in a warrior braid and lacked the Oni’s tusks. Something about the four figures greatly unsettled and scared them along with giving them feelings of dread.
“They have fled the city and are likely not going to return anytime soon,” the demon like one proclaimed. All of the entities had deep un-human sounding voices.
“I chased the two of them from the city,” the plague doctor stated and the gaunt one stated, “the one I found fled into the sewers with a serpentine. Both looked to be quite terrified.”
“The two I found defiantly felt fear; I believe the one even wet his pants that is how scared he was,” the dark robed figure commented and the demon looking one stated, “even the Oni half blood coward from my sight.”
“They all fled alive and fairly unharmed but defiantly not unsoiled,” the plague doctor joked. The riders all looked to take amusement in that. Kamal was stoic unfazed and lacking any sign of amusement.
“Good. Hopefully that will keep them from the city for some time. Hopefully we can find what we need before they get the courage to come back,” Kamal commented, “we thank you for your services now you are free to return to your duties.” The four individuals bowed to Kamal before turning and leaving. These beings walked past them as they left and gave their group respectful acknowledgement.
“Evening. Do not be scared of us. We wish no ills towards those like you,” the demon looking one stated with a nod as he passed while the gaunt one expressed, “do not worry metal borns I will not take the food or oil from you.”
“I am sorry for the interferences my sphere has had in your lives before. Do not let those bring fear to you of my work. I promise when it is your turn I will make sure you will not suffer and your transition is smooth,” the dark robed figure stated as he passed. The plague doctor stated, “fair tidings to both of you. Might I suggest you two take some time to get some rest after this meeting? You have been working hard quite a bit recently and your systems could use for some down time to remain well.” Despite the entities being friendly towards them Zane and Pixal couldn’t help but feel scared of them. The four individuals continued on out of the room.
“Do not worry Scymkin they are friends and will not hurt you,” Rosic told them before leading them over to her brother. As they approached Kamal sat up placing his sword next to his chair. By the way Kamal sat up and the way he looked down at them Zane couldn’t help but be reminded of himself during his time as the Ice Emperor. Memories from that time flashed in his mind before he was able to shut them down. He didn’t want to be reminded of that… he didn’t like the thoughts or emotions those memories brought.
“While your emotions do not give off a scent like those of flesh I am aware of your nerves metal-skins. Relax while you are here none of us will hurt you. You are our guests and we wish to have a peaceful discussion with you. We have dealt with automatons such as yourselves before and know what you are like. Come sit,” Kamal stated getting up. He strolled down to approach the table. Zane and Pixal were hesitant unsure about trusting these things. Likely due to their hesitation the warriors pushed the two towards the table before herding them to sit on the right side next to the end of the table where Kamal came to sit. Rosic sat across from them pulling her hood back to reveal she had short but shaggy reddish hair.
“No one here intends harm to you two. We just want to talk. Just a warning however do not fiddle with those bracers. They are there to keep you safe for our home is in a place that is harmful to your mortal beings and would severely harm you two without protections like that given by the bracers. We will remove them when we return you home,” Kamal told them. Zane asked, “why do you want us?”
“Because you and your flesh kin have gotten yourselves involved in something you never should have. You are meddling in things you cannot understand that will only lead to doom and destruction,” Kamal replied. As he spoke some more individuals entered the room to sit at the table with them. The two were guessing these were generals, advisors and a few of their strange Raven priests who even brought some of their ravens in with them that were in Kamals forces. Along with these individuals some of what looked to be kitchen staff came in filling the mugs in front of each of them even Zane and Pixal the ones serving them adding some drops of motor oil to the strange what they could only guess was tea for them. They were hesitant to touch the stuff.
“Do not worry it isn’t poisoned,” Kamal stated noting their wariness to the drinks. To be respectful they had a bit of a drink. It was a cold tea and one not too bad though they couldn’t identify what it was made from.
“Why do you want us specifically?” Pixal questioned and Kamal replied, “because no matter what you try to do or believe you are not human. No race of human especially one with the blood of an Oni could understand what we are doing nor see the truth.”
“Humanoids are impure, tainted by evil and therefore untrustworthy,” Rosic claimed to which Kamal continued, “because of this and your friends unwillingness to back down and stay out of our work we require the aid of individuals of your realm to aid us in our endeavour; ones that are pure and untainted like an animal or better yet those like you. Constructs are pure and untainted with higher cognitive functioning and reasoning than beasts making you ideal in this work plus you are close to the ones we have a problem with.”
“We will not betray your friends,” Zane was quick to state. Kamal stated, “what we are suggesting is not betrayal. Just have a listen and you will see. I have a feeling after this you will understand and agree to our terms.”
“Are you sure they’ll be okay?” Cole worried and Kai asked nervous and confused, “yha that was an EMP the clan let out earlier right? Doesn’t that do bad things to technology?”
“Yes but nindroids are specially built to be resistant to EMP’s. They’re neural networks and other systems will not be fried by EMP’s like other technology; they would have been knocked out but there systems would have come back online within half an hour of getting knocked out,” Jay explained. He and Nya were the only two fairly calm; considering they knew the anatomy of droids the best they had good reason to not be as worried as the others about their droid siblings.
“Where could the two be then? Surely they would have found their way back by now,” Cole worried pacing in the kitchen. They’d all managed to find their way back to the Monastery. Kai and Skylor weren’t sure when that strange rider had stopped chasing them but they had managed to escape him. After dropping Kai off at the Monastery Skylor had taken those they had rescued to a forming refugee camp in a nearby settlement for those that had managed to escape the city during the attack; there was not many who had gotten out. Lloyd and Wu had dropped off those they had managed to rescue as well in one of these camps before returning to the Monastery to wait for the others. Kai had been the first to return after them followed by Jay and Nya who were dropped off by the man who was going to take the kid to a refugee camp in hopes to find his family. They weren’t entirely sure they were going to find them, not many had escaped the city, but they were going to try. Jay and Nya were very shaken up after their encounter with that monster rider who had chased them for longer than they liked before disappearing in a dense bank of fog. Cole had been last to show up quite some time after the rest of them. After his discussions with the serpentine they had helped him get out of the city through their tunnels and the sewers. The sewers were slowly getting filled with the fog as it seeped through manholes, plumbing and vents. Once out he had contacted the others to see where they were. All but Zane and Pixal had escaped and made it home by that point. Since they hadn’t had time to get groceries due to the attack and since it had been over two weeks since they had been in the Monastery they had sent Cole and Kai who’d gone to pick him up with their everyday van to get at least the basics in groceries to tide them over for a day or two before they could do more serious restocking. Even by the time they’d got home Zane and Pixal hadn’t made it home yet and Jay and Nya couldn’t pick up their signals. They were putting away the groceries Cole and Kai had gotten. Cole however was too worried that Zane and Pixal hadn’t returned yet to help the others.
“I’m sure they’ll be here soon. We got out surely they could,” Kai stated and Nya offered, “it could just be that fog. It’s probably just messing with their senses making it hard for them to find their way. They’re smart and resilient they can find their way out.” Jay was quick to counter, “unless they were knocked out… something else could have knocked them out and they could be lying alone, unconscious and vulnerable somewhere in the city where those monsters could tear them apart!” That worried Cole more.
“Do you think we should go back and find them?” Cole worried. Kai quickly stated scared of the idea to go back into the mess that was the capital, “do you really want to go back there?! You can barely navigate and there’s these monstrous riders patrolling the city.”
“No but we can’t just leave them. They could be hurt and really need our aid,” Cole countered getting a bit mad at Kai.
“Guys before we do anything drastic we can check if we can pick up their signals or not,” Nya opted. She picked up the tablet they had on the counter that she and Jay had been using to detect the two droids. After checking with relief in her voice she stated, “we’ve got a signal! They’re on the stairs up to the Monastery rate now.” Cole hurried out of the Monastery to go meet the two. The others followed more calmly behind him. Zane and Pixal were almost at the Monastery when Cole ran out to meet them. The two droids were calmly walking up the stairs quiet and fairly emotionless even when they noted Cole come up to them.
“Are you two okay?” Cole asked them as they entered the Monastery courtyard. Zane replied, “we’re okay. Some things may be loose that need fixing but nothing too bad.”
“What took you two so long?” Jay wondered. The two droids glanced at each other taking a moment to respond. Pixal explained, “the EMP knocked us out. By the time we came too there was this strange fog that caused problems for our navigation. We would have found our way out sooner if it wasn’t for that.”
“See I told you they would be fine and were probably just confused by the fog,” Nya stated as to some of the two droids discomfort Cole looked them over moving their arms and wrists a bit as if checking if they were stiff, damaged or dislocated.
“Well you never know what could happen,” Cole stated and Jay commented, “well they’re here now and safe. That’s what matters.” Kai agreed, “yha… hey did you two by any chance run into any strange creepy horse riders while making your way out of the city?” The two droids looked at each other as if confused.
“We had to sneak past some of the clans riders if that’s what you mean,” Zane stated and Jay explained, “no like these cursed monster riders. We each ran into these strange riders who called themselves the riders of doom. Nya and I were confronted by one that claimed to be death, this creepy sounding plague doctor chased Kai and Skylor, this demon one threatened Lloyd and a bony zombie one sent locusts after Cole. Their horses were pretty messed up too looking too; they were more like monsters than horses.” Zane and Pixal again looked at each other nervously before Pixal stated, “we don’t recall seeing anything like that.”
“You must have gotten lucky then. I’m going to have nightmares of those things for weeks,” Jay commented. Cole expressed, “well you’re home and safe now. Why don’t we head inside and I can make you two something to eat and drink; droid safe of course.”
“We do not have any groceries though,” Zane noted and Cole explained, “don’t worry me and Kai picked some up while we waited for you two.” The two droids looked at each other again taking a moment to respond.
“We’re okay…,” Pixal stated getting cut off by Cole who expressed, “nonsense you two are probably low in energy and could use a decent meal. You two haven’t had much the past few days.” Kai noted, “yha you were kind of the reason for that.”
“I know. They’re going to need to top up their energy though we have quite the work ahead of us,” Cole commented and Jay asked, “yha about that before we sent Kai to pick you up you said you have something important to tell us.”
“Oh yha how’s this I’ll tell you what Acidicus told me and then I’ll make us some dinner,” Cole expressed before addressing Zane and Pixal, “and I’ll make sure to make something safe for you two.” Zane and Pixal looked at each other fairly emotionless before Zane commented, “I guess that’s fine.” Cole was happy and encouraged their droid siblings into the Monastery. They went in Jay and Nya followed leaving Lloyd and Kai in the courtyard. Kai was closing the yard doors while Lloyd just stood looking at where the others had entered the Monastery looking what Kai could only describe as moody.
“Well this is not exactly how I thought we’d get home. Having to fight the clan only to lose to them and get chased by some creepy daemon riders… I was hoping we would come home and get some time to relax. At least we all made it out alive huh?” Kai expressed to Lloyd. Lloyd didn’t respond or look away prompting Kai to ask, “Lloyd? Are you okay?” There was a moment’s pause before Lloyd responded sounding moody and not looking away from the Monastery, “something’s wrong with those two.”
“Who? Zane and Pixal? I’m pretty sure my sis and Jay will give them a look over and make sure they’re okay,” Kai stated and Lloyd explained, “it’s not wrong in that kind of sense.” Kai wondered, “what do you mean then when you say something’s wrong with them?” Lloyd thought it over a moment.
“It’s hard to explain but I feel like they’re hiding something,” Lloyd stated and Kai offered, “maybe they are. I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re too embarrassed to tell us everything they went through. Getting knocked out by something that doesn’t affect the rest of us, being lost… for something with a built in sense of direction keeping them from rarely getting lost I’m betting that must be a very unsettling and alien feeling to have no sense of direction. Just give them some time to relax and they might open up to us. Not to mention they probably are not too keen on having Cole make them dinner after events earlier this week but don’t want to be rude to him.”
“I don’t think it’s that… it’s my Oni instinct. It’s hard to explain but it makes me feel something’s wrong with them,” Lloyd stated. Talk of Oni instinct had Kai uneasy. Nervous Kai commented, “maybe your still feeling after effects from fighting Kamal. You should probably talk to your uncle about that. As for those two my sis and Jay will give them a good look over. If anything’s wrong with them those two will find it.” Lloyd was quiet for moment before stating, “you might be right there. I do have some things to talk about with him. I’ll do that rate now.” The two then headed into the Monastery.
Their group sat on a hill looking towards the capital of Ninjago; Ninjago City. The place was encased in a large dark fog the tall skyscrapers of the city center the only things visible sticking up out of the fog. A dark storm lay over the city the clouds tinted a green color from the green beam of energy erupting from one of the buildings somewhere near the center of the city. The clouds were very slowly spiralling around this energy. The city itself was quiet as if empty.
“Okay seems we’re a little late to the party,” Nazeem noted and one of the cult members commented, “so the capitals already fallen… what’s the plan now?”
“We continue on; the cogs in our plan are falling into place. With the capital fallen the so called protectors will be distracted and likely even fractured. The ones Oni blood will defiantly be burning sparking tensions amongst them; Oni dislike loosing. We can further their problems by taking advantage of that now come we need to prep to get the next phase of our plans into action,” Mendras expressed. Everyone was confused as he opened a portal but they followed him through anyway curious to see what was going to happen next.
It was late at night as a knight in blue accented armour searched the books in the library of the castle. He was looking for something but he wasn’t sure what. He’d been awoken from his sleep by a dream he felt was no mere dream. It was too vivid, too real to be just a dream. What he had seen had shaken him up and he couldn’t rest till he knew what it could mean. The digital candle lights he was using to search were low as he didn’t wish to alert anyone to his actions so when another knight came into the room he was surprised.
“What are you doing here?” he asked confused. She commented back, “I could say the same about you. Why are you still up? You should really be getting some sleep.” She had clearly been in bed as she wore her pyjamas which were reddish in colour with the small white dragon head that was her family crest on the top left section of her shirt.
“I had been,” he replied placing a book on the main desk of the room. She replied to him, “then why are you searching your uncles’ library?” He replied looking through the book, “I got this dream… there were monsters, this centipede snake thing, tombs, strange warriors in pyjamas, dark storms over the landscape, a dragon…“
“Our realm was dying. Everything crumbling to ruins and everyone turning to dark zombie like things as a demon ruled over everything…,” she cut him off shocked to realise she had dreamt of these strange things as well. Curious pausing as he looked over the book he asked, “why did you come here?”
“Same as you I guess. I wanted to look up some things,” she replied as another knight this one dressed in green came into the library. He looked very confused and his pyjamas were a bit ruffled indicating he had been having a rough sleep.
“Dudes what’s going on here?” he expressed when he noted he wasn’t the only one there. The red knight asked, “strange dreams?” The green one stated surprised, “how’d you know?”
“We’ve each had strange dreams… that can’t just be a coincidence,” the blue knight commented as he put the book away not finding what he was looking for.
Notes:
If you want to know what a Carnyx sounds like here's a clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRIQp4qZrrE
The Riders of Doom or inspired by the mythical entities known as the four horsemen of the apocalypse. The Riders of Doom are entities that are physical manifestations of the darkest and most dangerous forces of destruction and chaos. Kai and Skylor encounter the rider of pestilence, Lloyd meets the warrior of war, Cole encounters the rider of famine which I imagined as an entity of rot and decay while Nya and Jay meet the rider of death.
The Lyrics Cole hears are from a song called Monster by Skillet. I felt some of the lyrics of the song were rather fitting for the feeling to this part of the story. Here's the song if you want to hear it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mjlM_RnsVE A funny story about this song my one sister scared our parrot we adopted after R2 passed. She, we called her Lily as she hatched in July when the lilies flower, was still a young bird the first time she heard it she was doing her thing playing with her toys then all of a as part of the song there is a sudden stop in the music as a deep guttural voice proclaims 'feel like a monster' before the song picks up again and she freaked out flapping and screaming for a couple seconds at it. Now she hides in her bed or the back corner of her cage when she hears the song and just waits for it to be over before going back to her usual activities. My sister also shocked her old employer, an elderly polish lady, with the song when she told her the band was a Christian rock band when she heard my sister play it once while she worked; apparently she didn't think heavy metal rock could be Christian rock.
Chapter 6: Clan of the Lost chapter 4: Searching for Snakes
Summary:
After I finished the original story and started on a sort of epilogue story a prequel to the story came to mind and I started working on it. This is that prequel.
After a hint from the serpentine the ninja set out to find a mysterious lost tribe of serpentine who may just know something important on their enemies but to find them they must venture to some very treacherous territory.
Notes:
You do not need to know anything from the original story as this is a prequel to it.
Pictures relating to story can be found here: https://www.deviantart.com/nerdy-hyena/gallery/72478681/story-project
They are really good and help to visually flush out several aspects of the story including environments, characters, outfits, locations, creatures and other aspects often important ones in the story. All images I post in my work can be found there if you want a better look at them. Defiantly make sure to check them out.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
“I think some of these might hold what we are looking for,” Wu stated placing some scrolls and books on the table. They were all working in the library trying to find a possible lead on where to look for these Grahtwyrms Acidicus had told Cole of. They may be the only ones with knowledge of weakness to the clans members and how to stop them. From what Acidicus told them these serpentine clearly knew quite a bit about the Drekavac members of the Lost Clan. With the capital taken the clan seemed to have slowed their expansion. They knew though that just likely meant they were probably building for something and they really didn’t want to see what they could be planning next.
“Unlike the other serpentine my father had good standing with the Grahtwyrms. He felt with their help he could achieve some kind of peace between the people and serpentine. Unfortunately neither side trusted the Grahtwyrms making that task nearly impossible. When they felt threatened these serpentine wrote to my father seeking aid for somewhere safe to take residence. He agreed to help them however he had to do so in secret to avoid angering the people. He eventually found a place for them to shelter where men and serpentine alike were unlikely to just stumble upon them,” Wu explained showing some of the books and scrolls he’d brought out. They all came over to the table to check them out.
“So where did he hide them?” Kai wondered and Wu explained, “that will take some time to work out. To keep their location a secret he wrote about their location somewhere in these texts.”
“Shouldn’t take us long to find it then,” Cole commented feeling upbeat about the task till Wu burst his and the others mood with, “it may not be so easy to find. To keep the location secret he used a code to hide the name of the location.” Jay blurted, “great and let me guess we have to find the code too?”
“No, I already have that part. I found it in one of his notes on these serpentine. Which texts he referenced to hold these clues I am not 100 percent sure of but I have narrowed down our selection to those that best matched the descriptions he gave. We are looking for words in a few of these texts that were purposefully misspelled. The letter misspelled is part of the words we need to find the location,” Wu explained. Kai then asked, “okay and are these all the texts we need?”
“I believe so,” Wu confirmed. Jay then asked, “how do we know he didn’t misspell anything by accident?” None of them were considering his opinion Nya telling Jay what they were all thinking, “the First Spinjitsu Master was well knowledged and written and had centuries of experience. He wouldn’t have made a misspell by mistake.”
“Well we might as well get started,” Cole stated as he began handing some of the texts to everyone. They got to work looking through the books setting themselves up to sit relaxed around the room as they read through the books and scrolls. As they went through the texts they wrote down any misspelled words they came across. Jay and Nya sat together before being joined by Kai who had started on his own before seeking Jay and Nya to help him identify if some of the words were misspelled or not; quite a few of the big words and place names he didn’t know the proper spelling of. Cole was on his own as he went through the texts using his phone to double check the spelling of words he wasn’t sure of while also softly playing music as he worked. The rest of them weren’t bothered by that even enjoying it a bit as it alleviated some of the discomfort from the silence that would otherwise grip the room. Zane and Pixal sat together a little oddly separate from everyone else in the room Lloyd thought as he worked with his uncle going through texts. It had been a couple days since the clan had taken the capital and though Jay and Nya had found nothing wrong with the two droids for some reason he couldn’t quite shake the feeling something was off with the two. They hadn’t done anything suspicious other than now sitting oddly a little distant from everyone else so he was confused still over why he was getting this sense. He was starting to think it had to do something with his Oni nature as he had noted for a reason he couldn’t yet understand the nature of Oni’s had something against droids. What though he didn’t know. He just knew his Oni side was oddly harder to control around the two lately and he had started to notice something strange his Oni side let him do around the two; he could hear when they were using their non audible wireless communications with each other. He’d heard the sound before at times in the past but never really bothered with it thinking it as just nature sounds but several months back while having a struggle episode with his Oni side he became confused and fixated by it. The sound sounded like some sort of quiet bird chatter. It took him a while to realise what it was. This hadn’t been the first time he’d heard the noise but he had never clicked it in before that he was able to hear it because of his Oni nature. He’d just brushed the sound off as birds or insects nearby and ignored it but when he realised he’d been hearing it more frequently recently alongside his struggles with his Oni side it had clicked in that they were related and it hadn’t taken him long to realise this noise he’d been hearing wasn’t birds or insects; after all what were the chances those would be in the Monastery or the Hanger Bay. After a couple episodes with hearing the sounds he quickly picked up he only heard it when at least Zane or Pixal were nearby leading him to pin the sound to them. After that it wasn’t long till he figured out the sound was from them communicating wirelessly between each other’s brains. He couldn’t understand what they were saying but he could pick up variations in tone and frequency to the sound which he believed to be related to tones and emotions. The past few days when he’d picked up the two making these sounds he noticed they were doing it more frequently than usual and he noted they seemed a little more anxious in tone leading him to wonder why? What were they talking about when they did this and why were they sounding a bit anxious recently? He couldn’t hear anything now as he was in decent control of his Oni side but he wouldn’t be surprised if they were using that form of communication at some time during their work that day.
“Is something wrong?” Wu inquiring drew his attention away from the droids. Lloyd took a moment to respond.
“No,” he quietly stated going back to looking through the texts. After a few minutes he paused curious to quietly ask his uncle, “have you ever noticed that sometimes Zane and Pixal make this noise that sounds like bird chatter?” His uncles’ response surprised him but he was able to keep his surprise silent. His uncle responded to him quietly, “indeed they do. It is related to that strange brain to brain communication thing they do.”
“Do you mean telepathy?” Lloyd quietly commented and Wu explained, “in simple terms yes though they have a different word for it.” Lloyd quietly questioned, “how do you know about this? Have you heard it before?”
“I have heard it a few times. Zane explained it to me when I heard him making the noises once. He did not realise he made sounds when performing the communication. Despite making them it seems the sounds are not in their normal audio range so they do not pick them up when making the sounds. They mainly communicate like that when wanting to communicate when in close proximity but out of ear shot of each other or when talking about private matters to each other. Do not worry it is not strange to be hearing it. Your and I’s ability to detect the sound is related to our Oni and dragon sides; it does not mean you are going crazy. When you are in tune with either of your non human sides you will be able to pick the sounds up as beings of a higher existence than mortals both dragons and Oni are in greater tune with the world and have senses most beings do not have. The noises you are hearing coming from the two when they communicate in that way is a result of the radio waves they give off when emitting the signal they are using for the communication.”
“How do you know all this?” Lloyd quietly inquired and Wu explained, “I with Zane and Pixal worked out the workings behind the sounds and why I could hear them at times when no others can. We did not know you could hear it too.”
“Till a couple months ago I just thought on those rare times I was hearing it that it was just bird songs,” Lloyd stated. Wu quietly inquired, “are you hearing it now?” Lloyd whispered, “no; just the thought about it came to my mind and I was curious.”
“Well there is nothing to worry about if you do hear it and if you think that is strange did you know at times like when being given affection like hugs, stroking, massages, when giving attention to each other or sometimes when just being praised the two give off a purr like sound like a cat. They also make a faint growling sound when you make them real mad too.”
“Really?” Lloyd was surprised to hear that. His uncle responded, “it can be hard to hear it with your human senses but when your dragon or Oni sides are in more control you can better hear it. According to them the purring is caused by their voice boxes and several joints and parts of their internal systems vibrating as a result of their emotions getting over stimulated while the growling they make to alleviate when their anger based emotions get too high. They cannot really control either sound production though try to keep others from noticing it knowing humans would be weirded out by it.” Lloyd was intrigued by these revelations. Were the two droids giving off something only his Oni senses could pick up that was bothering to it? Maybe that was why he got an odd feeling to the two. He thought about it a bit before deciding he should focus on deciphering the code and he could think over what his Oni side didn’t like about droids later.
It took them several hours to go through all the texts and find the misspelled words. When they had that they came together at the main table they had set up in the library to go over what they found. They had a list of letters but were unsure what order to put them in. Wu luckily had a key for that. In the text he had found the first clue was scrawled oddly at the bottom of the scroll the code they needed to put things together. It was a series of letters they were at first confused about the meaning of till Zane and Pixal recognised the numbers correlated to the letters they had found. With that solved it didn’t take them long to figure out the word the code was mentioning; Holatchahl Ushchelye. Even with the words they were stumped.
“That looks like a tongue twister,” Jay noted and Kai commented, “that’s not in the common tongue is it?” Wu commented, “I believe you are correct it is not in the common tongue. This looks to be a regional or even tribal language.” After a quick search connecting wirelessly to the Monasteries internet Zane and Pixal solved this puzzle.
“Holatchahl Ushchelye is the old name of a mountain pass in the Spine Ridge Mountains of the north east. The name comes from the old language of the people of the region and means dead mountain pass,” Pixal explained causing Jay to comment, “dead mountain?! We have to search a place called dead mountain?!”
“As Pixal said that is its old name,” Zane commented and Cole asked, “what is it called nowadays or is it something we might be better off not knowing?” Zane replied, “Zolotaryov Pass.”
“Why does that sound familiar?” Cole commented starting to think it over while still listening to the others. Kai noted, “That’s an odd name but nowhere near as bad a name as Dead Mountain.” Nya meanwhile wondered, “why was it given a name change? Was it because of how strange or dark the original name sounded?”
“The name change was caused by the still unsolved deaths of nine hikers through the region about 65 years ago. Zolotaryov was one of the sir names of one of the nine hikers that perished there. Because of his death there they ended up changing the passes name. As he was the first of the remains they found the pass was named after him,” Zane explained and Cole commented starting to get uneasy, “that’s why I recognise it. The Zolotaryov pass incident.” All but Wu, Zane and Pixal were confused.
“The what incident?” Kai wondered and Cole explained looking rather unsettled by the name of this place, “I’d hear from other climbers warning me to never venture to that area; after hearing about it just once I never wanted to get anywhere close to that place.”
“Anyone care to elaborate more?” Nya asked most of them still confused. Zane explained, “they were a group of nine hikers; seven boys and two girls who which makes the circumstances of the event even stranger were all very experienced hikers and skiers. They were doing a surveying ski expedition of the area during the winter when for reasons unknown all perished for as of now unconfirmed and mysterious reasons. Their tent was the first thing found of them and had been cut from the inside out and it took several months to find all the bodies which were scattered around the area largely buried in snow. At first guess it was suspected they were just victims to hypothermia or an avalanche however after investigations several strange things popped up and the cause of the deaths could not be explained with much certainty nor could why they cut out their tent nor many of the strange injuries they had somehow received within their final hours be explained.”
“Strange injuries?” Jay nervously questioned and Cole explained clearly uncomfortable remembering the details of this case, “there was broken bones, signs of a fall to a few of them despite no cliffs being found close to their camp, various cuts on their bodies which didn’t match with claws or teeth from animals, burns, one woman was missing her tongue, one of the guys was missing his eyes and his mouth was all scratched up with pieces of his tongue missing, they were all oddly underdressed for the cold weather I think two were actually naked and much of their stuff apparently was radioactive.”
“Radioactive!” Jay exclaimed and Zane explained, “radioactivity does not necessarily come from bad sources like reactor meltdowns. Many sources of various forms of radiation occur naturally such as from volcanic rocks and solar rays. That being said however solar radiation does not leave a large enough radiation to be detected by devices to measure radiation and the region is not known for the kind of volcanic activity that creates highly radioactive rocks nor large deposits of radioactive rocks. As for the undressing it is called Paradoxical Undressing and is a common symptom of those suffering hypothermia. They feel so cold sufferers think they are actually burning from heat so strip down to cool off which actually just worsens the situation and quickens expiration from the cold.”
“How can you explain then the missing tongue!” Jay exclaimed and Zane suggested, “animal scavenging.”
“They said it looked like it had been cut out not eaten out,” Cole noted and getting uncomfortable with the talk of injuries Kai commented, “what did they think did this?”
“Several theories have been put forward including avalanche, intense mountain winds known as Katabatic winds, animal or monster attacks and even supernatural explanations. Most like animal and monster attacks have been disproven but others not so much,” Pixal explained and Zane added, “local tribes are peaceful and actually quite fearful of being near that place. They claim to see strange lights in the mountains and claim a race of ice demons they call the Mansi dwell there which scares off the prey in the area and they will hunt people who dwell too long in their territories which encompasses several mountains and valleys in the region. In fact the region is pretty notorious for strange places and events including other missing hikers and expeditions in nearby passes with one valley the Nahanni even being nicknamed the headless valley due to the large amount of headless remains found there. Valleys with oddly warmer climates than normal in the region, strange creatures some of which are now extinct, strange storms that can whip up seemingly out of nowhere, fogs that can suddenly sweep in to freeze or oddly heat up a region and regions that seemed to appear and disappear at random are also often apart of superstitions to the region. Most of this is just superstition and likely can be explained by hallucinations and disorientations caused by the harsh conditions of the area, natural phenomena, bad weather or tall tales.”
“Ice demons… we have to go to a place where ice demons dwell!” Jay expressed and Zane commented, “I do not think that is a thing. These ice demons are likely just misinterpretations of encounters with bears and a creature known to inhabit the region called the Troll Yeti which are territorial and aggressive creatures. Other tales are also probably over exaggerations and mis-tellings of encounters and events or stories made to keep kids from wandering into the dangerous wilderness.”
“You have been fairly quiet uncle surely you would have something to say about this. Did your father ever leave anything there to maybe keep people away from the area?” Lloyd inquired. Wu stated, “he left no indication that he had. In fact he believed the area was not more dangerous than anywhere else and these events were just accidents nothing more. He believed though the superstitions to the region would keep people from delving too deep into the region helping to keep the Grahtwyrms safe. That does not mean he could have left something there but to my knowledge there isn’t anything special there. He did state though he was setting the Grahtwyrms up in a valley that was feared due to the fact that snow rarely stayed there even in winter. The locals had superstitions that kept them away however he knew nothing odd was going on. The strange environment was just due to volcanic activity combined with sheltering by the surrounding mountains. It created an ideal oasis for the Grahtwyrms especially as the only easy way to access this valley was through caves and at least one narrow passage in the mountains. For efficiency and safety reasons I think it best in order to reach this place we look for one of these passages rather than try the risky climbing over the mountains.”
“Wait are we really going to go to this place?” Jay questioned and Cole commented, “these Grahtwyrms are the only ones who may know some way to defeat or at least get ahead of these Drekavacs.”
“I’m guessing we should probably prepare for the trip then,” Jay moaned. The others agreed and started to head out to get supplies. Without expecting it Lloyd picked up the chirping sound Zane and Pixal used when communicating secretly to each other. They were hanging back at the table in the library for a few moments as they did this before following the others. Lloyd thought that weird. What were they talking about and why were they talking in secret to each other?
“We couldn’t have gotten something warmer to travel with could we?” Kai complained as he sat behind Lloyd who was driving on one of the four dual rider ATV’s they had. He was shivering from the wind and cold clinging close to Lloyd to block wind and keep warm.
“It’s all we could get in such short notice,” Nya explained as she sat behind Jay who was driving another ATV. Jay added, “at least we could find warm enough attire and plenty of supplies so we could make it out here.” Kai, Lloyd, Zane, Pixal, Cole, Jay and Nya were headed out to find the Grahtwyrms valley. They had gotten supplies and transport from some outfitters before being dropped off at a village near this Zolotaryov Pass. From there they had headed out. They had four of the most rugged dual passenger ATV’s they could find which all but Cole were riding in pairs on. Cole was carrying some of their gear they needed as a passenger and his ATV was pulling a small sled trailer with even more supplies including a tent large enough to hold all of them together and other camping gear. As they didn’t know the location of the entrance to the Grahtwyrm valley it was going to take them a few days of travelling the region to find it. They had already spent a night out there. They were all fully decked out in thick wind resistant fur laced attire and wearing insulating under shirt and pants even Zane who was agreeing the region felt rather chilly even for him. While the region was normally cooler due to its northern latitude and higher altitude the cold there now was very unseasonably cold especially as it wasn’t winter or close to it yet.
“I think we are starting to see some side effects of the eruptions on the Dark Isle here. Considering the size of the eruptions there it will only get worse for at least a year for now. The gasses and debris thrown into the atmosphere by the volcanoes is disrupting natural processes causing a cooling of the climate that is why it is colder and snow is still present much further down the mountains than normal here,” Pixal explained from where she sat behind Zane. She was being their navigator as they travelled. Nya had a device that was picking up signals from nearby weather stations to keep an eye on the weather as with the strange conditions in the area they were worried of any storms developing or moving in which could turn their trek very dangerous especially as they had now entered the region known as Zolotaryov Pass. It was a few hundred meters wide valley within the mountains between two peaks. The slopes were not very steep and covered by conifer trees mainly cedars and junipers with sparse birches mixed in. The place looked to have had little human visitation over the years so if something was to happen to them there they could be in serious trouble. At the entrance to the valley they had found a memorial obelisk erected for the Zolotaryov Pass incident which along with mentioning the casualties and showing pictures of the victims etched into the marble it gave a warning to all traveling there that it was better they head back than risk their lives in those mountains and its various valleys, rivers and passes. It was not a comforting note for them which was made worse by conditions in the pass. It was colder than usual and it felt like there was an icy mass of air that had become trapped in the pass. They at least had all their skin covered even on their faces with cloth over their mouth and nose and goggles over their eyes so they were not likely to get frostbite but they could still get a sense even through these of this deep cold in the area.
“The entrance we are looking for is located higher up on the southern peak. We should be heading up in elevation in that direction,” Pixal announced as they entered the pass. It took them a brief moment as they went through the pass before they found a trail that looked to head up where they needed to go, it was likely a game trail so would be a decently smooth ride compared to just riding through the wilderness. They spent all day traversing up the mountain stopping anytime they came across a crevice, cave or alcove in ledges or cliffs along the path to see if it led to this valley they were looking for. None amounted to anything useful; just minor marks in the landscape. One had a cave bear sleeping in it that they accidentally disturbed when entering the cave luckily the bear didn’t want to leave the warmth and safety of its cave so did no more than chase them out. In one cave with a somewhat narrow entrance however they were disturbed to find the remains of an expedition of ten hikers with three horses that had perished in a shallow cave in a cliff side. They did a quick investigation of the group which were just skeletons now with their weathered attire still draped over their bones. There were four girls and six boys with two mares and a stallion of a breed of a short and stocky breed of horse indicating it was built more for cargo carrying and not for being ridden on. Given some scraps of shaggy fur by the horse skeletons the breed probably was also one adapted to a harsh northern climate and given the hair length the animals had probably perished during the colder months meaning the cold was likely a culprit to the demise of the horses and humans whose what was left of the attire did look to be clothes built for warmth further indicating they had likely perished during a colder time of the year. There was evidence the group had built a fire in the center of the cave however it looked like they had run out of wood and burned some of their supplies before ultimately leading to the fire dying out as they had nothing left which had left them in the cold.
“You think this could be work of those Ice demons!?” Jay wondered. The others were not believing that.
“It would appear from what we can tell this group took shelter in here probably due to bad weather and likely died of hypothermia as they were ill prepared for the conditions possibly even becoming trapped from snowfall blocking the entrance they had come in from trapping them in temperatures too cold for them to handle. Given the designs of the technologies present I would have to assume they have been here for at least ten years at most fifteen,” Pixal acknowledged as they inspected the remains. They found amongst the remains journals, a sketchpad and some old camcorders and digital cameras. Cole noted inspecting a wallet he found on the one body, “if their states didn’t tell you that this person’s drivers licence sure could. It was dated for renewal twelve years ago.”
“They are still carrying identifications. That is good. We should collect them so we can identify to authorities when we get back who we found so they can notify the right individuals to inform them of these individuals fates and bring closure to their loved ones. I and Pixal will record the co-ordinates so Sherpa’s and authorities can collect the remains for proper disposal by the families in their cultural customs,” Zane expressed. While the others felt the way Zane termed that was a little cold and harsh they understood what he was meaning.
“The batteries will definitely be dead on these but they may still hold memory of what they recorded,” Jay commented inspecting a camcorder. Lloyd stated, “we can see what they have on them later. It’s getting late and we should probably set up a camp site for the night.” They all had to agree with that. This site was creepy and it was getting close to sun down. Given the cold of the area and the eeriness of this find they felt it was probably in their best interest to have a fire and get their tent up before the sun went down. They collected the cameras, journals, sketchpad and any forms of identifications they could find and put them with their supplies before heading off to find a place for the night. They put some distance between that cave and where they set up camp. They chose a fairly large and flat space in a bit of a valley on the mountain. The valley was treed offering some protection from winds which seemed to be picking up a little as night fell. Nya, Jay, Pixal and Zane set up their large tent getting some of their supplies like lanterns, sleeping bags and other bedding into the tent while Cole chopped down a dead tree on the edge of their site to make some firewood and start a fire. Kai and Lloyd headed out into the surrounding woods to collect more wood and debris for the fire. As soon as they had wood to burn they got a fire started outside the tent. Once things were set up they began to settle for the night. Jay and Nya sat next to each by the campfire working on seeing what had been on those cameras they had found. The memory cards were still intact but they weren’t too sure if they still held anything. Due to the cold of the region the laptop they were using was running a bit slow. To offer some protection in case of animals looking for an easy meal Zane and Pixal manoeuvred the groups ATVs to form a loose semi circle wall between their fire and tent entrance and the wilderness.
“Now that we have everything set I’ll get dinner started,” Cole commented as he finished placing some wood in their tent to use later for bed. Jay was quick to ask a little nervous to know the answer, “what is dinner?”
“Beef Jerky in beans,” Cole commented getting the supplies for cooking off their trailer. Jay expressed not too thrilled, “you realise we’re sleeping in a fairly air tight tent and in close quarters right?” Cole responded as he brought the stuff over to the fire to start cooking, “we needed food that could easily be transported during rugged travel which canned food and dried meats is the best for that and one of the healthiest and most nutritious canned foods is beans. If you want to try and find something fresh to make be my guess; I don’t think you’re going to find any berries or game out in the woods here; I can understand why they called it dead mountain. I’ve hardly seen any animals or berry bushes out here.”
“Maybe we can send Zane and Pixal out. I’m betting they could find something. You two could probably track down and take down a deer like a pair of wolves couldn’t you?” Jay commented as Zane and Pixal came to sit by the fire with the rest of them. Upon hearing his comment the two droids were confused Pixal inquiring, “what exactly are you saying? Are you saying we are wolves?”
“No I’m just joking with you. You know with how good your senses are and how superior your speed and agility is to a normal person you’re like wolves compared to us so would probably be just as good as them at finding and catching prey out here,” Jay explained. Zane and Pixal took a moment to think his explanation over. After the moments thought Zane commented, “I think we get it. Would you like us then to go hunt a deer?”
“We’ll just have what we brought,” Jay stated and after a moment’s pause Zane asked a little confused, “so do you want us to find a deer for food or not?”
“No Zane you two don’t have to hunt down anything like wolves for dinner. It’s probably best we don’t venture too far from our site anyway. Speaking of which where’s Kai and Lloyd? Shouldn’t they be back by now?” Jay began to worry.
“They have been gone oddly long,” Nya commented on edge before being distracted by the computer finally picking up the memory card from the digital camera. She expressed, “amazing photos are still on here.”
“Really! What do they show?” Jay asked excited to see. Curious Zane and Pixal moved closer so they could see the computer screen too. As they moved close Jay asked Cole, “wanna see it?”
“Uh no thank you; something about seeing photos from travellers that perished a long time ago while travelling out where we are now that no one probably knows what has become of them or that they’re there is kind of unsettling to me,” Cole expressed as he started cooking. They had to agree there was something very disturbing about these photos but to understand what went on with those travellers they needed to delve into this. There was quite a few photos mainly of scenery, possible landmarks, wildlife and flora with some of the travellers, their horses which they were using to carry much of their gear and a few of the passes memorial. Most of the photos were of the group taking photos of themselves on their journey. Most of it seemed fairly normal and not very eventful. The people seemed happy and there was no sign of any danger; they looked to be some kind of social group possibly from a collage. There were photos taken in their camps at night and some breaks they took on their travels. All looked happy and unbothered by their travels. It looked like they had set out during the fall. They guessed the group was just backpacking for fun or sightseeing as they couldn’t figure out from the photos what the groups intentions and plans were. As they were going through the pictures Kai and Lloyd finally returned. The two looked a little shaken and kept looking over their shoulders as they entered the site and placed the sticks and branches they had collected by the trailer.
“What’s with you two? You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” Jay commented. The mention of ghost made Cole jump a bit and look around for a moment scared. Kai explained, “it feels creepy out there.”
“Creepy how?” Jay wondered. Lloyd noted he and Kai nervously looking out into the woods, “it felt like we were being watched or followed by something.” Kai expressed, “don’t forget to mention the glowing red eyes in that one tree and the voice.”
“Red eyes?!” Jay worried and Zane explained, “that is likely either an owl or rabbit. Both have eyes that reflect with a red color instead of the typical golden of animals.”
“Are you sure? We’re pretty sure we heard it speak… there that’s the speaking. Did it follow us?!” Lloyd commented before he and Kai became unsettled by a sound coming from the woods. It had most of them startled however Zane and Pixal were calm analyzing what they were hearing.
“That is an owl. A Blanchards Barred Owl to be precise. Large owls native to northern boreal, cold temperate and alpine forests that dine on mammals up to the size of a rabbit along with the occasional reptiles and other birds. Their hooting call is regarded as sounding a bit like a human asking ‘who cooks for you’ and their eyes do reflect with a red colour. You are getting worked up over an owl,” Zane commented confused and un-amused by the others reactions of fear to a harmless sound. The rest of them began to calm down Kai expressing as they did, “not all of us have super senses and brains like an encyclopaedia Zane.”
“Well we’re all here and safe so might as well relax now,” Jay commented and Nya stated, “yha we got images from those cameras. We’re looking at them now.”
“Really anything special?” Lloyd inquired as he and Kai came over to see the pictures. Nya commented, “not yet. Just pictures of their journey.” They continued looking through the photos. The photos continued not seeming to show much. Then things changed. There were a few batches of photos likely covering a few days that looked to largely have been taken during the late hours of the day when the light was not at its best and throughout the night. The pictures seemed random just patches of woods, cliffs, what might have been down ravines, in caves and skies with strange glowing orbs and auroras.
“Why did they take those pictures?” Jay wondered. They took a closer look at these pictures as they came across them studying each for a couple seconds. Pixal explained, “hard to tell. The images do not line up with their previous pattern they were exhibiting. If I would have to deduce it may be they thought they saw or heard something and took these to try to identify later something possibly hidden there.” At times they thought they could make something out in some of the photos. Whatever it was appeared to be in the dark regions of photos but the quality of the photos was too poor to make much out so it could easily just be random things in nature they were seeing. There was however a few photos that really weren’t right. Something looked to be there hiding in the dark but even with the cameras flash the photo was fairly dark and whatever they had taken picture of was not clear as due to being taken in low light levels the quality was grainy and a bit blurry. There were outlines of shadow of a figure in a few photos that seemed to have a humanoid form to it creeping in the dark, hidden in the forests peaking around trees and in one icy blue what looked to be eyes could be seen faintly in the dark.
“What is that?” Lloyd inquired getting a chill looking at the shadow figure.
“Don’t know. The resolution is too poor to see much detail,” Zane expressed as they found a few videos from this camera as well. Most didn’t look too interesting just calm events from their travels. One however was filmed at night by the travellers as they sat around their campfire. They were being scared by a strange and unsettling noise coming out of the woods. It had their horses spooked causing a few of them to calm and hold the horses to keep them from rushing off. The sound kind of sounded like a wolves howl but there was things clearly off with its sounds indicating whatever this was it was not a wolf. It didn’t sound like it belonged in their world sounding metallic and a bit like some other kind of creature like a bird was trying to mimic a wolf. Along with this howl there was some whooping sounds like those of a hyena; these whoops like the howl sounding metallic and off from a normal animals call. That video was a few minutes in length. There were a few other videos of the group recording these strange sounds during the night each time the group looking to be getting more scared of them with each one. These videos looked to cover a couple nights. There was another video of one of the group members explaining that they’d gotten lost after following what they had thought was part of the path but turned out to just be a game trail made by large animals in the region and were trying to find their way back to the proper path. The next video was taken a few days later and looked like it had been taken during a snow storm. It was the storm that must have taken their lives. The group were hiding in the cave from the weather and scared of something they felt was hiding in the snowstorm hunting them. They looked over themselves in the cave before the camera wielder pointed the camera outside as they heard faint what sounded like hyenas whooping in the storm though like the wolf howl there was an unnatural quality to its sound. The group was using flashlights on the outside to light up the dark but the storm kept the light from going far. They couldn’t see anything in the blowing snow and dark outside the cave at first. After a couple moments they noted something moving in the storm as the camera began to malfunction; it was going through a similar malfunction they had seen affect technologies when the clan was around. A light colored figure was moving towards them in the blowing snow. The blowing snow and dark made it too difficult to identify any real features to this figure which stopped several meters away from them in the storm. They could just make out the icy glowing eyes which revealed the figure looked to slowly tilt its head to the one side like a curious dog as it looked at them. Whatever this figure was then moved back disappearing into the storm and the disruptions to the camera slowly stopped. The film continued a while longer but nothing important happened.
“Was that one of these Ice demon things locals fear?” Jay worried. All of them were unsettled by the footage even Cole who had come over curious to see what they had found.
“The Mansi… they’re myths though. Half man half beast spirit beings that stalk the wilderness with ice in their veins and bringing the cold with their presence,” Zane commented confused. Kai commented, “you saw that though. They saw something.”
“I know… that could have been anything though. It could have just been an animal,” Zane commented and Cole inquired, “what do these Mansi look like?”
“According to legends they have a humanoid form with legs and faces like an animal. Which animal is debated; some say it is a wolf others it is an owl. They are usually encountered alone as a single entity making some wonder if the Mansi is actually just one entity and not a race especially as nothing considered a village of these things has ever been found though reports of multiple of these beings at the same time seem to disprove the single being narrative. There is strong suspicion this Mansi tribe locals speak of are in fact a spirit race of beings known from many wilderness regions elsewhere called the Okhotnik. There are strong similarities especially with the hunting and relation to mythologies of death between the two. If that is true then they resemble a humanoid beast with an unsettling wooden mask of a wolfs face in place of a normal face,” Zane explained and Jay asked worried, “what do these things want? Is there a way to keep them away?” Zane explained, “no one knows. Some liken the Okhotnik to spirits of death and the hunt; hunting down mortals for reasons only they seem to know. Some say they do it to drag the souls of mortals to the afterlife like some kind of shepherd herding souls to their resting place when the time comes others say they do it as they take pleasure in hunting mortals where if they get you they will enslave your soul to serve them and be eternally hunted by them in the Departed Realm for all time.”
“A spirit of death! There’s these spirits of death stalking the mountains! Could that have taken that group all those years ago? They stumbled across it then it took them then it got that group we found… we could be next!” Jay began to panic. Nya stated, “Jay calm. You can’t prove that.”
“These are just myths,” Pixal noted and Kai expressed, “then how do you explain the images and videos?” They were quiet for a moment expecting Zane and Pixal to come up with an explanation but the two were stumped.
“I don’t know why you’re looking to us. Whatever occurred is beyond our understanding,” Zane commented. It was Lloyd who offered an explanation. He explained, “maybe it is some kind of illusion my grandfather left behind to scare people away from the area.”
“You think so?” Jay expressed that idea calming him down a bit and Kai added, “if that’s the case then we’d probably be okay. It would likely not want to bother us right?”
“If that is the case we should be safe even if we encounter it. An illusion can’t hurt us,” Zane expressed and Lloyd commented, “well we’ll just have to wait and see.”
The first thing he noticed when he woke up was the cold. Looking around Kai was unsettled to see the fire they had left in a small wood burning stove they had set up in the center of the tent to keep them warm over the night looked to have gone out. Surely he’d thought someone had been keeping an eye on the fire to keep it from going out then again Kai remembered they probably shouldn’t have tasked that job to Zane, the one most resistant to the cold. Kai got out of his sleeping bag getting momentarily stopped by a deep shiver from the cold air outside his sleeping bag. Those were good sleeping bags to keep them all from feeling the deep cold that was now creeping into their tent. Everyone else was asleep in their sleeping bags still all even Zane tightly tucked in their sleeping bags as if cold. It looked like he was the only one up. Their tent wasn’t that big even though it could fit all of them with the small stove to heat the tent in it. They had placed the stove in the center while they all lay around it. Despite its size they were all nearly laying on top of each other in the tent with little room to move around though considering how cold it was that was rather a benefit as it helped them keep each other warm especially when the stove went out like it had. Kai was at the center on the right side of the entrance with Lloyd on his one side at the back of the tent while Jay was on the other side between him and Cole who was by the entrance. Kai had put himself in the middle not wanting to be exposed to too much of the tents sides nor be near the entrance not wanting to catch any potential breezes even though the entrance was tightly zipped up. He still wasn’t up for the risks; he was not a fan of the cold. Cole and Zane lay by the entrance while Pixal and Nya were on the other side of the stove with Zane. Kai had to work his way over Jay trying to not disturb him as he made his way to the front of the stove. Once there he was careful to not disturb Cole or Zane as he inspected in the stove. He didn’t want to risk an accidental punch or kick from either of them. As he had thought the stove had gone out. To his dislike it had gone out as it had burned through all its fuel and they had no more wood inside the tent. It was all outside… in the cold… and the dark… where monsters could be hiding! The talk they’d had earlier of this Mansi thing and finding the remains of those hikers had him fairly scared of what could be hiding out here even though he didn’t wish to admit or show this to anyone. Maybe if he took a quick peak he could see if it was safe to venture outside or better yet he could get Zane to do that. Zane would be able to see and hear things that could be hiding from his senses out there and could watch his back for any possible threat. How to wake Zane up though without getting hurt? That was no easy feat. He slowly touched Zane quietly saying his name cautious of potential punches. Zane didn’t react till he slowly began shaking Zane a bit. With the speed of a cat Zane reached out with his one hand to grab Kai around the wrist without waking up gripping with a pretty intense strength, much greater than he’d ever used before, and not letting up or go of his hold.
It was painful and Kai worried if Zane gripped any harder he’d break the bones in his wrist. Kai had to put his other hand over his mouth to keep from making a noise which could disturb the others. He knew the best thing to do was not try to pull his hand out; Jay and his sister had warned him before that could cause an unaware nindroid to grip harder in self defence and he didn’t want that. Unsure what to do he tried to get Jays attention quietly calling to him worried if he was too loud that would cause Zane to grip harder. Zane was clearly deeply asleep still. Jay didn’t seem to hear him so Kai quickly looked around for something to catch his attention with. Jay was too far for him to reach. Kai took some chunks of charred wood that were in the stove out and threw them at Jay. The pieces hit him but Jay was being stubborn and refusing to get up just brushing the charred bits off in his sleep. Kai needed something more substantial to get Jays attention… the fire poker that would work. It was a solid metal rod with a semi pointed end that also bore a small hook on it. He just had to be careful where he aimed with it and how he thru it. He gave it a toss careful that the pointy end was not in the lead of the throw. That worked to catch Jays attention winding him as it landed on the center of his back.
“What are you doing?”Jay gasped as he caught his breath again mad to have been awaken like that. Kai quickly and quietly stated, “shhh the fire went out and I need to get more wood but Zanes got a vice grip on my wrist!” Jay got up still a bit winded and came over to help him out rather annoyed at being disturbed in his sleep.
“Just wake him up,” Jay groaned but Kai was hesitant to make a move, “I’m afraid he’s going to grip harder… I don’t want a broken arm.” Jay began to slowly try to pry Zanes hand off Kais wrist quietly calling to Zane to try to wake him up. Zane wasn’t waking up nor letting go but he was at least not gripping harder. Jay commented, “wow he must be in a really deep sleep… hopefully he didn’t decide to do a defrag in his sleep. That would be a foolish thing to do out here. Man he’s got a serious grip. There’s one trick I know that will wake him up no matter what.”
“What?” Kai wondered nervous over what Jay was going to do. Jay held his hands a bit apart from each other making some sparking between them as he quietly commented, “unless you want to get shocked Zane you’ll wake up.” That worked greater than Kai had expected. Zane quickly jolted awake letting go of his arm and backing away from them on his hands and knees a bit. Pixal was also quickly awoken by the act quickly sitting up in defence as well. The two droids were clearly startled by the presence of loose electricity.
“Always works; droids instinctively go on the defensive when wild electricity is around,” Jay commented stopping his shocking display and Zane asked a bit angered, “why did you do that?”
“You had a vice grip on my arm… I was just wanting to get some firewood,” Kai expressed still a little spooked checking his arm; it looked and felt to be fine. Zane commented, “why then did you need to wake me up?” Jay stated throwing Kai under the bus, “he did it.” Zane and Pixal looked at Kai waiting for an answer.
“Why are you singling me out?!” Kai questioned before explaining, “I wanted your help to make sure it’s safe out there but you tried crushing my arm…” Zane relaxed a bit clearly unaware and a bit ashamed he’d nearly hurt one of his brothers stating, “well might as well get on with it then.” Jay went to the tent entrance and touched the zipper. Jay started to pull the zipper and got it a few centimetres before a noise outside made him stop. It sounded like there was something interacting with their trailer outside.
“What was that?” Jay expressed starting to get nervous.
“Likely animals,” Zane stated as Kai picked up the fire poker nervous and Jay who in his nerves backed up from the door disturbing Cole who he nearly stepped on causing him to start waking up expressed, “how can you be sure?”
“We can go and check,” Zane stated getting up. He went over and unzipped the door Kai clinging close to him holding the fire poker defensively. Jay decided to join Zane and Kai as they went outside to see what was out there. It felt much colder outside the tent and was colder than when they had first gone to bed. It was eerily still outside and dark though the sky was lit up with a dancing green and orange aurora. Jay was unsettled by the aurora but Zane was intrigued by it; the colors of it were off and auroras were not usually seen at that time of year. He believed it was possibly another side effect from the eruptions on the Dark Isle. To their confusion there appeared to be nothing in their site though there was evidence something had been rummaging through their supplies and the wood they’d collected. Various supplies like climbing gear, ropes, food cans and tools had been pulled out and scattered around the trailer.
“It was probably a bear,” Zane commented and Jay nervously asked, “where is it then?”
“Hearing we are up probably scared it off,” Zane commented heading over to the trailer. Jay worried, “what are you doing?”
“Putting our supplies back so we do not lose any of it,” Zane expressed starting to pick things up and put them back on the trailer. Kai and Jay followed not wanting Zane to be on his own. The two were on guard worried whoever or whatever had been there could come back. They started to help Zane put things back on the trailer.
“These don’t look like bear tracks,” Kai commented as they put things back on the trailer noting some footprints around the trailer. Zane stopped to inspect one of the prints in the snow.
“Hmm you’re right. That is not the print of a bear. That better matches…” Zane began before a branch suddenly ploughed into the three of them knocking them all over to lay in the snow the branch landing on them.
“What was that?” Jay moaned as they lay there and Kai began to panic as shadows in the woods began to move, “what is that?”
Zane was suddenly picked up by something by the back of his shirt. It was a Troll Yeti, a large woolly primate creature native to the region. It looked Zane over before giving him a sniff with its tusked baboon like face. It then dropped him on the ground where he came to sit there just staring at the Troll Yetis as a group of four of them crawled out of the woods as the one that had dropped Zane inspected Kai and Jay who began yelling in a panic.
“What’s it doing? What’s it doing?!” Jay panicked as the Troll Yeti picked him up. In defence Kai used his powers to light several trees on the outskirts of the site on fire. This startled the Troll Yetis the one who held Jay dropping him. The Troll Yetis began to toss snow at the fire clearly trying to put them out. They were doing a pretty good job till noticing it was distracting them Kai relit what they put out and set some other trees and shrubs on fire. The Troll Yetis were not happy with that and the leader turned to get into a fight with Kai who used the fire poker to defend himself. Recovering from being dropped Jay was going to rush into the tent to get the others till he noticed Zane. He was still sitting where the Troll Yeti had dropped him looking almost like he was in a trance any signs of emotions on his face unrecognisable.
“Zane… Zane snap out of it?” Jay called rushing over to Zane shaking him a bit to try and snap him out of what Jay could only assume was some kind of trance. He wasn’t sure why Zane wasn’t responding or trying to aid them worried he might have gotten damaged even though what the Troll Yeti had done to him shouldn’t have done anything to him. Zane just sat looking at the Troll Yetis unaware of Jays attempts to snap him out of his trance. While they were distant relatives to the Yeti of the Never Realm and more primitive in many ways they looked close enough that their appearance had sparked memories Zane had thought he’d erased from the Never Realm and what he had done there to the Yeti that lived there. He’d ordered the eradication of the entire species even helping slay some of them on Vex’s advice. Vex had managed to sway him to think the peaceful creatures that just wanted to dwell at peace in their mountains were a threat to him and his rule as the Ice Emperor. In truth Vex had just wanted them eradicated not because they were a threat but because they wouldn’t bow to his will and allow him to enslave them. Even while under the Forbidden Scrolls hold a part of him knew what he had done was wrong but he couldn’t fight the darkness that had overcome him then and went along with the act blind to the truth. Seeing these creatures now and those memories coming back to him had his emotions overwhelmed by shame and regret. He was a monster; a demon. He’d gone against his values and purposefully harmed and done worse to the innocent and not for some reasonable reason like self defence or survival but out of greed and even pleasure. He was scared to remember he had felt some enjoyment and even a thrill from attacking and hunting them as well as others and instilling fear into all those of the Never Realm. Surely his father hadn’t programmed such a darkness into him so where had it come from and why did he feel he knew how these creatures tasted? Were the vague memories of Vex making him eat some of the Yeti meat true or was he just imagining things? If they were memories at least the remains of the yeti weren’t wasted he reasoned as he tried to fight his overwhelming emotions. He wanted to run and hide from his memories and emotions but he was so overwhelmed by them that he was struggling to function. While Jay tried to get Zane to come back to his senses the commotion of Kai fighting the creatures drew everyone else out of the tent.
“Blind them with a flash,” Pixal ordered Lloyd. He wasn’t sure how that would help but obeyed using his powers to create a bright flash of light which stopped the fighting and scared most of the Troll Yetis to take shelter by the trees which they had managed to put out. Pixal pulled Kai back to keep him from starting up another fight while Lloyd demanded, “what’s going on out here?”
“They were rummaging through our stuff then ambushed us,” Kai expressed. The lead Troll Yeti he had been fighting with made a growling noise like some kind of language at him. None of them could understand it. Cole commented, “well we are in their forest.” Clearly able to understand them the leader pointed at Cole and nodded his head with a motion like he was saying yes.
“Okay but that doesn’t give them the right to attack us,” Kai expressed and the leader growled a noise at him while pointing at the burned trees Kai had lit on fire. Cole asked, “was that before or after you lit their home on fire?”
“That one was picking us up like we were kittens…” Kai started before his sister commented unamused, “so your first thought was to set the woods on fire instead of talking to them.” Pixal noted, “these aren’t just some wild animals. Troll Yetis are very intelligent and can to some extent understand humans.”
“I was scared okay; I doubt you would have done any better in my circumstances,” Kai relented. Cole stated to the creatures, “sorry about any troubles we may have caused you. We’re just passing through and meant no harm.” The leader made a noise but they were unsure what it was trying to say. It seemed to be annoyed.
“Yha he can be annoying at times,” Cole commented and Lloyd offered to the creatures, “sorry if we’re trespassing. I promise we won’t cause any more problems for you. We’ll make sure to clean everything up and not burn anymore trees. Truce?” Lloyd held his hand as if to shake the leaders hand. The leader looked at his hand a little confused as if not sure what to do. He looked back at his companions who had come out of the trees to stand close to him and they looked to have a quick chat using their beastial language. They looked to come to an agreement and the leader came over to Lloyd. He started to move like he was going to shake Lloyds hand. Before it could however it stopped and started to look around nervous as if expecting a predator to come rushing at it. He wasn’t the only one that seemed to sense something. The other Troll Yetis were getting anxious and looking around as well.
“What’s going on?” Jay wondered looking around scared of whatever was scaring the Troll Yetis. Zane and Pixal were the first ones to pick something up the energy they were detecting being strong and unsettling enough to bring Zane out of his overwhelmed state. It made them feel they were in danger. They were having trouble locating where the energy was coming from. Lloyd was also able to pick up this energy. Lloyd felt agitated and confused by it. The others started to get a feeling that something was there but as all they had were their human senses which were very inferior to those the rest of them had they couldn’t figure out what they were sensing or where it was coming from. They could just feel agitated from something but didn’t know why they were feeling agitated.
“What is that?” Cole wondered and Kai commented, “is it just me or does it feel like it’s gotten colder.” It defiantly felt much cooler than it had before and both Zane and Pixal could confirm the temperature had suddenly dropped several degrees. Before any of them could move they were shocked as an icy beast lunged out of the snow around them to tackle over and pin down Lloyd. The creature resembled a wolf the size of a large bear, at least 7 feet tall at the shoulders, with an antlered head plate looking to be made of wood fused into the head it’s eyes and the inside of its mouth glowing with an icy blue glow. It was blackish in color as if made of shadow. The antlers of the head piece looked a bit like an elks but were shorter and flared vertically near it’s extremity to have a palmate flaring to its structure with a few short pointed tines coming off this structure and it had a forward facing prong coming out over its eyes. The strange wolf had its jaws clamped around Lloyds one arm which he had put up in defence to keep the creature from biting at his throat. At the sight of this wolf the Troll Yeti became terrified and quickly fled into the woods.
“Let him go,” Jay expressed hitting the wolf with a jolt of electricity. To their shock the creature burst into a dark icy mist when hit with the shock of lightening. An icy cougar with the same head piece with antlers like the wolf, similarly massive in size and baring the same color style then lunged out of the snow behind Jay to land on him pushing him into the ground and trying to clamp its jaws on his head. Jay was quick once he felt the creature hit him to put his arms up over his head putting a barrier between his head and the creatures’ teeth. Kai hit the cougar with a blast of fire bursting it into a dark mist before that icy wolf lunged out of the snow to attack him. He and Nya got into a fight with the wolf. Cole went to help them but got caught in a fight with an icy bear that was about 6 feet tall while on all fours but could rear up to 11 feet tall, built like an Arctodus bear and equipped with the same headgear and coloring as the strange wolf and cougar. He got caught up fighting it as the cougar reappeared to attack Zane and Pixal. Jay went to help Kai and Nya. Lloyd was going to help Cole but became distracted; these beasts were just a distraction. There was a bigger target there he could sense it and it was scaring his Oni nature. What could scare his Oni nature like this? There was only one thing he could think of, some of the entities of the Lost Clan like Rosic and Kamal. After what he had gone through with Kamal in the capital he didn’t want to encounter either anytime soon. He began looking around for what was scaring him. While he did that the others continued to fight the strange beasts that no matter how many times they destroyed them just burst back out of the snow or shadows to attack them. Pixal noted as they fought, “I don’t think these are mortal beings. Their traits and behaviours seem to match with some kind of elemental or spectral being.”
“I think that’s pretty obvious Pix,” Nya sarcastically remarked as for the fifth time she, Kai and Jay took the wolf out only for it to reform from behind them and start an attack again. Lloyd suddenly got a strange sense he was being attacked from the woods behind him. He turned quickly and swung his sword up just in case his feelings were right. They were. His sword ended up batting away an arrow of dark ice that had been coming at him. After hitting the arrow he looked at where it came from and felt his blood run cold. Stalking out of the woods towards him was an Okhotnik wielding a bow of dark metallic ice. The Okhotnik shot at him again and he dodged the arrow which startled Cole as it pierced into the bear creature he had been fighting dissolving it.
“What is that?!” Cole exclaimed as he looked back to see where the arrow had come from and seeing the Okhotnik come rushing in to bash Lloyd off his feet with its bow.
“That’s an Okhotnik… these beasts make sense then. They’re its allies,” Zane commented taking a minute to look at the being as it shot at Cole who blocked its arrow with his warhammer.
“I knew it a spirit of death got those people and now it’s going to get us!” Jay panicked before Nya silenced him to ask, “how do we defeat this thing?”
“You can’t truly defeat it,” Zane noted as he tried to hit the Okhotnik with an ice blast. The being quickly dodged it flipping itself backwards before wasting no time once landed to shoot at Zane who dodged its arrow while Pixal finished off the strange cougar.
“I don’t care if we can destroy it or not; how do we keep it from destroying us?!” Kai exclaimed as he, Nya and Jay managed to again take out the wolf.
“Well for one we have to keep it focussed on us so it cannot re-summon those beasts; they are extensions of its being and as long as it’s distracted it can’t split its focus to create those beasts,” Pixal noted as with the beasts gone they all focussed on attacking this being. The Okhotnik was faster and more agile than any of them were so easily dodged their attacks and hit them back with its arrows and ice based elemental attacks including hitting them with waves of icy winds, tossing ice shards at them and manipulating the snow around them to jump up and crash down onto them. With its beast like legs that stood on the tip of their toes like a wolf or bobcat and not flat footed like a person it was amazingly agile able to jump quite a distance in one bound, bounce off trees and their ATVs while dodging or jumping and even perch on tree branches and framing of their tent to try and snipe them. Its short bobcat like tail further aided this agility. At times it would give off an eerie and unnatural sounding hyena laugh as it fought the mouth on its wood looking mask not moving as it made a sound the noise just emanating from it. While they fought despite all of them focussing their efforts on this being it was not enough to keep it from unleashing some of its spectral creatures from the snow and shadows onto them at times.
“What was that?!” Jay panicked as a voice came from the woods. Zane commented, “that’s just an owl.”
“Not an owl! Not an owl!” Kai screamed as while fighting the Okhotniks ethereal wolf he came close to the forest edge where he was grabbed by the clawed hand of something. He wasted no time to see what had grabbed him and his blood ran cold as he found himself looking up into the red reflecting icy blue eyes of a Nyctrea, an owl featured demon that they’d encountered aiding the Lost Clan. As if facing the Okhotnik wasn’t hard enough now they had even more trouble as three Nyctrea came to join the fight; one of them even flying in as a snowy owl to change its shape into a Nyctrea as it landed to join in the fight. The Nyctrea had hands like the feet of an owl including the large curved claws typical of owls which could leave serious cuts on them, they stood about eight feet tall with feet that ended in thick broad hooves that could deliver serious kicks and along with the beak on their heads they had a horny helmet like a musk ox that they could head butt with.
“You know this might be a good time for you to unleash your Oni side,” Kai expressed as the monsters began to back them all against their tent. Lloyd commented scared, “that Okhotnik creature is scaring it! I can’t bring that nature up.”
“These things are too powerful… we don’t stand a chance against all of them together,” Cole commented struggling against the Okhotniks spectral bear which had him pinned down on the ground as he shoved the handle of his warhammer in its mouth to keep it from biting his throat having to equip his lava arms to boast the strength to hold this beast back. Zane and Pixal had to aid him in destroying the bear.
“What are we going to do then?!” Kai expressed hitting one of the Nyctrea with a blast of flame. It was starting to have an effect on the creature but it turned itself into an owl to fly off and disappear in the dark woods. Moments later it startled him from the shadows of the woods as its monster self as it swiped with its forepaw at him knocking him off his feet.
“Run and hope they don’t follow!” Jay panicked taking off into the woods. Nya followed him calling for him to stop.
“It is a very bad idea to just go running off into the woods at night!” Zane remarked as one of the Nyctrea hit Kai with a spell that struck him with an uncontrollable fear.
“I don’t care; it sounds safer than being here!” Kai exclaimed unable to fight the spells fear which had him fleeing after Jay and Nya. It was just four of them left and they knew they stood no chance against these monsters.
“I think it best we follow the others,” Cole commented as the monsters backed them against the woods. They all agreed and wasted no time in rushing to follow the others. Only three of them however were able to get away. As they fled Lloyd fell face first into the snow as something grabbed hold of his one leg. It then began dragging him back. He tried to call for the others aid but for a reason he couldn’t understand he could barely make a sound. Looking back he was shocked to see one of the Nyctrea using a spell that created a rope of energy that was twined around his one leg to pull him bag.
“You will not be following your friends daemon,” the one Nyctrea expressed its voice deep and unnatural sounding its beak barely moving with the words it uttered…
As the rest of them fled they were unaware that Lloyd had been caught; they didn’t have the time to become aware of it. While the Nyctrea hadn’t followed them the Okhotnik had and it had summoned its wolf and cougar to keep them on a narrow path where the Okhotnik kept shooting its arrows at them as it gave chase. Cole, Zane and Pixal quickly caught up with Jay, Nya and Kai who had paused for a breather wondering if they were being followed or not. When they saw that they were being followed they joined the other three in fleeing from the monsters.
“Will this thing just give up!” Jay exclaimed as the Okhotnik and its beasts chased them through the woods. It wasn’t long till they came to a wide and fast flowing river which stopped them in their tracks.
“We’re trapped!” Kai exclaimed while Jay began to panic. The Okhotniks beasts were the first to reach them. They had to fight the beasts off to keep from not only being attacked but being knocked into the river. As they managed to finish off the beasts they could see the Okhotnik stalking out of the woods towards them.
“Hold on I’ve got an idea,” Cole expressed before using his powers to create a shallow rising rocky arch over the river. The arch just passed over the river leaving a few inches between the bottom of the arch and the river. It wasn’t the best looking arch and was fairly narrow just enough for them to comfortable cross in single file but it was the best he could do in such a short time. They began to head over it hoping the Okhotnik would not follow them over the arch but they stopped before they could reach the other side as they were surprised to find the Okhotniks bear making its way towards them on the arch headed towards them from the opposite shore; the shore they wanted to get to. Looking back they were scared to see the Okhotnik standing there at the base of the arch on the side they had come from holding its bow aimed at them. They were trapped. The only other direction they could go would be in the river which Zane and Pixal both registered was too cold to be safe for them to enter.
“What do you want?!” Jay exclaimed to the being. It said nothing so Jay expressed, “we’ll do anything please just don’t hurt us or worse! Do you want some kind of treasure or sacrifice?” Kai expressed, “Jay don’t try and bargain with it; I doubt we’ll like what it wants.” The Okhotnik and its bear just stood there looking at them.
“Do you think it’s maybe thinking something over,” Cole wondered. As they talked both Zane and Pixal thought they saw something in the water behind them upstream; when they looked at what had caught their attention they couldn’t see anything confusing them. They had seen something hadn’t they? This being wasn’t messing with their senses was it? The two looked at the Okhotnik which began to slowly lower its bow tilting its head to the one side as if intrigued.
“I think it is thinking something over,” Jay expressed and Kai stated trying to be diplomatic, “we just came here to have a talk with a group of serpentine hiding somewhere out here. We were told they have information that could help us. We don’t want to do anything else in your mountains. If you let us go we can make it up to you. We know the son and grandson of the First Spinjitsu master. Lloyd…wait where’s Lloyd?” The Okhotnik just continued to stare at them lowering its weapon more.
“I thought he was following us; wasn’t he?” Cole commented as they all looked around.
“This isn’t good,” Jay commented. The next thing they knew all of them were knocked of the arch from behind by something large, thick and solid into the icy river below. They all struggled to stay above the raging water while also looking trying to find a way out of it. Nya and Cole wasted no time to grab and help Kai stay fairly above the water. After a few meters of struggling in the water they managed to come to a large downed tree that had fallen in the river in a mild canyon like section that the river made through a large hill. The log looked to be from a landslide from the cliff top of the one hill above the river. Some other debris mainly small logs and dead foliage some of it probably from the same landslide had created a minor blockage in the river there. The tree creating the blockage was a massive and thick conifer that had been taller than the canyon was wide. This had led it to getting wedged between the cliff on the one side of the canyon and the debris from the landslide that had put it there. The base and roots were stuck in the debris pile on one side with the trunk angled up with an angle under 45 degrees up where it became wedged on the other cliff side where it had broken its top half which due to an unclean and not full break had remained attached to the other half of the log. This top half had then fallen to rest angled sharply down into the river downstream of the logs bottom half causing the rivers current to shove it against the other half of the tree getting it stuck. The way the tree had come to lay made it very easy for other logs and debris to get caught on this tree and start collecting against it creating the blockage. They all got caught on the front of this blockage on a log that had been stripped of its bark and held onto it to keep themselves up; a task proving quite hard thanks to the freezing temperature of the water. They had cliffs on either side of them trapping them in the canyon. To get out they’d have to cling to the cliff face and pull themselves back up the river whose current was quite strong.
“What was that?!” Jay exclaimed when they’d come to a stop. Looking back they couldn’t see anything, the Okhotnik and its beast had either disappeared or wasn’t following them. Cole expressed, “whatever it was had to have been big.”
“I think something brushed against my leg!” Nya expressed before something like a snake wrapped up out of the water around her holding her up out of the water a bit and the top of a massive amphibian creature jumped up onto the top of the log looking down at them all. It had a large wide head with large almost tusk like teeth and large golden eyes that stood out on its dark colored body.
“What is that?!” Jay exclaimed and Zane explained, “Snakemander; a large carnivorous labyrinthodont amphibian native to many waterways of Ninjago and the Dark Isle.” Nya was being held by its tail and rear end up out of the water while it went under the log in the water and its front end came up onto the log to look back at its prey. That had been what had knocked them off the arch; slamming them all with its entire body.
“A labri-what!” Jay expressed shocked as Kai tossed a ball of fire at the creatures face yelling at it to let go of his sister. While not hurting it the fireball clearly bothered the amphibian. It let Nya go while diving back under the water.
“A type of ancient amphibian; Snakemanders are very long bodied salamander like amphibians,” Zane explained as Nya fell back into the water at which time Cole was tugged by his one leg by something and pulled under the water. Another of these Snakemanders burst out of the water wrapping itself around Zane and dragging him under the water while another jumped onto the blockage causing it to move a bit. With one of them out of the water they were scared to see the full size of these creatures and why they had the term snake in their name. They had very long elongated bodies at least as long and possibly longer than a bus with short and stubby clawless limbs. The arms were not far from the head giving it a short neck while the legs were about halfway between the arms and the tip of the tail. To try and scare it off Kai threw some fireballs at it struggling to get his powers working as the cold water of the river began pushing them all closer to hypothermia. He missed each time he tried to hit the beast as it went to snap at them. Luckily it wasn’t fond of the fire backing away from it each time he threw a fireball. His misses however started the dry debris out of the water including the large log creating the blockage on fire.
Meanwhile under the water the creature that had grabbed Zane had pulled him down to the river bottom about two to three meters down and after a quick inspection of him let him go to attack the others clearly recognising he was not organic in make therefore not prey. Once free Zane looked around for Cole who had also been dragged under and who he felt likely needed his help. Cole was just managing to get free of the Snakemander that had grabbed him. He managed to scare it by erupting rock spires on the river bed around it. The act scared the creature which let him go. The act of the fighting while holding his breath however had taken its toll on him and he was starting to go unconscious from a lack of oxygen. Zane wasted no time heading over to grab Cole making sure to put his one hand over Coles mouth and nose first to keep him from accidently breathing in water; he knew just grabbing him would startle him and cause Cole to instinctively gasp in shock. Sure enough Cole was startled by his touch however thanks to his forward thinking he kept Cole from accidently breathing in water. Once seeing who had him Cole relaxed. The two quickly made for the surface Cole barely able to help as he tried to keep from passing out. Once at the surface Cole gasped for air while Zane began to cough to get the water he had accidently breathed in when the Snakemander had pulled him under out of his synthetic lungs. The waters current carried them back to the blockage where the others had climbed out onto the debris to escape some of the Snakemanders. There was three of them that were attacking their group who all wanted to get one of them. Luckily though the creatures clearly weren’t wanting to share and kept getting into fights with each other trying to drive the others away. Two were fighting each other in front of the pile occasionally slamming into it jolting the debris which moved some bits especially those burned loose by the fire that had consumed part of the pile. The third had climbed up onto the wall of the cliff at the side of the river looking for the easiest of them to target.
“We were worried you two had been… you know eaten,” Kai began to express as he, Nya and Pixal pulled the two out of the water and onto the debris pile with them as Jay hit the Snakemander that had crawled onto the cliff side with a jolt of electricity. The creature got stunned and fell off the cliff to lay unconscious on the debris pile its landing knocking one of the logs that had burned down out further destabilizing the blockage.
“The blockage is becoming unstable. It likely will not hold on for much longer. We need to get to safety or we’re going to fall back into the river,” Pixal expressed before the two Snakemanders fighting in the river slammed into the blockage during their squabble. Some more debris got knocked out which was now letting more water through further weakening the few logs they had left to cling to in order to stay out of the water.
“We’re trapped though! Where are…” Jay began to say before the fighting amphibians again slammed into the blockage this time breaking the whole thing as the large tree that had been holding all of it together had received enough fire damage to cause it to break at its midway point collapsing into the river and freeing all the other debris. As the blockage collapsed the ninja went with it falling into the river to again be swept downstream by the current. They at least had logs they could cling to this time to stay out of the water. They weren’t the only ones swept downstream. The Snakemander Jay had knocked out came with them as it began to come back to its senses. They were worried it was going to attack but as it came to it retreated swimming back up river away from where they were going. The other Snakemanders weren’t following them.
“Finally a break,” Kai expressed and Jay boasted, “couldn’t handle the lightening could yha!” They took a moment to calm down and gather themselves before Pixal noted, “it is critical we get out of the water before you all get hypothermia.”
“That’s going to be easier said than done. This current is very strong and we’re surrounded on either sides by cliffs,” Nya commented before Cole wondered, “I’m no water expert but is the current getting stronger?”
“Yha plus what is that noise?” Jay wondered. The river wasn’t really quite as it was fast flowing through the canyon having come to be like rapids so it was giving a loud drone but this drone was steadily getting louder turning more into a roar.
“That sounds like a…” Zane began before Jay panicked, “waterfall! Waterfall!” Looking ahead they could see rapidly approaching open space where the water seemed to end ahead. They began to panic but didn’t have time to react before the current swept them over the edge plummeting them a bit over four stories down to a deep pool below. After the initial shock of the tumble all but Kai were able to gain some control of their situation and swim to the surface and start making for the shore.
“Where’s Kai!” Nya began to panic looking in the water. Zane urged, “you need to get out of the water. I and Pixal will find him; we’re immune to hypothermia you are not.” Knowing he was right Nya followed the others to the shore while Zane and Pixal headed underwater. It was dark under the water due to not only being night but the silt kicked up by the falling water. To help see they switched their vision to thermal; as the surroundings were cold Kai would easily stand out from everything around them. It didn’t take them long to find him trapped with the log he had clung to as they went over the falls which had become entangled in the kelp, grasses and algae that grew on the rivers bottom. Terrified of losing his floating source Kai had clung onto the log as best he could as they went over the edge taking him with it as the water forced the two down to the river bottom. Because he refused to let go of the log which was large with stubs from branches all over it the log easily got entangled in the aquatic foliage which led to Kai getting caught up with it as well. Something was wrong; not only was Kai not moving but he wasn’t breathing either. Zane and Pixal wasted no time rushing over to rescue their brother. They tore and cut the foliage off him before dragging him to the surface. The two then dragged him to the shore where the others were waiting scared, soaking and freezing.
“Is he okay?” Nya panicked as she and Jay came to help Zane and Pixal drag Kai to the shore. Pixal noted, “he’s not breathing but still has a pulse. We have to work fast.” They laid Kai on the shore and Zane quickly got to work resuscitating him with mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. Pixal kept an eye on Kai’s vitals while the others just waited worried and shivering from the cold. It only took three attempts before Kai began to breathe again coughing up some water in the process. The others were relieved Nya getting on her knees to pick up and hug her brother relieved and overjoyed that she hadn’t lost him. After a few moments Kai asked slowly waking up, “we didn’t make it did we?”
“No we made it; you tried going six feet under but Zane and Pixal got to you in time,” Jay joked. Confused Zane asked, “what do you mean to go six feet under? The section of the river we found him in was much deeper than six feet.”
“It’s a metaphor for dying Zane,” Cole explained before Pixal explained, “we need to get you four sheltered and warmed up.”
“What about that monster?” Jay worried as he and Nya helped Kai to his feet. Zane commented, “it does not seem to have followed us. We need to focus on warming you four up. Being wet with these temperatures has lowered your core temperatures to dangerous levels and if we can’t warm you up it will prove fatal.”
“That’s something I could do without,” Jay mumbled while shivering and Nya asked, “what are we going to do?” Zane and Pixal took a moment to look around at their surroundings for some place to shelter. The best they could see was the cliff that ran for some distance on either side that the waterfall cascaded over. There was a good chance there could be if not a cave at least an alcove or overhang over the area which could offer them some shelter. The two droids quickly herded the others towards the cliff face picking up as many branches and dead plant matter sticking above the snow that they could find along the way giving some to the others to carry so they had as much matter as they could get. When they got to the cliff Zane and Pixal quickly looked for a place to shelter the others. The cliff was fairly intact and vertically shear. There were no caves but they did note a section of the cliff that created a minor alcove just a little ways away.
“Ideally we should get you all back to camp but it is more imperative that we get you all warm before trying to make a way back which could take a considerable amount of time to which in your current condition you would not last for,” Zane explained as they took the others to the sheltered section.
“Not to mention that monster is still out there and could find us,” Jay expressed as Zane and Pixal sat the rest of them tightly together by the cliff face. The two droids then set up a fire in front of them using the wood and debris they had collected. Kai tried to light the fire but was too cold to get his powers working. Pixal used some stones she found lying at the base of the cliff smacking them together multiple times to create sparks to get the fire going while Zane went and collected some more plant debris from the nearby area even breaking branches off trees bringing it all back to their site. He then used his powers to advance their shelter creating a sort of igloo using the cliff face as a backing. He made it large enough it would not be easily affected by the heat of the fire but small enough it would still efficiently trap in heat. He left an entrance small enough they could easily get back out on the front of it to keep potentially hazardous build-ups of carbon monoxide from the burning of foliage. The structure would help keep them warm and protect them from hazards outside. Despite wanting to help the others were feeling too cold to do anything but shiver. Once the structure was set up and the fire was thriving Zane and Pixal came to sit with the others putting the others close to them to help keep them warm. Zane sat himself between Cole and Jay and brought them close to himself while Pixal sat between Kai and Nya and brought them close to herself.
“We’ll spend the night here; you should stick close to us in that time,” Pixal noted and Zane expressed, “we can better control our temperatures than the rest of you can and we were not chilled by the cold water.” To help warm the others who huddled into them to keep warm Zane and Pixal modified the operating of their cooling systems speeding it up to push heat from their deep interiors to their extremities and skin quicker and shutting down the cooling part of their cooling system in order to have more heat available to warm the others with. Doing this was dangerous for them as high temperatures could damage their inner and critical workings however they should be fairly safe as they were in a cold environment and were not being highly active; most importantly their family needed the heat they could produce in order to survive. If their temperatures got too high they could always turn their cooling function back on if their temperatures got too dangerous but that could take a while in their current conditions. To help produce more heat they increased functioning’s to some of their inner workings that produced heat; mainly their digestive and energy conversion system. Two intertwined systems their digestive systems worked like those of organic beings however theirs had an additional energy conversion system built in which turned the resources they could get from food into electricity which was the energy they required to function and live. Both systems produced quite a bit of heat especially when functioning at higher levels which they could transfer to their skin to warm the others. Increasing the speed functioning of these systems would also speed up their energy production counteracting the energy they were using to operate their systems at higher levels. The others thanked them for the shelter and creating the fire as they cuddled into the two for warmth. Jay and Nya were a bit worried by the heat Zane and Pixal were radiating worried the two were risking overheating. They reassured the others they were being cautious and would be okay. They sat for a while in quiet Zane and Pixal keeping an eye on the vitals of the others as they fell asleep against them; they were stable and warming up. The others all quickly fell asleep leaving Zane and Pixal as the only ones up. When they were sure the others were going to be okay the two decided to get some rest with them shutting their eyes and falling asleep…
They weren’t sure how long they were out before something woke them up. Zane and Pixal looked around trying to find what had awoken them. It was just the two of them up. The others were still cuddled into them even hugging them now making the two feel happy and comforted by the affection the others were giving them. This happiness however was overshadowed by a feeling of unease and that they were potentially in danger.
“Are you detecting something as well?” Pixal quietly wondered and Zane quietly commented,”yes.” Despite sensing a danger was present their senses could not detect anything and didn’t seem to think anything was wrong. The others were fine and still cuddled into them, their systems had gone back to normal functioning levels and they had turned the cooling function of their cooling systems back on setting the system back to normal functioning so they were safe from their own bodies. They were greatly confused. Something was making them uneasy and had awoken them but what? Checking their inbuilt sense of time the two determined they’d been asleep for a little over an hour. With that determined they were drawn to the fire they had built which sat in front of them. They had used various sticks, branches and some reeds and grasses to build the fire so it should have been dying out or had died out by now but it wasn’t. It was doing quite well and now had logs fuelling it!
“Who has been tending the fire?” Zane wondered and Pixal commented the two getting uneasy, “it would seem someone has been tending to the fire while we slept.”
“We’re the only ones out here though, who else could be out here?” Zane commented. After a moment’s thought they felt some relief with their conclusion. Pixal voiced their thoughts, “it must be Lloyd. Tending to the others we forgot about him. He must have escaped the monsters and come looking for us.” Zane wondered as they looked around, “where is he then?”
“Maybe out collecting more wood for the fire,” Pixal offered before a slight move on the opposite side of the fire caught their attentions. There was something there. The light from the fire messed with their view of what was on the other side of it making the space appear darker than it actually was. This had led them to miss something vital on the other side of the fire. It didn’t help its coloring blended it into the ice behind it very well making its glowing eyes its most easily visible feature.
“Droids; you're finally awake. Seems you walked into that Snakemanders ambush,” the Okhotnik proclaimed from where it crouched across the fire from them. It tilting its head in what looked like intrigue had been the movement that had caught their attention. Despite speaking the mouth of the figure didn’t move. It’s voice was deep and masculine and something about it felt as if this thing was not entirely of their world. While able to clearly see and hear the figure Zane and Pixal could not detect the figure with any of their sensors unsettling them and making them scared; they were scared enough they were starting to shake. The two wanted to alert the others but they were too scared to move or make a sound. How long had this being been here and what was it doing there just staring at them?
“You’ve done a good job at protecting your humans like loyal herd dogs protecting their sheep. That work must make you tired. Why don’t you have yourself a long nap for some rest? Sleep little droids sleep,” the Okhotnik proclaimed holding its hand over the fire as it opened its mouth a bit as if mimicking a snarl. The inside of its mouth glowed the same cold and unsettling icy color as its eyes the glow being brightest in the back of its mouth where the throat would start. The fire developed a greenish color and a dark mist began to fill their shelter. While the two couldn’t figure out what the mist this being was making manifest in the structure was they could feel effects from it that were having an effect on them. It was activating programming they had that helped them blend in with humans by acting as they did when exposed to certain things like sleeping gas making them act like a human would and fall asleep. Whatever this mist was it was making them sleepy and they were struggling to not fall asleep. Normally if they felt the need to they could override this programming and keep from reacting to it however this mist was messing that ability rendering them powerless to fight its sedating effects and before they knew it the two were rendered unconscious…
Back at their site after the others had fled Lloyd found himself alone facing the three Nyctrea. He could feel the Okhotnik’s presence was no longer strong and it seemed to have disappeared. It clearly had followed the others. Without that monster there his Oni side wasn’t as scared and started to surface which was giving him a hand against the Nyctrea. On his own as his normal self they were too powerful for him but with his Oni side active he stood a much better chance. He had wasted no time once they had pulled him back to hit them with the strongest blast of his powers he could muster some of his Oni energies getting mixed in with his normal powers. It knocked the Nyctrea back. Before they could fully recover he entered his Spinjitsu tornado to attack each one of the monsters flinging them into the trees. As he fought them he could feel his Oni side rising. That was okay, he needed it. He did though need to be careful and keep it from overtaking him. The Nyctrea were quick to get back to their feet and one of them jumped onto him to pin him down. He quickly retaliated with a blast of energy sending it flying back. He quickly got up as another of the Nyctrea came at him slashing with its clawed owl hands. He entered hand to hand combat in order to keep it from scratching him. While he was fighting this Nyctrea he was shocked to feel a serious scratch on his back. Turning to look back he saw one of the other Nyctrea standing there taking a few slow steps back. Lloyd started to feel weird. His Oni side was going into submission and he felt tired and weak. He could feel the Nyctrea had cut him with its claws on his back leaving at least one possibly two long scratches down his back which were burning.
“What did you do to me?” he wondered and the Nyctrea that had scratched him proclaimed, “a mild poison that weakens an Oni. We tipped our claws with it just for you. You won’t be able to use that side of yourself and it will make your human side feel exhausted. Don’t worry we’ll make sure you don’t suffer for long.” The Nyctrea began to approach him. Lloyd knew he had to get away from these beasts. Thinking fast he decided to try something. He entered his Spinjitsu tornado and used it to whip up snow in the area creating a snow screen to block the Nyctreas view of him as he exited his tornado and hurried off down the path the others had gone down. He managed to get several meters on the path before he was swooped from behind by an owl. It was one of the Nyctrea. It had turned itself into an owl to chase after him and it wasn’t alone. The other two had done the same. He kept rushing off though no matter how many times the owls swooped at him. The monsters turning themselves to owls at least had its benefits; it was much easier to knock back and out of the air the monster owls using his powers. Anytime they swooped at him he hit them with an energy blast to temporarily knock them back. He came to a river where he could see a shallow rocky arch over the river which he believed the others had made to cross the river. He crossed the river but couldn’t see where the others had gone from there. He didn’t have time however to look for a path as the Nyctrea owls started harassing him again. He rushed off into the woods in the clearest section of woods he could find feeling that was likely where the others had gone. He continued for several meters knocking the owls down once before he shocked himself by running off a cliff edge. Due to the snow that coated the forest floor the ground of the cliff and the ground below had blended together looking like level ground causing him to not see the cliff edge in his panicked run and just run off it. He fell a bit over a story down and landed hard on the ground winding himself in the process. As he struggled for a moment to get his breath back he looked around at his surroundings. There was a cave in the cliff he’d fallen off big enough he could fit in it. He quickly got up as he caught his breath and rushed into the cave. It went in and down a few meters before coming to a wider cavern like region. He was using his powers to light the way in the dark cave. When he got to the room section he stopped to get a breath looking back at where he’d come from worried the Nyctrea would follow him. So far they weren’t there yet but they would be coming. He’d left tracks leading into the cave. He needed to hide and hope these monsters couldn’t find him. He looked around. The cave was pretty open and bare with just a handful of stalactites and stalagmites in it. There was an area however that the light from the energy fire he held in his one hand bounced oddly off the cave wall. Was that the entrance to a passage or alcove? He hurried over to it and was startled as he ran into the group of Troll Yetis they’d interacted with before. They creatures were huddled together tightly in a deep alcove in the cave wall. Upon seeing him they held their hands in front of their faces in protection clearly terrified.
“I’m sorry I didn’t mean to scare you,” he expressed to the creatures who calmed down a bit to look at him scared. They clearly had no problem with him, it was those monsters they were scared of. A noise from the tunnel leading to the room caught their attentions worrying the Troll Yetis. Lloyd put out his light and ducked into the alcove with the Troll Yetis who didn’t object to his actions clearly more scared of the monsters than him. He knelt there looking into the cave. At first he couldn’t see anything as it was too dark though he could hear hooves on the ground and a clacking sound; both were greatly unsettling him. As his eyes adjusted to the dark he started to vaguely make things out. Shadows of structures in the cave and… there was some shadows moving by the entrance slowly walking into the room and looking around. When their heads hit the right position as they looked around he caught glimpses of a glowing red colour from them. It was the Nyctrea back in their monster form. They were looking around for him. The clacking he had been hearing was them clicking their beaks together in a form of communication that he couldn’t understand. They moved slowly deeper into the cave looking over the place. As they got closer Lloyd got more nervous. He wasn’t well hidden; the Nyctrea would see him once they reached a certain point in the cave and he was pretty sure the Troll Yetis would not help him fight them back. They were probably going to flee too scared of the Nyctrea. The monsters were getting close. Lloyd was prepping to have to fight when a flash of light blinded him. He could hear the Nyctrea fighting as he slowly regained his vision. When his vision had recovered he was surprised to see three figures fighting the three Nyctrea. Two of the individuals were using pickaxes to fight back the Nyctrea while the third used a magic staff. While the pickaxes didn’t do much harm to the Nyctrea whatever magic the one with the staff was delivering a serious blow to the monsters. Lloyd wasn’t sure what it was but the visual energy the magic gave off was a dark reddish colour. The three worked together to steadily defeat the Nyctrea. The ones with the pickaxes kept the focus of the Nyctrea while the one with the staff destroyed the monsters. In no time they had the three monsters destroyed. After they paused for a moment as the staff wielder created a light on the top of his staff to light up the cave.
“Is there anyone there?” one of them asked. Lloyd stayed put unsure of these individuals. Who were they and why were they there? Few just wandered around these mountains and given the time of day it was the chances of someone just wandering around was highly unlikely so surely he should be suspicious of them. He was also getting a strange and unsettling feeling from them. The three individuals just looked around for a moment before the one stated, “maybe no one is here?”
“Those footprints looked fresh though and why else would those monsters be here? They must have chased someone into here,” the staff wielder commented starting to wander deeper into the cave. As this individual wandered closer the Troll Yeti oddly panicked and bolted out of hiding rushing past the individuals and out of the cave.
“Maybe it was just them,” one of the individuals commented while the staff wielder expressed, “no those were human prints; there is someone here.” As the Troll Yeti had bolted they had knocked Lloyd over and out of the alcove and into the view of the individuals.
“Are you okay?” the one with the staff asked coming over to help him up and Lloyd replied, “better now that those monsters are gone.” Getting up was difficult for him thanks to the poison which had him weak and tired and the scratches on his back which stung, burned and shot him with pain if he moved his arms, back or shoulders too much and kept him from standing fully upright.
“You’re hurt,” the staff wielder noted and he commented, “it’s nothing… just a scratch.”
“You sure, it looks bad,” the staff wielder commented trying to get a look at it but he moved to keep them from seeing it. Lloyd replied, “it’s fine. Not to be rude but who are you and what were you doing out here?” Lloyd couldn’t explain why but he was getting a strange feeling from this trio.
“I’m Nazir and these are my compatriots Cyrill and Armand. We were out here prospecting; basically searching for valuable metals and gems. There’s said to be lots out here somewhere that have hardly been touched,” the staff wielder Nazir explained and Lloyd asked, “this late at night?”
“That is a bit of an accident. We were exploring a cave and had no idea it had gotten this late,” Cyrill explained and Armand noted, “the watch we had the batteries died and you can’t really tell time inside a cave.”
“We were out longer than we expected to be. We were just on our way back to our cabin when we noted fresh footprints leading into the cave and we wanted to see who they were from,” Nazir explained and Cyrill commented, “this really isn’t a place to find people just randomly wandering so we thought whoever was here was in trouble. Looks like we were right,” Armand commented and Cyrill noted, “you’re Lloyd of the ninja aren’t you? What are you doing out here all on your own?”
“I and my team are out here on a mission looking for a lost serpentine tribe who supposedly know something about the demons conquering our realm… I know you just rescued me and all but I should really get back out there and find my friends,” Lloyd explained and Nazir offered, “I don’t think you should be wandering around out there in your state. Why don’t you come back with us to our cabin and we can fix you up.” Lloyd expressed, “thanks but I’ll be good. I need to find my team mates and make sure they’re okay.”
“Oh I think we saw them. It was some ways from here up the mountain. These strange serpentine rescued them from that Mansi monster that patrols the mountain,” Cyrill explained and Lloyd feeling relieved stated, “that must be those Grahtwyrms we’re looking for. I don’t mean to be rude but I should really get going and meet up with my friends.” He went to take a step but stumbled and nearly fell over feeling weak and light headed.
“I don’t think you should just go wandering off in your state?” Nazir commented and Cyrill noted, “monsters could also still be stalking the woodlands.”
“You’re friends are safe with these serpentine and they can get things done without you can’t they?” Nazir wondered and after a moment’s thought Lloyd responded, “they can… it is late and I really don’t want to run into those monsters again…”
“You’ll be safe in our cabin; I placed wards around the building when we first got here to keep the monsters away from us while we’re out here. You could always go looking for your friends tomorrow,” Cyrill commented. Lloyd thought his options over. He could try to find the others but it was late; if those Nyctrea had been there hunting him then they likely had more allies waiting or searching the mountain sides for him plus there was this Mansi being out there and he was in no state to get in a fight with any of these monsters.
“How far is your cabin from here?” he asked and Armand noted, “not far. I’d say just a few yards.”
“I guess it’s best I come with you tonight,” he stated. With that the trio led him out of the cave and into the woods. They headed down the mountainside a bit for about half an hour. The woods felt oddly still and quite. The sky was still lit up by an aurora though it was starting to get cloudier.
“Don’t be afraid to make yourself at home; I have to get the generator going so we can have the lights. Cyrill, Armand why don’t you two get a fire going and get some tea brewing; Lloyd you can just relax,” Nazir expressed as they approached the trios cabin. The cabin was a modestly sized and fairly up kept structure made of wood with a stone foundation with a couple small windows to let in light. It looked to be two stories tall. There was a small road that led to the cabin with a truck equipped with a snow plough on the front that the trio had likely used to reach the cabin. consisting of a large main room in front, a kitchen coming off the back of that room on the one side, stairs that went up to the second floor where the bedrooms likely were in a hall positioned at the back center of the room that led to a bathroom at the back of the hall and another room came off the side of this hall. The building was dark and cold when they entered. Nazir went out back of the building to get a generator started so they could power the lights while Armand got a fire started in the fireplace of the main room in order to warm the place up. Once they had the lights and power Cyrill made them some tea while they sat in the seating area by the fireplace. Lloyd just sat on one of the two couches by the fireplace a bit uncomfortable with his situation and being around these individuals. Nazir came in once the generator got going and after helping Cyrill in the kitchen for a minute. They came to join Lloyd and Armand by the fire bring with them a pot and some cups of tea.
“How’s that scratch on your back?” Nazir offered before he sat down.
“Stings and burns,” he replied trying to ignore the wound which he was pretty sure was still bleeding a bit. Nazir offered, “you wouldn’t mind if I took a look at it? I know some blood magic; nothing bad mainly just healing based spells you know helping cuts clot or seal up, slowing the spread of venoms and stuff like that. When you often wander out into places far from medical services it really helps to know those spells. You never know when you might have a fall, get bad cuts or get bit by a venomous creature.” Lloyd was at first hesitant, those who used blood magic’s usually weren’t good people, he knew though he needed the scratches on his back to be looked at though and he couldn’t reach or see them and he didn’t have his family there to help him.
“I guess so,” he relented. Nazir came over to him and helped him get his coat and shirt off so Nazir could look at the wounds. The act of taking his coat, shirt and under shirt off was painful as it hurt to lift his arms; it felt like the Nyctrea had left a scratch across his entire back. After getting his shirt off Nazir inspected the wound.
“Doesn’t look too bad but defiantly not pretty. You’ve got two big scratches across your entire back… looks to be something in it too,” Nazir commented and he replied, “the one said they had tipped their claws in some kind of poison.”
“It was probably something to stop you from using your powers on them I bet,” Cyrill noted and Lloyd replied, “yha it was.” He then reacted to feeling pain and a burning sensation on his back.
“What are you doing?!” he exclaimed trying to look back to see what Nazir was doing but Nazir stopped him, “don’t worry just fixing you up. Try not move during the process. I can’t do much about the poison already in you, hopefully it wasn’t something too dangerous but I can seal the wounds so they won’t be a problem anymore. Don’t worry I’ve gotten pretty good at this; you won’t even have scars when I’m done.” After a moment of serious pain, a burning and strangely an itchy sensation Nazir stopped his work and went to sit with his comrades across from Lloyd who still felt sore but felt better than before. There was still some itchiness and it felt hot to the area where the scratches had been but he couldn’t feel them and he didn’t feel the wounds at all.
“It’s going to burn and be a bit itchy for a while. Try not to scratch it too much,” Nazir commented and he expressed as he put his shirt back on, “I guess I should thank you.”
“No need. You and your team, well most of your team, do a lot of work protecting our realm all the time consider my aid payment for all you do for us,” Nazir expressed. Lloyd had some mixed emotions. He felt good from the praising but confused over what Nazir was meaning over most of your team. They sat in awkward silence for a moment before Armand asked, “so you said you were out here looking for some snakes?”
“A Serpentine tribe yha,” Lloyd stated; he didn’t want to reveal too much about what they were doing out there. He didn’t trust them enough for that. Cyrill asked, “why are you looking for them? Does it have something to do with those monsters running rampant across the continent or is it for something else?” Lloyd was hesitant to say much; he knew nothing about these strangers and he didn’t want to reveal critical information to anyone.
“We were told by the serpentine tribes this lost tribe may have some important information for us and leave it at that,” he replied to which Nazir commented, “I’d be careful what they tell you. You shouldn’t blindly trust a snake; the only thing worse than a snake is a machine.” Cyrill agreed, “especially droids.”
“What’s wrong with droids?” Lloyd inquired. The three were quiet for a moment as if thinking the answer over before Cyrill commented, “they’re untrustworthy. We’re pretty sure deep down those artificial animals desire to hunt down and enslave humans. It’s built into their nature no matter how someone programmed them. If they can think for themselves and they have the intelligence to reason it what’s to stop them from realizing they’re superior to us? Eventually it always comes to them and gets ingrained into their instincts that we are to be nothing but cattle to them.”
“It doesn’t take them much for them to acquire that instinct. They just think about their situation and nature and instantly deem themselves the superior life forms and think we should be slaves to them,” Nazir explained. That kind of thinking didn’t seem right to Lloyd. Maybe some droids thought like that but Zane and Pixal never viewed themselves as superior beings; in fact he was pretty sure such a concept was foreign to them. They knew in some aspects they were superior but they also knew they had major flaws that made them inferior as well. He was pretty sure the two just wanted to be recognised as living beings and accepted and treated as equal to a human and not considered or viewed as machines or lifeless, mindless and soulless beings which unfortunately most people considered droids to be.
“I don’t think that’s true. Zane and Pixal would never do that to us. They’re not dangerous or betrayers,” Lloyd stated and Armand countered, “that’s what you think. How do you know they don’t have thoughts like that? Can you read their minds?”
“In a way; we’ve analysed their programming and memories and they never object to the mandatory bi-annual checks the government demands to look for dangerous programming. There has never been anything found to prove your statements,” he defended and Cyrill inquired, “couldn’t they hide things from you though like burying it somewhere deep and hidden in their programming or on some external server or something while you check them?” Lloyd wanted to say no but he knew that wasn’t true. That was a possibility and both had things hidden they refused to let others know about. He was pretty sure it was nothing dangerous and felt it was more of things that were personal to them, that they were embarrassed or ashamed of or that they wished to forget like whatever Zane went through in the Never realm. He could understand why Zane was so guarded over all that but he and the others did have a great deal of interest to know what he was hiding. They’d all agreed though that unless Zane offered to let them know about it they weren’t going to ask about it; whatever he went through they all were pretty sure had been scarring for him.
“Well there are something’s they hide but it’s mainly personal things you know like things others would like to keep private like what they do in the bathroom,” Lloyd expressed and Cyrill asked, “are you sure that is all they keep hidden?” Again Lloyd couldn’t answer with a counter answer. There was probably things the two kept secret without anyone else knowing about. They wouldn’t purposely hide something potentially important or critical for the rest of them to know about though would they?
“Look I’m pretty sure I know more about droids than you do so I know what I’m saying when I say they’re not evil and don’t pose a threat,” Lloyd defended. Nazir commented, “maybe to you and your team mates no but I bet your two droids wouldn’t have qualms with hurting others. They’re bonded to you and you’re team mates like a cat or dog. They wouldn’t hurt you guys because they have attachments to you. They probably consider you of high value to them therefore will spare you their monstrous natures but to strangers they have no relations so would have no qualms with hurting them.”
“They don’t have monstrous natures,” Lloyd noted managing to keep his cool despite starting to feel anger. Cyrill countered, “are you or other humans around them all the time or are your droids let to have time on their own?”
“Why wouldn’t we let Zane and Pixal have time to themselves? They can function well enough they don’t need us around all the time and they’ve never given us a reason to not trust them,” he explained. He was getting angrier until Nazir commented, “you do know droids have a way of communicating secretly to each other. They can do this in front of you without you even knowing it. Are you aware of that?” The question brought to his mind the thoughts he’d been having recently since picking up that Zane and Pixal seemed to be doing that communication more frequently recently. Then again he only knew this because of hearing the noise they made while doing it also he’d been having trouble with keeping his Oni side calm since the attack at the capital and since it was that side that let him pick up the sound then maybe they weren’t doing it more often and it was just him being able to pick up the sound more frequently that made it seem like they were doing it more frequently.
“We are aware and we usually don’t pry into it. We’re pretty sure they use it mainly to express affection to each other or helping each other understand concepts, behaviours and languages people use that they don’t understand; human social things really confuse droids,” he noted. Cyrill stated, “how can you be sure of that though if you never look into it? You do know droids are much more susceptible to magical attacks and therefore dark forces right? They also are susceptible to cyber attacks and they’re highly flawed social programming makes it easy for them to be tricked and manipulated by others right?” Lloyd didn’t want to agree with him but Cyrill was right. He did know these facts. While Zane and Pixal were generally sceptical and cautious to strangers with the right circumstances they could be easily tricked by the wrong kinds of people who could mislead them into doing the wrong things yet make them think they were doing the right things. They luckily were smart enough to reason out situations with logic usually avoiding this risk but someone skilled enough could find a way to out think the two and manipulate them.
“Maybe you’re lucky and you have special droids but you have to admit they’re all not good,” Nazir commented. Lloyd could agree with that. Droids could be easily programmed by the wrong kinds of individuals and most droids were not as free willed or mind full as Zane and Pixal; most people didn’t trust droids to have that much humanness preferring them to be more dog like thereby lowering risks that they could turn on people. Lloyd was not too happy with these individuals’ views on droids but he knew it best to keep piece to be careful over what he said. Their view on droids also brought some curiosity to his mind and he asked, “by any chance you aren’t from Notomation are you?”
“How’d you know?” Armand asked and Lloyd replied, “those with views as extreme as yours of droids tend to find themselves living there.” Armand noted, “well it’s the only place we can guarantee droids aren’t present.”
“You don’t take offense to that do you?” Nazir asked and Lloyd replied his anger subsiding, “no you’re free to your own thoughts as long as they’re not hurting anyone else. It just explains your views. You won’t mind if I ask why you don’t like droids?”
“They’re scary,” Armand commented and Nazir stated, “I find it hard to trust them. They’re too smart and can too easily access technology for my liking plus I’ve had some unpleasant run ins with some of them.” Cyrill expressed, “I’ve worked with some before and I didn’t like it. They were aggressive, one of the males we had kept breaking out of his containment and restraints and seemed to go a little crazy at one point and started talking to himself. He was very dangerous and would attack those around him for no reason and he really disliked me; I’d go as far to say he hated me.”
“Maybe there was something wrong with that droid and he needed to be checked over,” he offered and Cyrill commented, “no he was checked over and fine. It was just his nature to be like that; he was like a feral animal that needed to be put down and scrapped but everyone else considered him too valuable to do that to him so they kept him alive even though he became more dangerous.”
“Even if you like them you have to admit there’s something scary to droids. They look and act human like but aren’t human and there is lots of weird behaviours, acts and thoughts to them. They’re strangely predictable but also very unpredictable not to mention even when moving they can be unnervingly quiet,” Nazir commented. Lloyd had to agree with that; sometimes Zane and Pixal could be quite unsettling just by being themselves and because of their eyes and non human skin seeing them in the dark like in deep shadows or at night was definitely scary. There was also always the threat with them that a magic spell or virus could turn them into monsters and they’d become very dangerous. Unlike a human droids were very weak to magic attacks and there were plenty of viruses that could make them highly dangerous; they’d recently had a pretty big scare with the two getting inflicted with one of these viruses; Robot Rabies as Jay had termed it. They’d all been pretty scared of the two during that time. Some were more scared than others though and all were scared for different reasons. Jay and Nya were a bit scared of the two in that state but were more scared that they couldn’t cure the two and might have to do something very dangerous and potentially fatal to the two in order to cure them. Kai was full out scared trying to understand what was going on but as he wasn’t that tech savvy so he had trouble working it out making him scared of what the two could become as monsters. He at first thought Cole was only lightly scared as he was fairly calm during the ordeal and was brave enough to still care for the two and go near them despite the risks something the rest of them were not brave enough to do. He’d over heard the one night though Cole mumbling while on his phone with what he guessed might be his father though he’d never known Cole to be this open to his father but given what Cole was saying he guessed because of the circumstances he couldn’t help but open up not able to deal with his emotions. Cole was scared of the two while they were in this state but that was minor to him; he was largely scared of losing the two and was finding it hard to address that fear. He’d been scared too but there was something more to his fear which he was unsure if the others felt it or not. When near Zane or Pixal while they were affected by that virus he got an unsettling threatened feeling from them as if they had a primal instinct to attack him. They’d even growled at him and he could have sworn he’d heard them emit a quiet hiss like a cat at him a few times. He also felt they had reacted differently to him than the others during that state. He could swear they wanted to attack him more than anyone else and would get hyper focussed when he was around. The others called him crazy for that as the virus made them hyper aggressive to anything else but the others hadn’t seen what he’d seen. Despite the effect the virus had given them if one of the others entered the room with the cells they were keeping the two Zane and Pixal would angrily but yet calmly watch the others only trying to attack them if they got too close for more than a few minutes but if he just entered the room it seemed to drive them crazy. They’d instantly try to attack him and try to break out of their cells to get him; to keep them calm for the others safety he had to stay away from them till they were better. Why had it been like that? Was it something to do with his Oni heritage? His uncle had told him once that while treating them as fellow humans was a good thing and they deserved that kind of treatment and respect ultimately at their core and by their very natures Zane and Pixal weren’t human nor could ever be human and therefore working with them was much different not just physically and mentally but according to his uncle most importantly spiritually. According to him droids were like animals. They’re beings were pure and balanced between light and dark despite their non natural make but most importantly they were by nature beings of the light. Being of the light however didn’t mean they were laid back or would act or think in a way that people would deem as good; they were fully capable of dark acts and thoughts. While capable of these acts of darkness it was not the same in droids as it was with people. They were incapable of true evils like greed and cruelty like humans. Because of their connection to the light droids were enemies to those of darkness like the Oni and deep down even if they were not aware of it had a desire to destroy anything of the darkness and unlike animals droids had the traits that let them easily be a threat to beings of the darkness. They weren’t vulnerable beings, they were dangerous. Was that maybe also why he was getting the odd feelings from the two recently with his Oni side acting up and why his Oni nature had something against them? Did that also mean they had an instinctive aggression to his Oni nature? If they did they never showed it; in fact they’re actions towards him hadn’t really changed much since he’d been having problems with his Oni nature. At times they were clearly scared but overall they were understanding and tolerable to his condition and never tried to harm him even when he lost control.
“Are you okay?” Armand asking caught his attention. He’d gotten a bit lost in thought.
“Yha, I guess you’re right there. Droids can be rather scary even when they don’t mean to; they may be scary but Zane and Pixal are very peaceful and won’t hurt you unless you do something to provoke them,” Lloyd replied.
“You know in order for your droids to be peaceful they must be capable of doing great harm. Otherwise they're not peaceful, they’re just harmless and I doubt that’s the case. It’s by design that droids by their very nature are to be dangerous. Heightened senses, strength to break any bone in a human’s body not only with their hands but teeth as well, reaction speed like a cats and hyper intelligence with great calculating and tactical skills; being dangerous is the only way droids especially those who do the tasks like the ones yours do for a living can be of use to us and they do not share the same morals as humans. They’re brains don’t work the same as us just like their bodies so they see things much differently than we do,” Nazir explained. Lloyd knew that was true. While they seemed peaceful Zane and Pixal were the most dangerous of them and could do the most harm if they desired. They’d had instances in the past of this, most were accidents or the two losing control going a little crazy or having something go wrong in their brains, but it had happened and even without meaning to they had given some serious harm to opponents like criminals and a few times him and the others. Luckily it hadn’t been more than broken bones or bad cuts or bruises but the fact they could do that especially without weapons and a couple times the rest of them had feelings they hadn’t caused such harm on accident was scary and worrisome to the rest of them. There was also what Zane did in the Never realm; sure he was under the corrupting effect of a Forbidden Scroll but all it did was surface what his uncle called Zanes ‘inner daemon’ and truly didn’t change him meaning he still had that side of him in his nature and under the right circumstances or even if he so desired it could easily surface again.
“People like to think we are in charge of droids but we’re not, it’s an illusion. They’re sheep dogs and we’re the sheep. They follow us and work for us but like us they have their own needs that they need fulfilled and those needs are different from ours. The sheep can survive on grass the sheep dog needs to eat the sheep. Either a sheep must be sacrificed to feed them or the sheep must find prey for the sheep dog to feed on to keep the peace. As long as they’re needs are satisfied the sheep dog will be passive to us and protect us from the wolves but we forget they share more with the wolves than us,” Nazir commented. Lloyd was a bit confused by his words so asked, “what do you mean by that?”
“You may like to see them as people and you can if you want but you should know they truly aren’t. That lack of humanness to them means if an enemy arrives that boasts similarities to them; that can see the world as they do and feel the way they do they’re attachments to you might not be strong enough for them to resist abandoning you to side with your enemy who is much like them that they can feel a greater attachment to than to you,” Nazir explained and Lloyd countered, “even during the nindroid crisis they didn’t go against us. They sided with us.”
“Were the nindroids much like them though?” Cyrill asked and after a moment’s thought Lloyd replied, “I guess not really. In ways they were the same but deep down they were very different.”
“That was good but you do have to realize that won’t always be the case. One day an enemy could arise that they will feel a kinship in and they will turn on you. Without your kinship, the sheepdogs food in this case, the sheep dogs will revert to wolves and eat their sheep and it could happen before you even know what is happening. Droids are smart enough they could easily trick their prey into a false sense of security before feeding on it. Maybe one day the enemy gets them alone and has a talk with them that sways their minds or something about the enemy they feel a kinship in and seeking to understand it they end up on the side of your enemy and not you,” Nazir explained. Lloyd wanted to counter Nazirs words but he felt there was truth to what he said. It was something they were all aware that could happen and because of their intelligence, low emotion display and tendency to hide things they didn’t want others knowing about Zane and Pixal could easily hide their intentions to turn on the rest of them. Nazirs comment also brought something to his mind. What had really happened to the two in that fog in the city? When they’d inspected the two they didn’t find much wrong but for some reason large parts of their memories were missing from the time they were in the fog. The others believed it was something to that fog that had damaged their memories as Kai had noted some technologies messing up while in the fog and the two had memories from when they got out of the fog but they couldn’t find any from in the fog. Strangely Zane and Pixal were not too bothered by that; normally if something happened to themselves that they couldn’t understand they would be uneasy and spend some time trying to figure it out but this time they just brushed it off as strange. They weren’t scared or bothered; that was abnormal. Was it really the fog that messed with their minds? He remembered he’d felt something off to them when they’d first gotten back from the city. Had something happened to them in there? Something the others didn’t want them to know about so were hiding those memories?
“We have always feared something could mess with them and turn them against us. Honestly I wouldn’t know what to look for as signs of that happening though. We did recently lose them for a few hours in the capital when the clan attacked…” he began before stopping himself. He shouldn’t be giving out that kind of information. While tolerated and there was some that liked them in general the public was not very trusting to Zane and Pixal and there were many who didn’t like them. There were many especially children were also rather scared of the two. Word getting out that any of them had suspicions something was wrong with the two would not be good for them especially now. The clans takeover of the capital had sent a serious shock through the public making many question that the ninja were incapable of fighting this enemy back and they might as well give up.
“You know you might find some of it offensive but there is a book commonly available in Notomation that could help you,” Nazir commented looking around before picking up off a side table next to the one couch a book. He then offered it to Lloyd expressing, “it is a guide book many there use when travelling outside the town where we chance running into droids. Don’t worry it’s largely for nothing bad. There are some sections on the weaknesses to droids and ways to harm them and destroy them but those are meant for self defence not for hunting or hurting them for fun. The book focuses mainly on various tips on how to avoid their attention, how to hide your fear from them, how to fake being friendly to them to avoid suspicion and what you might find interesting how to identify potentially dangerous behaviours and actions to droids and potential signs of betrayal from them in order to warn the proper authorities. There may be some rather unpleasant things about your droids in it but please don’t take offense to it. Most in Notomation don’t necessarily hate droids it’s more of a fear and distrust to them; kind of like with fears to large dogs. A lot there had rather unpleasant experiences with droids like from the nindroid crisis so they don’t have a good view of them so take some of what is written with a grain of salt.” Lloyd could understand that. He politely took the book and gave it a quick look over not entirely sure about reading it. It was a small dark leather bound book with a metallic and inlaid red symbol of a gear in a cross-out circle. The first thing he noted about the book was its smell. It was an unpleasant smell that smelt a bit familiar but he couldn’t pinpoint what it was.
“Why does it smell?” he asked looking over the outside trying to determine if something had possibly been spilt on it. Cyrill explained, “oh that’s droid repellent. We put it on the book to keep droids away from it; we don’t want them knowing our secrets or that we know some of theirs. We don’t want them out thinking us.”
“Droid repellent… I’ve never heard of such a thing,” Lloyd commented and Nazir explained, “I wouldn’t expect you to. Living with the creatures you’ve probably not looked into it and I’m pretty sure you’re droids would not tolerate you looking into it. It’s a special spray I found while spending some time in a foreign realm in a place that is also plagued by feral droids that threaten their lands. It’s made from the waste products produced by their digestive and energy conversion systems and secretions from the bacteria found in there. You can either extract it directly from their large intestines or wait for you know…”
“You mean it’s made from…” Lloyd began moving to hold the book away from himself in one hand with as little of his hand touching the book as possible. Nazir expressed, “basically yha. Don’t worry though in the process to make the repellent it’s made clean and safe. Besides the stuff is extracted from the excretion and we don’t just rub the stuff on the book. This repellent is the only thing that effectively keeps droids away from things they need to be kept away from. They’re often too curious for their own good. If you want you can keep that book; we can always get a new one. If I were you I wouldn’t let your droids know you have it; I don’t think they’d be very happy to know you have something like that.”
“Yha they’d be very uncomfortable about it,” Lloyd commented putting the book on his lap to give its pages a quick skim. Cyrill offered, “we can also get you some of that repellent if you want. Just a few sprays every two to three weeks on something is all you need for it to be effective.”
“Uhm I think I’ll be fine for now,” Lloyd replied uncomfortable from the thought of that stuff. After a brief look at the book he then asked, “when you help me find the others tomorrow can you promise not to be mean to Zane or Pixal, they’ve had bad encounters with people like you so might not be very understanding to you.”
“That depends, can you promise they won’t attack us, try hacking our phones or take observations of us?” Cyrill asked and he responded, “they won’t do that and we can easily keep them on a tight leash so to speak if the act out. Plus if we ever do have any problems Cole and Nya can easily for lack of a better way to say this tame them.”
“I guess then we’ll have no problems,” Nazir declared.
“What are we doing out here in the Rock Woods this late? I was getting ready for bed,” the silvery knight complained cranky that he’d hadn’t had time to get his facial moisturizer fully off before he was dragged out of his room for a mission leaving it in a patchwork over his face and now getting it over the inside of his helmet. He was joined by four other knights all of which were driving their vehicles a mix of cars, rovers and a cycle down the main road through the petrified forest. There was an unnerving dark feeling that filled the woods and while the petrified trees were casting long dark shadows as the sunset they felt that had nothing to do with the feeling they felt as they drove through the woods. While the stone trees bore no leaves and as the events that had petrified this forest had occurred not even a hundred years past meaning large trees had not yet re-colonized the woods so were unable to cast large shadows over the understory of the forest the place seemed unusually dark. The only light penetrating the darkness came from various fungi and some small plants, fireflies and of course their vehicles.
“Monks of the White Dragon were ambushed and are under attack,” the knight in blue commented from his car as he led the group down the lichen and moss overgrown cobblestone road that led through the woods and the green knight who rode a cycle next to him commented, “why would someone attack monks? They don’t have wealth, they don’t threaten anyone and usually are unarmed? They’re the ultimate in super chill bros.”
“I think a better question is what are monks doing out here? I thought all they did was meditate, mumble and read ancient texts in their monasteries,” the silvery knight questioned and the knight in red the only girl of the group explained, “they were travelling from their monastery in the mountains to the east to the capital to see the king; my father. Apparently they have something very important to tell him.”
“Aren’t the monks of the White Dragon masters in martial arts?” a large knight with yellow and purple tinted attire noted to which the green knight commented, “yha so if they’re calling for our help then they must be facing something intense.” They could hear the commotion of the monks with their opponents and see the glow from fires ahead as they quickly approached the clearing the monks had made camp in for the night. There was the expected sound of fighting but also strangely animal noises. There was something that sounded like a horse, something they could only describe as a monster and something that made a cackling like a hyena. The knights wasted no time once reaching the scene to jump from the vehicle to attack the threat they had been called out for; a threat they found both confusing and more difficult to deal with than looks suggested. These enemies they were facing were strangely dressed humanoid beast folk of the hyena variety whose attire looked like something from steppe regions of the Far East and from centuries in the past. A few were riding strange horse like reptilian creatures running around to lasso and drag some of the monks through the surrounding woods or to rush around and light on fire the tents and supplies the monks had. Along with these were two kinds of strange beasts. One was a strange bipedal reptilian creature with a small frill off the back of its head, a beak tipped snout, pointed armour plates down its back and a serrated bard on the end of the tail. The other was like someone had taken a hyena but given it reptilian feet and a birds head though still keeping the hyenas bone crushing teeth in the bird like jaws. There was a group of about eight monks s who were up against about twenty or more of this enemy. All the monks had for defence was some wooden staffs and a few old style swords of a material none of the knights recognised. They were dressed in either off white or brownish robes and had grey sandals and none wore armour. Despite their lack of armour and being outnumbered the monks had managed to hold their ground a bit but were clearly being overwhelmed by the time the knights had shown up. They were backed against their large carriage which had been tipped over onto the ground at the side of the road.
“These aren’t some kind of highway man,” the green knight noted as they entered the fight drawing the attackers attention to them and the bulky knight asked, “what are these things?” As they engaged in combat they quickly came to realise their weapons had no effect on these monsters until they equipped them with magical powers calling back to their allies who were parked outside the woods for aid in finding and giving them this power. That gave their weapons a boost now letting them leave more serious damage than just knocking the things about but it was still quite tough dealing with these beings. The cuts they managed to leave on the beings just further confused them. A black mist would seep a bit from the damage and instead of blood they bled an icy bluish liquid.
“They must be some kind of monster but I’ve never seen anything like them,” the red knight noted and the blue one agreed, “I’ve never heard or seen anything about these things either and I can feel a very strange energy coming from them.” The enemy split into two groups one continuing at the monks trying to get into their large carriage while the others went after the knights.
“Whatever they are they are much more clever than usual monsters,” the green knight noted as he was knocked off his special shield which could hover in the air to shoot his crossbow from. One of the bipedal reptiles had climbed a nearby petrified tree to lunge from a branch onto him knocking him from the air. The two rolled around in a tussle on the ground with the creature biting onto his crossbow trying to pull it from his hands. The large knight was being ganged up on by the individuals riding the horse creatures. They were using their lassos to try and restrain him but he’d quickly realised he could use this action of theirs to his advantage. He was strong enough he could pull the riders off their steeds when they got him temporarily stunning and winding the rider in the process their steeds strangely dissolving into a strange greenish mist before disappearing once the riders were taken off and entered combat on foot. By doing this he was able to un-mount all of the riders forcing them into on foot combat.
“These defiantly aren’t you’re run of the mill monsters,” the shiny knight commented as one of the bird hyenas bit onto the halfway point of his lance and began to bend the metal with the strength of its jaws scaring him.
“There’s something about these things; they feel much different from monsters we’ve dealt with before,” the blue knight noted and the buff knight asked, “how can you tell?” The blue knight replied, “call it a templar’s instinct. These beings have an ancient feeling to them and there’s a strange energy radiating off them. It feels unnervingly foreign and ancient and a bit dark.”
“You should probably talk to your uncle about it,” the green knight suggested after getting free from the reptilian creature and hitting it with a few shots. His bolts left some damages to it and drove it off but didn’t destroy it. It just ran back into the woods disappearing in its shadows.
“Yha he’d defiantly know,” the blue knight commented as they got pushed away from the carriage by the enemies one of these beast folks getting onto and breaking into the carriage. The individual disappeared inside the vehicle for several minutes before they came out again to yell at its companions, “it’s not here. Leave them.” With the individuals words the enemy fell back the humanoids summoning their strange steeds to ride away from them disappearing in the woods. The green knight tried to follow them on his shield to see where they went as the others helped the monks clean up their site a bit the blue knight using his skill in magic to put out the fires that had been started. The green knight quickly lost the enemy so returned to the others.
“That was very odd and a bit creepy. I couldn’t follow them, it was like they just vanished into the shadows,” the green knight noted and the red knight expressed, “well we at least rescued the monks. We can look for those things later.”
“What did that one mean by it’s not here?” the blue knight commented as the knights worked with the monks to right the carriage. An elderly monk who watched the rest of them righted the carriage noted, “it’s why we are headed to see the king. It is imperative that we see him as soon as possible. Those beings are just the start of something big. They are the crows scouting before the wolves come to feed.”
“What does that mean?” the large knight asked confused as the green knight began inspecting the monks cyber horses that had been pulling their carriage and some of the monks inspected the carriage. The cyber horses were a much older kind of construct than the hover horses typically used in the kingdom that looked like a robotic horse but they were quite similar to the squire-bots the knights were used to so it wasn’t hard for the knight to work out the condition of the cyber horses. The constructs had been badly damaged by the monsters but the carriage was just scratched up a bit and still in good condition. The red knight commented, “don’t worry we’ll get you there soon. You know as heir to the throne you could tell me what you’re going to tell my father and I could relay it to him to speed things up.”
“No not here, the shadows have ears out here. We can only speak about this in somewhere safe and secluded where the shadows can’t hear. That is why we need to meet him in the chapel of the light in the city. What we have to talk about is crucial and we can’t risk the wrong ears hearing it,” one of the monks responded nervously looking over the woods. All the monks seemed nervous of the woods.
“Well that might take longer than you’d like. These cyber horses are going to need some serious work to get them functioning again. The carriage at least is still in fine shape,” the green knight noted after his examination of the cyber horses that pulled the carriage. The monks didn’t seem happy with that news one commenting, “not to mention most of our supplies are damaged.”
“Yha burnt tents aren’t going to provide you with shelter especially if those monsters come back,” the shiny knight noted. After a quick thought the blue knight decided, “we’ll give you a tow to the capital. You can get your cyber horses repaired and get new supplies there.” The monks were in agreement. They cleaned up the site the monks packing what they could salvage of their supplies and their cyber horses into their carriage. Using some chains they hooked the carriage up to the large knights vehicle which was the only one with the towing capacity to pull the carriage. As they cleaned up the site the knights took note to try and find any clues about what those beings had been. There wasn’t much but footprints that they had left behind. By the next afternoon they had gotten the monks into the capital where they went straight to the Chapel of Light to wait for the king. The red and blue knight went to get him while the other knights waited in the chapel with the monks who while they waited got the knights to meditate with them around the shrine built at the front of the chapel. They all knelt on their knees facing the chapels main shrine at the far end from its entrance. The shrine was an octagonal stone structure with a shallow pit in the center with a round metal basin inlayed into the pit. In this basin was a strange energy giving off an amber light. The knights didn’t really know what was making the light they just knew that light was why this was termed the Chapel of Light and that this chapel had great historic significance with a battle between monsters and the founders of their kingdom in the past. The building was a large ancient stone largely rectangular structure. The one end of the structure ended with two parallel walls angling inwards to the back wall giving the structure a somewhat boxy U shape while the entrance area at the other end of the structure was a small rectangular offshoot which sat in an inbuilt tall tower section decorated by stain glass up the towers three main outer walls which these three sides also all had doors for people to enter or exit the chapel at their base. The walls of the structure were decorated with stain glass windows depicting the historic knights from that battle. The structure bore a tall ceiling with two rows of arches running down its interior to support the roof. Dark iron caged lights hung from the ceiling on long iron chains to light the building. Red and gold colored rugs lay down the middle of the structure and went around the shrine. Tapestries hung on the few support pillars to the arches. There were two sets of tapestries one on either side. One was blue and golden in color with a lions head depicted on it, the symbol of the king, while the other was red and white with the depiction of a dragons head on it, the symbol of the red knight and her mother the queen. The wooden pews that normally sat in two rows in the centers for commoners to come and rest or meditate at had been moved aside and positioned against the walls so they could have their gathering there. Not many were there in the chapel at that time just the monks and knights the chapel keepers being out and keeping everyone else out of the chapel so the monks and king could talk in private when he arrived. The green knight didn’t mind the meditating taking it as a time to just chill and finding he could feel a very strange but relaxing energy in the place, the large knight was just confused trying to understand what this act meant for the monks and if he was doing it right as he was only feeling sore knees from the act while the shiny knight was board with the action and was instead browsing social media on his phone. When the king entered the monks stopped their meditating to get up and wait for his approach.
“It’s not every day Monks of the White Dragon visit the city. It has been decades since any from your monastery has sought a visitation of the king,” the king noted as he walked up to the monks joined by the queen, red and blue knight and his squire-bot.
“We usually prefer to stay out of the affairs of the common folk but a time has come that we cannot ignore where that is no longer a possibility,” the elder monk explained and the king commented, “I heard you ran into a strange ambush.”
“Indeed. The crows were scouting for the wolves,” the elder monk stated confusing the king and his entourage.
“What is this about crows and wolves?” the king wondered. The monk explained, “there are monsters out there that not even the great Ned Knightly or Merlok were any match for. Long ago in the Mythic Era one group of these monsters was much worse than the rest of them. We call these beings demons but in other realms they have other names like Daedra or Oni. These monsters brought with them during this insurgence into our world powerful monster allies that served these great daemons in trying to tear apart our realm. During a critical stand against these monsters some of our kingdoms greatest and earliest defenders took shelter in this very chapel to escape and regroup their powers to try and drive these monsters back. They would not have made it in the battle and drive the monsters back to where they had come from if it wasn’t for a dragon of light that came from a realm unknown to their aid. This dragon helped our forefathers drive the monsters back to where they had come from and save our realm from their grips. After the monsters were gone he left us with something special before he left for his home world. This item was a small metal object that he proclaimed as long as it was kept in our realm these great monsters could no longer enter our realm and so would keep us safe. The lesser monsters could still enter but the greatest of threats, the daemons and their powerful allies, would be kept out. The light that glows in this temple was sparked by this object to show that the barrier remains up and stable. If it goes dark then that means this item is no longer within our realm and a great storm will soon arrive.”
“Histories so boring; think you could hurry this up. I’d like to get some beauty sleep,” the shiny knight complained drawing all the others to look at him. They were all not happy with his comment the blue knight telling him, “you and me are going to have some words later.”
“Have you not found it odd that for some time monsters were a rarity in the kingdom and now they seem to be becoming more common?” the elder monk inquired and the red knight noted, “that is true.”
“It is a sign,” the monk expressed to which the bulky knight asked, “a sign of what?” The elder monk continued, “what many would consider the end of the world.” That made all but the monks unsettled. The elder monk continued, “long ago this item the dragon of light gave the realm was given to us the Order of the White Dragon to keep it safe and protected. For the longest time it was safe in our monastery but with recent events we have come to feel that it is no longer safe there; in fact just after we left a band of those monsters that attacked us in the Rock Wood attacked and ransacked our Monastery. They were likely looking for this item.”
“Is that why you sent it to the castle?” the King inquired and the monk confirmed, “yes we felt in order to keep the monsters from getting a hold of it the best option was to place it in the most secure place we could think of. It is imperative that we keep it out of the hands of any and all monsters.”
“I have already placed it in a vault in the tunnels beneath the castle and I will see that we get some of our best to guard it,” the King declared.
Notes:
The noise I imagine Lloyd is hearing when Zane and Pixal are using their special communications with each other sounds like what is termed Jupiters birds; a strange birdlike chatter that has been heard emitted by Jupiter. Here's what that sounds like: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2c4XvmkYf3A&list=PLEVEyfsfU-DaPdEPpKciAFxdrt2il1vlK&index=129
The Zolotaryov Pass incident I worked into the story is based off a real world event that maybe as you read this part you might have felt something familiar about this Zolotaryov Pass if you ever heard or read about the real world event (Zolotaryov is one of the last names of the hikers from this event). It's called the Dyatlov Pass incident. In February of 1959 nine Russian hikers perished under strange and still unidentified conditions in the Russian wilderness in the Ural Mountains. If you want to dig more into the big rabbit hole that is this event there is much online about it so I won't delve much into it here though I will say that I believe the Soviet military is largely responsible for this event. I will give though a good playlist of a few videos that do a deep dive into all currently known information of the event: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbTvQPMaB-HC_9yYe50r8OHDnqZeZf-zX
For some less serious and more amusing delves into the case here are two I came across note they are a bit edgy and not entirely pg: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RlW0iiFOfg and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smdG6kb-fgA
I like mysteries and this one always fascinates me; how could nine expert essentially rangers all be taken out in one fell swoop with hardly any evidence to what happened.If you are wondering there is a reason I am not giving out the knights names during this story. It is to add more mystery to what is going on in the story than just how does what they're experiencing intertwine with the ninjas story.
Chapter 7: Clan of the Lost chapter 5: The Grahtwyrms
Summary:
After I finished the original story and started on a sort of epilogue story a prequel to the story came to mind and I started working on it. This is that prequel.
After nearly drowning in a freezing river the ninja awaken to find themselves in the village of a strange race of serpentine.
Notes:
You do not need to know anything from the original story as this is a prequel to it.
Pictures relating to story can be found here: https://www.deviantart.com/nerdy-hyena/gallery/72478681/story-project
They are really good and help to visually flush out several aspects of the story including environments, characters, outfits, locations, creatures and other aspects often important ones in the story. All images I post in my work can be found there if you want a better look at them. Defiantly make sure to check them out.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
“Hey you gonna wake up anytime soon?” a voice commenting to him and something brushing on his face woke him up. When Jay opened his eyes he was shocked to find himself face to face with a strange serpentine he didn’t recognise which was brushing a feather on his face. Shocked he let out a scream and shoved himself back only to be shocked more when he found himself falling. He fell off a bed onto a floor. After landing still a bit shocked he looked around trying to figure out where he was and what was going on. He was in a well lit room made largely of plaster covered stone. The floor was made of wood and the walls had images of a tree and what looked like the strange winged and feathered serpents that had joined the clan in attacking the capital painted on them. The place was lit with a warm light suggesting windows to the room letting in daylight. Either that or some kind of lighting mimicking that light however the strange light fixtures of a down pointed stone feathered serpents head with some kind of crystal structure coming out of the open mouth looked to be off and might not actually be light fixtures but some kind of decoration. He couldn’t tell. As he lay on the floor he couldn’t see much of the room so couldn’t tell much about it. He could see there were beds made of wood with thin mattresses on them lining both sides of the wall. From his vantage point he could see Kai was on the bed next to him but he couldn’t see where the others were. He was dressed just in the long underwear they had put on under their attire to keep warm during their journey in the mountains. He was warm, dry and alive. His screaming disturbed the others who were in the room.
“Jay can you not start the day screaming,” Kai commented pulling his pillow over his head and he could hear Nya comment, “Jay it’s too early to start panicking.” He was pretty sure he heard Cole mumble “unless it’s about breakfast then leave me alone.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t mean to scare you,” the serpentine expressed coming around the bed to look at him.
“Who are you? Where are we!” Jay questioned nervous of what this serpentine wanted. He didn’t look like any serpentine they had encountered before. He was a dark grey colour with a pale underbelly. He had large round eyes and three lines, one down the spine and one spaced closer to the sides on either side of the central one, of large keeled scales running down his back starting on the back of the head. He bore a human like lower half. He wore a light tan with green accented long sleeve robe that went down to his knee caps and was tied around the waste with a leather belt that had a buckle of metal with a polished piece of amber embedded in it. He had a bib like collar on that was edged with with golden and jade beads and some red feathers. On his upper arms was a golden with jade embedded bands. He wore green leather slippers that exposed his toes but had a backing that covered up his heels.
This is the species of snake I based the Grahtwyrms on: Xenodermus javanicus or the Dragon Snake: 
“I am so sorry I did not mean to scare you. I am Verishay adviser to king K'awil of the Grahtwyrms. I was hoping you’d be up already so you could give us a hand,” the serpentine explained as the others began to wake up confused realising they weren’t where they had last been.
“Where are we and how did we get here?” Nya wondered. Verishay explained, “we found you all cold and wet sleeping by a river in this ice structure thing. We brought you all here to dry you off and warm you up.” Jay noted as he got up that the serpentine looked nervous especially with how he was holding his hands up and together by his chest. Why was he nervous?
“Where are the rest of our clothes?” Kai asked confused as he slowly got out of the bed looking at his attire. They were all dressed in just their thermal under clothes. Verishay explained, “well you will not need your winter gear while in our valley it’s nice and warm for you here plus the clothes you had on above the ones your wearing now were damaged from teeth and claws of something pretty large so we’re repairing them for when you have to leave. Don’t worry we’ll give them back to you when we’re done along with your weapons. Don’t worry none here will hurt you; you are our guests.”
“Where’s Zane and Pixal?” Cole expressed looking around to note their droid siblings were not in the room with them and getting nervous that they weren’t there.
“Is that what you call those human mimics that were with you?” Verishay asked and Cole stated, “they’re nindroids and yes that’s their names.” Verishay asked confused, “what’s a nindroid?”
“What do you mean? Have you never heard of a nindroid?” Cole asked and the Verishay stated, “no. We don’t venture far from our valley… in here we’re safe. We have all we need, the other serpentine can’t find us nor can people and Mansi protects us…”
“Mansi, you mean that monster of death?” Jay cut of Verishay to express and Verishay stated, “Mansi isn’t a monster. He’s an individual from a powerful race of spirits called an Okhotnik. Our ancestors made a bargain with him long ago to help keep the monsters away from our home. All he asked for was the freedom to hunt the mortals that got too close to our valley and he’d keep us safe. That was okay with us. As long as he didn’t hurt us we were fine with that. Our agreements worked so far; he gets what he wants and we get protection.”
“You mean you unleashed that monster out there that’s hunted people!” Jay exclaimed and Verishay explained, “our ancestors did besides he doesn’t hunt everyone; the Spinjitsu Master forbade Mansi from hunting just anyone so he couldn’t cause harm in the realm. Most leave the mountain unharmed; if he hunts you that’s because you were destined to perish on the mountain anyway or you’re an enemy to us besides he led us to you. If he hadn’t you would have perished from hypothermia.”
“We can talk about that later, where’s Zane and Pixal? What have you done with them and are they okay?” Cole demanded getting off the bed. Verishay exclaimed, “yes that is more important now. We need you to tame those two creatures before they cause serious harm or damage to our citizens and settlement.” Jay ask confused, “tame them?”
“What do you mean? Zane and Pixal wouldn’t harm you guys unless you did something to them,” Nya noted. Verishay proposed, “if you don’t believe me come and see what they did.” The ninja were confused but followed as Verishay led them into another room of this structure which was next to the room they were in. There were more of these serpentine in this room which by the looks and what was going on in it they believed was some kind of medical ward. There was several serpentine being treated by others of their kind in that room. At least seven individuals all looked to have the same looking injuries like they had been in the same fight. They looked to have been in a pretty intense fight too with some kind of animal getting bruises, scratches, bites, torn clothes and even missing scales from whatever they had been fighting.
“What happened to these ones?” Kai wondered and one of the injured serpentine expressed, “those mimic creatures that were with you.” The ninja were all a bit shocked and confused and Jay expressed, “Zane and Pixal did that!”
“We were just trying to determine if they were hurt or not and they turned savage on us!” one of the Grahtwyrms being treated in there commented. All the Grahtwyms there seemed quite skittish and nervous.
“What did you do to the two of them? They won’t attack you unless you’ve threatened them?” Nya questioned and another of the injured Grahtwyrms explained, “we were just trying to help them. We couldn’t tell if they were alive or not. They weren’t breathing when we found them but after some time they started breathing… it didn’t make sense though. They hadn’t been breathing for too long to be alive! We just looked them over trying to figure out what they were and they woke up and attacked us. We tried to restrain them to calm them down but any time we worked with the one the other would go after us and the male can harness the powers of ice plus they both got more aggressive if we restrained the other and it’s very hard to subdue both at the same time.”
“They got a taste of our blood! They nearly bit chunks of us off… they’re not going to want to eat us now are they?!” another of the injured Grahtwyrms asked sounding terrified this one’s question making all of the Grahtwyrms get a bit anxious and Jay commented, “you talk about them like they’re some kind of animal.”
“They wouldn’t just attack like that for no reason; you must have done something to make them feel threatened,” Nya chastised and one of the serpentine commented sounding to be scared of her, “we didn’t do anything we swear. It’s like they just saw us and attacked!” The ninja were starting to get angry wondering what these serpentine had done with their droid siblings.
“You didn’t by any chance play around with a hatch on their chest over where the heart is did you?” Jay inquired trying to piece together a reasoning behind what these serpentine experienced from their droid siblings and one of the injured Grahtwyrms commented, “is that normal for whatever they are to have that? We were just curious and there was this glowing thing that shocks you when you touch it in there. When we touched the one in the male it woke him up and he attacked us which woke up the female who also attacked us.” Kai commented, “yha that would be what turned them wild.”
“You shouldn’t have done that. That glow is from their hearts. If you touched it that would hurt them and they probably thought you were a threat and acted in defence. You should have left them alone after you scared them then they wouldn’t have attacked you,” Nya explained calming down a bit and Verishay explained, “we didn’t want them to escape though. We don’t know what creatures like them could do to our home.”
“You talk about the two like they’re wild animals,” Cole noted annoyed that Zane and Pixal were being viewed as just some common animal. Verishay asked, “if they’re not some kind of animal then what are they? They look human but are clearly not human; they act strange and are made of strange materials.” The ninja were confused about how these serpentine were describing Zane and Pixal and starting to get bothered about how they viewed their droid siblings.
“They’re nindroids,” Jay stated. The Grahtwyrms all looked confused before Verishay asked, “again what is a nindroid? You never really answered my first question.”
“They’re like humans but made from non organic parts with brains more like a computers than a persons,” Jay explained and one of the Grahtwyrms asked, “what’s a computer?” Kai commented, “you don’t know what a computer is?”
“We really haven’t had much contact with the human or serpentine worlds in decades, centuries even. You’re the first people we’ve had here in a long time. Normally we would rather have nothing to do with your kind but Mansi led us to you and claimed you were special and wanted to see us,” Verishay explained.
“We did come here to meet you but we can talk about that later. Where are you keeping Zane and Pixal?” Cole expressed getting anxious that Zane and Pixal might need his help his anxiety coming out as anger. Verishay stated, “I’ll take you to them then you can tame them before they can hurt us even more.” They agreed a little annoyed at how these serpentine were viewing their family members. Verishay led them out of the building. Outside they were rather surprised at what they saw. Considering they were in a northern mountain range and how cold it had been out there they were surprised by how warm it was where they were. While not tropical in looks and temperature it was still fairly warm at least as warm as a late spring day with no snow on the ground a big contrast from what they had experienced outside the valley. They looked to be in a wide valley with steep hillsides on the bottom third of which on either side of the valley had been terra formed into terraces. Some of these terraces were farm fields carved into the mountainside while others were combined housing with small scale garden farms. All the homes were made of stone which was built into the cliff side with their roof upholding the terraces tier above. Along with holding the structure above the roof supported walkways and small farm fields growing various crops or spaces for livestock. Sometimes there was spaces beside, below or above buildings that lacked a structure instead housing a place for crops and livestock. Where the terraces ended and the mountain continued on up the hill as if marking the edges of their settlement was a two to three story tall stone wall built into the mountain with a walkway on its top and a couple of watchtowers placed at even intervals on the wall. The building they had been in was on the valley floor where other larger stone structures sat in particular at the one end of the valley where the mountains wrapped around and created a dead end was a four story tall Ziggurat shaped palace with stairs that went up to a covered yet open platform on the top. Surrounding this Ziggurat palace wrapping around its backside was a massive tree that bore multiple shoots that were merged together around halfway up its height. The tree grew in a U shape around the Ziggurat with parts of it even seeming to have grown onto and merged with the structure. The tree had a dark almost purplish grey bark and the trunk itself was gnarled looking and had a couple deep grooves and pits that looked to be oozing a mild glowing amber colored liquid. Out front this Ziggurat was an open area likely for gatherings the ninja felt with a stone pavilion at its one side. Stone structures like small homes and shops and a few apartment like structures which had a Ziggurats shape were scattered on the valley floor along with small shops and stalls made of wood, reeds and thatch. In a few places there was totems of carved wood that looked to depict a feathered serpent and out front the palace was a large stone structure of this feathered serpent the eyes made of some kind of green jewel. Despite the warmth of the place the valley flora that grew everywhere but on crop fields, pathways, gathering areas and only decorated on the terraces was mainly the same conifers with sparse birch and maples and an understory of ferns, mosses and lichens that dominated the landscapes outside the valley however there was also some of the strange plants and fungi from that pocket realm they had been in growing there. There even looked to be a few of the creatures from there as well like the strange bird opossums. Around the valley floor sometimes intersecting structures which either made the water go around them or had tunnels or arches over the water to not hinder its flow were pools and creeks of water that looked to have a mist coming off them; Cole had a feeling this water was geothermally heated.
“You are correct there. Our valley is kept much warmer than the mountains outside even during the winter thanks to a hotspot that sits over a large portion of this region. Geothermal activity heats our valley combined with the mountains which keeps that heat trapped here making things comfortable for us in our valley. We do get snow from time to time but it doesn’t stay for long and we rarely get frosts,” Verishay explained. There were more of the Grahtwyrms throughout the town going about their day working on daily things. A good portion of them were working the farms which included some crops like fruits, grains and berries that looked like those in their realm along with ones that looked like ones they had seen in that pocket realm. They also had lots of livestock all of which they recognised were the same kinds they’d seen the Lost Clan had. Most were strange mammal reptile hybrid like creatures like a cow like creature they called a Yakuar and a sheep like creature called a Silkeep but they also had plenty of chickens. There was also a llamid like creature, what they called a Bracamas, being used as a light weight pack animal one of which to Jays dislike spat at him several times for what Jay felt was no apparent reason when they passed by it; the others thought he probably just got too close to it or the creature just didn’t like him. They also had a strange blackish with dark dusty golden accented, headed and tailed breed of chicken they had in their realm called the Golden Shadow. The fact these serpentine had crops and livestock the Lost Clan had as well plus other creatures they didn’t recognise living wild or in the case of a strange large crocodilian creature these serpentine seemed to use as a kind of dog they felt a good sign. Since some of these creatures were not from Ninjago it was good evidence that as they had been told these serpentine were not from their realm and were likely from where ever the Lost Clan had come from bringing with them some flora and fauna from their ancestral realm as comforts and aids from their home realm. While most of these serpentine went about their business those they passed or were close to where they travelled would take note of them and seemed to get nervous of them. They thought that a little odd; why would these serpentine be scared of them?
They were taken to the Ziggurat where on either side of the stairs that went up the center of the Ziggurat there was an entrance into the Ziggurat. In there they found themselves in a large foyer. In this foyer they were taken to a door on the right side of the foyer which went down to what looked like a dungeon. It was a large wide room with cells lining the wall. Most of the cells were largely encased in stone with just a door made of metal with a barred window at the top to look into. It was lit by decorative stone sconces in the shape of a feathered serpents head with a strange amberish crystal in the mouth which emitted a warm light like fire light. When they got there the ninja who had been a bit angry how these beings seemed to view their droid siblings were amused when they got into that room. There was a couple of serpentine some of which were armoured guards which were hiding behind a wall they’d made of wooden tables placed on their sides to barricade their side of the room from the other where there was a large cage in which was Zane and Pixal. The two were huddled together in the one back corner of the cage with nothing but their underwear on. They were sitting together with their limbs tucked in as if trying to make themselves look smaller and therefore less visible clearly scared even looking to be shaking a bit from fear. They had positioned themselves in a way so Zane had put himself a bit between the serpentine and Pixal like he was protecting her and they looked like they were trying to make themselves appear smaller as if they were trying to keep from being noticed. When the two saw the rest of them come in the two relaxed a bit but were clearly still nervous not moving from where they were till one of them got close to the cage. Cole wasted no time in pushing aside the barricade to go to the cage to free the two droids despite the fearful protests from the guards; they were terrified to have Zane or Pix let free. Even Verishay got scared and hid behind the table with the other serpentine. By the patches of ice scattered over the room and encasing parts of the cage with some stools, shelves, chains, tables, blankets and medical tools tossed about the room or knocked over it was clear there had been quite a fight before the serpentine had managed to trap Zane and Pixal in the cage.
“Please don’t release them!” Verishay panicked as Cole used his lava arms to break open the cage doors freeing Zane and Pixal. The two were cautious of exiting the cage nervous the serpentine were going to hurt them even when Cole explained to them there had just been a miss understanding.
“Where are their clothes?” Nya asked and Verishay stated as he hid with the others behind a table, “over there.” He pointed from where he hid with the others over to Zane and Pixal’s long under wear which lay on the floor by the table barricade where they had probably fallen off one of the tables as it was flipped onto its side during the serpentines panic. Kai went and got them while Nya and Jay gave a quick look over the two droids. Other than being very confused and rather scared the two were physically okay.
“This place looks like a dungeon,” Kai noted as he gave Zane and Pixal their long underwear. The two wasted no time getting dressed clearly uncomfortable with being nearly naked around everyone.
“You locked them up like they’re criminals or animals?” Nya expressed getting mad while Zane and Pixal got dressed. Verishay expressed, “we didn’t know what they were and they proved they’re very dangerous. They attacked us!”
“Because you made them feel threatened. They’re not going to hurt you now,” Nya explained and one of the serpentine guards asked, “are you sure?” Cole explained, “they’re not animals or monsters. They’re… they’re…” Cole thought a moment for a way to describe to these serpentine who didn’t understand about modern technologies the best way to view Zane and Pixal.
“I guess you could call them special human mimicking beings, special people really, with metal bones and plated skin,” Cole explained. Zane and Pixal were sticking close to him hiding a bit behind him confused about what was going on and still a bit scared.
“Can you promise they won’t hurt us?” Verishay asked and Jay stated, “yes we can promise that.”
“Okay; now that you have your special humans tamed could we discuss who you are and why you’ve come here?” Verishay asked nervously and slowly coming out from hiding to get close to them warily keeping an eye on Zane and Pixal.
“Well I’m guessing you have no clue what’s happening outside your valley,” Kai noted and Verishay commented, “no clue.” Kai then commented, “well then where do we begin… well we’re ninja from the Monastery of Spinjitsu and we’re elemental master. I’m Kai the master of fire!” Kai put on a display of his powers. The Grahtwyrms were both impressed but also nervous of the display. The rest of them then listed off their names and showed a bit of their powers to prove their claims. Nya was first, Jay was next then Cole. Zane and Pixal were hesitant to say or do anything clearly still questioning of the Grahtwyrms till Cole whispered to them, “it’s okay there was just some misunderstandings you can trust them.” After a moment’s pause the two spoke though it could be clearly heard in their voices that they were still questioning of the serpentine. The others couldn’t blame the two; their first impressions of these snakes was fear that they were being attacked then getting attacked.
“I am Zane the master of ice as you found out,” Zane commented noting the ice he’d left all over the room from their scuffle earlier and Pixal stated, “I am Pixal. I am not an elemental master but still part of the team.”
“Are you going to say anything Lloyd?” Kai stated before after a moment of silence he and the others became aware that Lloyd wasn’t there. Jay expressed, “where’s Lloyd?”
“What have you done with Lloyd?” Nya asked the serpentine who were confused and Verishay asked, “there was only you six in that ice shelter… was there supposed to be another?”
“Yha he would have been dressed in green. We lost him earlier when Mansi attacked us. He could be anywhere in the mountains,” Cole noted and Kai added, “that’s if he was able to escape those owl monsters.”
“Owl monsters? You don’t mean the Nyctrea do you?” Verishay asked nervously and Jay expressed, “giant owl human hybrid things with hoof feet and horn helmets on their heads yha those monsters. They attacked alongside Mansi.”
“They came into the valleys?! That’s bad,” one of the serpentine guards commented and another stated, “why would they come down here?” The ninja were confused causing Kai to ask as he started feeling his attire getting an idea, “are you saying these things are normally here?”
“Well they have a small fortress built into one of the mountains high up in one of the peaks here but they rarely wander far from it. It’s said they have some kind of portal they can open and close in there that lets them travel between here and wherever they come from. According to Mansi they are very dangerous but would leave us alone as long as we don’t venture up into their territories. They just stick to their fortress and mountain peaks and we stay down in the valleys. We’ve been good at that; why would they be wandering down here?” Verishay commented getting scared; all the serpentine got scared. Noting their nerves Jay quietly commented, “these are some anxious snakes.”
“Probably trying to get us…,” Kai commented unable to find what he was looking for so he asked, “where have you put all our stuff?” Verishay asked confused, “your stuff?”
“The stuff we were carrying like our weapons and phones,” Kai stated and Jay joked, “of course you’re already looking for your phone.” Kai countered, “I wasn’t going to use social media. I was thinking we might be able to reach Lloyd with it.”
“The rest of us weren’t carrying our phones when we fell into the river. It’s probably best you leave it off for a couple days so it can thoroughly dry out before using it otherwise you will fry it. As for the rest of us we left them back at camp. We’d have to…” Nya commented before Verishay stated heading into the hall, “oh we found that too. Mansi also led us to your campsite and we collected all your stuff for you and brought it here. There wasn’t another human there or signs of one nearby but there was a lot of weird things like strange metal devices that could open like books and these strange rectangle things that make noise and display strange lights and images on them. Come it’s all back here.” They followed him the guards nervously sticking back waiting for them to leave before starting to fix up the room. The guards were very uneasy with Zane and Pixal whose feelings were mutual the two cautiously passing the serpentine looking ready to attack them if they made a sudden movement. Verishay led them to a small room back up the hall.
“This is the evidence room. We didn’t feel safe with letting you have your weapons… we weren’t sure you weren’t going to hurt us,” Verishay stated. The room was fairly small with various shelves holding a bunch of random objects and racks which held their weapons were on the one wall. In the center of the room was a wooden desk which had all their phones on it. It looked like the serpentine had been looking over some of the stuff they’d brought with them like the laptops and their phones trying to figure out what these were. Kai wasted no time in heading over to get his phone. Nya stopped him from using it reminding him to give it a few days before turning it on and gave him hers to use instead.
“No messages but I do have a bar of signal. Let’s see if this works,” Kai commented. He began to ring up Lloyd hoping he’d get through. As he did that the others went to get their weapons. As they took them off the rack and inspected them they noticed Verishay got even more nervous than he had been before. This escalated when Zane and Pixal picked up their weapons prompting Verishay to comment, “are you sure you need those rate now, especially those two?” All but Kai who was still on his phone looked at each other for a moment then at Verishay who they could see was rather focused on Zane and Pixal and clearly nervous.
“Well we did just come here to talk so I guess we don’t need these rate now,” Cole decided putting his hammer back on the rack before urging the others to do the same. They did so and saw Verishay relax a bit as Kai finally got through to Lloyds phone. The signal was weak and quiet and a bit choppy but they could reach each other. Kai put his phone on speaker so the others could hear as well. Lloyd was thrilled to hear from them just as much as they were thrilled to hear from him. Lloyd had escaped the monsters thanks to three prospectors who had taken him to shelter in their cabin for the night. He’d been hanging around with these individuals at their cabin still a bit sore from the attack by the Nyctrea. They were planning on heading out later but Lloyd wasn’t sure if that was a good idea or not. According to one of these prospectors who had a skill in magic that had helped him there was apparently some kind of fortress of these Nyctrea in these mountains and he had a feeling they were probably not happy he was in the area. He was wondering if that was why they attacked them last night. Since this Mansi being had chased the rest of them off leaving him alone with the Nyctrea Lloyd had a feeling they’d enlisted this Mansi to help get him alone so the Nyctrea could do whatever they wanted to him which he felt was to slay or enslave him. He was not wanting to encounter those things again especially on his own.
“Are you going to come join us?” Cole inquired as they talked to Lloyd. There was a pause before Lloyd commented through the phone, “I think it’s best if I leave the area. These prospectors are heading out to a nearby town tomorrow; I think I’ll head in with them. It’s probably best I get out of these Nyctreas territory. I think I’ll meet you back at the Bounty… are Zane and Pixal able to hear me?” The two droids were a bit confused prompting Zane to ask, “we are why do you ask?”
“There’s a bit of another reason it’s probably best I don’t meet up with you. The prospectors helping me… well they’re really not big fans of droids. I don’t know how well I could trust them around you two so I think it best to keep you two and them separate,” Lloyd whispered after a pause. Nya commented, “that’s probably a good idea. We’ll meet back up with you when we’re done. Hopefully it doesn’t take long here.”
“I’ll leave you to it then,” Lloyd expressed before hanging up. After that they hung up and looked at Verishay who was waiting nervously by the door.
“Was that this green one you were looking for?” he asked. Cole replied, “yes it was. He won’t be joining us so we might as well get started. So…”
“Wait before we do anything… we need you to do something first,” Verishay cut him off and Nya questioned, “what do you want us to do?” Verishay got a little more nervous as he commented, “a test to prove we can trust you.”
“Why would you need to test our trust? We’re elemental masters trained under the son of the First Spinjitsu Master himself. You can trust us,” Kai questioned. Verishay replied, “well… that is what you claim and we have no proof of it. You’re also humans and humans rarely get along with us. Then there is your strange human like things. I still don’t really get what they are but they did attack us like some kind of wild animal plus just because Mansi led us to you doesn’t mean you’re good; we don’t entirely trust Mansi. Our relation with him is one of mutualism not trust or friendship. What you tell us could be a lie; you could be trying to trick us. Elemental Masters are not free from getting corrupted.”
“True,” Jay noted and Cole whispered to the others, “let’s just play along with what they want to do. These snakes seem very skittish.” Kai whispered back, “well when you cut yourself off from the rest of the world for hundreds of years that can’t be good for your psyche.”
“Alright we’ll take whatever test you want,” Cole declared. Verishay then led them to the foyer of the palace and told them to wait there before he headed into the throne room to get this test set up. They waited there with some guards who were staring at them as if they were seeing a ghost. The ninja couldn’t tell if they were nervous over all of them or just Zane and Pixal; they most likely had already heard about what the two droids had done. After a couple moments Verishay came back to lead them into the throne room. It was a large spacious room wider than it was long. It was made largely of stone walls which were painted red with decorative designs in gold painted on them. A couple support columns decorated by a green feathered snake coiled around the pillars and looking into the center of the room sat equally spaced around the place. From these serpents mouths hung on golden chains was a golden brazier which matched the design of braziers around the room that sat on ledges in the wall to light the room with more of the strange crystals that lit elsewhere in the structure. Decorative cloths were strung up over ropes by the ceiling and tapestries with plain and simple designs in the style of this serpentine hung in a few places on the walls. Red with golden accented rugs decorated parts of the floor sitting on normal coloured stone floors. Along the sides of the room at the base of the walls were wide shallow pools there edges marked by golden colored stone and the pools themselves decorated by light blue ceramic tiles. The water levels of this pool were being maintained by small serpent fountain heads in the wall a few meters above the pools and drains on the one side that were decorated by a feathered serpents head. The wall across from the entrance behind where the throne sat had a large opening in it where the large trunk of the strange tree that grew outside behind the palace had grown into the building and formed part of the back wall a few of its roots running along the bottom of the back wall where they went to the corners before following them to come rest into the pools at the side of the room. The throne was up on a few steps up platform where what they believed to be these serpentines king sat. As typical for higher ups in Serpentine society his lower half was like the body of a snake and not humanoid limbs. Along with his physical form he was the only one wearing a golden circular plate on his forehead with a headdress of large green and red feathers coming out of it and decorating the back of his head with a large feather on either side draped foreword to rest on the front of his shoulders. He wore off white with golden trim sleeveless robe with a metal bib like collar that was embedded with decorative golden plates and edged with green feathers. On his upper arms were wide golden with Jade embedded bands. His throne was a wide stone chair, it was wide enough to be a bench, with a cushion and some pillows backed by a large decorative stone structure that looked like a fan of large green feathers with gold decorative inlays down the center of each feather. He wasn’t the only serpentine there. Quite a few serpentine of the tribe were there with along with the guards who were all equipped with strange weapons whose portion of the weapon that left damages was made from obsidian. The rest of the serpentine there looked to be from various parts of the tribe including nobles, commoners and warriors. All of them turned to look at the ninja equally curious but also nervous. Verishay went to stand over with the king who had another serpentine standing next to him. This individual looked to be possibly some kind of spiritual leader for these serpentine dressing in a whitish knee length robe with sleeveless arms. He had a wide brown waist wrap that had a buckle on the front of gold and jade bearing what looked like a winged feathered serpent. While his robe was sleeveless he had white with boarded brown bands on his upper arm and bracers covering his lower arms. He wore a similar bib like collar as Verishay however his bore golden designs etched into it and was edged by amber and jade beads with some green feathers. Tall almost boot like brown and green leggings that had the toes exposed covered his lower legs and feet. He bore only a metal plate embedded with jade and amber on his forehead. For some strange reason this serpentine monk was holding a branch that was a bit longer than a staff that looked to have come from the tree growing behind the palace in his one hand. To the ninja he kind of looked like he could be some kind of monk.
“So these are the strangers who wished to see us?” the king commented looking them over and Verishay explained, “yes my liege. They are elemental masters who claim to have been mentored under the son of First Spinjitsu Master. They call themselves ninja. Ninja this is our leader K'awil. If you wish for us to hear what you have to say you will listen and obey to his judgment.”
“You claim to be ninja of the First Spinjitsu Master. You however bring no proof of this claim other than you are elemental masters. That means little in the terms of your claims however as even your kind can go against your master. Neither humans or our fellow serpentine were friends to us; for all we know you come seeking to destroy us like our serpentine cousins therefore we cannot trust you. We have not survived this long by being careless so before you say anything you must take a test to prove the quality of your hearts and show us you are trustworthy,” K'awil told them and Kai proclaimed, “okay we’ll do this test. So what do you want us to do?”
“This is Columatzin our spiritual leader. He will instruct you in what must be done,” K'awil explained as the serpentine with the branch, the monk looking one, walked over to them and held it out horizontally at them. This serpentine proclaimed, “each of you touch this stick at the same time. If your hearts are good and honest in what you are going to claim then we will get a sign that you are trustworthy.”
“From a stick?” Jay asked confused. They were all confused. How could a stick tell anything about them? Columatzin explained, “this branch is from no ordinary tree. It comes from a very special race of trees; the one which grows into this very palace. There is more to this tree than it appears. It will prove it to you.” After a moment’s pause Cole remarked, “okay. I don’t understand how it’s going to work but we’ll do it.” He put his hand on the branch grabbing hold of it and the others followed the serpentine letting it go as they all got a hold of it.
“Okay so now what?” Kai questioned as they all held the stick. They all felt confused and a bit embarrassed. Were these snakes just trying to embarrass them? They all then felt a sudden strange energy come from the branch seconds before it erupted into golden flames. Startled and terrified they all let go of it taking several steps back. The stick dropped to the ground however when it hit the ground it didn’t sound or move like a stick. It sounded and moved like a snake! Shortly after it landed the fires died off the stick which to all there shock even the serpentine who seemed more startled than the ninja was no longer a stick… it was a snake! Not just any snake either. It was one of the strange winged feathered snakes they had seen aiding the clan when they had attacked the capitol. Unlike the dark with golden striped ones the clan had however this one was green and red with golden underbelly and edges of wings. It was also much smaller than those that the clan had used being a bit smaller than a large rat snake.
A Quetzal: 
“What is that!?” Jay panicked as this winged serpentine reared up displaying its wings opening its mouth wide and hissing. Kai was quick to ask, “is that a good or bad sign?!” By the reactions of the serpentine it was clear whatever had just happened meant something serious to them.
“A Quetzal! It is a sign! Cohutl has sent us a sign! These humans are the ones we were told of… that means the time has come. The Drekavac have come!” Columatzin declared as all the serpentine became agitated and scared by the creature. The ninja were more confused but by the serpentines words they had a good feeling the other serpentine tribes were right and this tribe likely had the answers to what they were looking for.
“A sign? What sign?” Jay worried before noting Zane and Pixal who were twitching a bit clearly having trouble processing what they had just seen. When he asked them what was wrong Zane expressed, “that’s not possible… a stick can’t become a snake…”
“It’s okay you two; it was probably just some kind of magic,” Jay explained to them and Cole asked confused, “what kind of magic turns wood into a snake?” The monk explained, “that is the magic of the Aether; the realm outside time and space what many call the Void. That branch was taken from our great Dreaming Tree what is also called a Void Tree. It is said their kind has roots which can penetrate into the Void giving them great powers unlike anything in the realms.”
“A magic tree? How can trees wield magic? They have no brains,” Kai commented and Nya wondered as the winged serpent stopped its display and slithered towards the king, “what just happened, what does it mean?” The king just stayed still as if frozen by fear as the serpent crawled up onto him and came to rest over his shoulders like a scarf. The King just watched it nervous but didn’t fight the creature getting comfortable on him.
“When our ancestors first made home here Cohutl spoke to us foretelling to us that one day humans bearing the mark of dragons would come when our world was at its greatest danger. He would send us a sign in the form of one of his greatest emissaries. If we could trust you the branch would have started to bloom into a new sapling if not it would have started to rot; it wasn’t supposed to turn into a Quetzal!” Columatzin explained to which Jay asked, “so is that bad or good?” There was a moment of quiet the king looking to Verishay and the monk who looked at him worried.
“For you it is good for us… what you came here for was likely not for tea and a friendly chit chat. You need something only we can offer,” K'awil asked. Cole declared, “unfortunately that is the case. You probably don’t know what’s going on outside your valley…”
“We know a little. We do have contact with several villages around here,” Verishay expressed so Kai asked, “so do you know about the invaders taking over?” Verishay explained, “we’ve heard rumours. They say it is monsters or demons. Which one is it?”
“Do you know what the Drekavacs are?” Cole asked. That name spooked all the serpentine and the king declared, “no not them!” Zane commented noting the serpentines reactions, “so you are aware of these beings?”
“Know, they are one of the main reasons our ancestors fled our home realm for this realm,” K'awil stated and Cole explained, “they are why we are here. These Drekavacs are the demons that are taking over everything. We’ve tried to fight them back but we have little effect on them. We heard from the serpentine tribes that you would know how to combat them.” The king and Verishay were quiet for a moment taking a moment to look at each other. Verishay and the monk then urged all the other serpentine out of the room leaving the ninja alone with the king, monk and Verishay. The ninja were confused and just watched.
“The day our ancestors always feared would come has come,” the king commented and Kai asked, “so what can you tell us about these beings and how to destroy them?” There was a moment’s pause before K'awil explained, “first how much about them do you know?”
“They’re beast folks of the hyena variety from another realm boasting great resistance to normal weapons, they can wield some strange magic we do not recognise and are joined by monsters not of this realm in their forces. They also never refer to themselves as Drekavacs, we had to uncover that on our own. They instead refer to themselves as Gnollsvic. Either Drekavac is a title others give them or they do not like to refer to themselves as such as the term may be unpleasant for them for some reason,” Pixal explained to which the king stated, “I think before we discuss what we need to you need to learn where these monsters came from.”
“We already know that, big rock falling from the sky and volcano blowing up made things tough so they made a pact with a daemon turning into monsters because of it yha we’re not looking for a history lesson. We came to find how to destroy them or at least stop them from unleashing this centipede snake thing,” Kai expressed.
“Centipede snake thing?” the king asked confused and Jay commented, “yha I like to call it a snake-a-pede it looks and sounds creepy. We’re not sure what it is but it’s a heck of a creepy looking thing and we believe the Drekavacs are looking for it. You by any chance don’t know what that thing is do you?” The king and Verishay looked at each other confused before Verishay commented, “we don’t recall anything like that but it doesn’t sound nice; centipedes are creepy.”
“I know what it is,” Columatzin commented and K'awil asked, “you do; how do you know and not I? Why have I never heard of it?” Columatzin explained, “it is in some of our most ancient and guarded tales that only monks such as myself are permitted to know. We hold that these tales are something we should not be dwelling in as they bring bad juju with them. They involve things mortals have trouble understanding and things we don’t want the wrong hearts knowing so they do not go looking for them as it would spell nothing but doom to all for them to search it out.”
“Can you tell us what it is we need to know?” Cole asked. The monk looked nervous to say anything prompting Nya to demand, “this is important. If we don’t know what this thing is and how to stop these monsters they could take over the realm or worse.”
“I know and I can tell you it is far worse than conquering that they likely are going to achieve… this is just so surprising… I never thought this would happen in my lifetime. Come I have something to help you all see what you must know,” Columatzin expressed before he, Verishay and the king lead the ninja to behind the throne where there was a space around a small round pool inlayed in the floor at the base of this Dreaming Tree that was growing into the room. The king and Verishay sat them down around the pool the Quetzal taking off the king to rest on the trees trunk while the monk collected a wooden bowl of the tanned water in the pool where sap dripping from the tree was mixing with water that was pouring into the pool from a feathered serpent statue sitting on a pedestal at the base of the tree its mouth open and pouring out the water. After filling the bowl the monk told them to pass the bowl amongst themselves and each of them to take a sip from the bowl. They were all confused and a bit nervous to do this. Why did they have to drink this sap laden water and was it safe? Despite their reservations they each took a sip from the bowl. It didn’t taste as bad as they thought it would but it did give them a strange feeling; they got a warm lightening feeling that brought a feeling of a slight disconnect from their brain and body making them feel numb and light headed. As they each took a sip some of them noted the serpentine became oddly nervous when Zane and Pixal took a drink of the stuff. These serpentine were still fairly skittish of the two as if scared that the liquid they were being given might cause the two droids to snap and attack everyone else. As the ninja took turns getting a drink Columatzin got a cup of the liquid for the king and Verishay.
“Okay why did we need to drink that?” Kai asked and the monk began with, “so you can better see what I have to tell you. How should I begin; before everything came to be there was a place with which many refer to as the Void. I do not know what tales you humans have to understand how all began but us like those in our home realm our view is as such. The void was just existing stable and balanced just as the earth beneath our feet but it was lonely and became bored with just existing. Then one day a seed came to be within the void; this seed was a spark, a desire, within itself to see what it could create from its powers; the powers of creation and destruction. From that seed a sprout began to rise from its grounding. The First Realm was well its first creation growing as a mighty trunk from the seed of its being. The Void became an observer to its creation watching as this realm ran wild with very little direct influence from itself eager to see what became of its seed. Worried of leaving the realm too free of its influence leading it to potentially descend into chaos the Observer as we call the Void in its conscious state created its first children the Oni and the Dragons; physical embodiments of its beings powers of creation and destruction to keep balance of the forces within this realm. They were to act as guardians and foresee over the forces that worked within the realm so the Observer did not have to interfere directly with his creation however the Oni and the Dragons were forbidden from meddling with the essences and make of the living beings of the realm. They were to be shepherds and gardeners not creators. The Observer watched as this realm ran wild for longer a time than we could conceive with all sorts of life coming and going through the ages guarded and overseen by the Oni and the Dragons who kept the balance between the forces of light and dark in the realm. As the First Realm matured the Observer amazed at what it had born advanced the growth of its seed sprouting branches to its trunk as it grew making more realms to experiment with its powers seeding them with seeds from its first realm to see what they would become and with how well its job had worked in the First Realm got the confidence to now not need the placement of the Oni or Dragons in these new realms to balance them leaving them in the First Realm for it to be there home. As the tree grew up it also grew down into the void of its being growing its own world around itself filling its home with all that it had seen come and go in its realms both the good and the bad for it to enjoy its wonders and awe and reminisce of all of its creations in a kingdom of its own to sit back in to observe and influence if it had to the fruits of its construction. Within its kingdom beings born of its energy came to fill the world alongside it to serve them and keep the Observer company and serve in this plane similar to how the Oni and Dragons worked in the First Realm. However the tasks these beings took up were much more varied and bizarre and they were not confined to the void. The roots of this tree become passages for these machinations of the voids internal duality…” As the monk spoke they felt their vision go funny darkening to near black for most of their vision with just the outer regions still being light enough to make out their surroundings as imagery of vague things and figures in shadow outlined in bright colourful light moved through the blackness giving them a visual representation of what the monk was talking about.
“What are machine-ations is that what you called it and what do you mean by internal duality?” Jay expressed cutting off the monk who came over to smack Jay on the head with a stick he’d picked up off the tree telling him, “machinations means creations and the duality to which I speak is the concepts of light and dark; creation and destruction; yin and yang. Now hush it is the time for listening not yapping. Questions can be done later if you are still confused.” The others couldn’t help but chuckle at his scolding. The monk then continued, “as I was saying this tree’s creations in its roots beings born of it that served it like loyal hounds used its roots to explore into the branches above…”
“Are these beings you speak of what people refer to as monsters and daemons?” Zane asked and annoyed the monk expressed, “in simple terms yes plus other beings of the realm of spirit, I’m using more colourful terms to keep things from sounding boring now shush human-mimic.” Columatzin went to start again before getting cut off by Jay who commented, “how come you didn’t hit him with a stick?” Jay was annoyed that Zane didn’t get scolded with a stick like he had. The monk scolded Jay again with the stick telling him to be quiet.
“At first this was fine. Those of the roots often inhabited the realms above often coming to use mortal forms as their vestiges to live within the realms. To them such ventures were like a vacation from the eternal world of the void or a study or experience into the world of their masters’ creation where they could feel things their immortal beings never could and experience what the powers they had been born of could create and do; creating stories of their own through the life and death of mortality and the life forms they came to be. The Observer always enjoyed stories and greatly admired those its children created through their ventures. For the longest time all went well but eventually things would go wrong. While the Observer was occupied elsewhere things in the First Realm began to take a turn. Left without oversight the struggles between the Oni and Dragons began to get intense. As beings of destruction and darkness the Oni have a near uncontrollable desire to destroy all things even the great tree their father came to bear; they cannot help but strive for this goal as it is part of their being, the very purpose in which they had been made; to destroy. Unlike dragons who are patient, guarded and calculating Oni are more brash and impatient so they took matters into their own hands and disobeyed the rules that had been set out for them to achieve their goals. In their unending war over balancing their forces the Oni as the darkness always desires to do so went against orders of their master and meddled with some of the living beings that came to be in the realm in order to get an upper hand over the Dragons. Seeing potential in them the Oni not only enslaved the humans but to keep the Observer from knowing what they were doing as since they are all the Observers creations all living things both mortal and spiritual alike bare a connection to it, the Void, they broke this connection corrupting and damaging the essence, what many would call the soul, of humans so the Observer would not notice what they were doing. Even us serpentine and other organic humanoid races share this tainting. Other humanoid and sentient races were corrupted like humans were while others like us serpentine were born of the Oni’s meddling and corrupting of other living creatures to create new kinds of humanoids to serve the various purposes they needed. In their arrogance however the Oni forgot that as being of it the Void knew what they had done and intervened. While it could not restore the connection that had been severed leaving us in a broken cursed state it gave us back our free will to rebel against the Oni and escape their servitude. After that in order to aid in protecting us from the likes of the demons the Void allowed a race of Dragons to be able to bestow their powers onto select humanoids…”
“You said you knew about this snake-a-pede thing? You’re just yabbering on about ancient mythologies,” Kai cut in to comment getting impatient to which Columatzin came over to smack him in the head with the stick while expressing, “patience I am getting to that. If you want to know about this being then you need to know how and why it came to being and how it ended up where it did. Now as I was saying the Void allowed a race of Dragons to be able to bestow their powers onto select humanoids in the realms to help protect the people from the threat of the Oni and other dark forces who now saw them with their corruption as assets for their use. With their plan thwarted the Oni decided to look into something new to achieve their desires. Not everything created of the Void is equal in power. The Oni and Dragons are not the most powerful of beings that honour goes to those deemed the Et'Ada; Lords of the Void guardians over and beings purest in its greatest powers and being. The Oni know this and hoped to use one of these lords to help them dominate and achieve their goals. They sought out one of these Et'Ada whose powers they felt strongly would achieve their goals and she was more than willing to help; Necromira the decayer of worlds, the mistress of rot, mold and decay, the lady of darkness. Born of the greatest darkness of the Void only one other was born of a greater darkness and destruction than she but the Oni felt she was good enough. As by her nature she is of the Oni in being, like them and other Et’Ada she is a shapeshifter and can take on any form she desires. One of her preferred forms is that of a hybrid monstrosity of a serpent and a centipede. The Oni brought her out from the Void and into the realms to ravage them with her ichors of rot and decay. They devastated the realms rotting away not only the life in them but the civilizations that had sprung up in them and even the very landscapes themselves. They began to decay everything in the realms trying to tear them down from the inside out. The Dragons were overpowered by their initial attacks and even when enlisting the aid of other beings both mortal and of the void they still struggled to fight back against those demons. A lesser Et’Ada they could have sundered but one of her magnitude was too great for them. There is almost nothing that can defeat an Et’Ada…”
“What about this Observer being?” Jay asked only to get smacked again by the stick as Columatzin explained, “the Observer is the Void. You could consider it as the Void is the soul while the Observer is its consciousness does that clear up your confusion. They are one and the same and yes it was not blind to what had occurred. Now as I was saying almost nothing can truly defeat an Et’Ada; a fellow Et’Ada, a mortal consumed by the purest energies of creation or destruction or possessed by an Et’Ada or by its creator the highest source of creation and destruction the Void itself. The Observer knew however that it could not so easily deal with her in its current form. As she had done to lay waste to the realms the Observer became more than just his ethereal state. He did something he had never thought of doing before but had been intrigued by the thought of. He entered the realm not as the spirit or consciousness but as a physical entity taking on the physical vestige of a human yet even in his mortal form he was still able to wield his great powers of creation and destruction as he is the void himself and bore the greatest connection to the void any physical being could have. He battled alongside his creations to push the Oni back to the First Realm and isolate them from Necromira before trapping Necromira in this very realm. On that final battle in order to stop her actions he sacrificed his mortal form to become a great golden dragon that some claimed was bathed in or even made of golden flames. He broke Necromira but did not slay her for in doing so she would be sent back to the Void where the Oni could find her and try this tactic again. Instead to keep the Oni from finding her again he entombed her within this realm where they would not know how or where to find her. With her entombed in deep unending slumber he ascended back to his state as the Observer but now to keep the Oni from repeating such an action he created a barrier between the realm of spirit and the realms of mortality. While lesser spirits could still pass this border higher spirits found great difficulties in doing such and the most powerful of all spirits the Et’Ada like the Preeminent the mistress of the cursed and curses who had become apart of the Cursed Realm and Wohira the mistress of Storm and Sea who were in the realms at the time found themselves trapped where they were unable to pass the boundary between the mortal planes and the Void by their own means or in physical forms. Luckily for us mortals most of these Et’Ada were not in the realms then and those that were either like the Preeminent came to be rulers of their realm twisting it to their desires from what their father had originally created while others through various means like Wohira became entombed or put into slumber to prevent them from decimating, changing and enslaving the inhabitants of their inhabiting realm for their own desires to protect mortals from the harm and damage these demons could cause.”
“Okay so we know what this Snake-a-pede thing is but how do the Drekavacs play into this. What exactly are they and why would they want this thing?” Cole asked to which the monk replied, “well during the time of great devastation in the realm we came from many terrible things happened. Famine, years without summers and long bitter winters, droughts, disease and war it drove all the peoples there to desperate measures just to survive. Theft, war even large scale cannibalism… our people were terrified of everything happening and there seemed to be no end in sight. The once lush forests and swamps we called home were sick and filled with decay. Crops failed, plants didn’t fruit, our livestock struggled to make it and prey was sickly and fewer in number. We’ve never been the toughest of snakes like the Iron-scales or Rattle-maces, the other tribes often called us cowards… we’re not cowards we’re just cautious. It’s a big scary world out there, very scary world, and would rather survive humbly and in peace than go extinct. That aside while others fought we sought out somewhere else to shelter that hadn’t been devastated; a new realm to call home where hopefully conditions were much better. While we’d had dealings with the Gnollsvic’s in the past and were not on the best of terms it had been quite some time since we’d had serious run ins with them. Usually we just did a little business and went our separate ways. The devastation had turned them more brutal and savage out of desperation from the hardships worsening our relations as they saw us as easy targets to bully then something happened. We heard rumours that to survive the harsh conditions the Gnollsvic’s made a pact with a great spirit of the hunt they called Storabek. To them he was a deity to us he was a demon. No one knows what they did or if they truly understood the consequences of their actions but they were no longer like us after their pact. It was more than the humanity that was gone from them; they were no longer mortal now nothing but monsters after that. Daemons like the beings of the Void. We thought the rumours were just over exaggerations until they attacked us. The devastation had driven the Gnollsvic to become hyper aggressive and dominating which just seemed to get worse after their supposed cursing making them turn on even those they had once considered allies. One night they attacked the lands of our ancestors destroying entire villages and slaying many. Those that survived their attacks recalled the disturbing state those monsters had achieved. They described the deep chill they brought to the area as being colder than the grave, there was a strange energy coming off them, they were more savage than usual to the point they were eating our people alive like they were animals, they no longer spoke just making beastial sounds and they described their eyes as worse than a daemons. There was an emptiness to them as if they were now hollow husks filled with a great darkness greater than the deepest pit you could think of. After that attack our ancestors didn’t stay in the realm for much longer terrified of another attack and fled to this realm. There was plenty of serpentine here so we thought we’d be welcome. We really weren’t but we weren’t going back to where we had come from. Those monsters were there and our ancestors were pretty sure they would end up wiping out everything there…”
“Are you sure about that? From what we have found is the Drekavacs came from the Void not a mortal realm,” Pixal explained and the monk stated, “well we don’t know what they did. We left and never looked back. Many of those at the time on our first night in this realm had a very scary nightmare of those daemons conquering a realm, though I can’t remember if the specific realm was ever mentioned… been a long time since I read that book.”
“Is it possible they did not exterminate that realm and left after you did or that what you saw was not actually them but the un-dead cursed remains of them which were animated by dark forces like necromancy for some time till they’re transformation into the Drekavacs was complete and their mortal forms decayed to the point they were no longer of much use to those dark forces?” Pixal inquired. Columatzin just looked at her for a moment stumped before responding, “maybe… I don’t know… you she-human-mimic speak with such a complex and deep thought process; is that how your species normally speaks?”
“Yha nindroids are very smart. Don’t worry if they say anything you have trouble understanding we can translate for you; well at least most of the time we can. Sometimes they speak too strange even for the rest of us,” Jay expressed. Zane and Pixal were a little defeated by the fact that the others sometimes couldn’t understand them. They always tried their best to speak in a way they hoped the others could understand but it wasn’t uncommon for them to slip up and speak in a way that felt natural to them but was difficult for others to understand them.
“You still didn’t answer how the Drekavacs and this Necromira are related and you haven’t told us anything about how to deal with these monsters,” Kai expressed as their vision went back to normal as the monk finished his tale to which Columatzin stated, “well that part we don’t actually know what they’d want with her. We know they’re both demons and are bad news. We just know that a previous monk of ours had a vision that foretold when strangers that could turn wood into a feathered serpent come then the Drekavacs have entered our realm to usher in the end of eras.”
“That doesn’t sound very good,” Jay noted and Nya asked a bit annoyed by the little these serpentine had to tell them, “is that all you can tell us cause it’s not really helpful in our endeavour?”
“Well that is all I know. There is possibly much more in our libraries…” the monk began before Kai expressed getting up, “well then why don’t we take a look and see if we can find anything.” The others weren’t too sure but agreed that was probably the best option they had. The king and Verishay stayed behind to continue their normal daily work while Columatzin led the ninja to their tribes library. It was in another structure a short but wide Ziggurat a few blocks from the palace. While heading there the ninja noted any serpentine they passed was very nervous of Zane and Pixal. Clearly news of the two and what they could do had already spread quite a bit. This Ziggurat they were taken too looked to be a mix of a temple and archive structure. Despite the outside being made of stone the inside was constructed with wood and plaster with floors and ceilings covered by wood panelling and plaster on the walls which had decorative paintings in these serpentines designs on them. Rugs with designs of these serpentines style were on the floor with similar designed tapestries on the wall and support columns and the place was lit by tall simple braziers holding the strange light emitting crystals from the palace. In the library were various shelves holding many texts and scrolls along with some other various objects like urns, desks and chairs, bones largely skulls of mainly creatures they didn’t recognise though they did see a Grundles skull, some display cases holding various artefacts often of little trinkets and a few statues. There was some other serpent in there who became nervous when they all entered the room and went to the central area of the room where a study area of tables and couches sat.
“So where should we start?” Kai asked looking at the shelves. Cole took a book off one of the shelves getting a sinking feeling they might have a problem. Looking in the book confirmed his suspicion and he commented, “problem with that, only two of us can read serpentine.”
“Well maybe some of their texts are in common writing,” Kai commented to which Columatzin stated nervously looking around the room, “uhm in here… I don’t think so. In the public library yes; the temple libraries are mainly for old texts, records, first editions to keep them pristine in case we need to reprint them and questionable texts that most shouldn’t be looking at. Which of you are the two that can read it?”
“Zane and Pixal; I can recognize a few words but nothing that would likely prove useful here,” Cole commented to which Jay joked, “is one of the words you recognise by any chance cake?’
“Maybe,” Cole commented starting to get embarrassed before Columatzin expressed nervous, “the human mimics can understand it?” Nya stated, “yha, it’s part of the features nindroids have in their data banks. They can decipher and understand several different languages. Why are you scared by that fact?” There was a moment’s pause before the monk responded.
“It’s not the fact that’s scary… we’re not scared of them just… just…,” Columatzin looked around before just walking off not finishing his sentence and instead going over to a cabinet whose doors bore glass centers to look into it. They were confused by his actions so followed the serpentine who opened the cabinet to pull out a strange tablet looking structure. It consisted of a metal frame with holders for ones hands on the sides, a strange decorative piece with a circular lens looking structure on the top of the holder and a slightly blue tinted glass like material in its center. There were a couple of these strange tablet structures in the cabinet.
“What are those?” Jay inquired and Columatzin expressed, “something that could help you understand our writings. It is a device from our ancestral realm by a very tech savy race. We got these in a trade with a group of adventurers who were doing some realm travelling a couple decades ago. We gave them some supplies and special materials for their travels and they gave us these in repayment. They stated that word data bank like what you used for your mimic creatures when describing these. I’ve used them a few times to translate ancient texts not in our or the common human writings.”
“What are they?” Nya inquired and Columatzin replied, “Scymer script converters, we do not know how it actually works as these were created during a time after our people left the realm but the adventurers told us the thing on the top just needs to look over the texts you want to read and it will translate the writing into a form the user can read on its strange glass like center.” Columatzin held the tablet up to Jays face at first confusing him before scaring him as after pressing a spot by the structure on the top the device looked to scan his eyes.
“What was that!?” Jay panicked backing up and rubbing his eyes from the bright light of the scan being temporarily blinded by the light it had shone in his eyes. Columatzin commented handing the device to Nya, “it needed to be, I believe it was termed calibrated to the language your brains recognise. Again I don’t really know how it works but they are fascinating little devices.”
“It is possible that the device reads neural inputs from within the eyes to assess the communications the brain can recognise in order to determine the language to display,” Pixal commented as she and Zane came to inspect the device Nya had been given. Columatzin was quiet and stumped for a few moments before commenting, “I don’t think I understand anything you just said.”
“Don’t worry you’re not alone,” Kai commented equally confused by the comment and Jay explained, “I think she’s trying to say it scans your brain through your eyes to determine the language you can recognise.”
“Okay I can understand that better,” the monk stated. Zane and Pixal felt a little down that they hadn’t been easily understood.
“You didn’t answer why Zane and Pixal being able to understand your language scares you? You just walked away; why did you not want to answer that question?” Cole questioned still stuck on the serpentines strange behaviour. Columatzin was quiet for a moment looking at the two droids who were confused and still a bit down before expressing, “I walked away not because I didn’t want to answer… or was scared; when you said they could read our writings I got an idea to help you read our language and wanted to confirm it. Though the human mimics are scary… I mean strange… both really. We’ve never seen anything like them. They’re like humans but not humans, there’s a strange energy to them, they sound and smell strange, they’re eyes are… it’s hard to describe but it’s unsettling to have them look at you kind of like the eyes of many of those birds with their black pupiless eyes…”
“That is an illusion used to fool predators to make it hard for them to identify where the bird is looking causing a predator to hesitate and give more time for a bird to identify and react to the predator. They do have pupils it is just the iris is fairly dark colored to make differentiating the parts difficult,” Zane explained to which Columatzin added, “they also talk funny. It’s the same language we use but the way they use the words and the strange near emotionless tone they use is so weird…”
“Yha they are weird but you don’t need to be scared of Zane and Pix. They won’t hurt you,” Cole expressed and after a moment’s pause of Columatzin just nervously looking at the two droids Jay urged, “yha go on you can touch them. They don’t bite. Just think of them like metal scaled human looking cats and they won’t seem so scary.”
“Cats? Cats eat snakes!” Columatzin expressed as Jay gently pushed the serpentine closer to Zane and Pixal who were confused and starting to get a little uncomfortable. Kai chuckled, “you’re not scared of cats are you?”
“No… maybe the big ones they can eat us! The little ones are okay, they’re funny, cute and friendly and soft…,” Columatzin stated before Jay cut him off to declare, “well nindroids are not soft and furry like cats but they won’t mind if you giving them a pet like a cat. Go on just give them a pet and you’ll see they won’t hurt you or try to eat you.” The serpentine was scared but slowly reached out to give a few pets to Zane on his one arm then did the same to Pixal. The serpentine looked to calm down a bit but Zane and Pixal were just left confused and uncomfortable. They weren’t comfortable about being centered out and being talked about like some strange animals. The two remained quiet however not wanting to scare the Serpentine.
“See they didn’t hurt you. You’re just like any other person to them and they have no desire to hurt you,” Jay expressed. The serpentine calmed down a little but was still a bit nervous.
“I guess they’re okay. They’re still scary though,” Columatzin stated before Kai commented, “yha even when used to them they can still be scary at times now why don’t we get started with the reading so we can get back out there and fight these monsters… how do you get this to work?” As he talked Kai picked up one of the devices from the cupboard and looked it over trying to figure out how to get it to work. Columatzin helped him get it working. There was only one more of these devices as the serpentine had only three of them so two of them would have to share one. Jay and Nya were fine with sharing one so Columatzin got the last of the device out of the cupboard and gave it to Cole helping him set it up. Once that was done the monk took them to the section he felt likely held the texts that may hold the information they needed getting some of the serpentine in the structure to help them in searching the texts. As they got to work Zane and Pixal hung back for a moment still highly confused pulling Cole back for a moment for Zane to quietly ask him, “why did Jay make the serpentine pet us and why did he refer to us as being like cats?”
“He was just trying to get the serpentine to be friendlier to you. I think they’re all scared of you two…” Cole began being cut off by Zane who expressed, “we’re not monsters!”
“I’m pretty sure they don’t see you as monsters. It’s just your something new to them, something they’ve never encountered before so they’re scared of you. Sure you two didn’t help with your attack…” Cole began to explain to which Pixal cut him off with, “we were just acting in self defence though.”
“I know and I’m pretty sure they understand. Just give them some time and they’ll warm up to you. When they see you won’t hurt them and aren’t as different as they think they should warm up to you. Just go about your work and don’t mind them. If they make you uncomfortable then just stick close to me. I’ll make sure you’re safe, both of you my special little nindroids,” Cole expressed putting on a baby talk like accent for the last few words while giving Zane a bit of a rubbing to the base of the back of his neck then doing the same to Pixal before following the others. The two nindroids were still confused though not about the serpentine now. Why had Cole talked to them like that? They weren’t pets or young children. They had though liked the affection he’d given them. It had stimulated their emotions of comfort, affection and calming and made them feel a bit more relaxed from the stress they had been feeling after their startling awakening and fighting the serpentine which wasn’t helped by that strange stuff the monk had made them drink which had done a temporary strange effect on their brain and senses which they could only work out and understand as some form of magic which was something they weren’t comfortable with. Magic was something they had trouble understanding and especially when used on them made them uncomfortable.
The ninja worked together with the serpentine in there to look for anything about the Drekavacs and this Necromira and how they went together. They put together a couple desks for everyone to work around in order to collaborate their research. Despite starting off anxious towards the ninja the Grahtwyrms slowly warmed up to them becoming relaxed around them with the exception of Zane and Pixal. The serpentine were still nervous of the nindroids who took to studying texts by themselves a couple meters away from the rest. They had their own table set up to work at and seemed fine at minding their own business however the others were pretty sure the two were feeling down and isolated from the others by not being able to work with the others. No one was telling them they couldn’t be with the others but the two were keeping their distance from the serpentine; them and the snake folk clearly were not comfortable around each other. Anytime one of the two droids got close to any of the serpentine the snake folk would get nervous and cower a bit even if the two weren’t even acknowledging them. Zane and Pixal looked to have gotten over their initial mistrusts of the snakes understanding they had not meant to threaten them but the serpentine for some reason couldn’t get over their anxiety of the droids. Just to check on them and make sure neither of the two felt left out they each made sure to spend some time working with them for at least a few minutes each time. At one point the serpentine made tea for them all to have however they neglected to offer any to Zane and Pixal. They weren’t sure if it was because the serpentine didn’t know they could have some or were just still too scared to get close to them. Cole made some tea for the two and went and had his with them so they wouldn’t feel left out. They didn’t really show it but he felt the two were very happy that he’d included them in the tea time with the others.
“The mimics can drink tea?” Columatzin asked nervously looking at Zane and Pixal. He and the other serpentine had been nervously keeping an eye on Zane and Pixal the whole time they were working. Nya explained, “yes they can drink tea. We just have to be careful with what kind of tea it is. Some can cause problems for them including sometimes driving them a bit crazy which we don’t want to happen. A wild droid is not something you want to deal with. Also can you stop referring to them as mimics. They’re not trying to mimic us.”
“Does controlling their diet help you keep them tame?” one of the other serpentine asked to which Nya noted, “no it keeps them healthy and properly functioning.” Bothered by the serpentines comment Jay asked, “we don’t have to tame them, they’re not some wild animals. Why do you talk about them like they are? They might not be people like us but they are people.”
“No they’re not,” Columatzin commented and Kai defended, “they are. You’re not droid haters are you?”
“I know you may have gotten off on the wrong foot with them from the start but you shouldn’t hate them for that,” Nya defended and Columatzin noted, “we don’t hate them; we get it they were just being defensive like any other animal would when threatened.” Jay commented getting annoyed, “why do you keep referring to them as if they are animals?”
“Why do you see them as human?” Columatzin asked. Jay, Kai and Nya were stumped for a moment. They just always saw Zane and Pixal as fellow people but had never really thought of why they saw them like that when they knew deep down they were a totally different life form.
“We know they’re not really human but that doesn’t mean they can’t be people. They deserve to be seen and treated equally to the rest of us,” Jay explained. What Columatzin stated next had the three a bit confused, “so wait you do recognise that they aren’t of the human species but another species entirely?” Kai commented, “okay wait… I’m confused. What are you talking about?”
“Do you recognise them as the same species as you?” Columatzin asked them. Again they were confused. What exactly were these serpentine thinking they thought? Jay explained, “no we know we’re not the same species but we can still see and treat them like people. They’re not mindless heartless machines. They’re living beings just like us with feelings and thoughts and what you could call a soul; they feel life much like us though as they are different they feel it a bit differently to us.”
“That better explains things; we thought you saw them as true humans. We did not know you recognised they’re not the same species as you. We thought they were some kind of strange human mimicking species that had tricked you into thinking they were human in order to get you to care for them kind of like the chick of a cuckoo bird,” Columatzin explained. The ninja were again confused prompting Kai to comment, “what? Zane and Pixal aren’t like cuckoo birds. They can care for themselves, at least most of the time. Sometimes they do need us to care for them… honestly I don’t think they could 100 percent live on their own maybe more of like around 80 percent but they don’t take that much care. So wait are you saying you thought we thought they were people as in the human species like us?” One of the serpentine noted, “precisely.” Now they better understood the serpentines views.
“Well even though we’d like to consider them the same as us we know they can never be. That doesn’t mean though that we can’t see them as people,” Nya noted and Columatzin stated, “by no means you can view them as people if you want, we will too if you want.” Curious Jay asked, “how do you see them?” The serpentine monk looked at Zane and Pixal who were minding their business talking to Cole unaware of their talk before looking back at them to respond.
“As some creature possibly of void origin or some magical mishap mimicking the human species; by the way you interact with them we were starting to think they are some kind of beloved pet to you,” Columatzin replied leading Kai to comment, “I don’t know if the two would like to be considered our pets. At least though you’re not viewing them as machines so I guess that’s good. So then is that why you’re scared of them?” Columatzin again looked at the two droids before commenting.
“Remember the tale I told you of before and how us humanoid beings have damaged souls?” Columatzin asked and the three agreed to remembering it. Columatzin then explained, “well despite appearing humanoid your mimics truly aren’t human in more than just make. Not only do they not smell or sound like your species but there is an energy coming off them... while they were out we did some tests trying to figure out what they were…”
“Tests? What kind of tests?” Nya questioned and Columatzin explained, “just some magic rituals, nothing to hurt or change them; just trying to read their energies mainly. Anyway they never showed up as human in those tests. Their connection with the void is pure and unbroken like an animal’s.”
“What kind of test can prove that?” Kai questioned. Columatzin explained, “oh we use a special kind of gem, well two actually. They’re called soul gems. There is a regular one then a tainted one, a black soul gem as we call it as it is dark to black in color compared to the whitish purple blue of an untainted gem. Anyway when using the right spell when you touch it to an individual the gem emits a glow revealing what kind of soul they have. We thought like people they would have black souls like us indicating their damaged connections but they didn’t; every time we did it. They have untainted souls, white souls like animals do.”
“Okay and what does that mean? It just sounds like a bunch of spiritual stuff. Why does it matter if they’re souls are different. They’re still living beings and are loving and caring members of our family,” Kai expressed and Jay agreed, “yha, we’re not going to see them any differently. So what if they have souls like animals. It just proves how good and innocent they are and why you shouldn’t be scared of or judge them.”
“What this means can mean a lot of things. For one they are innocent of true evil as they are pure and untainted by the darkness of the Oni. This means they’d have what appears to be an innocence to us like with an animal. Things we see as right or wrong might not be viewed in the same way to them as us. Secondly they also have a connection with the void whether they can recognise it or not; this connection also means to beings of the void like the Drekavacs they will be friendlier to the two as they see each other as a kind of kin and just so you don’t get mad at me I’m not implying anything just trying to explain that your mimics may be more friendly to beings of the void like the Drekavacs and may not view things they do as good or bad like you do. Again I’m not claiming they’d betray you or anything but they might be less aggressive and more open to them than you would,” Columatzin explained. Kai noted, “that could explain why those monsters are oddly friendly towards the two even though they’re on our side and have never been friendly to them.” Columatzin expressed, “yes that is a reason. I’m not trying to hurt your view of the mimics but you should be very careful with the two around those monsters. Your human mimics might not be aware of the nature of their souls but that doesn’t mean the monsters aren’t and they may use that connection to manipulate them possibly even turn them against you. Beings with white souls are much more susceptible to forces of the void and weaker to magic than us after all they don’t have a damaged connection to it.”
“We already know they’re vulnerable to other worldly influences. We’re pretty sure though they’re bond is strong enough to us that they won’t betray us. If that’s why you’re scared of them it’s not a good reason,” Nya commented and Columatzin commented, “no we’re not scared of them. We’re just a little anxious about them. They’re so strange from anything we’ve ever seen or known… combine that with their very human like looks, movements and behaviours even though they are not human…”
“I think I know what your problem is. I get it from them sometimes too. Isn’t there a name for it?” Kai wondered thinking aloud and Jay commented, “yha it’s called the uncanny valley. I think we all get that from them sometimes. It’s not their fault they trigger the feelings; it’s ours and the strange way our brains work.”
“Yha, you eventually largely get over it when you spend enough time with them. As we said before don’t worry they’re not that bad and won’t hurt you. Just get to know them a little and you’ll find you like them,” Kai expressed.
“Have they ever hurt any of you?” one of the serpentine nervously asked. They were unsure how to answer. Did they lie to avoid scaring the serpentine or did they tell the truth? For things like this they felt it was best to be honest.
“Well a few times but not on purpose and usually it’s just mild like bruises and cuts. They don’t mean to hurt us, it was all accidents,” Jay commented and Kai stated, “the worst I’ve ever had was having to get a root canal when a messed up punch from Zane broke tooth roots. Surprisingly though he didn’t fracture my skull…”
“That’s because you have a thick head,” Jay cut in to joke and Kai expressed, “hah, hah very funny. Anyway it could have been worse and I could have lost the tooth.” That had the serpentine scared so Nya expressed, “Pixal once dislocated Coles elbow and she broke one of my fingers once and Zane once cracked one of Jays ribs but again these were accidents and they were very sorry about what they did. It wasn’t really their faults. They sometimes forget they are built stronger and more resistant than we are; it’s like putting two wolves in with a pack of domestic dogs. Despite being alike the wolves are smarter, stronger and more enduring than the dogs just by their nature so can hurt the dogs without intending to. They’d never hurt you unless you deserve it and they don’t think you deserve it. They understand you never meant to hurt or scare them.”
“We scared them?” one of the serpentine asked surprised and Nya stated, “yha you did. They thought you were trying to destroy them. Just give them some time and you’ll see they’re not that bad.” They then went back to work. After a few moments a thought came to Jays mind and he had to ask Columatzin something. He waited a moment looking at the others to make sure they were occupied. Cole was still over with Zane and Pixal. Kai and Nya were talking with some of the serpentine who were admitting they were fearful of Zane and Pixal and wanting to know if they were ever scared of the two droids, they had to admit at times they did get scared of them, and wondering if there was some way they could lower their fear. Columatzin was looking over some texts. Jay went over and whispered to the monk, “can I ask you something?”
“Sure,” Columatzin quietly responded. Jay took a moment before asking, “what exactly does it mean for our tainted souls to have no connection to the void and how does it differ from connected ones like a nindroids?”
“Well that is hard to determine because we do not share their state so we don’t know what it is like to have a connection but it’s believed because we have no connection we cannot hear or feel the void whereas the others which are untainted can. In a sense we are dead to it,” Columatzin explained.
“Is there anything special this connection can let them do?” Jay quietly asked and the monk responded, “well again that is hard to tell because we lack that connection. Some say those with white souls have what humans like to call a sixth sense, that they can communicate in ways we cannot, that they are in tune with the cosmos so the void can easily commune with them and some even believe the departed can commune or even influence them in some way to communicate with their living relatives or loved ones. There are more I have read of but can’t recall rate now. We have texts here you can look into if you want to know more. Why do you ask?”
“Just curious,” Jay commented looking at Zane and Pixal getting lost in thought for a moment before going back to work. Aside from the clear tensions between Zane and Pixal and the serpentine things went pretty well during the day. The Grahtwyrms had a diverse collection of texts from not only different ages and their past but from other realms as well. According to Columatzin some had been brought with them when they traversed from their ancestral realm, others were from trades with travellers and many had even been given to them by the First Spinjitsu Master himself to keep secure. Many of those texts were not found anywhere else in the realm and according to Columatzin the First Spinjitsu Master had given them to their people when they made for this valley to keep them out of the wrong hands. They’d never understood why they’d been given these texts along with several other items but had guessed he likely thought they’d keep them safe and secure in their isolated valley. Amongst these varied texts they found the tales that Columatzin had told them of about this Necromira but they found little on the Drekavacs and nothing about how the two were related. What they found in a collection of theories by ancient scholars about these Drekavacs were they were believed to have essentially sold their mortal souls to this prince of the wilds turning them into monsters of this Void place just like the other creatures that worked with them. As these supernatural beings they had high resistance to things in the mortal realms but to their luck one of these scholars did identify certain materials that could deliver more serious harm to these beings.
“I think we found something,” Jay expressed as he and Nya found the text. Kai was quick to ask, “you did? What is it?”
“It is a bit of a long text but summed up the scholar of this article notes that while resistant to most materials of the realms there are some materials of the realms that can hurt them. The type of material that effects them is determined by the energy source that they are tied to. Beings of darkness like the Oni are harmed by materials of the light things like star stone, sun stone, aetheric amber, adamantine, silver and gold…” Columatzin began before Cole cut him off. As they talked Zane and Pixal came over to see what had been found.
“We’ve used the golden weapons on them before however and they had no different effect on these things from normal weapons,” Cole noted and Jay added, “yha they weren’t even scared of the things.”
“What else is there that can hurt them?” Kai asked and Columatzin continued, “well there is Void Crystal which works on both beings of the light and dark but it is an incredibly rare material with few that know how to work it so I doubt you could find any of that. It doesn’t specify anything else for those of darkness. The rest are for beings of the light like dragons. These include venge stone, cursed stone, shadow stone, doom stone and damned stone.”
“We can’t use venge stone; it would disrupt and block our powers which we need to fight back these monsters. It’s one of the few things we have that can have a considerable effect on them,” Kai noted to which Columatzin noted, “that is because your powers and therefore you are of the light.”
“Damned stone? That doesn’t sound pleasant,” Jay expressed and Columatzin went over to a display case opening it to take out a strange dagger and show it to them. It was a dark brown to black metal item that bore faint seams of a bright sickly yellow green to it with a blade of a shiny blackish material that looked to have a glow the same color as the seams on the rest of the weapon being emitted within its center.
“This dagger is made from damned stone and is from our ancestral realm made by the Order of the Fallen Light. A group dedicated to keeping an eye on and if needed destroying good monsters if they should fall to darkness,” Columatzin stated showing them the dagger. Curious Kai brought a fire to his hand and brought it close to the dagger. It had no effect on his powers.
“It doesn’t seem too bad; it doesn’t seem to affect our powers,” Kai noted to which Columatzin stated, “it might seem fine but when you hold anything made from this stuff it defiantly doesn’t feel fine. Here why don’t you give it a feel?” The serpentine monk handed the dagger to Kai who put out the fire in his hand to hold it. Even when near it Kai hadn’t noticed anything but once he was holding the dagger he got an uneasy feeling from it. He felt drained not just physically but also emotionally and mentally and he had an uneasy feeling of darkness coming from it. It was starting to scare him so he quickly handed the weapon to Jay who once feeling the daggers effects getting uneasy commented, “why does this thing feel so dark?”
“Damned stone is a rare stone found mainly in ruins or areas of lost or cursed settlements. It is believed to be some kind of fossilized material made from the decay of organic matter in that location. I’m not sure if that is true or not and I am not sure entirely about what this material really is but according to myths the material is said to be metal stone tainted by energies of the deranged, cursed and tortured lost souls of those that lived and often perished in those locations hence the unpleasant feelings,” Columatzin explained. Nya commented after taking the weapon from Jay to get a feel of it, “so these void beings are split by being tied to either light or dark and therefore matter tied to the opposite energy of their being has a greater effect on them. How do we know then what these Drekavacs are? Your right this thing does give an unpleasant feeling.” She handed the weapon to Cole who also found the feeling the material gave unpleasant. He was going to hand it to Zane so he and Pixal could get a feel but he noted Columatzin was visibly anxious to see him begin to move the weapon closer to the droids. He clearly was uncomfortable with that idea possibly worried about the energy they felt coming off the material having a bad effect on the two droids. He paused in his actions for a moment to look at Zane then back to Columatzin then back to Zane wondering what he should do. Zane noted his actions and seemed to understand what he was thinking. He made no attempt to reach for the weapon and acted like he wasn’t acknowledging it as Cole handed the weapon to Columatzin who put the weapon back in its case.
“There’s probably some kind of tests that could be done but I don’t know any other than just hacking at them with samples of the materials to see what hurts them the most,” Columatzin expressed. Kai joked, “well I guess we could always give that a try. We’d have to find some of that stuff though and catch one of these beings.”
“We have some weapons made of Silver and ones of Damned stone we could let you borrow if you like to do some tests,” Columatzin offered. Zane asked, “what if they turn up to be affected by the weapons of dark material and therefore beings of the light; what could that mean about the Drekevacs?”
“Dude why would you ever think those things could be beings of good?!” Jay exclaimed and Pixal defended, “he is just expressing a hypothesis.”
“True just because they are of the light does not mean they are good as we would see it. Mansi is of the light and you experienced what he is like. Does he seem like a being of good?” Columatzin asked and Jay was quick to express, “yha no he doesn’t.”
“Indeed; void beings have a very different set of morals to us. While there is strong overlap there are also many things they see differently to us. That being said though I doubt the Drekevacs are beings of the light. They’re too monstrous,” Columatzin commented. Cole stated, “well whatever side they’re tied to this could be very helpful in combating them.”
“True. We will have to keep this knowledge in mind for later testing,” Zane noted. After finding this information they went back to searching through more texts for information. Unfortunately they didn’t find anything else useful after that and by late evening Columatzin sent them to get some dinner while he went to as he called it meditate with the void to see if it would tell him anything to aid in their endeavour. They weren’t sure how exactly he would do that but they obeyed his orders. They hadn’t had anything really to eat all day so they were eager to have something to eat especially Cole. According to Columatzin the king had invited them to have dinner with him at the stone pavilion outside the palace. Cole was very eager for that. They hadn’t had anything but some tea all day which had made him fairly short tempered and moody from hunger. The ninja didn’t really have anything to do to prep for the dinner so just headed there after leaving the library. The Grahtwyrms didn’t really have any tables set out instead sitting on mats and cushions on the ground with food and drinks set out in bowls, platters and jugs on rattan mats like they were having a picnic. Along with them and the king they were joined by Verishay who sat with the king and other citizens of the village who sat around under the pavilion in their own little groups some of them having some of the serpentine kids who were both intrigued but also scared of them so just awkwardly stared or glanced at them from time to time. Everyone sat in groups around bowls and platters of food that were laid out. The ninja sat with the king who only sat with Verishay clearly wanting them to join him.
“Did you find anything?” the king asked as they approached and sat down with him. Kai stated, “a little maybe. Possibly some materials that could hurt them but it’s confusing as we’ve used one of them before and it didn’t work.”
“Sorry about how we’re dressed but we don’t have any change of clothes,” Cole expressed and the king stated, “I see nothing wrong with how you are dressed. Do your people normally dress differently for dinner?”
“Well you usually don’t wear under clothes when having dinner with nobility. When just chilling at home it’s fine but when out for dinner especially with a king we should be in better dress. We don’t have any better attire though,” Kai explained and Verishay commented as they inspected what the serpentine were offering, “sorry about that. Your clothes will be fixed by tomorrow.”
“I know you two get a bit uncomfortable about eating around strangers but I want you to at least have something so your power doesn’t get too low okay. We need to keep you two in your best conditions and I don’t want to see my special nindroids not doing well,” Cole whispered to Zane and Pixal as he sat next to the two his voice softening and bringing out a bit of an affectioning tone with his last couple words. Zane and Pixal were confused by his words and odd tone change but said nothing. They’d noticed for the last while Cole acting a bit odd to them mainly becoming very caring and protective towards them sometimes to the point of treating them a bit like a child. It was a bit uncomfortable for them as they didn’t feel like he needed to act like that towards them but they were going to tolerate it thinking maybe there was something going on in his personal life probably related to the memories of his mother that had been brought up from interactions with the clan and this behaviour to them was just how he was dealing with it.
“Uh what are those?” Jay questioned looking into one of the bowls which held a large collections of some BBQ and sauce covered creatures which he was thinking looked to resemble salamanders. A lot of what the serpentine had out for food they didn’t know what it was. They were not too familiar with serpentine cuisine but at the same time these serpentine were using things like strange fruits and animals they didn’t recognise. Only Cole didn’t care much and helped himself to whatever looked good.
“Roasted Snakemander hatchlings with a sauce made from Mulberries, sap of the maple tree and oil from the Glacier Trout’s liver. The Snakemander creatures lay hundreds of eggs every year so our harvesting of them and these hatchlings has little impact on them besides the adults will eat us so in this way we are helping the creatures that also hunt in these mountains keep those monsters from getting out of hand,” K'awil explained. Jay made a disgusted noise before proclaiming, “while some of those creatures tried to eat us so I wouldn’t mind getting to taking a bite out of their kind I’m not going to eat a salamander. They’re probably all slimy and muddy tasting.”
“It is very unlikely that they taste like that and they will not be slimy. They are vertebrates and have been cooked so will be like other cooked vertebrates in taste and consistency most likely being similar to a reptiles,” Zane explained to which Jay was quick to express, “how would you know? Wait I don’t want to know how. If you think it’s safe then you two eat these.” Jay pushed the bowl with the Snakemanders in it to in front of the two droids who just looked at it confused.
“Don’t worry everything here is safe for you to eat,” Verishay expressed and Kai wondered picking out a cooked what looked like a weird scorpion like insect out of a bowl, “what is this?”
“A River Scorpion; they’re kind of like crayfish in taste,” Verishay stated and Kai wondered putting it back in the bowl, “not to be rude but you don’t happen to have anything made from chicken or cows or something more normal.” Most of the fruit and grain dishes looked normal to them but some of the dishes which had some kinds of meat or something they couldn’t identify making them hesitant to touch some things. Verishay pointed out some dishes made of from chicken, the Yakuar creatures they farmed there and various fish that they got from the waters in and around their valley. After being told what things were they got their food along with Verishay and the king. Zane and Pixal were hesitant to do anything nervously looking at serpentine around them clearly nervous of scaring the serpentine so waited for the others to get some food before making any moves. When they went to get their food however the two were confused when Cole started helping them fill their plates. Again the two were confused why Cole was treating them like this but said nothing and didn’t reject his actions. If it was helping him get over his problems surrounding his mother they were willing to put up with it. They ate for a while in quiet before starting a relaxed chat with the serpentine to learn more about them. At one point they were amused when a strange creature snuck up to steal a bun off Jays plate; the serpentine were oddly scared of it at first even though the creature looked pretty harmless and rather cute. It was a tree kangaroo that some of them noted and joked with the fur beard and moustache it had kind of made the creature look like Wu. Jay kept feeding it amused by its looks and pretending it was Wu’s secret spy to make sure they behaved in front of nobility. According to the serpentine it was one of a handful of creatures their ancestors had brought to their valley from their old realm to make them feel more at home which was ironically a species nicknamed Old Man of the Trees which was often shortened to Old Man’s Tree-roo.
The Old Mans Roo or what Jay calls Wu's Roo: 
“So do you guys ever venture far from your valley?” Cole inquired after they got amused by the creature.
“When you say far how far do you mean? We normally stick to nearby valleys and low lands. I think the furthest any from our tribe has been is the town of Urslaka,” the king responded. Pixal commented, “the city of Urslaka is about 50 KM (31 miles) from these mountains and is on the small end in scale of size.”
“Yha we passed there when travelling to get here. It was not that big. They did have some pretty nice hot springs though,” Kai expressed to which Verishay commented, “indeed they do. Makes for a nice spot to take a relaxing break at when things get stressful.” Zane noted, “so you have travelled less than 50 KM (31 miles) from your valley.”
“That sounds about right,” K'awil noted and Cole asked, “have you never gone further? Never got curious to know what’s out there or what’s going on?”
“Yes but it’s always so scary… the serpentine wars, return of the Great Devourer, the Preeminent entering our realm, the Oni… in our valley we’re safe and things are less scary and there is no one to hurt us,” Verishay expressed. Kai noted starting to joke, “you can’t let stuff like that keep you hold up in your valley your whole life. You will miss out on so many great things to see and do out there. What’s the worst you could face? Soiled underwear? That happens to Jay all the time. He’s skittish like you and the worst he’s had is running out of clean underwear.”
“He musks? We didn’t know humans could do that too?” the king commented and Kai asked, “what do you mean by musk?” Verishay explained “it’s a defensive behaviour. Many snakes and even some of us serpentine races when feeling scared or threatened eject a foul smelling liquid from our…”
“No you don’t need to say it. I get the picture, it’s like that thing skunks do. No humans can’t do that; I meant he pees himself,” Kai stated getting grossed out to learn what musking was. The serpentine looked to understand. Jay was not amused with the bringing up of such an embarrassing personal issue of his.
“Can we not talk about my underwear issues? It’s not entirely my fault I have weak muscle control down there when I get scared okay; it’s a medical problem,” Jay groaned irritated at Kai who expressed, “yha sure it is. Zane and Pixal passing out when they get too scared cause their brains short circuit is a medical problem not wetting yourself... though thinking of it how come they don’t wet themselves when they lose control?”
“Well for one they operate differently than we do secondly they aren’t losing control when they pass out so they can’t lose control of bodily functions. Their bodies are literally shutting down which means nothing is working so systems aren’t going to fail in that way when they pass out plus wetting one’s self when scared is a medical problem often related to poor muscle development in that area,” Nya explained while defending Jay who was annoyed and greatly embarrassed such an embarrassing personal problem of his was being joked about. He was happy though that at least Nya had his back here.
“It’s probably underdeveloped cause all his muscle development went to his mouth; how else can someone yabber so much and not get tired especially without caffeine,” Cole joked. Jay gave him a noise of disapproval and Cole expressed, “come on we’re just joking with you.” Jay expressed, “well I don’t find it funny.”
“Of course you wouldn’t,” Kai noted. Jay tried to encourage the tree kangaroo which he was starting to call Roo Wu to throw a bun at Kai to scold him for his bad joking but to his let down but everyone else’s amusement Roo Wu just started eating the bun unbothered by everything around it and having no interest in obeying him.
“I know you two aren’t the most talkative especially to strangers but I thought you two would have offered some input by now,” Kai commented to Zane and Pixal who had been fairly quiet the whole time.
“What are you two doing?!” Jay exclaimed surprised when he looked over at the two to see why they were so quiet only to note Zane and Pixal were eating the salamanders. The two had started eating the stuff initially feeling compelled to by Jays comment to them about it before finding it not too bad and becoming attracted to it by the oil in the sauce on the stuff. They had been eating the stuff before touching what Cole had given them with the two nearly finished the whole bowl now. They had been a little distracted with their actions trying to avoid displaying any highly noticeable movements to give off that they were eating the salamanders worried that would scare the serpentine so were startled jumping a bit and stopping what they were doing when Jay called them out.
“What?” Pixal asked confused and Jay commented, “why are you two eating those?!”
“You told us to eat them and then pushed the bowl towards us,” Pixal noted and Jay expressed, “I wasn’t ordering you to eat the stuff! It was a figure of speech and I just wanted the stuff away from me; it looks gross.”
“These actually taste pretty good though,” Zane commented and Cole stated, “Jay chill and finish your dinner. I swear you get more anxious when hungry.” Cole then turned to Zane and Pixal who were confused and a little nervous to do anything now worried from Jays reaction that they’d unsettled others particularly the serpentine to tell them, “as for you two you did nothing wrong. Just keep doing what you want to. If you like it you like it nothing wrong with that.” Despite his words Zane and Pixal were still hesitant to do anything. Verishay and the king were looking nervously at the two which was making them worried.
“They eat meat? Those things are carnivores?” Verishay asked. The two serpentine had noted that Cole had given the two a large percentage of meat based items but had said nothing despite their nerves about it.
“Well while they’re omnivores like people they do have a more specialised diet that requires them to need to have a much more carnivore based diet than a person generally between 70 to 80 percent has to be meat,” Nya explained and Verishay asked, “why?” Jay explained, “it’s the safest, most efficient, requires the least amount of resources and work method of energy production for them and produces the most energy per pound of material for them than any other source so it’s the best choice for them to be highly carnivorous. Nindroids need a lot of energy to properly function.”
“They don’t eat snakes do they?” the king asked and Kai commented, “that’s an odd question.” Cole replied, “well if it was offered to them or we told them too even if just joking they probably would. They don’t understand sarcasm or figures of speech very well.” Cole noted his comment scared the serpentine so he added, “we’d never tell them to do that though not even when joking and I don’t think they’d like the taste of snake anyway.” Cole patted Zane on the shoulder as he spoke. Zane and Pixal were confused wondering if they could do anything without further unsettling the serpentine; the others talking wasn’t helping ease the clear fear these snakes had towards the two.
“As long as you don’t coat yourself in motor oil you’ll be safe from the two,” Kai joked. His joking didn’t help ease the snakes moods. The serpentine still seemed very uneasy causing Verishay to their confusion to pull out some knitting and start working on it as they talked.
“Why are you knitting?” Kai asked to which Verishay responded, “it helps calm me.”
“What’s got you so nervous? It’s not Zane and Pixal is it? They’re of no danger to you,” Nya inquired and Verishay stated, “well they are a bit scary but it’s not entirely them… the fact the Drekavacs are here… it’s very scary… and stressful. Those monsters have long been one of the scariest monsters in our myths and now they’re here! Not to mention what their return now means… it’s very unnerving.” Jay added, “yha I’d agree quite a bit with that. These monsters who keep beating us all the time then they want to summon this great monstrous demon thing that takes a hybrid form of snake and centipede thing that likes to destroy everything so probably wants to destroy the world yha who wouldn’t be anxious over that! You know I’ve heard knitting can actually be good for your fingers; I’ve heard it can help keep arthritis back.”
“You can get arthritis in your hands? I hope I never get that,” Kai commented looking at his one hand.
“I don’t mean to offend but you all seem so skittish most of the time; why is that?” Cole inquired. The serpentine thought it over for a moment before K'awil commented, “are we really that skittish?”
“Well you seem anxious over a lot of things including things you shouldn’t be anxious about,” Nya noted. The king then replied, “I guess it’s in our blood. A left over from when we lived back in our ancestral realm I guess.” Nya asked, “what was this realm you came from and what was it like?” Jay added, “yha and how could it make your kind so scared even generations after leaving it?”
“We are forbidden to say its name; it’s best that place remains lost to all other realms. The realm was like this realm in ways and not in others. It is ancient one of the earliest of the realms filled with things familiar to what you would recognise and others you likely would not. Conditions were often tough there and things were often tense between the people of the realm who were mainly beast folks and us serpentine. The wilderness there is said to run wild where great bird reptiles many of which are super dangerous and even giant rule pushing the ancient mammals that live there to secondary inhabitants. Not only are the creatures dangerous but plants there have learned to harness abilities like beasts with strangling toothy tendrils, venomous spines, the ability to shock attackers, spit poisonous liquids and gasses and burn you with oils and other liquids they secret. The place is very unforgiving for humanoids even us serpentine and the flora and fauna is the least of your worries there,” K'awil began to explain before Jay cut him off to ask, “how can stuff like that be the least of the problems there?”
“Environments themselves are dangerous like wastelands of volcanic ash, forests that grow in lakes and rivers, coasts ravaged by daily storms, a whole continent is frozen by the north pole in an eternal winter which causes the un-dead to rise as ice zombies, swamps of pestilence, boreal bogs whose waters never freeze despite the cold climate they sit in as they burn like a hot tub, forests of trees that sport metal bark and wood, great reefs that poke above the sea creating islands that drip with kelp and strange coral plant hybrids that grow atop the corals and many more and I haven’t even got to the many monsters that call the realm and these places home. Many of those from the realm of the roots of the Observers tree can be found there,” Verishay began to explain and Nya noted, “monsters can be found in multiple realms though. That’s not unusual.” Verishay explained, “that is true but there is a monster unique to that realm that is unlike any other and hopefully it stays there. They are a race of demons said to have been born of the Oni themselves when they dwelled in the realm so long ago; monsters that were once human but sold their souls to the darkness for power turning them into hideous abominations of living burning ash. We dare not speak their name for it is too foul a thing to bring up. We simply refer to them as the Children of the Oni. Like their parents they seek to do nothing but destroy and are very good at it.”
“That doesn’t sound very pleasant,” Jay commented and Verishay stated, “yha it apparently wasn’t and those weren’t the worse. It is rarely spoken of there but there is said to be a great darkness trapped in that realm though as far as our people knew none knew what it was or where it is hidden but those aware of it believe it is one of the main and greatest corruptions in the realm. The shepherd of that realm tasked three great spirits to guard over the realm like guard dogs in order to keep the great darkness that had come to reside and corrupt the realm trapped there in order to keep the other realms safe from this darkness and to keep it in tow to limit the dangers it could present in that realm.”
“Shepherd?” Kai wondered confused and the king explained, “some call them creators or builders beings such as your First Spinjitsu Master. They are the observers chosen champions to his forces of creation and destruction some even say they are avatars of himself within the realms and through his desires they guide in shaping the realms from within them and aid in restoring the balance that thanks to the Oni has been set off balance through the realms. Most are offspring of both an Oni and a Dragon as such hybrids are the only beings that can truly understand the balance of the void therefore have a unique relation with it.”
“Really? I wonder if Lloyd has this connection,” Kai wondered and K’awil wondered, “who?” Verishay explained to the king, “another member of their group who we apparently missed. He found his way to safety on his own. According to them he is the grandson of the First Spinjitsu Master.”
“I do not know the answer to that then, Columatzin may know he is better knowledged on such things but if I was to make a guess he probably doesn’t have this special connection. He is too distantly related to the firstborns of the void,” the king explained to Kai before the two serpentine became spooked by the Tree-roo as it started to eat some chicken.
“I thought Tree-roos were plant eaters?” Kai commented confused as they all took a moment to watch the creature. Feeling they were looking for an answer Zane commented, “there is no such thing in nature as a pure plant eater. All animals will eat meat even those you’d never think would not; you can find many videos online for example of animals like deer eating small mammals, birds and even eating snakes and technically even plants are omnivores that eat meat in fact they flourish off the decaying remains of animals.” A little uneasy from the comment Jay expressed, “so horror movies of man eating plants are more realistic than fantasy; great thanks for the nightmares Zane.” Zane was confused about Jays comment; was he genuinely thankful or being sarcastic? Noting his confusion Cole whispered to him giving him some gentle pats to the back, “he’s being sarcastic buddy.”
“Hey what do you know of these Kamal and Rosic individuals,” Cole inquired bringing everyone back to focussing on having a conversation. The king and Verishay thought it over for a moment before K'awil stated, “well not much. Largely just tales so it’s hard to tell what is true and what isn’t. According to legends they are descendants of the great emperor of the Gnollsvic Drocon the dragon eater who was born hundreds of years before them. He was a poor shepherd boy that rose up to be one of the greatest warriors of their people and unite the clans of the Gnollsvics into one unified empire. It is said he was born under the rare twin blood moons in the realm, for context our ancestral realm had two moons, anyway he got his title from well it was said he’d eat dragons. I don’t know if this title was literal or metaphorical though. It is said though Drocon was powerful enough to be able to shout a dragon out of the sky after which he would feed on it not just physically but even devouring its very soul. I don’t know how or if such a thing is true or even possible but that is what the tales say.”
“Shout a dragon out of the air? How can you just yell something out of the sky?” Jay cut in to ask and the king explained, “I do not know. That is just what the legends say.”
“It is possible he may have been some kind of elemental master who possibly learned to wield his element with his voice to free up his hands for melee combat,” Zane noted to which Cole praised him, “that sounds fairly logical; smart thinking there buddy. You nindroids are so very smart.” Cole gave Zane a pat on the shoulder then a little absent mindedly began to massage Zane at the base of the back of his neck. Zane was at first confused and on edge but the massaging quickly relaxed him. Noting Pixal look at Coles actions a little confused and thinking she might feel left out from the calming affection Kai copied Coles actions to her. She jumped at his touch at first not aware of his action before calming down from his attention.
“Well whatever it was he was adored by the Gnollsvic but feared by everyone else. As for Kamal and Rosic; it is said Kamal like his greatest grandfather was born under a twin blood moon a sign he was favoured by the prince of the hunt Storabek while his sister Rosic like one of their great grandmothers who led an army that wiped the Oni from their lands was born beneath twin golden moons what those in our realm consider a dragons moon meaning she was favoured by the dragons that gave their powers to mortals. Again not sure if this was true or not but they were both born during the great devastation. In fact Kamal was born the very year of the meteor impact; if that doesn’t speak that he was cursed from birth then I don’t know what does. The display of the moons at their births was believed by their people to be a sign of their greatness and hope but to other peoples like us we saw it as a sign they were a sign of doom. Aside from that the two were forced to take leadership of their empire when only in their young teens as one of the plagues the devastation brought took their parents days apart from each other. As leaders they were a force to be reckoned with and feared by others in the realm. Kamal was often considered cold, calculating, cruel and unforgiving to the point he was often considered heartless by those that dealt with him. One tale describes how he tore a foreign dignitaries ear off with his own teeth when they tried to broker a peace that did not benefit the Gnollsvics and he gained a distinctive scar on his face in a battle where he single handed took on six demons on his own slaying them and coming out with only that scratch. Rosic was considered crafty, unpredictable, had a gift in what many considered forbidden magic’s, was often considered a trickster by her opponents and just as cruel and unforgiving as her brother. It was said she enjoyed toying and torturing her targets before finishing them off. Despite this they were loved by their people but that’s of no surprise; the Gnollsvic were generally cold, aggressive and calculating peoples. To everyone else they were feared with many claiming they had unnatural powers,” K’awil explained and Kai asked, “what kind of unnatural powers?”
“Well that depends on the source. Some said they were impervious to pain and even some weapons. Some claimed they could wield powers of dragons even though everyone agrees they weren’t elemental masters. Some claimed they could cheat death and at least one record claimed they could influence the weather as they swept in a storm during one of their battles and took out the entire opposing army with just a hundred of their fighters thanks to this trick. Our ancestors regarded the two as the twins of the blood dragon referencing the strange moons they were born under and they felt they were actually the offspring of the prince of the hunt so not fully mortal hence their strange powers,” K’awil explained and Jay asked confused, “how can they born of a spirit?”
“I don’t know. I’m not well versed in spiritual stuff. Columatzin would know more about that. You’d have to ask him about it,” K’awil stated. Cole asked, “were they really that bad or were your ancestors just telling tall tales out of fear?”
“Well it may be exaggerations. What isn’t is that despite their lack of experience from their youth they were efficient in their roles and despite the troubles of the time led their people to thrive in the troubled times. It’s believed though that they were responsible for the pact that turned them into the monsters they are now as they sought power to conquer the realm in order to survive the devastation,” K'awil explained getting caught off by Verishay who suddenly asked getting nervous, “Do you hear that?”
“Hear what?” Jay asked and K'awil noted, “It’s a vibrating noise.” They listened for a minute and the ninja agreed they could hear this sound. It was quiet but it was there. Cole and Kai stopped petting the droids to listen for the sound.
“Zane are you purring?” Cole commented noting the sound seemed to be coming from Zane and Pixal. With the affection Cole and Kai had been giving them the two had calmed down and relaxed to the point that they’d entered a rest mode where they were starting to fall sleep. In their relaxed state they were not keeping tabs on some of their actions so as their emotions which were happy and growing high their bodies instinctively started causing some of their anatomy to vibrate to keep their emotional circuits from getting over stimulated risking some systems to possibly short circuit. This action resulted in them making a vibrating noise that sounded like purring. Normally they would try to control this reaction to keep it from making too much noise but in their sleepy state they weren’t controlling it making the sound more audible to those around them.
“Hmm… we’re sorry, we didn’t mean to make this noise… our emotions are over stimulated and it’s causing some of our anatomy to vibrate…” Zane began trying to explain himself starting to get nervous and Jay expressed, “you don’t need to explain yourselves; we don’t mind your quirks.”
“Why are the human mimics making that sound?” K’awil asked he and Verishay getting nervous. Seeing they were scaring the serpentine lowered Zane and Pixals emotions causing their over stimulating reaction to stop stopping the purring noise they had been making. Nya explained, “it’s a reaction to being very calm and happy. They have trouble when their emotions get too high so they vibrate a bit to keep their emotions in control.” Jay blurted out, “they’re purring like a cat.”
“So it’s a safe sound?” Verishay asked and Jay expressed, “yha. You don’t have to be so scared of them. They won’t hurt you. They’re no more dangerous than a guard dog.”
“Guard dogs can be pretty dangerous though,” Kai noted and Jay countered, “yha to bad guys and dangerous predators but to a sheep or a baby they’re not.” Absently Cole commented, “yha they could keep a baby safe and largely cared for. Just don’t expect them to provide proper emotional or social care though; neither of them are very good at that. It’s a flaw in a nindroids nature.”
“Just give it some time and you’ll see they won’t hurt you and aren’t monsters,” Nya commented.
A chill woke her from her sleep. The room was dark but there was enough light outside entering the room for her to make out things in the room. The Grahtwyrms really didn’t have a place for them to stay so had the ninja sleeping in the medical center where they had woken up in earlier that day. Nya went to fix her blanket to combat the coolness that had come to the room when she noticed a figure standing in the room by one of the beds. Looking closer she noted it was Jay just standing there looking at Zane as if questioning asking him a question even though Zane was asleep.
“What are you doing?” she quietly asked getting up and heading over to Jay who jumped when he heard her. Seeing it was just her he relaxed before quietly responding, “Zane was starting to make it cold in here so I put a blanket on him to try and keep the place from freezing. I think their surprising awakening by the serpentine earlier is making them have a bit of some rough sleep. Either that or those salamanders are having a bit of an effect on them. Why would they think I was telling them to eat those things?”
“You know they often have trouble understanding sarcasm,” Nya noted and Jay responded turning his attention to her, “yha. Guess I should have said that differently so they would have better understood it.” There was a moment of silence before Nya asked, “why were you just standing there looking at them?” There was a moment’s pause before Jay responded.
“What Columatzin said earlier about the two having these white souls and therefore connected to this void place… I asked and he said this connection could mean the departed can talk with them in some way to communicate with the living… I was wondering as this clan is from the void and they know my mother then she’s probably trapped there and if that is the case if what the monk says is true and Zane and Pixal have this connection to this place has she ever tried connecting with them in some way. Like maybe during a dream or when meditating or when we have them offline has she ever talked to them maybe tried to tell them something to tell me but because they don’t know the truth they think it’s some spirit trying to trick them or just a trick of the mind?” Jay explained and after a moment’s thought Nya stated, “that is something to think about. Maybe we could ask them about it.”
“I’ve been thinking about that. I want to but I’m not sure about letting more know the truth about my mother yet,” Jay stated and Nya asked, “why? I’m pretty sure Zane and Pixal can keep it secret.”
“I know it’s just Cole seems to be clinging to them a bit more than usual and they may accidently say something and you know how he is about mothers,” Jay explained and Nya agreed, “yha. Can you blame him though?”
“No… I kind of know how he feels. At least in a sense I still have a mother,” Jay stated and he added, “I also worry if they would understand what I have to ask.”
“How would they not understand it?” Nya asked confused and Jay explained, “well they still don’t fully understand their dreams and stuff like that so they might not think anything they experienced with her as significant so got rid of any memories with it.”
“Well if we explain everything to them they could keep track of any dreams they have from now on that they think may involve or be from her,” Nya offered and Jay expressed, “true…” The two were suddenly surprised as Zane and Pixal both woke up quickly sitting up and beginning to look around as if expecting to be attacked but not knowing where it was coming from.
“Zane, Pix are you two okay? You look scared,” Nya asked and Zane expressed, “are you feeling there is danger here too?”
“No. I think your twos circuits are still a bit caught up from your rough wake up from the serpentine this morning. You can relax and get some sleep. There’s no danger…” Jay expressed before they heard the loud banging of a gong.
“What is that?” Jay asked starting to get on edge and Pixal explained as the noise started to wake up Kai and Cole, “a warning chime. I believe these serpentine use an ancient warning system of some kind of percussive instrument placed at high places in the town to alert the citizens to danger.” Nya wondered, “are you sure that’s what that is?”
“Danger, what kind of danger?” Jay began to panic as one of the serpentine guards came rushing into the room to panic, “masters we need your help… the owl demons… they’re here!” The serpentine looked terrified.
“What?” Cole asked and the serpentine expressed, “a group of Nyctrea is attacking the city. They’ve come down from the mountains to attack us! Why? We’ve never done anything to them!” The ninja quickly got up and rushed out of the building. Outside they were confronted by chaos. Serpentine were running everywhere terrified trying to flee not only Nyctrea but clan monsters and even members of the Lost Clan themselves. Fires had started in some areas and were slowly spreading and some of the monsters like one of the clans armoured Soilteres was trying to knock down structures in the city using its head to ram anything in its way.
Nyctrea: Soiltere: 
“Looks like those owl demons are in collaboration with the Lost Clan,” Cole commented and Kai expressed, “our weapons are in the palace.” Jay countered, “do you really think that matters here? Our weapons aren’t very good at harming these things.”
“Well we can’t just let these monsters attack the place,” Kai commented as Cole experimented using his powers to create a pit beneath the feet of a pair of Feardrakes as they chased some serpentine nearby. The monsters fell in the pit and before they could get up and climb out of it he blocked the top of the pit with rocky projections creating a sort of grate to trap the monsters in. They were clearly not happy as they tried to climb out but were unable to do so.
Feardrake:
“We can still use our powers against them. As long as Kamal and Rosic aren’t here we might be able to at least get the serpentine out to safety with little trouble. If we’re lucky enough we might even be able to scare these monsters off,” Cole expressed. They were in agreement. They joined the serpentine guards who were trying to hold back the monsters while the civilians looked to be fleeing towards the palace.
“You should get everyone out of the valley not urge them deeper into it. They’re just going to end up trapped,” Cole expressed to one of the serpentine generals who commented, “the tree will keep us safe.”
“How is a tree going to keep you safe? It’s a tree they don’t work like that. Trees are just wood and leaves they can’t think or feel or act. It won’t protect you,” Kai expressed using his fire on some of the hyena birds, the Skurocs, of the clan. The creatures were being hurt by the attack and fled from it to recover and avoid being defeated. The general commented, “oh how little you know about trees. They are more than they seem besides within our great trees trunk and within its roots are a great many tunnels that we can use to hide and even escape in. Some of its tunnels lead out of the valley.”
Skuroc:
“Well if that’s your plan we’ll help. What do you want us to do?” Cole stated and the general told them, “these monsters have some of our civilians trapped maybe you can help clear the areas a bit to give them a way to get out.”
“Okay where do we need to go?” Kai asked and the general replied, “the hills and the Resting Quarters.”
“Resting Quarters,” Jay asked confused and the general replied, “the small Ziggurat in the civilian quarters.”
“Okay we’ll split up to help out. Jay you’ll help me get those out of the Ziggurat; Zane, Pix you two help out on the south hillside. Kai, Nya you two help the dwellings on the north hillside and Nya make sure Kai doesn’t light the cliff side on fire,” Cole planned throwing in a bit of a joke to lighten the mood. Most of them were amused by it Kai however commented, “how could I end up doing that, most of what’s up there is made of stone.”
“Knowing you you’d still find a way,” Jay joked. Despite Kai not being amused by the joking they all agreed to Coles tactics and wasted no time in getting to action splitting up and heading to their designated locations. The north hill side of the valley was on fire and overrun by the more beastial monsters like the bug snake Serpent-flies, Feardrakes and Corpse Birds. The villages livestock weren’t helping much with some helping by attacking the monsters while others just ran in panic trying to escape and knocking serpentine over nearly pushing some off terraces or running over them. There were some guards there helping escort all those there out of the area however their attempts were hindered by burning rubble that had collapsed on one of the main stairways and isolated several of the tiers making those trapped having to climb up or jump down onto another tier to escape. Kai and Nya quickly got to work working together to clear some ways for civilians to escape. Nya used her powers to put out fires and destroy the spectre like Fire Wyrms that were starting the fires and hiding within the flames and rubble while Kai used a piece of wood which he believed was once the leg to a table or chair to beat back any monsters that got close to them using his fire sparingly and with great caution in order to keep from setting more fires. Once fires were out the two would push aside chunks of rubble to clear a path or free trapped serpentine.
“Is it just me or does it kind of stink here?” Kai commented at one point as they helped free some serpentine who’d become trapped by fallen burning debris in their house. Nya noted as she put out the fires and helped Kai remove the rubble, “yha. I think it’s the serpentine. I think they’re doing that musking thing they commented about earlier. At least when Jay wets himself it doesn’t stink like this.”
“Can you roll back about joking about his bladder issues in front of Jay?” Nya asked and Kai stated, “you know I’m just playing around right and don’t mean any harm.”
“I know but it’s a really sensitive topic for him that’s really embarrassing for him and joking about it really affects his confidence,” Nya explained and Kai stated, “yha I’m betting it would. You know I don’t mean it; poking fun at each other is just something guys do when having fun. We’re just playing around.”
“Even so can you just agree to hold off jokes about that issue around him? He’s been trying to work on fixing the issue recently and could use the confidence boost to give him a boost in motivation to work on it besides you know how embarrassing it is to mess your pants. I still haven’t told anyone how you wet yourself when we dealt with Zane and Pixal having Robot Rabies, twice,” Nya noted and Kai stated, “well that was all really scary… especially when they lured that rat close to their cells and got a hold of it. They tore it in half and ate it like wild animals!”
“That was unsettling but they weren’t in their right minds then though. Now that they’re cured I doubt they will never do that again or at least I hope they won’t. That was pretty disturbing to see them do that,” Nya agreed and Kai stated, “yha it was quite scary but yha I know how embarrassing it is to wet yourself. It was very embarrassing; thanks for keeping that little incident a secret.”
“Hey it’s what siblings do. We stick up for each other and keep our embarrassing secrets with each other,” Nya stated and Kai stated, “I can hold off on the jokes and teasing to Jay. You know it’s good to see him taking some initiative to help fix the problem. Too bad we can’t encourage Cole to do the same; he should really cut back on his indulgences in cake. It could come back around and bite him in the future with something like diabetes if he doesn’t.” The two could agree with that. They worked as quickly as they could clearing enough paths to give everyone an easy way to escape. As the hillside cleared out the two were surprised by Columatzin rushing up to them.
“Master’s I need your help,” Columatzin expressed running up to them terrified. Kai expressed using a broken piece of chair he had found to beat away some of the serpent-fly creatures which were trying to swarm him and his sister who was fighting off some Fire Wyrms trying to restart some rubble to block the path they had just cleared, “what do you think we’re doing?”
“You’re doing fine but I need your help in the temple… some members of the clan got in there,” Columatzin explained and Nya expressed, “they’ve gotten everywhere just get everyone out and leave the place to them.”
“No you need to get to the temple,” Columatzin expressed and Kai commented, “why? Why’s it so important?”
“The clan is in the library… I overheard some of them. They’re looking for something there,” Columatzin expressed. That caught the twos attention making them pause for a moment before continuing to smack the monsters away.
“What could they be looking for?” Nya wondered and Columatzin expressed in a panic, “I don’t know.” The two looked at their surroundings. Most of the hillside had been cleared and the little that was left should have no problem clearing the hillside and getting to safety so they decided to follow Columatzin to figure out what was going on. They followed him to the temple rushing as fast as they could. Once at the temple they slowed down and snuck in headed straight for the library. When they got in there they snuck around keeping low and hiding behind shelves. A group of clan members were in the study area looking over some of the objects in there and some of the books the ninja had used that day that hadn’t been put away yet. The group was mainly made of mainly Drekavacs with a couple Huntsman, two Zkurocs and a Gorgayhurra (gorg-a-yur-a). They were talking in a language none of them could understand.
Gorgayhurra:
“That could be the Gnollsvics language; I don’t know that language though or understand it so I can’t tell. It could also be the language of the void, the audible tongue used by denizens from the void that take humanoid physical forms,” Columatzin whispered back when Nya asked him if he could recognise the language. Kai commented, “well whatever it is it sounds aggressive. It sounds like something you could summon demons with. Too bad we don’t have that translating ability nindroids have.”
“That wouldn’t help here. The language has to be recorded in a digital form in data banks for a nindroid to translate it and I highly doubt whatever they are speaking is recorded anywhere in our realm,” Nya whispered. They watched as the Drekavacs and Huntsman investigated the books and started looking into the cases breaking into them to get at the objects picking them up to inspect them then dropping them back in the cases. While these two species looked through stuff the Gorgayhurra kept alert for intruders while the two Zkurocs began to wander off sniffing through the area as if looking for something.
“We gotta make sure those don’t find us,” Nya quietly noted of the Zkurocs while Kai quietly wondered, “what do you think they’re looking for? What would these snakes have that they would want?” They talked quietly hoping to avoid being heard.
“Well our ancestors did bring quite a bit of artefacts with them when they came here,” Columatzin quietly stated and Nya wondered, “maybe something your ancestors brought was theirs and they want it back?” Columatzin noted, “as far as I know all they brought was our own makes that were important to us.”
“Is there anything in those items these monsters may be interested in?” Kai asked. Columatzin thought for a moment before replying, “maybe… it might not be something we brought though but…” Columatzin paused as if worried of saying something. That drew the twos suspicion causing Nya to remark, “what? What might they be interested in?” They noted the clan members uncover a Forbidden Scroll from one of the display shelves. They were worried that was what these monsters were after but to their surprise after reading it they put it back clearly uninterested and strangely able to resist its hold. They were relieved they weren’t after that but if that wasn’t what they were after then what were they after?
“We’ve acquired a few things from travellers over the years and… when we came here to this valley… the First Spinjitsu Master gave us some things, told us to keep them hidden,” Columatzin explained. Kai wondered, “what kind of things?”
“Well I’m not too sure. It’s been so long and some of our records have been lost over time. I know some of them were really important… can’t recall which ones though; again lost to time. There might be something in the library about it. There are some scrolls that are too worn to make out what is on them in the back. It could be written on one of those. There is also a legend about something to do with the heart of a tree so maybe there is something hidden in there. It’s been ages though since anyone’s been in the tunnels beneath the tree so I have no clue if there is anything hidden down there or not. I can’t tell you if it’s a myth or not,” Columatzin explained and confused Kai wondered, “heart of a tree?”
“I forget the details but the legend claims when our people settled here the first thing they did was plant our Dreaming Tree in which the First Spinjitsu Master bestowed a heart in it to guide us for the future till the day we’d face the risen dead,” Columatzin explained and even more confused now Kai stated, “that’s a strange legend and a kind of creepy one. Face the risen dead.”
“It defiantly sounds scary,” Columatzin expressed before growling caught their attention. It was coming from behind them. Turning to look they were startled to see the Zkurocs stalking out from shelves behind them. In their talking they had forgot to keep an eye on the creatures who had picked up their scent and stalked around to cut off their ability to escape the library before launching an attack. The one launched at Kai its force knocking both out of their hiding spot and crashing them into the study area catching the clan forces attention who wasted no time in rushing over to confront them. The other Zkuroc launched onto Nya trying to pin her down and clamp its jaws onto her throat. She held its moth open to stop it struggling against its strong jaws. While she and Kai fought against the monsters Columatzin rushed away trying to keep hidden.
“Serious! Your kind really are cowardly snakes aren’t you,” Kai expressed noting Columatzin disappear as he and his sister struggled against the monsters. What he didn’t see was the clan members there chase after Columatzin and block his escape from the room even though that was not what he was trying to do. He was going for some of the weapons they had stored in the room. They had weapons of both the light and the dark in the library and one of those was bound to have an effect on these monsters. As he tried to get to these weapons knowing their powers were the only serious challenge to these monsters Kai and Nya decided to use their powers to affect the creatures. The Skuroc Kai was fighting kicking and punching it as it smacked him around as it had one of his entire arms in its mouth and down its throat giving it a great hold on him. Kai was a mix of disgust, fear and paranoia from that worried the thing was trying to rip off and eat his arm which was in a warm slimy place he didn’t wish to think about. To free himself he lit his arm that was in the creature on fire. That had an instant effect. The creature quickly coughed up his arm and began coughing and gagging some smoke coming out of its mouth.
“Was I too spicy for yha,” he bragged as Nya used her powers to shoot water into the mouth and throat of the creature attacking her. It put up with the attacking for several seconds before backing off letting her go water dripping from its nose, ears and eyes as her attack had filled its sinuses with water and it began vomiting up the gallons it had swallowed in its attempts to resist her attack. To their disgust the Skuroc Kai had burnt the throat of quickly came over to drink the water its ally was barfing up.
“That’s disgusting,” Nya commented as Kai tried to hold back vomiting disgusted by the act. They were about to look around for the other monsters when they suddenly felt themselves knocked down. Before they could get up they found themselves picked up and restrained by the Gorgayhurra. It wrapped its body around Kai while it held Nya down with its forelimbs. Kai attempted to use his fire on the creature while Nya hit its face with water. The creature was not too happy with that but to their dislike it proved its cleverness by directing her attack at Kai soaking him and throwing off his attack. While the two struggled against the parrot serpent Columatzin had got a hold of two daggers; one made of silver the other made of Damned Stone. He decided to dual wield them in order to see which delivered more damage. He attacked several of the clan members and it wasn’t long till he had his answer. This answer however was not what he was expecting. The silver dagger seemed weak on them however the Damned Stone delivered notably more damage and was easier to cut them with. Seeing this he quickly looked for more of the weapons they had in the library made of Damned Stone as he fought the clan members. He found two daggers made of the stuff in one of the display cases. He broke it open and while fighting the clan with the Damned Stone Dagger he grabbed out and tossed the daggers at Kai and Nya who were struggling against not only the parrot snake but the Skurocs as well the monsters had managed to wrestle the two to the ground and were trying to pin them there. Any time they tried to use their powers the Gorgayhurra would manipulate them to attack each other which had not turned out in Kais favour leading him to be soaked. They were all unaware of the daggers being thrown at them till they landed by them startling all three of the monsters who jumped back letting Kai and Nya go as they looked at the weapons like animals seeing something for the first time. The Skurocs had their fur and tail raised and moved stiffly afraid to get to close while the Gorgayhurra reared up and looked down at the weapons its head turned so one eye was focussed more on the items than the other as it gave off loud warning squawks.
“What are we supposed to do with these?” Kai questioned as they moved and picked up the daggers; the one to his misfortune had smacked him on its side on his head before bouncing to the floor making him feel his head to make sure he hadn’t got cut. He hadn’t but he was pretty sure he might have a bruise as he had a bit of a sore spot.
“The Damned Daggers have a greater effect on these monsters than normal weapons,” Columatzin expressed rushing over to stand with them the clan members following to fight all three of them. The clan members wasted no time in letting them prepare for an attack rushing in to try and take them out. At first Kai and Nya thought these weapons would be of little use, that’s what they were used to with these monsters, but to their surprise these weapons had a greater effect than they were expecting. It was like the strange resistance these monsters normally had was gone and they could be defeated much easier now. Unleashing their Spinjitsu tornadoes during the fight they were able to clear out the small group that had gathered in the library. All they had left were the beastial monsters who still looked scared of the items. All they had to do was make a few fake lunge attacks towards the monsters the monsters flinching back the first few times before rushing off out of the library not wanting to face them now that they had these weapons.
“Wow these things really work!” Kai exclaimed after they had driven the monsters away and Nya noted, “we should tell the others about this.” Kai agreed with, “yha these could really help. Do you have more?”
“Not here but we have more in the palace armoury. They haven’t been used in centuries but they should still be in very usable condition,” Columatzin explained. With the library clear they headed out to find the others to let them know what they had found. When they got outside they stopped and looked around. Things were quiet and still. It looked like the fighting had stopped.
“Where is everyone, have they already left,” Kai wondered. In case clan members were still around they got low and slunk around in the shadows hiding behind debris, structures and foliage till they came to the edge of the clearing in front of the palace. There they stopped behind an ancient crumbling wall hidden in the foliage there.
“This isn’t good,” Kai noted as they looked out over the terrace ahead. The fight had ended but not in theirs or the serpentines favour. In the gathering area outside the palace the clan members had rounded up many of the serpentine who had been unable to flee along with the other ninja who had been put at the front of the gathering where a rough looking Nyctrea his face covered in scars while wearing a tattered red robe like shirt and his posture a bit hunched over as if bent by age was interrogating the others demanding to know where they were. The others didn’t know but the Nyctrea did not want that as an answer and started to threaten the others in order to make them comply.
“What are we going to do?” Kai wondered as Nya noted a nearby Feardrake seemed to pick up their scent and look over to them growling its actions catching the nearby Drekavacs who looked over towards them.
“I think we’ve been spotted. Hide the daggers,” she told her brother slipping the dagger in her shirt sleeve. Her brother did the same noting the Drekavacs who had been drawn to their area start to head over to investigate.
“Think you can distract them from finding me?” Columatzin asked and Kai wondered, “why?” The serpentine monk replied, “I might be able to slip around the area and get into the palace. There I could get you and your friends those Damned Stone weapons to take out these monsters.” They agreed to that. The two took a moment to ready themselves before getting up and moving into the clearing before the Drekavacs got too close. To avoid conflict Kai and Nya held up their hands to show they were submitting and wanting to avoid conflict. The Drekavacs accepted their surrender and led them over to stand with the others where they relaxed.
“I hear you were looking for us. Sorry but we got a bit lost. I have a terrible sense of direction,” Kai expressed as they were led over. Jay joked, “yha that’s quite true; you can get lost on a one way street.” Cole scolded with, “Jay it’s not the time for that.”
“What do you mean? There’s always time for a good joke,” Jay defended before the rough looking Nyctrea declared, “good now with the pesky elementalist’s rounded up so they can’t interfere we can focus on what we came here for.” He then strolled over to two of his comrades, fellow Nyctrea, who stood on either side of the king to keep him from going anywhere. He then began to interrogate the King demanding he give them something he termed the Rota Interranium.
“What do you think they’re going to do to us?” Jay nervously wondered looking around and Kai noted, “well they must want something otherwise why keep us alive.”
“Sounds like they’re looking for something,” Cole noted as they listened to the interrogation and Nya stated, “yha they had been searching through the library for something.” Jay wondered, “what could they be looking for?”
“Where is it?” the burly Nyctrea demanded of the king threatening him with his claws. The king expressed, “where is what? I do not know what you are looking for.” The Nyctrea explained, “I think you do. When the First Spinjitsu Master sent your kind here he gave your people many items to keep safe. There was one however that was more secret than any other. One you were to keep secret and hidden greater than any treasure. Where did you snakes put it?”
“What are you talking about?” K’awil asked clearly very scared and confused. The Nyctrea swiped across the serpentines face leaving large scratch wounds on the one side of his face before bringing his face to the serpentines face to growl while threatening him with the talons on its hands, “don’t play around with me mortal. I’ll make you feel the fear of oblivion if you don’t tell me now don’t play the fool. Where did you hide the piece of the Rota Interranium?” Seeing the Nyctrea attack their ruler scared the serpentine even their warriors making many of them cower and parents to shelter their hatchlings sheltering them from seeing the interrogation. Even the creatures like the livestock and strange croc dogs that had been caught and restrained were cowering from the actions.
“The what?” K’awil asked shaking from fear and pain from the attack and the Nyctrea growled, “it would be a small metal object possibly with bits of a black with reddish iridescence stone to it now where is it.” To their surprise especially the serpentine Zane spoke out in the kings defence.
“He might not know anything about it,” Zane stated drawing the Nyctreas attention. The creature looked at him tiltng its head like an owl. It left the king to stalk over towards the ninja hunched over to hiss, “why would the droid think this?” Pixal explained, “it’s possible over time after it was hidden knowledge of it was not passed down to their descendants so they have forgotten about whatever this thing is that you seek.” The Nyctrea scowled at them hunching over to look the two droids in the faces. Zane and Pixal were clearly scared but put on a brave face to the monster.
“So then if they do not know then maybe you can offer your services. You are droids; you have greater senses then most mortals especially the humans and snakes. Like a hound sent to flush out the rabbit you will sniff out what we seek,” the Nyctrea expressed grabbing both Zane and Pixal by their arms and dragging the two out to stand by the king who was remaining cowering. The two took a moment to help the king Zane putting some ice over the scratches the Nyctrea had made to cover them up to slow the bleeding and help keep it clean. The Nyctrea ordered, “now droids use your senses and sniff out what we seek.”
“Hopefully the two don’t take his words literally,” Nya quietly expressed to the others who agreed. These monsters were not beings the droids should let their misunderstandings to phrases and other methods of speech happen around; it was very unlikely they would take the twos misunderstandings lightly and forgive them for it. Zane and Pixal just looked around nervous and confused while the king sheltered behind them. After a moment of looking around Zane asked, “what exactly are we to be looking for?”
“An abnormality to the world around you; it will appear unnatural and out of place to everything you are used to seeing. It will radiate strongly with energy and may disrupt your senses for them to try and read it,” the Nyctrea expressed. Zane and Pixal looked around again before Pixal explained, “we do not see anything matching that description however there is an abnormality present.”
“What is it?” the Nyctrea asked eerily eager to hear about this abnormality. Zane explained pointing to the tree that grew around the palace, “that tree. It is strangely registering under some sensors with strange signatures including one where it is registering abnormally. Structures of a tree are solid in make and should register as that however that one it looks solid and most of our senses detect them as a normal tree but it is radiating an energy we do not recognise, it has an abnormally warm heat signature and to some senses it appears transparent as if not truly there.” The Nyctrea and some of the other monsters looked at the tree intrigued.
“That is no ordinary arbour. Bring the king, his servant and the ones of dragons blood,” the lead Nyctrea expressed before pushing Zane and Pixal towards the tree expressing as he did, “for the safety of your kin and the nobility you better hope you’re right.” His comment made Zane and Pixal nervous. The two Nyctrea that had been standing with him followed each one grabbing and dragging the king and Verishay who stood nearby along with them. Some of the Drekavacs and Huntsmen grabbed the ninja and dragged them over with Zane and Pixal herding them all to follow the Nyctrea. They went over to the base of the tree trunk where the Nyctrea inspected the trunk. It wasn’t easy to see from a distance but the base of the tree had a decent sized crevice in it leading into a small cavity within the trunk.
“This is no ordinary tree,” the lead Nyctrea stated as he lead them within the base of the trunk. In this crevice against the back wall was a strange structure almost like some kind of door that likely led into the tree. It was inlaid a few feet into the trunk base and the structure that made the sort of door looked like a giant dark yellow green leaf with woody veins all forming a large arched shape. The head Nyctrea investigated this structure before using some kind of spell tapping its claw to the main vein of the structure causing it to curl back and up revealing a tunnel that led within the tree. The tunnel was fairly dark looking to be lit solely by some kinds of fungi, lichen and seams of what looked like fossilized glowing sap in the walls and roof of the tunnel.
“Well look at that the snakes were right there is a tunnel beneath this tree,” Jay quietly commented before the head Nyctrea expressed, “I am betting what we seek is in there. You two are with me. The rest you take all but the two droids back to the others and keep them their till we get back. The droids are coming with us.”
“Why do they need to come with you?” Cole demanded; he didn’t want Zane and Pixal being alone with these monsters. Who knew what they were going to do with the two. Zane and Pixal were clearly uneasy with what they were being told to do clearly scared by these monsters. The others didn’t like this idea either.
“The tree will seek to hide what we seek from us as we are not mortals and I sense this tree was commanded to protect the Rota Interrium from those like us. Your droids have senses that can find what we are looking for. They will serve us like dogs to sniff out what we seek and if they do not do as they are instructed or this proves fruitless then one of you will be paying the price for the failure if you know what I mean,” the leader explained coming over to threaten Cole by sliding the tip of its claw against his throat. Cole felt a shiver go down his spine from the act feeling scared. Cole was unsettled but braved up to demanded, “if they go with you then we come to. You’re not going to separate us from our brother and sister.” The leader bent down to put his face in Coles to growl, “no.” He then started heading to the tunnel entrance demanding Zane and Pixal follow him. His two Nyctrea allies followed him grabbing and dragging along Zane and Pixal who tried a little to fight their holds but were too scared to put much effort into their fighting worried how the Nyctrea would react.
“Hey leave them be,” Cole demanded. He and the others went to rush towards their droid siblings to help them but the clan members that had herded them there held them back. Kai demanded, “why can’t we come?” The lead Nyctrea stopped and turned to look at them.
“You will fight us when we are alone; don’t deny it. If we keep you separated then you cannot rise against us besides you humans and serpentine are of no use to us,” the leader growled. Knowing they wouldn’t be able to change these monsters minds and Zane and Pixal might not do well with these monsters Cole offered, “what if just one or two of us went with you?”
“We will be fine with just your droids,” the leader stated pushing Zane and Pixal into the tunnel the two clearly nervous.
“It might be best for you if one of us accompanies you; nindroids have communication difficulties so you might want one of us who can translate things for you to them in case they get confused,” Nya proposed. Jay added, “yha just say to them cats got your tongue or say something sarcastically and they’ll take what you say as literal.” The Nyctrea paused. He then turned back to them to comment, “if we let one of you come will that put you at ease?” The ninja looked at each other before Cole commented, “we could agree to that.”
“Alright, then choose who will come. Only one of you can come along,” the Nyctrea then ordered. The ninja looked at each other before quietly talking it over to see who was going to go with Zane and Pixal.
“I’ll go,” Cole offered and Nya opted, “no I think someone who can help Zane and Pix in case those monsters hurt them go. I’ll do it.” Kai countered, “no offense sis but I think you’d be pretty useless against those monsters. Water does nothing but make them wet. We need someone whose powers have some effect on those things.”
“Well it can’t be you. You and technology aren’t a good combination and you still sometimes have trouble understanding Zane and Pixal,” Cole expressed and Kai agreed, “I know. No I’m afraid there is only one of us who is a good candidate for this.” They all looked at Jay who was a bit nervous. Jay expressed, “it’s me isn’t it?”
“Well electricity does seem to have a greater effect on these monsters and you are a wiz with tech and are very good at understand the two,” Cole stated and Jay expressed, “okay I guess I’ll do it.” Jay began to head over to the tunnel where the Nyctrea were holding Zane and Pixal hostage. Before he left to give him some help in case they ran into danger Nya decided to give Jay the Damned Dagger she had hidden in her sleeve. To hopefully keep the clan members from seeing it she gave Jay a hug slipping the dagger she’d had up her sleeve out and slid it into Jays sleeve whispering to him as she did this, “take this it may help. It had a strong effect on some of these monsters in the library.” After the hug Jay paused for a moment looking at the dagger in his sleeve while trying to not make it evident he had it. He could feel from the dark unsettling feelings it gave off that it was one of the Damned Stone daggers from the library. He didn’t like the feeling it gave him but he trusted Nya so went along with it. He kept the dagger hidden as he went over to stand with Zane and Pixal. The clan members then dragged the others out of the cavity as the Nyctrea pushed Jay, Zane and Pixal into the tunnels the Nyctrea walking behind them to keep them from trying to escape. The tunnel was wide enough the three could walk side by side for most areas though some got narrow enough only two could go at the time. It overall had an arch shape with bowed wall in structure and was decently tall ceilinged; about ten to twelve feet tall for most of it. The tunnel ramped slowly down turning and winding about making it hard to determine the direction they were going with the strange energies given off by the tree further worsened this as they interfered with Zane and Pixals senses of direction leaving them lost. The walls and roof of the tunnel were made from the wood of the tree the bark that covered it smoother than that on the outside. Every now and then the tunnel would largen into a large cavern or room or the tunnel would switch from the tree walls and ceiling into ones with large patches of rock or even entirely rock. Sometimes these rocks bore fossils in them some of which glowed from a strange iridescent amber like material. The floor to all parts of the tunnels was a slightly spongy yellow green dirt like substance which Zane and Pixal took a moment at the start to investigate and believed was dirt mixed with a lichen. The Nyctrea were not happy with the two droids strong curiosity which had them wanting to investigate every new thing they came across. Wanting to avoid problems Jay had to keep ushering the two to continue on and draw their attention back to the task at hand. There was plenty of strange things there to catch the twos attention. Some strange fungi and lichens like what they had seen in that strange cavern grew every now and then on the walls, ceiling and sides of the ground of the tunnels. To Jays dislike one of these, what looked like a decent sized onion shaped fungi, would spew out a spore laced gas when stepped too close to that caused a momentary paralysis if breathed in. To his misfortune Jay was the only one affected by the stuff causing him to collapse face first into the ground then struggle for a couple seconds to get back to his feet only to have his legs shaky and weak for a few minutes after coming into contact with the stuff.
“Why is it just me this stuff affects?” he groaned the third time he stumbled into this shroom and been knocked down by it while Zane and Pixal helped him to his feet. Pixal explained, “I and Zane have shut off our human reactions to environmental contaminants to keep alert while in danger.”
“Boy I’d love to be able to do that,” Jay grumbled getting his footing again. Overall the tunnel was fairly dimly lit only some fungi, lichens and the seams of amber in the walls and roof providing light to help them navigate. Luckily the paths were pretty clean even though various sized roots grew from the ceiling into walls or the floor however these roots grew clear of the main pathway. If the darkness and the monsters following behind them weren’t unsettling enough for them plenty of creepy crawlies like centipedes and spiders were crawling around down there not to mention at times he could swear he saw something moving down tunnels they passed. He just saw the movement out of the corner of his eye but anytime he tried to get a better look he couldn’t see anything. He also thought at times parts of the walls of the tunnels looked to have odd shapes to them that he swore looked vaguely like something living but they didn’t move and looked to be pretty well fused into the wall. Zane and Pixal didn’t sense anything odd to these formations when he quietly pointed it out to them though they were more occupied trying to navigate through the place looking for something they had no information about. Jay started to wonder if he was just being paranoid especially as he felt like he was being watched by things around them even though he couldn’t see anything resembling eyes anywhere in the tunnel. Jay was also very unsettled to find some strange carnivorous plants and even fungi which were eating the creepy crawlies and small mammals like mice and squirrels that were crawling around the tunnels. A few of these plants to Jays dislike attempted to attack him. One was large bulbous one with the mouth sitting in the large flower of its top with the four pray mantis like arms that grew out of it to stab and grab its prey. Another greatly confused Zane and Pixal as while being a plant had an animal like quality to it with how the feeding part moved and had a bit of resemblance to that of a heron. Jay was creeped out by the translucent glowing patches near the base where the belly of the plant sat which let its guts be a bit visible. Though it lacked eyes the plant somehow was aware of their presence and tried to bite them when they got to close. There was also a strange stinkhorn looking fungi that had several tentacles that grew around the mouth to its underground digestive bell which tried to grab things that stepped on it and tried to eat them such as Jays foot when he accidently stepped on one. He freaked out making Zane freeze it while Pixal pulled him away from it.
“Why are there such monstrous plants down here?!” Jay screamed after Pixal pulled him free of the strange fungi his agitation getting worse the more the flora attacked him. Zane hypothesized, “they may be some kind of symbiotes for this tree keeping these tunnels clean of creatures that would hurt it or potentially guards left by the Grahtwyrms ancestors to protect anything they hid down here.”
“Quite your panicking and sniff out what we are searching for mortals,” the lead Nyctrea ordered pushing them along. These monsters were not bothered by the aggressive flora. They would attack them but unlike the three of them who were preferring to avoid conflict these monsters would attack the flora with a swipe or spell. Just one hit from them was enough for the flora to back off. The monsters were heavily reliant on Zane and Pixal to find what they were looking for taking no effort to take the lead and instead ordering the two droids to navigate for them whenever they came across splits in the tunnels or new passages. The two droids were trying their hardest but had no clue what they were looking for and were unable to navigate due to strange qualities of this tree that they could not understand. This ability to be unable to navigate led them a few times to wander into dead end tunnels or caverns which only made the lead Nyctrea angrier. This would make Zane and Pixal more anxious every time so to protect and calm them Jay had to intervene.
“Give them some time. They’ve never been here and the trees messing with their senses,” Jay expressed standing between the monsters and his droid siblings at one point. Even though as they went on he was slowly getting more anxious from these monsters and the strange and creepy place they were in with plant things that kept attacking him he knew he had to brave up for his droid siblings. Getting too anxious and stressed was much worse for them than him. Wet pants and panic attacks were easier to deal with and not much of a danger in their situation. Zane and Pixal short circuiting offline because of overwhelming fear and anxiety for potentially minutes at a time was a bad thing. They weren’t showing it much but Jay was very good at reading them and knew even though they were hiding it pretty well they were quite scared. They were making glitchy movements every now and then, they were a bit shaky and twitchy and kept getting more easily distracted a sign their brains were overwhelmed so not functioning the best likely because of their emotions leading to them having functioning problems. He couldn’t blame the two for how they were feeling; he was feeling it too. Even though he wanted to use it Jay held back using the dagger keeping it hidden. He didn’t know how these monsters would react when confronted with it so he knew it best to keep it secret till it was the right time to use it and now wasn’t that time. The Nyctrea was mad and looked like he wanted to attack but he held back and waited for Zane and Pixal to start leading again. As they went Jay started to notice that the two Nyctrea with this lead one weren’t entirely like him. Jay heard them several times quietly remind the leader who they called Moloch to be more lenient to the droids. By how quiet they were trying to be he had a feeling the Nyctrea didn’t want them to hear their talking amongst themselves. However they didn’t seem to realise he had sensitive hearing and they likely thought he was too occupied with keeping Zane and Pixal focussed if they got distracted like when they came across a strange well like structure in the one wall that was dripping a golden looking sap which to his dislike the two tasted some of the stuff to conclude it was sap from the tree to hear them. From his overhearing the leader was named Moloch, one of his comrades was named Wan Shi while the other was Ky’zuu and these monsters had been tasked by Rosic and Kamal to retrieve the piece of the Rota Interranium. Moloch had no care how he got it he was just determined to get it even if it cost the mortals as he termed it. Wan Shi and Ky’zuu wanted to retrieve it too but felt their actions were being too rushed and bold and that they should just have let Mansi continue on working on retrieving the item so they could have avoided all this conflict and just left the mortals who they felt were innocent and didn’t need to be dragged into this ordeal alone. Jay didn’t like that; these monsters were working with that scary one in the woods and they were all working for the clan. Wan Shi and Ky’zuu felt they could have waited believing they should have been patient Moloch on the other hand was impatient and felt Mansi was taking too long. The further they got with nothing being found the more irritated Moloch was getting.
“Are you purposely trying to mislead us?” Moloch growled after some time as Zane and Pixal led them into another dead end this one a cavern that was flooded to their kneecaps. The two were too scared to say anything so Jay voiced for them, “like I said before they’re having trouble navigating down here plus we have no clue what we’re supposed to be looking for.” To Jays surprise Moloch’s companions voiced up against him.
“He is right. These mortals will have never seen or experienced what we are looking for so they do not know what to be looking for. Hounds need a scent before they can track it maybe we can offer them a proverbial scent to aid in their search,” Wan Shi expressed. Confused Zane quietly asked Jay, “they want us to smell for what we’re looking for?”
“It’s a metaphor Zane,” Jay whispered back as Moloch declared, “fine.” He walked over to the side of the tunnel and Jay asked, “what are you going to do?” He, Zane and Pixal were nervous unsure what the Nyctrea was going to do. Moloch slashed at the wall with both his hands his talons scraping deep into the wood of the tree and coming out coated with sap. He then began to stalk towards Zane and Pixal who were unsure what to do as the other Nyctrea came to stand behind them.
“Since it is buried within the roots of the tree then if they directly commune with it the tree may show them the way,” Moloch declared and Pixal asked confused, “how do we commune with a tree? None of our senses or communications are compatible with the physiology and communication methods of plants.”
“This tree as you see it is more than just a tree. It goes by many names throughout the realms. Void Tree, Dreaming Tree, a Bridge between Worlds, the Tree of Spirits; it has ways it can communicate with those of the realms. I will give the sap knowledge of what I seek and make sure it ends up in your bellies and with a bit of it within you then the tree will have a way to commune to you,” Moloch declared filling the sap on his hands with a strange energy that sent a wave of green through the sap as Wan Shi and Ky’zuu restrained Zane and Pixal so they couldn’t fight back as Moloch force fed them from his hands the sap then rubbed what was left on his hands over their faces. Zane and Pixal were clearly very scared and uncomfortable with the actions but couldn’t do anything to protect themselves.
“Hey don’t do that! Leave them alone!” Jay exclaimed. He started to build up a shock to attack the monsters before quickly remembering if he attacked the monsters with lightening he’d end up hurting Zane and Pixal in the process and the two were much more vulnerable to harm from his powers. He stopped his build up before anyone could get hurt. The Nyctrea were quick with their work and let go of the two droids moving aside so Jay could move over to them. Jay waited no time rushing over to check on the two who were trying to clean their faces their movements glitching a bit indicating their emotions were fairly high.
“Are you two okay?” Jay asked as he came over to them. The two had closed their eyes to keep Moloch from getting sap in them and were cleaning off their eyelids with a shard of ice Zane had made for them, he made a piece for each of them, in order to wash the sap from their faces. They managed to get most of it off but still had residue of it smeared on their faces. After they had cleaned up Pixal expressed, “I do not think that stuff was healthy for us.” Zane noted, “it tasted funny and what did he do to the sap; it didn’t taste like the stuff before.”
“I don’t know possibly some kind of spell. They didn’t hurt you did they?” he inquired. Zane and Pixal took a moment to inspect themselves before Zane noted, “I don’t… wait. My vision is going a little funny.” Pixal added, “what is that sound?” Jay noticed the color of the twos eyes slowly changed a bit developing an amber tinge in them. They then began to look around a little unresponsive to Jay when he tried to catch their attentions.
“What sound? What’s happening to you two?” Jay asked. When the two responded to him they sounded distracted while continuing to look around as if looking for something. Pixal stated, “is that sound birds, insects maybe whispering or chanting?” Zane responded to her with, “it both does and doesn’t sound human… has your vision gone funny too like it’s a bit blurry around the edges and where did this fog come from?” Jay looked around confused before demanding from the Nyctrea, “what did you do to them?”
“The tree is now communing with them,” Moloch declared as both Zane and Pixal began to wander off looking like they were following something. Jay quickly rushed after them trying to catch their attention and being very careful to not stumble into any of the strange paralysing shrooms; he didn’t want to fall over and get left behind. The Nyctrea eagerly followed unsettling Jay.
“Where are you two taking us?” Jay asked as Zane and Pixal led them along a random path through the root tunnels.
“The heart of the tree,” Pixal explained and Zane explained, “the strange transparent golden flightless bird is showing us the way.” Jay couldn’t see any flightless bird. It was just creepy crawlies like ants, millipedes, centipedes and spiders he was seeing which were creeping him out plus he didn’t like the sound of a transparent creature; that sounded like a ghost! Jay expressed, “I think you two are hallucinating or seeing a ghost. Either way that’s bad. Don’t listen to it.” He grabbed Zanes arm and tried to pull him to stop. Zane stopped a moment to look at him before gently pulling his arm free and continuing on following whatever he was seeing.
“You two need to snap out of it. These monsters have done something that is probably real bad to you,” Jay expressed before Moloch silenced him, “zip it flesh sack. To the tree they are no different than animals and it will not hurt them. It is showing them where we need to go.” Soon they found themselves in a large cavern around two stories tall and around a block in size. The walls were rounded but not even in shape leaving many crevices for things to hide in and roots crossed down between the ceiling or walls and the ground in a couple places. Various fungi some of which were quite large grew in some places vine like roots dripped from the ceiling in some places. The ground was covered in moss with some rocky patches scattered throughout. While the strange amber light structures were present in the room to offer light they were more prevalent near the center of the room leaving the exterior portions darker with heavy shadows. Jay really didn’t like that; plenty of places for something to hide there and who knew what could be hiding down there. He could have sworn he’d seen some things moving around the caverns walls when they first entered but whenever he looked he didn’t see anything. Were they just tricks of the mind? All fungi and roots were clustered near the caverns perimeters leaving the central region fairly open with one major structure being present there. At the center of the room was a structure stretching from the roof to the floor of the cavern the ceiling and floor stretching in a bit to this structure which appeared to be some kind of stone structure encased in wood from the tree. The stone structure resembled a large hexagonal gazebo. Growth from the tree had coated most of the structure blocking view of whatever lay within. Jay couldn’t see anything within it but he got a strange feeling from the structure as if there was something there. He was also getting the feeling of being watched which was making him very uneasy.
“There that is where what we seek lies,” Moloch declared as the Nyctrea strode over to the central structure. Once they entered the room Zane and Pixal looked to exit whatever trance they had been in their eyes returning to normal. Jay went over to see if they were okay ignoring the Nyctrea as they clawed off and ripped open the wood that coated the structure to get at whatever lay within. The two droids looked even more anxious and now highly confused.
“That was so weird. It felt like we were here yet somewhere else and the tree… I don’t understand what happened,” Zane began struggling to understand what just happened. He often struggled understanding and coping with magical things especially when they were used on him. Pixal was better at it but not by much so was less shaken but she was still very confused as she expressed, “this ghostly visage of a bird like one we had seen in that pocket realm claimed to be the tree taking a form we could comprehend to lead us to where we need to be. It said we were destined to meet it. Why? What did it mean? Was that really what it claimed to be or was that all just a hallucination? Some mis-workings of our senses caused by the Nyctrea perhaps?”
“I don’t know but you did lead us to something,” Jay expressed as they looked at the Nyctrea who had torn much of the wood off the structure revealing a small space within this gazebo like structure. Strangely the foliage had not grown on the inside of it leaving it fairly untouched inside. Inside this structure was a pedestal at its center where a mug sized chunk of something sat in a metal and clearstone case. The metal of the case formed the framing and was dark and bore the design of a serpentine like dragon making up its four corners the dragons stretching up to the flat roof of the case then the dragons heads stuck out of the corners as decorative spikes to it. The item the case held within sat on a little golden holder and consisted of what looked to be silver on the bottom with a flat blackish with red infused and iridescent polished stone material like some kind of agate. There was a bit of a curve to the bottom structure of the item and by the un-uniform and rough edges on the rest of the structure it was clear this piece had been broken off of something larger. This was only a piece of something bigger. Moloch went to open the display case greatly pleased and eager to have found what he was looking for but the moment he touched it his hand flung back as a shocking energy went through it. He looked at the case angry as Ky’zuu wondered, “what is it?”
“Those crafty snakes put a spell on this. We can’t touch it. Only a mortal can,” Moloch growled looking back at the three of them. That made them worried. Moloch stalked over to them then pushed them towards the center of the room. Once there he demanded, “one of you are to going to retrieve that for us.”
“And if we don’t?” Jay questioned. He had a bad feeling they shouldn’t let these monsters get a hold of that item. He could swear there was a dark energy coming from the item though that could also have been from these monsters. To answer him Moloch roughly grabbed Pixal by her upper arm twisting her around to face them while he held her in a way that put her arm in a position it shouldn’t normally be positioned in. He then held a claw to her chest over her heart tapping the area a few times. Pixal looked to be scared and in pain. Zane quickly went to defend her without thinking so Jay quickly held him back knowing attacking the Nyctrea was a bad idea. Jay wrapped his arms around Zane putting himself in Zanes way and held him back the best he could which wasn’t the easiest. Zane was stronger than him and heavier so could put more weight behind his actions as he tried to break free. Jay could tell Zane was very angry as he was quietly growling; something nindroids did when their angry emotions got too high.
“Calm Zane calm; attacking him isn’t going to help her. You don’t want to make things worse do you?” he whispered to Zane before Moloch stated, “if you want to save your female you will retrieve that item for us.” Jays words and his hold on Zane had calmed him down a bit but Jay could tell he was still very angry. Jay could feel him vibrating in anger as he was fighting to not act out in anger and he was still making the quiet growling noise to keep his emotional circuits from getting over stimulated. Zane was in no shape to think through the situation reasonably too focussed on wanting to rescue Pixal he was going to be of no use thinking them out of this situation leaving Jay as the one to do all the thinking. He did not like this situation; he was not the brains of the groups. His plans generally were not very good and could lead to more problems. He needed to think of something quick. To Jays surprise the other two Nyctrea spoke up against Moloch clearly not agreeing with his actions.
“What are you doing? Kamal made it clear we were not to harm these mortals especially the metal-skins. They are innocent in this. Only the Oni spawn could be harmed,” Wan Shi stated and Ky’zuu expressed, “you are going to get us in serious trouble if any harm comes to them.” Moloch clearly didn’t care as he responded, “he can go ahead and punish me all he wants. I was given a task and I am going to see it completed no matter the cost. Now mortals what are you going to do.” Jay didn’t want any harm coming to Pixal and he worried how Zane would feel if he was partially to blame if any harm did come to her. He was pretty sure Zane would understand but a small sliver of him worried he might not. Zane and Pixal were very protective of each other. They had a bond as strong as or even stronger than wolves or those species of birds that mated for life and could be just as aggressive as those animals when defending each other. Jay couldn’t blame them. The two were unique so had few others to potentially form such strong bonds with even among their own kind and as nindroids were not only different from other humanoid species but nindroids were not very common beings so it was much lonelier to be a nindroid so when they did find another to form a strong bond with it was a much bigger deal and worth more to defend than with other species. If something did happen to her Jay couldn’t guarantee it wouldn’t set Zane off and he may make things worse by attacking these monsters without thinking and they were no match for these monsters; in terms he knew best from video games they were average players and these were high level world bosses and they didn’t have the gear or enough players to defeat these bosses. Knowing it would be bad to attack the Nyctrea but seeing there was no way out of this Jay couldn’t think of an alternative; he had to give these monsters what they wanted. Maybe if they played along these monsters might be lenient and let them go. Sure giving these monsters this item they wanted was defiantly not a good idea but if they survived and were let free here then they could always try to reclaim this item later.
“Fine we’ll get you the item but first you have to let her go,” he demanded. Moloch refused to let her go expressing, “I cannot guarantee that you will do as I say when there is nothing to bargain with so until I have what I came for I will be holding her.” Jay knew it would be of no use to argue with this monster. He told Zane to keep control of himself and not do anything rash before he went over to this case. The closer he got to the item the more he became aware of a strong dark feeling coming from whatever this item held in the container was. It was a deep dreaded feeling that he wanted to flee from but he had to brave up. He couldn’t show weakness. Not here or now; not with his family in danger. He slowly reached out to touch then slowly open the case worried it might be booby trapped or was enchanted to hurt normal people as well; that would be really bad for their situation. Luckily he could touch and open it with no problem and it wasn’t booby trapped. Once he had the case open he thought he heard someone whispering. He couldn’t understand or clearly make out what was being said. He paused to quickly look around. Everyone wasn’t talking. The sound must just have been his nerves. He brushed it aside and cautiously reached into the case to grab the item. The moment he had it in his hand his vision momentarily blacked out as visions flashed rapidly in his mind; there was a battle ground in a large muddy field. It was night but everything seemed darker than a typical night. There was an army of beings made of various races some he didn’t recognise fighting an army of Oni and monsters. Around the edges of the battlefield on the Oni’s side was a large and widespread mass of their unsettling black fog which was slowly creeping around to encompass the battlefield. In this fog at the edges of the battle something very large, at least several blocks in length, was moving. It crept with a creepy fluidness like a giant centipede its true size and shape hard to make out in the fog before part of it rose up out of the black fog of the Oni to look down at the armies gathered some of the fog being drawn up with its movements to slowly drip off it like a liquid. It was hard to make out the full shape of this thing but what he could make out he really didn’t like seeing. It had multiple sets of eerie glowing sickly green eyes, a gross green glow from some kind of massive gaping wound in its chest and in its mouth which boasted a long highly flexible serpentine like tongue. Were there antennas and pinchers on the head as well? Looked like it. For some reason he felt he was standing among the forces on the field as this thing hit them all with some kind of fluid breath attack. His visions abruptly ended bringing his vision back to normal. He was shaken by fear and confusion. What had that been? Did he just see something from the past? Was that massive monster he had witnessed Necromira? If it was she was creepier in the flesh than the visions Columatzin had shown him before and he hadn’t seen much of it. He really didn’t want to see that thing in the flesh. If this thing was related to her then they needed to keep it from this monster but at the same time at that moment their hands were tied and they needed to co-operate in order to make it through this. Hopefully when Pixal was free they could steal this item back. Just as he was turning to head back to the others he heard a commotion. Quickly turning around he saw Moloch toss Pixal aside growling as he did, “foul she-droid.” In an attempt to get herself free not wanting Jay to go through with giving these monsters this item Pixal had bit Moloch on the arm he held threatening to stab at her heart. In retaliation to her actions Moloch tossed her aside. Infuriated by Molochs actions Zane launched an attack on the monster. He managed to get a couple punches in before Moloch blasted him away with a blast of greenish energy tossing him hard into the wall of the cavern. Seeing this Jay was quick to act in his friends defence.
“Hey leave them alone,” he demanded dropping the item on the floor and rushing over to the entrance to the structure. He wanted to help his friends but at the same time he didn’t want to leave easy access for those monsters to get this item.
“Enough with these mortals. Grab the artefact and let’s leave,” Moloch ordered his comrades. The two looked at each other a second before starting to head over towards him. He felt now was the time to test out this dagger Nya gave him. He slid it out of his sleeve and equipped it in his one hand. The action momentarily stopped the Nyctrea who tried to figure out what he had done. When they noted the dagger they seemed uncomfortable with it and hesitated till Moloch ordered them to continue. They got closer to him prepping to grab him so the moment they were in reach he swung the item. To his surprise not only did it leave a cut with little effort on them the ones hand getting cut and the others forearm cut but the act scared them and they backed up a bit.
“It worked!” he exclaimed as Moloch got angrier standing up straight as if his hunched posture was just an act. While his comrades backed up wary of the weapon he was holding Moloch strolled towards him. Motivated by the ease the weapon had hurt the other two Jay attacked Moloch however his enthusiasm was quickly dashed and he became nervous to note the weapon was not as effective on Moloch as the other two.
“Weapons of the dark have no effect on those of darkness yabbering fool,” Moloch declared before picking him up with ease and tossing him away to crash into Zane who was helping and inspecting Pixal who was sitting where Moloch had tossed her the arm Moloch had grabbed looking to have at least been dislocated possibly receiving more damage. The three landed in a heap Jay dropping the dagger in the process as Moloch went in and grabbed the item. Jay wasted no time not even to properly get up as he whipped around and attempted to hit the Nyctrea with a powerful shock of lightening. As if expecting his reaction Moloch put up a magic ward that not only blocked his attack but reflected his attack back at him. It wasn’t till after he was shocked by his own attack that he realised he’d made a foolish decision. He was still in physical contact with Zane and Pixal when he’d launched his attack and it was sent back at him. He had a strong resistance to electrical shocks Zane and Pixal had the opposite. After getting shocked the two came to lay on the ground unmoving. Worried Jay quickly rushed to inspect them. He was able to quickly determine as he sat them up resting them back to back so they could help hold each other up that they luckily hadn’t been knocked offline but they were seriously dazed and would need rebooting via an external computer to get better so were now unable to do anything to help out which was now serious bad news. Moloch got a hold of the item. He ordered the other two to take it to the clan while he dealt with Jay to keep him from interfering or stopping them. Moloch handed the item to Wan Shi who turned into a large owl to pick up and carry off the item into the tunnel followed by Ky’zuu who did the same. Moloch however remained and began striding towards them. Jay wanted to rush off after the other two however he couldn’t leave Zane and Pixal there alone with this monster plus he was highly likely to get lost in those tunnels. Looking around quickly he found the dagger he’d used and picked it up. While it had worked on the other two and not this one it was still a better option for facing this monster than going unarmed. Ideally his powers were the best option but with Zane and Pixal present that was too risky an option. He didn’t want to risk shocking them further causing further problems.
“The other two may be lenient to your actions but I’m not. The light may forgive but the darkness does not child of lightning. The clan should have been more careful with whom they let take part in this endeavour. I do not hold the same allegiances as the others. I once served a different group the cult of the Sunless Dawn till one like yourself got in the way. The cult bound me to this realm tying me to their workings to keep me in their service and provide them forbidden knowledge’s promising to set me free when they were done but your mother got in the way leaving me trapped in this accursed realm unable to leave the area of the mountain stronghold they summoned me to. How sweet it is as if by fate who should suddenly show up at my proverbial doorstep but the chick of the one who trapped me here. I may not be able to take revenge on the mother but I can take revenge by harming her precious only chick. You want to know what happened to your mother so long ago I’ll show you. I’ll send you to the same dark wastes she wound up in,” Moloch growled. His words froze Jay in shock. How did this monster know about his mother and what happened to her? He’d never said anything or even been thinking of it there. In his shock he wasn’t quick enough to react when Moloch swiped his clawed hand at him tossing him aside and leaving scratches across his face. Jay quickly got up to defend himself the shock replaced by adrenaline from the attack and he blocked another swipe from Moloch who came after him again. With Moloch in close proximity to him he felt safe to use his powers as there was little chance of it going wild and as long as he was quick in his attack Moloch would have no chance to retaliate to reflect the energy anywhere else. He hit Moloch square in the chest with a blast of electricity. The monster convulsed for a minute giving Jay enough time to put some space between him and it. As they fought Zane and Pixal seemed unaware of what was going on around them however they weren’t entirely absent. Pixal kept mumbling random facts while Zane had lost control of his powers causing ice to build up on him and the surrounding area while uttering what Jay could only guess was lines from a play or something like that.
“The Conure is a category of parrots who belong to 11 genus’s most containing several species of small to medium sized bird species closely related to and similar looking to macaws,” Pixal commented while Zane expressed, “A pestilence on him for a mad rogue! a' poured a flagon of rhenish on my head once. This same skull, sir, was Yorick's skull, the king's jester.” Luckily Moloch didn’t seem interested in the two droids likely feeling with their state that they were not threats and from his words it was clear he had some beef with Jay. Instead he continued at Jay attempting to slash him with its clawed hands, kick him with its hoofed feet and hit him with a magic spell. Jay put the best fight he could while trying to avoid hitting his friends with his powers, getting scratched by this monster and tripping over the roots that stuck up in various ways throughout the cavern. While he could have tried to lead this monster away into the tunnels to try and get it lost in there he knew that would be a foolish idea; he would end up getting lost as well. For this reason he stuck to the cavern though to avoid any more harm coming to Zane and Pixal he worked on dragging Moloch to the other side of the cavern. He was trying his hardest to deliver some damage to this monster knowing he wouldn’t stand a chance against it for long but with its resistances that was proving difficult.
“Why take your revenge on me? Was it really my mother’s fault you’re stuck here? Sounds more like the blame should be on that Sunless Dawn cult. They’re the ones that dragged you here in the first place,” he demanded as they fought. Moloch replied his tone sounding a bit sinister, “they would have set me free when they were done and they were on their way to completing their goal but then your mother and her friends intervened.”
“You know can we maybe make a deal? I know some people who could help find a way to break your binding. I know Wu the son of the First Spinjitsu Master surely he’d know something or someone who could help us,” Jay offered trying to de-escalate the conflict. Normally that was something he was good at but this monster wasn’t up for the offer proclaiming to him, “no; he is of the light as are you and I do not like making deals with dragons of the light. My master is not your master. Old allies of mine have returned to continue where they left off so soon my master will rise and drag the realms to their ultimate fate as he was destined to which will set me free. In the meantime I have been given a great opportunity here to remove threats to his endeavour.”
“Are you sure there isn’t anything we could offer as a bargain to let us go? I’m guessing you don’t care much for money; we don’t have much anyway. We could I don’t know maybe get you a game system and some cool games to pass the time while you’re trapped here…” Jay began getting cut off by Moloch who proclaimed, “games do not entertain ones such as myself. Us Nyctrea are drawn to knowledge. Like our semi aquatic Scribe kin we hoard knowledge and can wield it like a weapon. Knowledge is power. It can collapse empires, rise up dogs to gods or cast angels down into demons. Tell me frail mortal does the knowledge I know of your mother weaken your defences just as well as a serpents venom. It distracts you keeping your attacks weaker than what they could be and slowing your reaction times to my strikes.” Jay just managed to escape a swipe from Moloch falling backwards in the process as he lost balance after bumping into a small arched up root that lie on the ground behind him. He went to quickly get up but Moloch came to stand over him placing his one hoofed foot directly on his chest to pin him down before he could get up.
“What do you think your mother will think if you suffer the same fate as her?” Moloch boasted before getting distracted. At first he thought it was Zane and Pixal who had caught Molochs attention but he quickly felt it was something else.
“Bread used to be stamped with a branding to avoid fraudulent bread which often contained filler ingredients like sawdust and chalk to cheap out on proper ingredients like wheat,” Pixal stated after which Zane expressed, “Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio: a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy: he hath borne me on his back a thousand times; and now, how abhorred in my imagination it is! my gorge rises at it. Here hung those lips that I have kissed I know not how oft. Where be your gibes now? Your gambols? Your songs? Your flashes of merriment, that were wont to set the table on a roar? Not one now, to mock your own grinning? Quite chap-fallen.” While unaware of their surroundings it seemed the two still had some kind of awareness at least possibly to each other as if the one talked the other would follow shortly after as if they were trying to talk to each other. Jay quickly noted that wasn’t what had caught the monsters attention. He was looking around after what sounded like dirt falling and the creaking of wood could be heard in the cavern as if he sensed something else was there with them. Jay quickly looked around becoming aware again of that unsettling watched feeling he’d gotten when they first entered the cavern. Was Moloch sensing it as well and that had caught his attention? Was there something else there with them? He quickly brushed off the feeling however to attack Moloch in his brief moment of confusion hitting him with a heavy blast of electricity. This tossed the monster back and off his feet freeing him. Jay took that moment while Moloch recovered to rush off and hide to take a moments breather from the fighting. He found a small alcove in some roots in the wall to shelter in hidden from view of Moloch who angrily got up and began looking around for him. To trap him in there Moloch used a spell on the cavern that blocked all tunnels leading out of the cavern to have large thorny vines erupt from the ground and block the passage.
“I know you’re too cowardly to try and flee through the tunnels but just in case you get some of your rare bursts of courage I’m taking away any temptation,” Moloch declared while looking around for him. There was a couple small gaps in the roots he was hiding in that let him see out into the cavern while not being visible to those in the cavern.
“Why don’t you come on out little zappy boy; you can’t run and I will find you,” Moloch stated starting to search the cavern for him. As he searched Moloch stated, “I know you little human. Your nervous disposition, how you like to steal your friend Coles desserts, how you like to weave flowers and grass together to make mini wreaths to cheer up your mate when she’s having a bad day, how you text your parents at least twice a week if you can to let them know how things are going and that you are fine, how you purposely at times let others not just your mate but her brother, the metal beasts, the dirt one and even the Oni hybrid get the better of you during training, competitions or games just to make them happy; you’d rather see your loved ones happy than be a winner. How you hope to one day have a family with four to five children and you hope to have a daughter who’s just as brave, strong and smart as your mate, how you long wondered why your mother abandoned you wondering if she truly loved you or not…” Jay couldn’t believe what he was hearing! Secrets some of which no one else knew of. How did this monster know this about him! He didn’t tell this stuff to anyone outside his immediate friends and family and they would never let others know about this stuff. Moloch then boasted, “I’m betting you want to know how I know all that don’t you?” Moloch then got distracted by Zane and Pixal.
“Ketchup was once used as a medicine,” Pixal stated followed by Zane stating, “returneth into dust; the dust is earth; of earth we make loam; and why of that loam, whereto he was converted, might they not stop a tea-barrel? Imperious Caesar, dead and turn'd to clay, Might stop a hole to keep the wind away.” Moloch brushed off the two droids continuing to move around the cavern looking for him. Moloch was getting close to where he was hiding. Jay knew he had to face the monster if they were to get out of there but he was scared. It was just him against this thing and he didn’t have the equipment or allies to deal with it. He didn’t want to face it and end up banished to this void place. There was no option though to get out of there without facing this monster and soon it would find him. His hiding spot wasn’t the greatest nor well hidden so soon this monster would find him. Jay prepped himself to face this monster looking away from the gap he was looking through turning to look at the entrance to the nook he was hiding in waiting for this monster to appear in front of him. He could hear it approaching its heavy hoofed feet making a thudding on the moss and lichen coated dirt floor.
“A chicken once lived for 18 months without a head,” he heard Pixal state followed by Zane commenting, “Fall ten times treble on that cursed head, Whose wicked deed thy most ingenious sense Deprived thee of! Hold off the earth awhile, Till I have caught her once more in mine arms.” The two speaking momentarily stopped the Nyctrea. He then started moving again getting awfully close now making Jay grip the dagger harder in preparation for a fight. Just as he was prepping to face these monsters he heard a commotion from the Nyctrea and he got scared to move. It sounded like the monster was fighting something. The sound scared him making Jay scared and he refused to look not wanting to see what was going on. This went on for a moment then… silence. Jay waited a moment more before peaking out into the cavern to see why it was so silent. He was wondering if maybe somehow Zane and Pixal had been able to snap out of their dazed state to come to his aid but to his surprise there was nothing there. Just Zane and Pixal still sitting where he had left them the two looking around still dazed and seeming confused. There was no sign of Moloch. He was worried and confused. Where had that monster gone? He scanned the cavern. Despite seeing nothing something seemed off but he couldn’t identify why it felt that way. He slowly and cautiously made his way out of hiding and headed over to the two droids keeping alert for danger.
“Where’d that owl monster go? Did you two see what happened?” he asked the two droids who didn’t respond and just kept looking around. He expressed, “maybe he’s hiding trying to lull us into a false sense of security so he can attack when we least expect it. We should try to get out of here before that monster shows himself. Can you two at least stand and walk with some support?” Jay went to try and get the two droids to their feet to see if he could get them moving. He attempted to pull Zane to his feet but was surprised at how stiff he was making Jay unable to move him. This wasn’t usual. A Nindroids joints usually didn’t stiffen up when dazed and he’d been very loose earlier when Jay had sat him up. The only way Zane could be this rigid was because he was doing it on purpose having stiffened up as a reaction to something scaring him or in preparation to react to a threat. He tried moving Pixal and she too was rigid. Given their stiffened states and how they were looking around in the cavern Jay could only assume the two were sensing something that was either scaring them or they felt in danger from. Unfortunately for him the two were not in a state that they could communicate to him what they were sensing. Jay tried to see if he could determine from their body language where they were sensing this danger but probably due to their dazed state the two were slowly randomly looking at random places in the cavern like they couldn’t identify where the threat they sensed was coming from. Looking around Jay couldn’t see anything. The two’s actions were making him anxious.
“Maybe your dazed states is messing with your heads making you think a threat is present when there isn’t,” Jay told himself. He decided to try and see if he could help the two regain their senses with a manual reboot. He decided to work on Pixal first moving her a bit to access the back of her head where a small hatch over a small button for minor reboots was located. It was something all Nindroids had in case something like a mild shock occurred and disrupted the normal functioning of their brains. It wasn’t efficient for such a serious disruption as the two had gone through, they likely would need recalibration and probably need resetting to circuits to get properly functioning, but maybe this minor reboot could help reset them to a more calm numbed and easily manipulated state so he could get them out of there. As he positioned Pixal to work on her he paused thinking he heard something. He stopped and looked around the cavern nervous. Was that Moloch? He didn’t see that monster. He didn’t see anything except… had some roots moved? No that wasn’t possible; he was probably just miss remembering in his fear how the cavern looked. He continued on his work. Once he had Pixal done he did the same to Zane. After his work he sat the two back against each other and waited a moment before checking them to see if there was any changes. After first pressing the button the two stopped looking around and blankly stared at the floor in front of them as their brains rebooted. They stayed that way so Jay tested them out talking to them and touching them moving their arms a bit to see if anything had happened. They were still dazed and didn’t properly react to his touches sometimes even looking in the opposite direction to him as if they couldn’t properly identify which direction their sense of feeling was being activated in but they had relaxed and they were no longer stiff so he could now move their bodies.
“Okay now let’s see if I can get you to stand up. If anything you two can lean on me for support… oh first I’m going to need to cut a passage open,” he stated remembering that Moloch had used a spell that had created thorny vines to block off the passages. It was probably best he removed those before continuing though which tunnel did they need to use to get out. Multiple emptied into the cavern. Looking up he was surprised and nervous to find that the thorny vines Moloch had created to block the tunnels were now gone. Was that a trap? Was Moloch waiting in one of the tunnels to ambush them when they left? Now he was nervous about what to do. Did he wait in the cavern for Moloch to get bored and come after him or try to make it out and risk ambush? That monster though wasn’t mortal. It didn’t need food or water or to sleep; it could have more patience than he had time to wait. What about the others? Now that those monsters had gotten what they wanted what would happen to them? If they weren’t destroyed or enslaved could they come to their aid but if they could how long would it take them to find the three? As he stood there thinking and worrying he felt something touch him in his lower back. Felt like the paw of an animal like a dog tapping him as it reared up to sniff at him or get his attention. What was a dog doing down there he thought as he turned to look at what was touching him. To his shock it wasn’t a dog that was touching him! In fact he didn’t know what it was. It looked like a small mammal but made of wood and fungi with the actual teeth many of them sharp looking of an actual animal in its wood coated jaws and patches of grizzled dark fur sticking out from the wood cracks and fungal skin of its body. Parts of its body like the insect looking eyes, the inside of its mouth and the strands and fruit heads of fungal growths that hung off the body had an unsettling greenish glow. Moss seemed to be growing on its back and some patches of the woody parts. It resembled some large mutated and gaunt opossum. Part of its spine was showing over its back and the ribs were visible both coated in wood and surrounded by the fungal growths. Along with these were wooden projects on the neck which stuck out across its side and back. In shock Jay instantly punched at the creature which was reared up on its hind legs calmly looking at him. To his disgust his hand just went straight through the fungal outer coating and into the things guts! They were surprisingly warm, wet and slimy. He pulled his hand out in disgust strands of a foul smelling and dark slime coming out with it the strands still connecting to the creature till it to his surprise healed up the punch wound fungal matter growing rapidly growing over the hole he’d made. As it healed some insects mainly ants and beetles crawled out of the hole crawling around it as defending the area as it healed before making their way back into the creature once it was healed and got down onto all fours. Some of the insects burrowed into its skin while others crawled under its eyes, into its ears and into its mouth where the creature made some weak snapping motions before looking to swallow. The creature then looked at him with teeth bared making a strange growling sound. It didn’t sound natural and carried a vibration of wood to the sound.
“If Kai was here he would be throwing up by now!” Jay expressed fighting to not throw up himself unable to fully comprehend what he was seeing. What was this thing?! He looked at the slime on his hand. He didn’t know what it was and was afraid to know. It kind of resembled the slimy rotting mess of decaying something like fruit or meat that had fallen under the fridge or been dumped in a compost bag and forgotten there for months as it rotted to something that no longer resembled what it had once been. It smelled like it too. There were some insects crawling on the stuff trying to bite him through it so he quickly flicked the stuff off.
“That is now the worse thing I have ever put my hand in! Beats food rotting behind the stove for months and the digestive contents of a Nindroid by miles!” he exclaimed as he cleaned his hand. As he stood much more disgusted than scared now Zane began to repeat ‘man-bear-pig’ around five times while looking around in a panic and Pixal similarly expressed ‘monstrum periculosum’ several times; he could only guess she was speaking some other language but he had no clue what it could be. Jay looked at them to see what was making them react and he could see the two were scared however they were looking in different directions where there was nothing for them to be scared of. Jay didn’t doubt they sensed something just in their dazed states they couldn’t properly determine the direction it was coming from. Jay looked around to see what had spooked them. It took him a moment before he saw it. This plant possum thing wasn’t the only other thing in the cavern! Terrified he backed up into Zane and Pixal nearly tripping over them as he saw parts of the caverns wall move! This was why he’d been getting that watched feeling; he had been watched! Cause he was! They so perfectly blended into the environment he’d never noticed them before when looking around but now as they moved he could see them! Monsters of plant mainly wood and fungi were starting to move in the cavern creeping out from where they had blended into the walls or floor. There was more of the strange possum creature, a large vaguely humanoid of woody vines encompassing rocks and amber with no head like structure and large spike like forearms, a large headless vaguely humanoid mass of fungi, an unsettling creature with a humanoid top half and four tentacle like limbs made entirely of wood with some fungi growing on them and a highly feminine looking humanoid being made of wood and plant fibres with hair made of grass and leaves sticking off it. The monsters slowly started creeping in towards them.
“What are these?!” He exclaimed looking over these monsters as they crept close to him. Zane responded with ‘man-bear-pig’ while Pixal answered ‘monstrum arboris’. He should have guessed he wasn’t going to get a proper answer from the two. He also knew the two were going to be of no help to him leaving him as the only one that could defend them. He quickly shocked the first creature he had encountered back before attacking the monsters with his Spinjitsu tornado to knock them all back. As he exited his tornado he was set upon by some of the possum creatures which clambered over him trying to bite him. As he held the jaws of one open in order to keep it from biting his face he noticed scraps of red cloth and whitish feathers in its mouth. There was only one thing he could think of when seeing that. Did these things destroy Moloch? If they had destroyed that monster then he stood no chance against them! He managed to knock off the one of three of these monsters that had crawled upon him before he was sent in a panic as a swarm of wasps suddenly came over him. These wasps weren’t like normal wasps. They were greenish and glowing a bit almost like they were made from some kind of energy… were they ghost wasps and if so where had they come from? He began to frantically swat at them while trying to dislodge the possum creatures one of which was clinging to his back while biting the back of his neck and the other was gripped onto one of his legs making it hard to move. Just as he managed to tear the creature off his back tossing it into the wall he was knocked down from something swiping at his back. He fell face down into the ground but quickly rolled round in time to grasp the jaws of the last possum creature as it jumped at his face in an attempt to bite him. As he struggled with this creature the feminoid tree creature came to stand over him giving off a creepy un-human giggling noise before it shot from its hands a swarm of those strange green wasps. That thing was where the wasps had come from. It just laughed at him as the wasps swarmed over him and he was unable to shoo them away as the possum creature had his hands occupied. The wasps stung and bit him but despite the pain he felt from the stings he didn’t feel weakened. Instead he felt a surge of strength and energy which helped him toss away the creature and quickly get to his feet to get into hand to hand combat with the tree feminoid. Her hands ended in three large claw like digits which hurt quite bad and he was pretty sure left splinters when she got him a few times but fuelled by adrenaline he was able to quickly overpower her and send her flying into the one wall of the cavern with a well placed kick. Free from the monsters he then looked at Zane and Pixal to see how they were doing. The two were scared looking around as if blind as the monsters slowly closed in on them getting awfully close to the two who in their state couldn’t defend themselves.
“You leave them alone!” he expressed entering his tornado to rush at the monsters and quickly clear them away. He exited his tornado by the two droids and looked them over. The monsters hadn’t hurt them. He looked around noting, “I can’t keep this up forever… we need to get out of here. Too bad Kai wasn’t here. I bet these things burn very easily being made of wood and all.” The monsters were all already back up and stalking back towards them encircling them and trapping them there. As the plant constructs closed in Jay was suddenly startled by a sudden voice. Hearing it sent shivers down his spine. It was feminine, soft, calm and comforting not something he expected to hear there. Even creepier it knew his name and he somehow felt it was familiar even though he never recalled hearing it before!
“Jay don’t fight them. Let them do what they have to,” the voice stated. He quickly looked around trying to figure out where it had come from calling out asking who was there. There was no reply and he saw nothing except… Pixals eyes were off. Instead of their normal green they were a golden color. The two droids also seemed oddly calm now not reacting to anything. He was then further shocked when Pixal spoke but it wasn’t her voice that came out.
“These beings aren’t your enemies. Just let them approach they mean no harm,” she spoke with someone else’s voice as she just stared still dazed at the ground in front of her. Nindroids had an amazing ability to mimic the voices of others but Jay had a strong feeling this wasn’t Pixal speaking. Something else was speaking through her but what?
“Who are you? Why are you possessing my friend?” he questioned grabbing Pixal and shaking her a bit hoping to get an answer from whatever this thing was but her eyes returned to their normal green telling him whatever had possessed her was now gone. He stopped shaking her and looked around as the monsters got in closer. What did that voice mean to let these things get close? He didn’t want them to get close. They were creepy and mean and had attacked him! They were going to attack them. How would letting them get close be any good. He was starting to become overcome by fear and confusion then he felt a warmth and a comfort come over him. He felt as if someone had put a warm weighted blanket on him which he could see wasn’t the case but he couldn’t explain what was giving him the feeling. Someone grabbing his hand startled him but he relaxed when he saw it was just Pixal. She’d grabbed his hand and was gently pulling it down like she was trying to get him to sit with them. He didn’t want to but he had a nagging feeling he had to do it. He slowly sat down with the droids still shaking in fear. As the monsters closed in he expressed closing his eyes in fear, “please don’t hurt us!”
“They’ve been gone over an hour… you don’t think something’s gone wrong?” Nya wondered as she, Kai and Cole sat with the serpentine where the clans forces had gathered them. To prevent problems they were keeping the peace by remaining passive and doing what the clans forces wanted. They were outnumbered with no real weapons that could easily affect the clan members. The three along with the king and Verishay had been sat by the front of the patio by the pavilion faced back towards all the serpentine that had been gathered there. All the serpentine were scared with some of the kids having come to huddle close to them particularly Cole feeling safe by their presence. Cole had a few of the serpentine kids cuddled into him and even had one in his lap who had fallen asleep there as he held her to calm her down. The Grahtwyrms were all terrified most feeling sure this was the end for them as they wearily watched the clan members and Nyctrea who were largely standing guard over those they had gathered. Some had split off to find and choral any of the serpentine who had managed to escape and hide with the rest of the group. Some others were searching the village for something, probably this item they sought in case Zane and Pixal were wrong. There was also a few of these Nyctrea going through the serpentine and doing something they couldn’t understand but could only assume was something magic related with some strange golden crystal to random individuals amongst the group. Whatever it was they were doing wasn’t hurting anyone or at least it didn’t look to be but it was scaring them. The Nyctrea seemed to be going after certain individuals. Elderly, monks, tradesmen and craftsman, farmers and scholars seemed to be their targets that they did this to. Whatever they were doing they hoped these beings weren’t going to come after them.
“I wouldn’t doubt it with these things. I also wouldn’t doubt if they get what they want they’ll leave the three of them abandoned in those tunnels and we’ll have to go rescue them,” Kai expressed taking a momentary glimpse at the dagger he had hidden in his sleeve.
“I know what you’re thinking and don’t. We’re no match for these monsters and there are too many civilians here that will get hurt,” Cole expressed noting Kais actions and Kai wondered, “what do you think they’re going to do to all of us when they get what they want?”
“I don’t know and rate now I don’t want to think about it,” Cole remarked to which Nya expressed, “we have to think about it though cause sooner or later we’re going to be facing it.” She could see by his expression that Cole knew she was right but he wasn’t wanting to say anything about it. They sat quietly for a few moments before Nya felt something tap her on the leg. She looked over assuming one of the serpentine toddlers had crawled over looking for comfort but was surprised to find one of the Wu Roos sitting there pawing at her. That was odd. She hadn’t heard or seen it approach and all the creatures of the valley were nowhere to be seen with the clan present. It was just the captured domestic fauna of the clan and the clan Corvids that were hanging around. Everything else looked to have been scared off. As it sat there she noticed it sat on something and there was what looked like a scroll sticking out of its pouch. The creature was oddly calm with her as she reached down and grabbed the scroll out of its pouch. Before she could read it though she quickly hid the scroll under her one arm as one of the Drekavacs walked by as it patrolled the area. The Roo quickly lie down covering what it was sitting on with its body from the Drekavacs view.
“What are you looking at?” she questioned the Drekavac as it stopped by her looking down at the roo. It didn’t say anything just looking at the roo for a moment before continuing on its patrol. Once it was gone she pulled out the scroll to give it a read making sure to not make it evident she had anything. The scroll was from Columatzin explaining how he was sending them the weapons from some trained Tree-roos they had in the palace hoping they would get them and telling them to keep the items hidden till they received a sign to start an attack. He was going to get them some aid from the mountains. She didn’t know what that meant but decided to get a look at this weapon Columatzin had sent. She lifted the roo up a bit to look under it. It was lying on a spear made of this Damned Stone. The creature was using most of its body length including its long bushy tail to cover the spear. She let the creature lay back on the spear. She looked around wondering what this sign Columatzin wrote of was. He just wrote they’d know it when they saw it. She couldn’t see anything but could see Kai and Cole getting gifted a weapon by a roo as well. The roos dragged the items by one or both of their forepaws under them using their bodies to keep the weapon from being easily visible to the clan members. Cole received a mace his roo bringing him a letter in its mouth. He woke up the young serpentine on his lap so he could set her next to him so he could read the note before hiding the weapon with the kids help between them so it wasn’t easily visible. Kais roo had brought a sword to him nipping him in the process to get his attention. It had its note tied around its neck. To Kais annoyance it kept trying to chew his attire as he read the note. Kai slid the sword under himself sitting on it to hide him. Nya couldn’t help but feel amused and embarrassed at her brothers actions. That was not the best way to hide the weapon then again her brother was not the sharpest tool in the shed. After hiding the weapon he kept having to stop the roo from trying to eat his clothes his annoyance getting to the point where he made a muzzle with his hands over the creatures mouth holding it closed to get it to stop. It worked for about a minute till the creature managed to get its head free of his hands. That seemed to deter its behaviour but only to his clothes as it then switched to trying to eat Kais hair. The kids sitting with them noted the creatures actions and got amused by it as Kai struggled to stop the creature. The only thing that seemed to work was shoving the note into the roos mouth. It took that and began to eat it finally leaving Kai alone. Nya and the others kept an eye out for this sign for putting on a defence. They waited several minutes not seeing much. They did note a few more of these Wu Roos waiting in some nearby trees looking over them. There was three each with a note tied around part of their bodies and holding a weapon which they felt were intended for Jay, Zane and Pixal however the creatures couldn’t find them so were keeping out of the way in some trees at the edge of the clearing. As they waited they were unsettled as one of the Nyctrea with those strange crystals approached them.
“What are you thinking of doing?” Kai demanded from the monster as it looked over them.
“Since you spoke up I will do you first,” the Nyctrea expressed making its way over to Kai declaring as it did, “you three and your other comrades with your experiences and ties will hold a wealth of information.” The Nyctrea forcibly grabbed Kais head from under his jaw and held it in place so he couldn’t look away as it shoved the crystal in his face making him look into it.
“What are you doing?” Nya demanded as Kai looked to enter some kind of trance staring into the crystal. The Nyctrea stated, “don’t worry female your turn will be soon.” Nya went to grab the weapon hidden under the tree-roo which was lying next to her on it but quickly stopped herself. Even though she wanted to defend her brother she couldn’t risk revealing they had the weapons too early. She could just watch as this monster did its thing. It’s work was quick then it moved over to Nya leaving Kai dazed.
“What did it do to you?” Cole asked Kai as the monster grabbed Nya as it had done to Kai. Its touch was incredibly cold as it forced her to stare into the crystal.
“I feel… numb… and kind of… I can’t really explain it but I think I know how a Nindroid feels when you’re digging through its brain,” Kai expressed as the Nyctrea did to Nya what it had done to him. She wanted to fight its hold but for some reason she couldn’t fight it. It was like this monster had control of her. As she stared into the crystal she felt a sensation in her head unlike anything she’d ever felt before. She felt her mind go numb and blank yet it also felt as if something was tearing at it from the inside as all she could do was stare into the blinding golden glow of the crystal. It felt longer than it actually was as she stared into that crystal before the Nyctrea let her go and moved onto Cole. She was at first blinded by the light from the crystal but it slowly came back. She felt numbed; her mind felt scrabbled and lost. The Nyctrea moved onto Cole the kids that had been sitting with him clinging close to him terrified of this monster closing their eyes and looking away so they didn’t have to see the monster. It didn’t take long for the monster to finish its work with Cole before it moved on to Verishay who was terrified.
“What did they just do to us?” Kai wondered and Cole commented, “don’t know but I feel oddly violated.” Nya noted, “I don’t really feel different but your right brother it is hard to explain. It’s like they were reading our brains.”
“Why would they do that?” Cole wondered and Nya responded as the monster finished with Verishay, “don’t know.” The monster then moved on to the king. As it started to do whatever it was doing to the king it was forced to stop as a rock was tossed from some bushes by the pavilion nearby. The monster maintained the grip on its crystal and started to look in the direction the rock came from. Before it could properly look in that direction something launched out of the shrubs to land on the Nyctrea and begin hammering on it with its fists. It was one of the Troll Yetis they’d encountered in the mountains. Unlike those however this one was wearing some kind of armour on its shoulders, head and torso which matched the looks of the designs used by the Grahtwyrms and it was equipped with gauntlets made of Damned Stone. As it launched its attack other Troll Yetis wearing the same armour and equipped with the largely the same gauntlets, some looked to have light based materials, launched out of hiding nearby to attack the clan and the Nyctrea.
Troll Yeti: 
“Do you think that is our signal?” Kai asked and Cole declared, “I bet so.” He got up and used his powers to create a horseshoe of rock behind him where most of the kids came to shelter feeling safe by him. Cole put himself on the defensive to attack any of the monsters that came close which was many. As the ninja got up into the fight revealing the hidden weapons they had the monsters focussed on them trying to subdue the three and restrain their attacks clearly more threatened by them than the serpentine some of which joined in the fight with whatever they could find. Cole was surprised with the ease the weapon had at hurting these monsters compared to what they were used to. While the serpentine didn’t have the equipment to deliver serious harm to the monsters they could at least distract the monsters with their attacks to keep more vulnerable members safe till one of the around 20 Yetis that had rushed into the area could come to their aid to attack these monsters and destroy some of them. The monsters were still quite powerful and able to hold their ground against their uprising and subdue many of those fighting them even some of the Yetis however now they were able to take down some of the monsters. As they fought Columatzin joined in with the ninja proclaiming to them as he did, “sorry I took so long; I decided to enlist some help.”
“You brought Yetis,” Cole commented and Columatzin explained, “us Grahtwyrms and the Troll Yetis have always had a good relation. In the past during times of turmoil we would fight together against threats to our mountains even making arms and armours for them to aid in our combat.”
“Well that explains their armour,” Kai commented before commenting while fighting some Vrimps who swarmed him in an attempt to restrain him, “we could have used you earlier.”
“Three of you are missing,” Columatzin noted to which Kai expressed, “yha one of those owl demons took them to under the tree.” Confused Columatzin asked, “under the tree; why?”
“To look for this thing they called the Rota Interranium,” Nya explained and for a moment Columatzin looked confused before stating, “what is that? I don’t recall anything in our village like that.”
“Well they think there is something down there,” Cole stated. The fighting was suddenly stopped by a loud screeching as two large owls came to land on the main pavilion of the terrace the owls transforming into Nyctrea as they landed. Everyone looked up at them the monsters being silhouetted by the moon making them look even more scarier to the serpentine.
“What is going on?” the one demanded. Looking up at them Kai, Nya and Cole noted the one was holding something in its hands. A small dark metal and reddish tinted crystal object that they were too far away from to make out much about it.
“The dragons tried to make a break for it,” one of the clan members stated to which the one Nyctrea expressed, “well we got what we came for…”
“Where’s Jay?” Nya cut the Nyctrea off to demand. Some of them including Cole and Kai started to notice the area starting to feel much colder, freezing almost, frosts even starting to build on stone surfaces and there was something in the air causing a feeling of anxiousness. Was the clan doing this and if so what did it mean for all of them? Cole and Kai had a feeling it wasn’t for anything good. The monster responded to Nya declaring, “those three are not our problem now. It is up to the tree what happens to them as for you three…” before the Nyctrea could finish a large light colored form launched seemingly out of nowhere behind it to wrestle it down to the ground. Another of these forms followed to attack the other Nyctrea who struggled to keep hold of the item it had as the beasts pulled both Nyctrea off the pavilion onto the ground below. The three ninja were disturbed by the forms that had attacked the Nyctrea. They knew what these icy beasts were; they were Mansi’s monstrous wolves.
“Did I not tell you to leave the village alone?” a deep, masculine and somehow sounding not entirely of their world voice spoke catching their attention. Drawn to the direction of the voice they looked up to see Mansi perched bow in hand pointed down but ready to attack on the pavilion the Nyctrea had been on glaring down at the monsters.
Mansi: 
“You were taking too long to find what we wanted,” the one Nyctrea declared to which Mansi declared the mouth of his mask not moving as he spoke, “I told you I will get it to you in time but you couldn’t wait could you. You are impatient and brash; you are no hunters. The impatient wolf does not catch the deer. The hunter is patient and cunning; the prey has no patience, is bold and brash letting the hunter know its plans and where it is. It is a foolish action. You are the prey. You were not permitted within the walls of this valley. I gave you permission only to hunt down the one with Oni blood none of which are these. I was tasked to guard over these lands and I will not go against my vows like you do. You have broken the bonds of our deal and attacked my charges so now you must pay the price for your transgressions.” With his words more of his monstrous beasts including some wolves, the bear and a few cougars launched out from the ground at the edges of the terrace to charge into the crowd to attack the Nyctrea and Clan members who were at first confused before fighting back. The serpentine and Yeti were sent into a panic fleeing for cover by any structure or foliage they could find terrified of these icy beasts. Luckily for them the beasts had no interest in the serpentine leaving them alone to fight the monsters and to the ninjas dislike them as well. Mansi started to snipe clan members and Nyctrea from the top of the pavilion his arrows of magic ice taking out the members with one shot before hopping down to get into more physical fights bashing members with his bow and blasting them with his ice attacks while directing his beasts in their attacks. In the process of the fight the two Nyctrea who had gone to retrieve the item ended up getting destroyed by Mansi causing the item they had to be dropped and knocked around in the crowd.
“We need to get that item!” Cole declared. The three rushed to get the item while having to battle clan members who were trying to stop them from getting it. Before they could reach it the piece was kicked around by a Nyctrea battling Mansi’s bear. Following the item it was then kicked away by a squabble between three of Mansi’s wolves and a group of Drekavacs and Feardrakes. They lost track of the item for a moment before noting it by some clan members fighting one of Mansi’s cougars. As they went after it the other of Mansi’s cougars attacked them batting them back with a paw swipe.
“We’re not on their side!” Kai exclaimed as the cougar prepped to bite his throat. The cougar stopped and looked at him and the others for a second before it left them alone. The three didn’t waste time to think over that reaction and just rushed to the item. It was kicked away again before they could reach it but this time they were able to reach it Kai taking a dive to get a hold of it before it was kicked by a Nyctrea fighting Mansi himself. Just as Kai started to get up the other two reaching him Mansi shot and destroyed the Nyctrea and wasted no time aiming an arrow straight at Kai making him freeze in fear hugging the item tight. Kai stared at the ice arrow Mansi had pointed straight in his face while Mansi looked down at him for a moment. Kai was terrified he’d get attacked but he managed to hold off showing his emotions to appear brave.
“I have no qualms with you,” Mansi declared before turning away from the three to continue his attacks.
“That was close,” Nya noted as her brother stood up shaken from his encounter and Cole expressed, “we should find somewhere to hide before these monsters can get this.”
“What is this?” Kai wondered looking at the item and Nya stated, “don’t know but it looks to be just a piece of something.” The item consisted of a silver frame like piece on one edge merged into a flat blackish with red infused and iridescent polished stone like material.
“We’ll have to figure out what it is later. Now we need to make sure those monsters can’t get it,” Cole expressed and Nya wondered, “where should we take it?” They were headed towards the palace when Cole explained, “that tree. We can hide it in the tree till…” The three were suddenly hit from behind by a force of energy that sent them flying forward Kai dropping the piece in the process from the force of the hit. They were stunned for a moment as they recovered quickly looking back to see what had hit them. One of the Drekavac sorcerers had hit them with an energy blast in order to keep them from escaping with the item. As they recovered another Drekavac, one of the warriors, picked up the item before magically summoning one of their Lepidimares. It then wasted no time in riding out of there taking the item with it.
“Wait no come back!” Kai proclaimed rushing to his feet. By the time they got to their feet they were unable to follow and most of the clan and Nyctrea began to flee following the rider. Soon the monsters were all gone Mansi’s beasts switching from attacking the monsters to rushing around the village using their icy forms to run over any remaining fires in the village putting them out before disappearing in a frosty mist. Soon everything was still in the village the serpentine and Troll Yeti slowly coming out of their hiding.
“Great they got whatever that thing was,” Kai expressed and Nya added equally disappointed, “and I have a feeling that wasn’t something we should have let them get.” The three just looked at where the rider had fled feeling defeated.
“Those monsters were not supposed to come here,” Mansi’s voice declared scaring them. They looked to the source of the voice startled to see Mansi perched on the edge of pavilion of the terrace. They cautiously approached to speak with him.
“What do you want? We‘re not afraid to challenge you,” Kai boasted putting on a brave face. Mansi growled to them, “I can smell your fear mortals besides as I said before I have no quarrels with you. You dragon-kin of the First Spinjitsu Master were supposed to be the ones to fetch the heart of the tree. What happened to it after that whether you of the clan of the ninja got to keep it or that of the Stag Prince claimed it from you was to be decided later outside my territory.”
“We heard you. You were working with those monsters, why would you then help us?” Cole wondered and Mansi replied, “we co-operated for we had an agreement however they broke that agreement. I was to retrieve for them the piece of the Rota Interranium and they would leave my charges alone. Only a mortal could retrieve it from its casing so I nor them could get it. You’d think the monsters of knowledge the Nyctrea would have known that and be patient. I feel your presence here and especially the presence of the one with Oni blood in the area made them feel rushed causing their hurried behaviour and attack. I do not have an allegiance to either of you; I am a neutral party in all this. Whether the realms stay or fall back into the void it does not matter to me. I owe allegiances to the void and the void alone.” Nya questioned, “you attacked us before; why are you sparing us now?”
“It wasn’t you I was after. You three and your other three clan mates are neutral parties in my eyes. No more than sparrows to a wolf. It was the half blood I was after. I needed to separate the one of Oni blood from the rest of you. He was not to set foot in this valley especially near that item. It is wise one such as he who cannot tame his inner demons does not touch that item,” Mansi explained.
“Why, what was that thing?” Kai asked and Nya noted, “it looked like only a piece of something. Is there more of that thing somewhere?” Mansi expressed, “yes it is part of something greater; far greater. It is a key; a key to awakening a demon. Long ago it was sundered into multiple pieces and scattered through the realms to keep them from being found and therefore keeping her laying dormant. Seventeen pieces it was sundered to; sixteen for the realms one for the void. The clan already had three now they have four.”
“I’m betting we don’t want them to get a hold of all these pieces,” Cole expressed to which Mansi declared, “that depends on what your thoughts are on the awakening and releasing of Necromira a true demon and a herald of the end times.”
“Yha we really don’t want that. So we’re going to need to stop them from getting those things… guess we’re going to need a lot of Travellers Tea,” Kai expressed to which Mansi declared, “it would not be wise for you to go searching for these pieces. Through time by the will of the void knowledge of these items has purposely been kept hidden and lost by their guardians in order to keep the pieces from being found. It would take you mortals too long to find these items. By the time you uncover them the clan of the Stag Prince will have already found them and completed their task. Your ideal bet would to be let the clan be the lions hunting down the pieces then like hyenas you sneak in and steal the spoils.”
“That’s true. We didn’t even know this thing was here. We wouldn’t know where to look for them in foreign realms and we’d have no allies to turn to for aid,” Cole admitted. Mansi declared, “indeed; now with my work complete and the dragons informed I will take my leave. My loyalties are to my cause not yours.” Mansi then dissipated into an icy mist vanishing.
“See ninja he’s not evil; more of a chaotic neutral party,” Columatzin expressed as he approached them once Mansi was gone.
“Well I guess if it wasn’t for him we’d probably be in a serious mess rate now,” Cole noted before Nya expressed, “we’re still in a mess. Jay and the others are still stuck down in those root tunnels of that tree.”
“You’re right we can’t take a moment to rest now we need to go find our friends,” Cole expressed before being startled by something tapping his shoulder and giving him a mild shock. He jumped looking back scared of what was attacking him only to be relaxed and a bit annoyed to find Jay there. Not only was he there but he was being followed by some unsettling monsters all looking to be made from various plant and fungal matter. There were two humanoid looking ones, a vaguely humanoid with spider like root limbs for legs one and a highly humanoid feminine one, a few creepy opossum like things made of what looked to be fungi and two large golem like beings. One was a conglomerate of woody vines and masses wrapping around and into rocks and amber while the other was a mass of fungi with a pit of glowing fungi in its equivalent of a chest. There were two of these fungal golems who were carrying Zane and Pixal like someone would carry a cat the two droids looking dazed or tired; possibly both.
“Ha I got yha,” Jay expressed with a chuckle. Cole expressed calming down, “okay you got me… what happened to Zane and Pixal?!” Cole became worried as the shrooms golems sat the two droids on the ground by them the two not looking the greatest and a little lost. Cole quickly went over to inspect them though he had no idea what was wrong or what to do.
“Uhm… well the one monster I’m pretty sure dislocated Pixals arm and I might of accidently electrocuted them,” Jay expressed embarrassed to which Cole began to panic, “what!? You of all of us should know how dangerous that is to them; how could you do that to them?!”
“It wasn’t really my fault. I went to shock one of those owl demons who directed my attack back at me and we were too close to each other so they got hit as collateral,” Jay explained and Nya noted as she came over to inspect the two, “Cole relax we can fix this; they’re just dazed; they probably had a few circuits overload and trip. The serpentine have our computers and other gear so we can fix them. For now we can set them offline till then to keep them from getting hurt or further stressing them.” She with Jay then used the panels on their forearms to access a control panel to put the two droids offline gently laying them down when they did go offline. Cole stuck close to them the whole time after to guard them.
“Uhm who are your buddies here?” Kai asked nervously looking over the strange plant beings. The lack of eyes or anything resembling a head on the golem ones had him unsettled which wasn’t helped by the corpse like possum creatures or the bizarre almost flirty look one of the feminoid humanoids kept giving him which was making him uncomfortable.
“Oh these things; I’m guessing they’re some kind of spirits or monsters made by the tree to protect it. They’re friendly to us. I thought at first they wanted to hurt us cause they destroyed one of those owl demons but they wanted to help us. If it wasn’t for them I probably couldn’t have gotten us out of those tunnels so easily… who knew plant roots grew in such a chaotic and labyrinth like fashion,” Jay explained before Nya noted the scratches on his face. She expressed worried, “how’d you get those scratches?” Cole who was sticking close to the droids to keep them safe came over to inspect the scratches upon hearing her comment. Kai was made uncomfortable by the scratches and tried not to look at them absently feeling his face in the area the scratches were feeling as if he could feel what having those scratches would be like.
“The one Nyctrea attacked us while the others got away with this thing we found down there. I’m pretty sure I’ll be fine,” Jay expressed trying to brush off the burning feeling he felt from the scratch before flinching when Nya touched it. After his flinch Nya stated, “I think it best you get that looked at.”
“I’m guessing you found this Rota Interranium thing,” Kai noted trying to avoid looking at the scratch and Jay responded, “yha, it was down in this strange cavern in a weird case thing made of metal and some kind of stone decorated by dragons. I didn’t get a very good look at it before we ended up fighting that owl demon,” Jay explained to which Kai noted, “yha we managed to get a hold of it for a couple of seconds before we lost it to the clan.”
“Yha I saw that and heard that monster Mansi. What a time to get out of those tunnels when that thing happened to be here,” Jay stated and Kai wondered, “what are we to do now?” They took a moment to look around at the damages and at the crowd that had gathered around them which included Columatzin, Verishay and K’awil.
“Well I think we’ll have to head back and tell Lloyd what we found; I think we should also see about getting the Grahtwyrms some aid in rebuilding their village,” Cole suggested and Jay offered, “maybe the other serpentine could give them some aid.”
“It’s been centuries since we’ve had any contact with other serpentine tribes; we couldn’t really see eye to eye last time. Why would they agree to help out now?” K’awil asked to which Cole noted, “it’s been some time and they’ve changed quite a bit since you last met. I’m pretty sure they’d be open to aiding you. Besides we have a decent relation with them so we could work things out. Maybe some of you could send some individuals along to act as dignitaries.”
“That does sound like a decent offer. I will arrange for some of our most diplomatic individuals to head out with you…” K’awil began before Columatzin cut him off to express, “I believe I should join them. I could offer them some insight into what the clan took.”
“Sounds good cause I’m betting we’re in for some serious hardships in the future now that they have that thing,” Kai expressed.
With help from Nazir, Armand and Cyrill Lloyd had made it back to the Bounty which they had parked outside the village to which they had at first headed out from to find the Grahtwyrms. The prospectors were going to leave after dropping him off but had decided to hang out with him till the others returned to keep him company even though Lloyd insisted he was fine. Even though they were strangers and with their views he wasn’t very comfortable around them Lloyd was actually thankful they had stuck around since they had gotten there the day before. Probably because of the monsters in the mountains Lloyd was uneasy about being alone there. He worried the monsters might come for him and he didn’t want to face them alone. The prospectors had been rather friendly to him and very respectful of their ship and possessions despite the clear unease the three showed to the technology they had on the Bounty. They didn’t say much about it but avoided getting to close to most of it and kept wanting him to point out where Zane and Pixal frequented on the ship as if they were scared to spend too much time near areas they frequented; it was like they were worried they would get some disease from or radiation poisoning from being in those areas. As they seemed to know a bit about the Nyctrea Lloyd had gotten into a talk with them about these monsters to see what they could tell him about them. They were gathered in the command center where Lloyd was waiting to hear from the others.
“To some extent most species of monsters hold an allegiance to either the Oni or the Dragons, to darkness and destruction or creation and the light, however Nyctrea as a whole do not. They are largely neutral beings. They are hoarders of knowledge aligned with the eldritch looking Scribe beings. They collaborate with them to collect and hoard the knowledge of the realms in the great libraries, museums, labs and archives of the seas and isles of knowledge in the void. Despite this species overall allegiance individuals within a race may hold an allegiance different from their instinctive ties,” Nazir explained and Lloyd asked, “what about this Mansi who is he?”
“From what we could gather to stay safe here is that’s his name. He is an individual of a race of spirits called Okhotniks. They’re rare beings and very secretive so not much is known of them. They are considered neutral beings. Being neutral however does not mean he is good. You experienced him. He attacked you and your friends without provocation. Does that seem good to you?” Cyrill explained and Lloyd wondered, “why do you think they would attack us?”
“Cause they’re monsters,” Armand noted and Nazir hypothesized, “maybe it’s your heritage?”
“My heritage?” Lloyd commented and Nazir explained, “well you are the only grandson of the First Spinjitsu Master right? They might feel some kind of connection to you or threatened by you and wanted to destroy you.”
“Well that doesn’t sound great,” Lloyd expressed and Armand who was looking over a board they had of photos of themselves, friends and relatives in the command center, “well they’re monsters what do you expect from them?”
“I guess there is some truth to that,” Lloyd commented. He was not liking Armand looking over the photos. They were all personal photos which they all would rather keep to themselves and not really something they’d want to share with strangers. Lloyd went over to Armand wanting to ask him to leave the board alone but before he could say anything Armand asked, “I seem to notice you treat your droids like fellow humans and give them quite a bit of freedom. Do you ever have problems with them turning feral? If they do turn how do you tame them? If not then how do you keep them so tame and in control all the time?” Armands comment drew in Nazir and Cyrill who also came to note and inspect the pictures.
“What do you mean by feral?” Lloyd asked not too happy with the comment. Cyrill explained, “you know turning on you, wanting to enslave or hunt to extinction humanity, to feed on people or use us as some kind of resource, corrupt other pieces of tech to serve any dark desires they may have you know stuff like that.”
“Zane and Pixal aren’t like that. They don’t have those desires and are perfectly happy following orders and not being in the lead in fact… never mind,” he replied stopping himself before saying anymore. There were some things he could say like what he had done in the Never Realm had Zane hesitant at times to take on leadership roles which the rest of them felt was out of fear of turning into the monster he had been there but Lloyd knew it best to say nothing. They were keeping what happened to Zane there very quiet after all it would just make people’s fears and distrust of him worse. Nazir asked, “you do have them registered right?” Confused Lloyd asked, “registered; for what? They’re not criminals.”
“We’re not saying they are. From our understanding don’t all droids have to be registered with governments for purposes of identification and ownership in case of problems you know like with dogs?” Cyrill explained and Lloyd replied, “oh that. Yha we have them fully registered; the two actually felt uncomfortable not being registered. We weren’t wanting to do it as we didn’t like some of the things that law stood for but the two felt that was breaking the law and they were not comfortable with that. We already have identification for them Jay and Nya grafted a metal tag with their names and who to contact if they’re lost into their chests so we didn’t need some external registration for them. That fear though of breaking the law really got to the two so we ended up complying. We’re still not happy with it but it has been useful to have them registered. It’s helped the courts get criminals locked up longer because of threatening or hurting the two. Plus it gives us special legal protections if individuals try to do bad things to them or they malfunction a bit and cause problems or if there is some misunderstandings; droids tend to take some things too literal when they shouldn’t and aren’t very good with sarcasm. It took us a while to get Zane to understand giving someone a cold shoulder didn’t mean actually freezing their shoulders. We still don’t like it though. Being registered like that makes it too easy for those wanting to do bad things to them to find them. Before you ask yes we also get them tested twice a year as required to make sure nothing suspect is going on in their programming.”
“That’s good; better than what most people do. Many neglect that; puts everyone in danger,” Nazir commented and Lloyd agreed, “your right there. Zane and Pixal are special among droids. I don’t think most are as free from corruption as them so people should be getting them tested.”
“It’s nice some droid owners take good care of their for lack of a better term machines,” Nazir expressed and Cyrill asked, “hey hypothetically if you were to ever have problems with them like them turning against you or turning evil do you have plans of how to deal with them?”
“Even though it’s something we’d rather not want to think about we do have plans for it. It’s always better to be safe rather than sorry,” Lloyd replied. Nazir commented, “I’m guessing with how you treat them scrapping them is not one of those plans?”
“Unfortunately no; if all else fails and there is absolutely nothing left that we can do to fix them and bring them back to good… as the very last resort termination is an option again though only as a last resort. We never want it to come to that. Even though we don’t want that to be an option we know they’re too dangerous to spare if they turn evil and we can’t turn them back; even they agree to the option. I doubt we’d ever have to go that far though. We’ve always been able to fix them, they came down with Robot Rabies recently and we were able to completely cure them, plus being evil is just not them. They’re good at heart,” Lloyd explained to which Cyrill stated, “or so you think.”
“Are you saying I don’t know my friends?” Lloyd countered getting a little mad and Cyrill suggested, “maybe. Isn’t it possible there’s a dark side to them that they keep hidden from you? Secrets and desires they don’t want the rest of you to know about? Urges they have to resist around you?” This was probably the fourth or fifth time since he’d met them now that these prospectors had brought these questions or similar ones up. At first he thought they were just paranoid but after some thoughts and going through the book they gave him he’d started to understand it was a strong fear to droids that caused them to get hyper focussed on those subjects. Plus every time the comments kept coming up a nagging feeling that had him fixated on the feelings of suspicion and other odd feelings his Oni side was making him feel about Zane and Pixal. They probably were hiding things but it was probably his fault. He could understand that; because of his Oni side he’d done and said some things lately to the others especially Zane and Pixal that he was pretty sure would make them want to keep secrets from him.
“It is very possible they do have secrets, who doesn’t? It’s probably nothing bad though,” Lloyd replied and Cyrill wondered, “you ever think your attachments to the droids might hinder you’re ability to do the right things with the two if it should ever come to it?” Lloyd couldn’t answer that. It was something none of them ever wanted to think of and never hoped to face. None of them ever wished for things to come to that.
“I get that’s probably something none of you ever wish to see come to be let alone to just think of and hopefully you never have to face it but you do realize the possibility is there,” Nazir noted. Lloyd didn’t want to answer so Nazir commented, “you know if you ever run into a case like that I know you’d probably not want to talk to someone like me but maybe it could help you to have another perspective. Maybe we could offer you some advice. It’s probably not something you’d like to hear but there are some in Notomation who have done extensive research into the nature of droids especially the causes of what makes them turn feral or turn to the darkness. Maybe someone there could offer you an insight into what’s wrong with your droids and how to in a sense cure them that maybe you and your friends may not have seen. If you ever want to talk you can give me a call and we could see what we could do. Here I’ll leave you with my number in case you ever want to call.” Nazir picked up the book he’d given Lloyd earlier which Lloyd had set on the counter by the photo walls and wrote something down on the inside of the cover before giving it to Lloyd. Lloyd took a moment to see what Nazir had written down; it was a phone number.
“I guess in that situation any help could be useful; hopefully though it never comes down to that,” Lloyd stated before being drawn to his phone as he got a call. Putting the book on the counter he picked up his phone and answered it. It was Cole calling to see where he was. The others were on their way to the Bounty and would be there soon.
“Your friends on their way back?” Armand asked and Lloyd explained, “yha. They should be here in about ten minutes they said… Cole though is not the best with math, unless it involves baked goods.”
“I think then we will take our leave,” Nazir stated and Lloyd asked, “really? Are you sure? We could give you a ride home.”
“We’ll be fine. Your droids will be coming here and I think it best we’re not here when they arrive,” Nazir commented and Lloyd stated, “they won’t hurt you.” Nazir commented, “for our comfort I think it best we don’t encounter them besides I’m pretty sure your droids might not be the most comfortable around us. Didn’t they have a bad run in recently with Notomation?”
“Yha they did; I guess you’re right they probably wouldn’t be too comfortable with you being around. Alright then you can go if you think it’s best,” Lloyd noted. The prospectors then left saying goodbye to him leaving Lloyd alone. Once alone Lloyd looked for something to do. He’d noticed recently with his troubles controlling his Oni side that when his mind wasn’t occupied it tended to wander and in that space his Oni side tried to creep out and influence him and he didn’t like the thoughts it would bring to him; thoughts of harming others and of destroying things. Curious he picked up the book from Notomation to give it a look. He’d skimmed through it earlier but not delved much into it. The first section he looked into was what the people of Notomation thought of Zane and Pixal. First thing he noticed was they worded things as if they viewed the two as some kind of animal. They got something’s right such as Zane being the creation of Dr. Julian and that Pixal was created by Cyrus Borg. They didn’t mention though how Dr. Julian and Cyrus Borg saw them not just as their creations but their children and deeply cared and loved them and that the two deeply loved their fathers back. Clearly from their dislike to droids most of their views of the two were incorrect like the two were ruling over the rest of them or aggressive to them which they weren’t, even though they could get aggressive at times to them. If they were made angry like when some of them didn’t do their chores, Zane especially would get real angry about this, they could get aggressive but overall they were fairly calm. Strangely though or maybe due to part of their suspicious beliefs they did get a few things correct especially about the twos relations. They recognised the twos close friendship recognising they saw themselves as mates. The authors likened the two to a pair of wolves with Zane being the alpha and Pixal the omega. Zane was considered the more dangerous of the two and highly protective of Pixal who was still considered highly dangerous but not as dangerous as him though they felt she had some kind of ability to lure Zane in for aid like some kind of siren. That was a bit of an out there idea. Even though Zane and Pixal could communicate over some distance and get each other’s aid it wasn’t like a siren call. Not to mention Pixal was pretty good at handling things herself though she never objected to Zanes help. He was pretty sure working together made them happy and he knew Zane was very protective of Pixal which he felt she kind of liked seeing it as a sign of affection. She was also very protective of him too which while Zane liked that he preferred that he cared for her so she wouldn’t have to worry or get hurt; he wanted to be the sheepdog for the shepherd doing the hard work to make the shepherds job easier. Their one reference of comparing the two to wolves reminded Lloyd of something he’d seen when watching a nature documentary with Zane and Pixal on wolves about how when the alpha male got challenged by a rival male his mate would cower beneath him into his chest and neck like she was scared however it was a trick so she could protect his vulnerable spots and had easy access the challengers throat if it went for her mate. He could see Zane and Pixal being like that; he could visualize in his mind the two as wolves challenging another wolf Pixal playing scared to protect Zane so they could team up and beat up the challenger which for some reason he envisioned as either Kai or Jay; the two just had a way of getting under the two droids skins. He had a bit of a chuckle from that thought before going back to reading the book.
After a brief look at the section on Zane and Pixal he looked at the section on how to tell if a droid was going to betray people. A good deal of these ‘signs’ were simply normal droid problems with social interacting. Things like lack of or improper eye contact, being quiet or being less verbal especially around people, talking quietly with their own kind or interacting only with fellow droids or animals which the authors of the book believed droids had some way to mind control animals; these weren’t really signs. They were normal nindroid actions. They didn’t like eye contact because it made them feel uncomfortable and threatened; human non-verbal communications like eye contact were very difficult for them to read and copy. Droids were not often highly vocal as they were more introverted in nature and really weren’t ones for gossip or long conversations. Talking quietly with their own kind often was not a good sign amongst people and other humanoid races but not droids. When they did this it was most often them trying to work out something they didn’t understand. They often didn’t ask people this as few answered them thinking they should already know the answer. Most didn’t get that book knowledge was not the same as knowledge from experience or use and the brains of droids operated more on logic and order so things based on the abstract and or chaotic concepts were much harder for them to understand so they often turned to each other to try and figure things out. Because of similarities in communication and simpler communication methods droids could better communicate and work with other droids and animals. While most seemed to be misunderstandings to the nature of droids some of these signs did stand out and intrigue him. Purposely altering information or deleting information especially highly critical information, looking to acquire questionable or highly dangerous materials or items especially if they show anxiety when questioned about the stuff, secretly hoarding things like resources or knowledge keeping it from people, glitching out a bit when interrogated or confronted about their odd behaviour and appearing to misunderstand or interpret rules or orders incorrectly leading to tasks failing or being done incorrectly.
That kind of stuff he could defiantly see as possible suspicious activity for a droid. Droids operated on logic and facts not feelings so would be highly against altering things to fit an agenda like a human would; lying and cheating was not something droids liked. They preferred truth and honesty. Interestingly they had a strong sense of right and wrong and for justice. This had many labelling them as cruel, segregating and anti-human as they often treated humans a lot more like cattle or dogs than people. While to humans that was bad to droids it wasn’t. People didn’t understand droids didn’t understand or see like people did. They viewed things from a lens of logic and order so separating and treating humans different based on certain characteristics was their way of keeping order and peace. They meant no cruelty with this and weren’t really being species-ist. They just thought it was helpful; he believed Zane had explained it once as you wouldn’t mix lions with tigers. Despite their similarities and relations they had different needs and customs. In many ways he understood this and agreed with it considering the things he’d seen and experienced of humans but there were many moral issues that revolved around such concepts that he preferred to not get involved with and knew droids couldn’t understand with their more logic and fact based view of things. Zane and Pixal did share this moral view with other droids, it was a part of their nature, and it was something that bothered them a bit that they couldn’t see the way people did and why people were appalled by how droids saw things even though their view was very logical and could greatly help bring order and peace. The best he or the others could do for the two over this issue to keep them from acting out on this instinct of theirs and getting them in trouble was keep Zane and Pixal in a sort of control and understanding to help them understand that acting out on this idea despite how good they saw it broke moral boundaries that people viewed as unethical and would lead to people seeing them as a threat and monstrous. As he read this section he didn’t really recall Zane and Pixal expressing any of these signs lately though… he suddenly remembered an event from a few months earlier.
A rogue group of droids, ones who had gone truly feral, had within a few months without anyone knowing entirely wiped out a whole race of humanoids in some eastern grasslands. The droids were so good at what they had done no one knew what had happened till soldiers from the imperial guard had been sent to the area after no communications came from there. The thinking was there was some kind of monster or un-earthly attack going on maybe some kind of natural disaster. They ninja were brought along in case it was something un-natural. When they got there all they found were the recently abandoned structures and skeletons of individuals oddly many of them packed on carts or in trucks. They at first thought it was necromancers so were shocked to find droids there cleaning up their work by spreading the dust that they made from the remains of the people over the ground to fertilize it. They caught all of the droids for interrogation. Sure the people they had destroyed were defiantly the kind that in many ways had deserved it. They followed some pretty nasty beliefs and worshiped a being that was considered a demon that had some kind of relation to the moon or night; he wasn’t sure which one though it might have been both. The people were known to be aggressive and violent, did very cruel things to other people and animals, oddly preferred sleeping in the day and being awake at night, wore dark attire that often covered most of their bodies especially if they went out in the day and viewed all other people as lesser than them not to mention they kept other people as slaves which they treated very terribly with rumours that they even fed on these people. He didn’t know what feeding on them meant but it probably wasn’t something good. Along with that they were a strange race of humanoid that while overall looking like other humans had dark blue grey skin and blood red eyes. Despite their clear atrocities they were permitted to do as they wanted in their lands out of rules for freedom in the realm even though many didn’t like it. That had never sat well with the ninja but to stay with the law they couldn’t do anything about it. As punishment for their actions and worried it would lead to more problems the droids were to be terminated. First though they investigated what drove these droids of which there was around fifty of them to do what they did and how they’d turned feral like this. If it was some kind of virus or someone manipulating them they needed to stop it to prevent this happening again. To avoid complications Zane and Pixal were not permitted to be a part of the work. The two weren’t happy with that but agreed. They couldn’t figure out what was wrong with this group of droids. They had no virus and hadn’t been interfered with. They weren’t from the same stock but being a mix of types from militant types meant for guard work, to those meant for working in warehouses or shops to personal assistants and even those made for medical aid. While it was largely male units in the group there were also plenty of female units as well meaning this wasn’t specific to gender of the unit either. The droids came from different regions as well scattered all across the continent making linking the cause very difficult. Ultimately they could only determine these droids had done this out of free will but why? All they could get out of them when interrogated about why they had done this was all of these droids had gotten something the droids couldn’t understand but they could. From the descriptions the droids gave the ninja believed they had gotten a dream or vision. The droids claimed a golden stag with flaming antlers appeared to them in some woodlands and told them to do what they had done to help cleanse the realm of evil. The droids claimed the ninja didn’t understand what was going on, that those things that looked human really weren’t human, that all even the innocent had to be removed as they had been tainted by an evil their realm couldn’t deal with and that the ninja and soldiers were interfering with something they couldn’t understand. They were unsure what was going on but could only guess that maybe some kind of manufacturing or program update was flawed or had malfunctioned in the droids leading to this action. While for Zane and Pixal dreams and visions were normal most droids rarely or never got that; most droids were never given the advanced mental programming or free thought to allow for that because of fears by many to issues like this could arise from them having that ability. While the ninja and some others wanted to study more to figure out what had happened to these droids for everyone’s safety they were put down.
Strangely despite having limited contact with these other droids to their surprise Zane and Pixal had defended them at every turn insisting they were innocent and should be let free! The two felt the droids had done nothing wrong and agreed they had done something right. The ninja had been torn over the twos views. They’d never expressed showing such compassion for droids so clearly guilty of criminal acts; normally they put aside their emotions and kinship as fellow droids to obey the law. The rest of them understood the two had never liked this group of people feeling their beliefs were cruel and wrong and felt something needed to be done about them but they’d never thought the two had such dark thoughts of what to do about the people or would agree with what these droids had done especially with what Zane had experienced in the Never Realm. They weren’t sure if it was some kind of tribalistic behaviour as the two most likely viewed these droids as their own kind and felt some loyalty and empathy to them or if to their logic they believed what the droids had done was the answer to bring peace and end the atrocities of those people. It upset them that they had to have the droids destroyed but after the ninja did some explaining to the two they didn’t object agreeing to keep peace with people as droids like this would only spark fear from people they had to terminate these droids. They never brought it up since; the rest of them felt the whole issue upset the two too much for them to bring the ordeal up. That whole issue had brought to the rest of them the realisation that despite what they saw and knew of them Zane and Pixal still were droids and had the same beliefs and morals as other droids that couldn’t be taken out of them and this nature of theirs did have a dark side that could arise under the right circumstance and lead the two droids to disobey the rest of them. It had also given the rest of them the realisation of how easily something could lead the two to go against them and side with a threat a risk they had foolishly assumed for a long time was not something they had to worry about with them. He started to think if he had seen any sign of strange behaviour from Zane and Pixal lately. While he couldn’t immediately think of anything something deep within himself felt there might have been signs. A noise drew his attention out of his thoughts to the one entrance to the room. It was the others making it back a couple serpentine of a kind he didn’t recognise following them.
“I thought you’d have some tea brewing for us when we got here,” Cole joked as they entered and closing the book making sure the cover wasn’t visible to the others Lloyd stated, “well I didn’t know how many you were bringing back. What happened in the Grahtwyrm village and who are the snakes?” As they entered the room the ninja went around getting the ship ready to leave. Jay and Nya went to the wheel to get the ship started while Zane and Pixal went over to the central computer to work on it; Lloyd noted the two droids looked as if they felt drained. Kai and Cole meanwhile led the serpentine into the room explaining what things in it were bringing them to stand by the computer where Zane and Pixal were working.
“Well we learned this snak-a-pede thing the clan is looking for is a demon of decay who probably wants to destroy our world and they found part of what they need to awaken her in the serpentines village… we did at least find something there that hopefully can help us against these monsters. As for the serpentine these are some of the Grahtwyrms. The clan attacked with some of those owl demons and left some serious damage to their home. We’ve agreed to help them re-contact the other serpentine tribes to help rebuild their village. They sent along some dignitaries from their tribe to help in the process,” Cole responded as Lloyd came to stand with them.
“Are these Rosic and Kamal?” the one serpentine who wore a knee length whitish robe, wide brown waist wrap, and a jade and amber embedded metal plate on his forehead asked looking at the computer where Zane and Pixal had pulled some of the documents and images they had of the Lost Clan up. Kai expressed, “yha that’s them, the Ying and Yang of conquerors.”
“They look scarier than what legends say,” the serpentine commented and Jay expressed, “yha trust us their worse in person. He’s more cold and calculating than a nindroid which is something and she is bold and doesn’t respect boundaries much.”
“Lloyd this is Columatzin the spiritual leader of the Grahtwyrms and their expert in the mythologies and histories of their tribe and where they came from. Columatzin this is Lloyd the grandson of the First Spinjitsu Master,” Cole introduced the serpentine to Lloyd.
“So this is the grand hatchling of the First Spinjitsu Master… he’s not as impressive as I thought he’d be. Not only your females but the yabbering one look more muscular and imposing in stature than him,” Columatzin expressed looking Lloyd over. Lloyd was a bit taken back by the serpentines comment and took a moment to look himself over. He’d never heard someone say Jay was more intimidating looking than him. Jay was considered the least intimidating of all of them.
“Really? You thought I’d be intimidating?” Lloyd wondered to which Columatzin stated, “well given your ancestry yha.”
“What’s that smell?” Zane commented he and Pixal getting distracted and looking around trying to figure out where a strange smell they were picking up came from.
“There’s a smell?” Lloyd wondered and Kai noted, “yha now that you mention it there is a funk in here… kind of smells like the bathroom after a droids been in it. At least it doesn’t smell like it does after Coles been in it; especially after he’s had his chilli.” Cole was not amused by Kai’s joke. One of the serpentine noted the smell seemed to come from Lloyd drawing their attention to him. Lloyd remembered how the book Nazir had given him had that repellent on it. That was what the others could smell it. Lloyd knew the others would not be too happy with him having this book so he felt it best to draw their attentions away from digging further into this.
“I probably need a shower, the prospectors who helped me were not the nicest smelling. Guess it comes with the job. Anyway why don’t we quickly finish up here so I can go do that; so was that all you found there?” Lloyd asked most of them took his word and brushed off the smell though Zane and Pixal still kept looking at him confused.
“Well as we said some of the clans forces ambushed us. They stole this item… we don’t really know what it was as we just got glimpses of it before those monsters stole it and got away with it. Unfortunately neither Zane or Pixal got a view of it. All we know was it was a broken piece from something made of metal and some kind of colourful stone like stuff. They called it the Rota Interranium and said apparently the First Spinjitsu Master gave it to them to hide long ago,” Cole regaled and Columatzin explained, “from what I could find in our records which there was hardly anything this Rota Interranium translates to Wheel of the Interrum. We don’t have any other knowledge on it other than a story about the heart of the great tree in our village which told that the First Spinjitsu Master bestowed us something to keep hidden till the day we would have to face the risen dead… I guess in a sense that day has come. Even though they are now demons because they were once living mortals and thought to be long gone in ways they are a risen dead.”
“There’s more we could tell you but that could wait till later,” Cole regaled and Lloyd stated, “okay then. I guess I’ll go get cleaned up.” Lloyd then left secretly going to hide the book where he felt Zane and Pixal were very unlikely to find it before getting cleaned up.
“Why don’t we get you guys settled in for the journey; hope you don’t suffer from air sickness,” Cole told the serpentine joking a bit with them before addressing to Zane and Pixal, “as for you two don’t spend too long working. You had a pretty rough experience under that tree and need some rest. You should go have a nice hot shower to get cleaned up then get in your comfiest PJ’s on and just relax you can have the TV all night if you want. I’ll make you something special later. How does tempura battered chicken nuggets with an oil dip and milkshakes sound huh? Chocolate sound good? Nice and sweat like my special sweat nindroids.” As Cole talked to them he put on an affectionate tone and ruffled the hair on the top of the twos heads in an affectionate manor. Zane and Pixal just listened and watched confused at Coles actions and tone to them till after Cole and Kai left to show the serpentine around the rest of the ship. Zane and Pixal were feeling down and stressed from what had happened to them in the serpentine village but they just wanted to relax in their own way and not be a bother to others or be coddled over like a helpless puppy. At the same time though they didn’t want to hurt Coles feelings by objecting to his affection. They sighed over their conundrum before going back to work. After Kai and Cole had left the room Zane and Pixal went back to inputting the information they had acquired in their endeavour into the computer while Jay and Nya continued working the navigations of the ship. They got the ship up and going and began to head home. As they headed home Nya noted Jay seemed to have something on his mind and he kept looking back at Zane and Pixal who were oblivious to Jays looks.
“Something on your mind?” Nya quietly asked Jay. Jay took a moment before quietly responding back, “when we were in the root tunnels something strange happened.”
“What?” Nya asked and Jay regaled, “well while the two were not fully there something possessed Pixal. It sounded like a woman and knew my name. Even stranger I felt like I’ve heard the voice before but I can’t recall where I’ve heard it before.”
“Are you sure she wasn’t just gaining some cognition to help you? Did you talk to her about it?” Nya wondered and Jay responded, “I did talk to her and no she was still too dazed to make sense of anything around her and couldn’t communicate as clearly as she had at that moment. She also said while her memories are not the best from being dazed she remembers something connecting to her brain and taking over her body to use her like a puppet to interact with me. She said whatever it was it didn’t feel threatening but warm and caring.”
“That’s really strange. Does she have any clue about what happened?” Nya noted and Jay commented, “no she doesn’t understand what happened. I think I might though.”
“Really, what do you think it was?” Nya asked and Jay replied, “Columatzin explained that those with these white souls like droids as they still have a connection to this void place can have the departed communicate or even influence them so they can communicate with the living…”
“Really; you know thinking about that would explain something Cole once explained about how when he was cursed as a ghost taking over Zanes body was very easy compared to a persons. He always thought it was just because Zane was more than willing to let him shelter in his body if he needed protection or just wanted to feel like he had a physical form again. Maybe then it was more than Zanes willingness that made that ability easy. This difference in his spiritual nature meant Zane was naturally weak to ghostly influences so couldn’t fight it or resist getting possessed like we can. That could also help explain then why droids are much more susceptible to magical influences than people are. So you think then something or someone possessed her to talk with you?” Nya wondered and Jay stated, “not just someone… I think it was my mother!” Nya was surprised and asked, “really you think so?”
“I’m pretty sure it was. I’m confused though,” Jay stated and Nya wondered, “how does it confuse you?”
“If the departed can communicate through them and Cole proved they are vulnerable to possession then how come she’s never done it before? Why all of a sudden did she commune now? Was there something special down there or could that sap that monster forced the two to eat be responsible? Or is it something to do with my mother; is where she is trapped make it difficult for her to reach out and again being under that tree or the sap made it easier for her to reach out through them?”
“Those are some intriguing questions; maybe Columatzin can help you answer those. He is going to stay with us for a while to help us with the Lost Clan. Maybe you can work with him to find answers for them,” Nya noted and Jay agreed, “true, guess I’ll just have to wait and see if we can find anything.”
Notes:
The species of snake I modeled the Grahtwyrms after is the Dragon snake or Xenodermus javanicus. They are cool and cute looking snakes that are rather skittish and scared of people so unfortunately don't do well in captivity making them rare in the reptile keeping community and non existent in zoos despite attempts to try and find what they need to thrive. They originate in the Malay Peninsula where they inhabit largely wet forests and swamps where their main food of frogs and fish live.
The Grahtwyrms I envisioned having the aesthetics of the Meso-American cultures (Aztec, Mayans and Incas) with the cultural and personality type of Buddhists.
A bit of of the origin story for the realms I took inspiration from the Creation Story of Serina the world of birds. Serina is a Speculative Evolution series by Dylan Bajda. It's an amazing and greatly enjoyable series that also includes some amazing miny stories worked in like the saga between the Woodcrafters and Gravediggers, the sagas of the Stewards of the Sea, Brighteyes journey, the journey of Eve and Fellstar and the Observers Journey. If you are interested in delving into this project you can find it here: https://sites.google.com/site/worldofserina/home?authuser=0
This is the creation story I took some inspiration from: https://sites.google.com/site/worldofserina/the-ultimocene-250-million-years/the-daydreamer-creation-story?authuser=0
The whole thing with the white and black souls takes inspiration from the Elder Scrolls series. Non humanoid beings have white souls as they are pure and innocent while humanoids have black souls as they are tainted by corruption from the god Lorkhan which are highly favored by necromancers.
Yes musking is a real thing snakes do. It's a defense mechanism they engage in when feeling threatened. I have picked up a Garter snake and had it musk before. It's not a nice smell but not as unpleasant as skunk (I've never been sprayed by a skunk but there are tons in our area and it's not uncommon to smell them. Funny story my family one summer night heard some woman scream on a path behind the buildings across the street from our house and going to see what happened we ran into a wall of incredibly strong skunk smell. Didn't find the ladies but that was probably because they booked it the moment they were hit; I've never heard of anyone sticking around after getting skunk sprayed.)
The Nyctrea Moloch gets his name from the god from Canaanite mythology that was related primarily to child sacrifice but had some aspects related to knowledge while Wan Shi comes from the owl god of knowledge in Avatar the Last Air Bender.
Yes the facts Pixal expresses while dazed are true and Zane is quoting in his dazed state parts from the Shakespeare play Hamlet.
If you didn't guess the grey skinned red eyed humans the droids destroyed if you didn't guess were vampires; a little tie in for much later in the series;)
Chapter 8: Clan of the Lost chapter 6: Oni-spicions
Summary:
After I finished the original story and started on a sort of epilogue story a prequel to the story came to mind and I started working on it. This is that prequel.
While working on how to get clan members to spill secrets some things begin to lead Lloyd to grow suspicious of some things but are his suspicions legit or just paranoia.
Notes:
You do not need to know anything from the original story as this is a prequel to it.
Pictures relating to story can be found here: https://www.deviantart.com/nerdy-hyena/gallery/72478681/story-project
They are really good and help to visually flush out several aspects of the story including environments, characters, outfits, locations, creatures and other aspects often important ones in the story. All images I post in my work can be found there if you want a better look at them. Defiantly make sure to check them out.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Taking Mansi’s advise they decided it best to wait for the clan to do the hard work in finding these pieces of this Wheel of the Interrum thing then they could rush in and take them before the clan had a chance to use them. This plan however had one serious flaw. How would they know when the clan had all these pieces?
“We could always put spies in their midst’s,” Cole offered to which Zane replied, “while a plausible idea these aren’t normal beings we are working with. They have an uncanny way of recognising us even when disguised and can hinder any technologies.” The ninja along with Wu and Columatzin who was staying with them for a while were gathered in the library going over what their next plans of action would be against the clan.
“Not to mention I doubt anyone other than us is willing to get close or enter the territories of those things,” Kai noted to which Jay expressed, “can you blame them?” Nya wondered, “what about Skylor?”
“She suffers the same problems we do. They recognise her as an elemental master and are guarded around her,” Kai explained and Jay wondered, “what about sending in Zane and Pixal? These monsters are oddly tolerant to them.” Zane and Pixal became nervous from his suggestion till Lloyd put it down.
“No that’s not an option; the clan are too friendly to them and can too easily recognise them no matter how well they disguise themselves and would not tell them anything useful,” Lloyd explained to which Pixal hypothesized, “true. A spy might not be a viable option rate now. We could open it up as an option in the future if we can find a way that hides our true identities from them. We have noted before that their sense of smell is more advanced than a humans and they can assess several traits of an individual through it. That might be something we can use. If we could find some way to mask our scents from them it might help us.”
“We could look into that. We’ll leave that task to you and Zane Pix. You’re the ones best suited to that task and I know you’re smart enough to figure it out,” Cole stated. Kai then asked, “okay but what do we do for now? We need to keep an eye on their actions to know how many of those pieces they have so we can swoop in before they can use them.”
“Speaking of those pieces were you able to find anything about them?” Cole asked Wu and Columatzin.
“With the tales from the Grahtwyrms I was able to better make sense of some ancient tales and records from our realm. My father did write of this Rota Interrium but he always referred to it as the Heart of the Snake Tree. I never understood what it meant but with the Grahtwyrms stories I better understand it. Indeed this Mansi was right. The Rota Interrium was a key to the apparatus that locks away a great demon. The apparatus is lost, my father believed it might have been buried over time somewhere but he never looked for it feeling it should not be found by him; he believed something’s are meant to be forgotten. This key for it was broken and scattered around the realms so that any who went looking for it would not find them so easily and it was hoped they would be forgotten in time destined to be lost forever. The pieces date to long before my father ever came to this realm. He stumbled upon the piece hidden in our realm as if by fate led to it by a call to aid to deal with monsters. He found no monsters but was led by what he could only describe as an energy to the item. It was buried in ruins that had been crushed by a landslide and grown over by vegetation leaving it lost for ages. Upon finding it he knew it was important and felt oddly as if he had dealt with it before. He somehow knew what it was and how important it was that he must hide it from the peoples of the realm. He kept it hidden in caves beneath the monastery for centuries till the Grahtwyrms came. When they came seeking a place they could be lost to all other peoples he felt the item would be safe with them till the time was right to retrieve it. He never felt though he would be around for that time,” Wu explained and Kai asked, “okay other than the history what else can you tell us about it? Something about its make or what it could do?”
“Well it is a key for opening a portal. I do not know what else you expect it to do,” Wu explained before Columatzin stated, “from our records it is made of materials foreign to the realms, void stone and Oni crystal a material believed to be the fossilized blood of an Oni.”
“The blood of an Oni… that doesn’t sound good. That stuff has to have some dark powers to it,” Jay stated to which Columatzin replied, “I couldn’t find anything about it but I wouldn’t doubt it and I bet it can do some pretty dark stuff. Anyway according to Mansi they have four now. The one from this realm, they likely have the one from the void from which they came from and as for the other two we believe they are those from the Cursed realm and Jinjago. The paired realms have been torn back into the void already from the destruction of the Cursed Realm meaning it was easy for them to get a hold of those two. That leaves 12 remaining. As beings of the void itself the clan has advantages over us in finding these pieces. They have access to beings with a hoard of knowledge, they can travel between realms with ease, can sense items from the void like we could smell a pizza rooms away and have powers that can manipulate the realms in ways mere mortals cannot; not even you elemental masters can match what they can do. It will not take them long to locate all these pieces.”
“Okay and once they have the pieces what are they going to do with it? The fact they referenced it as a key probably means they have to use it in some way to open something,” Kai commented and Wu stated, “well we have more to go through but so far we can tell yes they are going to need to use these pieces in some kind of apparatus that is likely somewhere here in our realm hopefully we can find it before they do.”
“So we need to spy on them but it will be very difficult for us to do that… what are we going to do?” Cole wondered. They all thought for a minute on the problem. Jay was the first to offer a suggestion, “what if we caught some of them and interrogated them?”
“And how would we accurately get information out of them? Truth Tea doesn’t work on them,” Kai noted and Cole countered, “it doesn’t work on the Huntsman and Drekavacs but we never tried some of their more beastial monsters.”
“Yha but would they know anything valuable?” Nya wondered and Columatzin explained, “despite how us mortals would view them these beastial looking allies of theirs aren’t just low level grunts. They are equally involved in the workings of their forces and activities of the clan and are equally intelligent to the other species of the void. Also they are capable of speech in our tongues. They just don’t like speaking with our kinds. If you know how to speak to them in the right way then you can get them to speak. As for the Huntsman and Drekavacs there are ways you can get them to speak to you and reveal secrets. In ancient times those in our ancestral realm used to often interact with denizens of the realm of the roots. They would enlist their services or even make dealings with them until the passing of the Laws of Bracadune by the shepherd of the realm who was titled the Dragon Master which forbade dealings with those denizens in order to protect the peoples from them. Most of the under root denizens have no qualms with doing whatever they want to mortals which often put mortals in danger. To them we are lesser beings no more than ants; objects of intrigue and beasts of servitude like an ox or dog. We do have documents on some of the practices from before the time of that law which we could try on these beings to trick them into revealing secrets.”
“You think it could work?” Lloyd wondered and Columatzin expressed, “potentially. It’s been centuries since these practises were used and I’ve never dealt with these beings but that doesn’t mean we still can’t try right?”
“That’s true,” Cole noted and Nya stated, “okay but if we tried this how would we capture one of these beings and can they be contained? Normal materials don’t seem to work on them very well.”
“Well we could make cells lined with materials they are affected by,” Columatzin offered and Kai noted, “where would we get this stuff though. You said they are hard to find.” Columatzin replied with, “yes but we may be able to find a way. As far as I am aware while there are similar laws to the Bracadune laws here there are some ways we can get past this. All realms are paired with a realm counter to its energy. While all realms are fairly balanced some are more inclined towards darkness while others are more ingrained in the light. The Cursed realm was one of darkness while its counter Jinjago was countered more to the light. Paired realms are also easier to pass through to each other than to other realms. The realm of our ancestors was paired with the realm of madness while Ninjago is paired to the Underworld and there are many natural breaks in the realm that allow easy passage between the two. The Underworld like many of the darkness do not have laws against communing with the so called demons of the roots, in fact many of these beings inhabit these realms, plus these darker realms have large abundances of the materials we can use on these monsters. The Underworld after all is where our tribe got its reserves of Damned Stone. Of course we’d have to make some sort of dealing with them; they’ll probably want something of our realm that is rare there in payment but I’m pretty sure we could get some kind of dealing.”
“I don’t like the sound of such an activity; how can we trust those beings would not be up to something bad or tricking us?” Lloyd wondered and Jay agreed, “yha making deals with monsters doesn’t sound safe.”
“Well do you have any other ideas we could try?” Cole asked. They all thought a moment before the rest agreed that they really didn’t have much of a choice.
“Okay I guess we could try this for now. I think though we shouldn’t rule out any other possible options for the future in case this doesn’t work,” Lloyd expressed and they agreed. They would try this out now but wouldn’t stop thinking out the possibilities for other plans of action. While Wu and Columatzin worked on getting supplies the ninja kept up with combating the clan while attempting to capture some of their members. They decided to start small in their captures starting with trying to capture a Serpent-fly as their first capture. It looked easy. They were small and weak even though they were an unsettling mix of insect and snake. This proved a little harder than they expected. These creatures had a pretty strong bite which was made worse by the pinchers next to its mouth which it could close while biting delivering four points of pain with its bite instead of two. They were capable of constricting like a snake and had hard exoskeleton like scales banding their bodies like a kind of armour giving them a defence over the ninjas attacks. To capture one of these things they snuck into a town in the clans colonised region at night. Many towns and villages in the early conquered regions were not really overseen by the more humanoid clan members like the Huntsman and Drekavacs who were more often in larger settlements and their frontal attack forces that were conquering areas meaning it would be easier for them to sneak in and complete their task without having to get into a fight with the more problematic humanoid beings of the clan. In these smaller settlements it was largely the more beastial members keeping control over the area. They felt it would be safest and easier to hunt for one of these Serpent-flies in that kind of environment.
They went to a small farmer town at night. While it was only a group of twenty Skurocs, a flock of about 15 Serpent-flies and two Gorgayhurra in the town of a few hundred people everyone was scared of the creatures and had started a practice of leaving sacrifices largely of left over’s from meals, waste cuts of meat and bones from the butchers shop and day olds from the bakery to appease the creatures to keep them pacified. The villagers were a bit wary of what the ninja wanted to do worried it could break the peace they’d managed to work out with these creatures and spark their wrath but the townsfolk didn’t interfere with their work. Jay, Kai, Nya, Cole and Zane went into the village while Pixal and Lloyd waited outside with a cargo van to get out of there when the task was complete knowing the monsters were likely going to attack when they interacted with the creatures. Lloyd had started with the others heading into the town but had to leave and wait outside as when they entered the town he was starting to get aggressive. While the monsters did recognise him these more beastial ones were clearly scared of just seeing Lloyd and would keep their distance from him while Lloyd would get mad yelling at them, cursing at them and threatening them. Lloyd got into an argument with Cole who told him it was probably best if he left the village to prevent problems before Lloyd got control of his Oni nature and realised it was best if he wasn’t in the area. It wasn’t hard for them to find a group of these Serpent-flies. The villagers had found these monsters were attracted to heat and light so had made a large metal brazier near an inn in the center of the town where they were burning wood, crop wastes and cow dung to appease the creatures. Serpent-flies had come to rest around it lying around the brazier or draped on its frame appearing to be at rest; it was hard to tell if they were asleep or not due to their eyelid-less insect like eyes but they were pretty sure by the still to very slow movements of their insect looking wings that they were resting. They didn’t react much to the ninja getting close with the cat carrier they planned to hold one in. Even as the ninja slowly stalked towards them and placed the carrier down they were calm however when they went to grab one the monsters reacted swarming their group biting and wrapping around them to suck energy from them. They hadn’t brought their weapons not wanting to hurt the creatures so were left with their powers to fend off the attacks and hopefully knock one out. This was proving difficult though like swatting a fly as the creatures were fast and their insect eyes let them catch the ninjas movements before they could too close to the creatures. This made hitting or grabbing the creatures hard. In their struggles Kai ended up setting grass and parts of buildings on fire which Nya had to put out to prevent the fire from spreading and Jay ended up shocking Cole stunning him. Zane was hesitant to make a movement for some time a little worried of getting zapped by Jay just watching the creatures as they buzzed around attacking them till Jay chastised him for not helping.
Serpentfly: 
“I am trying to assess the best way to catch one,” Zane replied before using his powers to try and cool one of the creatures. He hoping that like most snakes and insects these creatures were probably cold blooded so would slow down or enter a paralysis like state if they got too cold however if that wasn’t the case then hopefully if it was frozen in ice the creature would be trapped. Jay chastised, “can you make it quicker; these things really hurt!” While the others were getting bit riling them up the creatures were largely leaving Zane alone causing Kai to remark to Zane, “hey how come they’re not biting you?”
“I do not think they have the strength to bite into metal. They have attempted to try and get between the plates of my skin and areas where metal is not present though,” Zane replied before Cole defended, “don’t criticize him. It’s not his fault he’s got inbuilt defences against these things.”
“I wasn’t criticizing, these things are just annoying… hey watch what you’re doing!” Kai exclaimed as Zane trying to hit one of the Serpent-flies accidently hit Kais one arm encasing it in ice. Zane replied, “sorry, it’s just easier to hit them when they come to rest on something… there’s too many and they’re moving too much to lock on or focus on any individual specimen. It’s easier when they land.” Kai hit one of the creatures on the head with his frozen arm to break the ice; while the ice broke off to his misfortune it didn’t knock out or slow the creature.
“And they only seem to be landing on us,” Jay commented and Zane stated, “I’m trying to not freeze any of you.” During their scuffle a few times one of them managed to get somewhat of a hold on one of the creatures but they’d lose their grip when Zane in his attempts to slow the creatures would end up freezing patches of ice on them.
“Zane watch where you’re aiming,” Nya growled her anger getting higher the longer these creatures swarmed them and the more Zane ended up hitting one of them. Cole defended Zane, “don’t be mad at him he’s not doing it on purpose.” Zane took a moment’s pause to observe the situation. He noted Jay had one of the Serpent-flies wrapped around himself coiled around his shoulder and neck trying to immobilize and knock him out. He’d been wanting to avoid this but Zane felt this was the best way to catch one of the creatures. Using his powers he froze Jay with the creature declaring once the two were frozen, “I caught one!”
“Did you have to freeze Jay in the process?!” Nya asked shocked by Zanes actions before Kai exclaimed, “we can talk about that later now let’s get out of here!” Kai grabbed the cat carrier using it like a weapon to smack the Serpent-flies away as Zane picked up frozen Jay and they ran from the area. The Serpent-flies followed them for a few meters before abandoning the attack and heading back to the brazier. They got to the van they had waiting and got in it.
“Well things didn’t go as planned but we caught one,” Kai remarked as they started to head back to the Monastery Zane, Cole and Nya working on breaking the Serpentfly from Jay to put it in the carrier and breaking Jay out of the ice; Jay feeling freezing once free. Once back at the Monastery they put the Serpentfly in a cage they had quickly erected in the Hanger Bay to take a stab at interrogating it. They started by asking the creature some simple questions to see if this would work. They asked the creature what it had been doing in the town, what were the orders it had been given, what were other members of the clan up to, did it know about this Necromira being and what was planned to be done with her. The creature at first didn’t respond instead just investigating its cage looking for a way out occasionally buzzing its wings in frustration.
“Maybe this isn’t going to work,” Kai expressed. Shortly after he spoke the creature spoke surprisingly clear in their language, “why did you bring me to this place? Why the questions? I was warm by that fire and the light was pretty. It’s chilly in here.” It stopped looking around curling up to rest laying its head on its body to look at them.
“Well we’re technically in a cave and it’s a little too big to properly heat in here but it’s not that cool in here. The cave traps heat and the computers we have down here produce enough heat to keep the temperature pretty warm and stable,” Cole noted and Kai added, “yha it’s not too bad.” Jay joked, “and coming from him then you know it’s not cold. He hates when things get below like 15 (59 F) degrees.”
“Hey you find that chilly too,” Kai commented and Nya stopped their arguing by commenting, “outside Zane, Pixal and Cole I think we all find that a bit chilly.” The two could agree with that.
“This creature is not cold blooded but it isn’t warm blooded either being somewhere in the middle. It could be feeling cold as where it comes from is usually at a warmer temperature than what we have in here so it feels cold to it,” Zane noted temporarily using his heat sensing vision to assess the creature. It was registering warmer than a cold blooded animal but much lower than a warm blooded one having a temperature around 12 (53 F) degrees. Kai noted “well they had all been chilling awfully close around that fire.”
“If we got you something warm would you answer us,” Pixal offered the creature. The Serpentfly just looked at them for a minute before expressing, “maybe.”
“Give it some fire,” Jay urged Kai who expressed, “what I’m not letting that thing touch me! It’s creepy and kind of gross. It’s like part bug!” Jay argued, “you’re the only one here that can burn hot like a furnace.” Kai knew he was right so reluctantly opened the cage door a bit to put his hand in warming his hand up in the process. The Serpentfly at first pulled back to flick its tongue over his hand, sniffing like a snake, before wrapping part of its body on his hand unsettling Kai. It was cold with hard but smooth armoured skin but at least wasn’t slimy like he thought it would be.
“Will you now answer some of our questions?” Cole asked. There was a pause before the monster replied, “what would you want to know from me?” They repeated their questions to the creature. It was quiet for a moment before replying, “we were tasked to keep an eye on the area and keep order on our territory while the others continue our work. We never thought the humans would be so gracious to our presence; giving tasties and toasty fires for us to slumber with. They must really love us; the leaders told us they’d dislike us. Guess they’re wrong.”
“Yha they’re not giving that stuff to you because they like you,” Jay commented and Cole asked, “what are the other clan members up to?” The Serpentfly stated, “what we came here for.”
“What did you come here for?” Lloyd asked. The Serpentfly looked him over before expressing, “that is not to be shared with mortals specially that one. He’s the bad one, the Oni one.” Lloyd couldn’t help but feel angered by the Serpentflies words but he managed to keep hold of himself.
“Are you sure you can’t tell us?” Jay asked. The Serpentfly was quiet so Jay asked, “what if we complimented you? You know your wings are pretty and you have striking colourful eyes. Most bugs look creepy but you don’t. You look nice and kind of cute.”
“Pretty? Cute? I’ve never heard a human call us those before. You must be special… I like this special,” the Serpentfly expressed and Jay asked, “would you now tell us what your pals are up to?” The Serpentfly tilted its head as if thinking something over before responding starting with a long n, “no.”
“Not even with compliments? What about with treats or… or… I don’t know what your kind likes,” Jay commented and the Serpentfly stated, “no, it’s a secret.”
“You sure?” Jay asked and the Serpentfly responded sounding almost a bit playful as it talked, “I said it’s a secret.”
“I don’t think this is going to work,” Lloyd commented getting more angered at the creature. He could swear this thing kept giving him a strange look and he felt it was somehow prying at him making his Oni side feel threatened. He was managing to keep it in control however he could sense he was losing some control to it; he could hear Zane and Pixal making their telepathic communications with each other now and then. He felt they were probably working on their analysis with each other of this creature… which was talking to them?! Wait was he really hearing that. Lloyd could hear a noise similar to the one the two droids were making but it was coming from this monster who kept glancing randomly at the two for extended periods. Why was it making that noise? Was it mimicking the two droids? If he could hear the two with his Oni senses active then this creature likely could hear them doing that noise at all times. Could it understand what the sounds meant or like him was it just noise to its senses? Why was it mimicking the two? If it was mimicking them could then Zane and Pixal hear it? Was it just coincidence that the monster was making this noise at oddly timed intervals with the sound from the two droids that made it look like it might be talking with them or was it really talking with them? Zane and Pixal didn’t seem like they were talking with the monster or even aware it was mimicking them. Why would this monster be trying to communicate like a droid? What was it up to?
“We could still try some truth tea on it,” Cole noted and Pixal suggested, “maybe we should try coming at this from another angle and it may be more lenient in information.”
“What other angle could there be to do this?” Kai wondered and Pixal showed what they meant by asking the creature, “is remaining in that town all you have been tasked to do?” The creature paused for a moment before replying, “for now. Eventually we’ll have other tasks especially when she comes.”
“She,” Pixal asked and seeming to realise he could accidently spill things he wasn’t supposed to the Serpentfly responded, “not for you to know.” Zane explained, “this she you refer to is Necromira is it not? If so we already know of her and that your group is after her.”
“Oh yes her, these mortals do know her,” the Serpentfly expressed and Cole commented, “yes this lady of rot and decay. We hear she’s pretty terrible.”
“Depends on who you ask; She leaves a great deal of rotting and festering things behind which attracts a lot of yummy bugs. I do hear though that she has a super bad attitude. Hopefully it’s not as bad as my girlfriends when she’s in her moods,” the Serpentfly expressed and Nya noted, “we also know you need these piece things to get to her and that you already have four of them.”
“Yes four; soon to be five. Jarl Kamal has sent some out to other realms to fetch them. When the Augur Rosic divinates a potential location they send some to the other realms to scout out and retrieve it for them. So much work, so much responsibility; it’s not for me. I’m happy with guard duty where there’s snacks and plenty of time for naps. Others can take all that work and some of the other realms are unpleasant to be in. Too cool or too hot or too dry,” the Serpentfly explained.
“What are you doing with those pieces in the meantime?” Pixal asked and the Serpentfly responded, “you’re looking for them aren’t you. Well you’re not getting that information from me.” Losing a bit of control to his Oni side his anger growing from the presence of this monster and its energy and the confusion he was getting from it seeming to try and communicate secretly with Zane and Pixal caused Lloyd to snap at the monster.
“I don’t care what you’ve been told you’re going to tell us what we want if you know what is good for you now tell us where are you keeping these pieces?” Lloyd threatened the monster bringing a dark energy to his hands in the action. The Serpentfly became terrified throwing itself into the one back corner of its cage wings out and jaws and pinchers open in a defensive display in fear Kai quickly taking his hand out of the cage worried of his hand getting injured by the scared monster and quickly closing the door to prevent its escape. They were all startled by Lloyds reaction taking some steps back from him.
“Lloyd you need to calm down. This is just a trail run no need to be serious,” Cole ordered before the Serpentfly began to quickly spill, “I don’t know; I’m not lying. You’d have to ask someone in the frontal forces about that. I haven’t had contact with them since we took the capital. I’m just a lowly foot soldier not a general please spare me!” Lloyd continued to threaten, “how can I tell you are not lying and why are you making that noise?”
“What noise?” the Serpentfly asked confused and Lloyd challenged some of his skin developing dark patches, “you’re copying the noise Zane and Pixal make when they telepathically speak with each other. Why are you doing that? What are you saying to them?”
“You can hear that?” Zane commented he and Pixal surprised at this information while Kai commented, “they make noise when they do that? How come we can’t hear it?”
“Cause it’s in a frequency our hearing ranges cannot hear like how we can’t hear a dog whistle,” Jay explained as the Serpentfly stammered, “it’s an interesting sound; I just wanted to copy it. I wasn’t saying anything; it’s just noise.” Lloyd expressed, “you’re not trying to secretly talk to them are you?”
“No, just mimicking it,” the Serpentfly defended trying to make itself look smaller and Lloyd demanded, “how can I trust your words? How can I know you were not trying to sway them to your side?”
“The creature was not talking to us; we didn’t even know it was making any noise. Besides you know we’d never betray you,” Zane expressed before Lloyd harshly growled at him and Pixal, “I can’t trust your twos words either especially in this situation with this thing.” Zane and Pixal were startled by his words seeming a little hurt by them. The others noted this and were not happy with Lloyd.
“Hey that was very unnecessary. Just because there is something wrong with you doesn’t give you the right to threaten Zane and Pixal,” Cole chastised causing Lloyd to proclaim, “you better not be conspiring with them.”
“Lloyd enough no one’s conspiring anything. I think you need to go meditate and get control of yourself,” Cole ordered as the Serpentfly began buzzing around its cage looking for a way to escape terrified. Jay commented he and Kai huddling close to each other scared by Lloyd, “yha you’re starting to go Oni mode.” Jays words caught Lloyds attention and looking at the others and seeing their unease he looked at himself. Seeing the darkened patches of his skin made him realise he’d lost control and he began to calm down.
“I’m sorry; it’s just that creature… I was doing good till it started making that noise,” Lloyd commented and Pixal inquired she and Zane confused, “what noise?”
“It was making a similar noise to that bird insect like chirping noise you two make when you do that mental communication thing of yours,” Lloyd explained. Pixal noted, “we were just going over our analysis of this creature. We did not know it was copying us or that you can hear us.”
“Only when my Oni side surfaces; even when it is just a little bit I can hear the sound,” Lloyd commented and Zane wondered, “can you understand the noise?” Lloyd responded, “no it just sounds like weird birds chirping.”
“And that drove you Oni crazy?” Jay asked to which Lloyd responded, “no it was the creature copying it that bothered me.”
“Maybe until you have greater control over your Oni side you shouldn’t take part in these interrogations,” Nya noted to which Kai joked, “unless we need to really scare the answer out of the monsters. That really seemed to work.”
“At least for on this one it worked. I think after that it’s told us all it knows and probably has nothing more important to tell us,” Cole noted as Lloyd left. Kai wondered looking at the creature which was trying to find a way out of the cage clearly scared, “so what are we going to do with this thing now?” They all looked at the creature for a moment before Cole expressed, “for now we’ll just leave it to calm down. Maybe we can squeeze some random information out of it later. Zane and Pixal could also do some studying of it. You two would like that wouldn’t you?” The two droids could agree they were interested in studying it but the way Cole had talked to them had them confused.
“Maybe when Columatzin gets back he could try something to see if we can get anything else out of the creature,” Kai suggested as they all left the Bay leaving the creature to calm down. They went about doing various work in the Monastery for a few hours before at one point Cole went down to the Hanger Bay to check on the Serpentfly. He was shocked to find it was gone the cage being open and the monster nowhere in sight. He quickly told the others who came to investigate. The security cameras they had on in the bay and had focussed on the creature had oddly been shut down so they couldn’t see what happened. They could only guess that the creature had done that to cover up its escape, they did know members of the clan all seemed very able to mess with technology to suit their needs. As for its escape they were pretty sure it had figured out how to open the cage they had it in which was just a plain dog cage with no actual locks on the doors. They searched around to see if it was hiding somewhere there or if it had damaged or stolen anything important. They couldn’t find it hanging around anywhere and nothing seemed damaged however oddly something had tried accessing the computers. Zane and Pixal did a quick analysis and concluded nothing had been stolen; whoever had tried to access the computers hadn’t been able to likely as whoever had tried to do it had poor skills in technology so could not get past the security codes they had on the computers to keep strangers from getting into their computers. They had good reason to believe the Serpentfly had been the one to do that likely trying to sneak some information for the court before it left but luckily it didn’t have the skills or brains to access that kind of information. Seeing its escape and attempts to spy some data from them they felt it best to wait till they had the right equipment and utilities to capture and hold these monsters. To do that they felt they needed the Damned stone to have some control over clan members. To get this stone they needed to make a dealing with someone in the Underworld even though they weren’t too happy about that idea. The Underworld was not a good place and many from there, especially anyone with power would not be the most trustworthy of individuals but they didn’t have much of a choice.
In order to work out a dealing with individuals from the Underworld to get this damned stone for them to work with Wu and Columatzin took a short venture there. It didn’t take them long to find individuals to aid them in fact a group from there sought them out. A group of the unsettling un-dead hounds the clan had used on their attack in the city hunted them down chasing them through the decaying dead looking wastelands of the Underworld into a decaying graveyard where the structures there were all overgrown, damaged or partially buried. The temple was in ruin with only a mausoleum there being the only place still in decent condition though the door and some windows were broken. The monsters chased and cornered them in the mausoleum where they were ambushed by a being claiming to call themselves an emissary from the Court of Necrom. This emissary was one of the unsettling un-dead half bird half humanoid creatures the clan had also employed when conquering the capital known as a Noctern Crow. Instead of fighting the emissary of this court came to talk to them. This court was willing to do workings with them but they wouldn’t do it for free. What they wanted however the two were unsure if they were willing to co-operate. This court wanted two things that were apparently hard to come by in the Underworld both of which were things they felt were questionable and they were a bit uncomfortable with. This emissary let them return to Ninjago to talk it over with the others before it would seek them out after seven days.
Noctern Crow:
The one request was the court wanted thirty tons of soul gems. Soul Gems were a forbidden item in Ninjago. They were considered cruel and inhumane items as their primary purpose was for trapping or binding the souls of the living so they could be used as an energy source or to enslave the ghost of the living for the gem holders purpose. These gems were harvested from veins of what looked like large exposed geodes in caves and underground. Soul gems normally only held animal or non humanoid souls however that was not how people often used them. There were plenty of ways to corrupt these gems turning them into black soul gems which could no longer hold animal souls and instead held humanoid souls. Not only that but other properties to the gem also changed. In normal gems their hold on the soul was temporary eventually releasing the soul back to the ether. Black Soul Gems however kept hold of the trapped soul which could only be released by dark magic’s where the trapped would be sent to the Cursed Realm. These black soul gems were highly prized by necromancers and practitioners of dark arts who liked to use them to enslave individuals and keep them that way even past their death. The ninja weren’t sure what this court of Necrom wanted these gems for but it was likely not for good. Zane and Pixal believed Necrom was likely a shortening for necromancy which was a common practice in the Underworld. This likely meant these soul gems they wanted were not going to be used for anything good. However there was a good chance they were only going to use it in the Underworld which wasn’t their world to protect and use of such items was legal there even for dark uses. The ninja weren’t sure how they were going to get all the gems this group wanted but they could agree to this. These gems were common contraband confiscated by police in some areas and many mines had deposits of the material that could be extracted alongside their usual resources so getting them wouldn’t be too hard.
The other request this court wanted was much more questionable. They wanted 6 000 souls. When this emissary told them this Wu and Columatzin were a bit confused at what he meant though had a bad feeling they knew what it was. This feeling was confirmed when the crow explained it was as it sounded. 6 000 souls meant 6 000 living humanoids. They didn’t care where they got or who these people they were given were; they didn’t need pure innocent souls the worst criminals would do fine. This request was troublesome. Why did they want people? They were pretty sure this group was not going to be good to the people and the people they wanted likely were not going to be seen again once this group got them. While they could agree to getting this group the soul gems this request was something they weren’t too sure of. The group was fine if they were given the worst criminals so that softened the deal but did they have the right to choose this fate for others not to mention how would the people of their realm feel about this decision if it ever came to the public’s attention that they had done this? There was plenty of individuals in prisons across Ninjago that could fulfill this quota so it wouldn’t be hard to get them; it was the choice of if they agreed to this request or not that was the problem. They could give this court the worst of the worse individuals who had committed some of the worse crimes imaginable like murderers, serial killers, warlords, people who did terrible things they didn’t wish to think of to others especially animals, woman and children and even sold people like they were objects to others. All had life sentences or had the death penalty due to how terrible they were meaning these individuals were never getting out of prison and were just a burden to taxpayers to care for; the resources to care for them could be repurposed for caring for those that truly needed it like children, the disabled or the elderly. These were people that were nothing but a danger and a burden to everyone else. Not many would miss these criminals if they disappeared, many even their own families wanted nothing to do with that was how bad some of them were, so giving them to this court would benefit many but the unknown of what this court wanted to do with them had them hesitant at making a decision. They were pretty split over what to do. Nya, Cole and Kai didn’t have much grievances with the idea; they could see the good in this action but the unknown of this court and why were they so willing to work with them had them hesitant to fully agree to these terms. Jay felt nothing wrong with giving these monsters the worst criminals, he felt safer knowing they could be somewhere they couldn’t escape or harm the innocent, however he didn’t feel they could trust this court; what were they up to and why did they want people? Wu and Lloyd both were torn over the dilemma; these were people they were talking about after all not some lifeless object; did they have the right to determine the fates of others like this plus what kind of darkness were they dealing with by agreeing to work with this court? Unsettling to some of them however not too surprising to them Zane and Pixal fully agreed to giving the court these individuals and felt nothing wrong with it even thinking they could better the deal by giving them more of these criminals to help in a sense cleanse their realm from darkness. To them the removal of such dark criminals from their realm was the right thing to do no matter how that was done. To those inexperienced with droids such a view seemed cold, heartless and dark but the rest of them understood to the two droids this was a caring decision. Droids used logic more than feelings when making decisions and had a strong sense of judgement; if you did something criminal they wouldn’t hesitate to make you remember and pay for that and the worst the crime the worst the punishment. Elimination of a criminal by any means was fully acceptable in the eyes of a droid. This was why droids were never permitted for use as guards for prisons; they often proved rather cruel, highly unpredictable and dangerous to criminals. To them it was logical to permanently remove certain kinds of criminals by any means necessary in order to protect the innocent, law abiding or vulnerable.
To make a final decision over this request they waited till this emissary showed up to make a final decision wanting to know more about the reasons for their requests. As he had told them this emissary appeared via a portal in the Monasteries courtyard on the day he said he would. With him there the ninja inquired about some more information on why this court wanted these things. The emissary was rather forthcoming replying that the gems were sometimes used as currency in the Underworld and were useful as a source of power there. Energy sources like electricity were not common or really used that often in the Underworld. As for the people the court was going to use them as slaves to build necessities for them. This court apparently was a ruling class in the Underworld and held control of a great deal of territory in the Underworld; territory that currently was under threat from a rival kingdom they called the Court of Shadows so they were needing cheap quick labour to build up their gear and supplies and eventually these slaves would become citizens of their kingdom getting turned into one of the various cursed un-dead of the realm like the skeletons commonly found there. This complicated things. Affairs of the Underworld were not theirs to deal with, Ninjago was their priority, but did they wish to doom people to this fate? The fact they were giving this court the worst of the realms criminals who in times past would have been banished to the Cursed Realm or Underworld anyway softened the conditions plus for the safety of many more sacrificing these individuals was the right thing to do. Despite what people might think of them they decided to agree with the emissaries requests. They would get them these Soul Gems and the 6 000 of the worst criminals of the realm and the court would get them the Damned Stone. The ninja would get shipments of soul gems sent to the Monastery where they would trade them once a week for shipments of Damned Stone which the court would deliver and swap for the soul gems at the Monastery. They would do it at night to try and avoid anyone seeing the transactions. As for the criminals they gave the emissary a list of all the crooks and where to find them so he and his allies could go and collect them. Zane and Pixal had made the list by expertly hacking into the databases of every prison and police station in the realm careful to leave no evidence of their hacking or actions. They had even somehow been able to pinpoint the locations of other extreme criminals who law enforcement had yet to find and capture. How they had been able to do that the others couldn’t tell and the two droids would only state they had their ways. They could only guess their skills at recognising patterns, understanding data and natural tech abilities allowed them to in a sense sniff out the criminals like how vultures could find dead things from high up in the sky and miles away from them no matter what. The ninja wanted this action to be done in secret and didn’t want anyone knowing they were involved in this; knowledge of this deal wouldn’t be good for the public to know. It could lead to serious distrust by the public to them. This emissary was quite pleased with their agreement disappearing as a flock of crows that flew off into the distance. By the next morning to their surprise along with reports of a few of the worst criminals in the realm having disappeared under very mysterious circumstances they found a crate of Damned Stone in the Monastery’s courtyard along with the paperwork for their deal outlining how much they were going to get. The court was already working on their deal.
This court was giving them a mix of the raw ore and refined ingots of Damned Stone in unmarked wooden crates which would be dropped off once a week by skeletons from the Underworld who would pick up the crates they had for them of soul gems. The ninja weren’t sure at first how to work Damned Stone luckily however Columatzin had texts from the Grahtwyrms village about working with it that he could get for them. Once they had what they needed and were getting regular shipments of Damned Stone they made some plans on what to make from them. First thing they did was outfit and reinforce the prisoner cells in the caves under the Monastery that were connected to the Hanger Bay for them for holding clan members when they caught them and create some various sized cages, cuffs and chains to hold and transport the monsters. After these were built as they already had weapons made of Damned Stone thanks to the Grahtwyrms they worked on making equipment for the Ninjago Defence force to help them fight the clan forces without the aid of the ninja or any other elemental master. Building everything was going to take quite a bit of work and they still had to work on keeping the peace. While the clan had slowed their rate of expansion not doing much conquering anymore they were sending out scout groups that routinely caused problems pillaging places and protecting the borders of their territory and the ninja were needed to help at times to drive back the clans attacks. There was also the disappearances of some of the realms worse criminals which had many unnerved as many worried the clan was somehow involved in the disappearances and going to turn these evil doers on the people of the realm. Police forces got the ninja involved looking into these disappearances; the ninja went along with the general belief that the clan was responsible not wanting the truth to be let out. Along with the issues from the court the ninja were also often being enlisted in fighting back surges in criminal activities and rising bandit and criminal groups that were using the clans actions to distract from their actions. With all the work they were doing they wondered if they should get some aid to building what they needed. They were a bit hesitant over this idea as they weren’t wanting to invite strangers into the Monastery at that time; they had too much secret information they couldn’t risk spies potentially getting. They were just going to accept their circumstances and take longer to build what they needed to till Zane and Pixal offered the idea of Kai and Nya’s parents and Jay’s parents coming to help them. Along with them being able to trust them Kai and Nya’s parents Ray and Maya had plenty of skills with metal working and Jays father Ed was also pretty decent at craftworks. This was an idea they could all agree with and some of them were a little surprised that Zane and Pixal had been the ones to offer such a suggestion. The two were not the most readily accepting to having visitors in the Monastery. They were not very social and preferred to interact very little with visitors; the others likened the two to cats when strangers came over. Minding their own business, steering clear of rooms visitors gathered in and often not interacting with strangers unless they made the first move. It was just a normal trait of their nature, a combination from their low social drive and difficulties in understanding human communications, however as Ray and Maya and Ed and Edna had spent a decent amount of time around the two and had gotten fairly good at understanding the strangeness of droids Zane and Pixal were much more tolerable of them visiting and acted less distant and were more relaxed and friendly around them than with general visitors. The strange fact it had been Zane and Pixal and not Kai, Nya or Jay to make this suggestion aside they all agreed to this idea. Their parents were more than happy to help and came to stay with the ninja for some time to help them get some of the building done.
With the help outfitting the cells and creating the equipment for their endeavour went largely without a hitch. Shipments from the Underworld remained steady as they’re deal ran its course. They were always worried of some kind of trick after all most from the Underworld were not the most trustworthy often likened to snakes in actions so they made sure to thoroughly search each shipment worried of traps or anything harmless. They never found anything however a few times they were unsettled to find some stowaways from the Underworld in the shipments; largely small multi-legged stowaways. Spiders from the Underworld were a common problem and a few times snakes like Skullthons, which could grow to about a meter long, had ended up in the shipments and would get loose in the storage room off the Hanger Bay where they were storing the supplies or even found their way into the Bay and even the Monastery where they made themselves at home to every ones dislike. They had come across a few of the creatures when they searched the shipments and made sure to capture and send them back to the Underworld when they found them. This wasn’t a big issue as the creatures most likely were sneaking into the shipments and getting overlooked as they were shipped out so it likely wasn’t intentional that they were getting shipped to the Monastery but it was highly annoying and a bit unnerving especially when they came to realise they were missing some of these creatures in their searches which was letting them go unnoticed till one of them had the misfortune of encountering the creatures somewhere on the property often in the most undesirable locations. A few times they were unfortunate in finding the spiders having built webs under the sofas, behind the fridge and even around the toilets. Even worse these spiders had no qualms with climbing over them and they sometimes found they had got bitten by these spiders leaving large itchy welts that sometimes turned to open sores. Zane and Pixal were the only ones safe from these bites as the spiders couldn’t bite through their skin and they were immune to the spiders venom. The snakes weren’t much better to encounter. They weren’t venomous but they were sneaky and constrictors with sharp teeth. Luckily they tended not to climb over people so didn’t crawl over them as they slept or at random but they did tend to hide themselves in often inconvenient or unpleasant places for them to encounter particularly in the kitchen, basement pantry and bathroom. Lloyd had the misfortune of finding one of the Skullthons in a toilet one day giving him a serious fright and Kai got shocked by one falling on him in the shower while his eyes were closed to clean his hair; he’d yelled so loud and high pitched the others had at first thought it was Nya who had gotten shocked as they came to see what was going on. It amused everyone but greatly embarrassed Kai. The worst was the creatures unlike normal snakes and spiders which normally tried to avoid people had no qualms with showing themselves and even crawling over them even when they were trying to sleep making for a very uncomfortable time. For a time they developed the habit of looking behind and under furniture and appliances before using them or getting too close to make sure one of those things weren’t there. This issue was more of nuisance than an actual problem and eventually solved itself in a strange way. Eventually it was more than snakes and spiders that snuck into a shipment. The first thing they noticed of it was a smell as they investigated a crate of Damned Stone ingots that had just been dropped off.
“Geez what is that smell?” Kai noted as they brought the large wooden crate into the storage room. Cole was quick to comment, “it wasn’t me.”
“I hope not cause if it is then I think you should see the doctor,” Jay joked as Zane and Nya opened the crate. The two stopped once it was open both a little saddened at what they found.
“Boys I don’t think you should be joking about the smell. Think one of you could get a box or bag?” Nya commented to which Lloyd asked, “why?” He came over to look in the crate followed by the others. Lying at the top of the crate was what appeared to be an Opossum that looked to have found its way into the crate and became trapped. It was lying still on top of the ingots packed in the crate. The face, tail, fingers and toes looked to have already decayed down to the bones, the skin was a sickly black colour and its somewhat shaggy whitish fur looked un-kept.
“Maybe it’s just playing dead? Possums play dead all the time don’t they?” Jay commented unsettled by the dead looking creature to which Kai wasted no time in expressing, “dude the skin is gone from its face! How could it just be playing dead!”
“How do you think it got in the crate? You don’t think this is a joke do you?” Jay wondered.
“It’s awfully sick and cruel if it is a joke,” Nya commented and Cole noted, “we are talking about denizens of the Underworld here. They have a dark sense of humour there.” Lloyd wondered, “what if this is some kind of threat?” As they talked curious Zane used the crowbar he’d used to open the crate to gently poke at the creature. Something about it to him seemed off.
“I hope it’s not a threat… Zane please don’t do that. I know you’re probably just curious but I think you should let the dead be,” Cole expressed gently stopping Zanes actions. Moments later they were all shocked as this seemingly dead animal jumped up alive! It hissed at them before jumping out of the crate and running off out of sight.
“It was just playing dead!” Jay expressed in a state of shock. While startled by it suddenly coming to life Zane was quite calm his suspicions confirmed as he regaled, “I was correct. That opossum is not from our realm. It is a creature from the Underworld hence its appearance. It was not really dead.”
“Great now this strange Opossum thing that smells like rotting meat is loose here,” Kai groaned. Over the next few days they didn’t see the creature but they knew it was around and had even got into the Monastery. They could just smell it when it was nearby. Lloyd however found something a little disturbing about the creatures presence that he felt only he was aware of. At times when he was under some of the influence of his Oni nature which tended to happen when he thought too much about the clan or they had recently dealt with them, after all the run ins with them he’d developed a strong hatred of them that was hard to control and easily worked up his emotions, he could hear it. It wasn’t noises he heard from it but words he could understand. The creature just tended to ramble on quietly confused about where it had gotten itself and ramblings of its thoughts which were mainly related to its daily doings, what it was thinking which often revolved around food and its observations of them. He also overheard it one day as he was meditating to control a surge of his Oni side the creature ranking who it liked and who it didn’t. It liked Cole and Jay the most as they had a habit of leaving food lying around which it liked to steal or clean up after them. It was neutral to Nya, Kai and their and Jays parents though didn’t like when their parents cleaned up any food left out or how Ed and Ray kept setting traps out to catch it even though it was clever enough to get what it wanted out of the traps and not get caught. It liked Columatzin as he was very nervous and easily scared which would send him into prayers and throwing stuff like salt and blessed water or oil around to try and banish the creature thinking it was like the beasts the clan had. The creature really liked seeing Columatzin get all skittish and scared and liked to lick up the salt and oil Columatzin would throw out. It wasn’t fond of his uncle due to Wu using incense when meditating as it disliked the smell and sometimes Wu would use an incense to try and banish the creature from the premises however what he was using had no effect on the creature and just annoyed it. There was only one individual it really disliked and that was him. It hated him considering him demon spawn and disliked being near him considering him a vermin. Strangely the creature really liked Zane and Pixal and from how it talked it sounded like it was interacting with them. It claimed they would pet it and give it treats; they would also talk to it and would use a strange language that sounded like bird chatter to it. Had Zane and Pixal interacted with this creature? As far as he was aware no one had interacted with it, in fact no one had seen it since they first had found it even though they surely had smelt it. If the two had interacted with it why were they keeping that secret and how come they hadn’t tried to capture the creature so it wasn’t wandering around their home smelling the place up? Also why were they talking to it with their droid specific communication or were they just communicating with each other and this creature just happened to be able to hear and understand it and mistook that they were talking to it? His Oni nature wanted him to think the two droids were up to something and potentially betraying the rest of them but the rest of him knew that couldn’t be the case. The two wouldn’t betray the rest of them, if there was any danger the two would act to protect the rest of them and wouldn’t just sit back and do nothing when a threat was present. They were like shepherd dogs willing to do anything to protect their flock not retrievers like Jay which would ignore or retreat from danger; he was defiantly the type to not react appropriately to a dangerous threat. He wanted to just ignore this incident but the Oni in him wouldn’t let him and kept bringing up the thought that Zane and Pixal were up to something. Eventually these thoughts led him to confront the two. He caught them the one day as they were getting ready to train in the courtyard on a Feardrake that somehow Zane and Pixal had managed to capture testing out a Damned Stone collar on the creature to see how well it worked. They had modified the collar so a signal from a remote Pixal had could shock the creature to help keep it in control. Ray, Maya, Ed and Edna sat with Wu and Columatzin to watch the ninja practise while having afternoon tea.
Feardrake:
“You two have been interacting with that possum thing from the Underworld; why have you just let that thing keep roaming around in our home?” Lloyd demanded managing to keep his anger in control; the presence of the Feardrake was agitating his Oni side and making his anger rise. Zane and Pixal momentarily seemed startled before becoming nervous as Jay complained, “wait you two could have got rid of that thing? I’ve woken up nearly throwing up several times from smelling it!”
“Why do you think they’ve encountered that thing?” Cole defended the two so Lloyd stated, “I can hear the thing talking when my Oni natures high; I think the thing is crawling around the rafters or under the floorboards a lot.”
“That will explain some of the sounds I’ve heard and why I can smell the thing without seeing it. I was starting to think I was going nuts,” Kai noted. Zane and Pixal were quiet for a moment before Pixal expressed, “we have been studying it.”
“And you couldn’t capture it to do that and keep its smell contained,” Jay complained to which Zane quickly stated, “well have you noted there is fewer snakes and spiders from the Underworld on the property?”
“Now that you mention that yha I have noted there is fewer of them around recently,” Kai noted and Nya added, “yha. It’s nice to not be woken up by a spider climbing over you in the middle of the night.” Zane explained, “that is because that creature which we believe to be a Skullossom is a predator to them. Other than the smell it is harmless to us and with its ability to hunt the problem creatures we thought it a good idea to let it be. It is just an animal and proves to be of no danger to our endeavours.”
“Okay but maybe do you think you could find some way to make it not smell so bad? Maybe give it frequent baths or something?” Jay commented and Pixal commented, “the smell is a defence mechanism. Most predators are put off by the smell so will leave it alone; it also helps with its defence of playing dead.”
“You sure it’s safe to let it be here? It isn’t some kind of spy or something,” Lloyd asked to which Zane replied, “100 percent. It is just an animal. It most likely got in the crate while looking for food possibly even chasing a spider and the denizens of the Underworld did not notice it. It is an easy mistake.”
“Don’t worry Lloyd if there was any danger Zane and Pixal would have acted and got rid of the creature. We can always trust their judgement. They’d never do anything to hurt us,” Cole expressed moving to pat Zane on the shoulder. All but Lloyd did not note that at those words a look of what Lloyd felt was worry and a bit of fear came over Zane and Pixals faces for a moment as they looked at Cole before looking to become confused as Cole commented to them, “you two are great guard dogs for the family aren’t you?” Lloyd got focussed and confused about the twos look. Why would they get nervous about Cole saying the two droids would never do anything to hurt the rest of them? The rest of them all knew unless something was wrong Zane and Pixal would never prove a threat to them and would always do anything to protect the rest of them just like they would do for the two of them.
“Are you ready for training?” Kai asking him a third time caught Lloyds attention. Putting the thoughts aside Lloyd replied, “yha I’m ready.” They got into training Pixal releasing the creature and standing back from the exercise with Wu holding the collars controller to keep an eye and some control on the creature so it wouldn’t escape the Monastery grounds. Anytime it tried to climb over the walls she would shock it temporarily stunning and annoying the creature. Despite it being only one creature the six of them didn’t do the greatest against it. It was fast and agile biting, scratching, head butting, pouncing and slashing with its tail blade at everyone till Lloyd started to lose control to his Oni side and worried of getting hurt the rest of them abandoned the training taking to the side while Lloyd fought with the monster till on Wu’s command to keep Lloyd from loosing full control and entering full Oni mode Zane tossed a heavy rubber ball at Lloyds head knocking him out. With him out Pixal and Cole got the creature locked back up in the cage.
Later that day they split up to do some work. Zane, Jay and Cole had been sent out to clear out a mine and its town that they were relying on to get some of the soul gems for their deal which had become overrun by some large spiders some of which were big enough to eat a large dog! The miners had accidently dug into the nest cavern of these large spiders angering them and letting them loose. Kai was working with his father and Ed to make bars for the cells in the Monastery. Lloyd, Nya and Pixal were working in the Hanger Bay. Pixal was studying the Feardrake which they had in a large cage in the center of the bay while Nya was at the computers. Lloyd was watching the monster holding an ice pack to where Zane had hit him with the rubber ball earlier having got a bruise from the incident using the creature to practise keeping control of his Oni nature when around these creatures. The monster clearly didn’t like him as it kept giving him dirty looks and hissing at him; it didn’t seem to mind Pixal even with her poking it, plucking scales and fuzz off it and scanning it with different instruments and it seemed oblivious to Nya as if it saw her as nothing but a random unimportant object in the environment. It seemed to only care about him. The creatures focus and aggression to him wasn’t helping him with controlling his Oni side but it was making for a good exercise and so far he was managing pretty well to stay in control.
“Uhm I know we didn’t get a good look at it but I could swear that Rota Interrum piece was reddish in color right?” Nya commented and Pixal stated, “I believe so why?”
“Cause it’s been mislabelled in our records as green,” Nya stated drawing Pixal over to check the documents. After looking over the documents Pixal noted, “that’s strange.”
“How could that have happened? Wasn’t it you and Zane who wrote up the documents?” Lloyd asked and Pixal replied, “we did… Cole was with us at the time though and you know how he has red-green color blindness and has trouble distinguishing the differences between red and green. He must have mistook the color of the item and changed the document when we weren’t looking.”
“It must be so weird to have some kind of color blindness. How did you not catch the mistake before saving the document?” Nya asked and after a moment’s pause Pixal stated, “well we were tired and not feeling the greatest at the time so we might have overlooked it. Plus we didn’t want to be rude to Cole; he was just trying to help. He didn’t do it on purpose; it’s just a flaw he has no control over.” Something to Pixals voice seemed odd to Lloyd. She sounded a bit nervous. Why would she be nervous? It was an accident; they all knew Cole often mistook the colours green and red. Cause of his partial colorblindness he had great difficulty telling the difference between the two colors. Zane and Pixal had shown the rest of them once diagrams of what it looked like to have Coles color blindness and it was weird. Red and green were hard to tell apart with reds tending to be more orangish and greens being a strange muddy yellow color. It was so strange and made Lloyd strangely thankful that he had normal colour vision. A noise suddenly caught his attention; sounded metallic. He could also feel his Oni senses heightening and he felt danger was present. Nya and Pixal seemed oblivious to any danger and continued to talk to each other. He looked around to figure out what he was sensing.
“We should probably go over some documents to make sure the information’s correct,” Nya commented and Pixal agreed, “I see no problem with that.” A commotion caught their attention. Looking behind them they were surprised and nervous to see Lloyd in a fight with the Feardrake. The two were locked in a tussle with the monster trying to bite Lloyd in the face while Lloyd was fighting to hold its jaws open.
“How did that thing get out?” Nya asked to which Pixal stated, “the cage used the same latch as a dog crate, we didn’t have any locks on it. We didn’t think we’d need it. I guess we were wrong; they can figure out basic latches.” The girls were unsure what to do as Lloyd was showing signs of losing control to his Oni side which they didn’t want to deal with. They just watched as the two fought beating each other up till with his powers now being infiltrated by his Oni nature Lloyd shoved his hand in the creatures’ mouth releasing a blast of dark energy into the creature.
“Why don’t you chew on this,” Lloyd exclaimed his voice off. The energy blast he used took out the creature blasting it to a mist which disappeared as Lloyd got up. He was roughed up so took a moment to clean and straighten himself out till he noted Nya and Pixal who were just looking at him nervous to make a move or sound with Lloyd in his borderline Oni state. He wasn’t aware of his state so questioned his voice off and sounding angry, “what are you looking at?”
“Nothing,” Nya quickly stated and Pixal expressed “I guess I was kind of done with that creature anyway. Guess that solves what we were going to do with it.” Lloyd picked up on the twos nervousness with his presence so he looked at himself. Seeing some of his skin blackening revealing his loss of control he became ashamed and apologized, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to lose control… I need to do some more work around some of those creatures; doesn’t help that they like to attack me. I’ll give you two a break while I regain control.” He left the bay leaving the girls to go over the records and at one point they dealt with a call from Zane and Cole who needed Nyas help to calm Jay who was freaking out too much after they had fallen into a nest full of spiders. There job wasn’t going so well. Cole and Jay were covered in bites some of which had turned into sores and rashes making the two itchy and in pain and Zane had ended up swallowing several spiders due to their attempts to get past his skin to hurt him which made him a bit uneasy to now have a bunch of large spiders in his stomach. Cole and Zane had come up with a plan to finish off the spiders but they needed to get Jay functioning again. He was in a panic over the creatures and unable to regain and keep control of his emotions like Zane and Cole could.
A few days later Pixal, Cole and Nya were out for some work. Jay, Kai, Ed and Ray were working on building the cells. Zane was in the hangers storage room going over the supplies they’d gotten for the construction as they were not sure how but it seemed they were missing some supplies; they were hoping the supplies were just misplaced or they’d miss counted otherwise they might have a problem. Lloyd was on the computer in the Hanger Bay. Nya’s finding of the mislabelled information had him curious. She and Pixal hadn’t found any other problems with the records but he wanted to take a look. At first everything seemed fine but as he searched he felt something was off. Were some records missing? He could have swore they had more records on the clan, their monsters and actions and things related to them than what he was finding. One record he looked for was a video of a memory Zane had got while spying on some Drekavacs talking quietly to each other while looking over a map discussing about locations for something. He could have sworn it was there just the day before. He had seen that video the other day so he knew they had it but now he couldn’t find it. Curious he searched the files by the date they had been created and when he couldn’t find it there he searched by date modified and some further oddities popped up. There were older documents that had recently been edited. That wouldn’t have been too odd if it wasn’t the time they were proclaimed to have been edited at. All were real early in the morning between 2 to 4 in the morning. None of them were up at that time; were they? He didn’t recall so. He went to check the security cameras recordings from the previous night. As he searched it he was confused and a bit worried to see from 2 to 4 in the morning the cameras caught nothing but static and there was a loud buzzing sound blocking any sound. That was strange. He searched the previous nights footage. Same thing happened between 3 and 4 in the morning. Two nights in a row, that couldn’t be normal right? They had footage from the past twelve days saved; the cameras kept the recordings from only the past twelve days before writing these over so he decided to check those. If this was a regular thing happening at night it could mean there was something wrong with the cameras that they needed to look into even though he had a suspicion that wasn’t the case and it more likely meant something or someone was sneaking around down doing things they weren’t supposed to. The day before yesterday and the day before that everything was fine. The cameras recorded as usual the one night catching one of those snakes from the Underworld slithering around for a while down there followed by that Skullossom creature a little while later which came clambering around the place likely hunting the snake. The day prior to that for an hour around two in the morning there was this same interference yet the previous four days there was nothing followed by a night where oddly between 5 and 7 in the evening the static occurred then the last two days nothing.
That last interference, no one had been at the Monastery except… they’d all gone out for dinner Kai, Nya and Jay wanting to treat their parents to a nice evening, he’d joined taking out his mom and uncle and of course anything to do with food Cole was there and Columatzin had followed curious to see what the world was like outside the Grahtwyrms valley so they’d all been out except Zane and Pixal. Because of their dietary restrictions the two had decided it best for them to stay home where they said they’d keep an eye on things. Surely if there was an intruder or something was wrong they would have noticed. Curious he checked footage from the time around this period. They had all left at around four in the afternoon and had been out till after nine at night. Kai, Jay and Nya had taken their parents for some sightseeing after dinner Columatzin following to see more about the world; he had gone with Wu to his mother’s apartment where she showed them some strange artefacts that had been uncovered at a dig site she was soon going to be working at. The two had helped her pack some things for her trip there. Cole had gone off on his own but he hadn’t come back to the Monastery till around the same time as the others, they felt he was likely visiting his father. That had left the two droids alone for some time. The footage showed the two came into the Hanger Bay around four where they were doing something at the computers. They didn’t seem to talk but Lloyd noted something interesting. It was faint and hard to hear but it sounded like the camera had picked up the noise of their telepathic like communications, that strange metallic bird like chirping. He found that both odd and interesting. While it couldn’t fully pick it up it looked like some kinds of technology had sensors sensitive enough to pick up this communication in a minor extent. He wondered for a moment if other devices could pick it up before becoming curious about why they were communicating in that way. He couldn’t help shake the feeling it was a bit odd. The two using this form of communication when alone with each other wasn’t out of the ordinary, it was natural for them to do this even if not intending to. It was a method of communication they better understood and was basal and ingrained in their programming and required a little less effort to use than using verbal words. He’d always attributed this habit of communication with droids like speaking in a parrot; a parrot would use words to communicate with humans but use mainly their squawks when communicating with another bird. That being said though Zane and Pixal like other droids didn’t use it often when communicating with each other though they sometimes slipped into the communication without meaning to. Communicating in this manner was most often used when they wanted to have a private talk with each other; often talks they didn’t want people hearing. Lloyd couldn’t help but wonder what were they talking about? The two knew they had security cameras in the bay so we’re they trying to talk about something they didn’t want the others to hear about? Or were they communicating in this way by accident. What were they trying to hide? Maybe they weren’t trying to hide anything and it was something more private they wanted to talk about; possibly something gross he didn’t want to know about. Now that they knew he could hear them communicating in this way he’d asked the one time he heard them talking in this way recently. Surprisingly they’d been okay with telling him; after however he kind of regretted hearing about it. They had been talking about digestive issues they’d been having recently due to something’s Cole had given them; they were trying to figure a way to politely get Cole to stop his recent odd behaviours to them worried he could end up giving them more serious problems. They went into more detail about their problems than he wanted to hear about making him regret asking. That was something he kind of didn’t need to know about; he wasn’t easily made queasy as Kai but that kind of stuff was still uncomfortable for him and he preferred to not to know or think about it.
After spending about twenty minutes by the computers the two left then about thirty minutes later the interference occurred. After it ended and the feed went back to normal nothing happened all night. Lloyd went back over the time the two were alone in the bay looking for anything out of the ordinary. They looked calm not like they were up to anything. A few times they did look at a spot in the room like they’d heard something, probably some random creature roaming down there after all they tended to have all sorts of random critters often get in through vents or natural cracks in the cavern the bay was made into and when someone like Jay would leave the doors open so they were used to strange sounds down there at times. After a quick look around the two always went back to their work at the computers clearly not bothered by the sounds Zane even vocally commenting that it was probably just an animal. He couldn’t exactly see what they were doing on the computers but it looked like they were working on some files.
Curious he looked at the files modified that day at that time. He checked them over. They were nothing important, just records of bio studies to some of the entities making up the clan and studies of some of their contraptions like vehicles, artillery and siege weapons. Everything seemed fine though they had added the Skullossum as a potential clan member putting in brackets behind its species name possible affiliation? They had written out their reasoning. Lloyd could see why they weren’t sure about it. Their evidence wasn’t very strong; emitting of a strange energy that felt similar to clan members, ability for him through his Oni nature to understand the creatures language and its hatred towards him. Yha those really didn’t point to it being a clan member so why did they think it was one? He could only guess the two were trying to understand this strange new thing to them to which little information was known. Probably because they were driven by logic droids always tried to make sense of everything around them and neatly and organized categorize everything he was guessing they were trying to fit this creature into what they knew so it seemed less strange to them. He guessed as little was understood of the monsters the clan had to them it made sense categorizing the creature with them. As he checked over the other documents they had edited he couldn’t see anything that stood out. He slowly combed through them several times trying to remember what they’d had before. He didn’t have the machine memory of a droid so that task was rather difficult still he felt something was different even though he couldn’t remember it.
As Lloyd tried to figure out his findings a loud noise caught his attention startling him and making him jump to his feet ready to fight. Sounded like an explosion and metal objects falling. He rushed to the source of the sound worried they were being attacked. The sound sounded like it had come from the storage room where Zane had been. He was the first one their followed shortly by Jay, Kai, Ed and Ray then Maya and Edna who came from the monastery above.
“What happened?” Lloyd asked as he got there looking around the room. Things had been tossed around, a shelf had been knocked over, weapons had been knocked off their racks on the wall and shrapnel from something was on the floor. Zane lay on the knocked over shelf looking to have been tossed against it by an explosion. He was moving slowly trying to sit up dazed and his breathing sounding weird.
“There was this noise… I thought one of the gas tanks holding the gas for welding might have a leak. I’m not sure what happened. One moment I was inspecting the tanks the next…” Zane explained as he got up Jay coming over to inspect him with Maya and Edna’s help. They helped Zane get to his feet. He was a little unstable shaken up from the explosion.
“Guess you found the leak the hard way huh. I’m guessing when you moved things there must have been a spark that set them off,” Kai expressed looking over the scraps of a two to three foot tall gas tank that had been blown open from an explosion.
“We can always get more, are you okay?” Jay asked Zane who replied, “I think so.” Jay wasn’t really convinced noting Zane didn’t sound right so he asked, “are you sure? You’re breathing a little funny.”
“Something might have been knocked loose but I’ll be fine,” Zane commented before Maya expressed noting a light blue stain on the right side of Zanes chest, “is this normal?” She touched the stain which looked to be slowly growing causing Zane to react in a bit of pain. When she pulled her hand away some of this blue stuff came off on her hand to which she noted it was wet and cold.
“I do not think that is supposed to be happening,” Edna noted and Jay explained, “that’s cooling fluid. You are hurt.”
“Don’t tell Cole!” Zane quickly expressed getting worried and confusing everyone else.
“Why would you be scared to have Cole know?” Kai asked confused and Jay stated, “why would we need to tell him? He can’t really help with this besides this isn’t that bad. I’m guessing you were hit by a piece of shrapnel that managed to pierce your skin. It won’t be too hard to fix. Come we’ll get you taken care of.”
“What about the mess?” Zane asked to which Lloyd stated, “don’t worry me and Kai can clean it up and take stock.” Zane looked nervous but didn’t object as Jay led him out of the room to take him to the droid medical bay they had built down there. All but Lloyd and Kai left the room the two starting to right and clean up the room.
“Well good thing is it looks like everything is fine, I think we’re just down about two or three tanks… do you smell that?” Kai commented as they cleaned up. Lloyd could smell something unpleasant but he was assuming that was leftover from the gas burning up in the explosion. As they lifted the shelf back up Kai expressed, “oh great you’re here.” As they lifted the shelf they ended up disturbing the Skullossum who had been lying buried under debris near it. It jumped up and ran off out of the room. As it left Kai remarked, “I wonder if that thing had anything to do with the explosion.”
“How?” Lloyd wondered to which Kai stated, “maybe it chewed a valve off or maybe it brings bad luck?” They went back to cleaning. A short while later Kai’s father Ray came into the room looking a little queasy.
“Are you okay?” Kai asked to which his father explained how he’d gone to help Jay with Zane curious to see what the inner workings of a droid were like. Zane was rather hesitant to let Jay put him offline to get to work, Jay felt he was in a little bit of shock making him afraid to be put in a very vulnerable state. Jay was able to calm Zane and get him to relax enough to co-operate. Jay and his father then began to get to work repairing Zane. A few pieces of shrapnel had pierced into his chest damaging wires, tubes for his cooling system, left damages to pseudo-muscles and one piece had pierced one of his pseudo-lungs. Jay was sure it would be easy to repair everything so it was like he was never injured; he’d repaired much worse plenty of times before. Maya had joined to see the work as well; she was largely holding Zanes one hand to comfort him the whole time even though while offline Zane was unaware of her actions. Ray had tried to help but something about how similar to actual organs and tissues some of a droids internal structures were unnerved him and made him a little uneasy. That wasn’t helped by the fact this wasn’t just some machine they were working on but a living being and one he knew which added to his uncomfortable feelings. He was managing to hold on till Maya asked if anything else might have been damaged. Jay had joked that if any part of his digestive system had been damaged they would smell it. Just the thought of that made his unease and sickness worse to which Jay took note of it remarking how he suffered the same unease and queasiness Kai had to guts stating he could see where Kai got it. He left after to calm and keep from throwing up. Kai related to his father agreeing that seeing the insides of a droid equally made him uneasy. He didn’t know how Jay and Nya could work on them without being grossed out.
As Lloyd listened to the two talk something on the floor caught his attention. He reached down and picked it up. It was a laser cutter. That wasn’t supposed to be there. This tool wasn’t normally in this room. It was with the other tools which they had in the dungeon while working on the building of the cells. What was stranger was there was smoke damage to the tip of it as if it had been close to an explosion. This made him curious. He pardoned himself from the room leaving Kai and Ray who were still talking with each other to keep cleaning the room. He went to the hanger bays computers and loaded up the security cameras for the bay and the rooms down there. He focussed on the storage room and the cells. He could see in the cells Kai and his father working welding plates of damned stone onto the wall with Jay and Ed welding together bars for the cells. In the storage room Zane was going over everything and organising the stuff in there. He kept pausing while working and looking around as if sensing something. He did say he thought he heard something that made him think one of the tanks was leaking; it seemed to take him a while to determine where the sound came from. Everything seemed normal then he noticed something. The Skullossom snuck into the cells cautiously watching Jay, Kai, Ed and Ray as if making sure they couldn’t see it while they worked. It moved over to the boxes of tools they had in there and began sniffing at them. That was odd. What was it doing? It grabbed something out of the one box in its mouth then made a quick but quiet rush out of the room. Lloyd followed its path through the hall as it made its way to the storage room. Zane didn’t seem aware of the creature as it came into the room moving to behind the one shelf while he was occupied organising some materials. At one point Zane seemed to note something was in the room with him and began looking for it heading towards the location the Skullossom went. The camera feed for the storage room then went out with that same strange interference he’d found earlier. He was confused and a bit worried. Was Kai onto something and that Skullossom had something to do with the explosion? Why would it do that? How could it do that? According to Zane and Pixal it was just an animal though there was the oddity that he could understand the creatures language… maybe it was more than an animal. Surely though Zane would have noted its actions and stopped it if he had been aware of it. Before the feed went out Zane looked to have noticed the creature. Maybe it was able to complete its actions before Zane could react though Zane would have commented about this unless Zane was in on the creatures actions. Why though would he be in on it and why would he cause an explosion? Other than taking them down some minor resources and a bit of time such an act seemed useless. He doubted it was for attention. Jay would do that but not Zane. Zane wouldn’t do something like this to get attention, that wasn’t him. He didn’t like being the center of attention so if he had done this on purpose why? Lloyd couldn’t think of a reason Zane would do this, it had to have been an accident or that creature did it. He’d have to keep an eye on that thing and something had him feeling maybe Zane and Pixal as well.
Those periods of interference were odd and while it was possible that creature could do it there was a much greater possibility for Zane and Pixal to do it. If they did it though why would they do it? How and why was information missing? That didn’t seem like something the two would do. They thrived off keeping records as accurate as possible and well organized. It would be against their nature to remove or tamper with that information. He got stuck on this issue. Trying to figure it out a little later he talked to Zane while he was alone recovering from the accident. He seemed a bit jumpy towards sounds likely a by product to experiencing that explosion; he’d be over it in a few days. Lloyd didn’t want to give any hints of his suspicions so he was cautious of what he said. He asked simply if Zane had noticed anything more than the tanks being odd when he was in the storage room. Zane didn’t recall anything and seemed surprised when Lloyd told him of the Skullossom being in the room and the laser cutter. Lloyd couldn’t tell if his surprise was genuine however or if he was just pretending to be surprised and might know more than he was letting on. He’d clearly registered that he’d heard something in the surveillance footage and went looking for it. That might not mean he was up to something however; Zane could have received some memory damage from the explosion and not remember he thought something was in the room with him. Lloyd was still focussed on his suspicions and going over files on the computers to look for more oddities when Cole returned later that evening. As he came into the bay Cole was a bit confused and regaled to Lloyd how as he was about to enter the cavern that led to the vehicle doors for the bay a strange crow caught his attention. It was pied in color. He would have thought nothing of it if it wasn’t for something he’d experienced a few days earlier.
He’d seen a similar looking bird perched on the Monastery wall when he took out the garbage and recycling the one evening. The bird had caught his attention because it had been making strange noises and he could have sworn he’d seen some kind of harness on it. That didn’t seem right. He’d attempted to get a closer look worried it might be some kind of spy but it flew off before he could get close enough to see what it was. He’d seen the bird near the Monastery a few times but it never got close enough for him to see it. This time it was by the road pecking at something in the underbrush by the side of the road just outside the cave entrance for the vehicle doors of the hanger bay. He stopped and cautiously approached. The bird was too occupied pecking and pulling at a camouflage colored tarp that was draped over something to notice him. It was a bit dark in the understory so he couldn’t see too well so he turned on the flashlight on his phone. When the light came on it startled the crow who took off. Before it left he noticed it was wearing some kind of harness like that used on a carrier pigeon; an old way to quickly relay messages. He felt that confirmed his suspicions, this bird likely was a spy and given the clan always had crows working with them some baring a pied coloring he had good reason to believe it was a spy for the clan. After the bird was gone he looked at what it had been focussed on. Pulling back the tarp he found a few crates beneath it. The crates were holding the missing materials from the storage room; ingots and ores of damned stone and sheets and bars they’d made of the stuff.
With this new information Lloyd decided to try something to catch who could have taken the materials out of the Monastery and why this crow was hanging around the Monastery. With Coles help they secretly brought the materials back to the storage room but they left the crates and the tarp there setting it up to look like it had before they found it. They set up some security cameras there to see if anyone came to deal with the crates or even add to them. They also put a few cameras looking at the courtyard and its walls to see what this crow was doing around their home. If it was wearing something that could carry a message then it could be delivering something to someone there.
“You’re not thinking one of us is behind this?” Cole asked and Lloyd replied, “maybe and I think for the time being we keep this secret. We don’t want to tip off whoever it could be.”
“I guess I can do that but I think you might be getting a little paranoid. You know none of us would ever betray the rest of us,” Cole expressed and Lloyd stated, “I’m not being paranoid… I mean it might not be one of us but someone with us; someone not human. That Skull possum thing was doing some suspicious things earlier one of which led to Zane getting hurt…”
“Zane was hurt?! Is he okay? Does he need aid?” Cole quickly questioned getting nervous. His obsessive like attention over Zane getting hurt had Lloyd a little confused as he replied, “he’s fine. It wasn’t serious and Jay was able to fix him up so it was like nothing happened. He’s a little shaken but that’s not important rate now. What is is that just before he got hurt that Skullossom was acting strange sneaking around and entering the room with him moments before there was an explosion…”
“There was an explosion?! Sorry we can talk later, I need to make sure my little nindroid is okay,” Cole expressed before he hurried off leaving Lloyd rather confused about his behaviour. Cole had always been rather protective towards Zane but recently he seemed much more protective and overly caring towards Zane and Pixal. Lloyd couldn’t understand this behaviour. He just brushed it off; he had more important things to look into. Lloyd waited a couple days before checking the footage and luckily Cole kept their plan a secret. Unfortunately this mysterious crow took note of some of the cameras around the Monastery’s walls and pecked them apart. Some of the others found them lying around the courtyard confused about how they got there and why they were there. Luckily Cole kept the secret and the others believed him when he stated he was trying to see what this Skullossom did around the Monastery and it looked like a crow had decided to play with the cameras he’d set up. He promised them he’d only set the cameras up in the courtyard and not inside or in private areas like some of them were worried about. The cameras to watch for this crow didn’t capture anything really important. It did catch the crow which would come around at random times including at night where it seemed to just roost for the night. When it came around it just hung around making weird noises, pecking at things, eating things it had dragged there from the nearby area or a few times stole out of the Monastery; the bird was crafty enough to open the doors on its own to get into the Monastery. Jay and Kai had for the past few weeks kept having any snacks or lunches they made for themselves go missing if they left them for more than a couple seconds or even just turned their backs for a few seconds. They’d been blaming Cole who was adamant he wasn’t responsible and blamed the Skullossom; looked like this was one crafty crow. It also had a habit of attempting and a few times succeeding in prying off roof tiles which it laughed at when it dropped them off the roof. He could only see a few parts of the courtyard thanks to the crow dismantling most of the cameras there even when he put new ones up so he wasn’t able to see much. It interacted with a few of them. It startled Jay the one morning making a loud noise at him as Jay came out for some fresh air unaware the bird was there. It laughed at Jays startled reaction. It tried this startling act on Kai who wasn’t scared and instead got in a bit of a verbal argument with the bird till Kai stopped wondering why he was arguing with a bird before leaving. Ray and Ed came out at one point to fix some of the tiles the bird had pried off. The bird cawed at them but didn’t interfere. Zane did come out to interact with it at one point offering the bird food which it willingly hopped down to eat from his hand. He even got it to perform some tricks like doing a spin, rolling over, hopping and he even got it to say a few words the birds voice being deep but surprisingly clear. Zane didn’t seem to acknowledge the harness on the bird but the fact he interacted with it was odd. Sure animals reacted differently to droids than people being more tolerable and friendly to them but to willingly obey commands from one wasn’t usual.
Apart from these few interactions he got plenty of footage of the bird dismantling the cameras. With these close up views he got a bit of a better look at this harness it had on. He couldn’t say for sure but he thought he saw evidence that this harness may have had a camera on it. That was a bit odd. Why would it have a camera on it? The clan didn’t need to use technology for spying; they had supernatural powers for that kind of stuff. Maybe this crow wasn’t from the clan at all and maybe it wasn’t a true crow. Was it maybe some kind of robotic or trained crow that Zane and Pixal had been working on? A potential spy for them? Sounded like something they would do and would explain Zanes interactions with it but if that was what was happening then why would they keep it a secret? Maybe they were just experimenting with this idea so wanted to keep it secret till they knew better if this project they were working on would actually work. Maybe it would be something the two would reveal to the rest of them when they had it working. Just to be sure he confronted Zane the one training session they had in the Monasteries courtyard. The others were there and so was the crow just sitting on the wall watching them. Everyone else didn’t seem to acknowledge the bird.
“I think we are being spied on,” Lloyd commented making the others stop and look around confused. Kai asked, “what are you on about?” Pointing at the bird drawing everyone’s attention to it Lloyd expressed, “either one of the clans allies is among us or Zane do you have anything you want to tell the rest of us?” Being put on the spot made Zane clearly nervous.
“Why are you singling him out on this?” Cole demanded not liking that Lloyd was targeting Zane. Zane looked a little nervous as he responded, “so you’ve noticed him… it’s just an experiment.”
“What kind of experiment?” Lloyd asked to which Zane replied, “well as corvid birds frequent around the clan Pixal and I were wondering if we could train one to maybe operate as a spy. We thought a wild flesh and blood bird would easily go unnoticed by the clan.”
“Have you had any success with it,” Cole asked and Zane replied, “well as you can see not really. He can be trained to do tricks but nothing more complex and doesn’t really obey orders unless there is a reward involved. Also since we’ve been rewarding him with food treats he’s been largely hanging around here all the time looking for hand outs and has without our training learned some bad habits.”
“One of those bad habits wouldn’t happen to include stealing food does it?” Cole remarked glancing at Jay and Kai. Zane responded with, “yha it includes that. It even learned to open sliding doors and windows to gain access to the inside of the Monastery.”
“I told you it wasn’t me,” Cole then expressed to which Jay expressed, “sorry we blamed you but how were we to know a bird was responsible! I didn’t know they were that smart!”
“Why did you put a camera on it?” Lloyd questioned and Zane replied, “well we can’t speak crow and even though it can learn human words it really can’t communicate complex information that way so we needed a way to see and hear what it does. Luckily it has grown accustomed to the harness however as it is not co-operating that is proving to be a useless endeavour.” That solved that issue and while he didn’t discuss it with the others Lloyd reasoned being trained by Zane would explain why the bird had shown Cole their missing supplies. Maybe as a thank you to Zane for feeding it and giving it attention it was paying back the favour by helping them find something missing. How did it know though they were missing that stuff? Maybe that part was just all coincidence and it didn’t solve who had put that stuff there in the first place.
As for the cameras they’d placed by the crates to his surprise they did catch something. Two days after Cole had stumbled upon them late at night two figures cloaked in black robes that fully shadowed their faces with black gloves that covered their hands approached the crates. They appeared seeming to manifest out of a thick fog that strangely rolled in over the road preventing him from picking up where they came from. The two figures cautiously approached the crates. The only thing he could make out of the figures was the glowing red eyes of the figures. Along with these figures was the Skullossom who led them to the crates and sat by them as the two figures inspected the crates. The two robed figures were communicating in a language he couldn’t understand their voices deep and clearly inhumane. He couldn’t recognise anything that sounded like words to this language; it sounded more like just random noises that sounded like some strange cross between animal noises with mechanical overtones to it. They were likely using some kind audio disguise to hide what they were saying from potential spies. The two figures pulled back the tarp off the crates before talking to each other and by the tone and harshness of the sounds they were making Lloyd felt the figures were surprised and worried. The two talked a bit looking around briefly before covering the crates again. Then despite how well he and Cole had hid the camera on a tree the two figures took note of one of the cameras. The one pointed to the one camera giving off a noise before the Skullossom charged towards the camera. It disappeared into the cameras blind spot before the camera began to shake as it was attacked the paws and teeth of the creature occasionally appearing in the camera view as it worked on ripping the camera off the tree before the signal ended. All the other cameras he had set up around there were then hit by interference preventing them from seeing or hearing anything. The cameras then one by one went offline. After reviewing the footage he went to the site he had set the cameras at to see if any physical evidence was left behind. To his misfortune the cameras were gone likely taken by those figures. Worse however the crates and tarp were also gone. Apart from the disturbed foliage there was no signs anything had been there. Lloyd couldn’t see any tracks in the area not even from vehicles which surely would have left something; clearly whoever or whatever those things were didn’t want anyone or anything to find them or even know they were there.
He was angered by what he had found. That Skullossom was trouble and working for someone. The only ones he could think of that it could be working for was the clan. Who else could it be? It must have been working for the clan! They must have found out what the ninja were doing and somehow snuck this creature into the one crate so it could effortlessly infiltrate their base. Understanding how dangerous this was Lloyd gathered the other ninja and Pixal into the hanger bay to show them what he’d found. They were all a bit sceptical of his idea thinking he was getting a little paranoid.
“That’s the kind of idea I would expect from Jay not you,” Kai commented to which Lloyd remarked, “it isn’t and I have proof.” He went to load up the footage he had caught but to his shock he couldn’t find it.
“No it was just here this morning! Where is it?” He frantically began looking through files on the computer but couldn’t find it. The footage he had seen of the creature causing the explosion was gone as well.
“No! That filthy demon must have done something…” Lloyd declared starting to get angry. Nervous he may go Oni mode Cole stated, “Lloyd I think you need to calm down…”
“You saw the crates you know I’m not making it up,” Lloyd stated and Cole agreed, “yha I saw the crates. There was no proof that creature was behind anything though. It defiantly couldn’t carry those supplies to that location. Unless it has some supernatural super strength there is no way it could carry that stuff.”
“It had help. The clans behind it I know it. It must be letting those monsters in at night so they can sabotage things…” Lloyd began to rant before Nya stopped him by commenting, “there is one huge flaw with your idea and that is if it is the clan then why would they just be misplacing materials and messing with data? I’m pretty sure if they were to sneak in here they would attack us. Maybe capture us or…”
“Please don’t say it; I think we all get it. They could do worse much worse,” Jay expressed and Pixal noted, “that is true. So far all their attacks to us have been to do considerable harm. These actions do not align with clan activities.”
“Who then would have done these things and why?” Cole asked to which Lloyd quickly expressed, “Clouse!”
“What? You mean Chens old dark magician. Isn’t he some lost spectre now? No one’s seen him in like forever now. How and why would he be behind this?” Kai stated and Lloyd explained, “back on the Dark Isle while you guys were lost me and Wu ran into him. Somehow he’s regained a physical form and made some very unsettling new friends; some cult called the Sunless Dawn.” Most of the others were unsure what to think but at the naming of Sunless Dawn Jay felt his heart drop. Those were the ones responsible for taking his mother.
“The who?” Kai wondered and Cole added, “I’ve never heard of them.” Lloyd then regaled, “there some kind of monstrous cult of darkness both my uncle and grandfather dealt with in the past. They’re very secretive and elusive. There was only a few of them but something about them was beyond unsettling.”
“What would this cult want with us?” Kai wondered to which Lloyd stated, “I don’t know but they’re the ones that caused you all to fall into that pit and they said they have plans but wouldn’t say anything about them just that they wanted us out of their hair for a while. My uncle believes they want this same Necromira being as the clan so they might be working with them.”
“How are we in their hair?” Zane asked confused by the metaphor so Cole told him, “I’ll explain later. What would this cult and the clan have in relation to each other?”
“I don’t know but they want the same thing,” Lloyd stated before picking up Zane and Pixal communicating to each other in their telepathic language. The sound agitated him a bit. What were they talking about?
“I thought the events with that pit was just bad luck,” Kai commented and Cole stated, “okay if this cult is working with the clan in some way why would they just be messing with us and not trying to eliminate us?”
“Maybe they’re scared Lloyd will go all Oni mode on them if he sees them,” Jay offered to which Nya commented, “but we’re the only ones that really know about that…”
“No those monsters know. I went a little crazy on them before they sent this disturbing monster made of pure shadow on me,” Lloyd explained and Nya stated, “okay so that is a possibility then.”
“If this cult is working with them then that really complicates things…” Cole began before Kai added, “as if they aren’t complicated enough already.” Cole continued, “this is just something else we will have to question them on when we get a hold of one. I think until then we’re going to have to up our security and Lloyd maybe Zane and Pixal can see if they can recover some of the files you say are missing.”
“That is plausible. Even when deleted files are not entirely erased from the hard drive. They remain in a state of limbo buried in the databanks till overwritten by new data. With the right knowledge and programs they can still be recovered,” Pixal explained and Cole expressed, “see they can do it. No need to get overworked…” Kai cut in to joke, “yha and don’t worry we don’t think you’re going crazy. Your idea sounds more grounded than a lot of Jay’s ideas.” Again Lloyd heard Zane and Pixal secretly talk with each other. What we’re they talking about that they couldn’t say aloud?
“Well soon we’ll be able to tell more about what is going on. We’ve got the cells finished and we’re close to getting the vehicles finished. Hopefully by next week we’ll be able to capture some of the clan members for interrogations,” Cole declared. They left things at that for the time being and focussed on getting their new assets finished. Now more than ever they needed answers they could only get from those apart of the clan.
It didn’t take much longer for them to finish their work on the Damned Stone creations. After they had the cells and some other contraptions they needed to start catching and interrogating clan members Kai, Nya and Jays parents went home. This would have been uneventful if it wasn’t for when Ed and Edna returned to their junkyard it wasn’t long till they realised they’d had intruders who had taken a considerable amount of scrap metal. Jay, Nya, Cole and Zane headed out to visit the junkyard and investigate. Jays parents had left some surveillance on for when they were gone but they’d gotten no warnings from it and saw nothing on it. Zane deduced it had likely been hacked to cover up for whoever snuck in. As for who snuck in was unclear. They hadn’t come recently so the elements like wind had erased most traces of any tracks. There was a few vehicle tracks from largely large vehicles likely for carrying away the scrap. They found some tracks through the junkyard and they didn’t look good. There was some humanoid tracks along with more beastial ones. Zane could confirm tracks from some of the clans monsters like the Zkurocs, Nyctrea and Feardrakes were present. While most of the humanoid tracks were hard to determine as they wore footwear due to some of their attire styles letting their claw tipped toes be exposed Zane could confirm some tracks from Drekavacs were present. This worried and confused them. What had the clan been doing there and what had they taken? Ed and Edna weren’t entirely sure about everything that was missing but they did know that a recent stock of scrap titanium that had been dropped off recently was missing and they did find some old nindroids from the nindroid crisis had been taken. They couldn’t understand why the clan had taken what they had but didn’t like the possibilities. Worried for his parents Jay had his mother and father come stay with them at the Monastery till they could confirm the clan wouldn’t be a threat at the junkyard.
With their equipment built the ninja began their endeavour of interrogating clan members. They decided to start small; they would get one of the Drekavacs from a small town. It was a small farm town with a small contingent of about ten clan members. Cole, Zane, Jay, Kai and Nya were sent into town while Lloyd and Pixal waited back at the Bounty a bit of a distance away. In order to get close to the Drekavacs they went into town dressed as commoners and were trying out a little something Zane and Pixal had worked up to try and hide their identities. They had made small rounded items for them to clip onto their attire that emitted a smell they hoped could mask theirs kind of like a bug repellent.
“What is in these?” Kai asked noting a foul smell from it. Pixal began with, “we quickly worked it up from the musk of the Skullossom…” Jay quickly cut in to state, “don’t say anymore I think we can all agree we don’t want to know how you got that or what part of the creature it came from.” The things seemed to work a bit. The clan didn’t seem to recognise them but some did comment how unpleasant they smelt recommending they have a shower and for some reason often to Cole they recommended he consider changes to his diet annoying him but amusing Jay and Kai. They spent a little time wondering who to pick for interrogation. In the meantime they helped with minor jobs around town to avoid suspicion. They quickly worked out the one they believed to be the one in command there. A Drekavac with a large portion of flesh missing by the right eye the area instead made of the strange icy substance that marked missing patches of tissues or were scars on these beings and the eye on that side was an icy white with no discernable features. Jay nicknamed him Scar-face to identify him. They watched this Scar-face as he went around town looking for the best time and way to catch him. He was patrolling the town stopping every now and then with other members of the clan to have a few words with them about goings on before continuing on. Some of the clan members were also patrolling, some were working in a barn that had been converted to a warehouse for their supplies which appeared to be mainly food from their realm and what looked like building materials. Those materials they had seen clan members using near the center of town to build something underground. They weren’t entirely sure what was being built, it kind of looked like a disaster bunker though why they would be building that the ninja couldn’t tell, but what they did notice was the clan was not using villagers or themselves to build these. They had enslaved various people from across the realm. According to villagers they had no clue where they had gotten these people though one was from their village. He was one of the troublesome ones in the village who had recently stolen a delivery vehicle of essential supplies for the villages grocery store and in the process to escape ended up crashing into a house. The clan got him before the cops and enslaved him to work on their project forcing him to wear a strange collar that seemed to subdue and could punish the wearer with shocks or even painful looking rashes. At night these individuals were all locked in cells in the barn the clan had taken over. Outside their enslaved individuals the clan generally left the rest of the people alone. Despite being left alone the people of the village were terrified of the beings of the clan. As the ninja worked they noticed an area in the town that was a bit secluded and out of sight from the rest of the village. It was in an alley way. If they could lure Scar-face down this alley somehow then maybe they could catch him. In prepping to catch him the ninja briefly gathered in the alley way for a quick briefing to come up with a plan on how to capture Scar-face then get him out of town. Their idea was one or two of them would entice Scar-face to chase them into this alleyway where the rest of them would restrain and cuff the individual. After they would transport him out of town on a cart hiding this Drekavac under a sheet where they were hoping the smell from the items they were carrying would mask the smell from this being so clan members couldn’t pick up that they were there.
Cole got the cart a small handcart from the village and dragged it into the alleyway while Nya and Kai got two sheets borrowing them from a laundry line in the village. When they had what they needed all but Kai and Jay hid in the alleyway. Kai and Jay were chosen as they both owed the others for them having to do some of the twos chores recently. Nervous the two headed out to find a way to get Scar-faces attention. They found him strolling around the center of the town. They were unsure what to do at first then Kai got an idea.
“Are we sure we want to go with your idea? They don’t always work the best,” Jay commented as Kai picked up a large stone. Kai expressed, “trust me it will work. They don’t like us so I’m betting they’d be very mad to find we managed to hide rate in front of them.” He then tossed the stone at Scar-face hitting him in the back of the head. Scar-face quickly looked back clearly irritated by this action. With Scar-face looking in their direction Kai boasted bringing a fire to his hand, “looky, looky zombie reject. I the master of fire and my pal the master of lightening managed to sneak in under your vary noses.”
“You might have been able to sneak in but you’re not getting out. You’re foolish for revealing your presence dragon-bloods,” Scar-face declared before rushing towards the two. The two wasted no time in running off leading the Drekavac to the alley. Once in the alley Zane used his powers to block off the way they came in. The action caught Scar-faces attention where he declared, “you didn’t come alone did you.” Before he could act the ninja all jumped him working quickly to restrain him and put damned stone cuffs on him. As he was cuffed they noted he seemed to get weaker making him easier to restrain. While it was Cole who managed to cuff the Drekavacs arms behind his back to restrain him somehow in the process Zane ended up using an extra pair of cuffs they had cuffing Kai to Scar-face in the process.
“Zane!” Kai expressed as they took some steps back. Zane was embarrassed and apologised stating he’d gotten a bit confused in the chaos. Cole comforted Zane telling him it was an accident using an affectionate tone that confused Zane. Nya noted, “did anyone bring the keys for them?”
“I think we forgot them,” Jay stated before Cole expressed, “we can work on this mishap later; let’s get him out of here before one of the others catches us.”
“What about Kai?” Jay asked as Cole and Zane got Scar-face up and led him to the cart. As they led him to the cart he kept muttering to them about how they couldn’t restrain him, how he could escape they’re restraints and was going to draw his allies to his aid. As they loaded Scar-face onto the cart Kai having to get in with the Drekavac Cole stated, “he can help restrain and silence Scar-face here so he doesn’t draw attention to us.”
“You want me to silence him… by putting my hand by his mouth?” Kai stammered as he sat next to the Drekavac looking at Scar-face who was baring his beast looking teeth at him. While the molar teeth of Drekavacs looked human like with some notable larger points the canines and incisors were clearly beast looking and looked sharp with the canines being thick and large. Zane hit the Drekavac in the face creating a muzzle of ice over his snout. Zane then expressed, “that should make it easier. The jaws of animals have most of their power put into the closing of the jaws not the opening of them. He should not be able to bite you… unless it melts before we get back to the Bounty.”
“Let’s hurry this up then,” Kai expressed jumping onto and pinning Scar-faces shoulders, neck and head down in order to restrain him leaving only Scar-faces legs and tails as the only things that could really move. Jay got on those so Scar-face was fully restrained. Cole and Nya then put the sheets over the cart and tying them on like a tarp making sure to cover the whole thing so nothing could be seen. Once that was done they headed to the Bounty Cole pulling the cart. They were nervous as they walked through and out of the town which was made worse when Zane whispered to them that they needed to better control their emotions as the clan members could smell their anxiety. They got some looks from a couple clan members who seemed suspicious of them but none seemed interested enough to come over for a look. They were able to breathe a sigh of relief when they reached the Bounty. When they were almost there the ice had melted off the Drekavacs muzzle and he began trying to bite Kai who started to panic but due to being stuck to the being couldn’t get far enough away to escape the Drekavac. When they started to fight as they were close to the Bounty Cole stopped the cart and he and Zane helped stop the fighting and dragged out the Drekavac to walk him the rest of the way into the Bounty. There in the control room where Lloyd and Pixal were waiting they had a large cage made of damned stone. They took Scar-face to this cage un-cuffing him before shoving him in it. Once locked in it Scar-face began looking around assessing the cage. He grabbed the one bar of the cage to try and pull on it using some sort of spell in his hand as he grabbed it but to Scar-faces dislike the bars stopped his powers and wouldn’t budge when he pulled on them.
“It seems to be working,” Kai noted as he took the cuff off himself and Cole commented, “okay now what do we do with him? Do we wait till we get him to the Monastery to do the interrogation or do we want to interrogate him now?” Clearly worked up and angered by the clan members presence Lloyd angrily declared, “we can try some now?” Lloyd went up to the cage putting himself rate in front of the bars. Scar-face looked at him and came to stand in front of him angry.
“Where are you demons keeping those pieces?” Lloyd demanded to which the Drekavac growled, “I’m guessing you’re wondering about the Rota Interrum pieces. You’ll never get that answer from us; especially demon spawn like you.” The Drekavac then spat in Lloyds face before growling at him. This angered Lloyd who readied to attack but before he could do anything Cole and Kai restrained him and pulled him back Cole stating, “until you have better control around them I don’t think you should do any kind of interrogation.”
“Why don’t I give it a go,” Jay stated walking over to the cage. Kai expressed, “are you sure we should let Jay do this?” Before anyone could comment Jay asked the Drekavac, “so Scar-face what are you and your buddies up to?” Scar-face looked at Jay visibly confused and disgusted.
“Who are you calling Scar-face?” the Drekavac asked to which Jay explained motioning to the area of his face that Scar-face had the weird patch on, “you. That’s what we’re calling you because of the weird thing to your face.”
“They are scars yes. Instead of insulting me why don’t you do the civil thing and ask for my name?” the Drekavac stated. Playing along Jay asked, “okay, what is your name then?”
“Zorigtoibataar,” the Drekavac stated. Jay stated, “wow that’s a name. It’s long and sounds hard to say; your parents must have hated you to give you a name like that.” The Drekavac was clearly annoyed at Jay as he stated, “my parents loved me very much; my name means brave hero in an ancient tongue. If you have trouble with it then you can call me by my shortened title Zorig.”
“Okay Zorig so what have you and your pals been up to?” Jay asked and after a moment’s pause Zorig commented, “in our endeavour you are the enemy so why would I tell you anything?”
“Because… you’re really good at heart and want to be nice to us,” Jay stated to which Zorig expressed leaning with one shoulder onto the bars of the cage with his arms crossed, “it is hard for mortals to comprehend that we are good at heart and even though we are we will not tell you what you want. Let’s just say we are here for your own good and leave it at that.”
“For our own good? How is conquering us and enslaving us for our own good?” Kai asked to which Zorig calmly stated, “as a human you would not understand. Understanding of such concepts requires mental attributes humans lack making them unable to understand or comprehend. Your droids on the other hand can understand and maybe they do but they would never admit it even to themselves let alone the rest of you; they try too much to be human like you to fit in with similar mortals so they feel loved and as fellow living beings and they strive for your acceptance and kinship. If they were to acknowledge our understandings I believe they would feel they would be putting their state as members of your family in danger threatening them with ostracizing and abandonment from your family as humans are very cruel and unforgiving to non humanoid entities. Despite that deep down they know unlike droids humans are too stupid, self centered, greedy, vane, short sighted and destructive to do what is right or keep themselves controlled for the greater good; it’s part of the corrupting the Oni left you with so to keep peace and do the right thing you need us to be your masters.” Most of them were put off by Zorigs remarks to them. Lloyd was slipping further into anger his Oni side getting madder and stronger the longer this being talked. He couldn’t help but feel it was targeting him the most in his words.
“Not all of us are like that. We’re not like that… at least most of the time we’re not. I mean Cole can be a bit of a glutton at times…,” Kai began annoying Cole before getting cut off by Jay who expressed, “and you can be rather dim witted and too vain sometimes. You know what they say about ones pride it’s the greatest sin for a reason. Excessive vanity always leads to ones downfall. That’s why ninja are to be humble and respectful and not supposed to care much about our looks or the seeking of the approval of others. We are to focus at doing the right thing and keeping back the darkness and monsters in our world.”
“You’re not the brightest either and aren’t ninja also supposed to know when to speak and when to keep quiet,” Kai countered to Jay before Nya stopped the two from bickering. As the two had talked Lloyd became aware of Zane and Pixal quietly talking using their droid communication with each other. While everyone else had been offended by Zorigs remarks the two droids had been a little taken back as if ashamed at the realisation that this being was right and that they might share the same views as him which they might be afraid to acknowledge or show to anyone else. Their reaction bothered Lloyd. This beings words weren’t putting some influence on them was it?
“You might think you’re above the rest through your discipline but deep down your still human and prey to the demons the Oni sowed you with; they can always take over when you least expect… except for two of you. They are not human so are not made with demons like you,” Zorig commented. Even though Zorig didn’t look at them when speaking they all knew he was referring to Zane and Pixal who while trying to hide it by the fact they refused to look at anyone else they could all see were uncomfortable with being singled out and reminded of their differences.
“Okay I think we’re getting a little off topic here. We’re trying to interrogate you not debate philosophy and who’s a demon and who isn’t. How about we start with something small… like, what could we ask about… oh how about why were you at my parents junkyard and why did you take all that scrap and the disused nindroids?” Jay asked. Zorig responded looking a little surprised, “so that little scrap yard is owned by your relatives; we had a feeling it was. Well it’s a small world isn’t it? Let’s just say we have need for the materials and it wasn’t just your parents’ yard we took from.”
“You couldn’t have at least left some kind of payment for what you took? They have bills to pay you know plus they need groceries, it’s too arid for them to try and grow anything themselves at home. I know cause I tried to help them with that… nothing really worked not even that greenhouse I built. It takes a lot of energy to pump ground water to the surface to keep plants from drying out plus you need a ton of water for the plants and it got too hot in the greenhouse for the plants especially in the summer… I guess that’s why deserts are so barren. Oh and animals weren’t much better to work with there either. Trust me you don’t want to know about the problems with livestock… scrap yards and animals are a bad mix. Let’s just say eating things they shouldn’t is sometimes the least of your worries; let’s just say animals like cattle are very dumb and with the right machinery and at the wrong time it is possible to turn a cow into a pancake not to mention metal shredders make good meat grinders… that was a bad mess to clean up at least what was left tasted good,” Jay began to rant before breaking off to stare into space looking a little disturbed at what he was remembering.
“We sent them a check in the mail. It’s not our fault it’s taking longer to get to you. We would have sent it to the scrap yard but we know that’s not where they’re staying rate now. You really need to upgrade your Monastery’s mail service then you might get mail on a more on time and regular basis,” Zorig commented drawing suspicion from them. No one but close relatives of theirs knew Ed and Edna were staying at the Monastery so how did the clan know about that? Curious Nya asked, “how do you know they’re staying with us?” Zorig looked to have been caught off guard remarking, “I said too much.”
“Your spying on us aren’t you; who or what is your spy? It’s not a Skullossom is it?” Lloyd questioned getting angrier. He felt this confirmed his suspicion that the clan was spying on them. Kai remarked, “not this again… that thing is just a creature…”
“I beg to differ. This monster proved it they’re spying on us. If it’s not that creature then maybe one or more of us is betraying everyone else,” Lloyd looked over the rest of them all of them looked offended by his words. Jay was quick to express, “Excuse me!”
“Why are you pointing the finger at the rest of us? You know none of us would do that,” Kai stated to which Lloyd expressed, “most of you true but not all of you.” As Lloyd spoke he glanced momentarily at Zane and Pixal who were made nervous by his look. Cole noticed the glance which made him angry and he went on the defensive expressing, “Zane and Pixal would never betray us either. I don’t know what you’ve been looking into but it’s filled your head with lies.”
“I’d say with your Oni nature you’re the most likely to betray us. It’s made you attack us quite a few times recently,” Nya noted. That got to Lloyd taking him back and he nervously stated, “I wouldn’t… I could never betray any of you, you’re my family!”
“Yha but I think you’re Oni mode is messing with your brain,” Kai noted. As they talked Jay noted their quarrelling was making Zorig smile so he remarked, “what are you finding so amusing?” Everyone turned their attention back to Zorig.
“You guys arguing like my three sisters when our parents tell them to do their chores. If they just did them like I do and not bicker about them all the time then it wouldn’t take them so long to do them,” Zorig replied. Nya couldn’t help but remark, “sounds like Kai and Jay.” The two got a little embarrassed about the remark.
“We’re getting off track,” Cole noted and Jay agreed, “yha so how do you know my parents are staying with us?”
“We have our ways,” Zorig stated and Jay asked, “and what are those ways? You working with someone? Or did you learn the ways of technology and track their phones?”
“Let’s say it was that last one. Despite what you may think yabbering one we’re not too primitive to understand your technologies; it’s easier for a caveman to understand new technology than a modern human to. Humanoids really are evolving backwards aren’t you?” Zorig expressed. Kai wondered feeling a bit offended, “are you saying we’re getting dumber?”
“So you can use our tech that still doesn’t mean you’re not spying on us. Someone has stolen information from us, messed with our supplies and changed some information on our highly protected computers. If it’s not that ugly smelly possum creature or one of us then who is it? You have masters of stealth within your ranks or are you getting some of your allies in the Sunless Dawn to do it? They’re apparently very good at working unseen,” Lloyd demanded. Upon hearing the words sunless dawn Zorig’s relaxed demeanour changed. He stood up looking defensive as Kai commented, “not this again. How many times are you going on about this? We weren’t able to find anything missing and things weren’t secretly changed. The accident with the tanks was an accident not that creature doing something suspicious and the crates… well that is still unexplained but it could just be someone playing a prank on us...”
“Did you say Sunless Dawn?” Zorig questioned catching all their attentions. His tone seemed odd to them. He sounded confused; it was not something they expected to hear from him.
“Yha; Lloyd and Wu ran into them. The rest of us haven’t yet though they did try to kill us with these lava monsters,” Cole explained and Lloyd expressed, “yha a dark wizard we once had a tussle with named Clouse is working with them I’m betting you already know that though as you’re working with them aren’t you? They let your clan loose to wreck havoc to distract us didn’t they?”
“We never have or will ever work with those demons! They serve him the lord of destruction and corruption a great demon and the enemy to our lord of the wilds. If we ever encounter those scum we’ll tear out their insides through their noses and make them drag their fetid corpses across burning coals into a brazen bull to burn till not even their bones remain! We’ll then send their souls to rot in the pits of darkness they belong to if we get a hold of them!” Zorig growled getting very angry his teeth being bared, tail raised up and puffed up and his eyes developing a strong burning orangish glow with even a strange orange almost flame like aura burst up on the top of his head and across his shoulders. Along with the aura he developed ethereal dragon looking horns on his head and spikes on the outer line of his arms, spines down his back, glowing markings appeared on the extremities of his arms and legs, around his eyes and on his chest and the skin near these markings gained a stony looking appearance. The ninja had seen this strange effect before from the clan; Kamal and Rosic had used it during the invasion of the capital. They didn’t know what this power they had was but they knew it was very dangerous making all but Lloyd uneasy. They weren’t sure what exactly was said to make Zorig super angry but it scared almost all of them. Lloyd wasn’t scared; he could feel his Oni side was highly angered by Zorigs anger and he agreed with it letting his Oni nature start to take over.
“What’s a brazen bull?” Jay asked nervously curious but scared of Zorig unable to take his eyes off this being. He and the others couldn’t help but feel Zorig was somehow visually darkening the room as if the sun and all lights were being dimmed. It made them uneasy as Zorig continued to growl, “they’re after her as well the mistress to their lord. Try all they want we’re going to beat them to her and if we catch any of them they will suffer a demise worse than any torture or death you could imagine. The same will go for you half demon. Stay out of our way or you will regret your transgressions. We can spare your friends and show some compassion to them as they are just flawed, damaged spawn, not the direct flesh and blood spawn of demons like you.” This really angered Lloyd who lost control to his Oni side. He wasted no time in rushing over to the cage door to open it up to attack Zorig who was a step ahead of him the moment the door was open Zorig blasted Lloyd back into the wall of the room with a blast of what looked like energy. Without getting up Lloyd shot a blast of dark energy at Zorig who rushed out of the cage towards Lloyd. Zorig was prepared for the attack pulling up a ward spell to shield himself from the attack. The ward absorbed the energy protecting Zorig who wasted no time once Lloyds attack stopped to charge at him to grab him by the front of his shirt where Zorig with little effort whipped him up then back down front first into the floor breaking some floor boards in the process. Lloyd wasted no time in getting up seeming unharmed by the attack clearly lost in his Oni mode his skin fully blackened, his eyes an unnerving violet color, his hair a silvery color, small horns appeared on his forehead and a set of tusk like teeth had replaced some of his teeth.
“Do we have any Tranquil-i-tea?” Jay asked trying to control his nerves while he tried to hide from the fighting. They were all terrified not wanting to get involved in the fight or accidently caught up in it. The moment the fight broke out they had all scattered to hide where they could hopefully avoid the two fighting.
“I think it’s going to take more than that to snap him to his senses this time; I think he’s really lost it,” Cole noted as Lloyd used his Spinjitsu tornado on Zorig who was not only able to hold his ground against it but with a single swipe was able to grab Lloyd out of it. Zorig did his own spin letting go of Lloyd as he reached a 360 in his spin to send him flying back first into the front console in the room. This led to the console getting some damage but Lloyd seemed unharmed as he quickly got to his feet to shoot a blast of energy at Zorig who jumped out of the way letting the energy beam hit the back wall where it started the wall on fire. Once his beam attack was done Lloyd charged towards Zorig who was ahead of him and hit him with a blast of light energy that sent him flying back through the glass of the front view window onto the deck outside. Zorig followed jumping through the broken glass to try and land a punch onto Lloyd as he lay on the deck. Lloyd managed to recover in time to roll out of the way so Zorig’s punch missed him and instead just ended up breaking boards in the deck. The others quickly put out the fire that had started inside before rushing out to see what was going on. Lloyd and Zorig had gotten into a martial combat before with a well timed kick Zorig sent Lloyd flying overboard onto the ground below. Zorig wasted no time in following Lloyd jumping down to the ground below. The others rushed over to look over the deck and see what was going on. Lloyd and Zorig continued a bit of martial fighting Lloyd clearly showing signs now of getting weaker and tired and that his Oni rage was slipping away. He was starting to revert back to normal. With an uppercut punch Zorig knocked Lloyd off his feet sending him flying several feet back to land face first on the ground. Lloyd looked to be back to normal now and was suffering from that landing likely bruised and winded. Zorig strolled towards Lloyd summoning a blade of energy out of the air as he walked over. The rest of them quickly jumped down to come to their brothers aid. Before they could help him however Zorig grabbed Lloyd by the back of his hair forcing him to stand up and turn to face his friends. Zorig then forced Lloyd to kneel in front of him where he then pressed the blade threateningly against Lloyds throat. They all stopped their approach worried Zorig might do something drastic if they engaged him.
“You’re a pathetic excuse for an Oni hybrid; feral, untrained, uncontrollable, quick to rage, unthinking and weak. You’re supposed to be a demon yet I’ve fought bear cubs more vicious than you. I’ll spare you and your friends and we’ll let you leave. Your nothing but nuisances to us like flies on the hide not worth the effort or drive to eliminate besides we always enjoy the practise your squabbles give us,” Zorig expressed the aura that had come to him disappearing as he spoke. He pulled the sword away leaving Lloyd unharmed before shoving him face first into the ground. Zorig then turned and began walking back to the village the sword he had manifested disappearing dissolving back into nothing as he left. They all just stood there unsure what to do or say. Lloyd lay there feeling disappointed and greatly embarrassed for a moment before slowly getting up. As he got up he saw a stone on the ground and in frustration he picked it up quickly turning around to toss it at Zorig. He missed the rock bouncing across the ground next to Zorig who only momentarily looked in its direction as it disturbed foliage as it bounced through the undergrowth. Zorig was unbothered and continued on. Lloyd meanwhile was angered and stormed back onto the Bounty. The others just stood there a little weary to move like deer that had heard a twig snapping. They didn’t want to risk Lloyd going Oni mode on them. After a moment they slowly made their way back onto the Bounty.
“Guess we have some repair work to do,” Jay commented trying to sound upbeat but his voice clearly sounded more fearful than anything. They found Lloyd in the command room working with the console. He was trying to work it as if nothing was wrong either unaware or ignoring the damages his fighting had left on it and getting mad at it when it wasn’t working.
“Stupid thing why aren’t you working!” he expressed giving it a hefty punch resulting in him getting a minor shock from some broken wires making him angrier leading him to kick it in frustration. To ease things and hopefully get Lloyd away from anything he could break Cole expressed, “maybe it’s broken. Why don’t you let Zane and Pixal take a look at it; they can get it fixed in no time.”
“Fine,” Lloyd grumbled before heading over to the computers in the center of the room. Once he had moved Cole led Zane and Pixal over to the console so they could get a look at it the others following not wanting to be separate due to fear of Lloyd. When Lloyd got to the computers it looked like he was going to look something up but as he started to interact with it the computers shut down.
“Great now this stupid thing is broken!” he growled clearly getting angrier. Pixal quietly noted to the others, “I think he’s lost a bit of control to his powers and is causing energy surges to everything he touches.”
“So we’ll want to keep him away from technology rate now. Who wants to take up that job?” Kai whispered back. They were all hesitant to say anything till Jay braved up to cautiously comment, “so Lloyd do you have anything you want to talk about?”
“Why?” Lloyd snapped back still fiddling with computer and Jay expressed, “you just seem a little tense. Do you need a change in underwear? I know I would need to if being threatened like that thing did to you.”
“I’m fine. I don’t have a weak bladder like you,” Lloyd growled before in frustration punching the computers console leaving a dent in it. A little upset by Lloyds words Jay mumbled to himself, “it’s a medical condition.”
“Why don’t you go have a relax your clearly worked up,” Cole commented to which Lloyd expressed, “I’m fine.”
“I’m not suggesting you to I’m telling you to,” Cole demanded which caused Lloyd to snap, “who do you think you are my mother?” Kai and Jay couldn’t help but chuckle a bit at Cole being referenced as a mom. Cole was just made angry.
“If you’re going to act like this then I’m going to be like your mother, do you want me to put you over my knee and give you a spanking?” Cole declared. While he didn’t respond they could all tell Lloyd was mad. Luckily he didn’t seem interested in fighting back; the others felt it was probably because Cole was the only one who could easily put Lloyd in his place if they did get in a fight. As they worked on the control console for the Bounty to not bother the others and without really thinking about it Zane and Pixal used their droid communication to talk with each other. As his Oni state was still heightened Lloyd heard them using this communication and it made him angry.
“If you two have anything to say you can speak like a human; stop using that droid noise. Why are you doing it? Got something to hide? Something you don’t want the rest of us to know about? What? What are you conspiring about?” Lloyd demanded angrily turning his attention to Zane and Pixal who were both scared and confused his voice sounding off indicating he was still in a state where he could lose control. The two were scared and stopped what they were doing worried anything they did may draw more anger from Lloyd. Cole was quick to come to their defence expressing, “they don’t have anything to hide. They probably just didn’t want to make much noise as they worked or didn’t realise they were talking in that way besides it’s natural for them to communicate like that like barking is to a dog.”
“I don’t care I’m forbidding them to use that communication from here on. Especially when clan members are around like earlier; I heard you two secretly talking to each other when that monster called out how you two could understand their views while the rest of us couldn’t. Were you agreeing with him?” Lloyd expressed. In defence Zane explained, “we were just questioning his reasoning for bringing up such a topic like he had. We were wondering if he was attempting to create division amongst us.”
“How can we be sure that is what you were really saying? Nya, Jay I want you two to hook those two up to the computers and analyze all their communications especially their private ones,” Lloyd demanded his voice still sounding off. Nya replied, “is this what this outburst is all about? You think they’re conspiring about us?”
“I’m not saying they are but there is a strong possibility they could be up to something,” Lloyd declared to which Pixal stated, “if our neural telepunictions are bothering you this much we can have them removed so we are unable to use them if they bother you this much.” Most of the others were shocked to hear the two offering up such a suggestion prompting Jay to express, “what? No we’ll never do that to you two!”
“No we’re not going to change you or take away something natural to either of you just because Lloyd can’t control his nature,” Cole declared prompting Lloyd to state, “what do you mean? I’m in control of myself.” Jay expressed, “that’s what you think.”
“What are you implying?” Lloyd growled silencing Jay who was afraid to say anything else. Cole warned his patience running thin with Lloyds attitude, “I don’t know how you’re not aware of it maybe it’s some Oni thing but you’re Oni nature is showing making you target Zane and Pixal for no reason other than Oni seem to have some kind of hatred to them.”
“I’m in control, I had a minor slip on that monster but I’m better now,” Lloyd declared making Kai quietly state, “minor slip?”
“No you’re not in control now I’m ordering you to go to the sleeping quarters to calm down or I’m going to put you there myself,” Cole ordered. In retaliation Lloyd expressed, “no I’m not. I’m perfectly fine and going to do what I want. You’re not the boss of me and you’re not my mom so I don’t have to listen to you. Besides did you always listen to your mom when she is wrong… oh wait you no longer have a mother. Maybe that’s for the good then she couldn’t see the controlling bully you have become.” The mentioning of his mother in such a way really got to Cole causing him to snap. He quickly strolled over to Lloyd and grabbed him to start dragging him off stating as he did, “you will not speak of my mother like that!” Lloyd however refused to co-operate and he tried to break free of Coles hold leading the two to get into a fight. Cole instantly brought up his lava arms to quickly get the upper hand on Lloyd. Cole was quick to subdue Lloyd before lifting him up to carry him on his one shoulder. Cole then carried Lloyd who was kicking and punching while cursing at Cole to let him down out of the room. A little curious and worried the others followed a bit behind curious about what Cole was doing. Cole took Lloyd down to the prison cells of the Bounty where he tossed Lloyd into one of the cells.
“If you’re going to act like a child I’m going to treat you like a child now you’re going to sit here and think over everything you’ve said and done till we get home after which Wu’s going to have a talk with you,” Cole expressed closing and locking Lloyd in before he left the room closing the door behind him while Lloyd continued to curse at him. After exiting the room and closing the door behind him Cole ended his lava arm power and stopped for a breather.
“Hopefully he calms down,” Kai expressed the rest of them a little surprised by Coles actions. Seeing the others had followed him Cole apologized, “I’m sorry about that. He was refusing to listen, going on with his Oni paranoia again then the stuff about my mom…”
“No need to apologize. We get it. He needs a time out. A lot of what he said was uncalled for,” Nya stated and the others agreed. They began to walk back to the control room to get starting fixing what Lloyd broke.
“So I think it might be best that Lloyd doesn’t take part in any further interrogations with clan members,” Kai suggested to which Jay agreed, “yha and maybe even we don’t let him continue work against the clan. Maybe we send him on a vacation… maybe to a small isolated island where he couldn’t do any harm to anyone.”
“How about the lighthouse Zanes father was imprisoned at. There’s no one there he could hurt plus it would come with a prebuilt shelter for him,” Kai suggested. Jay and Nya looked at each other both knowing that wasn’t entirely true before Nya stated, “I don’t think that would be a good idea. It is a lighthouse which is very important for keeping sailors safe I don’t think we want to risk him losing control and destroying the building.”
“True,” Kai agreed. Cole asked Zane and Pixal as they entered the command room, “what you said you were talking about with your telepathic communication thing that helped drive Lloyd crazy how you were wondering if the clan may be trying to create a wedge between us. What makes you think that and how true do you think it is?”
“Oh well the clan does recognise his Oni heritage which they do not seem to like and they like to bring it up and push it and their dislike of it when interacting with him,” Zane began and Pixal continued, “many members also seem to know just what needs to be said or done to get him worked up and his Oni nature to surface.”
“Since they know so much about Oni then they probably know how they for some reason hate those like you two which is probably why they also like to bring up how you two are different and implying a sort of relation between them and you as if trying to plant the idea in his mind that you two might be betraying us,” Cole noted. Zane was quick to express sounding a bit scared, “we’re not betraying you!”
“We know you two aren’t. He’s just saying it’s like the clan members are influencing Lloyd to make him think you are that way we end up fighting amongst ourselves so we don’t spend as much time fighting them,” Kai explained.
“Don’t worry no matter what we’re going to find a way to keep them from doing that. For one we’re going to have to limit the amount of contact Lloyd has with anyone from the clan, we’ll defiantly have to keep him on missions away from them too. As for you two maybe be wary of when and where you use your special communication and maybe try to use it less often for the near future okay,” Cole explained. Both Zane and Pixal agreed that they could do that.
“You know my option of isolating him on an island is still up there,” Jay suggested to which Cole noted, “that’s kind of counter productive to keeping us together.”
“I guess your right; I still think it would be a good option to keep up in case he goes full Oni crazy,” Jay joked.
“Remember don’t touch anything no matter how shiny it is,” the blue knight explained as he led the other knights off the elevator that had brought them down to one of the vaults beneath the castle. The knights were joined by their two squires, students only children in age who were in training to become knights themselves. One was a girl dressed in purples while one was a boy dressed in pale blue. The two held devices that were scanning for various signals. The place was a large room with various pedestals, plaques, cases, statues, urns and even some bones and strange body parts or flora like plants that seemed to live despite the lack of sunlight only needing to be close to strange glowing fungi to keep alive. Everything there was labelled with golden plaques describing what they were and their dangers. Digi sconces lit the room which was stone with inlaid borders of gold that had inscriptions in a writing most of them did not understand on them.
“And why not?” the shiny knight questioned to which the red knight stated, “because much of what is down here are cursed items or items too powerful to be wielded by your average person.”
“So if we’re not to touch anything then why are we down here?” the shiny knight asked to which the green knight explained, “because the royal guardsman have been picking up some uber strange vibes down here.”
“So we have to come down here because some knights feel it’s creepy?” the shiny knight complained as they looked around. They split up a bit looking over the items and peering into every dark space with their flashlights looking for anything abnormal. While most of the artefacts there were from their kingdom there were also plenty from faraway lands and even believed to be from other realms.
“It’s more than just strange vibes, there was some reports of strange activity largely noises and at least five different knights and several squirebots encountered unfamiliar and non natural beasts down here,” the red knight explained and the blue knight added, “and since that item the monks from the Order of the White Dragon gave us is being stored down here we can’t take risks with potential incursions.”
“Is that item really as powerful as they say it is?” the bulky knight asked and the girl squire explained, “apparently so. In ancient times it was held in the crypts beneath the chapel of light where it made a barrier around the capital that weakened and even kept certain kinds of monsters from entering its walls. Over time as technology improved and the skills, equipment and knights got better it’s service was needed less so it was handed to the Order of the White Dragon to protect.”
“What exactly is that thing they gave us?” the boy squire asked he and the girl looking at the strange object they had been set to guard. It was an item about the size of a mug made of a flat polished stone like material that was black in color with a reddish iridescence to it with part of it being rimmed by a silverish piece that looked to be a border. The rim piece on the part they had bore what looked to be a snakes head biting onto what might be its tail or the tail of something else. It had been place on a pedestal in the center of the room and had a glass-stone case over it. Coming to look at the item as well the blue knight explained, “according to my uncle it is a piece from a great and powerful artefact. It was sundered long ago and split between worlds to keep it from getting into the wrong hands.” Confused by some of the blue knights words the bulky knight asked, “what does sundered mean?”
“It’s a fancy way to say broken,” the red knight explained and the green knight asked coming to look at the item as well, “why is it bad for it to end up in the wrong hands?”
“All I could find on that is this and its other parts are brought together it can awaken a great demon that will bring about the end of days,” the blue knight explained as the red and bulky knight also came over to look at the item. The others could agree that didn’t sound too good.
“Is it just me or does this thing give off some serious unnerving vibes?” the green knight asked. They all could agree that as they stood close to it they got an unsettling feeling. A feeling that whatever this was didn’t belong in their world and that there was a great energy to it; a great dark and otherworldly energy. After a moment near the artefact they all split up to continue searching the place for hints of intrusions. So far nothing seemed off. Along with the devices for searching for energies the squires also had tablets which had floor plans for the tunnels under the castle and a complete list of the items in the vaults.
“What is with these bizaro plants? I thought plants needed sunlight to live; how are these things living?” the green knight expressed as he looked over the collection of flora that grew in various planters built into the walls and floor of a sub gallery built onto the one side of the vaults main gallery. Strange large fungi many of which had glowing parts were in the planters along with various small plants, strange vines and lichens.
“Normally yha but these plants… they’re not normal. They were found growing in the caverns and tunnels down here before any of the structures down here were built,” the red knight noted prompting the bulky knight to comment, “I thought these structures were built in old mining tunnels like the sewers in my hometown.”
“Some were expanded by mining but many were already existing. They’re one of the reasons the capital was built here. The tunnels made for a good place for citizens to hide from monsters in ancient times. While some parts are still safety bunkers most have been repurposed for other services like these vaults. I don’t know if any of the original caverns remain but I do know these specimens aren’t really in their natural state” the red knight explained and the blue knight added, “they’re in a sort of stasis. My uncle put them in that way after studying them to preserve these specimens in case he wanted to study them in the future. According to my uncle he had strong reasoning to believe they were not natural our realm and were likely displaced here by some kind of seriously powerful magical disturbance in the long distant past.”
“What kind of disturbance could do that?” the green knight asked to which the blue knight replied, “don’t know but it must have been very powerful.”
“Why are you all obsessing over shrooms and plants? There are way cooler things down here,” the shiny knight expressed as he approached the rest of them.
“Just because they are not worth a lot or shiny or is dirty or run down doesn’t mean it’s of no value often it is the lesser things that are of greatest value,” the blue knight stated looking at the shiny knight. As he looked at the shiny knight the blue knight noticed the shiny knight was wearing a strange golden circlet that was embedded with strange violet gems on the front.
“Where’d you get that?” the blue knight asked and the shiny knight replied, “it was lying in a chest with a bunch of other jewellery. I look pretty good with it on don’t I; why would this be abandoned down here?”
“Because it’s probably cursed!” the red knight chastised she and the blue knight getting angry at the shiny knight causing the three to start arguing.
“What did I say when we came down here?” the blue knight asked to which the shiny one responded taking some selfies with him wearing the jewellery, “I wasn’t really paying attention.” With a heavy sigh the blue knight explained, “this place is used to store powerful and often dangerous artefacts to keep the kingdom safe. If it’s down here there is a reason it is here and it should not be touched let alone worn. It could be cursed or have seriously negative magical effects.” As they got to arguing the bulky and green knight decided to continue their searching of the place not wanting to get involved in the argument.
“How could a piece of jewellery be bad?” the shiny knight asked and the red knight noted, “you’d be surprised.”
“According to the vaults catalogue that piece looks like Prides Curse,” the girl squire noted looking at her tablet and the Shiny knight asked starting to feel an itchy and burning sensation on his head, “Prides Curse?”
“It’s an ancient artefact that was made by a witch who was paid by a group of villagers to humble an extremely vain noble who ruled their town and ran it and everyone in it into poverty and let the town crumble and get severely run down and crime ridden while he obsessed over his looks and status. It is said the witch made it by infusing poison oak and ivy and pus from diseased toads into its center then coating it all in gold. I’m not sure if that part is true but we know what it does is true,” the girl squire noted as after scratching his head the shiny knight was startled to find clumps of his own hair fall out. The boy squire continued, “apparently it in best terms uglifies those that wear it long enough. According to legend the noble couldn’t resist wearing it even as it uglified him. His hair got all stringy and greasy and fell out, his skin looked sickly and got covered in rashes and sores, some of his teeth rotted blackening before falling out, he ended up with a hunched posture and he often smelt like sewage.”
“Did you say hair falling out?” the shiny knight questioned getting nervous looking at the clump of hair he had lost. The others with him looked at him worried as the boy squire stated, “yha.” The shiny knight quickly took off the circlet and threw it onto the ground some more of his hair coming off with it.
“My hairs already falling out! What am I going to do I’ve been cursed?! I don’t want to go bald! My hair and skin are my best parts!” the shiny knight exclaimed starting to panic. The red knight couldn’t help but state, “well we all know your brain clearly isn’t.”
“I told you not to touch anything,” the blue knight expressed as he used his sword to pick up and carefully return the circlet to the chest it had come from. While they were busy dealing with the shiny knights mishap the green knight found scratches around an old vent on the lower part of the wall. He called the bulky knight over who helped him loosen the old iron with golden plated grate so they could get a better look behind it.
“Quickly how do I break the curse?” the shiny knight asked panicking. The girl squire explained, “it doesn’t really say here. You could get lucky and as long as you’re not wearing the item you’ll be fine otherwise you’ll likely have to get Merloks aid to find a break to the curse.” The others noticed the shiny knight was starting to develop a rash on his forehead.
“Hopefully that will teach you not touch everything fancy looking,” the blue knight commented before the green knight called them over. They all went to see what the other two knights had found. After moving the grate he and the bulky knight noticed more scratch marks on the other side of the grate and found what looked to be the shed or broken tooth of something reptilian lying on the ground behind it.
“What’s that from?” the red knight asked to which the green one responded, “don’t know. Whatever it is must be of notable size and reptilian; like those strange creatures those strange bandits that attacked the Monks of the White Dragon had.” Investigating the area the blue knight noted a door just a few feet down the wall from the grate. He headed over and opened it up with a key the king had given him to the vaults. Opening the door he was quick to note scratch marks to the floor behind the door as if something had been scratching to try and get in. The rest joined him as they moved into the passage behind this door. It was wide and made simply of stone with the wall to the vault being the only artificial construction. This wall was coated in gold prompting the bulky knight to ask, “why does this vault have so much gold to it?”
“Gold supposedly has powers against dark forces so the vault is lined with it to keep monsters of darkness out,” the boy squire explained. Inspecting the other side of the grate which opened into this passage the green knight noted, “well it doesn’t seem these monsters are affected by it.” On the back side of the grate large deep scratches some going to the stone beneath were in the gold panelling around the grate.
“Something’s clearly trying to get in through here… where does this passage go?” the blue knight asked after coming to investigate the grate. The girl squire replied after a moment to investigate on her tablet, “an old section of tunnels once used for mining but has been shut down since. I think there once was a passage to the surface but that was closed long ago to keep anything from entering the place.” After a moments pause to look down the dark passage the blue knight began to head down the passage. The green and red knight were quick to follow him leaving the others behind. The squires and shiny one were nervous to head into the unknown while the bulky knight wasn’t wanting to leave the young squires alone in the dark passage where anything dangerous could be lurking.
“Are we just going to head down there? Into a dark probably dirty unknown passage?” the shiny knight questioned and the green one responded, “why not, clearly something has been coming through here so we need to make sure this tunnel is secure.” The squires and bulky knight began to follow leaving the shiny one behind who after a few moments rushed to follow the others not wanting to be left alone down there. The passage went some distance as just barren tunnels with old structural supports for the mine which didn’t look to be in the best of shapes.
“How long does this place go?” the shiny knight complained after some time of traveling through the tunnel and finding nothing. The red knight explained, “a long distance. Most of the tunnels can go for miles under the entire city and even into the surrounding lands. I do have to express though that these tunnels seem oddly clear for being abandoned. I would have surely thought there would have been some collapses through the years.”
“You’re right that is really odd,” the green knight noted. They continued on for some time before they came across the remains of a squirebot. The robotic being had clearly been torn apart by some kind of large animal.
“Could this have been done by a bear? I know from back home bears liked to take residence in the mines and the village guards often had to drive them out,” the bulky knight offered as the green knight and boy squire inspected the remains. The green one expressed, “maybe but do bears often lose their teeth when biting metal also whatever did this looks to have only two or three clawed digits.” The green knight noted pulling another shed tooth out of the bot before exploring some distinct claw marks on the ground by the bot. He ran his fingers in them to get a sense of how deep the claws had dug into the rock. The claws had dug in not too deep but still deep enough to indicate whatever left these was a very powerful creature.
“If something is getting in here then clearly there has to be an entrance to the outside which needs to be sealed. We’ll have to find it,” the blue knight expressed. They continued on coming to a small cavern. The cavern had been blocked off by old wooden boards which had a large hole having been chewed into it by the ground. Clearly something had been getting through there. The bulky knight smashed through boards for the rest of them to get through into the cavern behind it. Once in it they could all feel there was something different to this cavern. The tunnels had largely had stale musty air in them but in here the air felt fresher, cooler and there was the musty odour of beasts. Roots hung down in several areas and some stalactites and stalagmites grew in it offering places for something to hide and they had a feeling something might be hiding there. They had the uneasy feeling of being watched.
“I think we might have found where our intruders are hanging out,” the blue knight noted before stating as the green, red and bulky knight slowly began to spread out looking through the cavern for anything.
“It’s probably just bears right?” the boy squire commented he and the girl squire hanging close to the blue knight for protection. All they had to defend themselves were daggers. They hadn’t been expecting to run into any serious danger so hadn’t really come prepared for a fight.
“Somehow I don’t think it’s bears,” the blue knight commented looking around. He couldn’t fully explain it but he could feel what was there wasn’t of their realm. It had an energy like those bandits they had faced before; it was a cold smooth and creeping energy that caused a metallic smell the others could smell to hang in the air. A movement in the dark of the cavern behind a ridge of stalagmites caught his attention. He thought for a moment that he saw there some faintly yellowish glowing things over there like a collection of fireflies move from shadow to shadow. He moved his flashlight to point in the direction of the movement. At first he didn’t note anything till the light hit its eyes. A large beast had hunkered itself down in ambush behind this ridge and was peering out in preparation for an ambush. Seeing it had been seen this creature reared up onto its hind legs coming to stand about nine feet tall. This creature wasn’t like anything he had seen before. It was clearly not a bear but did have a form some could mistake as a bear at first glance. It looked like someone had created a bird to mimic a bear while still retaining its birdness. It was black in color with golden markings on its face and near its rump and on the bushy short tail. In the markings of its rump was a minor glow which matched its much brighter glowing amberish eyes. Its bird looking head complete with a beak that bore a secondary prong like a tooth on its side he could see from its slightly open mouth as it breathed heavily bore what looked like true teeth that bore sharp fangs and crushing molars like a bear. It’s forepaws ended in two digits tipped with large bearlike claws and a third shorter clawless digit. The creature looked at him growling. The blue knight reached for his sword and just as he grabbed it another of these creatures launched out of a crevice in the one wall to attack the bulky knight from behind while he was distracted looking at the first creature. Once that one had attacked the first creature rushed out at the blue knight getting on all fours to charge at him. A third of these creatures charged out of the shadows followed by five of the strange bird reptiles they had seen with those bandits and something new. Some kind of serpentine creature with the head of a parrot and arms that ended in hands like a parrots foot. The creatures instantly got in a fight with the knights using their teeth and claws to try and pry their armour off. Despite the knights attempts like before the knights weapons had a low effect on these creatures however they were unable to summon a magic power from their mentor who was outside the tunnels. They had to use what they had to fight the beasts off. The serpent creature went after the red knight while the other bear-bird went after the green knight. The bird reptiles went after the shiny knight and the squires who as they were un-armoured used the roots and other features in the cave to their defence trying to get the creatures trapped in them. Despite their attempts to hold the monsters back they weren’t doing so good.
The creatures did a pretty quick job in damaging and removing parts of their armour and were not being deterred by their attacks even when they managed to deliver some injuries to the creatures mainly cuts and bruising. They were all quickly pinned down or trapped by the monsters. The bear-bird fighting the bulky knight had him pinned down on the ground under his shield where it was trying to push down and crush him under its weight; the green knight had managed to wedge himself with the squires in a large tangle of roots where the one bird-bear and four of the bird reptiles were tearing at the roots trying to get at them as the green knight continued to shoot at them trying to drive them off. The red knight had found herself being constricted by snake parrot while the shiny knight was the only one getting off fairly easy as the bird reptile creature that had attacked him had tried biting onto his head only to get a mouth full of hair which it was trying to get out of its mouth while the knight continued to complain and obsess over his loss of hair. As they fought it quickly came to the blue knight that they wouldn’t make it out of this unless he did something he wasn’t ready for. He was still years away from being a master in the magical arts but he’d had training, enough that he could wield some magic in emergencies. He wasn’t skilled enough though to know which was the best to use in this circumstance; he would just have to make an educated guess. He quickly mustered up a power, a light energy based power, and hit the bear-bird he was fighting with it.
The creature was tossed back hard into the wall knocking the wind out of it. While it was stunned he quickly turned and used the power on the other monsters. First the snake parrot which released the red knight and backed off wary of him then he hit the bear-bird on the bulky knight knocking it off him. He then hit the monsters trapping the green knight and squires. By that time the monster he had hit first had come to its senses and began giving out a call. It sounded like an alarm call which caught all the monsters attentions. After that call the monsters then all fled out of the cavern heading down he passage they had yet to explore. Knowing they couldn’t let those creatures go loose the blue knight followed them. He was quickly joined by the green knight who easily worked himself out of the roots while the others all took a moment to recover before following as well. The passage continued on for several meters slowly looking to head up in direction. Soon they found themselves at the entrance to the passage a cave that led out from a rocky ridge outside on a hillside. Once outside they stopped to look around to figure out where they were. To their unnerve they were at least a few kilometres from the city. They could see the outer walls of the city not far away over the farmlands to the west behind the ridge they were on. That wasn’t good. What was worse was this passage should have been blocked. They could see scattered around the entrance of the cave the broken up pieces of wall and rubble that had once closed off this entrance. It had clearly been removed by something which was very unlikely to have been animals. Even worse looking around they could see no evidence of those monsters nearby or where they had gone. They’d lost them.
“This isn’t good. The monsters have found a way to sneak in under our very noses,” the green knight noted to which the red knight expressed, “we’re going to have to get this passage closed off and guards will have to be posted here for the time being. I think we’ll have to have all possible entrances inspected and guarded as well.” As he looked back at the capital the blue knight couldn’t help but wonder aloud, “these things are desperate for that item. How far are they willing to go for it?”
to be continued...
Notes:
Much of the lore around the soul gems is based off the soul gems from the Elder Scrolls series.
Ever want to hear a raven speak; here you go: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfsnHVaScjg
I have encountered opossums in real life. Unfortunately all but one were actually dead, all victims of car strikes, and the live one didn't play dead. It just showed off its teeth and froze. Despite what they might show they're harmless and as they are marsupials they don't transmit any serious diseases to people. In fact they're good to have around. They eat a lot of the bad insects like ticks and prey on real threats like rats and mice which do spread disease. They also enjoy human and even cat food and will regular yards late at night looking for it.
I included a graphic to show the kind of view you would get with Coles color vision. I wanted to know what it would look like and it was quite interesting. There are actually several kinds of colorblindness with red-green or Deuteraomoly color blindness being the most common.
Like with the previous chapter I'm working references for the later instalments in the story arc; the ones in this one might not be apparent for some time though.
Chapter 9: Keikiarys Guide to the Ash Wastes
Summary:
A shortened and simplified working of the book Keikiary's Guide to the Ash Wastes which is mentioned and featured several times through the story. All images I post in my work can be found there if you want a better look at them. For images of all these creatures and more please visit my Deviantart page and feel free to leave comments: https://www.deviantart.com/nerdy-hyena/gallery/72478681/story-project
Also if you need a refresher on creatures, flora or aspects of the environment you can always come back to this chapter for a reference.
Notes:
Pictures relating to story can be found here: https://www.deviantart.com/nerdy-hyena/gallery/72478681/story-project
They are really good and help to visually flush out several aspects of the story including environments, characters, outfits, locations, creatures and other aspects often important ones in the story. All images I post in my work can be found there if you want a better look at them. Defiantly make sure to check them out.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
What follows is a shortened and simplified working of the book Keikiary's Guide to the Ash Wastes which is mentioned and featured several times through the story. For images of all these creatures and more please visit my Deviantart page and feel free to leave comments: https://www.deviantart.com/nerdy-hyena/gallery/72478681/story-project
The Ash Wastes, when this one was tasked with writing these guides there is one place I was not too keen on visiting. It was the Ash Wastes. I do not fear the beasts of this realm no matter the place but there is something of this region that gives me the chills. The Ash Wastes is a place in our world located around our worlds largest and currently most active volcano the Dragons Maw, Oni's Heart, Red Mountain or the Red Tower. The area today known as the Ash Wastes covers a massive area that was once prime farm land and a mosaic of cool temperate forests and grasslands home to a variety of life and many natural resources. It also encompasses the highlands in and around the Scalecaller Peaks mountains and the treacherous rainforests of the Blackwood Labyrinth which stretches from here to the tropics. To the west by the coasts sits the Bogs of Pestilence and far to the west and a bit to the north the capital of Nirnhold. Geographical evidence has proven the ash wastes have come and gone through time as the volcano becomes active then lies dormant time and time again. When people first started to settle here the area showed no sign of the wastes other than layers of fertile ashy soil in the ground below. It did not take long for the Ashlands to return once the volcano blew making life hard for the inhabitants but despite the hardships here natives refuse to leave and many others are attracted for either work or pleasure by the many plentiful mines of the region, the unique environments and how life has come to cope with the conditions or by the engineering wonders that are the Ghost Fence and the Undercity in Balmora. The wastes is a place best described as a land of beauty but at the same time a land of a living nightmare. It has long been known that the great beings of darkness in our world the Ashers make this land their home centered around the vary volcano that gives this place its name. They have many ruin strongholds dotting the area with many clustered nearest the volcano. It is not just their ancient settlements that dot this landscape many ruins of the technology advanced and now extinct Scimitar folk can be found along with a few Oni ruins. More recent ruins from towns and villages can also be found where like many of the others they lay often partially buried or re-colonised by nature. Settlements are rare in the wastes and found mainly around Balmora and the southeast shores of the Great Lake of Lost Souls which stretches close to Balmora. No permanent settlements of decent folk can be found on the east side of the Ghost fence the great structure built to hold back the blowing ash of the wastes and the monsters that dwell by the Volcano. While those in town would love to contradict my words the people of this region are not the nicest in the realm. This one would have to believe it is a result of the highly unpleasant environments of the wastes or possibly something darker.
Travellers to the wastes should be highly wary as dangers lurk in every corner and where you would least expect them. Clean water is hard to find in the wastes as many water bodies have been tainted by the volcanic activity making the waters toxic, acidic enough to dissolve even the hardiest metals, sulphuric pools, waters that leak toxic gasses that create death fields around their shores and some turn organic matter to stone. Even beings that are still living are turned into stone monsters of their former selves by these cursed lakes. A few lakes are even rumoured to be made of a strange liquid yet un-liquid substance as clear as water but which glows with a strange aquamarine glow when interacted with and has an unnatural void like cold to them. These lakes are said to have strange magical properties but there locations deep in the wastes by cursed locations such as Asher ruins, the Forbidden City and the base of the Red Mountain makes studying them rather difficult. Many hotsprings also dot the landscape and are a more pleasant feature of these lands. While most are too hot to enjoy some are mild enough for relaxing dips. Man and beasts alike find pleasure in these waters especially during colder months; some constructs have even been noticed in enjoying these waters as well. The reasons constructs perform this behaviour this one does not know. Such niceties however are rare in the wastes. Most places are often on the unpleasant side. Fields scarred by sulphuric waters seeping through the ground, valleys of burned foliage and charred earths, old lava flows, features known as fumaroles which are cracks in the earth where steam and gasses from deep below flow or eradiate out of (many of the gasses are toxic or at the least unhealthy), geysers and geyser fields occur in largely low lying areas along with mudpots boiling pits of acids and soils. Places such as the Valley of Despair are filled with toxic gasses that suffocate organic beings and radiation caused by the volcano fries and melts the circuitry of robotic beings and machinery. Bits of this radiation can also be found close to the volcano. Ash storms are frequent and blow across the landscape helping spread the ash. These storms can bury and even uncover many things in the wastes from bones to ruins. Entities caught in these storms can be suffocated and cut up by the sharp ash no matter their make. Earthquakes are also common. While most are mild on the rare occasion some are powerful enough to move land and topple full grown trees and tree-shrooms making even the forests dangerous.
The flora of the wastes are hardy and resilient able to stand up to some of the harshest the wastes can throw at them. The many fungal forms found here are essential for the survival of all other life forms. Prior to the volcanoes eruption the region was a mix of forests and semi-open grasslands in the low altitudes stretching into sub-alpine forests and rocky moors in higher altitudes. Various sized lakes were scattered around the place which were often bordered by bogs and swamps while various rivers meandered through the landscape and the southern regions of this location bordered the starts of the Blackwood forest. After the eruptions while most of these features remain and while tainted by the volcanic activity are still present the compositions of life that has come to dwell in them his greatly changed. While the large shrooms, some as big as trees, can be found in many other places of this realm they thrive here where they help remove toxins from the ashy soil and help provide nutrients for plants. Without the fungi it would be very hard for any other form of life to make it here. The soil would be too toxic. Though being Fungi many of the largest species have been found to make some of their own nutrients, a feature only plants can achieve. Fungi normally do not make their own food instead they consume organic and inorganic matter breaking them down to provide nutrients for the soil. Many of the large species of shrooms here both consume like normal fungi and produce like a plant. This has been found to be because their tops have a symbiotic algae in them that produces nutrients for their fungal hosts. The trunks of these large shrooms are made of a surprisingly tough and woody like substance at their centers with a soft living exterior. This hard inner structure supports the fungi and tubes running through it provide nutrients and water to all its parts. This nutrients and water is stored in the fungi's massive underground root systems. These root systems often connect with the roots of plants providing a symbiotic relation with them.
Frequently encountered species of tree include varieties of maples, cedars, pines, redwoods, junipers, and gingkos can be found in both the low and highlands creating a patchwork of forests and grasslands. Locusts prefer the milder wetter lowlands while birch were pushed out of the lowlands into sheltered regions and higher altitudes to escape the heat brought on by the ash. Shrubs of various types can be found through all with some such as the Golden Locust with its stunning early golden flowers dominating the low lands and the hardy often crooked growing conifer Chokeweed dominates the higher altitudes and rockier regions. Bamboos and ferns love the shadowy woodlands while grasses prefer the open regions. Ancient looking horsetails and clubmosses hang in damp regions particularly around bodies of water alongside Ash and Lunar reeds which stretch out into the water shores. Runners Lichen and the fungal Creeping Veins which can coat the ground in over a meter square are found in rockier regions where all but the hardiest grasses can grow. Grasses are more sparse here than one would expect from a grassland this is largely due to the ash and rockier soils of the region. In the higher alpine regions of the Scalecaller peaks Bristlecone pines along with Brasswood trees which also stretch down into the sub-alpine regions and mountain valleys can be found. Brasswoods are a unique species of conifer whose bark and wood have a metallic make to the tissues and were highly prized by the scimitar folk for use in long lasting and resilient wooden products.
Not all flora of the wastes is so pleasant or beneficial. Trauma roots are a rather unpleasant plant which uses its thorn covered vines to snare animals and people alike. If they cannot break free of the vine they will perish and as their body decomposes it fertilizes the plant. Take head travellers Trauma root can sense vibrations this is how they find their prey. Rapid movements and the vibrations that come with them tend to catch the plants attention. If caught by this plant remember to remain calm and do not rapidly hack at the vines. Make slow calculated movements when cutting yourself free otherwise the plant will just wrap tighter and tighter around you or more shoots may come to grasp you.
Many flora in the wastes emit varying degrees of bioluminescent. They use this feature to attract insects, birds and reptiles to help draw them in to pollinate or help spread their seeds through the consuming of their seed and spore holding fruits. Some of the light produced by some shrooms has even been noted to produce lights that shares traits of sunlight helping to provide for plants. In some regions fungi or plants from this region which glow such as Lantern Pods, Fiery Glowstalk, Glowing Fungal-stalks and Lunar Reeds are planted in planters, gardens, and around or in ponds as decoration and for a natural light source at night. These flora tend to however be great magnets for insects so if you wish to plant some near your living quarters just be warned you might get more than you bargained for.
As with environments elsewhere many plants and fungi from this region are highly prized for their alchemical properties with some such as Ashen Gingko being known for restorative properties and Eucalid Locusts being adored for its lovely and stress reducing eucalyptus scent even though this plant is a locust and not Eucalyptid. Others like Ashen Cherry and Crowned Emperor Parasol are said to be able to ward off evil spirits and un-dead beings; a common favourite trait for potions and poisons for travellers in the wastes. Aloe Trees and Burning Vera can be used to treat all sorts of burns and Ashen corn like regular corn produces fruits which are edible. Other edibles that can be found in these wastes and are considered desirable to many (unlike many other edibles to be found in the wastes) are Ashen Peppers, Ash yams, Saltrice, Hack-lo, Jazbay Grape, Deadlands corn from Ashen Corn Stalks, lantern pods, and Frost Peach which despite preferring the colder temperate and sub-alpine reaches to the heated ash lands has managed to cling on in sheltered areas and weathered the landscapes transition rather well. While they are edible and have a slight taste like their namesake Buttercake Shrooms have a slightly meatier taste and are known for restoring of health and energy. Ash Cotton can be found in many open areas and is often cultivated around Balmora for the fibres from its flowers which can resist heat and fire. Fiery-Lantern Pods also enjoy the ashy landscape and are commonly used for its health restoring properties and heat resistant properties. In areas less affected by the ash and volcanic activity Glacial Thistle an icy blue flowered thistle which is commonly used for its ability to create potions to protect against the cold and Moon-Lantern Pods with their icy glow are known for their healing properties and cold resistance still thrive. Chokeweed has properties for curing disease, Root –pods, Glowing Fungal-stalks and Lunar Reeds can allow ones body to produce varying degrees of light from the skin for certain times and it should be noted both Lunar Reeds and Glowing Fungal Stalks are often used in local culinary dishes. If not prepared properly or if combined with ingredients known to produce the same effect such as Torchbugs for example can cause this effect to occur. While harmless it can be rather disturbing for those unfamiliar with the effect. Swamp Beacon Caps, Runners Lichen, Garlic and Nirnroot are known to have abilities to protect against disease. For more on the magical properties of various flora and edibles of this region there are various books on alchemy and provisioning one can acquire at many book stores and outdoor outfitters both in the wastes and elsewhere in the realm. In the species identification of this guide I will include notable alchemical traits for flora and fauna but I will not go into much detail about them.
Mammals
Due to the harshness of this region animal life can find it hard to exist here. Insect and reptilian creatures however thrive here. Before the ash spread a great mix of fauna could be found but that is no longer the case as many mammalian fauna has been driven from the region. These mammals were rather hardy but were not resilient enough to combat the expanding ash. Due to similar coloring and a similar sloping back Frosty Scimitars and Cave Hyenas can be mistaken for each other from a distance. They however are only distant relatives. Scimitars are members of the cat family while Cave Hyenas are cousins to Spotted hyenas and in their own family which is a cousin to the cat family. Both do share some similarities. Both live in female dominated groups and when searching for food generally go alone, in pairs or small groups instead of the whole group going together. Scimitars hunt mainly large animals using their powerful forelimbs to help pull down and restrain prey. They kill by slashing open their prey with their blade like teeth. Scimitars cannot bite through bone. Cave hyenas are both scavengers and hunters. When hunting they focus on small to medium sized prey and are not picky. Anything from insects to fish to fellow mammals anything is considered food and will be hunted and everything even members of their own kind will be scavenged. They can bite through and eat bones. This ability to eat anything combined with a tolerance to all but jungle and desert environments has let the hyenas thrive conquer almost every corner of our realm. They even cling on in this harsh place and a species is believed to live in the underground cavern system known as Blackreach. Both these predators can be found from the warm temperate to arctic zones and can handle the cold fairly well. While these two are the most prominent hunters the dominant hunter that used to reign here was the Golden Tiger. Other than appearance these are much like other tigers. Of these three predators only the hyenas can still be witnessed in the wastes now and then.
An omnivore of the region is the Bearcoon. There is some confusion over whether the Bearcoon is a bear or a raccoon or some hybrid of the two created by some bored mage. Behaviourally it is like a bear and largely it looks like a bear however it has a longer tail than a bear, some sounds it makes sound a bit like raccoons and its forepaws are more flexible and dexterous like a raccoons than a bears. They are good climbers unlike most bears and are fond of water. Bearcoons are opportunistic omnivores. While not as common in the area as it once was it can still be seen in the wastes and often frequents cities, towns and camps to rummage through garbage at night along with other more common creatures like Skeevers.
When it came to herbivores there were several types mainly of the hoofed variety. The largest of the mammalian herbivores was the Timber Mammoth. A bit smaller than normal mammoths Timber mammoths are found in more wooded areas than their cousins however they live very much like their larger cousins. Timber Mammoths are both grazers and browsers. It is rare to see these creatures in the wastes now a days.
Ungulates are any member of the hoofed mammals. Notable members that were displaced by the volcanoes eruptions include Rusty Pronghorns, River Bison. Curve-horned Deer, Hagermans Horse and the Chill-horned Stag. Though they look like antelopes pronghorns are not truly antelopes and are actually more closely related to giraffes than antelopes. These are fast agile runners which form medium to large mixed gender herds which can be found mainly in grasslands. Another grassland dweller is the River bison which also live in large mixed gender herds. These hardy bovines can be found in some of the coldest regions of our world. Alongside these two can often be found Hagermans Wild Horses. These are cousins to zebra who live in colder regions than most zebra. While all three are mainly grassland grazers all three have been seen in woodlands, particularly more open and old growth woodlands. In the wooded areas deer are more prominent. The Chill-horned Stag is a relative of the moose but it prefers to live in the alpine forests. Its restricted habitat means it was not often common here before, this species is most common in the Ice Swamps and Glacial Woods of the far north. Both genders have horns and antlers coated in never melting ice. A smaller deer species found here can still be seen despite the harsh conditions of the wastes. The Curve-horned Deer is a medium sized deer. Though weary creatures they will hang around settlements, parks and farms. They live on their own or in small mixed gender herds. They use their large white under-sided tails to signal danger by raising them up and puffing them out often as they run from a threat. It is rare to see any of these in the wastes today however Curve-horned deer can still be seen now and then often hanging near Runner or Kagaur herds.
Not all mammals were driven from the wastes. A small handful were able to cling on. The most prolific, to the point they seem to have benefitted from the Ash Wastes, are the Skeevers. A common nuisance in towns and cities where it commonly rummages through garbage bins leaving a mess for home owners to clean up these opportunistic omnivores will eat anything they can find even each other though they tend more towards carnivory than anything else. Their hyena like jaws can crack through bones and crush some of the toughest nuts and tubers. While they will scavenge their meat contrary to popular belief they can and most often do hunt smaller animals such as rodents, rabbits, smaller predators, small reptiles and amphibians for food. They also dine on insects where it has been noted they appear to be immune to insects venoms and some snake and lizard venoms. They are found in most environments in our world and are well known for their moody temperaments especially when food is involved and often described as having eerie or unsettling sounds. About the size of a medium sized dog they are mainly nocturnal and are pretty decent climbers. They are rather social creatures with a loose social structure that sees females more often than males in dominance. Dominance seems to be highly dependent on how many friends you have amongst the clan than anything else. Social interactions within the species tend to be a bit on the rough side with plenty of screaming, biting, wrestling and scratching. Their relations among species is rather confusing. Some believe they are related to rodents while others note many similarities with Sheogorad Devils, a type of marsupial of the Shivering Isles. Though they do not reproduce like marsupials they defiantly appear to share more similarities with this creature than rodents. They can be kept as pets however one should make sure they are kept well vaccinated since they can spread some pretty nasty diseases which they themselves are immune to such as Ataxia and Serpentus.
Skeevers are a common omnivorous group of creatures in the Realms with the highest diversity in species coming from the Lost Realm indicating they likely originated there. This is further backed up by the fact their closest relative is the Sheogorad Devil, a type of marsupial from the Sheogorad Archipelago the home lands to the Oni of insanity Sheoth. Though they do not reproduce however like marsupials reproducing more like other mammals. These are common nuisance creatures in and around settlements where they are notorious for stealing from picnics and barbeques, rummaging through garbage leaving a mess for individuals to clean up in their bed attire the next morning and attempting to steal from vendors and shops. In the wild they serve a critical role as natures cleaners scavenging dead and often rotting carcasses helping to limit the spread of disease and decay. Some examples of species include: Common Skeever: a largely black furred with a white strip on the back of neck, feet and snout are largely lacking in fur. More northern members of the species however have furred feet and snouts giving them a darker appearance than more southerly species. The dark color could also help in warming them up in the cold. Sheogorad Skeever: fully furred like northern species with dark to black with tannish mask on face stretching down onto chest while missing on snout and rings around eyes. Sometimes called the Spectacled Skeever because of these markings. Despite name is widely spread and very common. Is known to frequently hybridize with the common species. Hybrids tend to look more like the Sheogorad with the marking being less extensive and a pale marking on the back of the neck. Vale Skeever: a species found in the massive underground caverns known as Blackreach in the Lost Realm. Ice-blood Skeever: A species known to occur on Ice Reach. It also has populations in the Never Realm. Believed to have a bite that bares ice powers chilling you to the core it’s also believed the cold has driven it to being more aggressive than normal.
The heftiest to cling around is the Murtle. This armoured mammal is a rather hardy yet very bizarre creature. It has a slower metabolism and notably lower body temperature than most mammals, only the strange reptile like mammals match or beat them with this trait. They are not very fast and rely on their tough bony armour to defend themselves. When threatened they hunker down using the spines on the edges of their shell to help anchor into the ground so predators cannot get to its underside. Its tail has bony armour embedded in its skin so they can swing it as a weapon if they have too. They can stay hunkered down for a considerable time till the predator gets fed up and leaves. This armour however is not perfect. While most predators and weapons cannot get through it Hoofivores, tigers, jaguars, hyenas and the Fear can bite through it making the Murtle have to fight back with its tail at these predators. They are generally slow and very docile creatures which feed mainly on plant matter with the occasional insects. They have a short flexible trunk to help collect food and their cheek teeth are ever growing to compensate for heavy wear. Murtles enjoy wallowing in water and their shells often develop a coating of moss and grasses which aid in camouflage. When dug into the ground they have been mistaken for small hills or mounds of dirt. They live in small not very social groups and average 1 to 2 young per litter. They do not tolerate the cold very well and cannot be found any further north than the warm temperate zone. They are however surprisingly tolerable of the Ash Wastes and have done quite well here. If they get on their backs they cannot right themselves. Mosses, lichens and small plants and fungi are known to occasionally cling to their shells surface this helps them blend in with their surroundings.
A relative to the Murtle is also rather plentiful here particularly in more wooded areas the Slothdillo. Often mistaken as a bear the Slothdillo is a large armoured ground sloth. Related to the Murtle this mammal shares its slow metabolism, ever growing teeth and low body temperature. Despite being a sloth they are not slow like their tree dwelling relatives though they do not have a run. They can walk fast but not run. They us their large scythe like claws on their forepaws to defend themselves. They have a row of hinged armour along their backs allowing them greater mobility than their Murtle cousins. While their hind feet are flat footed they walk on their knuckles on the forepaws with their claws curled up to protect them. They are mainly herbivores feeding on plant and fungal matter with the occasional insect, small animal or carrion. Slothdillos are capable of rearing up on their hind legs while feeding or in defence and can walk on their hind legs for short distances using their heavy tails to help balance their bodies. They are good swimmers and are fond of water where they like to forage for water plants. Due to their unpicky diet the skin in their mouths and of their long highly flexible tongues are purple. Slothdillos are docile creatures and though not truly social are often found in small groups of up to 20 individuals and often stick close to the large reptilian or insectoid creatures of the waste for defence. Slothdillos have largely one offspring, rarely two, at a time. These young cling to their mother while she travels till they are over a third of her size. Mothers care for on average two to three years broods at a time. Slothdillos are amazing diggers often creating dens in all sorts of soils even in rocks where they rest and sleep. Slothdillos can be found in any environment but prefer wooded areas. They are tolerant to the cold and are surprisingly good at climbing mountains.
Though a rare sight the Kaiju has also been noted to inhabit the wooded areas of some parts of the wastes. Translating to 'strange beast' the Kaiju lives up to this name. Believed to be a relative of the Hoofivore the Kaiju is a bizarre animal. While its hind feet have hooves the front feet end in claws which it uses to help brace itself when rearing up to reach into trees and tall bushes, to hook onto branches to pull them close to its mouth, to help dig up roots and tubers and to defend themselves. Like bears they can rear up and walk a short distance on their hind legs. Though mainly living off a plant based diet it also will eat carrion, insects and small animals. It has been witnessed chasing off groups of Scimitar cats, hyenas, wolves and even Mire-lions from their kills so they can have some of the meat. The horns are mainly for display and though not easily visible they do have large predator like canines believed to be used for fighting or when eating meat. They are ruminants and similar to giraffes they have purpleish colored tongues. Though they have been seen in groups of up to 12 individuals they generally average smaller sized groups and when foraging tend move around on their own. Though they come off as aggressive and temperamental they are actually docile and timid creatures. They live mainly in forests, swamplands, and scrublands with plenty of shrubs. Believed to have some powers in the element of earth the Kaiju was often seen as a guardian or spirit of the woodlands by many tribes throughout history. It is considered a sign of good luck to see one in the wild.
The Hoofivore is a loved and cherished predator and one of the few animals who can take out a Fear on their own. These are intelligent, empathetic, gentle creatures known to mate for life and for being caring parents. Despite their size they are quite fast and agile with interesting for predators hooves instead of claws, hyena like jaws and cat like legs. Their long tails are rather stiff aiding in their agility. Their large okapi shaped ears give them good hearing while their large eyes give them great vision both day and night. A mane runs down their neck from the top of the head to between the shoulders. They only produce one to three cubs every two to four years. Because these creatures sided with the common folk and helped us fight the serpentine and their reptilian monsters like the Fear during the reptilian wars the serpentine hunted these creatures extensively during that time now they are few in numbers and listed as critically endangered. While some reports suggest possibly some individuals might remain in remote wild places including in the wastes all known individuals are kept in sanctuaries and Zoos to try and bring the species back from the brink. Though largely carnivorous eating anything it can catch or scavenge it also enjoys some fruits and veg as well. To help protect them and take their place in combat during the reptilian wars the Scymer folk created robotic versions of the Hoofivore. According to legend the Scymer trapped souls of real Hoofivores who perished from serpentine hunting or conflict in special circular carved soul gems which are positioned in the center of their chests. What these icy blue gems are is unknown, it may be Aetherium a rare poorly studied and understood almost luminescent blue crystal like material, but what is known is they power these constructs and give them the ability to tap into magical powers.
The oddest mammals of the region are part of a strange group of mammals that share many traits with reptiles. This allowed them to weather the coming of the ash fairly well and led to them coming to thrive here. The semi-aquatic Kappa has an appearance that makes it look more like a mammal than others of this group. This bizarre mammal which averages a bit bigger than a house cat is like some bizarre cross between a reptile and a mammal. It is a semi-aquatic meat eater which uses its beaver like tail to swim through the water. Its legs are semi-sprawling, making it move like a crocodile. Despite this it can move considerably fast on land. Beware the spurs on its hind legs. These spurs, one on each back leg, deliver a freezing and numbing venom to anything the creature deems a threat. This venom will temporarily paralyze part to half of an attackers body. While not lethal this venom can be highly annoying to the victim though potentially hilarious for their friends. To make things even weirder these creatures lay eggs. Their soft shelled eggs are laid in burrows near bodies of water. They are monogamous and care for their young. They can be found all over in both cold and warm regions as long as there is water they can be found. Two types are known; a saltwater one and a fresh water one and both have a collection of different species which generally differ in slight physical features and coloration. They eat mainly fish but like crocodiles will also eat other vertebrates and insects which get close to its watery home. Despite many beliefs they do not intend to harm people. Attacks by them are usually in defence or they mistake one as prey. After pulling one in the water they will flee realising their mistake. These are shy but charismatic creatures but can be vicious when they need to defend themselves. They have some ice and water based powers. Despite similarities in movement and behaviour to crocodiles these are not related, they are mammals just a weird type of mammal. Interestingly their scientific name Castorocauda lutrasimilis means 'beaver tail similar to an otter'.
Another of these strange mammals is the Kaguar. This strange reptile looking creature is a relative of the Kappa making it a mammal despite its reptilian features. Its legs are more upright than its relative to support its greater weight but it still lays eggs and produces milk. Its skin is scaly though they have some fine hairs on their body, like a baby elephant. Their tusks are used for digging up roots and tubers and they can chew their food. They are largely herbivorous dining on plant and fungi matter but will include insects, carrion and small vertebrates as supplements. These are social animals who form small herds and care for their young. Kaguar are fond of water and often like to wallow in it. They are social animals often living in mix gender herds similar to cattle. Females lead the herds. In some areas especially around the wastes Kaguar are used instead of cattle and horses for mounts and beasts of burden on farms, for travellers, warriors and recreation. They are strong, have a resistance to venoms and are hardier in more toxic and unpleasant environments like the Ash Wastes. They are also easier, smaller and cheaper than Ash Walkers which are used more for tourists and carrying larger numbers of passengers than the many purposes of the Kaguar. They are also used for the production of milk and for meat both of which are said to taste like those of cattle.
Ekhindahogs Is a small groundhog sized relative of the Kaguar. Like their bigger cousins while resembling reptiles with semi-erect forelimbs, scales, beak, egg laying and lack of external fleshy ears they are mammals with the fur and ability to produce milk. These small animals are social creatures who while feeding and foraging above ground rest, breed and rear their young in multi chambered communal burrows. Most of their time in spent above ground however they rarely venture far from their communal burrows. While they seem defenceless the Ekhindahogs has a few tricks to keep it safe when above ground. Like Hedgehogs the fur on their backs running a bit down their sides is made of stiff quills and while they can roll into a loose ball presenting their quills to hungry predators if those quills still don’t deter an attack the hog will stab threats with the venomous spikes on their ankles much like the Kappa. While not lethal their venom is said to be excruciatingly painful and lasts for several hours. Despite looking dangerous their fang like tusks are rarely used on attackers. Instead these are used in inter species disputes mainly over resources and mates and can be used to help dig up roots and tubers. Tusks are larger and more prominent on males however both genders have them. These animals are generally docile and have what many consider comical temperaments. Their diets consist mainly of plant matter and fungi however they will also eat insects, fish and have been known to also eat shellfish. Interestingly while both genders care for the young males play more of a role in parental care than females. Like some mammals males even produce milk like the females often producing just as much as she does to care for the young.
Reptiles and Amphibians
By far the most prominent inhabitants of the wastes are creature in a group known as Repto-birds. Repto-birds are any of a number of creatures found in our world who show features of both reptiles and bird. These include the aerial Direaves and their relatives, the terrestrial Runners and their relatives known as Ornithglates, and the group known as Fear. They are a diverse group of semi-warm blooded and highly adaptable creatures. They can walk on two and four legs; are scaly, fuzzy or a mix of both; eat meat, plants, or both and can handle almost every environment on the planet. It is believed they originated from our world’s most primeval place the Forgotten Forest. It is also believed they are ancestral to birds. Because of this it is not uncommon in some regions for people to simply refer to them as birds. It is also how they get their common name. Repto-birds are split into three main groups, these groups are the Fears which are primarily bipedal hunters and scavengers such as the groups name sake the Fear and the much smaller Venom-Fang. The Direaves are primarily aerial creatures that use skin membrane wings to fly. Despite their limbs being tied to the wings they are quite capable and competent walking and running on land. The Ornithglates are primarily herbivores and omnivores and come in a highly diverse array of forms and comprise the runners, the Ash Walker and its kin, Parrot-crunchers and many other.
By far the most common of these Repto-birds are the runners small to average sized primarily bipedal creatures noted for their speed and agility. Runners are a diverse group of small relatives to Ash Walkers. Primarily bipedal they are fast and agile runners with long legs and tails. They are docile, gentle and timid creatures. Their diets mainly consist of plants and fungi with the occasional small vertebrates, insects or carrion. They live in small flocks led by a dominate mated pair. They are wary animals with at least one individual always on guard watching for threats. Different species of runners will hang together and with larger herbivores like the Ash Walker for protection. Runners care for their young and often make decoy nests to fool predators. The eggs of runners often are colored like rocks of the region. This acts as camouflage and by placing rocks similar in shape to their eggs in the decoy nests they can more easily sell the decoy nests to egg thief's. Runners can be found in forests, scrub lands, badlands, steppes, mountains, tundra and plains across the planet. Though not well designed for it some species are capable of climbing. They are good burrowers and often make burrows to shelter in, rearing young, for sleeping and for safety. All species have very similar behaviours and diets differing mainly in physical features, colors and patterns. Some of the runners found in the wastes include the Ash, Birch and Moss, Cave or Vale, Rock and Marsh runners. The environment you are in dictates a species commonality. Birch and Moss Runners tend to hang to the wooded areas and Birch Runners prefer cooler environments. No stranger to harsh conditions the Birch-Runner is a very hardy Runner originating from the cold northern reaches, boreal forests, temperate forests and mountainous regions. It is believed volcanic activity pushed them out of the mountains and into the Ash Wastes. Birch-Runners have some minor ice based powers the most unique of which allows them to turn water to ice as they run over it to escape predators. Originating from the Forests and grasslands nearby the Moss Runner shares a similar mean appearance to the Ash Runner but like its cousin this is just for show as they are quit docile and shy creatures. They prefer to stick to thick wooded areas where their coloring helps them blend in to the environment. Despite their fearsome appearance Ash Runners are docile though they are more outgoing and temperamental than other Runners of the Wastes. This species has a high tolerance to heat and have tough skin helping them easily weather the harsh conditions of the wastes. The armour plating on the tail is said to be as hard as stone allowing them to deliver hefty blows with their tails in defence. It is believed their whiskers can feel air pressure and they often use these whiskers to help find food wedged between and under rocks, fallen logs and other debris. Rock Runners are found mainly in rocky highland regions where they are masters at scaling difficult surfaces and are believed to have some earth based elemental powers. Rock Runners notably have longer arms and use them much more than other runners when moving about making them semi-quadrupedal. Marsh runners are found primarily by water sources and due to the volcanic activity turning many water sources inhospitable have become a rare sight in the region. Marsh runners have some water based elemental powers allowing them to walk and even run on water. It is also believed they are capable of breathing in water as well thanks to special gill structures in their necks and even in their butts. Yep this species is special in that it can breathe through its butt. Vale Runners are an interesting species. Not often observed in the open with their dark nearly black coloring with bioluminescent markings on its body and stunning large icy blue eyes it is believed that the Vale Runner is in fact a species from Blackreach that occasionally wanders to the surface to forage.
By far the largest Repto-bird of the area is the Ash Walker. Despite its size and appearance these creatures are rather docile and gentle but do have a more temperamental and aggressive streak; particularly to anything they consider a threat. In many ways they are like a reptilian deer or antelope. Their snouts end in a ducklike bill and their cheeked mouths hold a battery of over 600 small leaf shaped teeth. They are largely herbivores living off the plants and fungi of ashy and volcanic landscapes. They will also supplement their diets with carrion, insects and small vertebrates. Due to their size they spend most of their time on all fours but can rear up on their hind legs and on occasion run short distances on two legs. They live in small herds often consisting of a dominate male, his females, their young and sometimes subordinate males. They have fleshy leaf shaped display structures on their head and running down their spines. Two horns jut from the back of head and small spikes line the large armoured plates on the back and a fuzzy coat covers the sides and upper arms to protect the body core and a longer stiffer version of the fuzz forms a mane on the back of the head and neck. Females are larger and more aggressive than males. It is believed they originally came from a swamp dwelling species found in the nearby woods. They are immune to poisons and venoms and their incredibly tough hide is hard to pierce and resistant to fire and the cold. They are intelligent and somewhat empathetic creatures. In some areas like around Balmora they are used as beasts of burden utilizing the creatures size and strength for heavy duty tasks and transport often in place of typical vehicles which often get heavily damaged and do not last long in the ash of the wastes. They are also used for giving rides for tourists and for those nervous of travelling on one of these behemoths do not worry they have rarely been known to eat people. A few cases have been recorded but you have a greater chance of being struck by lightning than being eaten by an Ash Walker.
A small cousin to the Ash Walker commonly found in the wastes is the Kwalit. The Kwalit is originally from the Bogs of Pestilence however its adaptations to this harsh environment has allowed it to thrive in the Ash wastes. Kwalit are small members of the walker group of Repto-birds, do not however let their small size fool you. Their long muscular tails can be used like a club and their tough armoured hides are resistant to most weapons. The armour plates that cover its back, head and claws and creating small spikes on the tail are very interesting features of this beast. Unlike other reptiles the Kwalits armour is identical in structure to the shells of beetles in its coating. Its armour is bone covered in chitin. This chitinous armour is surprisingly resistant and serves the Kwalit well protecting it from predators and the elements. Similar to the Boernix Beetle the Kwalits shells are used for making armour. Kwalit are also prized for musk glands which they have for secreting a musky oil that can irritate the skin of its predators and for attracting mates. This musk smells surprisingly nice and is used in some regions as a cosmetic or for its alchemical properties. The musk has been shown to have healing properties. Kwalit live in small herds averaging only around 5-6 individuals which are led by a female or wander on their own. They dine mainly on plant matter but will also consume insects and smaller animals along with carrion when it is found. Kwalit are surprisingly good diggers and will make burrows to shelter in during harsh times and to nest in. They are very defensive of their nests and young. Unlike its cousins which can walk on both two and four feet the Kwalit walks primarily on four feet though it can rear up when feeding, displaying or fighting. These animals are very common wherever they range and are known to sometimes be kept as pets and livestock for their musk and shed coating of their shells.
Despite its small size and much different design the common and much loved Tree-bills are believed to be members of the walker group of Repto-birds. Tree-Bills are small reptilian creatures which are often likened to a mix of a parrot and a cat with a monkeys body and a toothy ducks face. They are related to Ash Walkers but unlike their massive cousins they are much more omnivorous, social, can climb and friendly. They are highly curious and inquisitive creatures. They can be found in almost all environments of the world except hot deserts. They can make a variety of sounds and can mimic noises and human speech. They can also learn to manipulate technology. It is not uncommon to find these creatures hanging around in villages and cities often searching for scraps or ponds to play in since these creatures love to play in water. They form strong family bonds and mate for life and off-spring from previous clutches will stay behind to help rear their siblings till they find a mate of their own. Females are slightly larger than males but to the untrained eye they look the same. There are a few subspecies which have different colors or appearances however this black and white species, normally found in mountains was pushed into the ash lands by volcanic activity. They have tough hides and a partial resistance to poisons. The ancient race of the Scimitar Folk created a robotic version of the Tree-Bill to serve as workers, for studying the Tree-Bill and sometimes as simple guards for children or homes.
While acknowledged as a member of the Ornithglates subgroup of Repto-birds the exact relations for the Parrot-Cruncher are currently not well understood. This creature gets its name from its parrot like beak. A small relative of the Runners and Walkers this species is rather shy and docile and is known to make large communal dens where their small herds, averaging 20 members, rest in during the day and the young are kept till they are big enough to escape predators. They are hardy creatures with a diverse diet of plants, fungi, insects and small vertebrates. Though docile these creatures have powerful bites and quills coated in a toxic substance which is produced in the creatures saliva then rubbed on them during grooming, this also means their bites are toxic as well. While not lethal this toxin is rather unpleasant and causes a loss of balance, stiffened joints, lethargy and blurred vision; temporary paralysis and numbness to area where the venom enters the body also occurs. Interestingly robotics and spirits are also affected by this toxin. In both organic and in-organic victims this venom lasts for a couple hours. Its quills are also capable of piercing most metals making it hard to defend against them. In some areas these animals are kept as exotic pets due to their clowny, playful and loving nature though one has to be careful not to get bit or spit on or quilled by them. Many who keep these as pets often get the glands that produce the venom removed and it seems to have no ill effect on the creatures well being. The fur like feathered mane that runs on its back is often erected during confrontations or as a defensive move to make the creature appear larger than it actually is. The quills of this creature are incredibly sharp and barbed and have a nasty habit of moving through the body if not removed however removal of said quills is rather painful. The ear like structures on its head while resembling the fuzzy ‘ears’ of an owl are actually made of skin covered bone like the horns of a giraffe combined with the horns on its head they give this creature a rather unpleasant head butting ability when they are mad.
One of the most recognizable of the Repto-bird line is the Racer. Racers are large winged reptilian creatures with beaks that are edged with tooth like serrations and a stinger at the end of the tail which is used to inject a lethal hallucinatory venom to weaken its prey. They are tenacious and aggressive hunter-scavengers who work in flocks to take down prey or claim carcasses. Cunning and highly dangerous they are unpredictable in their behaviour and can follow their victim almost unnoticed for miles. They have been noted stalking travellers for days attacking at random before attempting to finish off their prey. The sail on the back is used for display among members of the species and helps make them look bigger to challengers. The body core, shoulders, 2/3rds of the legs and around 2/3rds of the tail have a fine downy coating while the rest of the body including the face is covered in scaly skin. They are just as comfortable on the ground, crawling on all fours, as they are on the wing allowing them to follow prey to places you might not expect. Despite their more disliked qualities they do have redeeming ones. They are inquisitive, mate for life and are highly adaptable being found in many environments and climates. They are also very caring parents and like crows can have young from previous years clutches stay behind to help raise siblings.
While Racers often get labelled a nuisance their pint sized cousins the Ancestor Wing is a highly cherished and loved member of the group. Ancestor Wings are pint sized relatives of Racers and Min-Min. These little insectivores get their names from the belief that the spirits of ancestors and the departed can often influence and use these gentle little creatures to communicate through. This has led them to become highly cherished throughout the realm and many encourage them to roost by their dwellings. While I cannot prove or disprove these myths I can say having these creatures around is a good thing as they help maintain and keep insect levels including many biting and blood sucking insects at bay. Ancestor Wings often roost in small groups huddled together for warmth and safety during the day and come out at dusk or during times of low light levels to hunt insects. They like to roost in sheltered and shaded areas such as in trees, under overhangs, in caves and abandoned buildings. They are shy yet easily tamed creatures. Along with their normal wings they have a pair of wing like structures formed by a single rod like bone structure sticking out of their sides. This gives them a moth like appearance and when roosting they sometimes can be confused with a very large moth. They have a downy coat over all but their wings and lips which are scaly instead. Whisker like fibres around the muzzle help them catch insects.
An interesting member of the racer line that is frequently found in the wastes is the Min-Min. The Min-Min is a relative of the Racer who has the ability to use a bioluminescence to attract its prey, communicate among each other and to scare off predators. While most of its body is covered in a furry coat with the exception of its snout, tail end, wings (with the exception of its fore and upper arm) and feet the chest and belly are coated in large transparent armoured scales. It is the skin beneath this transparent patch that gives off the glow which is generally a golden color but icy blue, green, red, pale violet and orange have been reported from some areas. They are mainly insect eaters but will scavenge carcasses and do enjoy some fruits or berries from time to time. They are generally docile and inquisitive creatures. They live in small flocks and often inhabit forests, swamps and other wet environments where insects are plentiful. They nest in hollows in trees which they either find or excavate themselves with their teeth and claws. Like other racers they lay soft shelled eggs and care for their young which like all racers look like winged puffballs after hatching. Given several of traits including its bioluminescence the Min-Min is believed to be a descendant of a species originating in Blackreach which made its way and became trapped in the surface world.
Glowbacks are a type of racer found in various regions of the Lost Realm. Originating from the Sheogorad Archipelago where they are one of the apex predators they can be found in other regions including the Ash Wastes, Scalecaller Peaks, Bog of Pestilence, Frozen Marsh and even Ice Reach. Their name comes from the hard fleshy spines on its back that give off a glow for display and communication between members. They can increase and decrease the glow at various frequencies for communication and even cease it for stealth. Best described as a hyena crossed with a racer these are fast, agile and intelligent creatures who are both active predators and efficient scavengers. Often mistaken for a dragon they do not possess elemental attacks nor as far as we know venomous however the bite from its strong beakless and toothy jaws is septic. When landed they crawl on all fours and are incredibly efficient at it. A fur like fuzz covers most of their bodies save for the feet, snout, hand and wing membrane which boasts a very fine velvet like fuzz over its scales in colder regions. The fuzz on the tail is bushy with prominent cheek ruffs and the fuzz on the back of the neck running from between the shoulders to the top of the head runs backwards forming a sort of mane. The horns on the head which are short but thick and blunt are used in social interactions particularly during play and fight where they bite onto each other’s horns and push o pull each other around. These are social animals often living and hunting in groups of around 20 to 80 individuals though clans of up to 120 have been reported. They have wide ranging territories where they create often in caves or dug into cliffs or hill-mite mounds a central denning site. From there they split into smaller hunting parties venturing out to find prey. They will eat anything that’s living from insects even small ones and fish to small and medium animals and even the largest mega fauna and the most rotted of carrion. They will also take some fruits and veg at times. Interestingly the female keeps the egg to her single to triple chicks in her body till a few hours prior to hatching before laying them in order to keep them safe and warm. This behaviour is probably one of the reasons why they have done so well and spread so far. These are known for aggressive appearing behaviour but the truth is that’s all for show mainly against other predators and perceived threats; they’re actually quite friendly and docile. Due to their rough demeanours it is not uncommon for them to have damage to their wings. Interestingly the bones of these creatures while hollow like the other racers to make them light weight are reinforced by iron built into their make giving the bones a rusted tint to them.
Thanks to their ability to fly and being strong fliers the sub species of Glowback from Ice reach is known to frequently be encountered on other continents in the north near regions and spread into mountain ranges. The Ice reach sub species of Glowback differs not only in colors from other sub types but has thicker fuzz which coats more of its body with a fine coat covering the feet most of the face and even on the wings. They are known to have a saliva that delivers a chill to those it bites and are highly resistant to the cold. An interesting adaptation they have is a unique counter current system in their wings that brings veins and arteries close together so they transfer heat and cold to each other to cool blood headed into the wing and warm it as it re-enters the body preventing heat loss in the wing. This system is why ducks feet don’t get cold in the winter. While affected by the strange energy from Ice reach when not in the confines of the continent the strange energy from the place disappears from them and they do not experience the strange un-death phenomenon known to occur on Ice Reach.
Wisp Wing are a relative of the Ancestor Wing and Min-Min and may be the ancestor to the Min-min. Originating from the Sheogorad Archipelago the Wisp Wing looks like Sheoth fused the Ancestor wing with the Min-min. These are small insectivores. Like the Min-min it has a bare glowing patch of skin covered by thick transparent scales on its chest and a bare glowing tail tip. Like in Min-mins these glows are for communication, attracting their insect prey and startling predators. This glow has various colors largely defined by the region they inhabit though a golden color is the most common and prominent color. Like Ancestor Wings they have whisker like structures on their snout and big eyes to aid in hunting their prey. Wisp Wings live in small flocks though at times such as during the winter they will congregate in larger groups to help keep warm. Despite their mouth full of needle teeth and glowing that unsettles some these are docile and shy creatures. They are found in various regions including the Ash Wastes, Blackreach and even Ice reach where they inhabit forests, caves, swamps, lakeshores and urban environments. They are nocturnal spending the day in tree hollows, caves, buildings and bird houses made for racers. They nest in these same locations as well where they use their spit mixed with mud and plant debris to create little cups for their eggs and young to sit in. Despite overlapping with the Min-min and Ancestor Wing all three species are not aggressive to each other as there is plenty of prey to go around. In the dark they can be mistaken for their larger Min-min cousins however when identifying them look for two distinct light sources and the Wisp Wings notably smaller size and therefore smaller glow.
Even though it is incapable of flight the Scleroboa is a type of Direaves a group known for mainly flying members. This small insect eating reptile may resemble the fear and its kin such as the Venom-Fang but they are actually more closely related to the flying racers. While they can run and walk like their distant fear relatives the Scleroboa prefers to use a hopping gate like a kangaroo when moving about and hunting. Though they do not hunt together or co-operate in hunting or defence they are social and like to hang with each other and sleep curled up together during the day often in dens they dig or under shrubs and other low growing plants. Like cats they are crepuscular, come out at dawn and dusk. While insects are their main food source they will eat berries and carrion from time to time. They are rather docile and shy creatures. When defending themselves the Scleroboa bounces up and kicks with its hind legs delivering a surprisingly strong kick for something so small and nips with its many peg like teeth. They can also deliver an electrical shock with their bites to stun predators and prey. While this charge can hurt and shock you it is not dangerous. Interestingly even though they are poorly designed for climbing they have been seen climbing into shrubs, into sapling trees and onto boulders often for surveying their landscape and as a lookout for predators. They are sometimes kept as exotic pets.
The Fears are the predators of the Repto-birds. While not all members are carnivores it is the carnivorous species that capture peoples interest the most and lead to the group's name as many of these predators are highly feared. The most common in the wastes is the Venom-Fang. The Venom-Fang is a small relative of the Fear which has a venomous bite. Its venom causes a numbness and hallucinations and unless treated like Racer venom will lead to death. Similar to its distant cousin the Parrot Cruncher its venom works on organic, robotic and even spectral beings. The venom interestingly causes bite wounds from it to glow for a while with a yellowish green glow the reason for this is currently unknown. Its skin is not as tough as its larger famous cousin the Fear making them much easier to defeat. They are quite agile and their sharp claws make them excellent climbers and can pierce some types of metal. They have been known to ambush their prey by dropping from above onto their victim. Though they live in small groups similar to hyenas they do not always hunt together and can just as commonly be seen hunting on their own as with a group. They are found in a variety of environments and climates. They are primarily nocturnal. Though rather tenacious predators they can be scared off with loud noises (like most predators). A unique trait of this creature is some of the scales and hair like fuzz in its pale goldenish stripe (note just on the sides not the head) are reflective when hit with a light in the dark.
The most famous and well as its name suggests feared is the Fear. Believed to be extinct the Fear was a highly dangerous massive reptilian predator whose thick armour like hide was immune to most weapons. Special weapons made from materials such as Lunar Steel, Blood-Iron, Stalhrim, Ivory-gold and Birch-Silver could harm them. Many of these weapons the methods of creation are known only to a select few or have been lost to time. Proficient and ruthless hunters it is said they always got their mark. Their name comes from the fact that they strike fear into the hearts of men. Exceptional trackers and highly aggressive they were highly prized by the snake folk to aid them in battles. Though believed to be extinct there are reports that some isolated populations might exist in the Blackwood, the Ash Wastes, the Forgotten Forest and other places that have been under explored and studied. They are said to have had the strongest jaw strength of any land animal capable of biting into and crushing most metals. Due to the fear these creatures instilled they were poorly studied so not much is known of them. It is known that they were largely nocturnal and despite their size were quite skilled at hiding. Despite any insulating covering they could handle cooler temperatures than expected but no more than cool temperate environments.
The Morinosei is a large strange relative of the Fear. Instead of a carnivorous diet the Morinosei has swapped to a largely herbivorous diet feeding on leaves, bark, fruits, berries, roots, vegetables and fungi. It however has not entirely given up its carnivorous ways and still routinely dines on smaller animals, insects and it has been noted on the rare occasion to also dine on people. They live in small mixed gender social groups that prefer wooded environments and are rather fond of bodies of water where they enjoy cooling themselves off and dining on water plants. For centuries Morinosei have often been seen as forest spirits and guardians. A lot of this belief stems from this creatures strange outer design with scales and armour plates mimicking tree bark and branch like growths. Along with these they boast a large covering of often greenish shaggy feathers over parts of their bodies. Despite claims of mystical powers none have ever been recorded showing any form of magic. They do however have some pretty wicked and large scythe like claws which can do considerable damage even to metals and stones. While often regarded as temperamental and aggressive they are actually rather docile and elusive creatures preferring to blend in with their woodland environments than attacking people. An interest fact of these creatures is the color and pattern of their barky scales and the feathers can change to match trees in their environment. For example one taken from a mainly pine based forest was put in a primarily birch based forest and over a period of about a year its colors changed to match those of the birch trees surrounding it.
While Repto-birds are the most prominent reptiles in this region others can be found here along with some rather hardy amphibians. Reptiles are common here able to tolerate harsh conditions much better than most other animals. Snakes, lizards and turtles and tortoises can be found here but by far the most commonly seen are members of the Repto-birds group and a few strange reptile like mammals like the Kappa and Kaguar. A commonly found serpent here is the Hist Python. Several species exist in the world those living in wastes are largely the Ashen Hist Python species. These winged snakes are generally found in wooded, rocky and cliffed areas where their wings help them get around safely. They cannot fly but can glide. They are venomous however their venom only causes minor numbing to pain to anything bigger than a mouse. To anything smaller it causes paralysis. For larger prey they they use constriction to kill. They prefer to prey on small vertebrates, insects, fish, Kagaur calfs, small deer, sheep and goats. Generally these are very docile and derpy snakes and are a favourite among exotic pet owners. They average a meter and a half in length. In cooler climates feathery variants are found. These individuals have downy plumage on their heads, along their backs and on the upper and forearms of the wings. A unique race of serpent folk used to be found here, the Ash-pyers tribe, however they perished long ago felled by the Ashers. Some serpentine can be found in the area however they stick to civilized areas and avoid wandering in the wastes too fearful of Ashers to dare venturing alone in the wilderness. No one can blame them. The Snowy Lava Lizard. The snowy part of its name only refers to the white markings on its body. It has no ties to cold or ice. Instead the lava part of its name is more important. Able to tolerate hot temperatures this lizard is able to use fire based powers. It can light itself on fire in defence and can produce heat to keep itself warm allowing itself to stay warm in cool temperatures. They live in burrows where they sleep in burning leaf litter to keep themselves warm and safe.
While they are sensitive to environmental conditions and the Ash wastes tend to be too harsh for them some amphibians have adapted to these conditions and can be found here. Some notable species can be found here out of the small hand full that can tolerate the wastes conditions. One is the Frosty Spotted Salamander this creature is dark with icy blue spots. While it could easily be assumed it gets its name from its coloration the term Frosty refers to this salamanders ability to use freezing temperatures as a defence. Found in moist wooded areas it thrives in the temperate forests of the region living off insects. Should something pick it up then it will emit freezing temperatures hoping to deter the threat and if eaten as a final way to teach its attacker a lesson it freezes the attackers stomach in ice which takes an average of an hour to thaw out leaving them with a memory of pain and discomfort which reminds them why you might want to leave these creatures alone. The Burning Berry Frog is a colourful frog that can spit a burning liquid at possible threats. This frog is not toxic however the liquid it sprays burns and irritates the skin. This liquid is acquired from materials it acquires from its insect diet. Similar to the Burning Berry Frog is the very common Ashen-Moss Dragon Frog. These winged frogs can spit a fiery liquid at threats to defend themselves. They acquire their burning spit from their favourite food Burning Hornets. Though they will eat any insect the Burning Hornet is their favourite. Despite having wings they cannot fly. The wings however do allow them to glide and give them a boost when hopping up after flying insects.
Originally from the Swamps of Pestilence with the extinction of the Fear the Mire-lion has become the apex predator of the Ash Wastes. With a powerful lion like body, legs like a wolfs and a powerful croc like jaws this crocodilian is a powerful and very dangerous predator. They hunt in groups taking down animals up to ten times their own size like the Ash Walker. Equipped with a large killing claw on the middle digit of the fore foot and two types of teeth, blade like shredding teeth in front and large broad bone crushers in back they are well equipped for active hunting. Though not cold blooded like most crocs they are not hot blooded like most mammals but somewhere in between. They have two sets of eyes the front are the same as all other vertebrate eyes while the smaller back set see temperature. Their hides are thick and armoured offering protection when hunting and from fights with other predators. They are rather social crocodilians living in mix gendered prides with up to 20 members. They hunt mainly large sized prey from the size of a person to as big as the Ash Walker. They do not posses any venom however bites from them tend to become infected due to a bacterial laced saliva. They are caring parents with a pair raising two to three chicks a year and even members who are not the parents will come to the aid of a groups chicks. A feathered silvery colored variety has been noted starting to appear in the mountains. They are surprisingly easy to tame and are sometimes kept as pets. In fact they are commonly kept as pets by the serpentine folk who view them as we would view dogs. Their ability to see temperature and their better than any dogs sense of small has made them popular in search and rescue work.
Birds
Closely related to the reptiles believing to have come from the Repto-bird stocks are birds. Like reptiles birds faired the eruptions of the Red Tower quite well and have come to thrive here. Just like everywhere else in the world there are three types of creatures that will always be found in all places of the world; insects, fish and birds. Just like anywhere else there are a plethora of species enough that just like insects they can easily fill their own guide books. In my guide, just like with the fish and insects, I will just go over the most interesting species found here. The Fire finch is a pint sized little cutie believed to be related to the common sparrow despite its name of finch. The fire part of its name comes from the reddish coloring of its head, tail and feet plus its ability to light itself on fire or set other things on fire as a means of defence. It is believed the Fire Finch came about from a population of sparrows that got isolated in the wastes. The Blood Warbler is a largely insect eating warbler with a dark habit. It is also a blood drinker using its razor sharp beak to tear open the flesh of its victims. It then drinks the blood. This little bird often hangs around larger animals like cattle, Kagaurs and Runners where it feeds off the insects that drink the blood of these animals or that are stirred up by them. One can catch Poryphic Hemophilia from these birds which are themselves immune to the condition. The Glacial Jay is a type of jay typically found in cool temperate to boreal regions and alpine regions. Some populations have been pushed out of the mountains due to volcanic activity. These jays get their name from their ability to create a protective armour of ice similar to the Kappa. They are intelligent and crafty birds. They can mimic human speech but also make a wide variety of calls including mimicry of other animals. Interestingly these birds can allow themselves to freeze solid in a death like state when times are harsh during the dead of winter then thaw out as things improve and go about as if nothing happened. Do not be afraid if you see one or even a little family of them frozen in a tree, it is just in a weird state of hibernation and they should be left alone. As if geese are not nasty enough our worlds most dreaded goose can be found here grazing the grassy regions and water ways, the Cobra Chicken. While not venomous it has cobra like frills on its neck which are used for display and it has a loud snake like hiss which it readily makes at everything. No matter its make, living or not, nor its size or if it is moving this goose will hiss at everything. It is also well known to attack for no reason at whatever it wants which has given these extremely cranky birds their other name Murder Geese. Always eager to proclaim their presence with loud honks they are commonly seen throughout cities and parks where they have no qualms with attacking pedestrians, pets, even parked cars making sure anyone who comes across them has a bad day. It is believed the cobra look to its head is a trick for predators making them think the bird is more dangerous than it actually is. These birds often try to steal or demand food from people. If you intend to feed these birds make sure they don't take your fingers and feed at your own risk. On a more pleasant note the Autumn Cardinal can be found here. A well loved songbird just like their red northern relative. They mate for life and both genders sing. They are found in all sorts of forests, farm fields and backyards where they are easily attracted to feeders of all types. The crest on their heads relays their emotions. Erected means agitated or excited, lowered means relaxed. Another more pleasant bird here is the Rust Blue Heron A large heron commonly seen wading for their fishy prey. They are surprisingly tolerant to the less than pleasant waters of the wastes. While fish are their main prey they also will dine on frogs, small mammals, invertebrates and small reptiles. It is believed this heron can use electricity to sense its prey in the water much like what sharks do allowing it to fish in even the murkiest of waters.
A common and well loved bird that can be found here is the Moon Cheeked Conure that is believed to have originated in the Blackwood. This small parrot is well loved for their charming and comical personalities despite the negatives of their rather loud sometimes ear piercing calls and penchant for destructive behaviour. Inquisitive and ever curious these birds are easy to tame and care for often leading to many being found as pets. They are known to love music and singing however are not known for their talking ability. They can say a few words but these are often not very clear. Often mistaken as a bird is the Teragret which is actually part of the racers group. Through relations the Repto-birds are related and apart of the bird order which in turn technically makes birds a form of reptile however traditionally they are classed separately. The mistaking of Teragrets with birds is due to their resemblance to herons which is a result of convergence. Like Rust Blue Herons Teragrets can use electricity sensing it through their limbs and snout to detect prey but they also have the behaviour of holding out their wings in front of them to create a parasol to make shade to lure in prey. Like other racers their wings are made of flesh which attaches to the hips and not feathers. Two fingers make up the wing; the large main finger and a small clawed finger that is connected by a small skin membrane to the other finger.
While rare to see nowadays the Pryphon is a rare but joyful sight to see in the wastes. Pryphons are a small variant of Gryphon found in some woodlands in the tropics and some warm temperate regions. While not found in the Ash Wastes they are often kept as petsand feral populations have become established near some settlements in theregion. They are clownish, fun-loving, playful, intelligent, loving and loyal creatures. A lot smaller than normal Gryphons and with a much more varied diet they are somewhat easy to keep. Best described as eternal toddlers with can openers on their faces and attitudes that make monsters seem mild they are by no means easy pets. They are loud, highly social and surprisingly powerful for their small size. They can learn to mimic human speech but often love to learn various sounds they hear. They can also be quite destructive and are very adept at getting into trouble. They also like to throw tantrums for all sorts of reasons; they want your food, things are too loud, they cannot get what they want, they want attention, etc. In the wild they live in flocks of up to 30 members where they prefer to stick to the tree tops. They live on a diet of fruits, nuts, seeds, leaves, roots, insects, and small vertebrates. They are very territorial of their nesting sites and will come to the aid of other Pryphons. Wild populations are wary creatures while pets and ferals are more bold creatures. They have some elemental powers namely a piercing scream, a force pushing shout and creating whirlwinds of air which they use for both protection and fun. Flocks of these creatures are known for being loud, destructive, playful, and comedic. Many mystical tales surround Pryphons and other gryphon species often revolving their creation by a great and powerful spirit. Some tales claim powerful spirits can commune through the creatures or that these creatures can wield some forms of magic however I have never seen any proof of this. In the Ash Wastes the most commonly encountered species are the Forest, Gold-capped, Masked, Fox-point and around the Blackwood Murk-wings. (See pages bottom for images of other Pryphon types; species depicted below is the Green Cheeked variety the type Keikiary has as a companion.)
Fish
Do not assume the waters here are safer than the land. While most fish are harmless like other water ways on the planet a type of highly aggressive and dangerous fish can be found here. Slaughterfish and Butcherfish both inhabit the waters of the wastes. These nasty fish are famous for their aggression and attacking anything that enters the water. They will even attack creatures far bigger than they could ever bring down. Their brutish, bold and very dangerous natures despite their smaller sizes make sharks look like wimps. These are the Honey Baders of the water. Three unique types of eels can also be found here. One the Worm Eel is unique in being able to dig through soil using its armoured head. It is often mistaken as a finned worm due to its appearance. Worm Eels are also unique in being able to breathe both air and water and can be found considerable distances from water as long as the soils are moist. The Lava eel can handle very hot temperatures and can make the water around them boil. They can use this heat as a means for defence. This also makes their meat naturally spicy making them a delicacy in some areas especially for people who like hot or spicy foods. Despite its name Toxic Eels are not toxic. Their name comes from them preferring to inhabit unpleasant environments like the Bogs of Pestilence, the Blackwood and the Ash Wastes. While they can be eaten it is best to make sure they are dead before eating a whole one as they have been known to be able to chew their way out of ones stomach and body. They can even do this to androids indicating they can chew through metal! So if you want to eat them, though I don't know why you would want to, make sure to remove the head and preferably cook them first.
Invertebrates
Invertebrates are a wide group that comprises any animal that does not have a back bone. Insects, corals, worms and jellyfish are all a part of this broad group and like reptiles many of these groups thrive in these wastes. By far the most common are insects. Just like everywhere else on our planet the wastes is full of insects. Most are normally sized for insects but just like in other places there are insects of unusual size here too. Three are the most prominent. The Kollop a type of Ant, the Beornix a type of scarab beetle and the Ashapede a type of millipede. Some of the unique small insects to the waste include Burning Hornets which are colonial and have a bright flame reddish orange glow to its wings and body segments and Lava Moths. Burning Hornets build large rock hard mud structures for nests. Burning Hornets have powers linked to the element of flame mainly the production of heat. Their stings and bites burn. This link to heat production allows them to cause the nest to produce lot of heat and develop glowing veins. These nests are rather warm even in cold weather where they melt any surrounding snow. These hornets are the size of sparrows and are omnivores eating plant matter and other insects.
The kollop are colonial insects, a type of ant, found in the wastes. Sometimes referred to as Spiny Ants they harvest and feed off the fungi of the wastes and decaying plant matter. They also dine on other large insects such as the Boernix and the Ashapede. They are rather docile despite their fearsome appearance unless they feel threatened. Their eggs are sought after for medicinal purposes and both the eggs and larva are harvested for food in some places. They dig large cave like tunnels beneath the ground where some animals have been known to take shelter in to sleep in safety or to seek shelter from the elements. Runners, kaguars and smaller animals the ants will tolerate in their tunnels as long as they stay close to the entrance, stay out of their workers way and don't try to eat them, their queen or their young. A much smaller related species that averages around 5 to 10 centimetres known as the Embers Ant is a common sight in the area and often encountered around and in dwellings. These are harmless and usually don’t cause problems.
The Boernix is a large Scarab beetle that feeds off the fungi, detritus (waste debris) and plants of the waste. They can be found foraging in small, averaging 5 individuals, groups. When not foraging they remain underground to try and remain hidden from predators. Their shells and meat are prized for food and spices. The meat is said to taste like beef and the shell to have a flavour like chives and garlic and to have restorative properties, mainly soothing headaches and stiff joints along with restoring energy. The shell is also used in the crafting of armours. Beornix average around between a cat and a pony however since they are long lived and can reach a pretty impressive size. These smaller individuals are often nicknamed Pony-nix. They are farmed in some regions.
The Ashapede is a large gentle and harmless milipede of the wastes. They can reach up to two meters long at their largest sizes. Despite what many think they are harmless and feed off detritus and low growing mosses, plants and fungi. They prefer dark environment and are not too fond of sunlight.
A bizarre little bug can be found crawling through the detritus and soils of the area. While it can be found in other environments on the planet such as the Blackwood and Bog of Pestilence due to the danger of the one and toxicity of the other it is easiest to study it here in the wastes. Called the Glowy-Poly this little isopod which are also called pillbug have a very bizarre lifecycle. As adults they have typical pillbug lives however after breeding both parents take some eggs and curl into a ball where they then release a smell that draws nearby animals to eat them. They pass through the animals system unharmed and go on to continue their lives but they leave their eggs inside the creature. The larvae when hatched become parasites living inside the animals intestines till they are ready to become adults. They will then be excreted to mature in the soil. It is believed they do this to protect the young from predators and toxins in the soils of their preferred habitats which the young cannot handle but adults can tolerate. They also have plenty easy to process food thanks to the host. Glowy-Polys are a dark brownish color with glowing lime green markings. Unlike many other parasitic relations this one does not harm the host.
Despite their name lava moths are not resistant to lava or have heat producing powers. They are however resistant to heat and the silk from their cocoons is fire resistant and can be used to make fire resistant clothes and fabrics. Shalk are canary sized shiny dark blue beetles which utilise electical shocks to defend themselves against predators. The shock is twice the strength of static shock but is not fatal. Caution should be advised when working outside or handling these things so one does not get shocked. Of Course the ever loved Torchbugs with their bright glowing backsides are commonly found here. While the ever common yellow colored ones can commonly be seen orange and purple varieties have commonly been seen here as well and a variety with an icy blue glow have been seen as well being most common by the mountains. Bone spiders are large skeletal looking spiders found in the wastes. Their large size averaging as big as a small bird is believed to be an effect of the wastes. Though they do not eat people like the large chicken sized Demon Spiders the Bone Spiders venom is rather potent and will cause a lack of consciousness for a few hours. This venom harms normal folk and creatures plus droids and ghosts. Demon Spiders are luckily rare but if encountered make sure to do everyone a favour and kill it. Luckily Demon Spiders have a weak venom which causes nasty symptoms but is not fatal.
Like everywhere else on this planet there are Mud Crabs here annoying little creatures that will stupidly attack anything that moves, at least they have one good quality. They taste good especially when cooked with some butter and chives. Another common crustacean of the region are the Rockipods. These are Isopods with a rocky shell. They come in various colors blending into the rock of their native ranges and sometimes develop moss or algae growing on their shells. They range from normal sized species to those the size of small to medium sized dogs. Like other Isopods when threatened they roll up into balls for defence.
Retch are large aerial jellyfish like creatures. They have tough leathery skin with hard armoured plates on their top side. They have a bluish bioluminescence on their underside, stemming from under the plates on the back and the decorative frills along the sides all of which are believed to be for display. The tentacles are used to help grab items and defend from predators. They also use their tentacles to grab and manipulate items. Its mouth sits on the underside of its body at the front where it is fringed in the front by small glowing protrusions of its skin and its paddle like tail helps it manoeuvre in the air. These creatures are generally docile and simple animals that feed off leaf litter, plants, fungi, the spores of plants and fungi and some insects like flies and moths. It is also believed they house a symbiotic algae in their skin which provides them with added energy and oxygen. A lot of their biology is not well understood. Males are bigger than females but females are more aggressive. They normally hang in small groups of a male and a few females and their young. They are slow breeders with a female producing only one calf every two to five years. She carries her young in a special pouch in her body before they are born after which they stick with the family till they are fully grown. These are quite long lived creatures with some believed to be about 200 years old. They are able to float thanks to special sacs held in the body that hold a lighter than air gas. When provoked they attack with electrical attacks. It is believed they are related to Jellyfish but how is unknown at this time. Retch use electrical attacks from their tentacles in self defence. Retch are harvested in some areas for a jelly that used for temporary paralysis poisons and for alchemical uses. It's hide can also be used for the crafting of electrical resistant materials. There are several species throughout our world and a few of these are also known to exist in Blackreach where they are known as Vale Jellys.
Cybernetic entities
One of the most misunderstood entities that can be found in the wastes are the robotic and droids who inhabit the various scimitar ruins of the wastes. While many inhabitants of the wastes like to think they are monsters set upon destroying other beings I have no evidence to prove this the case. Contrary to commonly held beliefs the Scimitar folk did not view their creations as lesser unloving beings but instead they saw them as a new form of life equal to all others and took great care and respect with them. All cybernetic life forms found in the wastes are in some ways of Scimitar folk origins.
Scimitar constructs are any entity created by the extinct Scimitar folk. Many of these constructs are more primitive machines designed for defence of their homes or as workers or for surveillance. The most simple and primitive of these constructs have very simple programming and though complex are still much simpler than their later and more advanced constructs. The Centurion and Sphere were used as guards for their cities and for training soldiers and have a very simple and basic instincts and behaviours. The Rattaton and Serpeton are more advanced with behaviours and instincts at a level similar to those of the critters they resemble. These were often used for surveillance and as a dual purpose toy and guard for children. Some Serpetons have wings. One of the later and more advanced constructs are Robo-bills. These droids take on the form of the Tree-bill and are very similar in intelligence and thinking to these creatures. These were used as workers, stewards, guards and sometimes pets. They are capable of aiding and repairing their fellow constructs and can clean, repair and perform other more human like tasks. A few are capable of speech. The most advanced constructs include fabricants and hyenoids. While only the original hyenoid was made by the Scimitar folk since all others are based off his design and share most of his programming they technically can be classed as Scimitar Constructs even though they were not created by the Scimitar folk. Scimitar Constructs are rarely seen very far from the ruins of their masters cities where they go about as if their masters are still around keeping the cities repaired and functioning. They have even been noted in integrating modern technology into themselves and their home. It is unknown if they understand that their masters are extinct and not going to return. With some work most can be reprogrammed for modern use.
Spheres and Centurions were primarily designed as fighters to aid in the protection of homes and cities. Spheres are person sized, lightweight but agile and are able to collapse into a ball for more rapid movement. Spheres are generally equipped with a blade on one arm and a crossbow on the other. Centurions are mech sized constructs built for power. Centurions posses both a blade and hammer for weapons and a spray often of steam from the pits on its snout. Fire, frost, electricity and acid can also be sprayed from these pits. These constructs often act as guards for the others and their home.
Several forms of small animal like constructs exsist whose roles seem to have been for daily use for more minor tasks. Small and simple these little constructs are clever but not very dangerous. They were used primarily for surveillance and scouting. They are also able to transport and relay information to other constructs and technologies and may have also worked as watchers and toys for children. They can jump and give off a signal to mess with other technologies if you attempt to hack one. Scarabs are more versatile in mobility than Rattatons being able to climb and fly. Some Scarabs can even inject venom to slow possible threats. If threatened both will call in a guard and shock anyone who touches them. Similar to Rattatons and Scarabs are the Serpetons however these can fit in smaller and more restrictive places. Winged variants can glide and fly for short distances. When threatened will hiss, make a rattling noise like a rattle snake and call guards. It will also bite which injects a venom to slow and weaken threats. Serpetons are believed to have had the added tasks of sabotage and minor attackers along with the tasks it shares with the other small constructs.
Robo-bills are complex entities served many purposes for their masters and were often well loved. While not built for combat they can protect themselves with claws, bites, kicks and loud noises. They can also shock threats and can be unpredictable in behaviour. They can repair and reboot other constructs and will also summon the guards if they feel they cannot best a threat.
To help protect them and take their place in combat during the reptilian wars the Scymer folk created robotic versions of the Hoofivore. According to legend the Scymer trapped souls of real Hoofivores who perished from serpentine hunting or conflict in special circular carved soul gems which are positioned in the center of their chests. What these icy blue gems are is unknown, it may be Aetherium a rare poorly studied and understood almost luminescent blue crystal like material, but what is known is they power these constructs and give them the ability to tap into magical powers. These creatures are often guardians and guard areas they deem home along with guarding other species particularly the real Hoofivore. In fact some are still in use as guards for national parks and wildlife centers; these units have been decked out with synthetic skin and fur hides to better blend in and go undiscovered by criminals like poachers and illegal loggers. Like others of their advanced units Scymer Hoofivores have a synthetic digestive system to acquire and maintain energy. Interestingly it has been noted even without the synthetic skin true Hoofivores readily socialize with these units treating them as fellow members of their species and even welcoming them as family and seeking them out in times of need. In fact many animals seem to seek these units in times of need almost like they understand not only is not a true beast but it has the knowledge to aid them for things they don’t know how to solve.
Scymer Cargo Beetles are large beetle shaped construct was used mainly as a cargo carrier able to carry cargo, other constructs and even people. Equipped with storage bays beneath the armoured shells which protect things beneath which proved useful in some places including the Ash wastes in order to help protect their cargo which at times such as during the reptilian wars when these were used for protected transport outside settlements or even during battles for their protection children even babies and pets. These constructs are equipped with horns and pinchers for defence and are interesting in that these were some of the first constructs to be made with a synthetic digestive system to help acquire and maintain power to limit charging times and the need for the equipment for charging. These systems even when more modernised are not as efficient as those of modern droids but they can be given less optimal foods such as high levels of plant matter including compost; Scymer often gave them food waste and compost cutting down on settlement waste. Their ability to consume less optimal materials is due to the fact they are not too complex and have way simpler and less energy consuming brains and bodies than droids and thanks to their often large size which can handle large amounts of matter which is processed with a slow metabolism through a much larger system which they can have thanks to their large size. The waste created by the process is safe to use as fertilizer like with cattle and Scymer were known to regularly use it in farming. The unit has two storage units built into its body one on either side separated by the body. These compartments come as simple storage recesses to pods to carry other constructs and padded bench like recesses for carrying organic beings. The storage units sit beneath the Elytra which remains locked by latches all along its edge when closed to keep cargo in and safe.
Torch-a-tons are sparrow sized constructs were made as a hands free light source for the Scymer like a living flashlight or lamp. Mimicking a torchbug in design their rump is a light source which they can turn on and off when needed. Their legs end in tips coated in a gripping substance that lets them climb over any surface at any angle.
Hyenoids are droids designed to mimic the common folk and are given the appearance of the hyena folk. The original hyenoid was created by the last of the Scimitar folk. He is a friendly, caring and kind being who you could easily see as being human. He is currently a member of the Dragon Guard. Many hyenoids were created off his original design by the Shadow Lord, an evil spirit. These entities are powerful, fast, calculating and highly intelligent but were altered from their original design and purpose to serve for evil purposes. All hyenoids carry a hidden programming given to them by this evil spirit telling them to enslave all other mortals for their master and destroy those who challenge them. Luckily this bit of programming can be altered and removed. It takes a lot of work and few places have done this. While most of the hyenoids were defeated, repurposed or left to rust when the Dragon Guard took out their master they can still be found forming rogue bands or having been incorporated into modern crime groups. Rogue bands tend to gravitate and integrate themselves into Scimitar ruins along other Scimitar Constructs. Those that have been integrated into Scimitar ruins have had their corrupted programming removed and often come to adorn themselves with scimitar clothes and adornments including fake beards, tattooed scimitar symbols and jewellery. It has also been noted that they seem to experiment with mimicking people in various aspects of behaviour, actions and other traits that make them appear rather human. Despite being integrated in these groups these hyenoids rarely hold high ranks amongst these constructs more often serving as workers or soldiers than leaders. While hyenoids resembling the normal corrupted ones have been reprogrammed for training new guards in Balmora most have fallen victim to the wastes and their rusted remains can be found scattered in the wastes. These droids have become the favoured puppets of the Stag and are commonly used by him for attacks and stealing from places in and around the wastes. It is unknown how many the Stag has but it has been noted that he his hyenoids have some major notable differences to most hyenoids. They are more akin to the first Hyenoid the current Dragon of Ice than others of their kind. This has led much speculation on where the Stag got these constructs, why are they so different, who created them and many other questions.
Many are unsure if the Stag simply converted those already in existence or created his own based off them or the original hyenoid. This comes down to the fact that hyenoids used by the Stag appear more like the original hyenoid than other models and also have slightly different programming; mainly lacking the corrupted codes and altering behaviours and thought processes for the individual unit. His versions also differ in several other aspects. The Stags hyenoids notably rarely fall victim to the wastes and are often accompanied by other denizens under the Stags control. The hyenoids used by the Stag appear more friendly than most evil ones but do not let this fool you. They are far more crafty, powerful and dangerous than most of the evil hyenoids. Their hair appearance and eye color often differ along with a whitish mark on their forehead. While their hair tends to be a silverfish color there have been noticed a great deal of individuals with various colored hair including brown, black, blond, ginger and even multi colored. While they all have a unique shaped light colored mark on their foreheads the reason for which is unknown some have been noted with face and body markings of various designs almost like war paint which is believed to be for decoration of some sort. These markings often have tech and/or mechanical imagery to them however more natural designs have also been spotted. The apparel they wear and the weapons they wield are also unique to each unit. It has even been noted that they have distinct personalities and behaviours often giving them a human like quality and are the most likely of hyenoids to exhibit and experiment with human like behaviours and mannerisms. Why the Stag has given them these traits is unknown and baffling for scholars. Hyenoids are in no way to be messed with and common folk are advised to try and avoid being detected by them.
While not as common as other constructs certain aspects of Fabricants make them the most feared constructs. They are highly unpredictable and their beast like natures combined with machines can be very disturbing to some. They come in a few forms ranging from insects and birds to Venom-fangs, Fears and Racers. While those made from Venom-fangs, Fears and Racers can clearly be seen to have purposes as weapons the purposes of others is not well understood. Fabricants are a strange but very intriguing mix of organic entity with robotics. Created by the Scimitar folk Fabricants are hybrids of their robotic technologies and organic beings. While generally rare to see outside a scimitar ruin much like Scimitar robotics due to the presence of the Black Stag and his Forbidden City in the wastes one has the chance to encounter one of these. Combining the resilient metals of the Scimitars and some of the most dangerous beasts of the wastes should one be encountered it is best to try and hide or flee towards the Ghost Gate, they tend not to want to get close to settlements. They are very difficult to fell and few folk have the skills or weapons to harm them, even the more modern robotic hyenoids stand no chance against them. Out of the two known to come from the Forbidden City the Fearbricant is the largest and deadliest. The other which is believed to be called Celaena is faster and more agile. There are some accounts that Celaena is one of the five special Racer-fabricants imbued with the powers of dragons. Since I have yet to see this myself I cannot confirm this and few who have encountered her have ever seen such powers. I would have to say these folk were probably seeing things due to conditions in the wastes and she is just a regular fabricant. Don't think this makes her any less dangerous however. Her bladed tail and metal jaws still do serious damage.
Daemons of the Wastes
The Ash Wastes is highly notable for one distinct fact; it boasts the highest concentrations of entities that could only be described as daemons. Despite the term demon not all of these are truly demons and some are simply monsters. All share in common however that they come in a variety of states from living to un-dead to ones that are not living nor dead but something else entirely. Often boasting dark magic’s and unnatural traits it is often believed these are entities of pure darkness given form or created from dark magic’s. While all of them are monsters not all of them are truly demons. To be classed a true demon monsters have to originate or be tied in some way to the void the first and greatest darkness. These are frequently encountered around ruins of Oni or Asher construct or other dark places where the light of the universe appears to have been removed or hindered or serving alongside dark sorcerers, beings and the likes. They are most prominent here in the wastes due to the presence of Ashers and the Red Tower which these daemons have turned into their home. I would not recommend you seek these entities out and avoid all contact with them, if you can. If you do find one of these nearby I recommend you hide and pray they don’t find you. Not even many skilled adventurers or warriors stand a chance against these entities.
While none are sure of exactly what the void is what is known is that the void is the ancestral spawning ground to a vast array of strange and monstrous entities that take on distinct forms with distinct abilities and attributes when they are in the mortal realms. These beings are incredibly powerful and often boast powers unlike anything those of the realms can possess. Few know or acknowledge that Dragons and Oni are the direct children of the void and some of the most powerful of its beings. They are also among the few willing to easily be seen and interfere with mortals. Most others are much more secretive and unpredictable and some others might not even realise are from the void. Many entities deemed monsters, spirits and demons have their origins in the void. Beings of pure elements, un-dead like monstrosities, beings not only of human and animal but even trees tainted by the voids energies or originating from its vast unknown and things we can barely comprehend are from there. Due to reasons poorly understood the Lost Realm more than any other realm is easily plagued and breached by entities of the void making it easy for adventurers and others to encounter these beings. It is believed there are more entities to the void than our current knowledge understands as due to its believed vast endlessness and as the origin of all creation it is possible almost anything even things beyond our understanding can come from the void. Beings of the void tend to take on forms using traits and frames recognisable to us as resembling plants and animals as we would know them. While there are many monsters of the void this is some of the most commonly reported in the Ash Wastes.
Vulcaroths are hulking bipedal crocodilian creatures which are capable of breathing fire. Their skin while resembling a crocodiles often appears to look like burning rocks with glowing seems between scales. They have some spikes down their back, on their tails and two prominent thick antelope like horns on the back of their heads. They are immune to fire and enjoy wallowing in lava. Due to their ties to heat based elements they have a weakness to water and ice. What realm of origin or where these entities originally spawned from is currently unknown but it probably was not a nice place. These things are largely bestial though some accounts suggest they are capable of simple speech and can be bargained with however I would never recommend bargaining with any of the daemons of these lands. It will never end well for you. Feardrakes also known as Voidfears are somewhat large reptilian creatures boasting similarities to the small members of the Repto-bird Fear lineages hence the name. While they overall look like and behaviour like true Venom-fangs Feardrakes do have differences such as their venom which while not lethal nor will cause hallucinations it instead fills the victim with feelings of fear and dread and make them feel chilled to the bone, they have sharp beaks with a tooth like projection on them and a serrated barb on the tail tip they can whip enemies with. They are a very common animal like monster of the void which can often be found in the realms as well. The two wattles on the bottom jaw emit a faint glow to display agitation, fear or excitement. They are fast, agile and cunning. They can come in a couple colors which is believed to be tied to the element most common in their environment.
Noctern-crows are commonly found in the underworld and it shows. With corpse like bodies resembling some creepy mix of human and raven they have tattered feathered wings on their backs and often wear dark garbs, most often a dark hooded robe, which they decorate with shiny objects and tattered black feathers. Their bodies consist mainly of greyed skin and the limbs including the birdlike hind limbs fade from fleshed to skeletal at their ends. Their head is the skull of a crow stuck into a fleshy ragged black feather coated neck. The eye sockets of the skull house glowing orbs which have been reported in a handful of colors though what the differences in color mean is currently unknown but may relate to certain magical abilities. They can wield elemental magic’s as good as any elemental master and are gifted in dark magic’s. Their favourite weapons tend to be their clawed hands and feet, a screaming roaring noise that can discombobulate any entity capable of hearing, pecking with their crow skull heads and dark hand scythe weapons. They are capable of speech but again I would not recommend trying to make a deal with them; rarely do deals ever work in a person’s favour often being tailored to the crows favour. They do not have any notable physical weaknesses but can still be destroyed however they cannot truly be fully destroyed more of have their physical form displaced. When killed they will simply be sent back to the void and re-manifest in the realm they deemed home. Some accounts state that some Noctern-crows who may feel they were wronged by a mortal may try to find a way to the individuals realm and seek revenge on the wrong doer. It has been noted like many birds they have an attraction to shiny objects which they often adorn their outfits with or decorate their home area with. They also have been noted in getting memorized or at least stumped by mirrors and have a taste for rotting maggot filled flesh. These traits can be used to a travellers advantage to trick the creatures or lure them away from themselves.
Vesparilions are strange avian insectoid hybrid like monsters whose origins are hard to determine. Described as fusion between a hummingbird and a hornet what is known of these monsters is they are not a natural entity and are part of the demonic class of organisms; a class of entities created from the darkness, Ashers and/or the Oni or originating in dark realms. These monsters are often found nesting near Asher and Oni ruins where they live in small communal hives made of some grasses, twigs, dried blood and mud. They swarm anything that approaches feeding off the blood and energy of their victim delivering a duel damage. Their sharp needle like beaks are sharp enough and strong enough to pierce most metals and while constructs do not have blood for the creatures to drink their beaks can do serious damage to their inner workings and they can still steal their energy. If you come across an area littered with bodies of both organic and/or inorganic in make with multiple needle like piercings then there is a great chance a nest of these horrors are nearby. Luckily they do not show any great resilience’s like other daemons however their tendency to swarm combined with their double hit to health and energy attacks make them challenging for inexperienced adventurers. Similar to Vesparilions are Serpent flies. What resembles a strange fusion of a serpent and a dragonfly. It’s tail can sting and inject a venom that strikes fear and weakness into its victims. The sting affects humans, animals, robotics and even plants. It has a mouth full of little needle teeth which bares pincers on either side of jaw in order to help it grip it’s victims as it sucks the strength from them. Often in humans only its bite will also leave them with a disease.
Dreadconda are feminine serpentine beings with four arms, four eyes and a mastery in the dark arts particularly in sucking the strength, stamina and sometimes even health of its victims. Their hides are thick and tough with the only weakness being behind the frill that decorates its head. As their name suggests Gloam Harpies are a form of harpy from the void. These winged humanoid monsters come in both a male and female forms. Males are less bright than females and often serve as the upfront offensive forces. Females are more sly and while they will fight upfront like the males they enjoy bewitching and playing with their targets before destroying them. They have the ability to disguise themselves as normal people where they often like to lure others, man woman even droids it doesn’t matter to them, to their dens to often have fun with them before draining them of energy. This has led them to also being called Gloam Sirens. The Timbalang is a partial skeletal half horse humanoid from the darkness of the void though they are also commonly found in the underworld as well. They are said to have been made from the lost souls of stable master, horsemen, farmers and even horses who became lost to the void and have now returned as these dark un-dead looking monsters. While capable of using speech and magic they rarely use either preferring to just slash and bash with their forelimbs and bite with their fanged horse like skulls.
While some may not consider the Kirin a demon by classification and biology terms it is a demon. Also known as the Dragon Unicorn the Kirin is a creation of Storabek a great spirit of the wilderness and hunt. These creatures are notoriously unpredictable and dangerous. Often used as guardians to sacred natural sites and as a test for hunters or those seeking Storabeks boon these creatures are immune to many weapons requiring special materials or enchanted weapons to destroy. They are capable of wielding magical powers and spells and while they can be dark they are considered neutral beings from the void being both good and bad. Unlike other demons these are rarely seen around Asher or Oni ruins and are most frequently found in the wilderness particularly in forests or wooded areas. Fast, agile with the jumping prowess of a cat and powerful these creatures are extremely difficult to fell and due to them not being natural belonging to the void they are rare with Storabek being one of the few beings able to bring them to the mortal planes. Their meat is poisonous to most beings with fellow void beings, dragons, were-wolves and vampires able to eat it though their horn and silver green blood is said to have great magical and alchemical properties.
Zivkin are demons from the void who overall resemble humans though boast dark grey skin with sunken glowing icy green eyes, black hair and small black horns that vary in form on their foreheads. Zivkin have been commonly seen wearing dark armour with various dark colored often glowing markings to them or black robes. Zivkin are believed to be what remains of humanoids who gave themselves up to the Oni swapping their beings to those of one of the void for great power and immortality. It is also believed Ashers become these when destroyed, that practitioners of dark arts can become these after death and some are purely made from the void itself and were never from the mortal realms. They come in both male and female forms and some will have additional smaller horns on their chins. They are highly skilled in dark magic’s and combat. They are intelligent with a clan based society which uphold values of pride, honour and loyalty to their kin and the Oni to which they generally align themselves with. Zivkin tend to view other void beings as lesser beings and often care little for mortals. Since they can’t truly be killed they do not fear death so are fearless in battle. They do not understand the concepts of good and evil seeing this as simple is and believed they exist to serve the will of the void. While generally considered evil not all of them are and they can be employed by mortals for various tasks without the severe risk of being drawn into the void. They will accept currency, artefacts, resources and other more material objects as payment for their service. They take great pride in their horns and are known to hold grudges. They luckily however are known to have a poor sense of direction likely a result of their ties to the void though this trait is not known in other entities of the void.
Void-lamps are strange simple entities that float about seeming to have no purpose. A plasmatic ball of light and dense mists with tentacles these jelly fish like things just float randomly doing nothing more than emitting minor light and energy from their plasmatic core. Believed to simply just float through the void within the realms they can be found floating often near areas tainted by void energy or where natural tears to the void or portals opened to it had been where they are drawn to damp and swampy environments where they just seem to float about for no reason. A strange habit of these entities is their habit to protect themselves like hermit crabs by claiming various small items to wear as a shell possibly for protection. Things from natural structures like sea shells, shells from nuts and snails and skulls to artificial makes like broken lanterns, old shoes, broken pottery and books have been seen being used as shells by these beings. They can come in various colors which is speculated to reflect the element they are tied to as these creatures are known to have very minor abilities with an element. Icy ones can cool an area, fiery ones heat a local area or can spark fires, electrical ones can act as lightening rods and spark in defence and so on. Generally these are not dangerous beings but are often considered creepy.
While seen as an entity of darkness the Kyrkogrim is more a neutral party. Clad in a dark tattered cloak bearing the four eyed head of a goat, hands with a goat like assemblage with a body core made of shadow that bares no lower half these spectres bring fear to those who first see them. Within the chest of the shadowed core of the beast is a bright glowing plasmatic structure said to be the heart of the monster. While frequently observed as red this core has been spotted in a few other colors though what the colors mean is not understood. This heart of theirs is oddly claimed to resonate with energies of creation while the main body of these entities is said to be of destruction. Much about these entities lies in mystery. Some legends say these beings were created from lost souls of criminals or the cursed seeking to repent their doings that became lost to the void others that they were created from animal sacrifices whose souls fell into the void. However they came to be what these entities desire is not well understood. It has been recorded that pacts can be made often through rituals or sacrifices for them to serve as guardians for selected sites where they can ward off evils, the un-dead and lesser beings of the void along with dealing with criminals and other evil doers. Others have claimed they are beings of dark omens and bad luck with the sight of one indicating ill events or misfortunes to fall upon those that see it. Some have claimed a parasitic attribute to this creature where it feeds upon positive emotions to leave individuals with dark emotions and ill health. Despite the fact that they do not frequently attack or seek harm to those of the realms and display more relaxed natures compared to many other beings of the void they are still quite feared.
A nightmarish mix between a humanoid usually female in gender and a spider the Arachni are powerful semi-intelligent monsters capable of melee attacks and spell casting. They can spin webs and are venomous. These monsters are notorious for being high strung, hot headed, unstable and aggressive. They enjoy tricking mortals and love spiders thinking them their children, what would you suspect from beings who think spiders are cuter than puppies and kittens. Some lore suggests spiders that get lost to the void can become these creatures or their favoured pets void spiders which look like void tainted and large tarantulas. Dreadtrix are a demonic form of tick. These nasty little creatures feed of the energy of the living that are made of flesh and blood. They bury themselves beneath the skin of their host where they feed off their energy and blood. To hinder the host from discovering them, to weaken them and prevent the host from fighting back Dreadtrix can numb their presence from the host and inflict them with diseases to disguise the draining effect they have on their hosts. Once attached to the host they feed for a few weeks before leaving the host for a couple weeks. After they will seek a new host or if the previous host is still alive will return to feed from them again. These creatures can prove fatal from the diseases they inflict or the draining from frequent feedings.
Xivurses are like a monstrous crossing between a bear and some form of predatory bird. Equipped with metallic like claws strong enough to scratch through metal, a snout ending with a startling serrated beak and not only the jaw strength of a bear but the teeth of an average bear as well these are formidable opponents and unfortunately to while no bigger than a bear though larger specimens have been recorded they are highly social and often travel and work in groups. Their forepaws bear two large clawed weight bearing digits and a third smaller clawless semi-opposable digit and help them grasp and manipulate things. They are able to rear up on their hind legs and walk for some time on two legs but prefer to move on all fours. Their short bushy tail with its colourful top is used in communication and display; it is normally held low but when angered or threatened they will raise it. These monsters are highly intelligent even capable of making crude tools, attire, structures and armour but prefer a more beastial appearance. They are capable of speech but prefer not to speak to humans, to them birds are the only mortals worthy of hearing their speech. They consider all other mortals as lesser beings. They are able to wield magic with a specialty in ice and nature magics. Most unsettling Xivurses can mimic sounds and voices and can lure the unwary to their demise using this. They can even mix these sounds and voices into their normal calls to unsettle mortals. Xivurses are some of a collection of void originating entities who have come to inhabit the realms like they are one of its natural fauna with populations known to inhabit various realms with several variants known to fit in with their chosen habitats. These creatures generally stick to woodlands in temperate and boreal regions and prefer hilly and mountainous terrains over flat plains. Their lifestyles while in the realms is reminiscent of a bears though they are social, able to build crude shelters for themselves, use fires for cooking and create crude attire, tools and items like bowls, blankets and cookware if they have to. Most often they use things stolen from people. They are omnivores eating fruits and some veg but eat a lot more meat than bears with a love for fish and human foods. In fact in some regions peace can be brokered between them and people through regular offerings of food particularly things considered junk or fast food like burgers, fries, pizza and other takeout foods. While they generally don’t get along with mortals and do not like to aid non avian entities they can be reasoned with and do have one major advantage. They dislike many insectoid monsters like the Hunger, Serpent-flies and especially Vesparilions to which they can easily tear into their nests. Just because they come from the same place does not mean they are all allies. Relations between the entities of the void are varied and not uniform with some being allies to some entities and enemies to others. They consider insectoid beings their original natural prey and thereby their most hated enemies so won’t miss the opportunity to hunt them down. These are known to hold an alliance with Noctern Crows and oddly scribes and Zivbaras.
As the originating source of creation it is no wonder that beings made of pure elements, the components of creation itself, can be found from the void. While these can take many forms the most feared are those classed as Elemental Wyrms. Spectral serpentine or eel like entities made of elemental energy. They emit a low glow from their cores and have a hard skeletal like armourments to part of their bodies made from elements relating to their element. They can hide within elements of their alignment and launch out with surprise attacks at the unwary. Each variant goes by its own name and boasts unique attributes relating to its element. Parts from their armour like attire are known to have powerful alchemical effects. All are immune to poisons and paralyzing effects and are resistant to normal weapon attacks. When destroyed they burst into their element leaving nothing but the armour material behind to slowly dissolve into the environment. Some examples of these wyrms include: Ice Wraiths are cold as ice spectres whose bites burn from the cold and emit an icy mist from themselves. Their armour is made from pure ice and it is said if they pass through you, which while looking solid as ethereal beings made of elemental energy they can, they can chill you to the core and even freeze you. They are often found around areas of cold, snow and ice and areas of cold water. Their presence is able to cool the local environment. While immune to the cold they are weak to heat. Geothermal Spectre are a rocky variety with a bite strength able to crack bones and crush metal. They burn and drip with lava which will burn or melt things it touches and if they pass through you can inflict internal burns and scrapes. Their rocky armour is tough and they often have a dusty smoky cloud around them. This cloud can cause breathing problems similar to asthma to those who breathe it in. They are able to create localized earthquakes by diving into the ground and are commonly found in geologically active zones and areas of lava. Shock Wraiths are electrified variants that coat themselves in storm clouds and can strike lightening with their charges. They boast an armour of a metallic substance that attracts and resonates electricity. Their shocks are powerful and dangerous particularly for machinery and robotics. They can electrocute and cause internal singing if they pass through you and when passing through certain items like engines of vehicles can make them explode. These are often attracted to lightening storms and power plants where they can be a nuisance. Water Spectres are an aquatic version that is often found near bodies of water. Their armour is made of coral which is sharp and easily scratches flesh. A moist mist surrounds them. While made from a similar element these cannot turn into Ice Wraiths. Water Spectres emit a warm heat and remain in liquid form even in the cold. They have been known to cause flooding and rain storms. If they pass through you they can put water in your lungs and potentially drown you. Fire Wyrms are fiery variants cloaked in a flaming aura. Found near lava and places of fire they can even pop up out of a campfire. With an armour resembling burning wood they can set places ablaze and emit a strong heat that can be felt for some distance even in the cold. If passing through you they will cause internal burning. They are weak to the cold, water and ice.
These grotesque tentacled floating monsters are said to come from the mires and seas of fate and knowledge that lie deep in the void a place said to be where all knowledge, fates and all that has can or will occur are recorded. While they do not seem it these beings are highly intelligent and seem to act as keepers, recorders and guards for the void and all the knowledge and knowing it possesses. While the void is their home they can be found in the realms where they often look for knowledge particularly highly secretive and forbidden knowledge to copy, acquire and bury deep within the void. These are powerful beings capable of using vast arrays of magic for offense and defence often draining enemies of energy and strength in attacks. These entities can be bargained with and some due attempt to seek their knowledge this is particularly true in the Cloud Kingdom where they are commonly found and work as head scryers of fate. Extreme caution however has to be taken when dealing with these beings. As entities of the void they obey the will of the void above all and will only reveal knowledge should the void allow it plus they always seek something in return. Knowledge is most often what is sought after but they will also take memories and on occasion lives in return for knowledge. The more powerful or important the knowledge the higher the price. There is some records that suggest mortals of the realms can become these scribes often through delving too deep into forbidden or lost knowledge or by finding themselves lost in the depths these entities came from. It is even claimed those taken by these beings in return for knowledge will become one of these monsters. It is believed the Ashers took inspiration in these beings for their Sorcerers.
Skinned Hounds are un-dead looking canid like creatures. Despite looking like dogs they don’t sound much like them having more unsettling sounds like someone crossed a dog with a hyena and a crocodile. They even give snake like hissings. Also commonly found in the underworld it is said they have a bite that feels as cold as the grave and have a resistance to poisons. They like to hang around ruins often with other un-dead and are a favourite pet and guard to necromancers and vampiric entities. Care needs to be taken around these things as they are capable of spreading Rot-bone which weakens the infected bones making them brittle and Cannibal's Craze which causes inflicted to crave human flesh; this curse is also known to affect droids to also crave human flesh turning them to man eaters.
The Gorgayhurra are intelligent parrot headed serpentine who are very talented in their mimicking ability able to mimic all sorts of sounds from natural to artificial to human speech even able to perfectly copy the sound of someone’s voice. Along with this mimicking ability they can emit a screeching sound that instils fear into others even the most bravest of warriors. With their dexterous hands which look like a parrots feet there is little that they cannot solve or get into. While generally not friendly to people they have a fondness for birds, reptiles and amphibians and view them as friends and allies. This fondness however does not keep them from eating these creatures. When in the realms they prefer to stick to damp environments like forests and swamps. Several different colors and patterns have been witnessed. While not fond of humans they can be appeased by giving them peaches, apples, mangoes, pomegranates, chicken and bugs to eat.
Humans are not the only ones to fall to the void anything living from plants and fungi, to animals and even robotics like droids can fall to it and become entities of the void. While most will become one of a certain kind of entity such as a Void Wraith, Timbalang, Kyrkogrim or Feardrake some seem to retain their original form although tainted by void energies discolouring them and sometimes adding strange features and abilities to them. These however are not the only general flora and fauna to the void. Accounts from the handful of those who have visited or looked into the void and come back describe flora and fauna that appear like those of the realms as if they are some form of mimicry to these. It is even believed that some flora and fauna found within the realms are in fact of void origin and not natural to the realms of mortals. Only a special test using a crystal line material known as a void shard along with magic by one skilled in void magic can reveal an entities affiliation to one of the void often causing the shard to glow and glowing arcane markings to appear on those of the void. One such example is the Void tree a strange said to be sentient species of tree though they appear and act no different from a typical tree which resembles some strange cross between a baobab tree with a bristlecone pine. Along with growing in locations typical of woodlands this tree can be found in places that seem out of place for a tree such in sunless caves, locations and ruins tainted by dark energies and dark woods. Unlike other trees sunlight is not the main provider of energy for these plants. Instead they feed off void energy and are said to not only be able to pull void energy from the realm to protect it from these energies but to also be able to tap into the void to get these energies hence its ability to live in sunless and tainted environments. These trees are highly prized by some groups such as those who worship the void such as a reptilian race known as the Varantine found in some areas of the Lost Realm. These trees are important to their cultures and often protected by them. The trees sap is known to have powerful but highly dangerous alchemical properties. Only those knowledgeable with the stuff should work with it. An example of a type of fauna said to originate from the is the Keara Bird. These strange animals which are classed as birds as all tests indicate they are a form of bird also boast unusual traits and energy not found in typical wildlife. Standing a bit taller than a large dog and resembling a wingless flightless bird with a shaggy coat, long legs, spines like a hedgehogs down its back from the top of the head to the rump and boasting a long pointed beak with strangely for a bird nostrils at the tip, a short vibrant crest atop the head and strange eyes that bear an almost hollow looking interior to them these birds are primarily insectivores but will feed on the occasional fruits, small vertebrates and carrion. They boast long tongues in their beaks to help lick up prey and are excellent diggers. They often live and nest in burrows. What makes many believe this bird to in fact be a denizen of Void origin include several lines of evidence such as an ability to identify, track and even safely use tears both natural and artificial into the void. This has often led them to be useful in locating such tears and portals. They are also often ignored by beings of the void or even treated as pets by them. They also boast magical talents centered on the lighter side of energy relating largely to powers of restoration and creation though they are not so pure and benign as they seem and can and will use powers of destruction and chaos as well. The life cycles of these creatures are also strange. While at first seeming to resemble those of any other birds there are some eerie exceptions. For one the strange large, a bit over 1/3 the adults size, black with green iridescence hard shelled egg is not truly laid but brought into being by both parents a male and a female which are monogamous who perform a strange magical ritual that involves the drawing on the ground with their feet in a circular pattern arcane symbols then while standing in this circle energy is drawn from each parent to form the single egg. Both parents incubate the egg that once hatched the young is able to follow the adults within an hour of hatching. It has been noted that nothing will touch their eggs and those that have held or been near the egg feel a highly unsettling energy emitted from it. These creatures take up to 20 years to reach maturity and can live for around 3 to 4 hundred years. After dying the body remains for several days not seeming to decompose before at random bursting into void green energies that resemble fire that burns the remains out of existence. Meat, blood and other elements of the creatures is toxic to all but those of void origin or under curses of void origin like vampirism or Lycanthropy. Droids can be fed materials from them and while it won’t kill them it will make them sick and upset and cause imbalances to their systems. How these creatures came to be is unknown. Some speculate it was a possible accident by a very powerful sorcerer or spirit others claim they simply originated in the void and chose to live within the realms on their own. It is known varieties of this bird coming in different colors can be found in all realms where they live in forests primarily in the temperate zone. How they got to each realm is well known as another unique power to these creatures is the ability to create portals and travel through the void to in a sense realm hop at will.
The Soratami is another of these beings of the void that likes to live like an animal in the realms. While overall rabbit like they have a mismatch of characteristics from other animals like hind feet like a kangaroo, fleshy whiskers on its face like a catfish, hooves on its front toes, beak tipped lower jaw and armoured scales on its back, shoulders and hips like some kind of reptile. While they can take the form of a more typical rabbit or one with horns or antlers it likes to take on a more bizarre appearance just to mess with the minds of mortals. While overall shy and skittish like a normal rabbit these beings seem to be bit of masochists as they like to get hunted and eaten getting an odd thrill from it. Because of this they are edible. They have been seen in a couple varieties of colors and patterns with the glow on the tips of some of the whiskers being used for display and communication.
Humans are not the only ones to fall to the void. Animals plants and fungi can fall to it as well turning them into void corrupted versions of themselves. While they tend to act like the entities they once were they often develop traits and slight physical modifications often in coloring and additions of spikes and thorns on plants and fungi and the additions of glowing parts and markings in all classes. Sounds from animals often are off sometimes becoming eerie sounding and most develop mild magical powers often the ability to materialize and de- materialize through void energy, ability to suck energy from the living and strike fear into others even the toughest of souls. These are basically the equivalents to Void Wraiths for non human mortals.
Watchers are really nothing more than brittlestar looking things with a big eyeball in their body in appearance. They are not known to possess much in powers and seem to do just as their name suggests watch; just blankly staring at the world around them. They don’t seem to have much in desires or thoughts kind of like true brittlestars and their sea star relatives and just move about or hang around in areas. While they are simple more complex beings of the void can and do use these as a sort of living surveillance system able to see through various means what these creatures see in order to observe and spy. For this reason despite their harmless nature Watchers should be destroyed when discovered. Lava Gremlicken are chicken sized reptilian elemental creatures that can be dangerous but more often are a nuisance. A largely rocky exterior with a lava core these entities really aren’t that intelligent and their only attacks are to bite with their jaws that bare teeth like projections and will burn, spit lava and the obsidian sharp spines on the end of the tail. There is also a Glacial Gremlicken which are made of ice and filled with freezing yet never frozen water whose bites leave freezing burns and spit ice. There is also a Storm Gremlicken which bares a rocky exterior but is filled with lightening. These ones can spit lightening. Cuttlecrabs are small semi-aquatic critters much like mortal crabs. Best described as an Ammonite with the legs and pinchers of a crab these entities are rather animal like and in fact have been recorded with populations within the realms living as animals generally in temperate to tropical shores coming in various colors and patterns. While overall simple a few exhibit higher intelligence with one considering himself a very accomplished merchant. Jelly-lamps are much like Void Lamps however they appear to prefer a more organic look than Void Lamps taking on a Jellyfish like look and lifestyle. They however do not seem to understand that within the realms Jellyfish do not float in the sky. They seem to be friendly and like insects are drawn to sources of light. They come in various colors and range from tiny bee sized beings to almost arm lengthed creatures. Generally they are harmless though will give a mild electric shock if they feel threatened. They seem to like showing the light from their bioluminescence off and care free almost playfully float around others. They tend to inhabit damp environments like swamps and bogs.
Dread beasts are named more for their appearance than any powers. They just look dreadful with often gaunt dark bodies bearing a monstrous skeletal depiction to their skulls. The lower part of limbs and tails are also skeletal. They don’t really have any powers and are largely no more than animals similar to void animals however their presence is a sign of dark influences, particularly of void origin, nearby and shouldn’t be taken lightly. Most often they are just a nuisance and not a serious threat. They come in only a few forms largely Dreadrats and Dread-Chickens which are more commonly called Daemon-Cockrels. Rabbits, Opossum, Cats, frog, hedgehog, songbird and parrot are the known forms. It is unknown why they take on forms of animals often deemed quite or innocent but it is believed to be related to creating a sense of unease in others. Skinned Hounds are believed to be related to these. They are often a bit bigger than their normal counterparts and the skull like head bares various tusks, fangs and protrusions not possessed by the real animal. The fiery orange glowing wound like markings can come in other colors with the color determined by energy present in the area or environmental conditions i.e. in cold environs they are an icy blue, in areas prone to frequent thunderstorms or electrical energy they are a bright yellow.
Dolgrims these chunky ogre like boys… girls? Really I don’t think you can tell the difference are a common dim witted low intelligent ogre like species from the void who are used often for their brawns by other entities of the void, dark magic users and dark cults as muscle and guards for their organizations. Not only are Dolgrim what many would deem ugly but they don’t smell very well and are notorious for their menacing and tormenting of mortals and lesser beings of the void. They have largely thick warty skin over most of their bodies with patches of course hair largely on their chin, tops of forearms, tops of upper arms and shoulders, back and most of legs. They also have various spikes on their arms and legs with the most being located around the shoulders. They also have a row of knobby short spines down their spine and two prominent horns on their thick skulled head. Green is their most common color but steely blue, dusty red-brown and brown variants are also known. While some have been seen to wear some armour most just wear a ragged loin cloth.
These little impish primate like creatures are semi-sentient monsters often found alongside other more powerful and intelligent species of the void. Viends are commonly used to stir up trouble and cause problems within the realms. They are also used for running errands and as simple servants for other beings of the void and even some powerful mages and cultists despite the high danger these creatures pose. They are notoriously mean, aggressive and troublesome. They are rather weak and dim-witted however are capable of some forms of magic particularly fire based magic’s.
Note in the following pictures most of these aren't mentioned or dealt with in the story (it's largely just those from pt1) the rest are more of background fillers:
While I wouldn't consider Shambles daemons I class them here as dark entities tend to be drawn into creating these things for their service likely since it is easy to repair and resurrect them. Shambles are a conglomerate of bones, metal joints and hinges, parts from corpses and often decorated with leather or cloth bits. When killed they explode with a burst of freezing energy and their parts collapse and fall apart. They can then be re-animated by their masters. Believed to hail originally from the Underworld these un-dead like entities are often used as simple foot soldiers for those drawn to dark magic like Necromancers, Bandits and even the Ashers. Since they react to potions and spells meant for use on un-dead it is believed they are somehow some form of un-dead. Studies into their being have found Shambles often have the souls of poor individuals who have found themselves bound to these constructs. They can be released and the Shambles rendered un-animated by destroying the gem that tends to be used to bind the soul to the construct. This is often located in a hidden location in the construct usually in the head.
The Hunger is not a natural occurring entity. These very gaunt somewhat insctoid monstrosities are beings that have been created by either the Ashers or the Oni. Documentation of how they came to be is not readily available and though they serve the Ashers without objection unlike other beings created by the Ashers such as the Ash Crawler they lack a serious weakness to ice or the cold. These nightmarish entities always seem to be hungry, hence their name, and feed solely on the energy of their prey. They will prey on anything living that they can find and wrap their long spine coated tongues onto to suck the energy from their victims. Weakening them then killing them by sucking all their energy away killing them through exhaustion or in some very unpleasant cases the draining of ones life force. These are often used for ambush attacks by the Ashers and can rarely be found wandering near Asher Strongholds or Oni ruins throughout the world. They will attack with their large hand claws and can jump over twice their height making them formidable adversaries. They can also whip around their long tongues and the pincers on the head can help them restrain their victim as they suck energy from them. Their energy siphoning abilities also makes it hard to fight them. They have a high tolerance to normal weapons meaning you have to hit them more and stronger to do damage or have special weapons and they cannot easily be harmed by ice like their masters are. Like many of the beings of darkness like the Noctern-crows and Vulcaroths they have a high resistance to elements and magic.
Often described as a mouth on arms these creatures which resemble some sort of cross between a snake and a monitor lizard are creatures of nightmares. Their skin is transparent and the bones of the face, parts of spine and shoulders can be seen through the skin. While they lack venom they have a tongue which is prehensile and is equipped with a sharp spine between the forks at the tip. They also have a second set of teeth further back in the jaws to prevent prey from escaping its grip. This spine has the devastating effect of being able to turn things it stabs into beings of ash who will serve the Ashers who have created them. While being able to turn victims into Ash Spawn or Ash Ghouls many also boast powers in the dark arts like Asher Sorcerers. Historically they were rare but as the Ashlands spread they are being found more frequently. While not heavily armoured they are faster and more agile with very powerful jaws and an immunity to normal weapons, only a handful of weapon types and ice can harm them. Weapons that can harm the Fear can also harm these things. Crawlers are burrowers and enjoy harsh and toxic environments. They cannot be found in the wild and are only observed alongside Ashers and at their strongholds. Pray you never meet one of these monsters.
Everyone in our realm has heard of these beings. They were once human like the rest of us but through their worship of the Oni they became mutated into something else, something that can only be described as demons. They are no longer living yet at the same time they are not dead. Most have a humanoid shape however their skin has gained an Ash like appearance and glowing fiery veins can be seen on some spots. Their eyes turn to a burning red and they lose all traits of who they once were. Gender, race, and identity these features all are lost in their transformation to pure Asher. The worst being they can become is an Asher Sorcerer. These horrid nightmare inducing figures are masters of the dark arts and boast powers similar to pure blooded oni and are capable of taping into and using the energies of the void. While they can speak the common tongue they are almost always only heard speaking the strange ancient language of these folk. Very little is known of their habits, social structure and lifestyle but what is well known is their desire to wipe out all those who do not follow their beliefs and to aid the Oni in their conquests. These beings curse people and towns with their horrid diseases such as Serpentus, Tumourus Rot and Porphyric Hemophilia and kidnap the innocent turning them into Ash Slaves or Ash Ghouls, they destroy crops and livestock and attack any who try to offer their victims aid. For folk unfortunate enough to be caught by these beings they are turned into tortured husks of who they once were existing solely to serve their cruel masters. Ashers have no care for other life forms seeing them as nothing but tools and play things meant for torturing. For as long as records have existed they have been documented harassing the folk who live around the Blackwood and the Red Tower. Luckily since the construction of the Ghost Fence which enclosed them into the Ash Wastes with their beloved volcano the Red Tower where their great ancient stronghold sits Ashers have been prevented from attacking most folk limiting their reach. Many cities and towns around the fence and Blackwood are still frequently facing threats from these folk which is odd. There is almost no way for them to get past the fence so how they are turning up in these places and often in considerable force is a bit of a mystery. It is believed they likely are being aided by allies, folk we call sleepers who are yet to turn to full blooded Ashers, to infiltrating these places. Others that could be helping them are those known as Skin-Stealers, Ashers who use their dark magic to make themselves look and sound like someone else. Pray you never encounter an Asher!
Despite how feared they are there are some things known about Ashers, this however doesn't take away from their nightmarish standing and often just adds more to it. Ashers are tied to the Red Tower Volcano hence why they have long been restricted to this area. The Red Tower is a center of great energy in this realm and houses a portal to both the Underworld and the First Realm within it. Both these portals are believed to be tears in the realm created by the Oni to link and allow easy access to this realm. These energies and ties are what helps give the Ashers power, another major source of their power comes from the fear they create and the energy of the volcano itself.
Because of their ties to the volcano it has warped them into the beings they are. Ashers are not living or dead but stuck in a state between meaning they cannot be destroyed by normal means. When one becomes an Asher they essentially give up their life for this half-life which ties them to the volcano which now fuels their life force. Despite not being living their bodies run very hot like the energy produced by the volcano. This tie to the volcano has led to both pros and cons. It gives them great power but at a cost it weakens them to the wet and cold. Water can weaken them if it is cold enough but only ice can destroy them since it is their greatest weakness given form the cold. The reason for their weakness to the cold is that it is the opposite to their power source. Ice is the only thing that destroys the heat that keeps them alive, destroying the energy that sustains them. Freezing them also breaks their bond with the volcano preventing them from re-manifesting from the ash of the volcano. They can remanifest from the ash because of their tie to the volcano and their half life state prevents them from being properly killed and gives their energy a way to remain tied to the realm and recreate a physical form.
There are several forms of Ashers. At the very bottom are the Ash Slaves. Poor people who have been caught, corrupted and enslaved by the Ashers and are forced into doing there every bidding. Then there is the Ash spawn who are a creation of the Ashers made for bolstering their armies and as easy to animate soldiers. They cursed the ash of the volcano so it would remember the forms and energies of entities that perished in it and using the energies of the volcano create animated forms that mimic a living being. Then there are Ash Ghouls, poor folk who have passed to the Blight curse and have been brought back as monstrous evil versions of themselves to serve as soldiers for the Ashers. Ash Ghouls obey only the Ashers and have become so corrupted they will destroy their own friends and family without question or a thought if told to. Above these are folks who often suffer serious physical and mental altering conditions caused by the Ashers such as Ash Vampires who suffer from the condition Porphyric Hemophilia along with others. Then there are the full-blooded Ashers with the Asher Sorcerers holding the highest and most powerful ranks.
There is one daemon of the wastes who does not align himself with the Ashers and by far one of the most feared single entities in this and possibly all realms. Known by only one title his name is not a true name and is simply a description of what he often appears to be, a Black Stag. An ancient ethereal being of unknown origin hardly anything is known about him except for his cruel dark nature. Though he shares a deep darkness with the Ashers he is the opposite in being from them. His is a cold empty darkness that from what I could uncover is said to feel like the void possibly indicating his origins might lie in the void. Very little is known of this daemon, more is known of those who serve him than him. This is because few have ever seen him and lived. I could only ever find record of one soul who has met the Stag and lived to tell the tale, the captain of the Guard for Balmora Tafari. Despite attempts to contact them Tafari refused to commune with me. Despite my disappointment this one understands they likely desire privacy on the matter so I did not press any further on the matter. Believed to be an entity of pure evil the Stag frequently threatens the Ash wastes. There is much uncertainty if he aligns himself with the Ashers however most accounts cite no evidence of kinship between the two. Instead the Stag and his minions appear highly hostile to Ashers. He is commonly reported to take at least two main forms. The form of a large elk like stag seeming to be made of pure shadow and the dark form of a large man with the head of an elk. There are a few reports that he will take other forms including that of a massive shadow dragon. He appears to be a shape shifter however deer like features tend to show up in most of the forms he takes though why is not understood. All I can say on this being is hope you never catch his eye or even catch a glimpse of him.
The minions of the Stag are rather mysterious and are primarily robotic and bestial in nature. They are known for being unpredictable in their actions and motives. They are hostile to anything not apart of their allegiance and frequently are noted attacking caravans and travellers in the wastes giving them only one option, to flee to the Balmora side of the fence or face their slaughter. As testament to their unpredictability there are also many accounts of his entities observing and hanging around caravans, mining and logging camps, travellers and even settlements on the safe side of the fence without attacking or interacting with the folk there. Why they attack sometimes but not other times is unknown and confusing at times. An example of their confusing and unpredictable attacks sometimes when one would expect them to attack such as when vulnerable people or resources are present they do not attack but when nothing of interest is present they will attack. Like Ashers they too have somehow found secret ways to get past the fence and in considerable numbers. When in settlements it has been noted for the Stags minions to steal things even from the most well protected vaults. As would be expected from cybernetic entities they are very proficient with technology.
As many know the realms are surrounded and separated by the void. Through their own doing or things beyond their control people and other entities can end up in and become trapped in the void. These lost souls then become one with the void as it consumes there very being. They become what are known as Void Wraiths sometimes also called Shadow Wraiths or Beings of Shadow, echoes of once living things which can enter through cracks, tears and portals into the realms. Some such as Ashers or others who dabble in dark arts are even known to summon them into the realms for various purposes. Void Wraiths are but echoes of living things and while it seems they can think and are aware they share little else with living things. Some more powerful entities can speak but most cannot. Often they are seen as unnerving shadows hanging around dark ruins and have been known to attack living things. They are known to drain the living including robots of positive emotions and energy and instil dark emotions and energies. They can kill through these actions causing their victim to be dragged into the void. Sometimes they may even attempt to drag an individual into the void to make them apart of the void like themselves. These beings are usually rare however are prone to be found in places that have had dark things happen or where the boundary between the realms and the void are weak; this is often a result of magical experimentation gone wrong. These beings are known to sometimes stalk the living to drag them into the void. If you suspect a Void Wraiths is stalking you the only way to save yourself is to seek any form of being shamans, temple healers, wizards, witches, etc who can delve into void energies and break the wraiths attraction to you and banish them back into the void. Weapons that can fell a Fear and light based magic’s are the only things known that can fell these horrors.
While I would not necessarily consider them daemons un-dead entities plague the wastes and often garner the same fear from people as the daemons so I will mention them here. With its dark and turbulent past it is no wonder the dead do not often rest easy in these lands. Ghosts and wraiths are said to haunt the ruins, old mines and graveyards of the area while skeletons and zombies can be found anywhere though often not far from where they fell rising from the ash, soil and even out of bogs and swamps or lakebeds where they are often coated by algae and mud. It is not just the remains of humans that return from the grave but many bestial ones will do so too. Often adventurers will not realise these entities are nearby till they arise from the ground often in very creepy manners. While the Ghosts can be reasoned with and often retain who they were in life other beings of un-dead particularly wraiths and zombies do not retain anything of who they once were and cannot be reasoned with. Instead they will attack anything that wanders close on site often to drag the unprepared to their graves. Most skeletons of the region cannot be reasoned with either as most are simply reanimated through cursed means. Un-dead beings generally are found in select areas mainly around the remains or sites of settlements, old battlefields or in and near tombs and ruins. There is one kind however and while currently classed as an un-dead their true classification is very hard to place as few wish to study them. These are Ash Spawn, dark manifestations of ash that take the form of living beings. Only a simple representation of the being they came from can be seen in its form along sometimes with the charred bones or other remains of the being this form came from stuck in this ash. Nothing else of these beings exists in the Ash Spawn. It is believed the dark twisted magic of the Ashers is to blame for their existence; that they cursed the ash that falls from their volcanic kingdom to remember the forms of those that have died in it so they can animate the ash into a being to serve them as a far from pleasant and easily reanimated foot soldier. These Ash Spawn can be encountered anywhere in the wastes but are usually not far from Asher ruins or their Asher creators. Skeletons and Zombies can be felled by normal means, ghosts and wraiths however need weapons made from special materials or enchanted by magic’s. Ash Spawn can only be destroyed through the same means as their Asher masters.
I do not consider these demons however many others do but another of beings that can be found here are Were-wolves. Like vampirism the condition that causes man beast often called were-wolves and sometimes skin changers is believed to have been demonic in origin. Often believed to have come from the spirit Storabek man-beasts are not inherently evil or seeking to harm others without a grounded reason, often it is to hunt and feed. There are several forms a man-beast can take with were-wolves being the most common. Whereas like the Ashers they often align with vampires often enjoy harming others and causing chaos and will often infiltrate the populous in disguise for their dark purposes were-wolves often seek to be left alone or with others like them. They tend to stick to towns and settlements often near areas with plenty of space to run free while as a beast. While vampires have been found when caught to often be in roles of power such as politicians, business men, jailors and other involved and influential roles, one had even been found as a doctor using his role to get fresh blood, were-wolves are often noted when caught to have been in roles that kept them out of the public, in more quite or relaxed settings or gave them access to extended periods in the wilderness. Some of these jobs include lumberjacks, hunters, rangers, miners, chefs/cooks, farmers, recreational park staff, and even librarians. One had even been found as a Zookeeper; it must have had great control of its infliction to keep from hunting the beasts it cared for. Neither group are wildly accepted and often have to hide their true nature from the general public. While vampires are known to align with the Ashers and Oni the allegiance of man-beasts is less clear. They have been known to associate with Storabek and some accounts suggest possibly alliances with the Black Stag however there has yet not been much proof of this. While writing this I did seek out members of both inflictions to learn more I did not have much luck. Of those I could contact, who I promised will remain anonymous, the vampires were more open about aspects of their condition than the man-beasts who often seemed nervous and were less forthcoming with information. More on both conditions will be covered in a later section.
One should remember despite the term of demon not all the monsters considered demons are truly evil. There are just as many good beings who are neutral or even benevolent. These good ones however are still classed as demons due to their origins and ties to the void. Just because their kind are good however doesn’t mean they are all good. As with the natures of all beings of the void they can be just as bad as the evil ones. An interesting statement one monk told me as I did my researches about these beings is that the way these beings view us and those in the mortal realm is comparable to ones views to ants. We are often nothing but musses or simple matter to them and while some may wish to aid mortals, others may feel an interest or wonder to the mortal beings while others exist in neutrality to us or see us as nothing more but pests, toys or sources of power and fuel.
Blackreach
When talking of the wastes one should also mention Blackreach as this locations presence does have a notable effect on the region. Some believe this cavern could be what is helping to let some of the daemons of the waste get past the Ghost fence. While this has yet to be confirmed it has resulted in some of the caverns biological entities to colonise parts or be seen in the wastes. Blackreach is a massive underground cave system that runs beneath large portions of our continent. Some sections of this cavern run beneath the Ash Wastes with some entrances being located here. Some of these entrances come from Scimitar ruins including great lifts that go directly down into the cavern while others are natural entrances through deep running caves and tunnels dug by the large beetles and ants of the region. Blackreach is home to a vast array of glowing mushrooms, plants with glowing parts and even glowing stones. Various Scimitar ruins are known to sit in the caverns and ruins from failed occasional occupation attempts dot the place. Due to the difficulty in reaching the location, the many dangers present and the great superstitions related to the caverns it is poorly studied and holds great mysteries.
Most of the caverns organisms are fungal or lichen in nature and produce a bioluminescence whose light is capable of producing light in wavelengths that mimic sunlight allowing plants to use their light as a food source. Species of this flora include Lunar Lichen which has a faint icy glowing color, Fiery Glowstalk with its fiery glow, Gleamblossom a form of lily with icy glowing flowers, Glowtendrils a type of large glowing shrooms with long tendrils that drape from their caps, Noctern Beacon Caps an underground relative of Swamp Beacon Caps and many other bizarre and captivating flora. Some of this underground flora including Glowstalks, Fungal Stalks and Gleamblossom are also known to occur widely above ground as well and are quite popular in many places as ornamental foliage. Others like Wisp stalks, Void Blossoms, Void Cups and Ice Fingers among many others are also found in many caves on the continent. While Blackreach is little studied it has been recorded that the flora seems to posses some form of almost sentient hive mind which it's connected to and shared with the unique fauna of the caverns. This fauna comes it two main types of creatures; the vale beasts which are variants of surface dwelling creatures that have developed in the strange biomes of this cavern and the strange semi un-dead fungal and floral hybrid entities often termed Gloambeasts.
While Vale beasts come from a wide variety of species including non-related species all share a dark pelt with off white markings which produce a bioluminescent light that the creatures use for communication and defence. All also boast stunning icy blue eyes. Species of Vale beasts include a few species of deer including horned and fanged species, a hare, a fox, a hyena, a Slothdillo, a Scimitar cat, a small cat, a horse, a Runner, a treebill, a duck, bats including some strange fungal eating cousins to fruit bats, a Sharmat, some small birds, the ancestor of the Min-Min which are known as Ropen along with a wide variety of insects including many small and a few large beings. Occasionally these vale beasts can be witnessed on the surface usually having wandered up through caves, tunnels or even scimitar ruins. Often they do not stay on the surface for very long and tend to head back below after some time. Gloambeasts are the most bizarre and little understood entities of the caverns. Gloambeasts are an amalgamation of the re-animated corpse of a surface dwelling species with a strange floral and fungal growths from within the caverns. These beings are directly apart of the caverns hive mind and serve much like soldiers guarding the cavern from threats from the surface and of unnatural origins. Any creature including people that find themselves below in the caverns and die down there can become one of these Gloambeasts. Interestingly vale beasts have never been recorded becoming a Gloambeast they do however show some hints they are aware and even co-operate when needed with the caverns hive mind. Why they do not become Glaombeasts is currently not understood and requires more research. It has even been seen that Scimitar constructs become a sort of Glaombeast and join this hive mind. These Gloam-constructs often have plant bits like vines, mosses and roots and shrooms coming out of seems or covering parts of their robotic bodies. Unlike vale beasts Gloambeasts are rarely witnessed above ground but have been frequently encountered in tunnels, caves and even ruins that lead down into Blackreach.
It is highly advised that unless you are a skilled warrior, good with stealth or magic not to seek out Blackreach the dangers there outweigh any benefit. Also guards will not come looking for you should something happen down there and the many superstitions of the place will keep all but the bravest souls from willing to offer any aid or protection.
Diseases of the wastes
A traveller to the Ash Wastes can potentially come across a few diseases some of which are more prevalent here than elsewhere. Most of these conditions are curable however due to historic prejudice or lack of knowledge those in more rural or isolated environments might not seek treatment. Others enjoy having their condition and try to spread it. These folk tend to end up in the Ash Wastes where the local Oni worshipping denizens the Ashers welcome them. Should you have a bad encounter or suspect you have one of these conditions please seek medical inspection and treatment.
Porphyric Hemophilia: Known as the Vampire disease due to similar traits this condition gives to sufferers it is actually a condition that affects the body’s natural ability to acquire and process iron, an important mineral in blood. This condition causes pale clamy skin and hair, darkened area around eyes, blood shot eyes, a sensitivity to the sun and an insatiable desire for sources of iron which the easiest to acquire and most common forms is blood (after all whose going to try and munch on a seem of iron or an iron nail). It is believed this condition was originally created by an Oni to harm the people of this world. This is believed due to some traits such as highly extended life spans, lack of aging and the sufferers sudden ability to use the Dark Arts without teaching, traits associated with Oni, are not something caused by normal diseases. Garlic has no effect on sufferers despite common myths and it is treatable, garlic is actually one of the ingredients to aid in its cure but it does not work on its own. Many for lack of a better term vampires develop mastery in spells of illusion to help blend in with the world and will take to feeding on the life energy as well as blood of others as this makes them stronger and more powerful. This condition is caught from people suffering the condition along with some types of creatures such as animals inflicted with this disease and carriers who can transmit it but are immune to it. Bears, deer, some forms of cat, some lizards, wolves and other canids and some types of bird are all capable of suffering the condition. I’ve even heard tales of beetles, wasps and even butterflies becoming infected and turning vampiric. An animal that can transmit it but is immune to it in the wastes is the Blood Warbler. While it is believed only organic life forms can be inflicted reports of constructs notably Robo-bills, Fabricants and hyenoids displaying a strange thirst for blood and a strange sudden acquisition of the use of dark arts has some questioning if they are susceptible however I think these accounts are from people messing with the entities programming either to terrorize people or as a joke and they are not capable of being inflicted with this condition. Sadly while often associating themselves with Ashers vampires are not affected by ice in the same way as their allies luckily though while powerful and hard to fight they can be fell by normal means and are especially vulnerable to sunlight and light magic’s. There are a few different strains of this condition which cause some differences in the vampire. Two highly notable but luckily rare forms are a strain where inflicted are not weakened nor hurt by sun or light and one that can allow the inflicted to turn into brutish gargoyle like monsters.
Sigmus Serpentus: Despite common belief this condition did not come from the Tcesi/Snake folk. Again this one is believed to be caused by the Oni and in cold regions can be deadly due to its major effect. It causes the sufferers body to shut down its normal heat production causing sufferers to turn cold blooded. Hair is lost and the skin begins to become scaly. While it is curable this condition takes time to cure and the more progressed the condition the longer it takes. Other notable symptoms include yellow eyes, skin irritation (due to the development of scales), loss of energy and appetite, hallucinations, chills and cold sensitivity. While only people can suffer from this condition some animals who are unaffected by the condition can be carriers. Skeevers, Venom-Fangs, Mire-lion, Hist Pythons, Kaguars and the Kappa are the main carriers in this region.
Tumorous Rot: This horrid condition causes painful bloated, blistered skin, tumors and skin deformities. It also causes disorientation, aggressive behaviour and dementia. Unless treated early this condition is fatal. Luckily it is rather rare and one can only catch it from someone who has it. It is also people exclusive. It is easily treated when caught early. Early symptoms include headaches, light sensitivity, dizziness, mood swings, paling skin and loss of hair. This condition is often likened to as the Zombie disease.
Sanies Lupinus: The origins of this condition are a little obscure however it is believed to have come from a great spirit known as Storabek, lord of the hunt. This condition turns the inflicted into a man beast. Were-wolves are most common but other beasts are known and more common in some areas. Were-bears, Were-hyenas, Were-gators, Were-tigers, Were-boars, Were-vultures and I've even heard of Were-parrots and Were-bison being known. What decides what form one takes when inflicted is not understood. What is known though is that not all suffer the condition in the same way. Some can control themselves and control the transformation while others at the opposite end of the spectrum cannot control the beast within having no control of transformations and being no more than mindless killing beasts. Inflicted have the urge to chase down smaller beings and feel a great urge to hunt, frequent restless sleep, heightened senses and of course the transformation into a half man half beast entity. It is said this condition is so powerful it even seeps into the spirit. While it primarily affects humans some robotic entities largely Robo-bills, hyenoids and other droids can be infected where when they transform they become half metal half organic versions of were-beasts. They experience the same urges and symptoms as organic beings but notably while they can learn to control the condition droids have a harder time controlling the condition than people and rarely can control the condition. While transformation into a man-beast does seem to have some influence from the moon it is not as reliant on it as many think. What triggers a transformation is not fully understood but emotions do seem to have some role, this could explain why droids have a tougher time with the condition than people as emotions are harder for them. Agitation, anger, fear, feeling threatened and the sight of potential 'prey' combined with the urge to hunt can all trigger a transformation at anytime of the day. Getting involved in a physical fight has also been known to trigger a transformation. Transformations generally last several hours till what seems to be the beast within gets tired or satiated by its hunts. Transformations can be prolonged by feeding upon prey. Of course those capable of controlling their transformation are not confined by these parameters. Curing this condition is possible but difficult. A few ways are possible often revolving around destroying the beast within. A few potions are known to cure the condition. The strangest and most dangerous cure method is to enter ones soul to destroy the monster that now resides and corrupts from within the being. This condition is spread through bites by an infected or from the infected blood. In both organic and inorganic entities if they die while still cursed their remains are still tainted by the condition and cannot be used in any way, unless someone wants an un-dead version of these things. The remains are best left buried to decay. Parts from droids infected with the condition should never be used as it will taint any other construct they are used in giving it the curse. While some consider this condition a blessing most see it as a curse.
Other much more mild but potential diseases of the wastes include Swamp fever which originating from the Swamps of Pestilence causes a high fever, excessive sweating and delirium. Rock Crabs some fish and insects can transmit this. Not necessarily fatal and generally clears up in about a week. Ataxia causes generalized pain, muscle stiffness, pale skin, lethargy and chills. Low fatality rate and commonly passed on from Skeevers, rodents and ticks.
The Blight
Said to be an ancient curse this horrid condition is tied to the Red Tower and the horrid denizens that make their home there the Ashers. All that is known of this condition are its symptoms, what it does to its victims and that it has no cure and is always fatal. It is caught by being bitten by the infected or scratched by infected plants. All forms of life can get it even robotic and spiritual denizens and they suffer from it in the same way as animals and people. Physical symptoms take a few to several days to show but mental symptoms can start occurring hours after infection. Its origins are unknown but are believed to be of Oni related and the Ashers are believed to have something to do with it. What is known is that this condition was rare through most of history though the eruptions of the Dragons Maw, also called the Red Tower caused its great rise in prevalence. It is known that the Ashers have a temple at the foot of the Red Tower and a portal to the underworld is also located here. The Red Tower has long been known as a dark spiritual place and tales have often linked it to Oni and other dark beings.
Sufferers of blight are easily identified by the unnatural reddish glowing markings resembling cracked lava that develop slowly spreading on and covering the forelimbs and hind limbs stretching to the bodies core. There are many symptoms to this condition both physical and mental. These include sore and stiff joints and muscles, skin irritation itching and burning, periods of disorientation and/or lack of balance or poor motor control, bouts of aggression paranoia and depression which start and end randomly often lasting only an hour or two, drowsiness and weakness, feeling of burning and overheating, loss of strength and/or endurance, fevers and chills, pains and tiredness in limbs, shortness of breath, temporary loss of memory which can be severe, fogged mind, night terrors and bad dreams which often lead to restless nights and insomnia, chest pains, an odd attraction to the Red Tower Volcano, mindless wandering as if in a trance often with obsessive stacking of furniture and objects into random formations; mumbling and speaking gibberish has also been observed, tingling in fingers/toes and around the wound that caused the infection, and periods of sensitivity to lights and sounds. A notable increase in appetite and constantly feeling tired are also found in sufferers but these are believed to be a result of the drain on ones energy caused by the trance with its wanderings and the restless sleeps on one’s body than an actual symptom. In later stages of the condition episodes of uncontrollable rage begin to occur. These rage episodes are a taste of the aggressive corrupted state that is to come during the Blights final stages.
The symptoms are the same among humans, animals, robotics and ghosts. Plants and fungi however are much harder to tell. Externally they will emit heat and feel warm. They may also start to develop red tipped foliage or tints to the bark. Internally their sap and wood will be tinted a faint red color. Eventually the plant or fungi will wither and die. The final stages of the Blight are indicated by red glowing markings around the eyes and the eyes turning to a glowing red followed soon by a total and permanent loss of memory and control over self. Victims then enter a permanent state of aggression and attempt to attack and bite anything they come across. Death is not too far off after this step. Death is caused by the condition essentially (in the simplest terms) frying the brain. There is no known cure for any being and eventually it's fatal to all forms of life. While historically one has to be bitten by an infected there are reports that some who get caught in ash storms or scratched by certain plants such as Truama Root are starting to get infected! There are even reports far from the wastes of those getting infected seemingly by nothing.
For those unfortunate to catch the condition there are some forms of relief that seem to work on rather equally on all forms of life. Water can alleviate some of the physical symptoms and if the water is cold it can help alleviate burning feelings. Putting the infected in cold environments like a freezer has also been noted to help particularly against episodes of rage. Special potions can alleviate some symptoms early on but as the Blight continues the potion stops working and very little can be done to alleviate symptoms. Heavy duty sleeping potions can help sufferers get a decent sleep but these do not always work. As the condition progresses symptoms become harder to combat and many methods that once combated the side effects start to no longer work. By the time the final stages start to appear none of these methods will work anymore.
Venoms of the Wastes
There are plenty of creatures in the wastes which use venoms for both attacks and defence. Many of these venoms cause hallucinations likely since most are a form of neuro toxin. While the venom of the Parrot Cruncher is not lethal it is rather debilitating and can take several hours to recover from. Similarly the venom of the Kappa while debilitating is not lethal. At the other end of the spectrum the venoms of both Venom-Fangs and Racers are lethal. Without an anti-venom you will die within a few hours. Of course even once an anti-venom is administered while you will not die the hallucinations and other side effects will persist for hours after wards. Luckily most pharmacies, alchemists and outfitters in and around the wastes sell anti-venom shots, these work just like epi-pens for allergies. Travellers to the wastes should carry several of these shots. Most folk who live in these regions carry some on themselves at all times. Anti-venom shots do not work on robotics however while they can be affected by the venoms suffering the same to similar symptoms they will not be killed by them. The venoms of the Venom-Fang and Racer are unique in being some of the few venoms Ash Walkers and their kin are not immune to and can be killed by. Venom-fang venom is lethal and requires an anti-venom shot to save ones life. Without it inflicted will die within 12 hours. The shot however will not prevent you from suffering symptoms however which includes numbness to the body and mind along with hallucinations. These will last for 12 hours. Venom-fang fabricants have the same venom as their full organic counterparts so the anti-venom shot will work for them. With a similar time frame and lethality to Venom-fang venom is the venom from Racers. Their venom causes hallucinations, a burning sensation and fevers and if an anti-venom shot is not taken eventually coma and death. Fabricant versions of these are rare but luckily are not venomous as the tail tip which injects the venom has been converted into a bladed weapon in fabricants. Parrot-crunchers do not have a lethal venom however its symptoms are rather unpleasant consisting of a loss of balance, stiffened joints, lethargy and blurred vision with partial paralysis and numbness to regions where the venom enters the body. These persist for around 9 hours. A shot is available to help reduce the length and severity of the symptoms. Kappa venom is also not lethal causing mainly a freezing feeling, numbness and temporary paralysis to the part or half of body stung by the creature. Symptoms last around four hours but like the Parrot-cruncher can be shortened by a shot. Retch are not venomous but a jelly in their bodies is poisonous and will paralyze any who ingest it. This will last for around 3 hours.
Other notable regions of the Lost Realm
The Ash Wastes is not the only interesting and exotic region of our world. Some I have already created guides for others I am in the process or will eventually get to writing.
Blackwoods: Also called the Blackwood Labyrinth this forest which borders the Ash Wastes is dense, dark, hard to navigate and holds many mysteries. Few who enter ever find their way out again and many who do have been driven insane. Ashers are known to inhabit regions of the forest close to the Ash Wastes. Many entities, even the plants, of this region are known to be quite hostile and dangerous with them getting more dangerous the deeper one travels in the forests. Ancient ruins are rumoured to be hidden in the forest.
Great Lake of Lost Souls: This large inland freshwater sea is known for its highly treacherous waters which have claimed many shipwrecks and disappearances through the eras which has lead to its grim name. Its south-eastern most shores stretch into the Ashlands. Freshwater sea serpents, sea dragons and other monsters are rumoured to live in its depths along with freshwater corals and sharks. A highly prized oil for cybernetic beings known as Scimitar oil is made from a plentiful algae that grows in the lake.
Glacial Woods: this is a cold wooded region in the north dominated by Birch and Frostbite Cedars. These snow coated woods were said to hold many ancient secrets frozen in their little explored depths. Located in the north this region is a cold wooded area bordered by the Glacial Wastes in the uplands to the east and the Windswept Moors to the north. These woods were home to the last Scimitar Folk who created the original and first hyenoid who now serves the Dragon Guard as the Dragon of Ice. Seeing as Dragons of Ice long were members of the Scimitar folk it is only fitting that one of their creations come to hold that mantle after the races demise. With the Scimitar race dead who will hold the title of Dragon of Ice next if or when the current dragon falls is unknown. A variety of beasts both typical and monstrous are said to inhabit these woods. The more recognisable and less feared inhabitants include various deer and runners, Timber Wolves, Timber Hyenas, Timber Mammoths, Birchen Tree-bills, Prizzly and Black Bears, Ice Cougars, Wrothgrian Rams and others.
Bog of Pestilence: is a low lying dark swamp forest region filled with acidic, poisonous and diseased waters. The Bogs of Pestilence is a very harsh and rather un-pleasant region for normal folks. Many hardy plants coat the muddy isles and many of the wildlife, most of which is reptilian and insectoid, have developed strange biology's and morphologies to cope with these waters. A tribe of serpent folk and their ruins can be found here. Many creatures from these lands are rather unpleasant and often labelled monstrous. These include the large mosquito Kotovas, Mire-lions, Acid-spitter Tree-bills, Broil Beetles, Bog-boars which despite the name are actually a type of crocodile, Wamasu, Kwaliit and others.
Ice Reach: a lost continent at the north pole of the planet few had ever set foot there or returned from it. This is one location I probably would never visit despite having an interest in it. Lost long ago it is said the continent has become lost to time and ice. It is said to be a frozen wasteland where for reasons unknown time has broken and works in mysterious and unnatural ways. The weather is often brutally cold and harsh. Entities that die there often rise as semi frozen reanimated corpses the reasons for which are unknown but believed to be a result of the time break.
Forgotten Forest: this is a largely unexplored and very treacherous forest. The regions many patches of forests, clearings, lakes and waterways are said to hide many secrets and have claimed many adventurers and explorers. It is believed this place is the ancestral spawning grounds for the group of animals we call Repto-birds such as the Racers, Runners, Venom-fangs, Walkers and their kin.
As Treehorns from Ninjago make an appearance in my story I made creature bio for it and gave it a more detailed and updated design:
Along with this sort of guide here are some added works for in the story. I'm putting them here for a quick reference if anyone needs it:
First is the attire of characters: The wastes is a harsh place that requires some precautions in order to stay safe so one of their allies in this new realm, a character named Hassiri, gets them outfits to help protect them from the hazards of the wastes. The attire is designed to match their fighting styles with the ninja having more lightweight gears made of fabric gi's with leather additions for protection while the knights boast more heavy duty metal, mail and leather attires. For both there are special apparatuses in their masks to help protect their breathing from the ash and toxic gasses found in the volcanic plagued lands they have found themselves in.
Along with this gear both groups at times mainly while wandering around the town they find themselves in adorn themselves in attire like that of the average person. They do this as many in this place are not very trusting of them and some are even fearful of or hate them so when not training or on a mission in hopes it will make the local people more accepting and trusting of them they go about dressed as commoners to fit in. Each of them chose a design they felt comfortable with following the traditional modern mix style used in the region.
For fun I also made some designs of bed attire for the two groups:
During the second half of the story to give their technology bound mentor some more freedom to help them in the realm the Knights upload Merlok into a refabricated Robo-bill creating Robo-bill Merlok.
During the story they meet up with some unique members of the Stags forces. These are all high ranking members of the Stags forces each boasting there own unique appearance.
Civayth, DJ and Juib are more along the lines of the typical commoner style droids in service to the Stag. Kozac is the leader to the Stags militant forces, the Scimitar Samurai. Apart from the designs to his body under his attire Kozac wears the same attire as all others of the Stags army which dress like this:
The armour of the Scimitar Samurai was designed to inspire fear in those who see it and make the individuals wearing it seem otherworldly.
A small example of potential outfits, hair styles and colors and adornments for the Stags hyenoids:
There is another member of the Nexo Knights who doesn't make an appearance till the second half of the story. Jestro ends up getting caught by the Ashers before later being rescued by the knights. The Ashers dress him to match them then when rescued the knights give him some minor armour so he can assist them. Towards the later part of the story he gets tainted by the Stags energy which changes some aspects of his attire.
Speaking of the Stag when the Stag possesses someone or inflicts them with his hold individuals have their bodies blacken and develop glowing aquamarine lightening like cracking over their entire body with their eyes developing a black almost hollow like appearance with a highly evident aquamarine iridescence. A similar affliction affects any attire the individual wears or weapons they wield (even if that weapon is something like a rake or fork) turning it black with the same color and style glowing markings.
The land they find themselves in has people but these people are of a beast folk variety boasting a few features of particular beasts.
Within the Realm they have found themselves their are two prominent organizations who normally protect the realm however they have fallen to darkness. This is some of the gear these protectors have:
On occasion individuals caught by an enemy are dressed in ragged robes:
One of those they meet named Tafari wears a unique armour worn by guards in these lands made from cloth and bits from Insect shells:
At one point the ninja are gifted a special weapon known as the Red Diamond Shurikan. This item is also known as Astaras Star and Whetus Star. Plus some other items that feature in the story.
What Jay has to say about some things in Balmora:
Food: Sure they have normal foods here but they also have some strange and down right gross ones too!
Okay: I'm fine with having these; their safe, not too strange and don't have weird effects though I don't feel safe having them if they were grown in the cursed ash of this place!
Melon Berries- they look like grape sized watermelons and taste like them.
Lava Rind Apples- said to have a sweet yet smoky hinted flavour; yha that's cause they come from these volcanically burnt lands! Despite that they're actually good. If I have to I'll have them but I prefer a safer variety.
Luckily bananas aren't usually grown locally cause it's too cold so these are safe to eat: Java Sky Banana have a sweet vanilla hinted flavour. Lava Banana are like normal bananas but red in color and a bit sweeter.
Ash Yam- I think it's a sweat potato or maybe a normal potato varient. Tastes good but I'm wary of anything developed to grow in these cursed ashy lands.
Glacial Peaches- a cold tolerant peach. They're not really different from normal peaches but I don't want them if they were grown in these Ash Wastes. Who knows what darkness they could have picked up.
Pomer-pods- pomegranate like fruit in a citrus like skin. They're good but I prefer the ones from back home or not grown locally. They say the ash makes them smokier in taste I think it makes them cursed.
Ice Melon- we have these in Ninjago too. They're okay. They're like a vanilla hinted flavoured watermelon.
Questionable:
Shadow-melon- said to have a crispier more sweet pumpkin like flavour. With its name I'm not too interested in risking trying it.
Moon-melon- a melon with a hint of a citrus flavour and yellow insides. It gets its name from it's outsides which looks like a moon.
Lava Melon- said to have a sweater flavour than normal melons but I'm a little hesitant to try. Its name comes from its colors and not from being grown in anything related to volcanoes but I still feel uneasy about it.
Speckled Tomato- I know its just a color morph to a tomato but I feel uneasy with it.
Blood-root carrot- it's just a dark red tinted coloured variant but with the name I'm hesitant to try besides carrots are orange not black and red. According to Zane their original colour was purple; I don't care what they used to be most modern carrots are orange so carrots should be orange!
NO! No matter what I am not touching these!
Lunar Grapes- sweet flavoured grape that gives off an icy blue glow; no thanks! I'm not eating anything that glows especially when it comes from this place! These ones can make your insides glow! As if seeing that it made Coles abdomen glow after he had some wasn't unerving enough do you know how startling it is when you open up a droid and find their insides glowing because they ate some of these!
Solar Berries- despite their name their actually a type of grape related to Lunar Grapes. Again glowing food no thank you.
Shroom Peppers- a pepper looking fruit from a mushroom that is said to taste like a mix between a grape with the texture of a peach. I might have tried it if it wasn't glowing!
Alocasia Fruit- comes from a place called the Isles of Insanity which is also nicknamed the Sheogorad Archipelago so I think I'll pass on these.
Yes those are grubs on a stick! No thanks!
The burger looks tasty doesn't it? Don't trust it! It's made of BUGS! They use bugs and meats from these bird like lizards here; Zane says the bird lizards are closer to birds than lizards but I don't care their reptiles therefore they're lizards! Anyway they make meat things out of bugs! They fry them, bake them, grill them, even eat them raw and even make ground meat made from ground up bugs like grasshoppers, beetles, grubs and even spiders! SPIDERS!
Balmora Blue- its a local signature special that's like a mix between an energy drink and a milkshake. It's made from milk usually Kaguar, ice cream and powdered Buttercake shrooms with extracts from Lunar Pods, Brightwood Cypress fungal symbiotes and Lunar reeds and often flavoured with either vanilla, chocolate or various fruit flavours; there are even meat and fish flavours! That's gross! It glows and leaves weird glowing markings on your body for a few hours. They sell it in 750ml bottles that have a decorative scale pattern to them and boast one of those scary Racer bird creatures on it. I don't care how fancy you make it look I'm not trying it! Everyone else has tried it but I'm not going to! I can't believe Cole drank two whole bottles the one time! He got all hyper for hours, kept bouncing between training helping with work in the Scholars center where we're staying and playing video games, he got super talkative and the munchies. When he crashed he passed out in a planter in the Under-city after trying to get more in tune with his elemental powers by digging in and trying to meditate in the dirt. Some of the guards dragged him back to the scholars center and left him to sleep in a planter there. We just left him to sleep there all sweaty and covered in mud. He hasn't had more than a cup at a time since. Just out of curiosity some of the others wanted to see how much they could handle. Nya was smart like most of those knights and didn't do this. That knight Aaron could only handle a bottle and a half before it was too much making him sick and anxious and the knight Axl could do two. Kai started but chickened out when he started to glow (he didn't like how it messed with his looks), Lloyd had two bottles but got sick from it and Zane managed two bottles and it started to affect him like Cole but the energy surge caused by the stuff was too much for him and overstimulated most of his systems causing him to short circuit and get knocked out for several hours. None of them are doing that again... not even that knight Aaron; that one surprised me.
Random things:
Chew Toys- It's common for them to have chew toys meant for people here. They come in a wide variety of shapes and colors. It supposedly helps with fidgeting and focus plus helps clean their teeth and pacify them a bit like when their hangry; some even have holes in them that you can stick things like pudding in that will leak out when chewed on so you can get a snack too. I wonder if these would chill Coles mood when he's hangry; it surprisingly worked to relax and distract Zane when he was a bit anxious when in the town. The people here don't like or trust droids and are quite mean to him which makes him anxious. One of the scholars told us if we coated and filled one with an oil it could calm droids. We tried it using this Scimitar oil and it worked though Zane felt weird about it and I'm pretty sure he thought and was not too happy that we were treating him like a dog. Now we just need to test them on Cole when he's hungry maybe use some icing or blended cake for him.
Enviro-globes- These are cool, they have these little terrariums that can serve as center pieces on tables or as decorations for your rooms. They often have miniaturized plants and fungi from a region in the realm or even rarely other realms forming a little scene in them. There are even underwater ones with water plants and kelp in them. Some put little live creatures like roly-poly bugs or small fish for the aquatic ones in them. Some though are cooler having special tech built into them that creates mini hologram versions of bigger creatures usually found in the place the plants come from to inhabit and move around in the dome. They have controls in the base for these holograms and all forms have air vents in the top piece. These are real cool and sometimes calming to watch. It really works on Zane; watching the little holographic creatures really calms him. It also keeps him distracted when he starts to get anxious too many of the towns folk being around him.
Perfumes and scented products- sure a good deal of them have the usual smells but they also have strange other smells like from some of the weird plants here, mimics of animal musks and even catnip. Apparently some of the cat folk are intrigued by the smell of catnip and find it comforting so they made a perfume out of it. Kai found out the hard way that you should only use a little of this. He used a bunch thinking it would improve the cat folks moods to him. I don't think it worked but he was popular with the local cat populations.
Droid musk repellent- it's apparently a deterrent to keep droids from attacking you; they say they either don't like the smell driving them away or it makes them think you're one of them so they'll leave you alone. It seems to work cause Zane doesn't like it and tries to steer clear of anyone using it; he says the smell of the stuff unsettles him. This stuff could be useful to keep away this demon deers robo-drone minions but they say the stuff is made from some internal substance from droids. They refuse to explain what substances they use and from working on Zane I could think of some possibilities of what the stuff used is and ew... I think with those possibilities I'll be steering clear of this stuff. I could also see why it unsettles Zane; harvesting the stuff was probably very uncomfortable and too personal for the droids used to make the stuff.
Anti-venom shots- These come as this reusable injector which has a port in the side to insert the tube of anti-venom formula. Despite what the others think I think it's a good idea to have these with us. Haven't they heard how bad some of the venoms here are? They can do nasty things to you and with some if you don't have these you could die and quickly! I carry one for myself and one for Nya all the time. I would carry one for the others but they think I'm being too paranoid with these so I don't. Not to mention even those these venoms can hurt him anti-venom shots don't work for Zane. Some do affect him and he at least can't die from them but he has to suffer through the effects till the venom wears off. As long as he doesn't turn aggressive from the venoms or become dangerous we should be safe. If any of us were to snap I think Zane would be the most dangerous and scary. Speaking of being safe we all got vaccines for the diseases here just to be safe; we even in a sense vaccinated Zane. We updated all his virus software to protect him from the various viruses he could get here; last thing we need is him getting something like Robot Rabies and turning on us. Unfortunately none of the precautious we can take will keep him from potentially becoming a puppet for a demon and turned into a monster by it.
Soaps- The most common and popular soap brand here is Ash be-gone. It's made here and used to combat the smells and effects of the ash of this place. They have cleaners for everything. Skin, hair, clothes, floors you name it. The soaps come in different forms for different uses like bars for skin, liquid for body washes, shampoos, floor cleaners and the like and even a few powder types like carpet deodorizers and cleaning enhancers in your laundry. I think they work; it's hard to tell really as the ash seems to still leave us with effects but it does help with the smell. They come in a bunch of nice smells which is good cause the ash smells and not to be rude to the beast folk but they sometimes have a strong animal smell like a cat or dog especially when wet... I think it's the fur. This stuff at least does help keep them from smelling too bad when they have a shower or bath.
One nice thing here is these beast folk really know how to make things comfy. They enjoy soft puffy pillows and cushions. I guess for cat people that makes sense... that's not racist is it? I don't mean to be mean; they are cat people and everyone loves cats and knows they like comfy spots. That aside you just have to watch out for the hair if you use any of the cushions, pillows or blankets; the beast folk shed quite a bit.
The beast folk say they just have traits that give them animal looks and it doesn't spill over to their behaviours but they have these box cushions that are a bit like boxes and we all know how cats love boxes; apparently hyenas love them too. I do have to agree with them these box cushions are very comfy and it feels safe to be in them... I've fallen asleep in them a few times.
They tend to have plenty of cushions, pillows and even blankets decorating the place. They're not simply for decoration; the beast folk love sitting or lying on them. Speaking of cushions and pillows... I know he did it; I don't know how I'm going to prove it but I know it was that knight Aaron who put a bunch of bugs in my pillow the night! How could someone ruin something as comfortable and relaxing as pillows like that?! Do you know how unnerving it is to feel bugs squirming under your head or crawling out onto you as you try to sleep!
Kelp Motor Oil- A motor oil made from a type of kelp. Zane really loves the taste of this stuff. We try to keep him from having too much but this stuff for him is like cake to Cole. He really likes it. They also make a cooking oil version of this stuff. We have this stuff back home too.
Scymer Motor Oil- A unique motor oil made from a special algea. It's meant largely for droids. Its container has Scimitar folk designs on it and a clear stone window in the shape of a scimitar cat head showing off the contents. Zane likes this motor oil just like the kelp oils.
Books: They have some interesting books here. These are a few notable ones I've found.
Keikiary's beastiary to the Ash Wastes: we were given this book to help understand and keep safe in the local environment here. They say its a guide book but it's more like a horror book with all the monstrous creatures and environment things found here and the the things it show's and describes. Normal nature can be scary enough things here make nature scarier!
Droids how to care for them and prevent them from taking over the world: it's a care guide for robotic entities like the hyenoids found here. I'm not sure if it's an actual guide or for comedy. They do get quite a bit right about droids but there is a great deal of inaccuracies and a lot of what's in it is very mean and cruel to droids. Considering how they treat droids here I wouldn't be surprised if it's a serious book. Zane really doesn't like this book and I'd have to agree with him. Droids at least those like Zane aren't monsters.
Staying Sane in the Ash Wastes: the others like to joke about me getting this book but they won't be laughing when they're loosing their minds from this place and I'm still sane.
Travelers Guide to Balmora: as it says a guide to Balmora the town we're in. It goes over things to see, history, places to stay, things to do here, local attractions and dining places and regional culture, laws and cuisine. It's been helpful at keeping out of trouble with the law here and finding places where i can get food that isn't made of bugs!
The Destinys Bounty during these events:
For their travel through the wastes the ninja and knights are given a unique vehicle known as the Ash Strider:
Sketch of a bedroom on the Ash Strider:
During the first part of the story a place known as the Scholars Center in the city becomes both groups sort of home base for the time and is where they stay in this foreign realm:
The necromancers and Ashers often enlist the aid of un-dead versions of Racers which they make themselves and are used for aerial surveillance and scouting.
The Stag has some unique cybernetic infused creatures on his side. These include an Ash Walker, a Birch Runner and Kaguar:
The Robotic Raven:
The Stag: The Cobra Chicken:
Some extra bits on creatures in the story:
A Robotic Hoofivore:
The Robotic Dragon of Scimitar Folk make:
Some random works related to the story but not very important:
A strange little mammal the Sharmat can still be witnessed in sheltered wooded areas of the wastes where the volcanic activity has not caused too much destruction to the environment. A primitive looking hoofed animal this little creature is no bigger than a medium sized dog. Interestingly for a hoofed animal this creature still has canine teeth and incisors on both the top and bottom jaws. The feet resemble those of a tapir. The crown of five skin covered horns on their head are simply there for display. Sharmat are sociable creatures forming small herds in the wooded areas where they prefer to live. They prefer wooded areas or other areas where there are plenty areas for them to hide such as behind, between or under rocks or in tall dense foliage as their homes. This is so they can more easily hide from predators as they have few other defences. They can run and can nip with their fangs but they prefer to hide from danger. They are agile creatures and good jumpers able to jump over twice their height in a single bound. They are rather shy and alert creatures. Though they mainly eat plant matter largely leaves, berries, fruits, nuts and seeds they also eat insects and smaller vertebrates, mainly rodents. They have been noted in having powers in the element of shadow and light which they use to try and better hide from predators. Both the male and female care for the young which averages a litter of four to six. Young stay with their parents for two years before searching for a mate of their own. Some believe they might be related to the Hoofivore while others believe they are more closely related to the hoofed animals. Genetic studies have proven inconclusive so far so more research is needed.
Some extra varieties of creature featured:
Notes:
When creating the world I wanted it to have a feel of reality while also being a fantasy world that feels alien yet intriguing. While a great deal of inspiration came from the Elder Scrolls universe such as the Ashlands, Isle of Vvardenfell and Blackreach there are plenty of inspirations from the real world as well including both Prehistoric and modern. A modern setting that gave inspiration included the Algonquin Highlands, Escarpment and northern coastal regions of Ontario Canada. For Prehistoric the Yixian formation of northeastern China was of inspiration. This location around 120 million years ago was a highly active volcanic region in a cold temperate area.
Many creatures take inspiration from various prehistoric creatures. Many of the displaced mammals are based off mammals from the last ice age such as the Stag-moose, Homotherium, Mastodon, Hagermans Horse and Cave Hyena. The Fear for example is inspired by Ninjagos Grundle, the Elder Scrolls Clannfear and Jurassic Worlds Indominus Rex. The Venom-fang is inspired by the Elder Scrolls Clannfear and Jurassic Parks Velociraptors. It also takes some inspiration from Sinornithosaurus. Some believe Sinornithosaurus was venomous; I like to think it was. The Hoofivore is inspired by an extinct group of mammals known as creodonts with hoofed toes like the extinct Mesonychid mammals. It is supposed to resemble a cross between a hyena, big cat and ungulate such as the Okapi which gives it the shapes of its ears and horns.The Ash Walker is inspired by Edmontosaurus and the Kwalit is inspired by Tenontosaurus and the armoured stegosaurid and nodosaurs dinosaurs. The Runner creatures like the Birch Runner are inspired by Leaellynasaura, Kulindadromeus, Heterodontosaurus and the other small bipedal dinosaurs known as Ornithopods. The Kappa is based off Castorocauda, an early mammal from the Jurassic of China. The Kaguar is based off the synapsid (a group of reptile like mammal ancestors) Placerias with some added features from ceratopsian dinosaurs like pachyrhinosaurus. The Mire-lion takes some inspiration from the design for the prehistoric croc Kaprosuchus featured in the BBCs series Primeval. The racers of course take inspiration from pterosaurs. The Morinosei is inspired by the Therazinosaur dinosaurs. The Ekhindahog combines features of the synapsid Diictodon along with hedgehogs, the platypus and echidna. Not only are oversized insects an aspect of fantasy but in the prehistoric past they were quite common. At one time there were millipedes (look up arthropleura) longer than cars and dragonflies as big as eagles just as examples. The Parrot Cruncher takes reference from Psittacosaurus and Protoceratops along with the modern porcupine. The Sharmat is based off early hoofed mammals from the Eocene period such as Eohippus, Propalotherium and the likes. The creature called Scleroboa is based off the Triassic reptile Sleromocholus and its name combines this name with the jerboa. Kaiju are inspired by an extinct group related to horses known as chalicotheres, Slothdillo is inspired by ground sloths and Murtle are inspired by gloptodonts.
Treebills are creature of my own make that combines the hadrosaur dinosaurs with a primate like body. Ancestor Wing are also a creature of my design which came from a dream I once had. They combine aspects of Anuragnathid pterosaurs, nightjars and moths. Vesparellions and Serpent-flies are also creatures of my design.
The Ash Crawler was inspired by the Skull Crawlers from Kong: Skull Island. I’m a big Godzilla fan and I loved the design of the Skull Crawlers. The Scymers robotic dragons design is inspired by Mecha-King Ghidorah.
The Blight is inspired by the Blight in Morrowind which threatens Morrowind during the game and plays a role in the main story line. In Morrowind the antagonist Dagoth Ur is spreading the Blight to wipe out those who do not follow him and turn his followers into monstrous beings of great power. Some of the traits in the stories Blight are based off traits from Lyme disease and Rabies.
Some creatures are inspired by those from the Elder Scrolls. Of course the Racers are my version of the infamous Cliffracers from the Elder Scrolls series, a bain to anyone who has played Morrowind, and Skeevers come from the creatures of the same name. The Retch is based off the Elder Scrolls Netch and Swamp Jellies. The Hunger is inspired by the daedric creature by the same name from the Elder Scrolls same with the Shambles. Daedcrocs are based off Daedroths, Dreadconda are based of Harvesters and the Noctern Crows are inspired by the Wraith of Crows from the Elder Scrolls (I like them fleshier and less bony, they look cooler that way). Many of the robotic beings are inspired by the dwemer constructs and creatures of the Clockwork City.
If have any questions go ahead and ask I do not bite. I will try to answer them, I will however not give away spoilers.
Chapter 10: Figure of the Dark
Summary:
Finally the actual start of the story where the darkness begins to rise.
Notes:
Pictures relating to story can be found here: https://www.deviantart.com/nerdy-hyena/gallery/72478681/story-project
They are really good and help to visually flush out several aspects of the story including environments, characters, outfits, locations, creatures and other aspects often important ones in the story. All images I post in my work can be found there if you want a better look at them. Defiantly make sure to check them out.Also if you need a refresher on creatures, flora or aspects of the environment you can check out the second chapter in this work titled 'Keikiarys Guide to the Ash Wastes'. It includes short descriptions and pictures of these things.
Parts of this section are subject to change as the prequel story is written to improve story continuity.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
The cave was dark and damp. Hidden somewhere within was an ancient temple once used for dark purposes. Trying to remain undetected in the dark, six masked figures moved in the dark to meet two guards in a mix of steel knights armour and monks robes who stood with flashlights overlooking an old torn map of the cave and ruins.
“A few more feet down this tunnel and we should be coming to the cavern where the temple resides… Who’s there?...Oh it’s just you finally we can get this over with,” the one guard stated when he saw the figures. The group moved slowly through the tunnel till they came into a large cavern. To remain hidden they slid behind a pile of boulders by the entrance. An old temple that sat covered in fungi, some of which were glowing, grasses and small plants and roots from the land above filled most of the cavern. A few sizable holes in the caverns ceiling let enough of the late evening light into the cavern to make out what was there and going on. Figures in dark robes, some hooded, and wearing masks of animal bones were wandering around as if waiting or looking for someone. They were armed with katanas, maces and one even had a spiked wooden club. The temple and the major paths around it were lit by red glowing paper lanterns which bore what looked to be the face of an Oni on it.
“Do you think they’re waiting for us?” the one masked figure asked with a feminine voice.
“I think they might be looking for us we need a way to get past them and get inside without being seen. We have to stop the leader, the others the police will deal with,” the leader of the group who was dressed in green stated.
“Why don’t we just take them all out,” blurted out the one in red to which the one in blue quickly responded, “sure and why don’t we just yell out that we’re here so they can come and get us and start their ritual to bring back an unholy monster?” While the one guard scolded them for being too loud the green one looked at a darker figure and another one in a lighter color whose eyes bore a glowing icy blue color for ideas, these two were more level headed than the others.
“If you’re not afraid to get wet we could try and sneak around through that lake and find a way in over there,” the dark one noted pointing to a large subterranean lake which was unguarded and unlit that ran up to the base of temple. The lake had two arms. One, which split the cavern in half forcing the temple to have a bridge in the front of it in order to access it and another branch which bordered the one side of the cave running along the base of the temple on its one side and came close to where they were huddled.
“If I am not mistaken this temple was built with secret passages to allow its denizens to secretly escape when authorities came by. One of them is accessed by that lake, a sewer grate in its foundation I believe,” the blue eyed one chimed in, his voice being slightly metallic sounding. They all agreed to take this route but due to their metal armour the two guards felt they could not follow and opted to keep watch, not to mention they were fearful of entering this building and facing the horrid denizens within. While the guards stayed behind the six others got in the water and made their way to a grate in the temples foundation, making sure they weren’t seen or heard as they snuck. The grate took little effort to remove, the bars and fastenings had rusted away and it sat in a slimy mass of algae making it move with ease. They were careful as the dark one and the one in red slowly moved it so they would not make any sound as they lay it down in the water. Behind the grate a dark stone tunnel led into the building. The ones in green and red used their magical powers to create a light source with one of their hands to aid them as they made their way through the tunnel and up a small stair case to what seemed like a dead end. The place was a little cramped with them all in it.
“Look around there is likely a switch or button around here to open a secret door,” the green one stated as they all began feeling along the walls, floors and ceilings for something to open a possible hidden door.
“Please no spiders, please no spiders,” the one in blue fearfully muttered as he searched to which the blue eyed one responded, “you know there could be worse things than spiders in here.”
“Thanks for that thought now spiders are the least of my worries,” the dark one uttered as the leader noticed an old candle sconce on the wall the only one in the hall. It was rusted and half of it had broken off but the base and part of its arm still remained. He pulled it down and the wall at the end of the tunnel opened into what appeared to be the stone basement of the temple. A few candelabras offered a little light, not a lot but enough to make out basic shapes, allowing them to see a bunch of bones and bits of metal strewn about with some crates and barrels some of which were broken piled around. At the far end a stair case went up a few steps before turning to the left to continue up behind a wall. A dim light shone down from the stair case and a few muffled voices could be heard emanating from upstairs.
“Alright try not to step on anything and let’s see if we can find out what is going on up there,” the leader stated as the green and red one abandoned the light they were making as everyone started to pick their way around the dimly lit room headed for the stairs careful not to step on or bump the debris on the floor. They did not want their presence to be known. When they were about half way through the room the entrance to the secret passage behind them closed and the one in blue expressed fear starting to show in his voice, “maybe that’s supposed to happen?”
“Something just moved,” the girl stated noticing a slight movement out of the corner of her eye.
“We’re in a dark bone filled basement in evil headquarters don’t say that,” the blue one babbled getting clearly more unnerved.
“I think I saw it too,” the dark one stated as the one with icy eyes began to sense that something not quite living was in the same room as them. As if triggered by their presence the bones and metal bits began to conglomerate into a bizarre human like shape with a deer shaped head, though it was not made with a skull instead with other bits of bone, severed mummified arms and metal, and one hand bore a sharpened piece of bone in the shape of a knife instead of a hand while the other bore three clawed digits. The hands and wrists were immobile leaving only the elbows and shoulder of their arms as moveable. The six prepared to draw their weapons in preparation for a fight as the creatures closed in but before anyone could move a small metal object bounced down the stairs giving off a few beeps before exploding with a bright ball of light blinding them and causing a ringing in their ears. As they tried to recover dark robed figures like those outside rushed in to grab them and drag them up the stairs. As their vision went back to normal and the ringing stopped they found themselves caught by the robbed figures and dragged into a large room with a large strange circular altar in the middle. In the centre of the alter sat a shallow pit filled with strange ashes that bore a strange violet glow, a lock of white hair, a strange ebony amulet with the shape of a demonic looking skull and a jade dagger.
“Ah you finally have decided to join us. We’ve been waiting for you?” stated one of the figures who loomed behind the altar wearing a large deers skull which was painted with snake like symbols.
“No matter what we will stop you,” the one in red proclaimed as some more folk entered the room dragging the two guards from earlier with them.
“Now that you are all here it is time we begin,” the figure stated walking towards them as the six tried to break free from their captors who cuffed each of them with cuffs that seemed to hinder their elemental powers preventing their escape. The robed leader grabbed the dark one first dragging him to the alter and placing his hand on it saying as he did so, “from the bones of the earth…” he then grabbed the light one with icy eyes as the dark one tried to pull away from the alter but it was as if his hand was now fused to it.
“I can’t break free!” the dark one exclaimed beginning to panic as the figure placed the light ones hand to the altar.
“…as cold as the grave…” the figure continued moving on to grab the girl as the light one tried in a panic to pull away as well and put her hand on the alter saying, “…as fluid as water..”
“…a fire within…”he proclaimed putting the red one on the altar then with the blue he proclaimed, “…gives the spark…” By now they had stopped fighting realising it was useless to try and fight back, they just watched in defeat. The figure approached the one in green last and said as he placed the green ones hand on the altar, “of energy and life.” With their hands still attached to the alter they watched in defeat as the robed figure continued his ritual speaking some words in a dark ancient language. The centre of the altar began to glow and it seemed to be drawing energy, painfully, from each of them.
“The one once banished beyond existence hear my voice and return to this plane,” the figure called out as a black rolling mist that hugged the floor seemed to begin entering the room where it seeped from the walls and out of the alter. An unnatural breeze began to blow through the building sending shivers down the masked figures spines, “bring forth your unholy bones, your corpsen hands, your void essence and your breath of darkness. Come spread your graven gift upon this realm and all those you touch for you are now free from your prison.” A deep unnatural and dark laughter began to emanate in the room as a portal seemed to open above the alter causing the lights to flicker out leaving a dark moon light coming from the portal and the wind to pick up fiercely. A sudden explosion of blinding energy burst from the alter with a terrifying screaming noise sending the six whose hands were stuck to it free and flying away from it as the alter burst into an unnatural blackish flame. The six had failed their mission and doomed their world, possibly all of existence with a horror worse than death. All the six could do was sit there, wrapped in feelings of guilt, failure and horror, and watch nearly in tears as the ceremony continued.
“Yes come your reign has begun, our patron and rightful ruler,” the figure finished before saying some things in a language none of them could understand the same dark language he had spoken before. As the figure spoke the black flames burst into a dark purple from the altar then slowly began to die and the smoke of the flames began to take the form of a half decayed figure which resembled an oni. As the figure gained its full physical form, awed by the spectacle the figures holding the guards let them go. The guards had feared the others would fail so had brought a contingency plan to only be used only as a last resort. As the figure was finally formed and began to address his followers they decided to put their plan in action, it was all they had left. The one pulled out a beautiful scroll made from some other worldly material even though it looked like paper and wood and the two began to slowly and quietly read the words that seemed to manifest on its surface just for them.
“Ah it feels good to feel the earth beneath my feet and air around me. How long has it been since my banishment?” the un-dead figure asked as the fire he came from died and things began to settle down.
“Too long my lord,” the head of the robed figures stated bowing, “we have been eagerly awaiting your return.” Some of the others began to notice a hurried chant slowly getting louder in the one corner of the room. The masked figures looked to the guards trying to figure out what they were doing. It was when they noticed what the two were doing and what they had that they realised things were far worse than what they had originally thought.
“What are you doing?!” the one in blue exclaimed as the leader yelled out, “stop you don’t know what you’re doing!” At this point the robed figures saw it too and the leader yelled out, “stop those two.” By the time the robed figures grabbed the guards they had finished their chant and the scroll came alive with a golden light that filled the room. Before anyone could do anything the light blinded them, enveloping everyone with strange unnatural and tingling feelings before everything went black. When the energy dissipated and things returned to normal the room was left empty, all who had been there were now gone. Where the two with the scroll had sat the area was now giving off a faint light with the air swaying and sparkling indicating something powerful had occurred…
Visions of a land of ash dominated by familiar yet also alien looking plants, giant mushrooms, bizarre rock formations, dead and burnt and gnarly looking trees appeared. Strange beasts, many reptilian like or insectoid roamed these wastes the one he got the clearest picture of was a large strange winged reptile. It was windy. There were strange ruins and skeletons being buried in a dust storm made of ash. The land was dominated by a massive volcano that continued to spew ash. Then a new vision appeared through the rain of a storm in a stand of dead trees in these wastes a bizarre shadow of what looked like a stag with glowing aquamarine eyes strolled before getting into a challenging display. Then he was looking at the night sky and the moon as it crossed the sky. He couldn’t recall how it had ended but he remembered a strange voice, one that was deep and though sounding to be females was neither male nor female with an even deeper offset echo to it spoke to him. It told him ‘Realms once light and familiar shall be covered in shadows; shadows that are in plain view yet hidden, consuming the world in darkness. A darkness only the dragons can break. Fear not for I am watchful, I will protect you. You outlanders have been chosen’.
With a feeling of dread and uncertainty Zane jolted up in his bed shaking. It was still dark out and despite the storm outside everything was calm. He was still in his bed. It had just been a dream, or was it? Had that been a vision? Something about it seemed off. The folk seemed off, they did not seem to fit in with the folk of Ninjago but he could not exactly remember what it was that was different about them. Then there were those lands of foreign life. Nothing in the knowledge of his data banks resembled those lands. What was it, where was it? Had somewhere in Ninjago once looked like that or was this from somewhere else, another realm perhaps? It was not the first time he had visions of these strange wastes and creatures, he’d been having them for a while, but the folk and summoning ritual, those were new. The voice and its words were new too, somehow he had a feeling it was talking to him. Though he wanted to think it meant nothing Zane had a feeling this vision meant something bad was coming.
Notes:
Like how it begins? The first part I wrote with a little trick in mind to make you think you are following the ninja. As you will find out later you are actually following a different group of heroes who have accidently set things into motion.
If have any questions go ahead and ask I do not bite. I will try to answer them, I will however not give away spoilers.
Chapter 11: The Necromancers
Summary:
Somethings coming...
Notes:
Pictures relating to story can be found here: https://www.deviantart.com/nerdy-hyena/gallery/72478681/story-project
They are really good and help to visually flush out several aspects of the story including environments, characters, outfits, locations, creatures and other aspects often important ones in the story. All images I post in my work can be found there if you want a better look at them. Defiantly make sure to check them out.
Also if you need a refresher on creatures, flora or aspects of the environment you can check out the second chapter in this work titled 'Keikiarys Guide to the Ash Wastes'. It includes short descriptions and pictures of these things.Parts of this section are subject to change as the prequel story is written to improve story continuity.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
It was evening in the monastery. With nothing really going on the ninja were relaxing. Lloyd, Jay, Kai and Nya were playing a video game together while Wu was in his room meditating. Cole had gone out and only Zane knew what he was doing though the others had their suspicions of what it was. Pixal was out working on something and Misako was reading in the library. Zane sat with the others as they played their game going through some books. His dream the night before had seriously shaken him and unable to take it off his mind he was trying to figure out if there had once been a place in Ninjago that matched with those of his dream. The only thing he had found was a book of tales from some villages from the distant past. It was in a tome called “The Accounts of Madness”. They were accounts of a strange somewhat mentally unhinged man who claimed to be a wandering traveler on vacation who was accompanied by a strange creature that due to its powers and appearance had been mistaken as a dragon though it really didn’t look it. The creature was half organic and half robotic. The creature was apparently his companion and pet. The man appeared well dressed and harmless though he laughed like a hyena, had two different colored eyes, carried a strange cane or staff and had a white hair and beard despite looking to be young. He was a cheerful man with a rather dark and twisted humour. These two wandered around for some time and strange acts of insanity and plagues of madness followed them before vanishing in front of a whole village where he proclaimed he’d had a wonderful time and hoped to visit again. No one knew who these folk were or where they had come from just that they were incredibly bizarre and they hoped to never see them again. A picture of the alleged ‘dragon’ was drawn on the one page and it was quite detailed. It resembled the winged creature from his dream! If the metallic parts were replaced by organic ones then it was the creature. Other than these tales there was no other mention of such a creature in any of the books he had gone through.
Though he was trying to be quite the others were aware when Cole came in. He was dressed in his plain street clothes, had cleaned up and he had combed back his hair. He tried to sneak to his room but the others were quick to notice him.
“So are you going to tell us who it is or should we guess?” Kai pried pausing their game when they noticed him. Seeing they knew he was there Cole decided to just join them instead of trying to sneak off to his room.
“What are you talking about, I just went for a walk,” Cole responded coming to sit next to Zane who was still focused looking through the book.
“All cleaned up like that I don’t think so,” Jay teased, “You were on a date. Tell us who with or should we guess?”
“Come on guys if he doesn’t want to tell he doesn’t have to,” Nya chimed in, “but we all know who it is.” All except for Zane then said in unison, “Seliel!”
“What! Zane I told you not to tell anyone,” Cole scolded Zane who replied with, “but I did not. They figured it out on their own.” Out of all the ninja Cole had felt safest telling Zane where he was going in case he was needed. He had told Zane since Zane was very unlikely to tease him about what he was doing and most likely to keep a promise to not let the others know. He had thought he had been doing good at keeping his visits with Seliel secret for some time.
“Oh come on I could tell when you first met her during the nindroid crisis that you had a thing for her and her you,” Kai boasted to which Nya expressed, “No you didn’t, I told you that, you were clueless to it.”
“We all know when Wu went missing you hooked back up with her. We also know those texts you get from your ‘father’ are really from her. You’re not that chatty with your dad,” Jay goaded.
“Alright so, we’re friends and we enjoy each other’s company that’s all, what of it?” Cole sighed.
“Yha I think it’s a little more than that. Are you afraid to face your feelings or something,” Kai boasted while Nya inquired, “Why don’t you ever invite her over to the monastery so we could meet her, been quite a while since we’ve seen her.”
“Yha why don’t you. We all know you’re seeing each other why don’t you invite her over or are you afraid we’d embarrass you,” Lloyd encouraged to which Jay added, “You know embarrassing you is what families are for.”
“You know I’d rather not talk about this rate now,” Cole grumbled to which Kai stated, “trying to hide your feelings for her are we… hey Zane aren’t you going to join in?” Though he had been listening in Zane was more occupied in going through the book he had.
“Yha you’ve been looking through those books all day are you looking for something?” Jay questioned.
“Yes and I think I found something,” Zane replied showing everyone the illustration of the strange winged reptile he’d found. Confused by it Jay faltered, “uhm, what is that?”
“I do not know, but I saw something like this in a dream last night. Well it was a dream but it felt more like a vision. It felt unnervingly real and was a little disturbing,” Zane replied. Eager to hear more Jay coaxed, “a vision, what was it about?”
“Yha tell us,” Cole added glad they were no longer pestering him. They were right about him and Seliel. They did have affections for one another and were seeing each other but he wasn’t ready to move forward in the relation yet nor was he sure about how to go about it or if he was really wanting to. He was pretty sure having her visit the rest of them was not the best way to move forward. He was also not wanting to admit that he was afraid, afraid of letting her get close in his life only to possibly lose her. He was tired of losing people or coming close to losing people in his life and it had taken a toll. He had become fearful of losing those he cared about and it had made him fearful of letting new people into his life and acknowledging his feelings for new people afraid of losing them.
“It was all highly confusing. We were going to stop a summoning ritual but somehow it was not us even though the figures looked like us. We failed and this oni like entity was summoned. There were two guards with us and they read some sort of scroll which caused everyone to vanish in a bright light. I then saw a strange land. It was dominated by volcanic ash, giant fungal organisms and strange plants and in the land there were strange creatures one of which looked like this but it lacked all the mechanical parts,” Zane revealed pointing at the illustration, “there was also this voice. It did not sound right. I think it was female but it was hard to discern. She said that darkness was coming and she would watch over me and that the outlanders were chosen. I do not know what she meant but if it was a vision I do not like the implications of it.”
“Your visions Zane have often held some sort of truth to them. Could it be some sort of prophecy you dreamt of?” Cole noted and Lloyd added, “If so who are these outlanders, what is this darkness and what could it all be about?”
“What book is that?” Kai wondered trying to figure out what book Zane was holding.
“The Accounts of Madness, I remember reading this once. Most of the tales were weird, like really weird,” Cole stated taking the book from Zane and looking it over.
“Some of them are kind of funny. Like the pool party with a clan of hyenas, or the warrior he challenged to fight a small bird who lost to the bird, or where he hypnotized an entire town to go around naked for a week or when he made all the monks in a monastery think they were chickens for a day… you don’t think that stranger folk could be coming back? Could that be what your vision was about?” Jay hypothesized.
“I’m pretty sure they’re just folk tales told to warn of the dangers of strangers and mad men. I don’t think they’re based off anything in reality. They’re too crazy to be real,” Kai stated taking the book from Cole to skim through it.
“Even if they are that creature most resembles what I saw but none of the folk in the dream were like this stranger. No the whole vision was less cheerful and more ominous than these stories. It was all rather unnerving,” Zane noted.
“Maybe your vision was just a dream this time, maybe don’t read that book before bed, but if not well we will find out what it all means,” Lloyd explained taking the book from Kai to look it over before Jay took it from him to look it over. Many of the tales were quite odd. They decided to let it all go for the night and enjoy themselves. They could look into it more in the morning. They went back to their game while Zane and Cole watched. Every now and then Jay would read some of the passages he thought were funny from the weird book. They were all unaware of what was happening elsewhere in Ninjago at this time…
Just as the sun finally set over Ninjago a strange storm began to form, rather unnaturally in seemingly out of nowhere over the skies of Ninjago City and the surrounding areas including over the monastery. The clouds formed within an hour seeming to be slowly spinning around the center of the city and turned an odd reddish grey color with what somehow looked like faint veins of sanguine and purple running through it and over it. A thick fog rolled into Ninjago city through the night as the storm dropped an odd smelling rain and was lit up every now and then by bright oddly colored lightning. Following the lightning was loud, deep, rumbling thunder. The storm brought warm winds which carried an odd and unnerving smell to them. The strange phenomenon had most folk taking shelter indoors where ever they were, too fearful to venture out. The storm even seemed to mess with technology. Power stations kept randomly shutting down and booting up on their own, computers, TVs radios and cell phones seemed to go off on their own or receive signals from somewhere else sometimes even murmuring odd sentences or words. For those brave enough to venture outside or look out their windows they saw strange figures and beasts moving through the mists or heard strange sounds and for some who were greatly unlucky they found themselves captured by dark figures and dragged into the mists to disappear. The ninja had been getting ready for bed when they noticed the storm appear. They were unsure of what it was but all were sure it meant nothing good, possibly relating to Zane’s vision. Even Wu was stumped. He had never heard or seen anything like this. The next morning when Lloyd got up he found the others gathered around the TV in the monastery watching the News. They were trying to see if anything had been reported about the storm.
“What are you guys doing? Where’s my mom and Master Wu?” Lloyd asked.
“They went to the Library of Domu. They wanted to see if they could find something on that strange storm last night,” Nya replied and Cole stated, “It was apparently more than a storm.”
“Apparently strange mists rolled into Ninjago City and some folks say they were seeing strange figures in the mist,” Zane added before Jay exclaimed a bit on edge, “It’s the zombie apocalypse!”
“Nah, probably too many people hitting the bars late at night,” Kai speculated as Lloyds phone got a few texts from an unknown number; one stated ‘stay away from the city!’ another claimed ‘a danger you cannot face alone has arrived’ and a third stated ‘they’ll help you’. He was unsure what to do with these texts but decided due to how vague and ominous they were that they likely came from someone just goofing around or trying to threaten him so he brushed them off. The TV then changed to a live feed from the docks area of Ninjago city. Most folk at the docks had been taken prisoner by strange folk with beast like heads and tails some of which seemed to be half rotted corpses and strange bone creatures that had no eyes and were held together by metal pieces.
“See Zombies!” Jay proclaimed. Everyone gave him a look of disapproval before turning back to the TV. The news crew were obviously hiding behind some crates to watch as these beings were ushering folks into a warehouse. Something must have made a noise behind them and the camera whipped around to see one of the bone creatures behind them, making a bone grinding noise and a snake like hissing as it reached out for them and the camera went out.
“What were those?” Cole wondered aloud. All were stunned at what they had just seen.
“They do not match anything ever recorded in Ninjagos history. I sense those are not from Ninjago. They… they look like some of the entities from my vision!” Zane replied stunned and the others looked at him for a minute before turning to Lloyd.
“We should probably look into this wouldn’t you say?” Nya asked.
“I’d agree,” Lloyd stated.
By the time the Ninja reached the docks it was nearly empty with a few of these strange creatures along with some of the people who were now half corpses like these creatures moving some crates around or hanging out. From what they had heard it seemed many of these folk were already venturing out beyond the docks into the rest of the city to grab more hostages. To get a survey of what was going on the Ninja were hiding behind the same crates the news crew had been. The camera from the crew was lying on the ground busted with no sign of the crew. All the folk were armed with various weapons. The people went about their business as usual as if they didn’t care what had just happened to them or who these strange beast folk were. Some were even chatting with the creatures who seemed more civil than they appeared.
If it wasn’t for their heads, their tails, the fine layer of fur on the body and the fact they had either claws or hooves instead of nails the figures could have been human. Their bodies were humanoid in shape and they had hair on their heads which they all carried in their own styles. Their eyes all faced foreword, even the ones who resembled hoofed mammals which usually had eyes on the sides, and were human like not animal like. There seemed to be three distinct races based on the appearance of their heads, tails and finger tips. One bore features of various cats, another of spotted hyenas and the last, which was most prominent, making a little over half the population, had features of deer, cattle or antelopes. Many wore clothes that would make them fit in with a biker gang with sleeveless shirts or jackets, piercings, war paints on their face or shoulders, tattoos and scars. They defiantly did not look like the kind of folks your average citizen would want to hang out with.
One of the warehouses had been transformed by some sort of dark magic into some sort of headquarters for these beings. Though it looked like a warehouse all windows had blackened glass, the bricks and concrete were a darkened grey to purplish black with sanguine vines that looked like lightening strikes or veins of blood on the bricks stretching up from the ground. A strange blackened with bright red tipped grass was sprouting from the base of the building and was starting to grow over the surrounding pavement and a nasty thorny looking vine was creeping out of cracks in the ground.
“We have to find a way into that warehouse and see what they are doing,” Lloyd stated.
“Isn’t it obvious, their creating an un-dead army!” Jay blurted out. It seemed to look it but the other Ninja had a feeling that was not entirely what was going on there. Even though they looked un-dead all of the people still had color to their skin and there was no smell of decay though the sea breeze could have been keeping the smell at bay. Also the way they were behaving as if they liked their un-dead appearance and agreed with whatever these strange figures were doing didn’t seem right. Something was not right here. If they were being attacked or enslaved the people should be fearful not happy to chat with their captors.
“Zane can you see a possible way to get in there without being seen?” Lloyd asked unaware they were being watched. Only Zane was aware of the watcher since it was trying to communicate with him but he was unable to understand what it was saying or the codes it was trying to use.
“Um…Zane,” Nya inquired noticing that Zane seemed distracted. After seeing the news Zane had remembered the dream he had. The looks of these folk, the bone constructs they were all from his dream but he had no clue what that dream had meant. It was starting to worry him. Was something bad going to happen to them or was it…
He had been thinking over his vision partly listening to the others when his attention had been drawn to something else and he was now staring at something behind them in the alley. The others turned to see what he was looking at and they were stunned to see a rather creepy looking robot standing and staring at them. Its head was shaped like a hyena with about half the external skin that covered the internal makes of its head was missing and some of its teeth were exposed. The one ear was broken in half and his eyes glowed two different colors, one was blue while the other was green almost like he had been scrapped together with different parts. It was giving off a low metallic giggling noise which got slightly louder when it noticed they were all looking at it. It had its one hand on the side of its forehead as if it was trying to focus on connecting with something.
“Uhm…How long has that been standing there?” Jay asked while Kai stated, “Don’t know but its kinda creepy looking.”
“I think he is trying to communicate with me but he is talking in some sort of code I have never heard of. It seems his programming or communication circuits might be damaged,” Zane replied trying to understand what this being was saying.
“Do you think it’s with those other creatures?” Cole asked and as if it understood the strange droid shook its head as if to say no.
“That was weird, do you think it understood?” Nya stated. The creature gave a nod for yes then suddenly ran in a circle as if chasing its tail which looked skeletal and seemed to get agitated opening its mouth to show its teeth off more and holding its head low giving off a higher pitched laugh noise, its only ear folded back. The ninja were rather confused by its sudden change in behaviour; was it capable of imitating emotions and reacting anxiously or fearfully or was it just damaged in some way?
“I think it might be broken,” Kai stated. What they were unaware of, but this droid was, was that one of the bone constructs had become aware of their presence after noting the robot acting stranger than it usually did. The construct was silently making its way over to their hiding spot to take a look. Without warning the hyena robot lunged forward and grabbed Zane’s arm to try and pull him away from the others giving off a loud metallic whooping which caught the attention of the other creatures. Knowing that this noise meant the droid had spotted something the construct prepared to attack. Zane managed to shove the robotic creature to the ground just as the construct used its arms to smash through the crates revealing them to the others who were already awaiting a fight.
“Well well what do we have here you kinda look like the Dragon Guard but that can’t be we caught them?” one of the creatures, a girl who looked to have the head of a cat possibly a clouded leopard though since it was half skeletal it was rather hard to tell, pondered.
“Dragon Guard? What’s that supposed to mean,” Jay asked voicing what the others were thinking.
“Whoever you are if you’re here to harm Ninjago then we’ll put a stop to you,” Lloyd addressed the figures who did not seem too pleased by that statement.
“Really then, well fellas we defeated the Dragon Guard we can defeat these rainbow colored warriors, what do you say? Let’s show them our claws!” the figure exclaimed. The beast folk and even some of the citizens from Ninjago wasted no time in rushing in to attack them, forcing the Ninja to take up the defence. The folk used the bone constructs for frontal attacks while they and the people came from behind to try and subdue them. Oddly the strange robot did not join the group but instead still tried to communicate with something, remaining just on the outskirts of the battle. At one point Zane looked over at the robot which seemed to wink back at him leaving him confused. What was it up too? This moment of confusion allowed one of the constructs to send him flying into Lloyd with a swing of its club arm. Every time one of these bone constructs seemed to be defeated, bursting into a pile of bones and metal with bursts of freezing energy, they would pull themselves back together and continue to fight as if nothing had happened. Stabbing with their bladed hands and trying to clobber with their three pronged hand.
“What the heck are these things,” Jay screamed shocking one of the creatures who seemed to almost enjoy the attack before it rotated its arms a whole 360° to punch from below into Jay and send him flying into Kai who was using his Spinjitsu to try and take out a construct and two of the folk who were plaguing him. The two became a little dazed by the collision giving the creatures enough time to grab both and clamp a wrist brace of a strange black metal around one arm. The folks then began to tie their arms behind their backs only to suddenly be bowled over by a construct which Cole had thrown in an attempt to try and eliminate it, seeing as he had found three of the constructs trying to catch him.
“We call them Shambles. You like them. Fast deadly and easy to reanimate,” stated the one creature who bore a head that resembled some sort of deer or antelope as Jay and Kai pulled the ties off. The two attempted to use their powers but found no matter how hard they tried they could not muster them. The only thing they could think that was stopping their powers was the bracers the folk had put on them.
“These cuffs must be made of Venge-stone!” Jay exclaimed making a failed attempt to pull it off after knocking one of the folk who resembled a hyena away with his nun chucks.
“Actually it’s called Cursed Stone. It blocks powers…” one of the folk stated before a construct which fell apart when one of Zane’s arrows hit it where a heart should have been collapsed on him. While Kai and Jay found themselves attempting to fight off the creatures and somehow remove the bracers the others continued to try and get the upper hand. Zane prepared to take a shot with his bow at one of the creatures who was sneaking up on Nya who was preoccupied with trying to fend off a construct and two of the folk. Before he could take the shot however he found himself hit from behind and sent flying into and landing on Nya. When the two looked up they saw an unfamiliar whirlwind of someone they did not know performing Spinjitsu.
“Who is that?” Nya asked surprised at what they were seeing as she and Zane got back up. As if to answer the whirlwind stopped revealing the strange robot from before who had his head turned backwards. It took a few seconds to register the mistake and turn his head the right way round and look at them with a menacing tooth bared smile and ears back making an almost hiss like sound. While they looked at it shocked two of the folks managed to clamp a bracer on their arms and tie their arms behind their backs. By this point Jay and Kai had also found themselves bound leaving only Cole and Lloyd left in the fight. Cole attempted to swing his war hammer at one of the constructs as it headed for him but before it could reach its mark something grabbed it and yanked it back shocking him and causing him to lose his balance and land face first on the ground. Wasting no time so he did not get caught like the others he got up and prepared to hit his attacker with his lava arms but as he whirled around his attacker whipped his one arm up from below snapping one of the braces on then pulled him face to face with another of the strange robotic hyena folk except this one had black skin and red eyes with a ninjas mask covering its head though its chipped ears still stuck out and a scope like structure covered the one eye.
“If I were you I would play it smart and give in fleshy, now’s not the time to fight,” it stated with a deep, metallic, rough voice tightening its grip on his arm with an incredible strength. As Lloyd found himself the only one still in the fight and surrounded by these strange beings he tried to find some means of escape, feeling overwhelmed. Maybe he could get help if he retreated or he could try to rescue his friends so they could all escape… before he could decide one of the creatures, a cattle like one which was not un-dead looking but instead wore a plague mask and a hooded robe grabbed him from behind with an impressive yet oddly familiar strength, almost as if it was Cole who had him but he could see that was not the case.
“Don’t worry, you’re not alone, just play along,” it whispered with a voice that sounded a bit out of breath and as if possessed in his ear as one of the other creatures put one of the braces on him then tied him up like the others.
“Now we take them to our master. Boy will he be pleased. Now there are fewer to stand in our way,” the leopard looking one stated again clearly overjoyed. They were taken into the warehouse escorted by a few of the creatures including the hooded one that had grabbed Lloyd who Lloyd noticed kept looking at one which looked to be a silvery metal skinned hyenoid with a chipped right ear and wearing a similar mask and hood who would keep looking to the first hooded figure.
“What or who are you?” Zane asked as the creatures dragged them into their lair.
“We are the necromancers, followers to the King of the un-dead,” the leopard one snarled back.
Notes:
Seliel has been a character in the Ninjago universe a while though outside a comic and The Way of the Departed hasn't been featured in the actual show. If you don't know who she is you can find out here: https://ninjago.fandom.com/wiki/Seliel
If have any questions go ahead and ask I do not bite. I will try to answer them, I will however not give away spoilers.
Chapter 12: The God of Death
Summary:
What do you expect me to say about this one?
Notes:
Pictures relating to story can be found here: https://www.deviantart.com/nerdy-hyena/gallery/72478681/story-project
They are really good and help to visually flush out several aspects of the story including environments, characters, outfits, locations, creatures and other aspects often important ones in the story. All images I post in my work can be found there if you want a better look at them. Defiantly make sure to check them out.Also if you need a refresher on creatures, flora or aspects of the environment you can check out the second chapter in this work titled 'Keikiarys Guide to the Ash Wastes'. It includes short descriptions and pictures of these things.
Parts of this section are subject to change as the prequel story is written to improve story continuity.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
“Well we made it inside just not how we planned,” Cole stated trying to lighten the mood as the creatures lead them into a large room inside the warehouse that seemed to be their headquarters. They were all feeling rather defeated and scared of what was to come. By the looks of these folk and their name of necromancers it probably wasn’t going to be good. In the one corner of the room a pit sat where several of the folk along with people from Ninjago were watching two of the bone constructs fighting each other and cheering on their favourites. A bar was along one wall where several of the folk again joined by some people from Ninjago seemed to be enjoying themselves. A table with what looked like maps with little flag markers sat in another corner where some armoured folk stood going over something. All those in the structure seemed to turn their attention to the ninja and watched as they were led around. The place was dimly lit and a nasty putrid stench of death and decay filled the place. Bones were scattered about along with strange skeletal spikes sticking out of the ground in some places and the cement floor was coated in spots of dirt and dead leaves. All windows for the warehouse were blacked out allowing no light in and lanterns and candles sat everywhere to light the place up, some of which were burning red. Tapestries depicting what looked like the groups symbol, an Oni face held by two skeletal hands in sanguine sitting on a black background, hung along the walls and tattered and torn cloths of black edged in bloody looking red bases hung from the ceiling and catwalks. Along the catwalks above some armoured folk stood watching what was going on below and against the far end of the room where they were being led to a strange throne made of what looked like bones sat. Sitting on this thrown was a quite terrifying and hideous looking being. He looked like an unnerving mix between a human and an oni that seemed to be in a creepy state of un-death. His legs were goat shaped and bony while his body looked worse than gaunt and his fingers were all bone. His skin was dark and clammy looking. He wore highly torn, mouldy, tattered and worn looking robes and hood. His horns stuck out of the hood which bore corresponding holes that were edged with a pitted and tarnished metal. The figure was leaning back and to the left on this thrown, leaning on his left arm with his left hand under his lower jaw with his head tilted down as if judging the situation, his legs somewhat stretched out before him. Next to this figure on the right stood another of the deer looking folk who was un-dead in appearance and on his left one of the hyena looking robots similar to the first one stood. This one however had violet eyes, his left ear was missing its tip, he had some dark fake skin to his face, short fake hair on his head and his tail bore the same fake fur that the complete one had making it look furry.
“I have seen the figure in the chair, he was the one summoned in my dream,” Zane whispered to the others feeling disturbed and shaken to see the being in the flesh.
“That thing is very unsettling,” Cole admitted feeling uneasy.
“What is it?” Nya quietly wondered to the others. The figure was making them all feel uneasy.
“I don’t know but we’re going to find out,” Lloyd whispered back as they came to a stop in front of this dark being and were forced to kneel before it.
“What is this you bring us Onca?” the deer like person next to the figure questioned.
“Not sure Mankar but they claim to be protectors for this realm,” the leopard one, Onca, boasted clearly pleased with herself. The figure, Mankar, approached them and gave them a quick look over while the two hyena folk like robots walked over to stand with the other one to watch.
“Good and how did those two Dragon Guard converts work out? Did the process work; did they willingly obey our command?” Mankar questioned.
“The Dragon of Earth and the Dragon of Ice performed wonderfully. They even willingly aided us in taking down folk they would have aided,” Onca explained gleefully as she and Mankor looked at two folk who were both robed, hooded and wearing strange masks which resembled ancient plague masks and hid most of their faces; only their eyes which both seemed to be glowing a purplish glow with red markings around them as if the eyes were bleeding! Lloyd recognised the one as the one folk who had grabbed him and whispered to him. Though not much of who they were was visible it was evident that the two were clearly under some sort of spell. They were standing hunched over and swaying a bit on their feet staring at the floor largely unaware of what was going on around them.
“Great. I hear from some of our other forces the others are working as well. Now with these folk caught there is nothing to stop us,” Mankar boasted and some of the others cheered.
“Who are you guys and what are you doing here?” Lloyd demanded hoping one of them was willing to clarify things.
“Well I don’t see how it could hurt, it’s not like you have much time left anyway. Each of you can ask a question and I will answer. You want to know what we are we will tell you. As you have likely surmised we are not from this world. How we got here I will not tell you except that we did not come here willingly, it was by accident. We are people like you except if you ask me our bestial like heads and tails make us look better…” Mankar began before Kai butt in.
“Really you think that. Have you seen yourselves? You’re all un-dead and gross looking. Road kill looks prettier than you,” Kai blurted to which Mankar did not seem pleased about. The one hyena droid, the one they had originally seen, however seemed to greatly enjoy it and began to laugh up a storm till the other two yelled at him “Ed not now” which caused him to stop though his tongue now seemed to stick out of his mouth at the side a bit. All the ninja were rather confused by this Ed and it was clear the necromancers were not amused by him either from the looks they gave him.
“What are your intentions?” Cole asked starting to get the feeling they might not want to know the answer.
“Well how would you like to be immortal in a world free of death and pain? You’ll never feel pain, hunger, temperature, loss… a perfect world free of life’s pains and horrors where your loved ones can be returned from the dead and never have to leave you,” Mankar responded clearly marvelled at the idea.
“No thanks been there done that,” Cole stated remembering his time as a ghost while Jay burst in to say, “and do we end up looking like you cause I like my skin as it is thank you.”
“Our un-dead appearance is a side effect of the process to rid ourselves of mortality but if you ask me it is worth it,” Mankar remarked highly proud with himself.
“But that would not be very wise. It would disrupt the natural balance of the world. Things must die for new ones to be born…,” Zane began growing very unnerved by the presence of the figure on the chair who seemed to be staring at him. Something about this figure was dangerous and demonic but he was unsure of what exactly it was. It was more than just the figures looks, he knew that.
“Very astute metal one,” the figure on the throne chimed in cutting Zane off with an eerie deep yet beguiling and seductive voice, “I sense you have felt and seen death and tasted its beauty and are not alone among your comrades, at least four of you have felt death grip your mortal bodies and been held in its beautiful embrace. Tell me Tin-man do you speak with knowledge and logic or out of fear.”
“Don’t you mean three of us? Zane, Cole and Lloyd are the only ones to know what that feels like,” Kai stated confused.
“Who…who are you?” Nya questioned looking at Jay who looked at her. They were both confused and a little disturbed. How did this figure seem to know something everyone else around them did not seem to remember?
“Pardon me, very impolite of me not to introduce myself,” the figure said getting to his feet and strolling to stand in front of them with an eerily smooth and fluid movement, “I go by many names. The Corpse Raiser, Grave Father, Life Breaker, Sithis… but these are just titles. You can call me by my ancient given name. Dagon, I am the king and father of necromancers. I am death itself, death in the flesh. Death and Decay are my domain.” His beguiling voice, cryptic words yet polite and gentle manner not only scared all the ninja but started to bring feelings of dread and terror. His manner and voice did not match his horrid appearance. They were all silent. What could you say after meeting death in the face?
“What should we do with them my lord,” Onca wondered addressing and bowing to Dagon.
“To show you that I am a fare and just being I will give them a choice, join us and I promise great rewards or do not and you will be an enemy and become a drone to us, a cattle to serve us till your bodies crumble to dust just like the Dragon Guard,” Dagon explained motioning to the two they had referred to as Dragons.
“Are they okay?” Jay blurted out unnerved by their brainwashed appearance.
“Let’s just say if they could they would be pleading for death rate now,” Mankar explained.
“Indeed, that is what you get when you challenge me. Before you make your decision let me show you what you will have to become to be one of us. Please an acolyte who is ready to take the next step please come forth and I will bestow upon you immortality,” Dagon addressed the crowd. A rather eager looking individual who bore antelope like features and hair that seemed in permanent bed head rushed up and knelt on his knees in front of Dagon, his head bowed and eyes closed awaiting his reward. He looked to still be in his teen years and likely was an overachiever trying to prove himself to the others given the numerous bandaged wounds on his exposed arms and face. Dagon put his one hand on the top of the kids head and proclaimed, “I now bestow upon this acolyte the gift of immortality.” The Ninja then watched in horror as the kids body began to decay in some places exposing the bones beneath. The kid seemed in considerable pain at first but as the transformation ended this pain seemed to disappear and the kid looked at his new appearance clearly overjoyed with what had happened. His tail was skeletal, along with his right hand and forearm, his muzzle and the right side of his face and his hair now looked matted and filthy from mud and blood.
“Thank you my lord,” the kid beamed before backing off to show off his new appearance to some of his buddies.
“Now what is your response?” Dagon politely asked. None of them needed to discuss the answer all they needed to do was look at each other to see they were thinking the same thing.
“Our answer is no, we’d never join you and we’ll do everything in our power to stop you,” Lloyd declared. While Mankar and the other necromancers became clearly mad and ready to fight Dagon seemed unchanged and when he addressed them not even the tone of his voice changed.
“Well then it is your choice. Take them to the dungeon with the rest of those who did not want to join. Tonight we will convert them into our drones and tomorrow we will put them to work,” Dagon proclaimed. While Dagon talked Zane, Cole, and Nya noted the robotic hyenas were talking quietly among each other and were glancing at Zane. As Dagon finished the hyenoids looked at Zane and the complete one addressed Dagon.
“My liege do you think we could take the metal skin before this. He might have knowledge we could use on this world,” the one insisted oddly politely. Dagon looked at Zane then at the hyenoids and responded, “of course do with him as you wish.”
“What are you going to do with him?” Cole questioned while Nya declared “You leave him alone!” as the hyenoids roughly yanked Zane to his feet then herded him away from the others down a dark corridor in the back corner by the bar. They got no answer but instead were forced back onto their feet and herded into a separate hallway behind the bar by some of the creatures. The hallway was small and dark and the beast folk did not seem to want to talk to them.
“What are those things going to do to our friend?” Lloyd questioned wanting to get some answers from these strange folk and break the eerie silence they were now in. They were all worried for Zane.
“Those things are called Hyenoids and who cares. They can do what they want with him for all I care as long as they leave me alone. They seem to take pleasure in torturing and experimenting on us,” the one leading them commented clearly unnerved by thinking of the hyenoids.
“I get Mankar thought they would be useful but I think they are bad news. They’re too obedient to us if you ask me and you’d think being made of metal you would hear them coming but noooo; turn around and they’re right there staring at you and you never heard them coming. Doesn’t every one remember that the Shadow Lord created them to serve him not to mention part of the evil programming he gave them tells them to enslave all other mortals,” one of them stated looking behind them as if he thought they were being followed.
“Are you afraid of them?” Cole inquired.
“No more of I don’t trust them and they creep me out. They’re probably going to turn your friend into one of them, like their trying to do with that other one they caught?” the leader mentioned stopping for a second to look back at them.
“Other one?” Nya asked, voicing what the others were thinking. Who was the other ‘metal skin’ they were talking about? There was only one other they could all think of…
Notes:
If have any questions go ahead and ask I do not bite. I will try to answer them, I will however not give away spoilers.
Chapter 13: Cub of the Fang
Summary:
What do the foreign droids want with Zane?
Notes:
Pictures relating to story can be found here: https://www.deviantart.com/nerdy-hyena/gallery/72478681/story-project
They are really good and help to visually flush out several aspects of the story including environments, characters, outfits, locations, creatures and other aspects often important ones in the story. All images I post in my work can be found there if you want a better look at them. Defiantly make sure to check them out.Also if you need a refresher on creatures, flora or aspects of the environment you can check out the second chapter in this work titled 'Keikiarys Guide to the Ash Wastes'. It includes short descriptions and pictures of these things.
Parts of this section are subject to change as the prequel story is written to improve story continuity.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
The Hyenoids led Zane down the hall. Zane was worried for his friends and scared of what these things were intending to do to him but he was also curious about these strange droids. Though he had never seen or heard of these things something about them felt familiar. When they were out of ear shot from the main room they began to talk to him in an oddly friendly manner.
“Do not worry our robotic bretheren. We will return you to your friends when we are done. I am commander Rayyaima and these are my companions commander Razak and Ed,” the complete one proclaimed looking back at him using a friendly tone.
“What exactly do you want from me?” Zane asked getting the suspicion these Hyenoids were not exactly what they seemed.
“Well we could get some information from you but I think we have a lot we can give you,” Razak stated leaning into Zane who was not liking what that could mean.
“You and your friends are not alone. When we ended up here we came with some from our world who are much like you and your friends…” Rayyaima began.
“Is that the Dragon Guard the others were talking about?” Zane asked to which Razak affirmed, “precisely.”
“Yes but they were captured so they are unable to rid these folk from this world or theirs. It will likely fall to you and your friends to stop these Necromancers. These corpse lovers are illogical in their beliefs, filthy and smelly, ill mannered, often impolite and let us face it they have little understanding of the realities of life and the balances of the world; likely because of their obsession with death and the un-dead. We may serve them but they are not our true masters and we will willingly aid you and your friends in over throwing them; it is what our true master wants. In order to aid you for what is to come you will need to become a Cub of the Fang,” Rayyaima proclaimed.
“Cub of the Fang?” Zane wondered, he found the sound of that was quite intriguing.
“Cubs of the Fang are any robotic being created by the ancient Scimitar cat-folk a race more commonly known as the Scymer of our world. They were an amazing technological society in our world who created many great things. Unlike modern robotics these ancient constructs have unique programming that no one in modern times has been able to replicate except those created of the fang who will never share it with the fleshies. We cannot trust they will not try and use it to harm us. It keeps beings like us safe from some modern viruses and allows us to communicate exclusively with each other among other things. We were given these codes by the one who originally created us, a being of great darkness. You however lack them so we will give them to you along with some information and history of our world that you can use to help your friends in our world,” Rayyaima continued, “do not worry it will not corrupt you or turn you evil. The Scimitars were loving, caring and peaceful folk. They preferred the pursuit of knowledge and making the world better rather than destroying and conquering like these unpleasant necromancers.”
“Since I do not have this programming is that why I could not understand him?” Zane asked looking at the one who had been trying to talk to him earlier, Ed.
“No that is just Ed,” Razak proclaimed obviously a little annoyed at his partner. Like him these hyenoids seemed to have emotions, or at the very least simple replicas of some. Maybe there was more to them then what they appeared?
“These Necromancers altered our programming a bit to give us unique personalities and traits, make us more like them I guess, however they screwed up with Ed. While he can learn anything then copy it just by seeing it once he has major problems with his communications, senses and processing. We are the only two who can understand him, at least most of the time he still confuses even us sometimes,” Rayyaima responded.
“Is that how he could perform spinjitzu without any training,” Zane asked.
“Yes. While he may be flawed Ed does have his perks,” Rayyaima boasted leading him into a rather clean room with various computers, electronics and some strange inactive creature looking robots sitting around. The clean and brightness of the room was a stark contrast to the dark and dingy environment everywhere else in this building. There was also a strange statue of a sitting hyena with small horns reminiscent of an Oni on its forehead placed on a table against the one wall. A dead butterfly, a thing of yarn, a shiny stone, a piece of cheesecake and a head of lettuce sat around the base of it like it was some sort of shrine. Zane was confused what these items meant. He was guessing by the looks of things only the hyenoids used this room so it was unlikely the necromancers had put the items there. Were these entities trying to emulate some sort of human like behaviour? Possibly the belief or worship of something?
“What do those items mean?” he asked pointing to the strange shrine. The hyenoids seemed nervous at first before Razak stated, “oh it is nothing important. Just… a bit of fun, yha a bit of fun you know… an experiment trying to understand how those fleshies think. Nothing to be bothered over.”
“Now let us begin, we have two metal skins to convert to Cubs of the Fang now,” Rayyaima declared as they moved into the room.
“Two?” Zane wondered becoming nervous to what that could mean. His fears were confirmed when he entered the room to see Pixal tied to a chair in the middle of the room. She was wearing her Samurai X suit and trying to pull her arms and legs free of the binds that pinned her to the chair. Zane had been wondering all morning why she had not responded to him whenever he tried to contact her. He had just assumed she was busy.
“Zane! I tried to contact you but they were blocking all communications,” Pixal explained.
“Ah good you know each other,” Rayyaima stated doing something with the largest computer in the room.
“These beings showed up in a mist of unknown origin last night and began kidnapping folk to gain knowledge of Ninjago and to help them build these headquarters. I received a call for help from Cyrus Borg. These droids took my creator and caught me early this morning when I tried to rescue him,” Pixal explained as Ed and Razak bound Zane to a chair beside her. Once Zane was in the chair Ed licked him on the face then did the same to Pixal before his pal Razak ordered him to stop. Eds behaviour confused them.
“Do not worry about Mr. Borg, he will be safe with us. No necromancers will touch him and we will treat him fairly. He will serve us, after all we have some things we want him to work on for us,” Rayyaima confided with them.
“Yha like Ed,” Razak blurted out watching in a confused manner as Ed began clawing like a cat at his reflection on one of the glass monitors that was off clearly not understanding it was his reflection. He clearly had little to no programming for logical thinking, as if he had been programmed by a toddler.
“Now what we are going to do is install one of these into you then we will return you to your friends,” Rayyaima explained holding up two small hard drives which bore a goldish bronze metal covering and unique blocky yet decorative markings on the metal, “now relax, we are not going to hurt you. This will not take long and I believe you will enjoy what we are going to give you.”
“Yah! Roommates look…look Spotty. Get out the fine table ware we have to greet our guests,” an overly excited cat folk which resembled a bobcat exclaimed as she half clung to half stood on the bars of her cell. In the dim cell behind her sat a depressed looking hyena-folk warming himself next to a small fire. The two wore ragged cloths for clothes with nothing but foot wraps for shoes.
“Don’t worry about these two they’re harmless,” the one necromancer told the Ninja as he put them all into a cell across from the two, “in fact you can thank them for bringing us to your world.” The ninja had already had their weapons and any means of communication taken from them before being brought into the cold damp dungeon. They had been taken to a section in the back of the dungeon behind iron doors where a curved stairway led down to a lower section. Three cells sat separated from the rest here. two cells sat to the right of the stairs base. Both lacked any windows or amenities. The third was the largest and sat along the wall across from the doorway. All lined by stone on three sides with only the wall holding the door being made of metal bars made from the same metal as the braces that blocked their powers. That cell had no windows or amenities either. Shackles and chains hung from walls, the ceiling or clung to walls in some areas. The place reeked of mold and damp earth. The place was lit only by a few torches strapped to the wall. It was not a nice looking place.
“Is she okay?” Jay asked getting unnerved by the cat folk who was happily weaving back and forth on the door as she clung to it, fittingly, like a cat would. Her eyes were wide and unblinking and clearly showed she was blind and her short lavender dyed hair stuck out everywhere adding to her crazed look.
“That’s what you get when you use one of the items. You used it now look at yourselves. Both blind, she’s lost her mind and he can only talk in gibberish now,” the guard addressed the folk in the cell across from them to which the hyena folk growled at the guard, “They’ll Kalicrak you Findoo. You Terratet it!” The guards just laughed at him.
“What item?” Lloyd asked as the guard unbound their hands but left on the bracers. They were then roughly tossed into the cell before the guard closed the door and locked them in.
“Wouldn’t you like to know but we’re not going to tell you,” the guard stated, “see you tonight for the ceremony. Hope you’re not allergic to fur.” The guard and the other beings then left laughing at his last words as they left leaving the ninja alone with the odd beast-folk.
“I don’t like the way she’s staring at us,” Jay expressed unable to take his eyes off the cat-folk who was still clinging to the bars doing her odd weaving motion, unblinking, her bobbed tail held high and puffed out and now mouth open showing off her fangs.
“These braces prevent us from using our powers,” Kai frustratingly stated trying to get his off growing more annoyed with every failed attempt.
“Without our powers how are we going to get out of here?” Cole asked making a failed attempt to pull a bar of the cell out. Three of the cells walls were stone, the other was metal bars. The floor was concrete and there were no windows. Only some candles lit their cell up. It wasn’t looking good. No easy way of escape, no way to contact the outside and they were down one of their team members.
“Maybe if we’re lucky Zane might be able to get away and help us,” Lloyd commented looking around for anything they could try to use to unlock their bracers. The place was clean, as if these necromancers had somehow been prepared to imprison them. Or was it this Dragon Guard they spoke of this cell was meant for?
“That’s if those hyenoid things don’t warp his mind to obey them,” Jay added clearly heading towards a panic attack as he kept watching the unnerving cat-folk.
“They could do worse to him than warp his mind,” Nya expressed getting worried before a sudden noise on the stairs that led into the dungeon stopped the cat-folk from what she was doing and made her get off the bars and back up towards the hyena-folk her eyes locked in the direction of the stairs. Someone was coming down the stairs, but they were trying to be quite about it as if they did not want to announce their presence.
To their surprise and somewhat of a relief they saw the hyenoids bringing Zane down to the cells along with Pixal! One thing the ninja instantly noticed was that neither Zane nor Pixal were bound or wore one of the bracelets and they even had their weapons. They were worried, had these hyenoids warped their friends minds to serve them?
“As we promised here are your friends,” Rayyaima stated as Ed came over to the cell and, to their surprise, unlocked the door!
“What have you done to our friends?” Nya questioned to the hyenoids.
“Nothing really just gave them some knowledge that will prove useful for you about our world and this Dagon fellow,” Razak boasted sounding cheerful.
“Wait what’s going on?” Cole asked as Ed began to unlock their bracers, giving each of them a squeezing hug each time he did though Razak kept telling him to stop clearly annoyed by Eds behaviour but Ed was not listening to him.
“You’re freeing us?” Nya inquired as Ed unlocked her bracers and hugged her.
“Did we miss something?” Jay asked confused while hot headed Kai snapped at them, “give me a good reason why we shouldn’t kick your butts’ rate now?”
“If you’re working for the necromancers why are you freeing us?” Lloyd questioned Rayyaima.
“Well we may work for them but we do not agree with their beliefs or desires. Both clash with our programming and our masters wishes. We have a different master not these un-dead brainwashers and their corpse leader. We let them believe they are in charge for we are not yet prepared to overthrow them and are powerless against that entity Dagon. We are setting you free to aid us in this scheme. We can help you in defeating this un-dead monstrosity. For aiding us I will see that you are given great rewards. If you refuse well then we can get you in serious trouble with the necromancers and you do not want to see what happens to those who defy Dagon,” Rayyaima explained.
“It is not pretty trust us, I did not even know that could happen to a body,” Razak stated as if shocked staring into space with his mouth open.
“You’re not really giving us much of a choice are you?” Kai blurted out.
“Can we talk this over?” Jay asked.
“Sure take your time,” Rayyaima urged gently pushing Zane and Pixal into the cell to join the others. They huddled together to make their decision while Rayyaima seemed to be keeping an eye out for something up the stairs and Ed tried to attack the other two prisoners through the bars leaving Razak just staring confused at him.
“Zane, Pix they say they gave you knowledge? Does any of it cover these hyenoids? Can they be trusted? What are their intentions?” Lloyd inquired glancing over at the hyenoids.
“Possibly,” Zane replied while Pixal added, “they will hold their word but hyenoids have a hidden programming to enslave all other mortal beings linked to some sort of entity that could best be described as something like the Overlord, which is believed to have been vanquished in their world. So technically they have no master, I think their reference to a master is either an error in their databases or they are confused possibly by being inactive when their master was destroyed.”
“So their basically like nindroids,” Cole clarified.
“Yes but this Dagon, he is worse. He is an oni; a very powerful and purely evil one. He could possibly be a match for the Omega or possibly even worse. He commands powers over death and decay with aspects of domination, enslavement of mortals and corruption also part of his aspect. He has no known weakness or means of truly being destroyed,” Zane added.
“I’d say that makes him the bigger problem rate now. If these hyenoids are like nindroids then they’ll be easier to deal with when the time comes. If their master is gone then we likely won’t have to worry about him. Besides there is only three of them and the one doesn’t seem to be mentally sound,” Nya estimated as they all looked over the three hyenoids.
“The Dragon Guard these necromancers speak of is a force for good in their world. However with them taken out you are the only ones who can fix things. You are the only ones who might stand a chance against Dagon,” Pixal proposed.
“I think that settles it. We’ll play along and take care of the bigger threat before dealing with these three. This also might be our only way to get out of here,” Lloyd concluded before addressing the hyenoids, “alright we’ll agree to your terms.” Rayyaima gave a nod of approval before staring at the stairs.
Notes:
If have any questions go ahead and ask I do not bite. I will try to answer them, I will however not give away spoilers.
Chapter 14: Allies for Ninja
Summary:
Some adventures are best with friends.
Notes:
Pictures relating to story can be found here: https://www.deviantart.com/nerdy-hyena/gallery/72478681/story-project
They are really good and help to visually flush out several aspects of the story including environments, characters, outfits, locations, creatures and other aspects often important ones in the story. All images I post in my work can be found there if you want a better look at them. Defiantly make sure to check them out.Also if you need a refresher on creatures, flora or aspects of the environment you can check out the second chapter in this work titled 'Keikiarys Guide to the Ash Wastes'. It includes short descriptions and pictures of these things.
Parts of this section are subject to change as the prequel story is written to improve story continuity.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Shortly after they agreed something came down the stairs; something small with either really sharp claws or metal footwear. To the ninjas surprise and confusion a robotic raven came hopping down the stairs and it strolled unconcerned over to the hyenoids and looked up at them. The raven had glowing golden eyes and largely looked like a normal raven though its claws and beak were clearly metal, the skin on the ankle between the scaly feet and feathery looking skin of the leg was metal and the wings showed its robotic makings. The metal of the exposed metal parts of its anatomy was a golden bronze color.
“Raven you are to help the Ninja. If they need anything or want to know something you will give it to them. You are going to help them find how to defeat Dagon and the Necromancers now you will take orders from them,” Rayyaima explained to the Raven.
“Yes Ma’am,” the Raven responded without opening its beak bowing to Rayyaima. It had a slightly metallic voice.
“Ma’am? Wait that’s a GIRL!” Jay blurted out pointing at Rayyaima surprised at this new information drawing everyone’s attention.
“What is wrong with that?” Rayyaima asked confused at the question.
“Nothing you just don’t look or sound like a girl,” Jay stated.
“True. All Hyenoids are created as male by default but I was later programmed to be female. Sure my body and voice were not changed to reflect this but I'm not your typical lady. Not all ladies are docile flowers that like ponies and makeup. Just because a girls not feminine doesn’t mean she isn’t still a lady. I’m a warrior built to strike fear into the hearts of others who likes the thrill of the hunt and crushing the bones of my enemies with my bare hands. You wouldn’t believe how much fear a strong female warrior strikes into even the toughest males besides considering we’re modelled after the hyena my more masculine design is quite fitting; they’re ladies are not very lady like either if you know what I mean,” Rayyaima boasted making everyone rather uncomfortable till she continued, “now this raven belongs to the Dragon Guard. He is a creation of the last Scimitar folk like the Dragon of Ice is. He will help you with whatever you need. We have programmed him with a voice so he can talk to you and he should be able to connect to technology in both your and our worlds. You can simply address him as raven though for some reason he also responds to Poe, one of the Dragon Guard apparently kept calling him that and added it too his programming. I do not get what it means. Anyway why do you not try him out? Call him over, ask for something?”
At first no one was sure what to do. Kai was the first to say something saying to the raven, “so is it going to follow us or do we have to follow it.” The Raven strolled up with the weird bobbing walk of a raven to Kai, looked up at him and responded, “I follow you. Unless you want me to lead but I am not designed to lead. I am a helper I am better at following.”
“Now I would recommend you get out of here before anyone returns. Do not worry it will be a while before the guards will know you are gone. Let us just say they decided to take a nap. Boys you know what to do.” As if pleased with themselves the hyenoids began giving of a quite metallic hyena like giggling noise.
“Oops who let them have this cutlery that could unlock their braces,” Razak stated taking some forks out of a compartment in his chest and throwing them on the floor of the cell while Ed put his one hand by his forehead and seconds later a minor explosion could be heard before the one wall of the cell collapsed to reveal a tunnel behind it.
“That will take you to the sewers where you can find your way out. You will need this map to find your way out and we will give you something else, a very special scroll. I highly recommend however that you do not use this scroll until you need to and only when you are in a safe place,” Rayyaima stated as Razak gave Lloyd a rolled up paper and she gave some sort of scroll to Zane before telling him to not open it or use it unless they have to and to ask the Raven about it first before using it. It was a very dangerous but powerful item they felt the ninja should have.
“Now if I were you get going. Once they find that you are gone the necromancers will come looking for you,” Rayyaima told them.
“What about our…” Jay began but as if knowing what he was going to ask Razak cut him off, “you will get them back do not worry. We also have some special things for you to help you in our world. We want you to be prepared for what is to come after all.” With this conformation they headed into the tunnel and the raven followed.
“Dagon had been banished to the void, a place said to be outside time and existence, by the Dragon Master, the creator of our world what is commonly called the Lost Realm, long before ancient times using a highly powerful but dangerous item called a Piece of Creation. These items come in various forms but the most common are called ‘Ancestor Scrolls’,” the raven explained from where he perched on Zane’s arm. As the ninja were heading through the sewers they were imploring the knowledge the raven had of this world to understand what they were up against. They were using glow sticks they had found in an oddly placed chest by the tunnels entrance to light their way in the dark sewers. It was clear the hyenoids had wanted them to escape.
“The Dragon Guard attempted to stop the necromancers but were lured into a trap where a ceremony was performed that freed him. Those two in the cells used an Ancestor Scroll to try and remove Dagon and the necromancers from our world. They did not understand how the items work or the consequences of their use however. These Ancestor scrolls are a type of bizarre ancient and highly powerful artefacts said to have been created from the energy that created our world, possibly all of existence. Those two had been told not to mess with things they do not understand but they let fear get the better of them,” the raven explained.
“What are these pieces of creation?” Cole asked the raven.
“These pieces of creation are any of a multitude of strange artefacts often scrolls though they have been documented in taking the form of articles of clothes, what appear like bones, fossils, weapons, shields or even mundane everyday items decorative trinkets and even children’s toys. No one is sure if they have a true form or if they can in some way change forms. As their name suggests they are believed to be physical manifestations of the energies of creation and destruction from the beginning of all things. Very little is known of them as it is very difficult to study or work with them. The exact numbers and manifestations of them is poorly known as they seem to exist yet not exist at the same time nor always bear the same form and as they are from outside time and space believed to be from the void the existence outside the realms they are unimaginably dangerous. What is well known is these pieces of creation are tremendously powerful. They can reveal hidden knowledge and alter reality but as a sort of balancing act they demand a price; the greater the demand you want the higher the cost. Blindness, loss of senses, missing body parts, destruction of health and even death are just some of the things these items demand. Only certain folk can use them without ill effect, though anything, no matter who or what you are, dealing with death or life will result in death. For example should you want someone dead it will take a close loved one as well and should you want someone brought back to life then you will die so they live,” the raven explained, “only the Dragon Guard and others like them, the elemental masters which are called Dragons in our world are largely immune from most effects instead the items feed off their powers temporarily draining their energy and they will be unable to use their powers for a few hours. It will kill them however if they try to use them for anything serious or to work with death; only the dragons and Oni which are also sometimes called daedra in some parts of our world seem to be able to use them without too much ill effect, except for dealing with life or death of course. Nothing is immune from that effect. Most of these items are held in a secret vault where most cannot find them that way they do not fall into the wrong hands it is unknown how those folk got a hold of one.” They came to a stop at a junction and gathered around the map Razak had given Lloyd to figure out where they were headed.
“So is every person in your world animal people?” Jay asked still a little confused about where these strange yet somehow familiar folk came from. Since they had left the dungeons the ninja had been asking the raven questions and it eagerly was giving answers. It originally had been walking beside them but seemed to have been drawn to Zane where it came to perch on his arm where it did not want to leave. Zane was okay with this; the raven reminded him of his falcon.
“The folk are human like you. Their bestial looks are commonly believed to be some sort of blessing or more commonly believed a curse created by the Dragon Master. Some think this was to force the people to see they are equal with the world around them not superior to it while others are unsure of the reason suggesting it might be a punishment for something. If it was to make the people see they are equal to everything in the world I do not think it has really worked,” the raven explained, “other than their appearance the people share nothing else with the animals they resemble. Cat-folk cannot land on their feet all the time, hyena folk cannot chew through bones or laugh at everything and ungulate folk are not hypnotized by head lights or angered by the color red. None of them can see in the dark or can understand animals. Barks and meows are just noises to them nothing more. They can see colors like you and they share the same tastes, their hearing and smell is a bit better than yours but their sense of feeling is just like yours. They’re fur however makes them more resistant to the cold than other humanoids, they can safely eat raw meat, they tend to have notable canines compared to other humanoids and have better balance and agility thanks to their beastial tales but not much else is different.” While they were talking Zane began to get the sense that something was following them. A slight sound of metal clicking seemed to be getting louder and headed towards them. When they looked behind them they could see two mismatched eyes headed towards them.
“We are not alone down here,” Pixal proclaimed noticing the figure coming towards them.
“We were tricked!” Kai exclaimed as he, Cole, Nya and Jay got ready for a fight. As the eyes got closer they saw the hyenoid Ed approaching them dragging a cart behind him and giving off a quite hyena whining noise and holding his head low.
“No I think this is something else,” Lloyd stated motioning for the others to hold back. Likely due to now sharing programming Ed came up to Zane and Pixal and seemed to be trying to communicate with them. His teeth bared, head low and ears back mimicking a fearful hyena. Possibly thanks to the drives the hyenoids gave them Zane suddenly found he was able to understand Ed some more. What sounded like a mix of hyena noises and robotic gibberish was some sort of language. In a translated form Ed was saying, “Ed bring ninja weapons and their talkies things. Ed obey superiors, Ed your subordinate, please no break Ed, I do as you say. Ed good boy, he good obedient boy.” It was clear Ed might have more than just his processor damaged. Parts of his data on communication and vocabulary might also have been damaged or corrupted by the necromancers tinkering.
“He says this is our stuff,” Zane explained as Ed bowed to them and backed away leaving them the cart. The ninja approached the cart and slowly picked back up their items which the necromancer had taken from them looking each over for possible tampering which might reveal they were being tracked by something. Everything seemed fine. There was also a small leather bound journal mixed in with the items which had a note on it that read, “Must take and read. It will help you.” The book contained notes and rules for this foreign realm for them to read so they could better work with folk from there. Knowing this would prove useful they took it.
“Well now that we’re all equipped we should get going,” Kai stated.
After navigating their way through the sewers they came to the surface through a grate close to the edge of the city. The city still seemed unaware of what was conspiring at the docks. A few of the citizens were happy to see the ninja but most kept going business as usual. By their reactions it was clear the people here had not seen the beast-folk so it was likely the necromancers were yet to reach this area of the city. To lower the risk of being found by the necromancers they hid in an alley to think of their next move.
“It won’t be long till the necromancers are terrorizing this place, these people don’t stand a chance,” Cole stated looking at the city.
“So Raven what should we do now. How can we stop these necromancers and Dagon?” Lloyd asked.
“We might want to rendezvous somewhere safer first. Our absence will likely have been noted by now so the further we are from the city the better,” Zane deduced and the raven seemed to agree with him and it responded with, “indeed. The hyenoids told me a few minutes ago that they have sent corpse birds out to search for you.”
“Corpse birds?” Nya puzzled while Jay added, “that does not sound pleasant.”
“Corpse birds are un-dead variants of the racers that can be found in the Lost Realms skies, the necromancers created them and use them as aerial spies and scouts,” the raven proclaimed.
“Racers: large leathery winged bird like reptilian creatures with serrated bills used for ripping up flesh and catching prey. They possess a long bony tail which is tipped with a stinger to inject hallucinatory venom to weaken their victims defences. Known to be quite aggressive, tenacious, cunning and very dangerous especially when hunting in packs. Because of this fact groups of Racers are called murders. That is the creature from my visions!” Zane explained suddenly finding himself drawing on the data from the drive without thinking about it. Thanks to this drive he could visualize the creatures perfectly in his mind without ever having seen them. He was starting to like what the hyenoids did to him. Of all the enemies they had ever faced these ones had been the nicest to him at least it seemed they had.
“That does not sound pleasant,” Cole exclaimed. Just as Cole finished speaking terrified screams coming from the streets drew everyone’s attention and they looked out to see two large terrifying gaunt winged creatures who looked to be half decayed fly into the area. These were the corpse birds. They came to land on the street, one of them onto a parked car landing with such force it crushed the cars roof. They began knocking things over pushing anyone who got too close or that they found to the ground and flipping cars like they were coins, showing off an unnatural strength, as they crawled about on all fours with their wings folded up. They seemed to be looking for something, probably them. After a few minutes after the creatures began searching what sounded like thunder caught everyone’s attention. The corpse birds looked up at the sky by the docks and they all watched as a reddish beam of energy shot up into the sky and began to turn it reddish with dark purple veins stretching out from a point by the docks.
“What was that!” Jay yelled while Cole stated, “That looks really bad.”
“Bad! Bad!” the Raven exclaimed flapping its wings and bouncing from foot to foot on Zanes arm.
“I don’t know but it does not look good,” Zane noted before the Raven cawed, “It has begun! The merging, the destruction, the void! Dagon has erupted a tear in the fabric of the realms a portal from here to where he came from!”
“That does not sound or look good,” Kai noted while Lloyd commented, “no it doesn’t. I things are much worse than we first thought.” They were all nervous and worried over what they were likely to be facing.
“We should go back to the monastery maybe by the time we get back Wu and Misako might be back and could help us,” Nya theorized.
“Where is this energy coming from?” Clay wondered as he, Macy, Lance, Aaron, Axl, Ava and Robin worked and waited in the command center of the Fortrex trying to identify where a strange possibly dangerous energy was coming from. It had been shortly after sun down when the knights had been alerted by Merlok to something strange having suddenly appeared in a remote part of Knightonia. The knights had just been relaxing and enjoying their evening when they had been called to alert.
“Not sure, but we appear to be getting close,” Ava noted as she worked the computer.
“What exactly are we facing?” Macy inquired. The knights were all on edge unsure of what they could be dealing with.
“I have never seen anything like this. It feels like a tear in the fabric of reality,” Merlok proclaimed from the holographic projection of himself coming out of the round table that sat in the control room.
“A tear in reality? What does that mean?” Aaron wondered not liking the sound of it while Lance stated, “well waiting around is getting tiring I’m going to get some beauty rest call me when something comes up.”
“No you’re not; you’re going to stay here with the rest of us till we figure out what’s going on. We have to be prepared for whatever this could be,” Clay proclaimed before Merlok explained, “indeed whatever this is it is coming from an ancient and dark energy unlike anything I have ever felt before.” Aaron noted, “coming from an ancient wizard whose seen way more than we could ever think of then this is probably something very serious.”
“We’re getting close but I don’t see anything,” Robin noted as he looked through the Fortrexs exterior cameras on the ships computer.
“We’ll keep looking. We’ll just have to keep…” Macy began before they suddenly got the sensation of falling and they all began to get tumbled around in the Fortrex. The lights and computers went out before everything came to a stop.
“What was that?” Axl wondered and Aaron noted, “felt like a pretty wicked tumble, trust me I know from experience.” The knights slowly got up feeling discombobulated, stunned and confused to find the Fortrex was now largely upside down. It took them a few minutes to recover and start getting up.
“I think we may have found what we were looking for,” Ava noted using her tablet to turn the lights back on and Robin noted startled looking through his tablet, “I don’t think we’re in Knighton anymore.” He showed them the images he was getting from the Fortrexs exterior cameras. They were showing a strange Ash coated landscape of forests and grasslands dominated by various trees and large to giant strange mushrooms.
“Indeed, it seems we did more than find this tear we seem to have gone straight through it… why is everyone on the ceiling?” Merlok noted his hologram coming back on upside down from the knights view from the table which was now on the ceiling and Ava added, “it seems when we passed through this tear we must have fallen off a cliff and have come to land upside down in… where ever we are. The Fortrex has likely received some serious damages from the fall.”
“Well we should take a look outside and see if we can right the ship and maybe see if we can find anything about where we have ended up,” Clay declared.
“Sounds like a good idea,” Macy agreed. The knights made their way out of the ship leaving Ava and Robin inside with Merlok to try and determine the extent of the damages the ship had received. When they got outside they were confused, stunned and suddenly aware of something dark and unpleasant to the air. The ship was upside down having landed in a ditch at the base of a small cliff having pulled down a few trees and strange large shrooms with it. They couldn’t see anything on the top of the cliff to indicate what they had passed through to end up there.
“It stinks out here,” Axl noted as they looked around. The landscape was coated with strange plants and large fungi some of which had glowing parts. Strange leathery winged avian yet reptilian creatures were soaring above and seemed to have taken note of them starting to circle above them. The sky was dark, partially overcast and a slight red tinge haze was in the sky above. It was hard to tell what time of day it was but it looked to be evening possibly close to sunset. They guessed this by the darkness and the fact they could make out two moons starting to appear in the sky one smaller and grey white in color than the other which was a darker pale reddish and larger than the other but both hanging close to each other. In the distance to the east they could make out a mountain range partially obscured by a haze from in which a large active volcano was spewing ash its top a glow in the dim light. They appeared to be in a patchwork section of forests and ash coated grasslands. They could see no evidence of towns or occupation by any kind of people. The air was slightly unpleasant as the ash emitted hints of a sulphuric stench and the air had a warm smoky feel to it. The wind seemed to be slowly picking up starting to blow the ash around like sand. Along with these there was a strange unnerving dark and unpleasant feeling in the air the origins of which they couldn’t pinpoint but had them all on edge.
“What is this place?” Clay wondered feeling oddly disturbed about the place as the knights stood together looking around wary for possible threats. Despite not seeing any they all got a strange unnerving feeling there was danger here.
“Don’t know but they have some pretty rad sized bugs,” Aaron noted as a wolf sized beetle came cautiously crawling towards him from under some debris. It stopped in front of him appearing to be looking them over.
“Gross, as if normal sized bugs are not nasty enough,” Lance expressed as they turned to look at the creature.
“It doesn’t seem too bad,” Axl noted as Aaron tried to call it closer to see if he could pet it.
“No don’t touch it, we know nothing about it. This creature could be dangerous,” Clay expressed as Aaron began to pet it. The creature didn’t seem bothered by the action and Aaron expressed while petting it, “it doesn’t seem dangerous.”
“Uh guys there’s more of them,” Macy noted spotting several more emerging from the ground and coming close to surround them. While Aaron wasn’t spooked by them the others were nervous.
“What do you think they’re after,” Axl wondered as the large insects got closer.
“They seem docile,” Clay noted and Macy added, “maybe they’re just curious. We might have accidently fallen on their home.”
“Hey stay back,” Lance proclaimed knocking one of the beetles which tried to climb on him away with his lance. The beetle landed on its back attempting to get up. Lances action caused the beetles to suddenly attack trying to latch onto the knights and pull them under the ground.
“Dude I don’t think you should have done that,” Aaron expressed getting up on his hover shield to escape getting bit by the beetle he had been petting. The knights attempted to fight the beetles off but they seemed un-bothered by their weapons. Any hits they made just bounced off the creatures hard shelled hides.
“Ava we’re going to need a Nexo download,” Clay commanded through their communicators as the creatures roughed them up.
“Sorry can’t do that the ships too damaged. Why what are you facing?” Ava inquired.
“Some very angry and large beetles,” Macy replied.
“They probably wouldn’t be angry if Lance hadn’t bothered them,” Axl noted to which Lance countered, “scuse me but I don’t want these things climbing on me.”
“Dudes it doesn’t matter what started the fight rate now, let’s just focus on stopping their attack before something goes wrong,” Aaron stated and both Macy and Clay agreed with him.
“I’ll see what I can do,” Ava stated as they continued to fight. While they struggled against the beetles one of the winged creatures dove down from the sky and crashed into Aaron pinning him to the ground by perching atop him its wings held out for balance. As he fought to get up the creature whipped its long tail to stab its tip through his armour into his side shocking him.
“Ow hey this winged thing can sting!” Aaron exclaimed as the creature pulled its tail stinger out.
“Get off our friend you strange winged lizard,” Clay stated driving the creature off Aaron with a blast of energy from his skills in magic. The creature was defiantly surprised by his action displaying aggressively at Clay hissing at him before flying off unbothered by the action leaving Aaron on the ground.
“Thanks,” Aaron expressed getting up and attempting to get back in the fight. He was quick however to note something felt odd distracting him.
“Is it just me or is it getting oddly hot here?” Aaron inquired starting to take parts of his armour off feeling overheated. More of the winged creatures began to dive down and attempt to attack them.
“It does feel rather hot here,” Macy agreed and Lance added, “the air is making my lungs hurt.”
“Ava we could really use some help,” Macy expressed as one of the winged creatures clamped its jaw on the handle of her mace and attempted to pry it from her hands. The creatures were overwhelming them.
“I’m trying but something is blocking the signal, I can’t find what though,” Ava explained. Clay had one of the beetles gripping his arm and he couldn’t get it off. He went to hit it with his sword but a sudden blast of energy hit the beetle in the back and it let go. Looking where the energy had come from he was surprised to see a group of strange folk come rushing over the closest dune to attack the beetles and winged reptiles. The folk were humanoid but with bestial features to their heads and hands and they had tails. All were wearing masks that covered their mouths and noses and a few had entire face masks. Two of the folk were using staffs to blast magical energy at the creatures. Five others came rushing at them to splash viles of a burning liquid at the creatures. Whatever it was irritated them and drove them away. The beetles headed underground while the winged reptiles flew off leaving the knights who were ruffed up and confused about everything around them.
“Are you okay? No one received a bite that broke skin?” one of the folks inquired as the strangers came up to them and began checking them all over.
“No they were just roughing us up,” Macy stated and Clay noted, “well one of those winged reptiles did stab Aaron with its tail.” They all looked at Aaron who was now in nothing but his underwear and helmet attacking a stump with his fists thinking it was a monster oblivious to everything around him his eyes having developed an almost strange glow to them.
“I think he’s lost it,” Lance expressed as they watched him.
“Don’t worry we can fix this,” one of the folk stated as two of the strangers walked over to restrain Aaron and the one stabbed what looked like a strange dart or needle into his side. Aaron then collapsed to sit on the ground a little dazed.
“What did you just do to him?” Clay inquired worried these strangers might not be there to help them.
“It’s just an anti-venom shot. It will keep him from dying however he’ll still be hallucinating along with some other nasty side effects for the next few hours but he’ll live. That creature that stung him has a toxic venom. Without an anti-shot he would have only 12 hours to live. We’ve never seen people like you before but I’m pretty sure the venom shot should work on your friend,” one of the folk explained and another stated handing full facial masks to each of them, “here you might want to put one of these on. An ash storm is brewing; if you’re not wearing these it could damage your lungs and senses.”
“Thank you for saving us, maybe you could help us we’re a bit lost? Where are we?” Clay inquired.
“This is the Ash Wastes in the Lost Realm,” the one folk explained. While they talked Aaron began trying to fight the two folk who were by him hallucinating that they were monsters while the two folk tried to restrain him.
“Lost realm?” Axl wondered confused and Clay postulated, “Realm? Do you mean we’re in another realm?”
“Are you not from the Lost Realm?” the one folk inquired.
“We’re from Knighton, we’ve never heard of this Lost Realm or that other realms even exist,” Macy explained and one of the folk stated, “Knighton never heard of it. I don’t know about other realms I thought they were just figments of mythology.”
“How did we get here?” Lance wondered and Clay stated, “that must have been what that energy disturbance we found was some portal between our world and this one. But how’d it get there and why was it there?”
“Wait if you’re from another realm… the Dragon Guard has fallen trying to stop the summoning of Dagon… portals to other realms just appearing…” one of the folks with the staffs began prompting one of his pals to ask, “What are you on about mate?”
“The Plane Meld, the Void Breech, the Ruination. Haven’t you ever heard of it? When the Dragons fall the boundaries between realms will fall as darkness consumes the land bringing the end of the world! Don’t you remember the old legends, the prophecy,” the folk began and his one pal noted, “yha I never cared for all that supernatural mumbo-jumbo stuff.”
“If he’s right though… you guys don’t have elemental powers do you?” the one inquired.
“Elemental powers? That would be cool,” Lance stated and Clay responded, “no, we’re knights. We do our jobs with hard work and skill. We do have Nexo powers. It is a form of magic but it’s not the same as elemental powers and we have to download them through our shields, mostly...”
“Not dragons, but you’re not from here. I think you should talk to the town council. If it’s true you’re from another realm than you need to talk to them. They have to be made aware of the dangers ahead,” the staffed folk expressed and his one pal noted, “I might not believe in that superstitious stuff but he’s right. If you’re from another realm and you had no control of getting here you could be the first victims of something bad.”
“That might be a good idea. We know nothing about where we have ended up and it will take some time to get the Fortrex up and running again,” Ava came through on their communicators and Robin added, “and that strange energy that brought us here seems to have disappeared so we might be stuck here until we can find it again.” The two had been listening in with Merlok and watching through the exterior cameras all that was going on.
“Okay we’ll come with you, but we’re not leaving our ship here,” Clay stated.
“You mean that thing you drove off the cliff?” the one folk asked.
“Yha we didn’t mean to do that. We had no clue we were going to end up in another realm. It just needs to be righted, possibly might need towing and it needs some repairs too,” Macy noted. The folk looked over their ship.
“We can help with that. A few Ash Walkers could move it with ease I bet. We’ll get them from the logging camp nearby and get you guys to town,” one of the folk stated and all his pals were in agreement.
Notes:
My intention for when the Nexo Knights are encountered in the story it is sometime after what would have occurred in seasons 5 and 6 if they had aired, not long just about a year or two. I'm also guessing while ages for most of the ninja and the knights are never given I am assuming the Knight, with the exceptions of Robin Ava and Merlok, are about a year or two older than the Ninjas on average. They take me as being a bit older.
Why is the Raven nicknamed Poe? It's a reference to Edgar Allen Poe whose most recognized work is the poem The Raven.
What Rayyaima means by "seeing as we are based off hyenas then it is actually very fitting that I should have a males body if you know what I am talking about" is in Spotted Hyenas females are over masculinized to the point that the genitals to females look almost identical to males, they can even work them much like a males. For a long time this led people to think they are hermaphrodites even though that isn't true and to often confuse their genders in fact a Zoo in Japan tried to breed a pair for four years before they realized instead of having a male-female pair like they thought they had two males. No one is sure why they are like this but one interesting theory is since competition is most extreme among females they developed to look like males to protect female cubs from older females as they will murk other females to lower competition but will tolerate male cubs then when they get older because they both have these parts they play a role in social communication. For Hyenas revealing ones parts is a sign of submission and trust to another individual and part of their greeting ceremony involves revealing these bits to each other and sniffing them.
If have any questions go ahead and ask I do not bite. I will try to answer them, I will however not give away spoilers.
Chapter 15: Realm of the Dragon Guard
Summary:
Of course some lore and backstory is needed before we get started sorry if it bores you.
Notes:
Pictures relating to story can be found here: https://www.deviantart.com/nerdy-hyena/gallery/72478681/story-project
They are really good and help to visually flush out several aspects of the story including environments, characters, outfits, locations, creatures and other aspects often important ones in the story. All images I post in my work can be found there if you want a better look at them. Defiantly make sure to check them out.Also if you need a refresher on creatures, flora or aspects of the environment you can check out the second chapter in this work titled 'Keikiarys Guide to the Ash Wastes'. It includes short descriptions and pictures of these things.
Parts of this section are subject to change as the prequel story is written to improve story continuity.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
“Raven who sent me these texts” Lloyd asked the raven as they walked up the steps to the monastery. He showed the texts he had received on his phone earlier to the raven who took a second to look at them before responding.
“After getting caught the Dragon Guard got the hyenoids to send those messages to anyone they deemed could help them. By the time the hyenoids found someone it was too late for the Dragons but the hyenoids knew it was best if you knew you are not alone against this menace,” the raven responded with a peck at the phone.
“There’s the monastery, Poe?” Jay exclaimed to the raven as they came up to the bridge that led to the peak the monastery sat on.
“Why’d you call him Poe?” Kai wondered to Jay who responded with, “sounds like a good name for a raven doesn’t it, Poe the Raven.”
“Why are your realms protectors called Dragon Guard?” Nya probed.
“In short it is said the elemental masters of the Lost Realm have the blood and souls of dragons. They were the Dragon Masters protectors. Like dragons each individual’s powers are tied to a specific element and Dragon Guards also have a unique power we like to call the Dragon Aspect,” the raven explained.
“Dragon aspect?” Zane pondered.
“The Dragon Aspect is a state one enters to temporarily enhance ones powers, stamina, endurance and speed. It also can act as an elemental shield protecting the caster from some but not all of the damages their attacker can inflict. Dragon Guard members often use it to aid in battle when they are facing a tough opponent or need a boost,” the raven explained. Before they reached the final bridge leading to the monastery they noted a strange unpleasant slightly sulphuric musky smell blow through the area. The ninja found it a little weird but brushed it off joking a bit about it; the raven however didn’t confusing them.
“Monster! Demon! Dread Serpent!” the raven screamed beginning to panic before taking off of Zane’s arm to perch on a boulder and look around as if looking for a predator. The ravens’ sudden behaviour was confusing the ninja who stopped to look at it.
“Why is it freaking out? There’s no snakes here,” Nya asked while Zane searched through the data on the drive he had been given to find a possible reason the raven was on edge.
“I am unsure. There are several creatures known in their realm that could fit this description,” Zane noted as he and Pixal looked into the data they had been given.
“Danger! Danger!” the raven cawed still panicking looking at the bridge they were headed to. They all looked around for a possible serpentine creature but none seemed visible confusing them.
“Are you sure about this creature?” Kai inquired unaware of a slight movement below the bridge behind him. Jay was the first to notice the creature as it slowly slithered from the underside of the bridge to come atop it. It had a feminine serpentine body and frilled four eyed serpentine head with four arms ending in long bony needle like clawed fingers. It used its arms to help pull itself up onto the ground with them giving off a hissing noise. Once on the ground it reared up to over ten feet tall looking angrily down at them.
“What is that thing?!” Jay exclaimed as they all drew their weapons. The beast gave off a mighty roar before it lunged forward at them taking a swipe with its long arms at them. After they dodged the creatures attack the ninja and Pixal began to fight this creature but were rather stunned to find their weapons seemed to have little effect on the creature just simply irritating it and leaving nicks, minor cuts and bruises. Not enough to hurt it or drive it off. Even worse this thing was able to use dark magic. It summoned strange half wasp half bird creatures that pestered them trying to sting them or stab them with their beaks. At one point it picked up Lloyd with some sort of spell from its upper arms restraining him in the air before creating a spell with its lower arms that sucked energy from him. They used their powers on it but it had some resistance to most of them. Jays had the most effect and caused it to drop its spell dropping Lloyd to turn its attention to Jay. It sprayed a rancid venom at him. Jay was not quick enough to escape and got hit by some of the venom. After being hit by the venom Jay lay face down on the ground suddenly finding himself unable to move and barely able to talk.
“Great its venom can paralyze. I hope this is temporary,” Jay moaned as the others continued to fight. They were able to take out the strange bug-birds it had summoned with relative ease using their powers and weapons but no matter how hard they tried they were no match for the serpentine creature and it was able to best each of them with ease.
The noise of their squabble caught the attention of Wu and Misako who had been waiting for the ninjas return. When they opened the monastery doors they were stunned at the creature they saw. It was blocking the path to the monastery preventing the ninja from reaching it and it was attempting to destroy them. They were unsure of what to do; they had never seen or heard of such a beast before.
Knowing they were having trouble fighting this creature the raven began flying around cawing at each of them telling them where to hit to leave a better effect; in the mouth, in the eyes and nostrils, the armpits and beneath the frill on the back of the head. Their elemental powers worked better at damaging the creature than their weapons.
At one point as the creature lunged to slash at him the raven instructed Kai to throw a fire ball at the ground to create an explosion of flames radiating out centred at his feet to distract the creature since it apparently could see heat. While it did seem to distract the creature and do a little harm to the creature it also started fires and nearly hit most of the others who had to dodge his attack.
“Hey watch it hot head,” Jay scolded trying to dodge the flames as the paralysis started to wear off only able to move with his arms since his legs were still under the venoms effects.
Wasting no time the raven began to talk them through some sort of battle move. Cole, Pixal, Lloyd, Kai and Jay kept it occupied and tried to stop it from moving too much while Nya and Zane worked their way behind it. Once they were behind it the raven instructed Zane to aim his bow and shoot an arrow into the back of the creatures’ skull and told Nya to throw her trident into the same spot. Once this was done the serpent collapsed unmoving and Zane and Nya, after retrieving her weapon and Zanes arrow, went to join their companions as the serpentine developed glowing dark blue vein like markings before seeming to collapse in on itself in a ball of blackish green light disappearing with a booming thunder like noise that echoed through the mountains.
“What just happened? Why did it just disappear?! What was that thing?!” Jay asked stunned in a panic to which the Raven explained, “That was a creature known as the Dreadconda a demon from the void. It had been summoned by the necromancers to try and take you out. By defeating it you broke the spell they used to summon it here causing it to be sent back to where it came from.”
“What was that?” Wu asked as he and Misako approached the ninja.
“Not sure, some sort of monstrous serpentine creature that’s for sure,” Lloyd explained and Kai added, “It’s some sort of creature from another realm.”
“Another Realm?” Wu wondered confused.
“It is likely you were unable to find anything at the library of Domu,” Pixal stated.
“Yes, how’d you know?” Misako wondered.
“Cause this threat we face comes from another realm,” Zane explained as the raven came to land on his arm again.
“What exactly is this we are facing?” Wu inquired.
“Some sort of demon of death from another world. We went to look into what was happening at the docks and we got caught by some beings calling themselves Necromancers. Some strange hyena headed robots set us free and gave us this raven to help us,” Jay quickly explained.
“What?” Wu was even more confused now.
“Long story we’ll tell you more when we get inside,” Lloyd explained looking in the direction of Ninjago City where the sky overhead was dark with glowing reddish veins streaking through it. This creepy sky was beginning to spread outwards.
“That sounds like a good idea,” Jay added. They were all uneasy with what was happening over the city. They headed inside to the TV room where the raven decided to leave Zanes arm and came to land on the top of the TV giving off some loud caws and fluttering his wings like a baby bird to draw everyone’s attention to himself. He motioned to a port it opened on his side beneath his right wing then pecked at the TV as if trying to say he wanted to connect to it.
“What kind of raven is that?” Misako inquired as Nya and Jay hooked it up to the TV.
“The strange robots that freed us gave him to us. He is aligned with their worlds protectors and will help us. He has lots of information for us,” Pixal explained as the raven began broadcasting on the TV showing various images on the screen to fit with what it was saying.
“This threat you face is called Dagon though he has other names,” the raven began once everyone was in, “he was once an Oni which are also referred to as Daedra (dee-dra or day-dra both are acceptable) in some regions of my realm. According to legends in mythic times, at the dawn of our world our realms creator one who was both Oni and Dragon the Dragon Master created our realm the Lost Realm. Three Oni followed to destroy him but came to love his world and sided with him. These three are called the Tribunal by the common folk of our realm, this angered the Oni. Of the tribunal one remained hidden till recently but she always aided the Dragon Guard when it was needed, they were the only ones who knew her true identity. Another disappeared long ago and left no trace of what happened to her. The Last was caught by his Oni brethren who instead of destroying him enacted a cruel curse a curse of insanity upon him turning him into Sheoth the Prince of Madness who rules over the Isles of Insanity in our world; an archipelago off the main continent Nirns south-west shore whose inhabitants are to say not right in the head but under Sheoths rule they are treated as normal folk. Since these three failed the Oni used their dark and evil powers to create Dagon out of one of their own, a being whose corruption, power and evil they hoped would be too much for any who defied them; for lack of better terms a god of demons, destruction and darkness. How they created him only the Oni would know. He was to be used to destroy any who tried to flee or betray the Oni. When he tried to destroy the Dragon Master the Master used a piece of creation to destroy Dagon so he could not threaten anyone or be used as a pawn by his fellow Oni. The Master believed he had succeeded. It was only after this battle, after his battle against the Shadow Lord, a powerful and evil spirit, and just before his first of two sons were born did he come to realise that he had not really vanquished Dagon but just trapped him between realms outside time and space what we in our realm call the Void. He knew Dagon would one day be freed but when he never knew. He passed long ago never figuring out when Dagon would be set free. It is unknown how but the necromancers found a ritual to free him from this banishment and return him to the realms.
Dagon sees all non Oni as nothing but play things and puppets and enjoys the cruel torture and destruction of them. Though he does align himself with the Oni and is subservient to them when on his own as he is now he is more self centred and his unique and true terrible nature is revealed. Though his powers focus on death and decay he also encompasses aspects of domination, enslavement, destruction, chaos and corruption. Some say his powers are worse and stronger than that of the Oni themselves. If we do not stop him he will not only destroy both worlds turning them into realms of nothing but un-dead beings and darkness but legends state he might try to fuse all realms together and drag them into the void to their complete destruction what some in my world call the Plane Meld, the Void Breach or the Ruination; essentially it is the end the world.”
“That sounds like the worse thing imaginable!” Jay interrupted receiving a caw from the raven to silence him.
“Due to his power and what he is Dagon cannot be banished by any normal means or any regular person. Because he was just recovered from the void and had not fully recovered his full strength the scroll that brought us here had an effect on him something it could not do when he was at his normal state. Now that he has fully recovered he is too powerful to cross the boundaries of worlds by any normal means. What you heard earlier and what now grows in the skies of your city is evidence that he has opened a portal capable of letting him pass though he will likely remain here for a while to build up followers in your world. The necromancers sadly are already established and rather prominent in my realm,” the raven explained.
“Who exactly are these necromancers why do they willingly follow such a horrid and corrupt being?” Nya asked.
“They`re evil I don’t know why else would you follow evil,” Jay blurted.
“It is actually hard to tell. Some do it out of fear, others for power or out of greed, some because they do not understand or know any better, some even just because they find they belong or fit in with them,” the Raven explained, “Onca for example, the leaders second in command, follows because she lost her mind when her son died of illness and her husband died trying to provide for them as a miner. It drove her to want to control death so none other would have to go through what she did and she hopes Dagon could return her loved ones from the grave. At the other end the leader, Mankar, is well known to be a rather corrupt and greedy person. He was apparently the mayor of a city but was fired when he began to misuse his power for his own gain causing serious harm to others. He became known as a tyrant. As leader of the necromancers he can continue his harsh and tyrannical ways and he has the power he wants which has only doubled since he set out to awaken Dagon. Dagon can offer each of them something they cannot get normally and they find likeminded members in the ranks of the necromancers to be their friends.”
“Is there a way Dagon can be destroyed?” Lloyd asked.
“It is unknown. If you cannot destroy him you might be able to at least fix things by vanquishing him back to the void,” the raven explained.
“Is there a way to vanquish him?” Lloyd asked.
“To bad we don’t have the Realm Crystal,” Cole suggested.
“What?” the raven asked a little puzzled.
“It allowed crossing between worlds,” Jay answered.
“That sounds like our worlds Realm Stone, a large reddish black spherical gemlike stone that allows the creation of a portal to allow anyone and anything to cross borders at will,” the raven responded and the image it displayed showed this orb being placed on the floor where it began to roll around on its own even when it was placed on non level planes!
“It looks like it’s possessed!” Jay exclaimed unnerved watching the ball roll on its own.
“I sense that is what they have used to open a portal between worlds,” the raven suggested.
“If the information I have is correct the stone is supposed to be locked up in a secret guarded vault?” Zane wondered.
“Yes which means my world might be in worse states than when the Dragon Guard left,” the raven proposed.
“You know just tossing him between worlds is not going to solve our problems. It will just make a mess of things,” Pixal advised to which the raven agreed.
“Indeed Fang Sister is right only banishing him back to the void can eliminate him for good and reverse his effects and the Void is not a realm,” the raven began, “the Void is not a place in the conventional sense. It is essentially said to be an existence outside time and space or outside reality and existence, the space between realms, the nothingness outside existence, what existed before all things and what will exist after all things, the Void. It is an endless mire that surrounds and holds the realms making them like islands in its vast ocean of well no one knows for sure what makes it up.”
“Then is there a way to do this?” Nya asked to which the raven divulged tilting its head, “an archaeologist from my world might know something about it. It is believed the Dragon Master used a piece of creation to cast him to the void but what this was and if any living being can do this is unknown.”
“Archaeologists, from your world, you mean we would have to go to where these horrors came from!” Jay exclaimed and even though the others were hesitant to call everything from this foreign realm as horrors, they had only seen snippets of what this realm had to offer, no one wished to argue with him. There were more important things to discuss than what nightmares this place could hold. No matter the horrors of this world they had to do something to save their world. Unfortunately visiting this Lost Realm and finding whatever this was looked to be their only option. There was one major problem however; how did they get to this realm?
“There’s travellers tea,” Lloyd opted before the Raven began to caw, “the scroll, the scroll; Cub of the Fang the scroll!” They were all a little confused at what the raven was trying to convey until Zane remembered what Rayyaima had given him. He held the scroll up to the raven who pecked at it. The item resembled a scroll but it was made of some sort of golden tinted metal which bore hints of a smooth wood look to its texture as if it couldn’t decide if it was made of wood or metal which made its casing with greenish gems embedded in it and the paper was black in color and oddly while resembling paper didn’t seem to truly be paper. Along with a strange metallic quality to its look the substance had iridescent sheens that dependent upon how you looked at it were either gold or red in color. It gave off a foreign and unpleasant energy that Zane only suddenly realised was there. Maybe because no one had been paying attention to it or they were just not acknowledging it but everyone seemed to suddenly become aware of the energy it was giving off.
“What is that?” Kai questioned a bit wary of the item.
“Why does it feel so…unnerving to have that thing here?” Cole wondered and the others agreed with him and the raven replied, “It is an Ancestor Scroll, a piece of creation. If used correctly it can take you to where you need to be in my world.”
“What are these pieces of creation exactly?” Wu asked confused about this strange object that he could sense there was something forbidden and dark about them. He had heard of such items but never looked much into them so knew little about them. His father had told him to never look into them, never to search for them and defiantly to ever let others know of them. The less who knew of them the greater the chances they would be forgotten and therefore never lead to problems. These items were tremendously powerful and dangerous and were supposed to be forgotten. The last thing the universe needed was anyone messing with them. He had come across a few of these scrolls all by accident in the past. Just their presence unnerved him and he always did what his father had told him to do with these things and take them to a strange hidden temple deep in a cave hidden in Primevals Eye known as the Incognitum a place his father had said was part of no realm but a breach from a place beyond. All he had to do was leave them on a pedestal in the dark shadow filled temple and nothing more. Within hours the item would disappear after he left. He had once hid to see what happened to these items and was disturbed by the alien looking floating tentacled humanoid monster that just phased out of the shadows to grab the item and drag it back into the shadows to disappear. This creature he had seen a few times before in the Cloud Kingdom and knew it was something he should never mess with. It was monster said to be from the void known as a Scribe; a very powerful demon creatures. He never wanted to know how the thing got there, what it was doing with the items or where it went but since it never seemed interested in doing anything other than taking the items he just let the place be. Over the decades he had come to theorize this Incognitum was part of a breach to this void which he had heard of as well but had been too scared of it to look much into it. He just knew he never wanted to have to deal with this place or any problems relating to it. Unfortunately it seemed despite his attempts and desires these things had now somehow forced him to deal with them in a greater way than he ever desired. He’d heard prophecies of this Void Breach before; it was known in all the realms but by only a handful of groups. Most assumed it was just a myth, a misinterpretation perhaps of something else. He had worried what they were facing could be this and until the ninja told him about what happened at the docks didn’t think what was going on was this as he had not seen any evidence pointing to it. It seemed he had been too early to push that worry aside. As this Raven had said this Void Breach was a supposed end of the world when a long lost demon of the void would return and change everything they knew. It was not well understood what it was going to do. Some thought it was simply merging realms to create a new one while others thought it was a true and complete destruction.
“It is said they were created from creation itself. They are incredibly powerful magical items that can foresee the future, see all possible times and realities, they can open portals to other worlds, banish powerful entities, among other things. They are most well known for revealing dark secrets and forbidden knowledge. They were often used to reveal prophecies in ancient times by an order known as the Ancestor Priests. These items were once scattered throughout the realms but knowing how damaging they could be if they fell into the wrong hands the Dragon Master traversed all the realms and collected as many as he could and placed them away from the public locked in a special vault in his realm and encouraged others including your Spinjitsu Master to do the same and send any they found to him. He hoped over time with them out of reach of most all would forget about these items so they would never be found and no one would come looking for them. They come in many forms but the Ancestor Scrolls were the most well known and commonly found,” the raven explained, “only Oni, Dragons, the Dragon Master and others like him or members of the Dragon Guard can use them without being blinded, having limbs disappear, losing your mind or other nasty and irreversible things though anything dealing with death will always result in death; these items are not forgiving or caring. Some people even say they are somehow alive and capable of basic thought.”
“If we were to use that then would those bad things would happen to us?” Cole wondered. The Raven deduced, “possibly but my sensors tell me your energies are compatible with those of the Dragon Guard. That means there is a high possibility you can use them with little harm as well. Around 97 point two percent I would say. That item is your best bet of getting where you need to be.” Everyone seemed unnerved about this and the prospect of having to leave their world behind to possibly fall into turmoil only to enter an unknown realm to look for a possible item to banish this deadly being. They would be leaving their world in danger if they left and who knew if they would be able find anything that could help in this realm.
“Sensei what do you think we should do. Should we go to this place?” Lloyd inquired.
“This might be our only hope. I have heard of this realm before but have never seen it. Most have come to call it the Lost or Forgotten Realm though some label it the Forbidden Realm. It is said to be an ancient yet young land full of many wonders and secrets. My father told me it was a land meant to be a place of the light however great shadows came to gain a foothold in the realm despite the creators’ attempts to banish them. They have come to hide in plain view cursing the realm with their darkness; a darkness so foul it could corrupt even the purest of souls into monsters. For this reason my father had forbidden travel to this realm for fear the darkness could spread corrupting any who venture there allowing it to escape into new realms but I fear we have no choice now. This enemy we face is not of our world but of this realms. What we need to save Ninjago likely will only be found in this realm. We will have to enter it to find what we need,” Wu stated unhappy with the prospect of having to venture or let others venture to this realm.
“You’re right, this might be our only chance to remove this enemy,” Lloyd agreed.
“If I were you I would learn a bit more about my home world. I have plenty to show you to help you; there is also that book the hyenoids gave you. My home the Lost Realm is not that bad a place, no worse than yours. Not everyone is like the necromancers. They will not want to hurt you. Many are likely looking for hope now that the Dragon Guard are defeated. You could be that hope,” the raven added in tilting its head to the one side. They all thought it over for a few seconds before coming to a conclusion. They would go.
“I should tell you this to prep you; the necromancers had also started spreading plagues of their make to weaken people so they could not fight back in the Lost Realm. Many are nasty creations that the necromancers will probably end up spreading here soon as well. Major places in the world are also likely taken over by the necromancers so you will have to be careful where you go,” the raven noted, “I would also recommend that any loved ones or friends you may have that you are leaving here that you deeply care about you get them somewhere safe before you leave your world. That is what the Dragon Guard did. As long as the necromancers are around they will not be safe. The necromancers will try to use them to get to you and their willing to go to the extremes to do it if you know what I mean. In the Lost Realm the Guard got their families, friends and loved ones to stay at their home, Cloud Haven Temple in the Pale Mountains, before they left on the mission in case they failed and had to retreat. The necromancers had already tried to harm some of them before.”
“We can bring them here to the monastery, I will stay behind to protect and fight alongside them till you return,” Wu offered. He was not feeling up to entering this foreign place and he knew they would need someone to stay behind to help keep things together.
“I will stay behind with Wu and help protect those here. The information the hyenoids gave me could help protect us,” Pixal offered. Misako added, “I would like to join you in this other realm, while I might not be able to join in a fight I could help with my knowledge of our world. I am also interested in learning more about this foreign realm; it could help us in fights against things from this place in the future.” They were all in agreement.
“I think it wise we follow the ravens’ advice and learn more about what we will be up against. We should first though contact friends and family to arrange for their safety while we are away,” Zane insisted and the raven nodded in agreement.
“You contact them and me and Pixal will pick them up in the Bounty and bring them here tomorrow,” Wu explained.
“I’m betting Cole’s going to contact someone special,” Jay teased before Lloyd scolded him, “now’s not the time for that Jay. Let’s just let them know what’s going on. We’ll have to be prepared to enter this realm first thing tomorrow so we don’t have much time to mess with.”
The room was dark having been carved out of a natural cave inside a mountain. No light from outside entered it. The room was part of a complex of rooms and structures built inside a mountain long ago. While most had artificial lighting including the hall that led up to this room the room itself lacked this. A hyenoid entered the room through a bronze colored metal door which had decorative geometric designs on it. This one was built to resemble the original hyenoid, being as human like as possible, though he did have various differences. He was made from unique materials much different from the corrupted versions though the covering over his jaw joint was made from more ancient pieces scraped up from this place, his eyes had been given a lavender color and his hair was a silvery white. His fake skin was dark though his ears and jaw joint lacked this skin. He wore simple worn and dirty off white robes making him look like a monk. On his forehead was a whitish mark. Half the mark resembled a gear the other half was the overhead view of the head of a Stag. As the hyenoid entered the dark room his glowing eyes gave some light to the room but not enough to cut through its darkness. When the hyenoid got to the centre of the room he stopped and looked around.
“You wished to see me sir,” the hyenoid blankly inquired to the darkness.
“Yes I have sensed that we will have travellers with great powers coming to our lands. There are some things I need prepared. They will be coming into our territory so we should be ready for them,” a deep slightly echoing voice came from the darkness and the hyenoid received orders in his mind from something in the dark.
“As you desire my emperor,” the hyenoid concurred bowing respectively to the darkness. The hyenoid was about to turn to leave when a pair of glowing chilly aquamarine eyes formed in the darkness to look at him.
“And Juib, I will not have you challenge my authority again. You will do as I say and not go behind my back this time,” the darkness growled but the hyenoid was unaffected by the sinister tone the voice used.
“I understand, my liege,” the hyenoid Juib replied emotionless before leaving the room.
Notes:
The Realm stone is inspired by the Sigil Stones from Oblivion. If you ever dropped one of these from your inventory they would slowly move about randomly on the floor till you picked them back up. I do not know why that was a feature in the game but it is weird and creepy especially when you plopped it down for display and found it creeping up behind you while you were doing something else. To make it worse the item emits a strange kinda creepy noise when not in a container or your inventory.
If have any questions go ahead and ask I do not bite. I will try to answer them, I will however not give away spoilers.
Chapter 16: Into the Unknown
Summary:
Now we're off on the adventure!
Notes:
Pictures relating to story can be found here: https://www.deviantart.com/nerdy-hyena/gallery/72478681/story-project
They are really good and help to visually flush out several aspects of the story including environments, characters, outfits, locations, creatures and other aspects often important ones in the story. All images I post in my work can be found there if you want a better look at them. Defiantly make sure to check them out.Also if you need a refresher on creatures, flora or aspects of the environment you can check out the second chapter in this work titled 'Keikiarys Guide to the Ash Wastes'. It includes short descriptions and pictures of these things.
Parts of this section are subject to change as the prequel story is written to improve story continuity.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Early in the morning they all gathered in the courtyard. It had been a restless night. Each had contacted friends and family before bed to tell them what was going on and that they would be getting picked up the next day. A deep thundering could be heard coming from the strange clouds over Ninjago City all night making it hard for any of them to get any sleep. Despite being some distance away the thunder echoed for miles and a few times the un-dead Racers had flown nearby searching for them. Their worries and fear of the unknowns they were about to face made it hard for all of them to get some sleep. When they got up in the morning the area covered by the strange clouds had doubled and reports from the city revealed the necromancers influence had taken over half the city. They were all nervous about what they were about to face and scared of what could happen to their friends while they were gone. They had set the scroll on the ground in the centre of the courtyard unsure of how to use it and who should use it. The raven was walking in circles around it looking at everyone who stood in a circle around the scroll. The Raven for a while seemed to be muttering to itself some verses of a poem to itself likely to entertain itself as it waited for them to make their move. ‘What this grim, ungainly, ghastly, gaunt, and ominous bird of yore; Meant in croaking “Nevermore,’ it quietly cawed as it circled for the eighth time.
“So how does this work?” Cole wondered.
“More importantly who should use it and what if it does do something bad to the reader?” Kai added.
“From the knowledge I have on my drives there is some confusion on how to use it,” the raven began giving a peck to the scroll as he stopped his walking and muttering to look at everyone, “some think it somehow knows what the users want it to do others think you have to ask or tell it what to do. If I were you I would probably simply ask it to take you where you need to be. As for who should use it…” The raven strolled up to Lloyd and pecked at his pants before continuing.
“My sensors tell me you are all compatible to the Dragon Guard so you could all be safe to use it. Out of you I believe it might be safest for him to use it. From what the Dragon Guard have accounted from their use of the scrolls you will get a blurriness to your vision, this will last for a few minutes. What will be noticeable is for about an hour sometimes more, depends on what you ask for, you will feel drained of energy, sort of an exhausted feeling and will be unable to use any powers. This will pass and you will be back to normal soon with no after effects,” the raven continued, ”I would also recommend that all others should pass through any portal before the scroll reader does so they make it through safe.”
“Well the longer we hesitate the worst things can get,” Lloyd declared picking up the scroll and looking at the cursed sky. Jay beginning to freak out muttered, “are we sure we really want to do this? Who knows where this will take us? What could be on the other side? What if this is all some sort of trick?”
“Well what other choices do we have? So far this is the only option we have been given to save Ninjago,” Nya affirmed, the others agreed with her.
“Here we go. Scroll thing, can you take us where we need to be?” Lloyd asked the scroll feeling rather awkward to be asking what seemed like an inanimate object to do something. He hesitated before he opened the scroll and began to read it as words seemed to suddenly appear on the scroll in golden writing. As he read it the wind picked up and a glowing violet tear began to open in the air in front of him. The scroll began to give off a golden glow as he read. The tear slowly opened into a portal as Lloyd finished.
“Well I guess this is it,” Lloyd told the others. The ninja were a little hesitant unsure and afraid of what might be on the other side but they knew they had to brave it. The raven was the first to head through flying through stating as it did, “follow me Ninja”. After giving Pixal a goodbye hug Zane was the first to brave the portal, followed by Cole, Kai and Nya who helped Misako through. Jay was the last and he covered his eyes as he stepped through the portal afraid of what might be on the other side.
“Be careful Lloyd. We do not know what we are up against and who knows what this other realm holds. My father warned me of this place. The realm itself is not evil, it was meant to be a world of brightness but for some reason a great evil came to gain a hold in the realm. He said it lurks in the shadows and hides behind illusions waiting to ensnare the innocent and light of the realm,” Wu cautioned. His father had told him tales of this Lost Realm since he had visited it quite a few times. It was not too bad a realm, no more dangerous than Ninjago but he had warned Wu and his brother there was something in that realm. Something no one, not even the realms creator, could identify that was dark. A deep evil dark capable of corrupting even the brightest souls and turning them into dark monsters, because of this his father had forbidden Wu and Garmadon from ever seeking to visit this realm. Even the Dragon Master had agreed to this not wanting whatever this evil was from escaping but now they had no choice. To save their realm Wu would have to let his ninja enter the realm. He could only hope the darkness his father had warned him about did not find the ninja and they all had to hope it did not find its way to Ninjago.
“Don’t worry we will be careful, let’s just hope this works,” Lloyd added before he slowly stepped through the portal. After stepping through the portal Lloyd suddenly found his vision blurred, he could just make out the blurred shapes of everything as he fell flat on his face suddenly feeling too weak to stand.
“Lloyd!” Misako worried as she and Nya helped Lloyd to stand on his feet.
“It is alright this is the side effects of using the scrolls. You will be back to normal soon,” the raven stated strolling up to them. Lloyd tried to say what sounded like “I hope your right” but he was too tired to say things clearly and it came out as a blurred and mumbled mess.
“You should probably rest,” Misako advised.
“Where are we?” Cole inquired looking around. There was a strong familiarity to this place, it looked like it could have been a city in Ninjago but there was also a strangeness to this place but none of them could tell what it was. They found themselves in a large park in a large city which seemed oddly empty and quite. A massive whitish stone tower looked to sit at the centre of the city with large circular walls around it and an inner section of the city where they stood. Cars seemed parked oddly about with doors wide open and some were flipped, newspapers and other items were scattered about or blowing in the wind and power lines and lamp posts were down. It looked as if something had happened and everyone had rushed out or hid as soon as they could. Blood red grass was sprouting everywhere and a foul smell of decay filled the place. It looked to have rained recently making the ground, including where they were standing, muddy and brought a cool dampness to the environment. Many of the trees and shrubs seemed dead with a few looking to have been burned. The sky was dark and the clouds that covered it bore eerie glowing red veins over them. Deep rolling thunder could be heard almost constantly and an occasional red bolt of lightning lit up the sky. It looked like an apocalypse world, a dead world.
“This is the biggest city in our realm the capital Nirnhold home to the Ivory gold tower the tallest man made structure in our world,” the raven began, “If you are wondering it normally does not look like this. This is an effect of what the necromancers have done and the opening of the portal to link worlds. Your Ninjago City will start to look like this too now.”
“So what are we to do now that we’re here? Where are we going to find an archaeologist here? The place looks empty?” Kai grumbled. The raven tilted its head to the side with one eye staring up for a couple seconds then with a video game like noise the raven stated, not opening its mouth as usual, in a rather different voice than it usually had been using, “co-ordinates updated.”
“We are not far from the cities national museum. I would recommend we try there first,” the raven responded back with its usual voice.
“Let’s get going,” Lloyd mumbled trying to walk forward but nearly falling over, luckily Cole was able to steady him before he fell on his face again.
“Don’t you think it’s better if you rest a bit first?” Cole questioned Lloyd who was still unable to see properly or able to stand on his own.
“I think it is best if we get somewhere indoors first, we do not know what is in this world and we do not know if the necromancers will tell their allies here to attack us,” Zane suggested noting what looked like those strange racer creatures circling around the city.
“How far away is this museum?” Jay asked the raven who responded with, “about two blocks in that direction.” It turned to look down one street coming off the park where past some buildings another park with a large building in it sat.
“Hey I think I see it. It doesn’t look that far,” exclaimed Jay. Knowing it would be best to head in there and get out of the open where they could easily be found they headed for the museum. Cole and Zane helped support Lloyd as they slowly headed towards the museum while the raven walked along with them occasionally pecking at random things on the ground as if testing what they were. At one point a group of what looked like strange rat like creatures with the snouts and teeth of a fox and big enough to prey on small dogs ran in front of them one stopping to hiss at them as they ran by. This freaked out Jay who insisted they hurry up and unnerved everyone else. The raven just calmly explained that it was just a Skeever, a small scavenging mammal commonly found in many regions of their world. They had to cross a small canal to get to the museum. While crossing it the ninja noted a few wrecked boats along with some crates and barrels and a bunch of bones floating about in its dark water. Some faintly icy glowing pod capped reed plants were growing in the canal, what the raven called Lunar Reeds. A strange beast which the raven stated was a strange reptile like mammal called a Kappa was there. A few of them seemed to be trying to get into the barrels and crates or play with the bones seeming to not care about what was going on in the world. As they got closer to the museum they could see it was dark inside and some of the strange grass and vines were growing up from its foundations.
“Doesn’t look like we’ll find anyone here,” Kai expressed as they walked up the few steps to the entrance.
“Well its someplace we could hide till we know what we are doing here,” Cole countered.
“It will also likely have a map we could use to get our bearings,” Zane added as Nya opened the door to which the raven in a relaxed manner strolled through first followed by the others. The inside of the museum was dark, lit only by the light from outside. In the main foyer of the museum stunning and amazing them all was a massive metallic dragon which had a single set of wings and a single set of legs that stood on its two legs with wings up, in a pose as if it was ready to attack. It was an interesting looking construct made of a golden bronze metal with decorative carvings and inlays and green jewel like eyes. The skin of the wing was a cloth like metal of some unknown material.
“What is that?!” Jay exclaimed amazed at such an amazing looking machine/robot.
“A Scimitar Dragon, a robotic replica of the real dragons that once graced Nirns skies. They were created by the ancient technologically advanced but now extinct Scymer folk who also created me,” the raven explained almost as if boasting, standing tall and trying to puff out its chest, “Few were ever made and only one is known to still live. Its location is known only to members of the Dragon Guard. This is just the outer shell of a dead one simply meant for display and knowledge. Like fossils and old bones.”
“Well raven where would we find a map here?” Kai asked before they started to hear a low growling. The raven took to flight cawing while it came to land atop the Scimitar Dragon to caw at the shadows of the room.
“Please tell me that was just someone’s stomach?” Jay worried. Before anyone could say anything or move slowly from the shadows several large bear sized strange crocodilian reptiles built like lions with four red eyes and tusks on their snouts stalked from the shadows towards them growling and baring their teeth. These were followed shortly by snake people of various forms, some like snakes while others were humanoid. They came from all sides and surrounded them.
“Serpentine!” the ninja exclaimed as the snake folk and crocodilian creatures encircled them. Though they looked ready for a fight the serpentine seemed to be confused more than aggressive. They were mostly unarmed with a few having wooden stone tipped spears and nothing more.
“You are not the Dragon Guard; you’re not necromancers either? You don’t look like Ashers either. Who are you?” one of them who bore the top half of a humanoid snake and the bottom half of a snake stated in a snake-ish voice looking them over. As he spoke the croc creatures relaxed and stopped growling. The serpentine seemed confused and held a decorative staff. Oddly the raven stopped cawing and came to land by the ninja as if it did not fear these folk.
“We could say the same to you,” Kai commanded pulling his sword.
“We do not want to pick a fight. We are the Tseci (ses-ee), and I am their emperor, Zaferi,” the serpent folk stated, “now who are you. You’re not in league with the necromancers are you?”
“We’re the ninja,” Lloyd managed to say starting to get some of his vision back and able to now at least stand a bit more on his own though he still needed Coles help to stable himself. Seeing the Tseci, as they called themselves, were even more confused at this Jay decided to elaborate.
“Long story short some folk from your world used some sort of scroll to send some of those necromancers and their nightmarish lord to our world where they are trying to take over it as well. We came here hoping to find something to get rid of them,” Jay blurted out. Though they still seemed a little confused they seemed to understand at least some of what Jay had said.
“Nightmarish lord? Are you talking about Lord Dagon?” Zaferi wondered.
“Half dead Oni dressed in tattered robes with a creepily calm manner for his cryptic desires then yes Dagon,” Jay affirmed and the Tseci seemed to become fearful and almost like they were ready to bolt.
“So the rumours are true! That demon is free!” Zaferi gasped tightly grasping his staff, “Things are far worse than we thought. After the Guard disappeared necromancers seemed to come out of hiding in droves joined by Ashers and began terrorizing the city and people. They’ve been spreading their horrid Blight disease to take out any who could stand against them. Most people are afraid to leave their homes or have fled to the country in hopes to find a place to hide. We would have left too but some of the scholars in this museum employed us to stay behind and protect them while they looked for a possible way to defeat Dagon. They feared the Dragons would fail, they were right. Only one remains, the others fled when rumours of Dagon’s return and the takeover of the city was complete; If you’re looking for help she is the only one who can help you,” Zaferi croaked while some of the Tseci then began to start barricading the doors with items which were not fastened to the ground in some way, “come I’ll show you to her she is in the Hall of Fabrication.” Zaferi showed them over to a wing at the right of the building whose large doors were made of a strange bronze gold metal and had a large bobtailed cat with scimitar teeth rearing up on each door.
“Hall of Fabrication?” Zane pondered as they headed into the wing. Inside the massive room was filled with strange artefacts, machinery, robotic beings and beings made of both robotics and flesh. They were struck with awe at all that they saw. At the centre of the room stood two creations, one resembling a Grundle but with various anatomical differences and half composed of robotics stood roaring at one that resembled a strange composition of hoofed mammal and predatory mammal composed entirely of metal. The two looked as if circling each other prepared to fight. Hung from the ceiling was a racer half made of metal and against the back wall stood a life sized model of a strange hyena folk that was half robotic. A few strange reptile monkey like creatures were against one wall and a few hyenoids were against another. The metal of all but the hyenoids was a strange golden bronze color. The hyenoids had what looked to be steel making them up with some dark fake skin and dark cloths and metal for clothes and armour. At the back of the room in the one corner stood a table with a lamp and various scrolls, books and tablets strewn on and around it; an ungulate folk whose pelt resembled a Saola’s stood going over the items. Her hair was short with ornaments which stood up pinned into it and protruding from her head were small fake horns which resembled those of a sable antelope. According to the raven the ungulate folk never had horns. Some though liked getting implants of fake ones for various reasons. She also wore glasses. Due to their beast like heads to hold the glasses on their heads without their ears it seemed the folk of this world had created some sort of implant to sit at the base of the ears for the arms of the glasses to hook into to help keep them on their heads. She was busy looking over a strange ancient book.
“Ninja welcome to the hall of fabrication, a display of all things created by the Scymer or Scimitar folk; from their robotics to cutlery. A lot of this stuff was found beneath our very feet. Nirnhold was built over the buried ruins of a Scymer city an ancient capital known as Bamz-Amschend. The one you are looking for is called Fae,” Zaferi explained to them before leaving to help his fellow snake folk who were trying to move the Scimitar Dragon with no success. The ninja were a little hesitant at first but slowly approached the figure.
“Excuse me, Fae is it?” Nya announced as they got closer. The raven flew over to one of the hyenoids and sat on its shoulder to rest.
“Did someone call my name?” Fae asked looking up from what she was doing, “did you need something?”
“They said you can help us. We need to find a way to banish Dagon to the void,” Zane conversed. Fae seemed confused and seemed to be thinking something over before answering.
“You’re not from here are you?” she finally said.
“You could say that,” Cole stated.
“We’re from another realm. Dagon got transported there with some of these necromancers and they are now turning our world into one like yours is now,” Lloyd explained. He could now stand on his own but was in no way ready to be moving too much or fighting and his vision was almost fixed.
“That’s not good. Well you came to the right place. With the Dragon Guard gone if you guys are willing to try you could be our only hope,” Fae explained, “please feel free to look around I was just going over some texts that could be useful.” They each took their time to glance over some of the items but eventually came to see what Fae was reading.
“Who’s this fellow? The half robot one,” Jay asked looking at the half robotic hyena folk who was at the back of the room intrigued. Fae answered without even looking up, “that is Jules the Wise. He was a special friend to the Scimitar folk who nicknamed him Clockwork. He was nearly killed in a battle and the Scymer saved his life by merging him with their robotics. He is one of the reasons the last Scymer gave his greatest and most loved creation the form of the hyena folk. Jules was brave, caring and wise.” Fae had some scrolls and a large book open in front of her. Thanks to the knowledge he had been given Zane could see she was reading texts written in the scimitar language. The knowledge was allowing him to read and decipher the strange texts on the various documents laid about yet the passages in the book was indiscernible despite being similar in appearance to the other. The odd text was confusing Zane.
“How come I can read this one but not that one, they look similar enough to deduce a meaning?” Zane pondered pointing at the two texts and drawing Fae’s attention.
“You have Scimitar programming too, interesting. Hmm… well both of these are written in the ancient writing of the Scimitar folk. Only a handful of scholars can fully read it but all Scimitar creations can read it with no problem except this type,” Fae explained pointing at the odd passage.
“What’s so special about that type,” Cole asked.
“Well this type is a special form of writing used only by certain folk. Monks, royalty, military commanders; it was used to communicate highly secret information. Often things they did not want to fall into the wrong hands. Sadly only a select few of their robotics from only a few settlements were given the programming to read this. Until recently none had ever been found or at least captured,” Fae explained, “some archaeologists searching the Ash Wastes by the Red Mountain which is sometimes called the Red Tower, Dragons Maw or Oni’s Heart, our lands largest volcano, stumbled across what they believe to be the ancient Scymeri stronghold of Holamaya and they found this fellow buried in the ash outside.” Fae pointed to a strange looking robot resembling some sort of duckbilled reptilian monkey like creature with a small backward pointing horn on its head that lay on the table next to her. It bore decorative markings on its body and was made of a whitish silvery metal. It had patches of hardened ash on some parts and parts of its inner mechanics were falling out of its seems. Wires were connecting it through a port in its head to a tablet on the table that was leaning against its body.
“This is a Robo-bill. A robotic version of the monkey like reptilian creatures called Tree-bills that can be found in most of the forests of our world. These were often created as workers or secretaries though some folk also seemed to enjoy them as pets. Normally they are made of Scimitar metal like those you can see in this wing but this one is made of what some believe to be Lunar-steel. A rare incredibly tough material only the Scimitars knew how to make,” Fae continued, “this is one of the few who have the programming that can read the texts. It’s believed this one might have been performing a scribe or secretary role for an emperor or military commander since he was found with this book next to a Scymer skeleton. Both apparently were buried by an ash storm long ago.”
“The Stronghold Holamaya where it was found had long been known as the Forbidden City this was due to no one knowing what the place really was since few wished to ever go near the place. The place has long been believed to be cursed. Our world was created by one who is referred to as the Dragon Master, one who was both dragon and oni and who protected our world in the times of myth. Not many know but the Dragon Master in ancient times decided to lock up all Pieces of Creation along with other dangerous items and knowledge that can harm our world and the other Realms. He entrusted the Scymer with their amazing technological and advanced knowledge to build a hidden vault that no spiritual entity or pure blooded Oni could enter in the mountains by the Dragons Maw to hold these items. Holamaya was this stronghold; built into one particular mountain, the Mountain of Dawn. For a long time this stronghold was safe. It is not sure when but sometime after the Dragon Master passed and sometime before the end of the war against the reptilian snake folks, the Tseci, 40 years ago the city disappeared from knowledge,” Fae began, “and this fellow can tell us why. According to its database an entity known only as the Black Stag sieged the city turning robotics and animals on the citizens and wiping the place out. The Scimitar folk abandoned the place…”
“Why are you going over all of this?” Kai budded in getting impatient.
“Because the only item that can banish Dagon, the item the Dragon Master used in mythic times, is locked up in those vaults. The problem is getting to Holamaya and getting inside,” Fae explained.
“How is getting there hard?” Zane asked confused. How was it hard to get somewhere? It was obvious this world had efficient transportation systems surely they could get there with no problem.
“Because when the Red Tower first blew over 70 years ago it buried the surrounding areas in ash and it has continued to spew ash ever since. At first the area covered in ash was small but over the years it has grown and swamped towns creating an ash wasteland. The ash is also said to have rather unnatural properties and effects on things it touches. It affects navigational equipment and some believe it can mutate organic beings exposed too much to it into monsters. To keep the ash wastes, which are called the Ash Wastes, at bay the emperor of Nirn commissioned a special gate made from Scymer technology to hold back the ash and prevent its spread,” Fae explained, “only a few gates allow passage into the ash wastes. All are heavily guarded.”
“Not to mention the dangerous beings found there: Asher’s. They come in two types, regular folk who often have yet to turn and the monsters they turn into. It’s said these monsters were once regular people but were mutated by joining this horrid group turning into twisted and monstrous versions of their former selves. Asher’s always side with dark forces and are worshipers of the Oni. Currently they are in league with the necromancers and if you thought the necromancers were bad you haven’t seen an Asher,” Fae continued.
“That does not sound pleasant,” Jay commented from where he and Nya were looking over the Robo-bill before a loud bang out in the main foyer and what sounded like a large scuffle caught everyone’s attention to which Jay added, “nor does that!”
“That’s likely the necromancers,” Fae announced, “we can’t let them get the book or the Robo-bill.”
“I’ll carry the Robo-bill,” Cole stated gently picking up the Robo-bill with help from Nya who disconnected it and took the cords and tablet. The raven flew to land in front of Zane who picked him up. The Raven did not complain.
“Is there another way out of here,” Misako asked helping to collect and carry some of the documents while Fae picked up the book. Before anyone could do anything one of the shambles creatures burst into the room followed by three necromancers and a few more of the Shambles. The group stopped in front of them. Two of the necromancers held spears pointed at them while the leader wielded a mace.
“Just as suspected you came here. We’ve been waiting for you. You will not get away this time,” the leader exclaimed.
“You do realize you’re greatly outnumbered,” Kai pointed out while Fae leaned into Zane and whispered into his ear, “you have scimitar programming. You can connect with the constructs in here. Wake them up and tell them their home is in danger.” Though he was confused by the request Zane dug through the programming he had been given and found he could connect with some of the robotics here. Some were apparently more than just for display.
“There are more of us on the way and when they get here you will be greatly regretting escaping from us. Maybe we should infect you with something nasty. How about Corpus is?” the leader threatened.
“Corprus that doesn’t sound pleasant,” Jay muttered as slowly behind the necromancers the half robotic Grundle like creatures mouth slowly closed as Zane finished communicating with it. Only he was aware of it thanks to the scimitar programming.
“No it isn’t. Created by our Lord Dagon once it infects its victims their bodies slowly and very painfully rot away keeping you alive to feel every agonizing moment till so much of your body has rotted away that you can no longer sustain life. Normally your powers protect you from the condition but Dagon can change that and as for your metal friend Dagon can infest him with a similar condition that will disintegrate him to dust in a very similar way, he’s not safe either. None of you are safe,” the leader boasted as the robotic creature moved slightly its one forearm which caught the one necromancers attention. The necromancer was unsure what had happened as he looked behind himself but he seemed to know something was off as he remained staring at the creature.
“That sounds very unpleasant,” Cole exclaimed.
“What are you staring at?” the leader questioned noticing his one companion was distracted.
“I think it moved!” the companion claimed not taking his eyes off the construct.
“Your nuts these are just replicas, fakes,” the other companion stated.
“They look realistic to me,” Jay stated and the leader rolled his eyes not amused at his companions behaviour.
“Look they’re fake so they can’t move,” the leader exclaimed strolling up to the Grundle like figure and tapping part of its metal arm which gave off a metallic knocking as he did, “it’s just painted steel, plastic and leather. Do you think they would really put such valuable things on display where they could be stolen?” Within seconds of him finishing his talking the creature whipped its head down and closed its jaws around his top half then threw him against the one wall behind some Robo-bills who came to life and began to terrorize him.
“They’re ALIVE!” the one necromancer shouted as several of the robotics came to life and attacked the necromancers and their creations. The ninja were spooked unsure what to do though Zane and Fae were not. They knew the beings would not hurt them.
“Come we can escape, they won’t hurt us,” Fae explained.
“What do you mean?” Kai demanded dodging the hoofed predatory mammal robotics tail as it fought some of the shambles as they tried to flee.
“These constructs protect their homes and friends. They’ve been reprogrammed to see the museum as their home and since your friend has Scymer programming they can connect with him and use some of his data to determine who’s a friend and whose a foe. They’ll keep us safe,” Fae explained leading them to a back door of the hall then out of the museum through a back door. Outside some corpse-birds were circling and some shambles and necromancers were approaching the building.
“We’ll have to fight our way free but I’m still feeling too weak and I can’t get my powers to work,” Lloyd exclaimed as they prepared to fight but before they could move something large and metallic landed atop the museum shaking the building and drawing everyone’s attention. Looking up they saw a Scimitar robotic dragon perched atop the building, its wings helping to hold it atop the building by pressing against the wall. It looked down at them for a second with glowing green jewel like eyes before turning its attention to the necromancers and giving off a loud deep metallic roar. When it finished it’s roar the dragon watched as a figure jumped off its back to land on the ground in front of them. The figure wore what looked like samurai armour and its mask bore an amazing resemblance to one of the scimitar headgears that was in the museum.
“Vahlok destroy the necromancers,” the figure commanded with a deep growling voice to the robotic dragon who confirmed with a metallic roar at the necromancers who were slowly backing off staring at the dragon in fear. The dragon took off and released a bright green fire from its mouth at the necromancers as it flew over them sending them all scattering. The dragon circled once then landed and followed on the ground, crawling on all fours, chasing the necromancers away.
“The Scimitar Dragon will defend us, there is a truck waiting to take us out of the city,” the figure calmly claimed pointing to an alley way across the street.
“Alright lets go,” Fae agreed leading the way to the truck where an antelope looking folk who wore an eye patch over one eye and a red dyed rice farmers hat was waiting to help them into the truck. When everyone was in the back the ungulate folk closed the door. Inside the truck were some lanterns and cushions with various crates of books, scrolls and artefacts held in them. It was clear the truck had been planned for them to escape in.
“We might as well settle down. I had this truck waiting in case I had to get out of the city in a hurry,” Fae explained turning on a battery lamp as the truck began to drive out of the city. They sat down for the trip and Fae started to hook the robo-bill up so she could continue her work while the Ninja turned their attention to this new figure.
“Are you one of those Scimitar folk the others are talking about?” Jay asked the figure who was staring at them.
“It’s okay they’re here to help,” Fae told the figure.
“No the Scimitar folk have been extinct for a while now. You will not find any alive today,” the figure explained their voice lightening in tone and turning more feminine as it removed its mask revealing it to be a robotic female of the hyena folk however she did not resemble the hyenoids. She had white skin with various lavender markings; some resembled circuits while others seemed to mimic scimitar symbols and decoration. She had silvery hair and her tail bore silvery fake fur and she had green eyes.
“I am Kiki, the Scimitar Warrior. I was not built by the scimitars; my creator is one of the regular cat folk though his mind is as great as those ancient peoples. I was never originally made with scimitar programming but thanks to a member of the Dragon Guard, an android who was made by the last scimitar, I do have the Scimitar programming now and a better understanding of them,” she explained seeming fond of mentioning this other android like she had feelings for him, “Fae wanted me to watch over the museum till she left so I brought the Scimitar Dragon Vahlok to help. After the Dragon Guard was lost we had to do all we could to try and fix things.”
“Okay now that we know our mysterious helper what about this Holamaya place?” Lloyd asked.
“We first have to make a stop at the village of Kummu. I need to pick something up at the Temple of Fangs, something that could help us. There is also someone there who can help us, they are the only one who has been to Holamaya seen the stag and lived,” Fae explained.
Notes:
What the Crow is muttering is from the poem by Edgar Allen Poe called The Raven; "What this grim, ungainly, ghastly, gaunt, and ominous bird of yore; Meant in croaking “Nevermore.” The poem is rather confusing and somewhat hard to understand its meaning but while researching for my story I finally learned what its meaning is and it feels a bit fitting for my story which has a lot to do with a similar theme of grief. The poem is about how grief can overcome a person's ability to live. Through the poem the speaker's inability to forget his lost love Lenore drives him to despair and madness.
If have any questions go ahead and ask I do not bite. I will try to answer them, I will however not give away spoilers.
Chapter 17: Tafari
Summary:
Who is this? Are they friend or foe?
Notes:
Pictures relating to story can be found here: https://www.deviantart.com/nerdy-hyena/gallery/72478681/story-project
They are really good and help to visually flush out several aspects of the story including environments, characters, outfits, locations, creatures and other aspects often important ones in the story. All images I post in my work can be found there if you want a better look at them. Defiantly make sure to check them out.Also if you need a refresher on creatures, flora or aspects of the environment you can check out the second chapter in this work titled 'Keikiarys Guide to the Ash Wastes'. It includes short descriptions and pictures of these things.
Parts of this section are subject to change as the prequel story is written to improve story continuity.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
“So how much longer are we supposed to wait?” Kai asked getting impatient. After they had arrived at Kummu, a town on the border of some arid grassy plains that showed no signs of the apocalyptic reign of the necromancers yet, Fae and Kiki headed off to the temple while the rest were waiting on the patio of a tavern that looked over the towns’ center, the market place. A few folk were still going about their business trying to keep business as usual. Every now and then some of the kids would stop by to stare at them or see what they were doing. Fae had given the ninja some books to look over about the scimitars and their creations along with the history and life of the Ash Wastes of their world while they waited. They had pulled some tables together to make a larger table and strewn across it were several books and scrolls along with some pieces of metal and artefacts of Scimitar creation. The raven was perched on the table answering any questions they had.
“Just give them some time, it shouldn’t take too long,” Misako encouraged Kai who was not amused at having to read when they could be doing something else, like training.
“So that thing, in the museum the Grundle like one… the large two legged reptile thing that was half metal,” Cole questioned and the raven responded, “that was a Fear Fabricant. Fear were large powerful and deadly reptilian creatures. It is believed they are extinct. Fabricants are beings composed of a mix of organic and robotic parts created by the Scimitars. The Fear-bricant was made from the Fear and it was their second deadliest fabricant. Fear were well known for hides which were impervious to most weapons. Exceptional trackers once they chose their mark they almost always took it out.
Their deadliest fabricant was a special fabricant made from the racer. It is said they had the bones and blood of dragons fused into its parts to give it the powers of a dragon. As many dragon types were used as possible to give them powers over as many elements as possible. Others say the Mother of Dragons blessed them herself with their powers. These fabricants can also do what only dragons can. They can travel between realms. However they came to have their powers is still a matter of debate but like all other fabricants they were made humanely; seriously harming innocent life was not the Scimitar way. They appreciated and respected all forms of life. There are legends that say because of this trait the dragons gifted the powers to these creations. These special racer fabricants are exceptionally rare. Only Five were ever made but only one is known, the where abouts of the rest are unknown. They were created to guard the vault you seek and to wipe out members of the dragon guard should they have become corrupted,” the Robotic Raven who stood at the center of the table explained.
“Hopefully we don’t run into any of those,” Lloyd commented.
“Hey that racer fabricant, it looks like that one from that book you had been looking in Zane. The Accounts of Madness,” Jay boasted showing everyone a schematic for the racer fabricant.
“That is because it was. Those tales are true. We have the same book here; Sheoth brought a copy to be printed here back from one of his travels. Those are tales of some of his visits in your world. He has the only known special fabricant. It is like his beloved pet, it is named Pelagius,” the Raven explained.
“Sheoth? Didn’t you say that was an Oni,” Lloyd inquired not liking the fact this oni could freely visit their realm, who knew what this oni could do.
“Indeed, he is the Prince of madness. Cursed by his own kind for going against them. By using his dragon imbued racer fabricant he can pass the borders between realms. Do not worry though. He wishes no ill to any world. He is an Oni but he is not evil, just insane a chaotic neutral party if you would. If he visits your realm you should be glad. That means he likes it and he might defend it should it be endangered. He enjoys visiting new places when vacationing. If I am not mistaken he enjoyed his time in your realm and likes it. You should feel lucky he likes your world that means he would be willing to aid in its protection if it is needed,” the Raven responded. They were a little stunned to hear of this and sat in silence for a few seconds before anyone went to talk again.
“What kind of metal are most of these creations made of?” Zane asked looking over a schematic of a Robo-bill feeling an odd connection to these strange robotic creations. Zane was thinking it had something to do with the scimitar programming he had been given or maybe that they were the same kind of entity as him.
“It is called Scimitar Steel. All knowledge on how it was made or what it is made from has been lost. All that is known is it is immune to the effects of weather so it does not rust, it is effected by electricity but not magnets and is incredibly tough. It does not chip or scratch easily. Titanium is believed to be a component since they share some features but other components are unknown. The Scimitars stopped making the material around 75 years ago. My creator who also created the original hyenoid did not know how to make it and never worked with it. The knowledge had already been lost by his time,” the raven explained while Jay was fiddling with a strange cube like object with various runes coating it and circular centres to the faces. He was apparently trying to find how to open it.
“Isn’t this supposed to open like it shows here?” Jay inquired holding the cube and pointing to a set of pictorial instructions he had sitting in front of him. The raven looked at the cube for a second before responding with, “I think you are confused that is a cube they used for the storage of knowledge, only special computers in their ruins can read them. It is a data cube not a puzzle cube though they did make ones like that as puzzle cubes for children so I can see your confusion.” Jay put the cube on the table feeling a little disappointed that he could not open the cube and that it was not the puzzle cube. The puzzle cube looked quite fun to try out.
“What is this one?” Nya asked intrigued looking over the schematic of a large mech like one which bore a large blade on one arm, a hammer on the other and a head built to look like a scimitar cat with its ears folded back with pits mimicking where whiskers would sit covering the snout.
“It is a Scimitar Centurion. They were built to guard towns and cities. Their weapons include a blade for stabbing, a club and there are pits on their snout to spray various materials at opponents. Usually steam is the most common material but also frost, fire, electricity and even acid can be sprayed,” the raven explained, “they are well known to be nasty to deal with. If faced by one they are easiest to hit from behind and when they make a growling noise watch out. They are going to spray something from the pits on its snout. Many have been repurposed as mechs in modern times so few are still alive.”
“The other large one that was there, looked like some sort of large hoofed wolf like creature, what was it?” Lloyd asked looking through the one book for a possible picture of it.
“That was a robotic replica of the Hoofivore,” the raven explained, “Hoofivore’s are large powerful predatory mammals which bare hooves instead of claws and are one of the few animals that can naturally take out a Fear. The reptilian folk tried to wipe it out during the reptilian wars to demoralise the people since it sided with the people and was a symbol of love and power. They mate for life and are apex predators. It is believed the Dragon Master created them giving them features of hoofed mammals and predatory mammals to signify the unity of the races together. This has led it to be seen as a sort of mascot for the union of the races. It is nearly extinct now with only five known mated pairs left. All well protected in sanctuaries. The robotic Hoofivore was created by that cybernetic hyena folk that was in the museum with them, Jules the wise. He became an honorary Scimitar however he disappeared during the reptilian wars.” As the raven finished Fae and Kiki returned, Fae was carrying a small chest.
“Well are we ready to go?” Kai impatiently asked as the others returned.
“We will have to stay here overnight and tomorrow we will leave on a train to Balmora. Due to the problems with necromancers and Ashers all but the gate in Balmora have been closed and no one is allowed to pass through any of the gates. Currently only researchers, loggers, miners for the various mines found in the wastes, supply shipments, wildlife and guards are allowed to pass through Balmora’s gates but they have agreed to let us go through,” Fae explained placing a small chest in front of her on the table as she sat at the table, “they are willing to help us in any way to stop the Necromancers.”
“What’s in the box?” Jay inquired.
“Something to maybe help us with the only person who has seen the Black Stag,” Fae responded.
“Do you know who this person is? Will they meet us?” Zane inquired.
“They said we will meet them on the train tomorrow. They are the leader of the guard in Balmora, general Tafari I believe is their name. They have been busy protecting the town from invaders and training new soldiers for the guards there. They often travel on the train that delivers supplies to Balmora to keep shipments safe. For some reason they didn’t want us to contact this person or speak with them,” Fae explained.
“Why?” Nya questioned.
“All they wished to tell me was you could trust a snake more than Tafari. They think there’s a reason they’re the only one to see the Stag and live and it’s not to help us,” Fae revealed unnerving everyone else.
“Where is that hyenoid Kiki?” Zane wondered, a little curious to know more about what it was like to be an android in this world.
“She left. She’s helping to protect the friends and families of the Dragon Guard with Vahlok, the Scimitar Dragon,” Fae explained.
“Is this Tafari meeting us on the train or at the station?” Jay asked as they boarded the train destined for Balmora. The old steam train was worn with what looked to have once been a regal red paint which had paled and mostly fallen off exposing the metal below. Dark Grey ash was caked to parts of the side, window ledges and roof. Some of the beast folk were cleaning the windows while it was being loaded so passengers could at least look out the windows.
“I’m not quite sure, we’ll just have to see,” Fae stated holding onto the chest as they entered the bar car. The bar car had a bar at one end with some chairs across from it while the other half held a few tables with low backed benches. Three folk were there. One that resembled a deer who wore an eye patch, four fake horn implants forming a crown on his forehead and a tank top; a tattoo of a beetle sat on his shoulder and a scar covered the left side of his face. His hair was in a Mohawk which was its natural dark brown at the base which faded to a red on its top. Next to him sat a cat folk who wore a Rice farmer’s hat, had a whisker like moustache, the tattoo of a red hand on its face and a cybernetic left arm and eye. Both sat at the bar and instantly turned their gaze to the Ninja as they entered the carriage. The other person made no movement; they just kept staring out the window from a seat across from the bar. This person wore a strange armour of what looked like giant scutes from some sort of reptile or bug sewn to dark leather and purplish pink tattered fabric which covered their entire body and its enclosed head was encased by the same scute like material and fabric covering it with large goggle like structures to allow the wearer to see out of it. Whoever wore it did not seem interested in what was going on around them. They sat arms crossed staring out the windows. There was nothing visible to establish what race they were or what gender they were. The two at the bar watched the group as they sat down with not too pleasant stares, ears folded back. The Ninja decided to sit at the benches. Lloyd and his mother sat with Fae at one. Nya, Kai, and Jay took another while Zane and Cole sat at another where Zane could get a good look at the stranger. The raven followed Zane to lay on the table in front of him, it too began staring at the strange figure. The raven was reminding Zane of his falcon and he was enjoying the ravens company. Zane was not entirely sure why but he was getting a strange reading from this person but he was having trouble pinpointing what or why this was.
“I don’t like the way they’re looking at us,” Jay mumbled to the others trying not to look at the two at the bar.
“Why are they looking at use like that?” Lloyd quietly asked Fae who was not exactly sure. While they were focused on the two at the bar who started to quietly talk to each other Zane noticed the armoured figure seemed to be now looking at them, or at least it looked like it was looking at them. Hard to tell with that headgear it wore.
“Hey outlanders where do you think you’re going,” the ungulate-folk growled with a deep gruff voice as he and his companion pulled out a dagger each and slowly approach them.
“What’s it matter to you?” Kai argued.
“You’re outlanders, outlanders bring nothing but trouble to our land,” the cat-folk growled with a similar deep voice.
“Our business is our own. We do not intend to bring trouble,” Lloyd addressed the two clearly sensing a possible altercation approaching.
“You bring metal skins with you. That is trouble if you ask us you filthy s’wits?” the cat-folk hissed looking angrily at Zane and the raven making Zane feel unnerved and isolated.
“What do you mean …” Cole began preparing to defend his friend before the ungulate-folk cut in, “their kind is not welcome in our lands. They’re not even worthy enough to be called living things; they’re all emotionless disloyal hunks of animated scrap who’ll turn on you. You bring them anywhere near the ash wastes and the Stag will turn them on you to tear you apart you...” Before anyone could do or say anything to protect their friend and before this folk could finish the stranger whirled up from their chair punching the ungulate in the stomach winding him with a punch from below. While he crouched on the ground trying to catch his breath the figure ripped the dagger from the cat-folks hand and when the cat-folk went to throw a punch the figure dodged the throw, grabbed him by the neck and thrust their knee in to the cat-folks chest before elbowing them in the back of the neck. They then threw him to the floor where the cat-folk lay dazed. At this time after catching his breath the ungulate-folk went to stab the figure in the back only to be shocked when the figure whipped around, grabbed them by the back of their neck, slammed their head into the bar then whirled around to shove and pin him to the wall, pinning his arm in a very unpleasant manner to his back.
“If I were you I would hold my tongue or I’ll be sending you two back to your Asher masters in a tea pot, a very small tea pot,” the figure threateningly stated in a very deep and almost robotic sounding voice.
“How…” the ungulate-folk tried to start barely able to breathe with how tight the figure was pressing him to the wall.
“We had a feeling you would attempt to get involved but only two of you? Your no match for me let alone six Dragons, what were you hoping to achieve?” the figure questioned.
“We were told these strange folk might be coming here. We were supposed to unnerve them, maybe ruff them up a bit, maybe remove their robotic friend or at least let them know the necromancers know they’re here and the Ashers have sided with them. If they step a foot in the ash wastes we’ll know and we’re ready to do whatever it takes to stop them,” the cat-folk responded cowering on the floor with his back against the bar.
“Well you can tell your masters you failed and next time if they want something done why don’t they send one of those freaks from the Ash wastes to do real damage and let them know we’re on to them; now get your Ash laden corpses out of here,” the figure declared then it aggressively threw the ungulate-folk to the floor. The two wasted no time in collecting their stuff and rushing out of the cart; the ungulate-folk crying that his arm felt broken or dislocated while the other thought he wet himself as they ran. They all just sat staring in awe at what they had just seen. Zane had the odd feeling that even though the figure was not looking at him it was somehow searching him, almost like he was being hacked and it was letting him know. Who was this figure? Were they robotic or was their suit somehow connected with some sort of computer? Didn’t look like it.
“Who are you?” Nya questioned but the figure did not respond. It did however turn to look at them, standing with its arms crossed as if judging them.
“What are you; no common folk could do what you just did? Are you a samurai, ninja, one of these Dragon Guards?” Jay questioned but again the figure did not respond. It seemed to survey them all before it decided to speak.
“I hear you’ve been looking to see me?” is all it said as if they should already know who this figure was.
“Are you General Tafari?” Fae hesitantly questioned.
“Indeed,” the figure replied, “I have been told you are coming to Balmora and wish to enter the Ash Wastes. I will ready you for the ash lands but I will not help you.”
“How’d you…” Jay began before Tafari cut him off, “know. The folk at the Temple of the Fangs contacted me last night.”
“Is what they say about you…” Cole began before Tafari again cut someone off.
“Yes and no. I am the only one to have been inside Holamaya that is true but I never met the Stag himself. Despite what you may have heard I am not in league with him nor did I ever meet him in person, well as person you can get with an ethereal being. It was his robotic and bestial minions I dealt with and not by choice,” the figure growled clearly offended by anything to do with the Black Stag.
“Can you take your helmet off? It’s a little unnerving that we can’t see your face?” Jay expressed, “if we’re going to be working together shouldn’t we get to know you? How can we tell you’re not a necromancer or hyenoid if we can’t see your face?” At first the others looked like they were going to scold Jay for possibly being impolite but they clearly understood the meaning behind it.
“He’s right; can we see your face? Can you show us you’re not in league with the enemies?” Lloyd addressed the figure.
“I would not recommend it,” the figure proclaimed putting its hands on its hips and raising its head.
“What have you got to hide?” Cole pried but the figure did not respond. It glanced slightly towards Zane and Zane thought he saw a slight glow in behind the one lens of the goggle. The figure took a deep breath before deciding to respond.
“Fine but I warned you,” the figure groaned. They then went to take off their helmet, hesitating for a second. When they finally revealed their face everyone was a little shocked or disturbed and Zane could see why he was getting odd readings from them. Tafari was a female bluish grey colored hyena-folk but not the most pleasant looking of one; she had clearly been through quite a bit getting rather battered and scarred. Her left eye and ear were replaced with robotic versions with metal skin around those areas. Her right ear was torn nearly to the base and over half was replaced by a metallic replica. A large scar covered the right side of her face and crossed her right eye which still seemed to be fine though it was bizarre being amber with some emerald color extending out from the iris giving her eye two tones. Her hair was short standing up in a Mohawk and dyed a ginger color from its normal dark grey color. The metal of her was a silvery version of the Scimitar Steel from the museum.
“What happened to your face!” Jay exclaimed without hesitating, he was the most unnerved and spooked by her appearance out of all of them. While the others were obviously trying to hide their shock at Tafari’s appearance Zane was not so unnerved but more intrigued. It must have been the signal from her cybernetics he had been picking up on when they entered but why had she been trying to hack his systems. Was she trying to communicate, assess him or was she trying to do something darker?
“I warned you. This is what happens when you enter the ash lands unprepared and I’ll let you know there is more beneath the rest of my armour,” she angrily proclaimed teeth bared and her voice now sounding more like a regular persons than the deep robotic one she had been using earlier. When she spoke it could be seen that quite a few of her teeth, most notably the canines and a few of the incisors were metal implants.
“Is it that bad?” Jay croaked.
“Its smelly, it’s hot, dark, hurts to breathe, there is toxic gasses and acidic lakes that can eat through metal, and inhabited by horrors who will carve you up till you’re like them or apart of the ash itself. The creatures that manage to make a living there are even less pleasant, driven mad by the cursed wastes only insect and reptilian beasts can thrive there. Not to mention where we are going sits just to the north of the Blackwood Labyrinth, the massive jungle that few living mortals have ever escaped from once entering. The ash wastes have claimed part of this forest turning some plants and animals into monsters which have spread into Balmora. For example there’s a vine like plant with large thorns we call Trauma Root, stay clear from it or you’ll find out why we call it that. There is also the beasts and robots who are under the Black Stags control who show no mercy to any person. Not even babies are spared by the Stags cruelty. When the ash isn’t blowing they wander the wastes searching for victims or breaking into Balmora and other settlements to steal things. We don’t know how they’re getting past the fence but they are. Then to make things worse since the necromancers captured the capital the Ashers have been trying to aid them in capturing the towns that border the wastes. Balmora is the biggest and an essential strategic spot for areas around the labyrinth and wastes. Security has been stretched lately and your presence is likely to draw more threats to the town,” Tafari boomed, she clearly was not pleased with them.
“We’re sorry but we don’t mean to cause you trouble. We’re trying to help you get rid of the necromancers,” Lloyd tried to reason, trying to get Tafari in a better mood. She clearly was not going to have any of it.
“Huh even without you we’d have trouble. It’s not just the Ashers I’m worried about, it’s the Stag. Those two are well known friends to the Ashlanders but are tolerated because they have not caused too much trouble in Balmora. They are correct in one thing. No matter how strong you think your robotic friend is he is no match for the Stags influence. He can fight all he wants but the Stag will win and control him. While he has largely left Balmora and its inhabitants alone say for thefts and minor attacks by his minions I fear your presence might draw the Stags attention and no one knows what he might do,” She continued glancing over at the table Zane was at. Zane couldn’t help but feel she was singling him out making him uncomfortable.
“He’s our friend, part of our family, we’re not leaving him behind,” Lloyd argued standing up at his seat ready to defend his friend.
“You don’t have too. I’m just saying keep an eye on him. Anything out of the ordinary with him then I want to know. We have something special for him that will hopefully keep the Stag at bay,” Tafari stated, “I should know he has tried to control my cybernetics before.”
“So you never really met the Stag? You went into Holamaya though wasn’t he there?” Fae tried to clarify.
“Yes I went to Holamaya that’s where his minions did this to me,” she claimed pointing at herself, “why they did it I don’t know. I do not ever recall seeing the Stag. He just let his minions experiment on me. Since then I have sworn to never venture past the Ghost Fence into the ash wastes.”
“Ghost Fence?” Cole mumbled not liking the sound of that.
“It is the name given to the fence that holds back the ash. Along with its towers, metal bars, gates and glass walls there are devices created from old Scimitar technology that creates a force field to help keep the physical structure safe. This force field is seen as a transparent greenish glowing wall. Because of this structure locals have nicknamed it the Ghost Fence,” Fae explained and Tafari added, “it is perfectly safe and not haunted but please don’t touch it or lick it. You’ll get a serious shock and electrical burns and I’m tired of filling out reports on foolish tourists goofing around now I do not wish to talk further of the Black Stag. I’d advise you get some time to relax on the train cause when we get to Balmora you’ll have no time to. Now I have some business to attend to. I will see you when we get there.” With that she put her helmet on and left the car.
“Is it just me or did it seem like she had something shoved up her…” Kai began before Nya cut him off, “I think she’s just worried and trying to do her job.”
“I don’t know but she’s a little scary,” Jay expressed and they all agreed.
“So let me get this straight. Our realm which we didn’t even know was one of many is now under threat from a powerful you called it an Oni?” Clay asked. He and the knights had been brought to a small city in the Ash Wastes known as Balmora. They had apparently been dropped on the wild side of a strange fence that had been built to hold back the dangers of these wilds. According to the people that aided them they were extremely lucky the people had found them and not the monsters that dwelled in these wastes. They had managed to get the Fortrex into town thanks to some massive reptiles which pulled it there. Everyone had seemed curios about them though quite a few people had seemed to show some hatred to them however they could not tell why. After being checked over by some of the folk to make sure they had not contacted something called the Blight they had talked to and been briefed by the towns council over what was going on and were now being seen to by one of the folk, a cat folk named Hassiri. He was showing them an area the folk wanted them to stay in while they tried to fix their ship. They were not too sure about the idea but didn’t wish to offend anyone or cause anything to draw hatred from anyone. For a reason they could not figure out a lot of the people in this place gave them unpleasant feelings with quite a few showing a great dislike for them with most people seeming to be not very nice making them nervous. The place they were to be staying was apparently a center for scientists, archaeologists and other types of scholars to stay and work in the city. The people there were defiantly friendlier and less unnerving than those elsewhere but they could still feel an unease to the place and people. The people in the center seemed fine with the arrangement the town had made for them. The knights had also been quick to notice when they entered the town that they were getting an unnerving feeling from the place like something was wrong but they couldn’t tell exactly what was giving them this feeling. As they talked Hassiri led them into a large subterranean room where many folk from this realm were relaxing and studying. After hearing about this Void Breach they were now facing and what it was going to do with their realm the knights were a mix of emotions. The whole realm thing was confusing to them, they were worried for their realm and those they had left behind and were lost at what to do; not only on how to save their realm from this threat they had known nothing about but to also get home. Travelling between realms was not an easy task and Merlok was at a loss over how to do it. He had heard of realm travel and other possible realms but had never bothered much in them or how to traverse between them.
“That’s right. I know it’s not pleasant but there’s really not much I can do. I’m just a member of the guard. I don’t know much about realm travel and I have no clue how to stop Dagon. The Dragon Guard or my pals the knights of the Prong might have known but sadly they’ve gone missing. Everyone here is at a loss to what we can do,” Hassiri explained, “One thing I can do is get you some weapons and armour that will work better in our world than those from your world. That one does wear more than that right.” Hassiri pointed to Aaron who after having finally come off the effects of the venom was still only wearing his underwear and headphones feeling confused from the ordeal he had been through. For decency when they got to town the others had stuck him in one of Lances bathrobes. While under the venoms effects he seemed to think he was overheating so kept taking everything off. The robe was the easiest thing to get him back in when he took it off. Aaron had only recently regained his senses; they had been dragging him around as they dealt with needed business making sure to keep an eye on him to make sure the anti-venom was working and to keep him in control till the venoms effects wore off.
"Yha it was just some weird venom that made him do that," Macy noted and Hassiri instantly stated, "ah either Racer, Venom-Fang or Parrot Cruncher venom right, nasty stuff and can make people do some weird stuff."
"How dangerous is this Void Breach everyone's talking about? Ever since that thing got me things are a little fuzzy. Did I bite someone?" Aaron wondered highly confused by everything and Lance explained, "yha that stuff made you go super crazy, like crazier than normal crazy."
“Well depends on how you interpret the myths. Either a total annihilation of the world or a fusing of the realms to create a new world which if done by this monster would likely be an ultimate dark corrupt and cruel realm filled with horrors, undead and nightmares like you could barely imagine which he will reign over. Whatever you believe if not stopped Dagon, this Oni, will ultimately destroy the worlds we know. By the fact you ended up here I’d say your world is now one of many that will fall to him if he’s not stopped,” Hassiri explained.
“Is there some way we can stop him?” Axl wondered and after a moment’s pause Hassiri regaled, “well I’m not sure you folk would stand a chance against him. Truly I don’t know if anyone can but if you’re willing to give it a try… I’ve heard. There is a group coming here. Foreigners to the realm like you but they are gifted elemental powers. They are seeking to stop Dagon as well. They could probably use the aid and might be willing to help you. If you’re willing to stick around they could help you. Alone you might not be able to face this enemy but maybe together you have a chance.”
"Really and what is it they are going to do to stop this meld thing?" Lance inquired.
"They are likely seeking to enter the Forbidden City to reclaim a lost artefact that was said to have defeated Dagon in the Mythic era," one of the scholars, a hyena folk who was standing nearby, explained to them.
"Forbidden city?" Ava asked and Robin added, "that doesn't sound pleasant."
“It sits in the mountains to the east of here and no it isn’t pleasant. It is a place ruled by a daemon that takes the form of a dark stag and is filled with savage beasts and robots that are under his control. The place is said to be a dark ruin dripping with twisted unnatural flora, filled with the remains of their victims, machinery that continues to run powered by dark forces or even the energy of those they kidnap and sacrifice, shadows that conceal tears to the void, monsters of the wilds and shadows and the trapped twisted and tortured souls of those they have slain are just some of the nightmarish things said to be concealed in that place. All who have sought to enter the place never return. It’s said not just the beasts but even the robots of that place eat those who venture within its halls,” the scholar explained. At the description of this place the knights were spooked.
“Can you give us a minute to talk it over,” Clay wondered hiding his nerve and Hassiri responded, “sure thing.” He then went over with the hyena folk to an area with bookshelves while the knights congregated together.
"Well Nexo knights what do you think we should do?" Clay asked.
“If this Void Breach thing is true our homes going to need us to protect it from the dangers to come,” Macy proposed and Ava explained, “that’s going to be easier said than done. Whatever that was that brought us here disappeared after we passed through it.” Robin added, “not to mention we’re going to need some parts to fix the Fortrex to get it running again and they don’t seem to have compatible parts here.”
“So what you’re saying is we’re trapped here in this realm?” Aaron clarified not enjoying the sound of all this.
"For the foreseeable future yes," Robin agreed. The knowledge that they might not be able to get home was not very comforting and worrisome to them.
“Serious? Do you see this place? It smells and everyone has traits of beasts?” Lance expressed getting a little loud making Clay warn him to keep his voice down. He didn’t want anyone upsetting the locals.
"I think the smell is you?" Axl noted and Lance responded, "It's from being in that ash. It stinks, add sweating in the stuff and it just makes the smell worse. Hopefully they have decent showers here."
“So we’re trapped here, with no way to get home and everyone back home is now in danger and we’re powerless to help them,” Macy worried. After a moment’s thought Clay postulated, “trapped yes powerless maybe not, this threat does come from this realm. Since it came from here then it stands to reason that what we need to save our home will be found in this realm.”
"True and it sounds like we're not alone in this. These folk with elemental powers are seeking to stop this threat too. Don't know about you but I'm in for it. It might be cool to work with these elemental masters," Aaron vouched.
"Agreed, this might be our best chance to stop this threat," Clay agreed and Macy added, "Well if it will help save our realm I don't see why not."
"It couldn't hurt," Axl agreed. They were all in agreement; they would help these strangers in their quest and help save their realm at the same time. The knowledge that there was others willing to help them against this powerful threat they now faced lightened their moods and brought them some hope.
"We've reached an agreement. We'll help these elemental masters in their quest," Clay proclaimed as Hassiri came back with the hyena folk carrying some books.
"I had a feeling you would, you don't seem the type to back down when things get tough. Since you'll be staying here, I'd recommend you read through these," Hassiri explained handing each of them a guide book for the region.
"Do we have to read this?" Lance complained and Ava wondered, "is there a digital copy of this?"
“Yes to both but sadly little lady you won’t be able to get one here. Elsewhere in the realm sure but around the wastes here folk are not much into technology, a lot of it comes from fear of the Stag and what he’ll do with it so they tend to avoid it. Now the elemental masters are apparently arriving tomorrow. I’ll introduce you to each other when they get here. In the meantime why don’t you get to know the place, relax and get cleaned up; maybe learn about what you could end up facing in our world. You’ll find a lot of information about this region in those books I have given you. There are also plenty of scholars here who would be more than happy to share their knowledge and go on about their work. Note some don’t get to socialise much so they tend to ramble on for hours if you let them. Now about that gear?” Hassiri divulged.
“If you think it will help sure,” Clay stated and Macy added, “yha the Fortrex is out of commission and Merloks Nexo powers are not working well in this realm for some reason so we could use the help.”
"Alright I'll see to it, feel free to mingle. No one here bites," Hassiri stated before heading off.
"You really want to work with these foreign dragons?" another scholar, an ungulate folk, wondered coming up to them.
"Yha why?" Clay wondered and the hyena scholar inquired, "do you have elemental masters in your realm?"
"I don't think so, why is something wrong with them?" Macy wondered.
"So then you don't know. They can be dangerous. The power to control the elements is in their bodies, it's in their blood their very being and they can do terrible things with those powers," the hyena scholar expressed.
"Good things too though right?" Aaron wondered. These peoples words were starting to make the knights nervous over who they had agreed to aid.
“Yha, but we know nothing about these elemental masters. If their good that’s okay but if their bad they could do terrible things to you. Who knows what elements they could control and what they could do with those elements? If you make them mad they could burst you into flames or boil your blood, freeze you solid and alive in ice or freeze the blood in your veins, drown you in dry air, control your body through the water in it, bury you alive in a dirt tomb or collapse the ground beneath your feet or other terrible things that could destroy you,” the ungulate folk expressed making the knights even more worried wondering what they had gotten themselves into.
"Are we talking about people or monsters here, cause it sounds like you're talking of monsters," Aaron noted.
"I think they're people," the hyena folk stated.
"Have you ever met one of these elemental masters?" Macy wondered questioning how much of what these folk were saying was true.
"Well no, I guess the Dragon Guard does do a lot of good but there have been dragons in the past who've gone bad," the ungulate folk noted.
"It couldn't hurt to meet them. Maybe they're not that bad," Clay expressed not wanting to give up hope of saving their realm. If these folk could help them then he was willing to chance working with them. The other knights were in agreement but what these folk had been saying was making them nervous. Who had they agreed to aid?
Notes:
The armor Tafari wears is based off the chitin armor from Skyrim.
If have any questions go ahead and ask I do not bite. I will try to answer them, I will however not give away spoilers.
Chapter 18: Balmora
Summary:
Welcome to the ash lands outlanders.
Notes:
Pictures relating to story can be found here: https://www.deviantart.com/nerdy-hyena/gallery/72478681/story-project
They are really good and help to visually flush out several aspects of the story including environments, characters, outfits, locations, creatures and other aspects often important ones in the story. All images I post in my work can be found there if you want a better look at them. Defiantly make sure to check them out.Also if you need a refresher on creatures, flora or aspects of the environment you can check out the second chapter in this work titled 'Keikiarys Guide to the Ash Wastes'. It includes short descriptions and pictures of these things.
Parts of this section are subject to change as the prequel story is written to improve story continuity.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
“Ninja welcome to Balmora,” Tafari stated as the train pulled into the station. Just a few miles away the land had been lush and living but as they had gotten to Balmora the vegetation had become less lush and ash coated the ground. The ash was a dark grey and covered the ground like a layer of sand. The town itself seemed to sit at the edge of the wastes framed on the north by some farm lands and a river; the shores of a great inland freshwater sea sat some distance to the north-west and some forests. To the south was the forest they had deemed was the Blackwood while the west held plains, forests and farmland. Some scraggly bushes, twisted looking trees, a few dead branchless tree trunks and a few more pleasant looking trees were in the town. The only things that seemed to be growing were the Trauma Root, some resilient ferns, trees and grasses, strange plants, and some strange fungi of various sizes and shapes. Dark Grey ash made a thin coat on the ground and any level surface like some strange sand or snow. At the eastern edge of the town was the Ghost Fence. Standing at least five to seven stories tall it stretched from horizon to horizon cutting through forests and rivers holding back small dunes of ash while giving off a faint greenish glow. Only some dead or twisted trees, strange grasses and lichens, Trauma roots, some conifers and hardy broad leafed trees and various fungi some of which were as tall as trees were visible in the ash wastes on the other side through the fence. In the far distance a mountainous region sat, hazed over by the ash and heat. Most prominent in this range was the large ash billowing volcano far to the southeast. The sky was cloudy and a few of the strange Racer creatures were hanging around the town, one even perched atop the one tower of the Ghost Fence. Two other strange but smaller flying reptiles were hanging around town feasting on the flies and other insects that were flying or crawling around the town. A strange reptilian creature they called a Tree-Bill was also hanging around town feeding on the plants and fungi or trying to shelter from the ash near buildings. Skeevers were crawling in alleys or trying to steal food from the special enclosed stalls vendors were using to keep Ash away from their wares. A small dune of ash was piled against the fences base. Some folk were going about their business as if everything was normal. A few of them wore masks to filter the air they breathed and protect their eyes while most just used simple scarves over their mouths and nose but most had nothing. Weirdly there were some tourists in more vibrant non ash stained attire also in the town taking pictures of the regular folk as they went about their business to the slight annoyance of the natives.
Most of the buildings in the town were made of some sort of pale sandy clay colored plaster and dark stained wood. Most structures averaged two stories tall though a few taller buildings of around five to six stories tall were in one section by the fence. A few structures were entirely wooden built or at least had wooden facades on them. Only a few towers mainly watchtowers and two windmills which sat in the villages’ border walls and around the outskirts of the village reached as tall as the fence. By far the Ghost Fence was the tallest artificial structure there. On many of the buildings or strung between them were worn and dirty but still colourful lights and lanterns of various designs and cloth banners and flags which were hung to decorate and bring some cheer to folk in the town. In a few places statues or small obelisks sat often in or near areas where native flora were growing particularly glowing shrooms. If it wasn’t for the ash and strange flora the buildings could have fit into some towns in Ninjago. The place looked old yet surprisingly up kept; a mix of ancient and modern. There was really only one defined road an old stone road which looked like it was constantly ploughed to keep the ash from building up on it. This road ran through the town but most other roads in the town looked to have been abandoned long ago a layer of ash coating their well trod on paths with only a few spots showing the pathway that sat beneath. Other than people passing through and delivery vehicles it seemed people here didn’t really use cars. It made sense since the ash would wreak havoc on their machinery. Instead they were using carts, some actually made from disused cars, often pulled by a large tusked reptile like creature they called Kaguars for transport through town. Like any modern town they had electricity, running water and sewers. Most of the town was surrounded by walls made of dark stones coated in a light clay colored plaster like the buildings with dark colored faded terracotta trims and tops which stood at least two to three stories tall likely to aid in defending against creatures from the wild and other unwelcomed guests. A few rounded gateways of large or small sizes were in these border walls to allow folk in and out of the town or to let roads pass through them. Most of the folk in town seemed to be farmers, loggers, merchants, miners or simple workers. There were also guards who wore armour like Tafaris which seemed to take the role of police for the city.
“This is the land I saw in my vision,” Zane whispered to the others before the train stopped after seeing the ash, plants and creatures of the wastes. He was amazed yet disturbed at seeing this place from his dream.
“This place? It looks so… weird and oddly creepy despite how pleasant it appears,” Jay croaked looking out the window.
“This place feels odd. Like it’s…” Cole began unable to find the correct term to describe the odd feeling they were all starting to get from this place.
“Cursed,” Lloyd finished and the others agreed. Though it did not look it there was a darkness to this place. It was more of a feeling than anything visual even though despite being near noon the deep overcast conditions of the day made the place look like it was evening. If anything despite the unpleasant looking conditions the place looked light and full of life despite the darkness they could feel. In the town of Balmora itself it was quite windy. A dust storm made of ash, an ash storm, was blowing through the town. According to Tafari this was a mild one but was still deadly. During such storms if they cared for their health they could not go out without protection, even Zane needed protection.
“I’d recommend you put on these,” Tafari stated handing out goggled masks to everyone, “for you ninja I think ones made for the cat folk should work. I would also recommend your robotic friend wears one as well. The ash does pretty nasty things to all living things no matter what you’re made of.”
“Do we have to wear these all the time?” Kai asked trying on one of the masks and feeling awkward about it. No one was too keen on wearing the masks. All their goggles looked to be rather beaten and worn, likely ready to be retired. When Jay went to try his on the lens for the one eye fell out so Tafari had to give him another one and Nya dumped a handful of Ash out of her mask while Lloyd had to tie the straps for his behind his head since the clips to connect it were missing from his.
“Only during ash storms. For now though just till we’re inside the Dragons Temple; we’ll be safe inside; that is where you will be staying and where most research teams and the guards stay. It is the oldest structure in town and sits above the main chamber to the subterranean section of the city. Most buildings are connected to this subterranean city so folks don’t have to go out in the Ash or have to wear these masks all the time in order to get to places. All is well ventilated, plenty of air purifying systems, special lighting to mimic the Sun and Moon, and other stuff like that. It provides citizens with a safe and comfortable place to live in this unpleasant place,” Tafari explained before putting her helmet on.
“What are we going to do there?” Cole asked cleaning the goggles of his mask after putting it on only to find it didn’t help much. To protect him Zane put a pillow case Tafari gave him over the raven and held the Robo-bird close to his body. It didn’t complain.
“We will prepare you for your journey into Holamaya there, now let’s go. We can talk more when we get there,” Tafari explained with the deep robotic voice from earlier, clearly it was something to do with her helmet that gave her that voice. She led them out into the town. Despite the masks the slightly burning and sulphuric stench of the blowing ash still got to them. Even Zane was getting a sickening feeling from the ash and the air here; there was something not right with this place. The ground felt like sand but didn’t smell as nice as at the beach and was radiating heat and something else, something Zane was unable to identify. A loud rumbling roaring bellowing noise seemed to be echoing from all over now and then terrifying Jay even though Tafari explained that call was just a large peaceful plant eating reptilian creature they called an Ash Walker; a herd of which they kept outside the walls of the city as beasts of burden for jobs the little Kagaurs were not strong enough for and for tourists to ride. Tafari led them through the town to a large temple which seemed to be one of the few buildings made of mostly wood which sat next to a large stone and metal warehouse which had a strange castle like vehicle parked by it. This vehicle didn’t match the designs of the town or what they had seen of the realm leading them to believe it was either from a different part of the realm or maybe not from this realm at all. The vehicle looked to have had an accident by the damages to its exterior. As Tafari led them through the town Zane noticed the folk seemed to not be too pleased with their presence, some possibly even hostile. Some were also muttering their dislike for those of the robotic kind and a few commented quietly to Zane that they hoped the Stag would take him and that he was nothing but animated scrap metal or a worthless machine. A few of the folk even made fake lunges at him trying to threaten him. They were making him feel isolated, threatened, uncomfortable and unwelcome. He was getting an unsafe feeling from this place and it was disturbing him. The others could see the looks the villagers were giving them to and were a little unnerved but not as bothered as Zane. The others noted how mean the people were being to their friend so kept him close hoping their presence would keep the people from possibly hurting Zane. Many of these folk were not very pleasant looking clearly showing they had a rough life here. Many bore scars on their faces, hands and arms. A few who wore sleeveless shirts showed off a tattoo of a beetle or lizard on their shoulder and a few had the tattoo of a hand print on their face. Their eyes seemed bloodshot but likely not from a lack of sleep, probably due to a reaction to the ash. A few of them also had voices which were harsh and gravelly sounding as if they had burning or scarring in their lungs.
“Why are they looking at us like that?” Lloyd inquired feeling unnerved to Tafari. As they moved through town they also noted that the folk seemed weary of Tafari, watching her nervously or quickly moving to put something between her and them as if they feared her. Only kids and animals seemed to be unafraid of her though their parents or owners would pull them to safety as if they feared she would hurt them. Tafari seemed to not acknowledge any of this. It made them all wonder how much they could trust Tafari. Was she dangerous or in league with bad folk? Or were these people just overreacting because of what she was?
“Not many trust outsiders especially those with powers like yours and metal folk they especially hate. After all the Dragon Guard were never around to help them when the Tseci attacked or the hyenoids and every time an enemy to Nirn arrives the Ashers strike alongside them making an already tough existence worse, unbearable even. The Ashers are nasty to deal with normally but give them an ally and they get worse. Especially when you’re nothing but simple folk and scholars who have no need or training to fight such powerful and dangerous enemies. They’ve had to fight back on their own most often. Most folk just want to live their lives in peace, to them you’re a foreign site and your alien presence means danger to them plus you bring a metal man with you. To them he is nothing more but a spy for the Stag, the spawn and ally of a daemon nothing more,” Tafari explained. She led them to the temple, up a few steps to the entrance then into the building. Once everyone was inside and the doors were closed Tafari let them take off the masks and release the raven who hopped off as if going to do some sightseeing while Tafari removed her helmet. Despite all the windows of the building having been boarded up outside to keep the ash out it was well lit inside from all the candles, lanterns and lights. They were in the foyer of the building where a single desk sat behind which sat an ungulate-folk who was reading a book. The person looked like they hadn’t slept in days. Bags under their eyes, short hair stuck up everywhere and seemingly unaware of things around him; by the looks from what he wore he was a guard for the building. He did not appear to be doing a very good job though; he didn’t even acknowledge they had entered the building.
“What have I told you before? You should pay more attention to who enters this building. What if we were Ashers or Necromancers? What would you do then?” Tafari scolded the guard as the others took off their masks and placed them in a bin by the entrance. They also tried to bat and wipe off as much of the ash as possible from their clothes and shoes. Without the masks the smell was quite bad. Sadly it seemed it would take some more serious cleaning to remove the stains and smells the ash left. The guard didn’t seem to care that Tafari was scolding him or about them only giving her a slight glance up from his book to mumble, “Nobody tells me nothin’.”
“I will be talking to your superiors,” Tafari growled before turning to the others, “follow me and we’ll get things started.” She led them into the rest of the building then down a stairwell that went down some distance into a massive, at least two story tall, cavern like structure. The walls were a light brownish concrete with the bottom third being grey stone tiles. A reddish trim which matched in color to the cracked tile floor separated the sections of the wall. Above this trim and lining the top was a dark brown decorative painted trim and below the top trim was a decorative design stretching down from the ceiling. The ceiling was made of a light blue cracked tile. The crosswalks were made of the same stuff and so was the second story floor to the cavern. The second story consisted of walkways that ran the perimeter and formed a few walkways linking the two sides. A few of the walkways had stairs that bent in a v formation to get folk from the second story to the bottom floor. Doorways, windows and alcoves in the walls led to stores, taverns and homes. A few halls led from the main area leading to passages linking other parts of the city to the main cavern. Vents and all spectrum lighting which were attached to the ceiling lit up the place and kept the air fresh; it even seemed there was some sort of plumbing system to simulate rain. There even seemed to be some sort of device mimicking wind since a breeze of various magnitudes could be felt now and then. Paper lanterns and tapestries hung on the walls or from the ceiling offering decorative touches. On the lower level planters held all sorts of plants and even some medium sized trees that reached up to the second story. There were even small crop gardens at one end and a pasture with chickens. Guards were strolling the place keeping watch as folk went about their business. A few strange creatures and birds were even hanging around inside. Perched on some of the railings and trees were the strange reptile creatures the Robo-bill looked to have been modeled off, Tree-bills, and birds like sparrows and other songbirds even a small long tailed parrot species were hanging out there. A few lizards or insects also clung to plants, support pillars or railings. None were bothered by the people. A few market stalls and sitting areas were located on the lower level. All the Ninja were amazed at the place.
“What is this place?” Zane inquired voicing what everyone was thinking.
“This is the under city. It was built to allow the citizens to still happily live here despite the harsh conditions outside. When the ash came while some left others refused to leave their home and when the Ghost Fence was erected the crews to maintain it along with the guards and scientists who came to study and protect from the ash lands came to live here. Living above ground is unpleasant and tough so the mayor of Balmora had this place built so most folk do not have to worry about trying to eke out a living in the ash. The environment down here is controlled to keep citizens safe and healthy. It has become quite a popular tourist destination. You will be staying in the Scholars Guilds outposts. We have acquired for you a vehicle to transport you to the ruins of Holamaya. It is one of the few capable of reaching your location. There are many mining and logging caravans who venture beyond the gates to harvest resources in the wastes but none would ever dare to get close to Holamaya so you and another group of adventurers who seek to join you in your quest will be on your own,” Tafari explained leading them to a large doorway on the second level close to the entrance to the city they had come in at. They went through this doorway into a large foyer where some folk were going over some crates. Two of them were kids a boy and a girl who were clearly not from this realm. They were not beast folk. The girl had long brown hair and purple clothes while the boy had short blond hair and wore a pale blue knight like armour with the symbol of a rooster on it. The two were going over the crates like they worked there, the girl even had a strange tablet she was going over. Both turned to pay attention to the ninja as they entered.
“Non beast folk wearing notably colored attire you must be these elemental masters we have heard of that we are going to be working with. I’m sorry to tell you but you’ll have to wait a couple days before we can head out to this Holamaya place. The ship the town is lending us needs some serious repairs. Its last convoy two weeks ago was ambushed by these Asher beings which drove it into the nesting ground of some creatures called Racers,” the girl stated looking over the tablet she held and the boy added, “Yha let’s just say the Racers were not pleased and, along with the Ashers, they did quite a number to the transport vehicle. The people here are trying their hardest to repair her but they have yet to receive some of the parts.”
“Ah man I thought we’d be heading there first thing. Get the object and be headed on our way now we have to wait,” Kai impatiently blurted out, “How long do we have to wait?”
“Well…, we are hoping what we need will be on the next shipment in…a week I think they said. If not it might be…I’m not sure two weeks possibly more,” the boy proposed. The two seemed nervous of Kai’s attitude and coward a little. The boy clung close to the girl who hid part of her face with her tablet.
“Who are you two?” Lloyd inquired confused by the presence of the two kids.
“I’m Robin Underwood a knight in training,” the boy declared and the girl stated, “I’m Ava Prentis, I prefer the more technological work. The red ones not going to burst into flames or set us on fire or anything like that is he?”
“What? Why would you think that?” Kai inquired. The ninja were confused.
“We heard you guys have some sort of powers. The folk around here say those like you are dangerous,” Robin noted making the ninja better understand the kids reactions.
“Sometimes he can but I wouldn’t fear Kai. He’s just a hot head,” Jay joked relaxing the kids a little.
“Enough idle chat. I’ll make sure the parts arrive,” Tafari stated, “besides it will give me time to prep you all for the ash wastes till they get here. I can guarantee none of you are ready for it. Now where’s Hassiri, he will get you set up here for your stay while I have some business to attend to.”
“Over here,” called a voice from the right of the room. There standing in a doorway leaning against the doorway was a slightly chunky yet muscular cat-folk with scars on the right and left sides of his face and torn left ear. He resembled a cougar with a rusty red Mohawk and wore a sleeveless hide shirt, cloth bracers and ash stained pants and boots. His bare arms bore a few scars and he wore ash stained cloth bracers on his forearms. He held what looked like a small jug of some sort which Zane was pretty sure did not hold milk or juice.
“Show them their rooms and give them a lecture on the dangers of the area. I want them ready for their first test in the arena by sundown tomorrow,” Tafari ordered to Hassiri before storming out of the place slamming the door behind her spooking everyone.
“Whatever you say princess,” Hassiri relented as Tafari left and Jay whispered to his fellow ninja, “I think she might be stricter than sensei ever was.”
“Ninja, follow me,” Hassiri stated leading them down the hall he had been standing in front of. As he led the ninja Robin and Ava followed keeping some distance from the ninja still weary of them. The hall led to some stairs which took them down a story to a large hall with about five doors, three on the left and two on the right. Despite being underground it didn’t feel like it. The whole place was very spacious, clean and well lit. Even the air was rather fresh obviously thanks to the complex air purifying systems and their extensive duct work whose pipes ran all along the walls and roof and the couple planters with plants spread around. In one of the planters sat a little shrine of what looked like some sort of cat folk.
“So we have for you some rooms, all cleaned, fresh bedding, plenty of space. This one Mrs. Misako, is that right, you get to stay here with Fae and some of our trainers and resident scholars feel free to ask them whatever you like. Most love going on and on about their research sometimes we can’t get them to be quite about it,” Hassiri announced opening the first door on the left of the hall to reveal a large room with several beds, a few of them bunk beds, a few bookshelves, a dresser, a small TV and other entertainment devices sat atop the dresser, two chairs around a low table in one corner which behind them sat a cloth and wood divider. Several decorative rugs were on the floor with a few tapestries and paper lanterns hanging on the wall making a rather comfy looking place to stay.
“Then for the Ninja you get to stay here. The previous occupants are currently out at various posts fighting back necromancers and Ashers so you’ll be on your own,” Hassiri continued opening the first door on the right of the hall. The room was large with several bunk beds, a desk with a small wooden stool, on the one wall was a TV and next to the TV on the wall were a few wall shelves which held a few books and some entertainment devices. A cloth and wood divider hid a dresser creating a little changing area in one corner and some simple slightly stained rugs lay on the floor. A few cloths and paper lanterns hung on the walls for decoration.
“As for your metal skin friend, Zane right, he will stay here along with that raven, they are not permitted to stay with the rest of you,” Hassiri explained opening the last door on the right to reveal a medium sized room. It had some beds, a bunk bed whose one part of the frame looked to have been chewed on by something, some simple but stained rugs, a cloth and wood divider set in front of a dresser, a few variously sized animal cages, a TV on the wall with wall shelves next to it holding some electronic devices and a few charging ports for some electronics. There were some food bowls and water bowls for animals, some ledges for cats to lay on (which one was sleeping on) and pet beds. A few ropes hung from the ceiling and worn cloths hung on the walls. It was not the nicest looking room.
“What do you have against those like Zane?” Cole questioned ready to defend his friend. Zane was a little confused on why they were separating him from his friends. He was starting to get a feeling that they either didn’t trust those like him or disliked what they were here. It was making him start to feel a little unsafe, could he trust their hosts weren’t going to do something to him.
“Nothing, we’re not being mean it’s just we would rather not have any incidents with the Black Stag. It’s for the peace of mind of the citizens. By law the mayor has decreed that all animals and robotics must be locked up for the night in case the Stag attempts to attack the city. Even if they’re the gentlest of souls the Stag will turn them evil. Don’t think of it as protecting the citizens from you but us protecting you from harm. You will be locked in at night along with our robotic being and the animals. You can sleep on any of the beds except for the bunk bed. That belongs to Ghidorah and Mzark,” Hassiri explained.
“Ghidorah? Mzark?” Zane wondered and at hearing their names two figures who lay curled up like cats with each other looked up from where they lay on the bottom bed of the bunk bed. The one was a Robo-bill made of Scimitar Steel and the other was a Tree-bill.
“They’re our unofficial mascots. Mzark’s the Robo-bill. We got him from the scimitar ruins that sit beneath the capital Nirnhold and reprogrammed him to help with daily chores, what they were originally designed for. Ghidorah is his organic pal. He got in one day and quickly grew an attachment to Mzark so we had to let him stay. They can’t stand to be separated so we just let them hang out. Don’t worry they won’t hurt you they’re like a cross between a cat and a parrot. Fun lovable things they are they can just be very temperamental at times,” Hassiri explained before continuing to lead them down the hall continuing to ramble on, “the second room on the left has some folk who will be helping you in your quest. You’ve already met two of them Robin and Ava, I’ll be introducing you to the rest shortly. Feel free to question them on whatever you want they don’t bite. Like you they have found themselves in our realm looking to help save their realm from this chaos. The last room on the left is the bathroom. It is quite large and can cater to a considerable amount of folk and yes each shower is its own private stall. If you do plan to have a shower I would recommend using the products we provide, it’s a special formula that we have found can almost entirely get rid of the smell of the ash and don’t worry, after leaving the Ash Wastes you’ll no longer smell of the ash after about a month and several washes. If you do have a shower please make sure to lock the dog door on the rooms door so Ghidorah and Mzark don’t get in. The two love to play in water and it is quite a hassle to get them out of the room and I’ll let you know that wet Tree-Bills is not very pleasant…smells like soggy rotting noodles and mouldy cheese. Oh I’ll give you some detergent for your clothes too. It helps get them clean. If you want I could also get you some clothes from here to wear so you can keep yours clean and ash free. We can make them just for you if you like.”
The hall opened into a very large room that was two stories tall making it feel spacious and open. Since the hall they entered from was on the second story up in this room stairs led down to the main floor a story down where two large tables sat end to end following the length of the room making a much longer table in the middle of the room with large simple rugs beneath them. The tables were lined by two benches on either side. On the benches around the table were five people who like the kids were clearly not from this realm. They were busy talking with each other and going over some texts. On either side of the room were large alcoves whose roofs were only half as tall as the main room. In the alcove at the right of the room was a small library where one of the beast folk was going over some texts. The alcove at the left of the room seemed to be a sitting area with a large decorative rug, floor cushions, a few low couch and some low tables with a TV on the wall and a low shelf below it. Decorative sconces, lights on the ceiling and decorative lanterns lit up the room while decorative cloths, tapestries and paintings decorated the walls. A small planter with native flora sat against the far wall. A few small taxidermy native creatures were placed in this planter. Small planters, urns, baskets and a few floor pillows sat out of the way throughout the main room and alcoves.
The folk at the tables in the main section all wore armour that was a mix of what looked like chainmail with metal and leather plating. A very different type of armour compared to the strange plate and leather armour like what Tafari and the guards had been wearing. Ava and Robin headed over to sit with these folk putting them between them and the ninja.
“Ninja these are the Nexo Knights. Like you their realm is threatened by Dagons actions and the Void Breach. They have agreed to help you reach Holamaya and face any possible threats that may befall you past those gates,” Hassiri explained motioning to the figures at the table who looked over at them, “Knights these are those ninja we told you of. Since you’ll be working with each other why don’t you get to know each other.” Hassiri ushered the ninja over to sit with the knights while Hassiri headed over to the alcove with the bookshelves.
“So you’re these foreign warriors who seek to enter this Forbidden City,” the knight whose armour was tinted blue with what appeared to be a split blue and white eagle on it proclaimed after they had sat down. He had auburn upright hair and looked serious.
“Indeed,” Kai conquered and this knight stated, “I’m Clay Moorington and these are my team mates.”
“I’m Macy Halbert. Yes I am a knight. Just because I’m a Princess doesn’t mean I can’t be a knight I don’t care much for that princess stuff anyway,” the female in the group who had reddish hair done up in a ponytail and freckles on her face proclaimed. Her armour was tinted red and had a white dragon on it.
“I’m Aaron Fox, a word of warning the people here are not very fond of you if you ride around on a hover board. Some un-rad fear of technology or something,” the next knight who had short ginger hair and a small ginger beard on his chin noted. He had freckles, wore headphones and his armour was tinted green with an orange fox on it. Unlike the others who had armour made primarily of metal his was more leather and cloth with metal accents and add-ons.
“If I were you metal skin bro I’d be careful around here, I don’t think they’ll like you much,” Aaron pointed out to Zane and the largest of the knights commented pointing at Zane, “why does he have shiny skin?”
“You got something to say about him buddy?” Cole expressed ready to defend his friend.
“I was just curious. I’m Axl by the way. Just Axl,” the large knight who had a short black Mohawk and wore yellowish tinted armour with the yellowish symbol of a bull on a purple shield stated.
“He’s a nindroid and before you say anything he’s just as much a part of our family as the rest of us,” Jay declared and Macy inquired sounding confused, “nindroid?”
“An incredibly human-like robot, you got a problem with who or what he is?” Nya questioned ready to defend Zane.
“No, just we’ve never seen one like him before. We’re used to simpler bots in our realm. We meant no offense. We have nothing against those like him,” Clay expressed trying to calm the ninjas moods.
“Can you believe it I can’t get my phone to work with this realms signals? I wonder if someone here could help me?” the last knight who had short blond hair and wore white and pale blue armour with a white horse on it stated. He had spent the whole time they were talking fiddling with his phone oblivious to what was going on.
“Who are these?” the knight inquired confused when seeing the ninja.
“That is Lance Richmond. Lance put your phone away; we have important work to do here. These are the ninja, the elemental masters we agreed to work with,” Clay told his fellow knight clearly not happy that he hadn’t been paying attention.
“Hey is what they say about you guys true. You have these sort of in built powers?” Aaron asked.
“Yha I’m Kai the master of fire,” Kai boasted bringing a small fire to his one hand.
“And I’m Jay the master of lightning,” Jay proclaimed holding his hands up to spark electricity between them.
“I’m Nya master of water,” Nya stated and Jay added, “not to mention my betrothed and Kais sister.”
“They don’t have to know that,” Nya noted before Cole stated showing off the glow for his lava arms, “I’m Cole master of earth.”
“I am Zane master of ice,” Zane stated creating a small sculpture of the racer creature out of ice on the table in front of himself.
“I’m Lloyd the green ninja master of I guess you could call it energy and this is my mother Misako, she’s an archaeologist,” Lloyd explained creating a ball of green light in his hands. The knights were intrigued by their powers and while Aaron was thrilled to be working with them thinking their powers were wicked and feeling a little jealous he didn’t have powers like that the others were a bit nervous.
“You have total control of those powers right?” Clay inquired.
“Yha otherwise we wouldn’t be masters,” Kai boasted and Zane inquired curious, “Why do you ask?”
“The people around here when they heard you were coming were not entirely pleased and many claimed you were dangerous. They were even warning us against working with you,” Macy explained.
“Why would they think that? If you’re a bad guy yha of course we’re dangerous for you. We’ve never hurt anyone who was good, well not on purpose. Sometimes someone might get hurt during a battle but we don’t mean for that to happen you know they get in the wrong place at the wrong time. Sure there was the time the overlord was corrupting us all and then there was when Lloyd got possessed by Morro. There was also all that stuff that Zane did in the Never-realm; it was pretty dark but in his defence he wasn’t himself. This evil staff corrupted him and this guy was tricking him to do all this really bad stuff…” Jay began to babble and noting the memory of that time was unpleasant and upsetting for Zane Nya butt in to say, “We are no more dangerous than you are. If we get corrupted yha we can do bad stuff the same could happen to you but we won’t let that happen. We are strong and not easily swayed. I wouldn’t listen to everything these people say.”
“We understand things can happen that you don’t intend to have happen,” Clay noted remaining calm.
“We don’t have elemental masters in our realm. The closest thing we have to you guys are wizards and witches but they’re not really the same thing or good equivalents. We knew nothing about what to expect from you so a lot of people here were quite willing to tell us about elemental masters. Most of them tended to focus on the dangers of them,” Macy explained.
“Yha the way people around here were talking about you guys was like you were some sort of monsters. You don’t seem like that,” Aaron added.
“They said you could harm us in nasty ways or do worse things with your powers things like freezing us in ice, burying us in dirt tombs, setting us on fire and stuff like that and those were just some of the mild things they said you could do. You probably don’t want to hear some of the more extreme things they talked about,” Lance noted and Kai expressed, “why would they think we’d do that? What do they think we are some sort of monsters?”
“Don’t know that’s just what these people were saying about you,” Axl explained. Some of the ninja, mainly Kai, Jay and Nya were starting to get agitated by the claims that they were dangerous. The others could see the threes moods were making the knights nervous. Whatever the people here had been saying obviously had made them wary of the ninja.
“So are you guys some sort of royal guards or something? How did you get here?” Lloyd inquired noting the current subject was not really helping build a relation between their groups.
“Kind of, we are Nexo knights from the lands of Knighton we serve under our king, my father, to protect our lands and its citizens from evil,” Macy explained.
“We didn’t intend to end up here; it was all sort of an accident. We got word from our mentor Merlok of a strange energy disturbance so were looking into it when we fell into this realm. We guess the disturbance was a portal. Oddly we didn’t see it but still we somehow ended up crashing through it into these strange lands. Our vehicle got severely damaged in the process…” Clay began and Aaron added, “yha we ended up driving it off a cliff; defiantly not one of our finest moments.”
“So is that banged up castle ship we saw parked outside your ship?” Jay commented and Clay explained looking a bit embarrassed, “yha that’s it the Fortrex our on the move home. Unfortunately they don’t seem to have compatible parts here to fix it so we have to try and find a way back to our realm to get the parts we need or find some other way to fix it. Luckily those here helped us get it into the safety of the town. They gave us some armour and weapons that work in these strange lands and were going to help us find a way home. When we heard of what was going on and about you guys and your quest we decided to stay and help out. With our ship out of service and seeing you guys don’t have one the town was able to spare for us a vehicle for our journey. We just have to wait for it to be repaired.”
“How long have you been here?” Cole inquired.
“Two days, we ended up on the wrong side of the fence and ambushed by some big beetles and winged reptiles with a wicked venomous sting. Warning the stingers those things have are surprisingly strong, they can pierce chain mail and even metal! That venom of theirs too is so un-cool,” Aaron noted and Lance added, “yha I have to admit though after you were stung that was one of the funniest things I’ve seen in a long time. You were yelling ‘bring it on’ with nothing but your underwear and helmet on and dead set on attacking the people helping us. We had to keep wrestling you to the ground cause you kept breaking out of those rope binds we tied you up with in the Fortrex to try and stop you. I got footage of it if you want to see it.”
“Maybe later,” Lloyd suggested. The change in subject calmed everyone down a bit but the ninja could see the knights were still a bit wary of them.
“Since you have been here longer than us it is likely you have had more time to acquire knowledge of this place than us. What have you learned?” Zane inquired.
“Well for starters the area we’re in is part of some sort of thing they call a house,” Clay began.
“House?” Zane wondered confused by what they were meaning by using this word. Somehow he didn’t think they were using it as a literal term.
“Yah, there are or were apparently five of them. All border this Blackwood area. Each house has its own region that it controls with its own royal family which has sworn allegiance to the Emperor for these lands which is I think they said departed now or in limbo can’t remember which. In all I guess the best way to describe these house things is that they are basically a kingdom or territory if you would prefer to call them that,” Clay continued.
“These houses technically mean very little nowadays but are still upheld by tradition. Most are either non-existent anymore or too weak to function outside their borders. Only one is really still strong and independent. House Prong I think they called it. Various forces are to blame for their downfalls though mainly these beings they refer to as Ashers are often behind it. The vehicle we are getting is apparently that of this House Prongs knights. Knights of the Prong they go by. The ship was apparently a gift to them from a group with powers like yours called the Dragon Guard to help the knights fight off evil and keep the peace in these house lands,” Macy explained.
“Where are these Knights of the Prong? Maybe they can help us?” Kai wondered.
“Apparently after this Dragon Guard disappeared these Knights of the Prong went to try to find them but have disappeared as well,” Macy explained.
“Well that doesn’t sound good,” Jay expressed and Nya inquired, “What do you know of this Tafari?”
“Well Tafari is actually the Princess and heir to the House Jadeorans (jade-oran) royal family. Balmora and its surrounding areas actually fall within this house Jadeorans borders. Its lands border house Prongs lands in the west well they would have if it still existed,” Aaron noted.
“She’s a princess? She really doesn’t act or look like it,” Kai stated.
“She prefers the life of a warrior more than a Princess. I don’t see why? All the work and dirt…” Lance began before Clay silenced him.
“Her house was collapsed and her parents and younger brother and sister were destroyed by Ashers when these snake people they call Tseci resurfaced a while back,” Axl added.
“It apparently really disturbed her to hear of what happened to her family and it seemed to have a negative effect on her personality making her aggressive, cruel and unforgiving,” Clay explained.
“How did she get those implants?” Lloyd wondered.
“She led a rescue party out into the Ash Wastes to help protect some miners who had been harmed by an attack by these Tseci snake folk. They scared the snakes off but were set on by Ashers after the snakes had fled. They were outnumbered and no match for the enemies forces. Then some of this Black Stag beings forces interfered, destroyed everyone else and took her to their home this Forbidden City. Only she knows exactly what happened there but apparently she was in a very bad shape and to save her the Stags forces fused her with their robotics. They returned her to Balmora two months later,” Macy explained.
“Has anyone ever checked her implants for foreign influence?” Zane questioned while Jay added, “If others don’t trust her why is she allowed here then?”
“They say she has been inspected and nothing was ever found. She apparently even has others chain her to her bed at night and lock her in her room so this Stag can’t use her. She’s even given others the right to terminate her if she gets possessed by him,” Macy confirmed.
“From what we could uncover she’s accepted because she has been the only one to successful lead Balmora to victory over the forces of evil and has let them know when the Stag is near so they can keep everyone safe by getting the constructs and animals locked up in time. Outside that she’s not truly trusted or liked by most folk. A lot of the people here think that she really isn’t herself anymore. That she really died in the ash fields and was just turned into a fabricant, a robotic being with organic parts to it, for the Stags use and she’s just helping the Stag to gain the towns trust and weaken the towns’ defences so the Stag can take over,” Clay added.
“From what we’ve heard I think most of the dislike or fear of her is because of her cybernetics. The mayor trusts her and these knights and Dragon Guard trust her. Since we’ve been here she hasn’t done anything bad. She just has some serious anger issues to work out,” Macy claimed.
“This Black Stag, what can you say about him?” Cole inquired. The knights looked at each other then each seemed to think it over.
“Hard to tell really, most believe he is either some sort of Oni or spirit, or possibly an aspect of this Shadow Lord entity that once threatened this realm. He apparently has no weakness and is said to be even more dangerous than an Oni to deal with. We really haven’t seen much of this being or his minions,” Clay noted.
“Apparently if you’re on this side of the fence they really aren’t interested in causing trouble with you but if you venture past the fence like the miners, loggers, hunters, fishers, scholars and guards however these minions of the Stags tend to attack them forcing them to retreat back to the safe side of the fence or into the mines. They often had these Knights of the Prong have to go into the wastes to rescue a few groups who sheltered in the mines too scared the Stags forces were waiting for them to leave. Weirdly when these Knights of the Prong went to rescue them the Stags minions never bothered them and were often long gone by the time they would show up. In the city and towns around the fence apparently the most frequent incidents with his minions are encounters late at night in towns where they come and steal things,” Macy explained, “kind of odd when you think of it.”
“What do they usually come to steal?” Nya questioned. Everyone seemed to have calmed down by now.
“That’s the strangest part. According to the towns folk what they steal seems random and why they take it sometimes makes no sense,” Clay noted.
“They take food,” Axl stated and Aaron added, “and technology, always technology; sometimes pillows, towels and blankets. Games and toys, books, medical supplies…”
“And soaps! I had to use plain soap last night because one of those filthy metal tree duck face things stole my special soap! It stole it rate in front of me. Ran in here from the rooms and disappeared when I chased it. I turned the whole place over looking for it last night,” Lance added, “who does that? Who steals soap? Why did it even need it? The thing didn’t look like it bathes?”
“Sounds like they’re creating some sort of hotel,” Cole expressed.
“No one knows what they’re doing. Even odder no one knows how they’re getting past the Ghost Fence. All access points are guarded and monitored constantly to keep threats at bay. Places around town have been searched thoroughly and no signs of hidden entrances have ever been found and as Lance noted if you give chase or try to follow them they somehow can disappear without a trace,” Clay explained as Hassiri came over and placed a stack of books on the table.
“Hey Hassiri what can you tell us of Tafari or this Black Stag?” Lloyd inquired.
“Well, I have been lucky to have never met the Stag. From what I have heard he is a great daemon whose motives and nature are unknown. I have encountered a few of his minions. They weren’t too bad. Stole some things and somehow managed to give us the slip when we chased them. I’ve heard though of some of the attacks they can do and let’s just say it is not for young ears to hear of,” Hassiri noted looking at Ava and Robin, “the gentlest I can put it is there is lots of lost body parts, blood, your insides end up on the outside or you become food for his minions. As for Tafari… she’s… a great leader and fighter; tough and brave but surprisingly caring and gentle. If she hurts you then you probably had it coming. She doesn’t harm the innocent like some seem to think. Yha she does have some anger issues but given what she has had to go through in her life I can understand why she comes off the way she does. I think a lot of people are badly judging her, she’s not some metal made monster.” When talking about Tafari both the knights and ninja noted greater emotion to his tone and he sounded almost protective of her.
“Hey Hassiri why do people here hate droids? Why do they hate Zane so much when he hasn’t done anything bad?” Jay inquired.
“Well I think a lot of the peoples fears of robotics and cybernetics here comes from forces of evil often using them to harm the people such as the Stag using the scimitar constructs or the Shadow Lord using hyenoids. Not to mention the Scymer and their technology were so advanced for their time and are so poorly understood most folk don’t understand that they’re creations aren’t inherently evil. A lot of folk have bad encounters with them when they get too close or delve into Scimitar ruins further exaggerating fears of them. The Scimitar creations are just doing what they’re programmed to or are following orders. They just guard what they consider their home for their masters who sadly are never going to return for them. I do not think the constructs understand their masters aren’t coming back the poor things. I’ve run into rogue constructs a few times and they’re not that bad, just more of misunderstood. Why they hate your friend is simply because he is a droid. They see him as nothing more than a pawn for the Stag, a monster trying to pull off being human,” Hassiri explained. His explanation upset Zane and even though he tried to hide it the others could see Hassiri’s explanation hurt Zanes feelings.
“Who cares what they think of you Zane. They don’t matter, we do we’re your family and we would never see you as that,” Lloyd comforted Zane as Hassiri handed out a book from the stack he had brought over to each of the ninja and Misako. The book was titled ‘Keikiary’s Guide to the Ash Wastes’. Zane gave it a quick look over. It was as its name stated a guide on these Ash wastes including descriptions of the ecosystems, features, creatures, plants, history, ruins and even some diseases found in the Ash Wastes. Zane was interested in going over it more thoroughly after the class. It looked like a very interesting and informative book. After getting his copy Kai muttered, “What are we to do with these?”
“I’d recommend since you’re not from here you go through these to learn what you could be up against out there. I have already given a copy to each of the knights,” Hassiri explained and the knights showed off their copy to the ninja.
“I would have preferred a tablet version but that is apparently not easy to come by here,” Ava noted and Lance wondered, “hey if I paid one of you would you read this thing for me?”
“Dude just read it yourself, there’s some really wicked things in here. I wonder if they’d care if I used my hover-shield in the wastes,” Aaron expressed and Clay declared, “it’s definitely a good idea to read. We shouldn’t enter these wastes without knowing what we could be up against.”
“Indeed, the Ash Wastes is a harsh dark and cruel land that has claimed even the toughest warriors of our world. Plants like the Trauma Root attempt to snare things that get too close to their thorn coated vines, several animals use debilitating venoms to protect themselves or take down their prey and others use elemental attacks. Undead and monsters roam dark places. Poisonous and dangerous flora, dangerous gasses seep from volcanic fissures and the soil, acid lakes that can eat through metal, lakes that can turn you to stone, toxic valleys, ash spawn, terrible diseases and the Blight,” Hassiri explained.
“The Blight? What is that?” Misako inquired.
“It’s the worst condition one could acquire out there. It affects animals, people and even robots, ghosts, plants and dragons. It is said to come from the Dragons Maw the volcano which is also called the Oni’s heart Red Mountain or Red Tower among other names. What causes the condition and exactly what it is currently is unknown. It drives the inflicted insane torturing them with symptoms that attack your physical and mental being and turns the infected incredibly aggressive. There is no cure and it is always fatal to all it infects and for a few very unfortunate souls the dark magic that destroyed them brings them back as aggressive bestial soldiers for the Ashers which we call Ash Ghouls. Despite what you might think they are not un-dead but something else. Luckily these Ghouls can be destroyed but only by a select few types of weapons and only by piercing the heart,” Hassiri explained, “Sadly I’ve come across a few who have had the Blight. The best and kindest thing to do for these poor folks is to not get close and put them out of their misery, preferably from a distance; once infected there is nothing that can be done to save the infected. Now with that unpleasant bit of knowledge let’s get this class started, there is lots to go over and not much time.”
Hassiri went on to talk of what they could and likely would face. The corrupt denizens known as Ashers who came in several forms with the nastiest being the Asher Sorcerers who were masters of the dark arts, Ash spawn which were horrid constructs created of ash which were believed to be the soulless physical husks created of ash of those who became lost or died in the wastes, large reptilian creatures which fed on the plants and fungi of the region called Ash-walkers, the apparently infamous Racers, large insect creatures such as oversized millipedes, ants, beetles and spiders, bipedal bird like reptiles called Runners which came in various forms, small relatives to the Fear who were venomous, parrot beaked relatives of the walker with poisonous quills on their tails and strange floating tentacled leathery hided jellyfish like creatures which wielded shock attacks that floated in the air which they called Retch. The Ashers apparently were not the only people in the wastes. There were people stricken with a disease, called Porphyric Hemophilia which was believed to have been created by an Oni which caused the people inflicted to live greatly extended lives but at a cost; the need to feed off the blood and energies of the living. This gave them the name of vampires. It seemed many who suffered terrible diseases which were poorly understood despite having cures, some of which were believed to have been created by the Oni to harm the people of the Lost Realm, came to live in the ash wastes. One condition led to the sufferer developing scaly skin and the inability to control one’s body temperature making them almost reptilian in nature these folk were sufferers of something called Sigmus serpentus; another caused bloated skin, tumours and deformities to develop on the body and their minds to wither these were often labelled Ash Zombies, sufferers of something called Tumourus Rot. All these people were likely to try and stop them having aligned with the Ashers. Likely due to being tied to the ash and the volcano some of the creatures mainly being the Ashers and Ash Spawn were highly affected by or even killed by ice. Serpentus sufferers were also affected by ice and cold due to the inability for their bodies to control temperature. Much of what was in the book had Jay spooked and made him nervous; in the opposite side of the spectrum the knight Aaron was quiet thrilled and enjoying everything which was making Jay nervous of Aaron. Clay explained to the ninja noting some of them were confused or uneasy with Aaron that Aaron got a thrill from danger. Everyone else was a mix of feelings about what they were learning. Zane was finding a lot of it intriguing and was enjoying the learning.
As the lesson went on Zane started to get an odd feeling as if being watched and something was trying to mess with or prod into his mind. He found it distracting as well as highly unnerving. He was unsure at first if anyone else was getting the same feeling but when he looked around he saw no indication that the others were feeling it further making the feeling more disturbing. His sensors were picking up nothing even though he could feel something. It was very odd. He had felt slight hints as they had walked through town that something was trying to pry into his systems however he had brushed them off thinking it was Tafari trying to investigate him again without his knowledge. Now though he started to wonder if maybe it wasn’t her doing it but something else. Just to be sure it wasn’t that Robo-bill Mzark he searched for its signal. Mzark was still up in the bedroom. It appeared Mzark was aware he had looked for him and sent him a greeting in his mind in the scimitar tongue ‘drem-brod-zeymah’ which thanks to the data the hyenoids had given him he could understand. It meant peace clan brother. He communicated through his mind with Mzark about what he was sensing but Mzark was not picking up anything. As they communicated he got the sense Mzark was not responsible. Unable to figure out what he was picking up Zane went back to listening with the others. After how the townsfolk had reacted to them and how the knights had been nervous of them Zane hid how and what he was feeling. He could talk with his friends later whenever they had time to themselves about it. He tried to focus on the lesson but found he could only half listen to what was going on getting too distracted and worried by what he was feeling. What was messing with him or where was it coming from? Was it intending to harm and mess with him or just curious? No matter how hard he tried to focus on the lesson and tried to push this feeling to the back of his mind it kept popping back up and he started to wonder and worry could it be this entity they called the Black Stag trying to do something to him? If so what was it trying to do and why? Somehow he felt it was for nothing good.
Notes:
The Guard in the temple that Tafari chastises is a nod to the one cop in Hot Fuzz, that’s one of my favourite movies.
Hassiri takes inspiration from the ESO character Razum-dar. He is one of the cat folk, Khajiit, who is the close friend and personal agent/spy to the head of the Aldmeri Dominion Queen Ayrenn, the queen of the High Elves.
Even though they could stay on the Fortrex the knights take up the towns offer to stay in the science center to avoid suspicions from the town and to work on getting them to trust them. Both the knights and ninja are quick to pick up a strong distrust to them by the people.
If have any questions go ahead and ask I do not bite. I will try to answer them, I will however not give away spoilers.
Chapter 19: The Stag and the Outsiders
Summary:
What is this Stag and what does he have to do with the outlanders?
Notes:
Pictures relating to story can be found here: https://www.deviantart.com/nerdy-hyena/gallery/72478681/story-project
They are really good and help to visually flush out several aspects of the story including environments, characters, outfits, locations, creatures and other aspects often important ones in the story. All images I post in my work can be found there if you want a better look at them. Defiantly make sure to check them out.Also if you need a refresher on creatures, flora or aspects of the environment you can check out the second chapter in this work titled 'Keikiarys Guide to the Ash Wastes'. It includes short descriptions and pictures of these things.
Parts of this section are subject to change as the prequel story is written to improve story continuity.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
The ninja had spent most of the day listening to Hassiris teachings and getting to know the knights. Afterwards Hassiri gave them some time to check out the place they were staying and the town before treating them to dinner at one of the taverns. Zane used his cloak to try and keep people from noticing him not wanting to have the peoples hatred targeted at him again. They had started seeing the sights but had quickly found themselves inquiring about this demon they would have to face the Black Stag and had quickly come to regret it. Everyone they talked to was scared of just the mention of his name. Even those who didn’t seem scared were clearly hiding their fear. While none had ever seen him in the physical form many had tales often nightmarish about the demon; a lot of what the people had to say about him or even describe of him and his minions were worse than nightmare fuel. Many of the people even declared they would rather look an Oni in the eye than even be in the presence of this monster. All tales agreed he often bore a head of a Stag or traits reminiscent of a deer but not like the docile animal it was more like a monstrous interpretation of a deer. No one could give them an accurate description of his form as he was said to be a shapeshifter who never revealed his true form. Most claimed he often took the form of a demonic deer with the jaws and teeth of a monster or a demonic man built with more muscles than a bodybuilder and having the head of a stag. They claimed this man form stood seven, eight or even up to ten feet tall with skin blacker and colder than the void, claw like nails that could pierce through any metal and eyes that could tear through your soul and fill you with such a dreaded feeling that it would terrify even an Oni. Some said his stag head was the head of a stag others claimed it was more of a demonic representation of a stag or the corpsen head of a stag but all agreed it had the jaws and teeth of a wolf and antlers with twisted and knarled tines which many claimed were permanently tipped or dripping with blood. Some said they heard he could become a massive dragon blacker than night that breathed shadows that could suck your soul from your body. All agreed you could tell when the Stag was near as the air would grow colder than the void of space and you’d get such dreaded and empty feelings you would think you were dying. Sometimes you could even get the feeling something evil was watching or following you even if you couldn’t see it. Some even claimed if you heard the bugle of a stag that sounded twisted and empty that was him and his voice was said to be deep with hints of an emptiness to him yet un-nervingingly human. It was said his home was a nightmarish ruin built into a mountain and stained by blood and darkness. That it was crawling with his monstrous servants, coated in twisted dark flora, bodies of his victims scattered everywhere, torture devices everywhere, eternally cast in shadow and dark mists and filled with the stench of death and decay. It was believed he ruled over his city in a thrown made of bones and corpses of his victims and he spent much of his time watching his minions torture, hunt and devour those he had caught. If the description of his appearance and his home often wasn’t nightmare fuel enough what he was said to be able to do was even worse. Many claimed he could tear your soul from your body taking it for torture in his stronghold and fill your body with a demonic emptiness to animate it and terrorize those you once knew. They said he could kill you with a touch, that he could drag you to the void the emptiness between realms outside time and space to be turned into a monster that would seek to serve the void and destroy all of creation, that he could suck all meaning out of your life giving you no will to live, that he could spread plagues and vermin, that he could feast on your life force slowly draining you to death, that if you heard him speak your name or just heard his voice talk to you that you’d turn up dead soon, that he could trap you in your own nightmares, make your body tear itself apart without even touching you or that he could trap you in a pocket realm where you would be eternally hunted by his demonic droid and beast servants. It was commonly believed the Stag was also a being known as Storabek; a demon god of the hunt and wilderness which brought even more nightmare fuel. He could turn you into a monstrous half man half beast creature that knew only killing and would slaughter its own family without a feeling, that he could enslave beasts, robotics and even other people to hunt you down to tear out your heart in sacrifice for him, or he might even hunt you himself and as a god of the hunt if he chose to hunt you then you would be slaughtered and your remains turned into one of his demonic servants. He could cast the larger of their realms two moons to turn blood red creating a blood moon a bad omen indicating Storabek was running one of his Great Hunts where he pitted entities against each other to tear apart anything they come across or that he desires them to. His Blood Moon sparked beasts, those cursed into his man beasts and even robotic beings into savage states that would spare only those aligned with them. Even people especially hunters, woodsman, fishermen and those who enjoyed thrills could feel the call of this blood moon being drawn into his hunt to chase down and attack others like a savage beast. All agreed he fed off your fear, terror and even your energy and life force. A racing heartbeat was said to fuel his hunger and thrill for the hunt and the sound of screams and terror filled him with joy. No one could tell them what he was. Some thought he was an Oni or some spawn of them, others felt he might be a spirit of the void something even older and darker than the Oni themselves.
Descriptions of his minions weren’t much better. Beasts, robotics of all sorts, monsters and demons all would serve him without question with even the bots said to behave and move in savage bestial and often creepy or unnatural ways able to twist parts of their bodies in strange jolting or contorted ways if they had to. His robotic minions were believed to not be run by the typical power sources for robotics. Instead it was said they were powered by the blood, flesh and souls of people and that they took pleasure in feasting on humans like wild animals with a fondness for feasting on babies and children. It was said his minions could travel through shadows like spirits and that all even the beasts bore eyes that burned from unnatural energies and could pull at your soul if you looked into them. It was said his minions had the power to claw at your soul and drag you to the void to serve their master or could possess you and corrupt your soul to darkness. Some said they could wield dark magic's even the beasts and could use them to torture you even if they couldn’t see you. Some claimed some of his minions weren’t actually true physical beings and like their master were made of a dark energy manifesting into a physical looking form. Some thought even his physical minions could not be truly destroyed only displaced and could reform and hunt down its attempted slayer. He was said to have an army of warriors dressed as dark samurai who were made from the darkest of energies that he could set upon the realm often on moonless or dark nights or during blood moons to claim souls for their master to torture. Some even believed that when these dark warriors fell you or if they possessed you it would cause your soul to be permanently lost to the void from which these demon fighters were believed to have come from preventing one from reaching eternal rest and turning you into one of these demons. It was even believed some people served him worshipping him as the demon Storabek. Many of these followers bore his monstrous curse of man-beasts and were commonly believed to take pleasure in hunting and devouring people often getting twisted and corrupted by their worship to him making them monstrous even when in their original human form. It was said his minions were most common and powerful on dark or moonless knights and fear only made them stronger. The more they heard the more unnerved they became about this monster and his servants. They were unsure what to think of it all. If what the people were all saying was true what kind of nightmare had they got themselves into? Was it all true or were some tales or myths possibly spun out of hand out of fear? By how scared everyone was when talking about it they were pretty sure there had to be some truths even to myths about these things.
By the time they met up with Hassiri for dinner all the talk of the Stag and his minions had them all un-nerved and on edge. Hassiri had decided to take the ninja to a tavern that Hassiri said had the best food in the ash wastes though many of the scholars in the place they were staying claimed it was because he had a crush on the proprietor though he was too shy to ask her out and many of the scholars had a feeling Hassiri really had deeper feelings for Tafari, he just was not trying to acknowledge it or was scared to admit it. The proprietor was just a passing faze. Hassiri was an honourable and well liked and trusted member of the guard unlike Tafari who was feared and seen more as a monster than a person. They were pretty sure Hassiri feared what would happen if he expressed his liking for Tafari so he tried to not acknowledge his feelings for her. He might have also been afraid of her rejection as she was known for a highly unpredictable and often aggressive nature.
The proprietor he had a crush on was a cat-folk who resembled a spotted cougar named Dar-ma. The tavern sat on the lower level in the main cavern; it was called the Wobbly Kaguar Corner Club. It was a spacious place whose large open entrance faced a garden with a pond. The proprietor had a large cage built into one wall which held a large parrot and against the back wall at the end of the bar counter that sat against the same wall as the cage was a stage where a woman who was a member of the ungulate folk was playing a lute and singing some sort of folk or bardic songs. The place was decorated with paper lanterns, colored cloths hanging from the ceiling, some rugs which looked to have once been decorative but were now stained by the daily use and ash, and some potted plants and fungi. A few folk who looked to be workers and miners from outside and possibly some farmers were there, there was also a group of tourists which seemed to be irritating the locals.
The knights had been invited but all had declined preferring to just make something from the rations in their ship than getting anything from here. When they inquired why the knights explained to the ninja what the people of the wastes considered food. It was not entirely what they might like; meat from large beetles and ants and from the various bird reptiles of the region, all sorts of insects, eggs from large ants and strange reptiles, strange fish, milk from reptile like mammals along with strange plants and fungi most of which was grown in the ashy soils of the area. They had been thinking the knights were just joking until they had gotten there. The knights hadn’t been joking but the ninja really didn’t have much of an alternative. The ninja had grouped together some tables to make a larger table for them all to sit at. Hassiri sat with them a little distanced from them watching the guards as they went about their patrols. The ninja wondered if he was looking to see if Tafari might be one of them. They were waiting to be served having just arrived. Instantly once arriving the ninja had noted some of the folk in the tavern seemed interested in them and kept watching them however the ninja were unsure if it was because the people were curious about them, were being suspicious or judging them or if they might be seeking to harm them. After the nightmarish tales of the Stag the people watching them just worsened their feelings putting them futher on edge and making them anxious. After how the people had been treating them when they arrived they were not comfortable letting their guard down around them. To protect himself Zane was using his cloaked appearance to try and avoid attracting unwanted attention. It seemed to be working though a few folk still seemed highly suspicious of him. They had been reading the menus trying to figure out what sounded safe but were now using them to talk secretly with each other and held them up to block anyone from reading their lips.
“The knights weren’t joking; I think some of this stuff might even give you food poisoning Zane,” Kai noted and Jay added, “just reading some of the stuff is making me sick.”
“I say we make Zane eat some of our meals first then wait and see if it does anything to him,” Kai suggested and Jay stated, “I agree. If it makes him sick I’m not touching any of it.”
“That is not an efficient plan. Things that affect my systems might not affect yours and vice-versa plus if something is toxic it will disrupt and cause pain and discomfort to my systems but it will not be fatal to me as it will be to you,” Zane noted on edge from everyone looking at them.
“What is with everyone staring at us like they’re expecting us to do something?” Nya wondered taking a peak every now and then at the people in the tavern not liking their attraction to them.
“Maybe they’re just interested to see us? We are from a different realm and I bet they don’t get to see that very often,” Lloyd theorized but Nya quickly dismissed it, “after how they were treating us earlier I don’t think they’re interested in us.”
“I wouldn’t mind the attention if it wasn’t for who it’s from. Something about some of these people doesn’t seem right,” Kai added and Jay commented, “maybe it’s from the food; bugs, fuzzy lizard things and shrooms from a cursed volcanic wasteland, how’s that healthy?”
“They’re staring is very uncomfortable. Why don’t they pay attention to someone else like the bard? She’s pretty good,” Cole noted watching the bard as she performed liking the live music before addressing Hassiri to ask, “Hey Hassiri what is this Dragons Blood pact she’s singing of?” The ninja lowered the menus so they could talk to Hassiri and not look suspicious hoping the people would stop staring at them. It didn’t seem to help they kept staring.
“Is it an important part of your history?” Misako wondered.
“It is one of the most important events in the last 100 years. In ancient times the races just got along. We had little reason to go to war until the reptilian folk, the snake folk which we call Tseci invaded from the Isle of Shadows, our worlds second twin continent. The people were unprepared and their guards and armies stood no chance against the Tseci who boasted powers and immunities no person had. They were faster and stronger than even the Dragon Guard and with thick armoured scales, an immunity to venom and an ability to control other reptilian creatures like the Fear and Zephyr they were quick to take over. They burned and razed villages, ravaged our lands, killed our families and gave people only two choices. You served them as their slaves or faced death. The Dragon Guard found even when united they were no match for the Tseci and even when the Scimitars provided constructs to aid in the battle we were still no match for them and could barely hold them back. Even when Jules the wise took the Fear the Tseci had been using to hunt down the Scimitar folk and Dragon Guards and turned it into a fabricant for our use we still couldn’t gain any ground, we could just match their forces. The war lasted a long time. Eventually having suffered under the cruel rule of the Tseci for so long the people decided to take up arms despite no training or skills to fight for their freedom. They joined the fight with whatever they had. Three groups the Dragon Guard, the Scimitar Folk and their constructs and the people were joined as one under what we call the Dragon Blood Pact, three groups united as one to defeat a shared enemy. The people began leading uprisings against the Tseci who enslaved them fighting with whatever they could even if it meant their demise causing chaos among the Tsecis forces. It was enough to start tipping the scales allowing forces to drive the Tseci back. Finally they were pushed to the brink about 40 years ago with specially made flutes to control them. Facing defeat the Tseci tried to make peace; our ancestors wanted none of it. As part of the pact the Tseci were shown no mercy. ‘Blood for the pact’ our ancestors proclaimed. The Tseci were to be banished from these lands and for the Tseci who were unable to flee back to the Isle of Shadows they were locked underground while their generals and leaders who begged for mercy were shown none and cruelly executed in front of their people to show them what would happen if they ever tried that again. They did make a small resurgence a couple years ago but the Dragon Guard set things right and made a truce between our peoples. We have since made peace between our groups but the signs of this strife are still everywhere. During the Reptilian War there had been a battle not far from here but during the midst of it an ash storm blew in and buried everyone from both sides in the ash. No one survived. A shrine sits on the site of this battle now. You can see it from one of the guard towers of the Ghost Fence,” Hassiri explained as Dar-ma approached.
“Have you decided yet or are you going to keep conspiring?” Dar-ma inquired and Jay defended anxiously, “we’re not conspiring, why would you think that?”
“You’re talking quietly with each other holding the menus up so no one can read your lips. That looks like conspiring if you ask me,” Dar-ma mentioned crossing her arms annoyed and Jay noted, “Good point.”
“We’re just trying to figure out if something here isn’t made with bugs or alien mushrooms,” Kai commented to ease some tension to which Dar-ma stated leaning over the table towards the ninja, “look outlanders I don’t know how things are made where you come from but that is how we do things here.”
“Do you think they can hiss like house cats?” Lloyd whispered to the others who like him were leaning back in their chairs to try and get away from her. Even though he was trying to be quite with his comment so she couldn’t hear it the proprietor had heard him and just rolled her eyes un-amused.
“How’s this I’ll give you five more minutes. Could I get you anything to drink in the meantime?” Dar-ma inquired sounding angry.
“Do you have anything that was not made from some strange plants or milk from a weird reptile mammal thing?” Jay inquired and Dar-ma looked at him, eyes narrowed and ears folded back. They could even swear they could hear her growling a bit making the ninja a little more nervous. In his growing anxiety from the people and now the proprietor Zanes cloak slipped and shut off revealing his true nature. He didn’t notice till Nya pointed it out and when he tried to reactivate it he was having trouble doing so. He needed to calm down to get it to work properly but he was unable to do that. The ninja could see that most of those gathered were angered or disgusted when they saw Zanes cloak fail. Luckily it seemed to make some of the people lose interest in the ninja making them wonder if they had just been looking at them to try and determine where the ‘metal skin’ they had seen earlier was. After finding out it seemed to have filled their curiosity. Some folk still kept looking at them though they could not tell why. Dar-ma didn’t seem to care what Zane was. Noting the tension in the place Hassiri wasted no time in trying to break it by stating, “You know what I’d like darling.”
“Well Hassiri here again are we. Do you have something to ask me or are you just here to sit and stare at every guard that passes by or at me while I work? How would you like if I came to your place of work and just sat there for hours staring at things?” Dar-ma prodded clearly aware of Hassiri’s affections towards her but she was obviously not interested.
“Not today, I decided to treat my new pals here to a treat before they have to face Tafari’s training session tomorrow and get their tails handed to them,” Hassiri explained to which Zane quietly asked his friends, “what does he mean about handing our tails to us?” confused by the saying. Jay whispered back to him, “Basically we’re going to get a beating.”
“These seven think they can take on the wastes. Just like those other ones you had in here the other day they don’t look like they can. Maybe that freak Tafari can knock some sense into these strangers. Who are these fools? Another group of knights?” Dar-ma coaxed and Hassiri looked for a moment like he was going to defend Tafari but thought better of it.
“They’re the Ninja, long story but the gist is they’re from another realm which the necromancers are now threatening as well,” Hassiri expressed.
“Hmm… so why come to these volcanically devastated waste lands of our world? Nothing here but big bugs, freaky reptiles, ash, giant shrooms, volcanic wastes, nightmarish monsters and a daemon who looks like a deer. You looking for treasure, lost like those knights or are you trying to prove you’re great warriors or something,” Dar-ma inquired.
“We have to enter Holamaya to retrieve a piece of creation in order to banish Dagon. Without him the necromancers should be easier to take out,” Lloyd explained and Dar-ma seemed to get spooked.
“So the rumours are true. The prince of the corpse has returned!” she groaned.
“Yha he’s horrifying, bony, dark, creepy…” Jay began before being cut off by one of the folk, a hyena one, who was in the tavern and had been listening in called out, “Why do you false dragons have to go to that cursed place. Bad enough these strange knights ended up in town now you dragons and you’ve convinced those knights to follow you to this evil city. Are you all wanting to destroy us you filthy outlanders?” Everyone in the tavern stopped to stare at the ninja the whole place going quite except for the parrot in its cage which uttered ‘uh-oh’.
“What are you talking about? We’re here to help you,” Cole inquired as Hassiri seemed to understand what the other villagers knew that they didn’t.
“When outlanders of other worldly origin enter the halls of Holamaya an ancient shadow shall awaken and curse Balmora. The dead shall rise and the ash will rise, bleed and burn,” Dar-ma croaked taking a few steps back her face in horror, “this is the prophecy given to us from an Ancestor Scroll long ago.” They all sat in silence for a few seconds confused.
“What are you talking about?” Kai asked confused.
“Why do you need to enter the mountain?” one of the folk, an ungulate one, questioned with a deep raspy voice similar to that of the folks on the train. Zane was pretty sure some folk had such a voice due to living in and breathing in the ash. It was likely burning and scarring the lungs and throats of those who spent extended periods, especially without a mask during an ash storm, out in the ash that was likely causing that voice.
“We need to find an item that was locked up there long ago. It is the only thing that can remove Dagon and fix what he has done,” Cole explained before Jay questioned, “wait…how can this prophecy come from an Ancestor Scroll when only the Dragon Guard can read them? Did they give it to you?”
“There is an order of monks who have dedicated themselves to studying the scrolls the Ancestor Priests. They learned while the Dragon Guard can safely read the scrolls and are largely immune to their effects some folks who study an ancient method only they know can read them without too much harm as well. It will eventually though render them blind. One of their readings gave us this prophecy. Those who live here have all heard the prophecy but no one has ever believed it,” Hassiri clarified, “that was long ago, before the Dragons Maw blew.”
“That doesn’t matter what does is you going anywhere near that place!” one of the folk, another ungulate one, exclaimed.
“We have to, this could be the only way to save our worlds, your world included, from a terrible fate,” Lloyd explained. Some of the folk seemed to understand while others were unsure.
“Well then if you do go then by Whetu you better pray that prophecy is wrong,” another of the folk stated.
“What do you think that whole prophecy could mean? I’m guessing the strangers part refers to us,” Cole contemplated. The ninja were hanging with the knights in what was to be the Ninjas room for the night till it was time for bed. The ninja told the knights about this supposed prophecy the villagers had told them of, it was the knights first time hearing of it and they were confused over it.
“I’m betting the ‘Ancient Shadow’ is this Black Stag,” Jay inputted, “that whole dead shall rise thing and bleeding ash? What kind of horrors would that mean?”
“Well according to the data I was given during the reptilian wars Hassiri was right there was a battle not far from here. Due to some rather poor timing both sides were buried by an ash storm just outside the gate. There were no survivors. There is also an old town between here and Holamaya that was levelled during the initial eruptions. Just a few ruins from the old town remain above the ash and many perished, it is called the Swamp of Delapitation now. It could have something to do with that or the many who have vanished and or perished in the ash wastes over the years,” Zane commented.
“That could fit the so called bill for this dead shall rise part,” Ava noted her term confusing Zane to which Kai had to explain to him its meaning.
“A prophecy foretelling doom to this city because of outsiders; Not sure how much of that we can believe,” Clay stated and Macy added, “yha given how these people act towards strangers like us it could just be superstitious talk.”
“Even so it doesn’t sound pleasant,” Axl noted.
“True and if these people deeply believe in it this could prove hazardous for our quest. They might try to interfere or stop us from getting to the city,” Nya expressed.
“We have to go though if we don’t our realms are doomed,” Lloyd stressed to which his mom comforted him stating, “don’t worry they’ll probably understand and not interfere. I’m pretty sure they want the necromancers gone and their world back to normal too.”
“Don’t worry outlanders, folks here are just scared and stressed because of the issues lately. No one is going to stop you or interfere, well except the necromancers and Ashers but feel free to give them a beating,” Hassiri consoled as he entered the room.
“Alright some good news I managed to get Tafari to hold off on testing you the ninja tomorrow. Since you just arrived I managed to get her to agree to wait two days before testing you so you have some time to learn what you’re up against and get adjusted to the environment here. You can sleep in if you want too but I think it would be better if you got up and see her testing you Nexo Knights tomorrow. You know get a look at what you will be up against. Now I hope you have used the facilities or gotten anything you might need because curfews at 11 which is coming up. There’s some entertainment in each of the rooms if you’d like. If you think you need a breeze or some fresher air by the doors is the control panel for your rooms’ climate controls. Sometimes it can get a little stuffy in here, happens when you build underground. As for your robotic friend if he could follow me we’ll get him set up in his room,” Hassiri explained motioning for Zane to follow him. Zane was not too sure about following Hassiri, the way they treated non-human entities here and the clear way the villagers had been hostile to him earlier were unnerving Zane; how could he be sure he would be safe? When he looked over at his friends they too were uncertain about this arrangement. They were all worried someone might try to hurt him or worse.
The ninja voiced their worries about this arrangement and after a short pause Hassiri suggested in a lowered tone and taking a glance into the hall not wanting to be overheard, “I shouldn’t do this, I’d be in serious trouble if someone found out, but I’ll let you keep the key to the door that way no one can get in. You just have to promise not to tell anyone I gave it to you, okay? I’m the only one with the keys, Tafari has the spares locked up in a secret safe somewhere in her Dojo and she keeps that place locked up when she’s not using it so no one else will be able to open the door. Not to mention no one in their right mind would try to steal from her. The last folk who tried wound up in hospital for three months and they never could fix his hand. Despite how she comes off I don’t think Tafari would hurt you. She’s never hurt the beasts here or any androids or constructs we catch, even when bad things happen with them. It’s just the people she hurts.”
“Well I guess that sounds like a fair arrangement, go on then Zane we’ll see you tomorrow,” Lloyd assured Zane and Cole added, “if you need anything we’ll be here if you need us.” Though none of the ninja were fully comfortable with this it did sound like a fair arrangement. The knights decided to head for their room while the ninja said their goodnights then Zane followed Hassiri as he led him into the room that was to be his. The door was closed and as Hassiri opened the door he pushed in a strange looking reptilian creature that looked like a cross between a parrot and a porcupine back into the room. It had a parrot like head, a stocky body on four legs and quills coming out of its long bony tail.
“Don’t worry none of the creatures in here will hurt you. They’re all pets. This is a Parrot Cruncher, normally they have a venom in their saliva and quills that affects organic and in-organic beings like you but this one has had its venom glands removed so he’s safe. He just doesn’t like being locked up alone, makes sense for a social creature,” Hassiri explained picking up the creature and putting it on the one bed. There were a few creatures in the room. Some such as 4 cats and 2 large dogs had cages with beds they were resting in the doors open for the animals to come and go as they pleased while a winged serpent and 1 parrot were locked up in their own cages to keep them out of trouble. Ghidorah and Mzark were on their bed play fighting like kittens. Other than the Parrot-Cruncher the only other exotic animals were a Scleroboa, which was in a cage, and a skeever which was laying on the floor half under the one bed.
“Now I’ll be coming to wake you up around seven in the morning. That’s when we let the animals out to feed them. Do you need anything to charge your batteries or is your body able to convert the meal you had into a source of power?” Hassiri inquired picking up the Skeever and placing it on one bed that was covered in pillows which the creature then dug and nuzzled into them coming to rest in a nest it made for itself in the pillows.
“My body is capable of converting it yes; my power source is special and does not need to be charged like other droids,” Zane replied trying to hide that he was nervous of this arrangement and being alone with someone he didn’t know in a strange and hostile place.
“Hmm so you’re like some of the Scimitar creations like the original hyenoid or a fabricant. Okay well then this is your bed,” Hassiri explained waving over one bed which had been made and cleaned of quills, scales, fur and feathers.
“Now most of the creatures will sleep through the night, helps when they have their own beds. As for those that are loose, they should leave you alone. Just like the other rooms there are controls for the environment in here, there are some books and the TV is fully hooked up. If the creatures do give you some hassle you can put the TV on and turn it to the channel written on the note on the shelf by the TV and set the TV to the bedtime setting. It’s a channel that shows nature shows, I have a feeling you might like it. The noise and colors of the TV seem to calm the creatures down it might do the same for you. Being locked in a room on their own seems to agitate the creatures but no one is brave enough to spend the night with them or let them loose. They’re all too fearful of the Stag,” Hassiri explained handing Zane the key to the room and a remote for the TV, “now don’t worry you’ll be fine.” Hassiri gave Zane a few pats on the shoulder making Zane feel uncomfortable before he began to head out. As he left the robotic raven came strolling in to hop up onto the top of the bunk bed where it came to roost.
“Well that makes things easier,” Hassiri stated watching the raven walk past, “when I leave the room please lock the door behind me. Don’t worry metal man you’ll be fine.” When Hassiri left he closed the door and Zane did as he was instructed and locked the door. He put the remote and key on the night stand that sat next to the bed that was to be his. He was anxious and was not going to rest unless he could guarantee he was relatively safe in the room. First thing he did was search the bed looking under the mattress, pillow and blanket to make sure nothing dangerous was there. He then did a quick sweep of the room looking under and in every piece of furniture to make sure no one was hiding in the room and it was just him, the animals and the two constructs. He found nothing but a disassembled Rattaton and offline Scimitar Scarab on the top of the dresser and a harmless little spider hiding in the one corner. Other than the door the only other way into the room he could find was through the ventilation systems. He checked the vents, they were securely fit and unless an attacker possessed super strength they would not be able to easily open the vent. That just left the door. He checked the door to make sure it was locked and secure. It was locked and the wood that made it was pretty thick and strong. The back of it was scarred pretty heavily in one section by the ground but Zane felt secure it didn’t mean much. The scarring was largely at a level where the Parrot Cruncher was indicating it was from the creatures continuous pawing at the door to try and get out that left the damages. The animals and constructs just watched him curious as he searched. Finding no sign of danger and that he was securely locked in his anxieties lowered but did not completely cease. When he was done his search he sat on the bed. Even though his friends were just in another room Zane felt lonely, very lonely, and the way the folk had been threatening him earlier just added to his emotions making him feel scared, unnerved and alone.
“Well they seem trustworthy. Friendly, some of them are a bit hot headed but overall fair and noble. They seem genuinely willing to do the right thing,” Clay expressed and Macy agreed “I don’t think they’re the monsters everyone was telling us about.” The knights were in the room that had been given to them getting ready for bed while talking quietly with each other hoping the ninja couldn’t hear them. They had just left the ninja in their room and Hassiri was showing Zane to his room.
“Yha they seem like a team, a family like us. Kinda mean what the people here are making them do with their metal-skin bro, locking him up like he’s a wild animal,” Aaron noted.
“He seems kind and gentle not a monster like everyone says,” Axl stated.
“True. They did say though that he can be corrupted to do dark things and this Stag being apparently likes those like him for its service. I can understand why they would want him locked up which reminds me Ava, Robin were you able to get Merlok safely in here? Since we’re staying here and the Fortrex is out of commission for now and given the peoples fear of technology and magic I think it best we keep Merlok close and out of the sight of everyone else,” Clay stated.
“Indeed, luckily everyone thought he was a just fancy cart of supplies,” Ava noted as Robins mini Fortrex rolled out from behind the one cloth divider a hologram of Merlok coming from the central terminal from the Fortrexs round table which had been placed atop it.
“I do not understand why I have to keep myself secret?” Merlok inquired.
“Not too loud, the people here have some strange phobias over technology and magic because of some monstrous entity that takes the form of a dark deer. If they knew you were here you’d be locked in that room with their droid friend,” Macy explained interesting Merlok who inquired, “what is this about a dark deer?”
“Oh just some evil spirit that haunts these wastes enslaving beasts and bots for its service,” Aaron explained to which Ava noted, “I think it’s a little deeper than that. Whatever this thing is tales of it go back to ancient times in this place and it’s said to be immensely powerful. A lot of these tales also paint a very dark picture of what this thing is and can do.”
“Is Merlok capable of being affected by this thing?” Axl wondered and Robin acknowledged, “possibly. We know nothing about what to expect from this Stag.”
“And given he is a part of a technological system which this thing favours for its use he could be at risk,” Ava added.
“I will admit this is uncharted territory. If this entity does show up and attempt to control me I will try to fight it but I cannot guarantee the outcome. There is something in this realm, a powerful darkness unlike anything I have known so I do not know what we could be facing. Since we got here I have sensed the darkness to this place. A deep hidden darkness that sits in the open for all to see,” Merlok proclaimed and Aaron added, “yha ever since arriving I’ve noted some terrible vibes from this place.”
“I’ll admit something here does seem off but I don’t see what it is,” Macy noted.
“Do you think those ninja sense it?” Axl wondered.
“What are these ninja you are talking of?” Merlok inquired and Clay explained, “they’re the elemental masters we told you of that we’ve been paired with for this quest.”
“There’s six of them each with a power over an element; fire, water, ice, earth, lightning and energy. Some of them are a little hot headed but they don’t seem dangerous like everyone was telling us,” Macy added and Lance commented, “Why’d the one bring his mother? She doesn’t seem like a fighter not to mention she’s kinda old.”
“I wouldn’t say that around them, I don’t think Lloyd would like you saying that about his mother,” Macy noted.
“Yha that is odd they brought her but they did say she was an archaeologist so maybe she came for research or something like that,” Aaron postulated.
“That aside, we’ve been warned against working with them. Many people here think they’re dangerous and one of them is a droid a prime target for this Stag. Apart from that I don’t see any dangers from them and their intentions seem sincere,” Clay went over and Merlok stated, “I have heard of folk like these before they were often meant as protectors for their realms. Honourable, noble and courageous fighters for good they are the best possible allies you could have in a place like this. That being said however the darkness of this realm will be greatly drawn to them and seek them for its own purposes if it does not seek to simply destroy them that is. The darkness I sense in this place could seek to consume them putting everyone at risk. Despite their desires to do good they might not be able to fight the darkness. You will have to be on guard with them and if something happens you may have to do the right thing to save everyone even if they are not pleased with it.”
“Hopefully it doesn’t come down to that,” Clay noted.
“What happened?” a robotic voice wearily asked as the group came back to their senses. The highest in command, a Robo-Bill whose metal was a more silvery color than the others, looked around. The stone foyer they were gathered in was dark lit only by a few dim lamps on the walls and pillars of the room. A group of about seventeen individuals of either robotic or bestial nature stood in what looked to have been some sort of squabble. Though being carved into a mountain the rooms interior had been constructed using both the natural stone and wood so it had a less cold and rocky appearance. Some crossbow bolts and deep scratch marks sat in the wooden panels and pillar coverings of the room. Broken furniture, torn tapestries and rugs, damaged books and broken weapons and armour were scattered around. Some of the pipes which ran along the walls were broken and some of the smaller ones had broken wires poking out of them. Where they were had been the entrance to a study and learning centre but it did not look like it now.
“I do not know. Something does not compute here,” the Robo-bill stated without moving its mouth. The animals, some of the wildlife from outside and some pets, began to show signs of agitation and the robotic beings could sense an unknown presence somewhere nearby getting closer to them. Following their programming the robotic beings which were made of three Robo-Bills, a Fear-bricant, a Racer-bricant and a Scimitar Centurion herded the animals which consisted of two cats, a large dog, two skeevers, three venom fangs, two chickens and a Parrot Cruncher into a group to keep everyone together.
“Your old masters are gone and now you will serve me,” a deep slightly echoing voice seemed to come from everywhere. Though they had never heard it before they all felt the voice seemed familiar. The Robo-Bill could not pinpoint where the sound was coming from and all of them stood in a circle trying to figure out where the voice was coming from.
“What are you talking about? Who are you?” the Robo-Bill inquired.
“You can call me master for now. Your old masters were expendable, you are more useful to me so I will let you stay,” the voice stated as a strange grainy black fog began to seep into the room from out of the walls and ceiling. It suddenly hit the Robo-Bill why the voice was familiar.
“You…your voice…it was in our heads…you made us go against our programming…,” the Robo-Bill began before this voice cut him off.
“Oh I made you and many others do more than just that,” the voice said coming from one of the halls drawing everyone to look down the hall. The dark fog had gathered into the shape of an unknown large black stag with eyes that glowed an unnerving aquamarine color. The figure stood over a cloth which was draped over something. Only part of an arm and the hand stuck out from under the cloth. Even without getting a closer look the Robo-Bill could sense whatever was under the cloth was no longer of their world. For a reason the Robo-Bill could not fully understand it looked at its fore limbs. The metal claws on most of its digits and the tips of the fingers had a dried reddish substance on it and looking around the Robo-Bill could see it wasn’t alone. Some of the others had this dried substance on their limbs or jaws and the Robo-Bill began to put things together. While its creators had given him an ability to mimic and understand emotions it was starting to get an odd and terrible feeling; something it had never been programmed to feel yet it was feeling it. It had seen others display it but it had no clue what it was. The figure gave off a deep laugh that unnerved the animals.
“Now straighten up this area and I want all of you to meet me in the main hall in an hour. I have more of you to talk to,” the figure commanded before disappearing. Most of the Robo-Bills fellow robotic comrades were not as advanced as this one, mentally they were like toddlers, they were still trying to comprehend the stains on them and what the figure had meant. Having been built for higher purposes the silvery bronze Robo-Bill could understand it all. The Racer-bricant, the most advanced of his companions, made some robotic noises, the common audible way for these robotic beings to communicate, asking its superior what had happened and what was going to happen.
“Something bad happened and we are partially to blame. As for what is going to happen…” the Robo-Bill explained pausing to look at the cloth covering something in the hall the figure had stood, “I cannot tell but it will be different then what we are used to.” The Robo-bill looked over at a small shrine that sat on a low table; the only table not damaged or flipped over. A shrine made of the statue of a robed female cat folk with horns on her forehead was depicted standing with what looked like a star held between her hands, one hand above the other below the star. Some flowers and still lit candles sat near this shrine. For a reason the Robo-Bill did not fully understand he walked over to the fallen tapestry that lay over the lifeless figure and picked up the unique shuriken that lay on the ground next to him. It bore the same metal as most of the constructs there as its centre with a unique reddish gem like metal forming the blade pieces and gem at its centre. He then carried this shuriken over to the shrine and placed it at the base of the shrine. He then sat with his hands resting on the table to look at the shrine as if waiting for something to happen. The others just watched him for a few minutes confused about what he was doing.
“What are you doing Juib?” the racer fabricant asked with a deep metallic female voice not moving her mouth instead the voice emanating from her cybernetic implants in her chest.
“Our masters used to do this when they sought guidance or help. I do not understand why. I was hoping it would bring us help, save us from whatever that thing was, I sense we are going to need it,” the Robo-bill responded looking at his stained hands…
The room was dark and all others were asleep. Zane sat up in the bed and looked around feeling shaken. He was still in this strange realm alone in the one room. All the creatures and the two other robotic beings in the room were sleeping. It was quiet with only the running of the ventilation systems being audible. Had that been some sort of dream or vision? It seemed too realistic to be a dream; it was like he had seen a piece of history. What did it mean? Was something or someone trying to tell him something? He tried to push the thought of whatever that had been to the back of his mind to try and go back to sleep but as he tried he got an unnerving feeling.
Earlier Zane had felt lonely, being separated from his friends in a room with strange beings, but now he felt as if he wasn’t alone. As if something was in the room watching him! Something he could not identify and something that felt dark and unpleasant! He looked around for what it could be but he could not see anything, his sensors were picking up something but it was registering as an empty void. He could not pick up where this void was disturbing him even more. All the others in the room were asleep, the Skeever was sleeping at his feet and the Parrot-cruncher lay on the floor next to his bed, both were calm and asleep. After what they had heard from the townsfolk on this Stag being earlier what he was sensing was making him anxious. Some of what he felt matched what the people had described for the Stag.
There was also another feeling though one he couldn’t quite understand. A strong feeling that something was wrong but he didn’t know what or why it was wrong. Just that there was something wrong and something needed to be done to fix it. Along with this feeling came the feeling of great discomfort and burning in his stomach with occasional pains in his chest. This was a similar feeling he got from eating some of the consumables the others would make, particularly some of the stuff Cole or Kai would make. His diagnostics gave him the same readings he would get at those times so he brushed those feelings off as having to do with the food from this place so he shouldn’t worry about it too much. As for the feeling that something was wrong he guessed maybe it just had to do with not feeling well but that feeling of being watched and that dark void. Those were coming from something else. Maybe he thought it was just a bit of paranoia brought out by the people here who had made it clear to him that they didn’t like him and were willing to hurt him. He was worried if they thought anything was wrong with him, even if it was nothing serious, the people would try to do something terrible to him and his friends would be unable to help him.
He was also worried what could happen if he did fall under the Stags control. Even though he wanted to think he was strong enough to fight this beings influence he had a deep nagging feeling that he wouldn’t. From what he had heard if this thing got a hold of him it would turn him into a monster for its dark service? It would strip him of who he was; his identity and humanity and make him a mindless unfeeling monster that would crave the destruction of others. What would this thing do to him and what would it make him do? The worst he could think of at that time was it would turn him into one of its monstrous minions and make him destroy his friends, his family! What if the Stag then learned of Ninjago from him and decided to conquer their home? What could it do with his ice powers? What kind of horrors did this entity want? The more he thought about it the more anxious and worried he was becoming making him feel worse. It was stressing him out but he couldn’t stop thinking of all the terrible things that could happen and to make it worse he felt as if he was alone in all this. He was being separated by these strangers from the only people who cared about him in this place and he was worried the folk here might sway his friends into no longer trusting him or worse to turn on him! Possibly sensing how he was feeling the Skeever crawled up onto him and snuggled into his chest. It made Zane feel a little better and he gave the creature a few pets and a hug. Interacting with the creature helped calm him. He hoped by morning he felt better, maybe he could talk to the others if he could get some time alone with them. Maybe that could take some of his worries away and make him feel less lonely and lost.
He lay down on his side to try and go to sleep and the Skeever came to lay next to him curling into his body to comfort him. He was almost asleep when something caught his attention. It was a sound; like something rustling or moving through the room. It startled him and put him on edge. There was something in the room that hadn’t been there a second ago, he could sense it clearly now. There was a coldness in the room unlike anything Zane had felt before and he found himself shivering from the cold which was joined by a dark empty feeling around him that was making his anxiety grow rapidely. He couldn’t pinpoint where it was all coming from the energy messing with his senses making him feel as if he was in an empty void. A birdlike rattling noise, like a crow wanting attention, drew his attention to the raven which was now staring at him with aquamarine iridescent black eyes! Its eyes were normally a pale golden color! Then with a voice that was not the ravens, a deep slightly echoing non metallic voice, the raven stated without opening its beak before going back to sleep, “I know who you are, I know you are here and you are now mine.”
The structure he entered in the mountains was dark. He knew what he was doing was dangerous. If his master found out what he was doing and who he was seeing he would be in serious trouble. Outside snow was on the ground and conifer and birch trees were peppered around the structure which had been built long ago by those who had built his home. It was a stone and metal construct which had been a research outpost at one point but had since become abandoned with parts of it starting to crumble.
As he entered the structure he closed the door behind him to keep the wind out. Apart from a few cracks in the metal ceiling there were no sources of light still working in the structure leaving very little light. There was enough to make out general shapes but no details. His glowing lavender eyes did not help to provide light in the building. He took a few steps into the structure looking around. A metallic clicking could be heard once in a while as if something was waiting in the shadows. He placed the large lidded basket he carried on the floor. He took the lid off and placed its contents on the ground; it was mainly chunks of meat and a few fruits.
“Ahh Juib what is it you desire to tell us,” a deep metallic and masculine voice stated from the darkness.
“We can sense something bothers you, come tell us what is a matter,” a deep metallic females voice added from the shadows. Juib could just make out the dark figures clinging to the walls of the structure as they looked at him with red glowing eyes.
“The master told me there will be some folk coming into his lands, folk with the powers of dragons but they are not the Dragon Guard,” Juib replied. Though many would have been afraid of the entities in the shadows Juib knew them well and had no reason to fear them. Instead he felt a kinship to them as if they were family. In ways they were family to him.
“Intriguing, can you tell us more?” the male spoke as the shapes with their glowing eyes crawled slowly down the walls to the floor. They remained crouched in the shadows looking at him.
“He says they are outlanders, not just to these lands but to this realm entirely,” Juib stated.
“Interesting, it has been a long time since beings from other realms came to this one,” the female stated and the male added, “indeed, it might be interesting to meet them.”
“Maybe, I think we should be on guard though. We know nothing about these individuals; there intent, what they are or how trustworthy they are,” Juib advised.
“Agreed,” the female expressed, “do not worry we will keep it safe. They will not be allowed anywhere near the vaults and if they try we will make sure they pay for their mistakes.”
“I should get back before anyone gets suspicious,” Juib noted picking up the basket.
“Juib do keep us informed,” the male noted.
“I will,” Juib replied.
“And Juib we are sorry for what has happened to you,” the female noted, “if you need anything you know how to reach us.” Juib paused a second before responding.
“You should not be sorry. My old master once told me things happen for a reason; maybe there was a reason for what happened,” Juib noted looking at the figures before leaving closing the door as he left.
Notes:
The part about the bard and the Dragons Blood Pact I was inspired to include from the in game Song from the Elder Scrolls Online 'Three Hearts as One'. It is one of my favorite songs from the game and I felt a rather powerful one. The song is about the Ebonheart pact one of ESO's three main factions, which is made of the human nords, the dark elves and the reptilian beast folk the Argonians who were attacked and enslaved by the beings from the mysterious continent of Akavir (which while often mentioned or referenced in games has never appeared in any game. It is said to be a strange place filled with strange peoples such as the vampiric snake folk, ice daemons, tiger folk whose leader turned himself into a dragon and monkey people to name a few). In order to save themselves and prevent the Akavir from conquering Tamriel the three groups forged together as one to defeat them. It basically is about three races putting aside their differences and hatreds (which is quite big as the races are constantly at each other) to unite against a great threat neither can defeat on their own. If you wish to hear the song here is a version made from all three in game singers of the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUjHL3VyLh4&list=PLEVEyfsfU-DapZxRZ2e-sXRzOiEPDC5Ow&index=1&t=25s0
Other bardic songs that I love from the game that I listened to while working and likely left some inspiration include The Plane Meld, From Dread Deadra Save Us and Ode to the Queen from the base game, Red Mountain Drinking Song and Cliff-strider Song from the Morrowind chapter, Star-eyed Bride of Alinor from the Summerset Chapter, Deamon from the East, The Burning of Senchal and Song of Alkoshs Champion from the Elsweyr chapter and A Threnody to Lost Love, The Pale Man, Hail to the Ancient Spirits, Reach Hunting Hymn, Reach Witch Chant and Red Eagles Song from the Greymoor chapter. I have a Playlist with them all in it if you wish to hear them: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEVEyfsfU-DapZxRZ2e-sXRzOiEPDC5Ow
Some of what people tell them on the Stag:
Talking to three who are working: 1st: “I heard he wears the skull of a stag over the empty space his head should be.” 2nd: “I heard it was his actual head and it was more of a demonic representation of a deers skull with sharp blood stained teeth jutting out everywhere in the mouth area and glowing hollow pits for eyes.” 3rd: “yha and he bares twisted antlers that are jet black and tipped with blood.”
Talking with a woman who runs a shop: “I’ve been lucky to have never seen it, can’t say the same of my cousin though. He saw the demon and its spawn first hand. He used to work as a guard in a settlement outside town. That demon showed up one night leading an army of its monstrous droids to attack the town. My cousin was one of the lucky few to survive. He said he saw the demon in its full form. It was blacker than black and even in the dark of night it still stood out with its dark form from the darkness around it. He said it looked like a man but with a demonic deers head including blood tipped teeth and sharp blood tipped antlers and he had blood dripping long needle like claws tipping his fingers. The thing wore only tattered pants as it tore the souls from the living and impaled them with its dark spear. He quite the guard but seeing that thing left its mark. Since that night he can’t go more than twenty seconds without looking over his shoulder.” She tells them more. While they talk her cousin who works for her as a stock boy is working unpacking things and every twenty seconds he pauses to quickly check over his shoulder for a few seconds before going back to work. She can even count down the seconds before he reacts again. It unnerves them and terrifies Jay.
“I heard those things he has look and act like droids but they’re actually demons in disguise.”
“I heard he tears out peoples souls and shoves them into those machines as servants after twisting and corrupting them into dark spirits.”If have any questions go ahead and ask I do not bite. I will try to answer them, I will however not give away spoilers.
Chapter 20: Ashers
Summary:
The necromancers aren't the only allies to the enemy; there are daemons in these lands spawn of the Oni themselves who not only align with him but some think might be worse.
Notes:
Pictures relating to story can be found here: https://www.deviantart.com/nerdy-hyena/gallery/72478681/story-project
They are really good and help to visually flush out several aspects of the story including environments, characters, outfits, locations, creatures and other aspects often important ones in the story. All images I post in my work can be found there if you want a better look at them. Defiantly make sure to check them out.Also if you need a refresher on creatures, flora or aspects of the environment you can check out the second chapter in this work titled 'Keikiarys Guide to the Ash Wastes'. It includes short descriptions and pictures of these things.
Parts of this section are subject to change as the prequel story is written to improve story continuity.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
“You think that will keep you safe. Ashers have masters of the dark arts. Sorcerers and sorceresses as powerful as an Oni who can tear you to bits without even touching or seeing you,” Tafari boomed from where she stood in a mock up of a ruin inside a domed coliseum like structure that sat just outside Balmora. This structure was where the town held training exercises for the guards or anyone wishing to test their metal against a scimitar construct and for entertainment. The vast majority of the structure sat below ground with a thick glassed dome which sat above ground to let natural light in. The bottom of the dome was stained by the ash that piled against it. The Nexo Knights were fighting a group of hyenoids who had been reprogrammed for training purposes so they wouldn’t hurt trainees too much though they were still no push over’s and clearly were doing quite a number to the knights. The hyenoids they had looked a lot like Rayyaima and Razak though they were dressed to resemble Ashers. There was also a small pack of creatures to make it even more challenging. The Ninja sat on the viewing decks which sat just below ground level and looked over the arena watching the training. These decks went around the rings exterior forming a small viewing area. They sat with Hassiri and a few other folks, some even kids, who had come for some entertainment. None of the folk though seemed to want to cheer anyone on, likely afraid of being yelled at by Tafari. Some of the folk had stories about her and had told the ninja these stories. How she had thrown a guy off a guard tower into the wastes for staring at her too long, how she had ripped an Asher sorcerers heart out with her bare hands, how she single handed without a weapon or armour tore apart a group of five armed hyenoids and how she took down a rampaging Timber Mammoth with her bare hands by jumping from the top of a three story building onto it. There was also the time she caught a burglar and supposedly only threw him out of the window of a two story building however the doctors believed she’d done a lot more than that to him. The burglar apparently looked like he had been mauled by a Venom-Fang fabricant which they doubted was the case believing Tafari to have done it. Only a few kids were willing to say anything now and then cheering on the knights.
Aaron who wielded a crossbow was trying to drive away a group of small bipedal reptiles called Venom-Fangs, a few were fabricant in make, who had cornered him on top of what looked like the ruins of a tower. Aaron was not pleased with not being let to use his hover shield for the exercise but wasn’t going to let it stop him. Axl who was wielding a war axe was fighting a group of hyenoids that were dressed in strange robes and clothes to make them look like these beings called Ashers. The hyenoids were clearly too much by the way they were ganging up on him. Lance who wielded a lance had been pinned on his back onto the ground and had shoved the lance sideways into the mouth of the highly dangerous creature they called a Venom-fang which was pinning him down. Seeing it could not bite through the lance the reptile was repeatedly lifting up and slamming its front end down taking its opponent for a ride and making Lance repeatedly smack himself in the face with the back of his hands as he clamped tightly onto the weapon not wanting to be bit by it. Clay and Macy were trying to reach Tafari who stood wearing an ash grey gi with her arms crossed on the top of a building in the centre of the ruin, her tail raised in intimidation. Macy was using a mace to fight back some hyenoids that had cornered them while Clay was attempting to climb up the ruins holding a sword with one hand and occasionally having to swing it at one of the hyenoids who kept trying to pull him down nipping at his ankles as it attempted to grab his legs. Before he could reach the top however Tafari jumped down from where she stood and joined the rest in the fight using nothing but her hands and feet. Since the others had deemed them too young even though Robin had been eager to join in Robin and Ava were made to sit out of this fight and were sitting with the ninja spectating it.
“You have to watch each other’s backs cause the Ashers will take any slip in your attention to strike. Work as one,” Tafari exclaimed. Without her armour the ninja had come to see what she had been talking about when they had met her. Before starting the session she had shown off what the Ashers would do to them if they caught them. It was not just her head which bore cybernetics, at least half her body had robotic implants. From the mid of the forearm down on her right arm was robotic along with her entire left arm, from the mid femur down on her left leg and from the knee cap down on her right leg were also cybernetic. Even though she didn’t show it they had good reason to believe she had a few more cybernetic implants in her body core as well. Without any weapons she was able to disarm the others, pull pieces off their armour and her lack of armour allowed her to dodge and strike like a viper. She was so good at martial arts that she could easily have become a master of spinjitzu without any training. The knights in the ring tried both co-operatively and single handed several times to take her out and even without the help of the denizens on her side she was able to defeat them. Axl she at one point flipped over herself and threw him like a pillow into a wall which fell on top of him. Having broken free of the creature Lance tried to run her through but instead Tafari grabbed his lance and threw him into another Venom-Fang who clamped its jaws on the lance and tried to pull it from Lance’s hands getting the two stuck in a game of tug o war till one of the hyenoids grabbed him and began to brawl with him. Aaron had managed to escape the tower and tried to tackle Tafari from the top of a smaller ruin. He landed on her back, wrapping his arms around her neck and held on as she tried to yank him off. She bit him causing him to lose his grip in surprise at one point then threw him into Axl who was charging towards her knocking both to the ground. As she was fighting Tafari kept telling them how bad they were, how their enemies wouldn’t fight fair and sometimes mentioning how and what Ashers were going to get or do to them. From the way the training session was going the Ninja could see why the others had told them they were in for quite a rough time both for their session and the trip there. This group they were watching were going to be the ones coming with them to Holamaya but it didn’t look like they were up to the task.
“They’re supposed to help us get to Holamaya?” Kai blurted out not amused at the fight.
“Yep, sure they have no powers like you guys but they’re still pretty good. Not many last this long against Tafari,” Hassiri boasted.
“They’re normally better than this,” Robin noted and Ava added, “yha a lot better.”
“I think learning about what is going on and what we’ll have to face, not to mention we can’t find a way home and have no clue what is going on back home has really got them down preventing them from doing the best they could. I think they have lost confidence maybe even hope,” Robin explained feeling a little down. The two were rather embarrassed to see how poorly the knights were faring in the ring.
“A lot of folk here have lost hope. The guard has fallen before but never this bad. Enslaved and corrupted by the forces of evil, all of them. Then for the Knights of the Prong to go missing alongside them to many folk here that could only mean the end of the world,” Hassiri added.
“You barely touched on these Asher folk yesterday. What exactly are they?” Cole wondered from where he sat next to Zane who seemed distant, as if lost in thought or not entirely there as he stared into the ring. Cole gave him a pat on the shoulder to draw his attention and it took a while before Zane seemed to realise anyone had touched him and he looked over confused. He had been distant and distracted all morning and it was starting to worry Cole. No one had explained to them what signs of the Stags possession were just to watch for bizarre behaviours. Though they were accustomed to Zane’s behaviour which was normally bizarre sometimes how could they tell if it was just Zane being Zane or signs of the Stags possession? The others seemed to have noticed it too but they were unsure if they should ask Zane if something was wrong or wait for him to say something. They were pretty sure he was not comfortable talking about personal subjects around these strange folk and none of the ninja could blame him. Most of the folk in this town were rather hostile towards those of non organic make and despite how human like Zane was, after all they often forgot that Zane wasn’t truly human, these folk didn’t care and did not hesitate to let them know. They just saw what he was and that was all they cared about. They didn’t care to get to know him. They kept calling him s’wit and fetcher or telling him to get lost and some refused to acknowledge he was there or would move away from him giving him dirty looks. A few had even tried to attack or threaten him. One had even thrown a rock at him and hit Zane in the back calling him a filthy s’wit as they did it. Nya had been the one to defend Zane throwing the stone back at the folk who took off. Hassiri, the knights and Fae were some of the few who seemed to not care and treated Zane like he was just another person. They were sure the folk here might seriously hurt Zane or worse if they suspected anything. They were all pretty sure there was something wrong with their friend but what could they do? Who could they turn to? Hassiri and Fae both were knowledgeable but they had stated earlier in the day that neither knew how to stop the Stags influence should it appear and they were unsure if they could trust Tafari even though she was likely the only one who might know something.
“Well Ashers have been around for a long time. Depending on where you lived in the realm determined if they were always just a minor nuisance or a serious threat. In most regions they were often seen as myths or demons from a lost time no longer relevant in the world but around the wastes and Blackwoods here they have always been a threat, a plague to all living things. With what has been going on recently I’m pretty sure most in our realm now realise how true they are and that sometimes the myths of them pale in comparison to the reality of them. They get their name from the ashy color and texture their skin often comes to have. Originally they were found only in and around the Blackwood and the Dragons Maw at the base of which is their main temple and stronghold where they were often seen as robed shadows or mutated horrors who attacked those who ventured too far from towns or homes at night or during storms. For most of history they rarely openly attacked places or caused chaos mainly working in the shadows on acts of subterfuge or only causing random incidents that required serious attention. That changed however. It was after the eruptions of the Dragons Maw and the spreading of the ash that they began to spread out more and became a more prominent threat in places they usually hadn’t been in since the Oni were here. They slowly began increasing the rate and severity of confrontations with people and more openly challenge the people attacking farmsteads and pillaging villages. Some think they might even have something to do with the continued eruptions of the Dragons Maw even though scholars have proven that is more geological related not other worldly. The strange effects the ash has though, that is unexplained and believed by even scholars to be from the Ashers influence over the volcano. This belief might be because Ashers are well known to worship the Oni…” Hassiri began before Kai cut in.
“Why would they worship Oni?” Kai interrupted.
“I don’t know you’d have to ask them. A lot of those who become Ashers love power and have rather chaotic and cruel natures to begin with so I guess the Oni appeal to them. What I do know is they devote themselves to this worship and this has endowed them with dark magic’s. Ashers were once human like you or I but through dark means they have been morphed into something else; not fully human but not fully monster either. Their flesh, organs, bones, even their souls themselves have been mutated by their dark worship of the oni turning them into beings of darkness. The skin is not the only thing to develop a weird appearance. Their bones develop a charred look, their blood is black and said to burn with a fiery heat and their hearts are a sickly charred burned color and texture. Those that have the greatest power have turned into even more monstrous beings than the others, most appear humanoid except they have lost all their hair and their ash grey skin is hairless with fiery burning marks crossing parts of their bodies and the eyes burn like embers. Any resemblance to who the individual once was including race or gender are gone making them all appear near identical. The worst of these beings are the sorcerers. Their devotion to the dark arts has turned them into monstrous vaguely humanoid beings with a trunk like proboscis and tentacles on their face and dark empty pits where eyes should be. It is said you can feel the dark energy radiating off them like heat. I have never seen one of these but from tales I’ve heard of those who have they say looking upon those things feels like what it must feel to look upon an Oni. There are then those we call sleepers. Folk who have not undergone any physical change but are still Ashers. If you fell them and cut them open you will see the characteristic traits to their blood, bones and heart but on the outside they look human. These Sleepers often serve as spies, assassins or supply and information gatherers and help bring outsiders into their group, smuggle their illegal goods and create disturbances among populated areas. While many would like to see these sleepers driven out of society that is harder said than done; many are masters of illusion and can blend in with the general populace making it difficult to pinpoint who they are and many are masters of subterfuge operating in the shadows to complete their dark deeds. If someone is suspected of being a sleeper we look into it but unless we can find concrete proof linking them directly to Ashers or they cause problems legally then we cannot do anything to get rid of them. Then there are the slaves, poor souls who the Ashers have caught who refuse to join them or bow to them. They have been corrupted turning their skin to ashy stone, their eyes white and empty and their minds to mush. They retain the appearance of who they once were but generally there is little left of who they once were; they’re just tortured husks. Some say even their souls have been stripped from their bodies and used to fuel the Ashers dark rituals often leading them to become trapped in the cursed realm, the underworld or even much worse the void. Ash Slaves are forced to serve the every bidding of their Asher masters till someone puts them out of their misery. They wear nothing but loincloths, ragged clothes, foot wraps and shackles not just on their hands and feet but sometimes even their necks. Similar to the Ash Slaves are Ash Ghouls, poor souls who were consumed by the Blight curse and morphed and corrupted into dark warriors for the Ashers upon their demise to that curse. The transformation can starts minutes after the poor victims’ last breath and progresses rapidly. Ghouls no longer remember who they were and all that they once were is morphed into a tortured corrupted husk. All they can do is serve their Asher enslavers for whatever those monsters want. They’ll even slay their own brethren if those monsters tell them to. Like their new masters Ghouls cannot be felled by normal means. As I said before they are highly resistant to your average iron or steel weapon. Any Asher requires weapons that have been enchanted or are made from special materials. This will kill them but not truly destroy them. Unless destroyed the remains will re-awaken but even when the physical form is destroyed before long they will re-manifest from the ash of their territory. Only ice can permanently destroy them. Why you may ask, personally I’m unsure but I’ve heard it has something to do with their connection to the volcano. To fully destroy them you need to sever their connection to the volcano and the cold of ice is believed to be able to destroy this connection. You will know you have destroyed this connection as instead of leaving physical remains they are turned to ash. Along with the Ashers there are things we call Ash spawn. Their full relation to Ashers is not well understood nor what exactly they are is understood but it is commonly believed they are the manifestation of entities that have perished in the wastes. Their just husks, soulless and empty, of once living things that often serve as foot soldiers for the Ashers,” Hassiri continued, “Other folk who join the Ashers even if they don’t follow their beliefs or traditions are those with certain conditions like I was saying earlier. Even though there are cures for their condition due to historical prejudice folk often from small towns might feel embarrassed by catching the condition and not seek treatment. Even rarely some folk come to enjoy the effects of their condition and want to keep it. These folk are welcomed by the Ashers who willingly add them to their ranks. The most common of these are Vampires. Their condition is a curse of Oni make and it is not uncommon for folk that love their curse to seek out ranks amongst the Ashers.”
“Why hasn’t this Dragon Guard tried to remove them if they’re so terrible?” Nya wondered.
“In the past the guard and even the Dragon Master himself had tried to remove them but the Ashers always were able to give them the slip and evade destruction. Often the Guard has had to deal with bigger threats and since Ashers generally haven’t ventured very far from areas around the Ash Wastes and Blackwood they often have had to pass up confronting them to deal with greater threats. Also the elusive behaviours, subterfuge and dark magics of Ashers has often made it appear they were not that numerous compared to other groups that have threatened Nirn, most of their members rarely venture out from their strongholds in the wastes and usually they only attack outside the region when working with other groups hiding behind their chaos for their own gains. If the Guard came near here they would vanish. The Dragon Guard do know of their existence but have tried to avoid the wastes as much as they can. I think they’re unsure of what to do, probably even scared to deal with them. I wouldn’t blame them. Once you’ve dealt with those things, it can scar you in ways you’d never imagine trust me I know,” Hassiri explained before going quite and there seemed to be tears starting in his eyes but he brushed them away trying to hide them.
“What about the Black Stag did the Dragon Guard or even these Knights from here know about him?” Lloyd inquired.
“As far as I know they do know of him but I do not know if they ever had a plan to deal with him or not or if they even were interested in dealing with him. For the longest time he was just a legend around here used to explain strange often dark occurrences, events or behaviours that couldn’t be attributed to Ashers and why animals and scimitar constructs or machines would act strangely, attack people for no reason or steal things. It was only after the Dragons Maw blew and he took over Holamaya that many began to realise he was real. Outside of terrorizing the ash wastes and nearby villages he hasn’t really done much to attract the Dragon Guards attention and oddly he never gave the Knights of the Prong a hassle. He’s more reclusive and secretive than the Ashers preferring to operate in the shadows and is highly unpredictable making combating him hard. Plus with so little of him known or understood how are you to combat him. Truly I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re scared of him, I hear Sheoth a pure-blooded Oni fears him. Sheoth doesn’t fear the Ashers nor his own kind so for him to fear the Stag says something big about that being. Truly I’ve lived in the wastes my whole life and for the longest time I never really feared him. I’d heard the stories but until I joined the guard I hadn’t seen anything to distil fear. In the guard I started to see something’s… let’s just say it can shake you up. Worryingly as the threat from the Ashers and Necromancers has been growing the threat from the Stag has grown exponentially as well. We are getting more frequent accounts of his minions around populated areas, more run ins with them in the wastes and such. Though none have ever seen him many have believed to have felt his presence and many have reported feeling him more frequently near the city. It’s as if he feels threatened by them or worse, he’s in league with the Ashers. He’s not the only thing that’s become more prominent over the past while. The Blight has as well. It originally was a mild condition showing up every now and then but it never got to plague proportions or even common enough to be a bother. It got a little worse shortly after the eruption of the Dragons Maw but still it wasn’t too bad but in the last decade or so the Blight has become more prominent and nasty spreading further and infecting more and more. Many believe the Ashers are to blame for this and some worry the Blight could end up devastating our world. So far we’ve managed to keep the Blight contained to the ash wastes and nearby areas but there has been reports from elsewhere that the Blight is spreading and fast,” Hassiri divulged.
“Is our test going to be this ruff?” Jay wondered, he was unable to take his eyes off what was going on in the ring clearly unnerved by the show. They were all watching what was going on in the ring unnerved feeling like they could feel the pain the knights were going through. Tafari, the hyenoids and creatures were giving the knights a serious beating. The knights were clearly starting to hit their limit. Being bruised and missing pieces of their armour they were starting to mess up. Tafari had tied Clay upside down to a post where he was clearly feeling embarrassed then yanked the mace from Macy before throwing her into a wooden wagon which collapsed onto her when she hit it leaving her dazed. She then used the mace to break down a two story tall wall that Aaron was using as a vantage point to snipe the hyenoids surprising him. Aaron tried to jump to safety only to land on Axl dazing the two who were then both set on by the hyenoids and Venom-Fangs. Tafari then yanked Lance out from his failed squabbling with the hyenoid and threw him into the post Clay was tied to surprising both. The post broke at the base causing it to fall over. With the folk defeated Tafari commanded the hyenoids to stop and for the caretakers to draw the venom-fangs in, which they did, using a few whole large roast chickens; locking them up behind a gate that led out of the ring. Some of the folk then began to clean up the ring and drag the dazed and defeated combatants out of the ring with help from the hyenoids.
“Maybe, you won’t be facing Tafari though you’ll be facing some of the beasts and constructs you’ll encounter at Holamaya which could make it worse for you,” Hassiri stated.
“Hopefully they make it back before it is too late,” Wu stated as he stood with Lou, Ed and Edna and Ray and Maya in the monasteries’ courtyard looking up at the ever encroaching cursed sky. This cursed sky had now covered most of the sky near the monastery and it was very slowly encroaching it now. In the yard in front of them Pixal, Seliel, Ronin, Skylor and Dareth were practicing their fighting so they would be prepared in case the necromancers came to attack the monastery. The strange grass and vines that grew around the dock area in Ninjago City were already growing in and on the monastery grounds and walls no matter how many times it was pulled and other strange plants were starting to spread as well. Strange fungi some as big as trees while others emitting a glow in the dark and a strange Aloe like plant which the data Pixal had been given called Burning Vera which could heal burns and wounds were also spreading along with other strange plants. The day the ninja had left those they had contacted Wu and Pixal had picked up using the Destiny’s Bounty and brought them to the monastery. Jays parents Ed and Edna, Kai and Nya’s parents Maya and Ray, Coles father Lou, Dareth, Ronin, Skylor, Seliel and her father and a few others were there waiting for the ninja to return. It had been a couple days since the ninja had left and the necromancers were spreading their influence rapidly. The day the ninja had left the necromancers had claimed Ninjago City and rapidly spread out swaying folk into their ranks. They had already been joined at the monastery by some people from the city seeking refuge from the threats. Some of these were kids who were sitting watching those practising their fighting.
Oddly some of the strange racer creatures from this foreign realm had somehow found their way into Ninjago and were using the walls of the monastery as a perch. They weren’t hostile though they refused to be touched. It seemed like they were unsure of the strange folk they were now encountering. Originally they did not like when someone got close to them. They’d hiss and show off their wings and tail stinger or fly off but by feeding them scraps the racers had come to tolerate those in the monastery so didn’t react much to their presence anymore. The group was using the racers as an early warning system. They had found these creatures were actually quite useful. They would chase away the corpse birds of the necromancers if they flew nearby and alarm called at any folk they spotted nearby. The group had noticed possible figures on the path leading up to the monastery at night. They were pretty sure the necromancers had found them and were planning something.
They had also seen and heard other strange creatures now and then and a few times a strange ash had fallen from the sky. It seemed everyday new strange things appeared. The only thing they could think of for the sudden appearance of the strange plants and animals was what that raven had stated this Void Breach. Dagon was fusing their world with this other realm causing tears between the two, like portals, allowing things to cross between realms. They had no clue how many realms were going to be affected nor how things were going to end but if legends held true things were not going to end well for them and they could be facing the literal end of the world. They could only hope the ninja got what they needed before too late; they didn’t have much time to play with. Who knew how long the process would take and what issues it could bring.
“If they do make it back we might not be here,” Pixal noted as the Racers became highly agitated by something coming up the path to the monastery making everyone stop.
“What’s got into them?” Ronin wondered as everyone gathered together and watched as the racers took off as quick as they could to get away from something screaming at whatever it was. Something began to bang at the gates as if trying to break in drawing everyone staying there into the courtyard. Even though some of them were not fighters they prepared to defend themselves and huddled close together at the opposite side to the gate in the courtyard worried about what was on the other side of the gate. With a mighty smash one of the bone constructs of the necromancers smashed through the gate sending the doors flying open and its body giving off a bone rattling noise while the creature gave off a high-pitched rattling hissing noise. Once the door was smashed open two more bone constructs came in followed by a few necromancers led by Onca and the two hyenoids Razak and Ed. A strange and creepy looking reptilian creature the size of an elephant crawled up onto the wall and perched there looking at them. The creature was like some strange cross between a snake and a monitor lizard though it only had forelimbs, a more pointed snout with teeth that just jutted from the jaws and areas of its body had transparent skin and muscles letting its bones be visible, most notably on its head and spine.
“Thought you could escape us didn’t you?” Onca stated baring her teeth.
“If you are looking for the ninja you will not find them here,” Wu proclaimed.
“Oh we know. We are aware of what they’re planning to do and we have a little something special waiting for them,” Onca boasted showing off the Sai she wielded in her one hand.
“What are you doing here then?” Skylor questioned.
“Why wouldn’t we be here? All who wish to challenge us are our enemies plus you can make good pawns in taking out your precious ninja, if they make it back, if not we could always use some cattle to do our work. From what I hear where they’re headed they’ll likely meet their end at the hands of one of their own,” Onca boasted with a laugh to which the two hyenoids joined in unnerving the other necromancers.
“What do you mean?” Pixal inquired getting a bad feeling about what this figure was saying.
“Wouldn’t you like to know, but we ain’t telling you. Ya’ll be lucky to share their fate,” Onca boasted as an eerie robed and hooded being came from somewhere behind her to stand next to her. The robe it wore was a purplish burgundy, its skin was greyish and ashy looking and its hands and fingers were gaunt and ended in claws. The face was the creepiest of all. Where the eyes should be were dark pits and a strange trunk like proboscis structure came out of where its face should have been. Where cheeks should have been four tentacle like structures hung, two on each side. The trunk and the front tentacles had rows on parallel sides of large dark pits like the eyes running up them. Two more of these strange pits sat on the face, one behind the eye pit and the other below these two on the cheek area. The whole face structure was rather bloated looking and it walked with its shoulders hunched with an eerily fluid movement. They were all unnerved and horrified by this figure. The necromancers were rather happy to see this figure however the two hyenoids seemed put off and moved a bit away from this figure. Pixal was the only one to notice the hyenoids movements largely thanks to Razak giving off a strange signal as if trying to communicate secretly with something.
“What is that monstrosity?” Dareth exclaimed.
“There is something not right about that folk,” Wu contemplated aware of a dark somewhat familiar aura coming from this entity. The figure seemed to be assessing those before it though without eyes it was hard to tell what the thing was looking at if it could even see.
“Let me introduce an Asher sorcerer. Ashers are from our world and they are very powerful and dangerous beings. As worshipers of the Oni they have been gifted some of their dark powers. They were once human like you and me but their powers changed them and gave them a new form. When this one’s through with you your beloved ninja will never recognise you,” Onca laughed before turning to the Asher, “we brought you here for a reason why don’t you show them your dark powers.” The Asher seemed to survey them before starting to make hissing, growling, wheezing noises that sounded like some possible language. It looked to be performing some sort of spell. As they prepared for what this thing was about to do and it prepared to finish its spell something flew in to slam into the Ashers waste causing it to stumble backwards hunched over in pain stopping its spell. The Asher tried to recover but ice began forming on its skin and erupting from inside it. The necromancers were horrified while the others were confused. It looked like a shard of ice had hit the figure but where did it come from? Were the ninja back already? While the kids with them thought so somehow Wu didn’t think so. Seconds later what resembled one of those racer creatures flew overhead giving off a metallic roar. It overshot the monastery before turning back. As it made its way back a creature that resembled some sort of near elephant sized hoofed wolf or hyena with ears and horns like an okapi lunged atop the serpent one that perched on the wall knocking both into the monasteries courtyard.
“What kinda hound is that?” Ed asked as Wu, Pixal and the others moved as close to the building as possible to get out of the way of the two creatures.
“It is a hoofivore, a creature of good in their world. It combines traits of the three races. Cat, Ungulate and Hyena,” Pixal explained as the creatures got up and circled each other looking for a chance to strike. The necromancers moved close to the wall as the two creatures fought each other in the middle of the yard. The racer creature came to perch on the monasteries outer walls by the necromancers curling its tail up to show off the blade that ended its tail and holding its wings out as it hissed at the necromancers.
“That things half robotic you two take it out,” Onca commanded the hyenoids.
“Yes sir,” Razak stated before the racer-bricant spat like a dragon lightening at the hyenoid Ed who after receiving a heavy shock collapsed on the ground off line. The creature then did the same to Razak who seemed to become fearful of the creature before being attacked in the same way. With the two hyenoids out Onca turned her attention to the Asher who was beginning to recover.
“Someone take that thing out?” Onca demanded. The Asher prepared to cast a spell at the creature which had turned its attention to the Asher. The creature let the Asher get a little ways into its spell looking un-amused before the racer-bricant breathed, again like a dragon, a freezing ice filled blast at the Asher. When the creature finished its breath attack all that was left of the Asher was a pile of ash and a damaged skull like structure and a few burned bones. The racer creature hissed at the necromancers who had turned their attention to the two creatures in the yard who had started to brawl with each other. After a quick skirmish the Hoofivore managed to pin the serpent creature onto its back pinning its arms down with its forepaws while the serpent creature had wrapped its body around the Hoofivores abdomen. The Hoofivore bit into the creatures throat as hard it could crushing the reptiles neck which caused it to disappear with a dark bluish glow and low thundering noise indicating it had been summoned to their realm and not brought through by a portal.
With the serpent creature gone the Hoofivore turned its attention to the necromancers who, except for Onca, were beginning to back off clearly afraid. Even their constructs were backing away.
“That things just flesh and blood take it out,” Onca commanded her friends who were a little unsure if they should.
“Fine I’ll do it myself,” she exclaimed throwing her sai at the creature as it charged towards her. As the sai hit the creature it turned into a dark smoke and the sai continued coming to pin into one of the monasteries walls. Out of the fog rushed the unmistakable figure of an Oni towards Onca whose expression changed to a mix of surprise and fear as the creature dissipated into fog and an Oni came out after her. As it grabbed her by the front of her shirt lifting her off the ground the necromancers and their constructs fled running over each other to try and get away leaving the hyenoids and their commander to their fates.
“Onca I believe, working for Dagon are we. Such a bore he is, an utterly dull bore. If you came to be with me we’d have loads of fun,” the Oni stated with a rather cheerful voice as he faded into the form of one of the hyena folk with short slicked back white hair, a short white moustache and beard, and two different colored eyes. One was golden the other purple. He wore golden pants, long sleeved shirt which had a scale pattern on the arms and over the shirt another shorter sleeved purple shirt that went down to his knee caps and had faint slightly cream colored markings that kinda looked like butterflies along with golden trim on it. He wore a golden colored belt that had a belt buckle in the design of an oni’s face. He wore worn leather shoes and in his one hand he held a wooden staff which had an opaque creamish pearl like orb set in its top.
“Sheoth! You’re an Oni, you can’t cross the borders of realms without the realm stone and we have that, how did you get here?” Onca gasped.
“I have my ways, or maybe they’re not my ways but others ways,” Sheoth recounted.
“What are you doing here?” Onca inquired showing fear and trying to loosen Sheoths grip on her which he did not seem to care or notice that she was struggling.
“Unlike your beloved Dagon I do not agree with my fellow Oni. I like the realms as they are and desire to keep it that way. The Dragon Master was kind to me when my kind cursed me into the mad lord so I owe it to him to help save his realm when it is needed most,” Sheoth scolded, “now why don’t you run along to your master and tell him you failed. He won’t like that but then again he never likes anything unless he can conquer and destroy it; how boring. Now run along now little mortal.” Sheoth then dropped her to the ground; Onca took a second to look at the figure then at the racer-bricant who hissed at her. She then wasted no time in rushing off leaving the two hyenoids.
When Onca was gone Sheoth headed over to the hyenoids and looked them over doing something with a panel in their chests. When he was done that he walked over to the others who were worried about this strange figure and unsure what to do.
“So it’s your folk who have come for a visit to our lands. Bummer of a time to visit, you should really visit some time when things aren’t so… dark and grim,” Sheoth exclaimed standing proudly in front of them resting his staff across his shoulders.
“What is your intent for our world?” Wu questioned the figure unsure of if they should trust him. He might have just saved them but he was also an Oni so they were all unsure if he was trust worthy. There was something also off about him.
“Nothing and something, as you heard I am an Oni but I am not one of those conquering destroying hypocrites like the rest of them, so dull they are. No idea of fun and they don’t like butterflies or pie. No fun at parties either… Not all Oni are evil, you most of all should know that,” Sheoth proclaimed pointing his staff at Wu, “you know haven’t been here in ages. Had a heck of a time last time; they wrote a book on me they did. Of course the First Spinjitsu Master was not thrilled by my vacation but he was nice enough to tolerate and not punish me. Odd cause I was expecting him to especially after that incident with turning a whole village into talking cats or the incident with convincing a bunch of monks to break their legs by jumping off a roof to try and ride on the sun.”
“You have been here before? I have never heard of you,” Wu pondered confused by Sheoths words.
“Wouldn’t be surprised, you’re father didn’t want me around you or your brother. Said I was a bad influence or something like that… can’t exactly remember what it was he said. Or was it a butterfly that told me that… no not a butterfly. Their all songs and poems and riddles just like song birds, such fun they are,” Sheoth rambled.
“You are the stranger talked about in that book, the Accounts of Madness,” Pixal noted remembering the vision Zane told her about before they left and the book he had found with the creatures picture. As if to prove her correct Sheoth shifted from his hyena folk form to full human and remained that way. His human form resembled exactly what the book had described him as.
“Precisely me lassie, that was a fun few months of vacation. Maybe I should take more when this is all over, bring some pies. Everyone loves pies and cake, cheese is a good addition to. We could have a party or a tea time. Sounds fun,” Shoeth began to digress.
“Are you okay?” Ray wondered noting Sheoths rather bizarre way of talking.
“Maybe, maybe not; my fellow Oni cursed me with insanity for disobeying orders and betraying them, or was it throwing a party? …no had to have been disobedience and betrayal, why punish someone for desiring merriment? Or was it for eating butterflies… no that doesn’t sound right had to have been the orders one Oni don’t care about butterflies or parties. How dull is that, awfully terribly dull,” Sheoth pondered as the two hyenoids rebooted.
“You still have not answered what your intent was?” Pixal inquired as the hyenoids came up to Sheoth and addressed him as their master bowing in respect.
“This is your master? Is it not the Shadow Lord?” Pixal inquired confused.
“You thought…owe we forgot to add that information to the data we gave you. Oops well now you know, sorry about that. We are trying to keep that knowledge away from the necromancers so I guess we overlooked it,” Razak relented looking at his pal Ed who was confused.
“Reprogrammed that part of them when those necromancers tried to invade my lands and good thing I did or you’d be in some serious trouble. As I said I like the realms the way they are and I am grateful that the Dragon Master let me live in his realm in peace so I think it fair that I try to save his realm. I like yours too, such a fun place to vacation. Entertaining the realms and enjoyable aren’t they. I probably would also owe it to the First Spinjitsu Master to protect his realm after some of the chaos my vacations have caused. When the Dragon Guard fell into Dagons hands I knew we’d be in for trouble. My presence is the only thing keeping my lands and people safe for now but those necromancers are persistent, like a bad rash or parasites, and will eventual get in especially now that they have Dagon on their side but that’s not for you to worry about. No you got your own problems. I got word from my little pets here that they found some folk who could take up the mantle as champions to defeat Dagon. Hurrah. Now for what I’m doing here I came to give you some aid. According to my hyenoids the necromancers were going to corrupt your minds to serve them. They thought by threatening you they could distract your ninja so they cannot finish their goals. Can’t have that can we?” Sheoth reported, “they’ve obviously found something those necromancers don’t want them too. I don’t think Dagon cares; I’ve never known him to fear anything. Mortals though full of fear, enjoyable to watch it is though. Mortals can do the funniest things when fearful; they run around crazier than a chicken without its head, so entertaining.”
“So you’re here to help?” Skylor cautioned while Sheoth balanced his staff on his finger tips for a short while before throwing it up to catch it.
“Well yes and no. Personally I cannot stay for long. I have my lands and people to protect. Also because of the curse my kind put on me and what they did to create Dagon means I cannot hurt him, plus there are many beings in my kingdom that need my protection plus my presence here would just draw more attention to you. You don’t want that. I can however offer you something special,” Sheoth boasted pointing with his staff towards the racer-fabricant which was perched atop the wall still, just looking at them sitting in a relaxed manner now just listening to them.
“A special creation of our world; this is no mere Racer fabricant. He is one of only five who were given the powers of… da-da-daaaa dragons! Sounds cool doesn’t it. Some say the Firstborn gifted them their powers others claim it’s from fusing parts of dragons into their creation. Not only can they use a great diversity of elemental powers but they even have the unique ability to combine elements that normally would not go together into a single attack. One of my favourites is the cold flame; fire that burns cold and leaves a trail of ice where it has been; so fun, so entertaining this trait. It can really liven up a party or mess with an enemy. He will guard you against Dagons lackeys. There is one problem though. They share the dragons dislike of Oni, he’ll trust those who he believes are good, but should Dagon show that thing he calls a face instead of fighting due to the fact he isn’t a true dragon he’ll flee and you’ll be screwed,” Sheoth explained.
“That is where we come in,” Razak boasted, “we remain in contact with Rayyaima while she stays in their headquarters and we let you know when he is coming. Due to the way we were taken out they will assume we were taken prisoners and did not betray them so they will trust our commander and let her listen in on plans.”
“Now be good to my boys and my Racer, I call him Pelagius just so you know. Now I have to get back to keep those necromancers out,” Sheoth stated but before he could leave Wu inquired, “the ninja have you heard anything about them?”
“Ah yes, the foreign dragons got themselves some foreign knights to watch their backs they did. Odd cause dragons and knights don’t usually get along. Knights usually want to tear the wings off dragons and dragons usually want to eat the knights. From what I hear they’re getting along pretty well. Both have found themselves in the Ash Wastes they have, not a very pleasant place, definitely don’t want to picnic there; ash does not make a good addition to your sandwich and that Blight is very unpleasant. There is something about that place that isn’t right, don’t know what it is though. From what’s growing around here I’d say the Ash Wastes are coming to visit you. Word of advice watch out for the Kappa, cute looking and cuddly but mind the spike on their hind legs. Leave you paralyzed for a half an hour it will. Fun little creature! They look like mammals and give milk like mammals but walk like crocodiles and lay eggs like turtles. What a fun way to mess with scholars,” Sheoth cheered starting to ramble on.
“You were saying about the ninja?” Seliel inquired trying to bring this odd folk back to the topic.
“Ah yes. From what I have heard they are headed to a place many have labelled the Forbidden City a place ruled by a being known only as the Black Stag. A real bore he is and not very nice. Had him over for a party once, complained most of the time he did and took to harassing my subjects and bullying my Scimitar constructs. No sense of fun he has. I told him when you end up with food in your hair and punch in your underwear then that is one wild party, you’d think a being who likes to take the form of a wild animal would enjoy a wild party but no… plus I think he might have offended by the venison stew. Forgot to tell my chamberlain he has a thing for deers; making a meal out of a deer for one who uses deer iconography was probably kind of rude,” Sheoth went on starting to get off track again leaning on his staff.
“This Black Stag what is it?” Lou asked and Sheoth seemed to ponder over the question.
“That I really can’t say. There is something of the Oni about him but he isn’t an Oni. At least not a pure blooded one from what I can tell. I don’t think he’s a spirit either at least not in the traditional sense. Nor is he any kind of mortal being, I don’t know what you could call him. He shares features with the Shadow Lord but I’m not sure if he is that either. I’m not sure where he even came from either; just appeared one day out of the blue long ago. Folk consider him evil, I guess if you consider forcing robotic and bestial entities to do your bidding and attack people turning on their loved ones to tear out their entrails, then yha, you could say he’s evil. He’s also not too kind to his mortal minions either. Your ninja are in for some serious hardships from him if he’s in a good mood, if not well then I wouldn’t want to be them,” Sheoth stated worrying many of them.
Notes:
Sheoth choice to show up in the form of a Hoofivore to attack the enemies alongside Pelagius is done by choice as the Hoofivore is a symbolic creature for the people so his choice to appear as one reveals his allegiance to them.
If have any questions go ahead and ask I do not bite. I will try to answer them, I will however not give away spoilers.
Chapter 21: A brush with the Stag
Summary:
The daemon appears!
Notes:
Pictures relating to story can be found here: https://www.deviantart.com/nerdy-hyena/gallery/72478681/story-project
They are really good and help to visually flush out several aspects of the story including environments, characters, outfits, locations, creatures and other aspects often important ones in the story. All images I post in my work can be found there if you want a better look at them. Defiantly make sure to check them out.Also if you need a refresher on creatures, flora or aspects of the environment you can check out the second chapter in this work titled 'Keikiarys Guide to the Ash Wastes'. It includes short descriptions and pictures of these things.
Parts of this section are subject to change as the prequel story is written to improve story continuity.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
The ninja were preparing for their test in the arena waiting in a holding cell to be let into the ring for their test. As he had offered Hassiri had gotten them clothes made so they could keep their normal gear clean. The new outfits were also designed to protect them from some of the harmful conditions in the wastes. The gi’s he had gotten made for them kept the colors they normally had. The clothes were made from materials found in the waste like Ash cotton, silk from the Lava Moth and was embedded with particles from the shells of some creatures like a large beetle called the Beornix and a strange armoured reptile called the Kwalit and it had parts made of the leather from these Retch and Kagaur creatures with some metal fittings. This made the outfits lightweight but very strong and versatile. It also gave them a slight resistance to some of the effects of the ash and conditions in the wastes plus a slight resistance to the magic’s of the Ashers. The material also made it so the mask of their hoods could help block the smell from the ash and special metal armour which had built in filters was infused into the hoods to make breathing in the wastes less painful and act like a re-breather should they get caught in an ash storm or fall into a toxic valley. Unlike the knights however he could not get them any special weapons. The people in the city didn’t trust the ninja with weapons like they had given the knights which could deal damage to beings immune to normal weapons. The ninja would have to work with what they had brought with them.
While they were waiting since it was just them and none of the folk from this realm were around they had decided to see what was wrong with their friend. They were pretty sure something was wrong. Zane was not being himself; while clearly trying to hide it they knew him well enough to tell that he had lowered emotions, was anxious and bothered. They all agreed what it was even though no one had yet said anything.
Ever since they had arrived at Balmora they had noticed Zane seemed agitated, distracted and distant though he was trying not to show it especially around the townsfolk. They had each noticed him earlier looking around for something that wasn’t there when they were supposed to be studying and he seemed rather jumpy being easily startled by sudden noises for an example. They were also aware that he had the TV on in his room all night; it was not very loud, you couldn’t hear it unless you were outside the door to the room he was staying in or the room next to his room which their room was. The TV was on a channel playing nature documentaries which did sound rather relaxing though some of the animal calls kept spooking Jay especially when he was trying to sleep. Jay was afraid of the strange wildlife of this place. They were not too sure why Zane had the TV on all night and they worried what it could mean. They worried he was trying to not hear something, using the TV to block sounds. Something maybe the Stag was doing or saying to him! Or was he trying to make it look like he was awake to try and keep someone from trying to attack him?
The day before they had gone into the Under-city to get a look at the folk of this place and how they lived, Hassiri had suggested it and had even given them some coin to spend in the place. He did the same for the knights who went off and did their own thing. Despite the conditions outside the town seemed to be thriving and the under city was rather lively. Nya and Jay had been intrigued by the Scimitar centurions the town had converted as mechs for heavy lifting in the town and the various systems used to simulate natural systems for the under city so spent some time chatting with the folk who were repairing the systems. The others had wandered around looking at the various shops and talked to people. Noting Zane had clearly been nervous which they felt was from the people the others had stuck together keeping Zane close. Zane had his cloak on the whole time they were in public to avoid the attentions of people and it seemed to work on most of these folk. They had expected him to do that, what they hadn’t expected was how quite and isolating he was being. He had always been the quietest of them all but he had hardly said anything while they wandered the town not even to them. They had thought he would have wanted to investigate many of the features and systems of the Under-city after all he had been quite amazed and curious when they had first shown up but made no attempt to investigate anything or talk to anyone and just seemed to follow the rest of them seeming to spend most of the time lost in thought often just looking around or staring at the floors or planters. Even when they interacted with him he seemed distant to them often not looking at them and his speech trailing off when responding to them. He sometimes didn’t recognise when they were speaking to them or took a while to react or respond to them. They weren’t sure why he had been acting like that and had been hesitant to ask so hadn’t. They had visited one shop which had a bunch of random objects like lanterns, pillows, clothes, trinkets, house wares, some sort of drinks, some scrap pieces of Scimitar folk make among other items. They were looking over the wares the others trying to get Zane involved though Zane didn’t show much interest. The proprietor, a female ungulate folk, kept scowling at Zane the whole time they were in the shop. Zane seemed at one point to have become transfixed by some scimitar objects which sat around a statue of what resembled a robed cat-folk with small horns on its forehead who held some sort of star shaped item while she sat in lotus pose; Zane didn’t even seem to be aware when Lloyd asked him what he had been looking at. The proprietor came over as if worried about what they were doing. They had thought that surely Zane was aware she had come over but when she asked ‘Outlander what do you want’ he snapped out of his transfixion and had gotten spooked and looked ready to punch her. Sure she had said it rather grumpily to him but they were pretty sure that was not what had made him react to her in that way. His reaction had been one of surprise or fear like he was expecting to be attacked and why had he been transfixed by those objects or had he been staring at the statue?
After their time in the under city Hassiri then took them and the knights to a section where the creatures and constructs used in the training ring were housed so they could see some of the entities they had talked about in the flesh. It was the closest thing the town had to a zoo. The area was isolated from the rest of the under city. Though clean, up kept and well lit the place didn’t have a nice feeling. There were no decorations or planters like other places in this structure. Instead pens of thick metal bars which lined the walls held creatures and droids. In the center of the room was a large table where they worked on those held here, stains from various substances covered the floor around the table. None of the inhabitants of the pens looked happy. They were held in pens with bowls or troughs for food and water and nothing else not even hay for bedding just a stone floor. Creatures from both the wastes and nearby areas were housed there. Of the constructs there was a Fear-bricant who was held in a cage too small for its size, it just lay curled up on the floor and was barely able to stretch out and a few Venom-Fang fabricants which were housed with their fleshy counterparts. There was a couple hyenoids which were lying in one pen having been shut off when not in use as the folk feared they would attempt something terrible if left active. The only other constructs were a couple Robo-bills who had been decommissioned and looked to be under study having been partially scrapped. When they had gotten there some of the creatures were out in the training ring being used to train some guards and workers were present in the room cleaning and maintaining the section. On the table in the middle of the room was a hyenoid who looked to being worked on with bits of it strewn about on the table and its head having been separated from its body but by the fact no one working there was working on it or showing any interest in it the ninja had a feeling it had been placed there in that state to threaten Zane. Though he was hiding it from the folk here they all could sense how the others were being treated and the sight of the partially disassembled droid had a negative effect on Zane, it was disturbing him and making him anxious. The mix of negative emotions had caused Zanes cloaking to fault leading him to go un-cloaked there making his anxiety worse as he was nervous of the people. At least one of them stayed close to Zane the entire time they were there to keep the folk from trying anything and hopefully make him feel safe. They knew Hassiri meant no harm and they were pretty sure the knights wouldn’t hurt him in fact Aaron and Axl had been very friendly to Zane and kept trying to get him to join them in their investigations into the creatures pleased to have his help; they were also enjoying messing with Jay around some of the creatures and constructs finding his fear and reactions amusing which also amused Kai and Cole. The ninja couldn’t tell though with the rest of the folk there. This was made especially evident when one of the folk stated to Zane that if Zane tried anything this folk was going to shove him in one of the pens with the animals where the folk believed his kind belonged. The folk had said it loud enough so everyone could hear and though they said nothing his fellow workers seemed to agree. All Zane had done was look into the one pen which held the Venom-Fangs which were curled up together looking depressed. As he looked into the pen Zane mindlessly putting one hand on the bars of the pen it sparked the comment. The ninja had wanted to say something offended by how these folk were treating those who were not human but they felt it best to say nothing. They did not want to stir up any possible trouble from the folk here. They worried some of the people here could try and stop them or jeopardize their mission.
Then after dinner the previous night they were going to go over some of the stuff in the book they had been given in preparation for the test. Zane seemed relatively fine over dinner, lost in thought but fine. Hassiri had made them a strange meal which included some normal ingredients but mostly was made with ingredients found in this foreign region. These included a strange yam from these lands, some bits of plants and fungi which grew here, meat from one of the reptilian creatures and ground up shell and meat from one of the large beetles of the waste. They understood he was trying to be nice to them after all most of the folk in the town were not too nice to them and they especially were mean to Zane but they were a little wary of eating what Hassiri made. According to many of the scholars in the center Hassiri was an okay cook, not the best but okay, and many of the folk here including him included ingredients they might not like such as pieces from bugs, reptiles and some of the strange plants and shrooms of the area. None of it was harmful just it might be a little off putting for some folk and some items had strange effects especially when not prepared right which Hassiri tended to do by accident even though he was trying to get better. The knights had joined them for dinner. Like the ninja they had been invited and came trying to be polite to Hassiri even though they were not really interested in having whatever he was going to make. What Hassiri made looked good but they were weary of it. While all the others were hesitant to touch the stuff even Cole and Axl were hesitant, not too keen on eating meat from a strange reptile or ground up bug nor some of the plants and fungi from this place or getting glowing veins, temporary paralysis, feel like they were as heavy as lead, cause hallucinations or get rashes or other strange effects from strange plants or shrooms, Zane wasn’t. He’d seemed distracted when Hassiri told them what it was he had made. He just began eating it when Hassiri gave it to him. The knights were surprised by Zane just digging in and not showing any fear. Aaron was impressed at Zanes apparent lack of fear while Axl was grossed out. The ninja were less surprised guessing Zane was trying to be nice to Hassiri, possibly worried of making more people here hate him, or he hadn’t heard what it was made of having been too distracted. They all eventually tried what Hassiri made though it took some quiet coaxing from the others to get Jay to try. It really wasn’t that bad and they didn’t seem to get any after effects from it. After dinner Zane had gone to retrieve his book from the room he was staying in, when he didn’t show up where they were meeting in the main room of the scholars center after a few minutes they began to worry and went looking for him. He was nowhere in the scholars center making them head out worried over where he had gone. Everyone in the Under-city had claimed to not see him or refused to cooperate claiming they ‘should just let the wastes claim that s’wit’. Only one group of people cooperated with them, a group of kids who had been playing in the city had seen Zane wander outside. They didn’t seem to share the same prejudices as the adults. It took them a while of searching the town in the dark to find him. An ash storm was starting up and Hassiri had told them none of them should be outside without the proper gear during one of these storms so they had to make things quick. They didn’t have the gear and they were pretty sure Zane didn’t either. It was one of the town guard who had found Zane. The guard had sought out the ninja when he heard they were looking for their friend wanting them to deal with Zane since he did not want to. The guard had locked Zane in a room under the stairs of one of the towers of the fence. The room was in a walkway under the stairs of the tower. According to the guard he had found Zane wandering around the fence unaware of anything around him mumbling that there was something on the other side of the fence and pointing at this ‘something’ which the guard could not see anything. Worried Zane might be up to something bad the guard dragged him to the room and locked him in it planning to just leave him there for someone else to deal with not caring if something bad happened to Zane. When they’d let him out Zane was confused on how he had gotten there but seemed fine though they could tell he was hiding his fear. When they got back to their room where none of the people of this town were Zane let his emotions show and admitted he had no clue what had happened. One moment he was entering the hall of the rooms they were staying in the next he was coming to his senses in a strange small room with no way out. He had vague memories of walking around and wanting to get on the other side of the fence like there was something over there that he needed, something important. When he had regained his senses and found himself in that room he was terrified the towns folk were going to hurt him or worse!
Even creepier they had found him later during the night when he was supposed to be locked up wandering around the dark halls of the place. Cole was the one who had become aware that Zane wasn’t in the room since he had been awaken by the Parrot-Cruncher licking his face. When he went to put the creature back baffled how it had gotten out he had found Zane gone and the door wide open! Luckily only the one creature had wandered out of the room. Not wanting anything bad to happen he had awoken the others to help find Zane. It didn’t take long to find him. Zane didn’t seem to be doing anything when they found him just mindlessly wandering while placing and stacking random objects and furniture in strange configurations on tables, benches, or the floor. None of the configurations made any sense. When they tried talking to him all he would say was random and strange things in a quiet and tired sounding tone. He was saying things like “It speaks to us. Things are not right; it knows this but cannot see this. He began in brightness and honour but ended in foul and evil. Everything is wrong we must put them right” and “Everything’s confusing, everything is wrong. This is not straight. This is too high. This is in my way. We must put them right. We hear the words, and must speak them. We take them, and arrange them, but still, they will not be quiet.” At first he didn’t seem to acknowledge they were there and just kept doing what he had been doing, he wouldn’t even respond to his own name! They only managed to get him to follow them back to the room by telling him the Stag wanted to see him to which Zane seemed even more confused but he at least willingly followed. The fact he did not respond to his own name but to the Stag worried them. They managed to get him back to the room to lock him in without anyone knowing. As they brought him back to the room he would randomly keep saying “it’s not right, it’s all wrong. It must be set right. We must make things right”. Every now and then he tried to move or rearrange objects but they were easily able to lead him away, he wasn’t putting up much of a fight. It was as if he was in a dazed state or some sort of trance. They just told him “we got it”, “we understand” and “don’t worry we’ll make it right” whenever he would talk to them. They were not sure if he was listening or understood them while in this trance. Once Zane was back in the room and in bed asleep they locked the door and took the key so he couldn’t get back out. For his safety they felt it best that Zane not have the key to the room. They were lucky he hadn’t hurt anyone or done any real damage. That morning Zane had no memory of what had happened that night but he remembered a dream of being lost in the ash wastes at night. A hyena with lavender eyes and silver fur was leading him to safety. Even though it said nothing Zane somehow felt the creature was trying to help him. At one point he got separated from the hyena and became trapped in a stand of dead trees. Once in the stand a dark shadowy man with the head of an elk stag and unnerving aquamarine eyes came up to him out of the shadows. The figure reached out to touch him as it grew near talking in some language that Zane could not understand. Zane had been unable to move or make a noise no matter how hard he tried and it terrified him as the folk reached for him; he had felt as if he was dying. When it touched him he became surrounded in a black fog that whipped around him for a few seconds before dying off. Once the fog dissipated Zane found his hands, arms, feet and legs covered by red glowing markings resembling cracked lava and the area around his eyes had glowing red markings. Signs of this Blight they all feared in this place. He had the Blight! He could not recall how it ended but however it did it didn’t make him feel good.
Even the knights had noticed his behaviour. Zane was okay around the knights and largely acted like normal around them but the knights had witnessed a few instances of his strange behaviour and had asked the others in secret if this was normal behaviour for him since they didn’t know enough about them to know what was normal and what wasn’t. They were worried it was possibly a sign of something dangerous. The ninja were unsure how much they could trust the knights. They didn’t share the people’s hatred to Zane and treated him no different than they did and while their relation to each other had improved over their time there every now and then the knights did show evidence they were still wary of the ninja. All they were willing to tell the knights was that no the behaviour they would inquire about wasn’t normal. The peoples dislike and rudeness to him here had been taking a toll on him. From what they could tell the knights accepted their explanation and understood it. They even kept what they saw private and didn’t alert the guards like the ninja had worried they would do.
“Something’s wrong isn’t it? You haven’t entirely been yourself recently," Nya inquired to Zane who was staring at one of his shurikans lost in thought taking a second before realising he was being talked to.
“Is it the people here? The Stag? It’s both isn’t it?” Cole offered. Cole had not admitted to the others yet but there was something unnerving in this place which was starting to disturb him. Elsewhere in this realm nothing had felt different from their realm, other than being a different realm of course but it had felt normal. Even the people despite being beast folk seemed normal. Once they had gotten to Balmora however there was an odd feeling to the place. It was hard to pinpoint what it was or where it came from. It was a dark uncomfortable feeling that made his skin crawl and hair stand up. There was something unnatural and wrong here and many of the people just seemed to reflect this unpleasant environment. They had inquired with the knights about it and they agreed to feeling the same thing making the feelings more unnerving. It was creepy that while they and the knights were clearly aware of this cursed feeling none of the natives seemed to care or even notice it.
“Other than my dream I recall nothing from last night. I was walking around without knowing it? And I have done this a few times?” Zane replied looking confused and worried.
“Yep and last night you were also stacking things in a really weird way. You kept saying that everything was wrong and something about honour turning foul and evil,” Jay added.
“I inquired with Hassiri and he explained what you were doing was some of the first signs of the Stags possession, as if he’s testing how much control he can have over an individual. But they’re also the signs of this Blight they fear. However what you were saying doesn’t match with either, at least he’s never heard of it,” Lloyd disclosed worried.
“How could he have gotten the Blight, you have to be bit or scratched by something that has it and nothing in the town has it. They get rid of anything with it for everyone’s safety,” Nya expressed before Jay suggested, “maybe it was that food Hassiri gave us? I told you it was a bad idea. If it was doing that to Zane who knows what it has done to the rest of us?”
“No it is not the Blight; my diagnostics do not indicate anything wrong. It could have been the food… no I am pretty sure it has been the Stag,” Zane mumbled clearly disturbed.
“Even so it might be best for us to check you over later just to be sure something’s not wrong,” Lloyd suggested before Jay stated, “yha in your zombie like wandering you could have come into contact with something or it still could have been that food.” Though the others did not like Jays choice of the word zombie they agreed to the idea, just to be on the safe side.
“If it was from the Stag then you should feel lucky Zane; he could have done worse to you. He could have had you try to harm or kill someone; they’ve had that happen before, or he could have made you wander onto the other side of the fence where really bad things can happen. Hassiri told me that those the Stag has tried to take record that they sensed an unidentified entity watching them or trying to mess with them. Have you had that?” Lloyd comforted his friend.
“Yes and no matter what I do I cannot find where it is coming from,” Zane revealed looking nervous as Cole gave him a pat on the shoulder to try and comfort his friend who was beginning to worry.
“Don’t worry your strong and we’re here to help you. Do you get the feeling he’s watching you now?” Lloyd questioned.
“No which is unnerving; ever since we arrived I have often felt his presence but now nothing,” Zane replied confused.
“You don’t think he could be preparing to do something? like attack during our trail? Make you turn on us while we’re occupied?” Jay worried and nervous of having to face an evil controlled Zane knowing they probably wouldn’t stand a chance against him Kai offered, “maybe you should sit this one out. I’m pretty sure they’d understand. You could watch with Misako from the control room.”
“No, if I am to go with you it is wise that I join you to get a sense of what we could face though I wonder if it could be a bad idea for me to come along,” Zane replied.
“He’s right, if we’re going to do this together it is best if we train together and you’re coming with us. We’re a family and we’ll do this together. We’re not going to let this thing tear us apart. If he tries we’ll show him what happens when you mess with one of us,” Cole replied though he was getting a nagging feeling that something was not right in this place and that this was a bad idea. Cole was trying his hardest to hide that he was worried for the others and that they might lose Zane or someone else during their mission or worse this Stag would cause Zane to destroy the rest of them. He knew Zane would never do that at least not in his normal state. If something took over him however he could do that and they might not stand a chance against him. They had seen this in the Never Realm when he had been corrupted by a forbidden scroll. Even though they had not yet seen the Stag or what it could do after seeing Zanes behaviour the day before where not only had he lost control but had no idea it was happening to him along with all the tails they had heard Cole was sure Zane would lose to the Stag. If the Stag showed up he was pretty sure Zane would lose all control of himself and they’d be in serious danger. This Stag seemed to be a powerful entity and they had no clue what it wanted, what it was or even what it could do or how strong it was. They really knew very little of this being and deep down that scared him.
Something else was adding to his worries that this test was a bad idea. For the last few months Cole would get nightmares from time to time involving his mother. They often involved him being lost in a strange land which he had come to realise was these Ash Wastes and he could hear her calling to him. Something made him feel she had something important to tell him but he could never reach her no matter how hard he tried. Before he could ever find her a dark figure that filled him with a fear greater than anything he had ever felt would come out of the shadows and get him causing him to wake up in terror. Though he could often not remember what the dark figure looked like when he did remember it the figure often bore a head that had a deer like shape to it. He would always wake up in a cold sweat and heart racing from these dreams. After they had met the necromancers his dreams had turned much worse. Last night before he was woken up by the creature he had been dreaming that he was in the monasteries yard but somehow the monastery had ended up in these wastes whose ash and flora had taken over the monastery and its grounds. A dark low lying fog had been rolling over the area and the sky was dark and tinged an eerie aquamarine color. The others were there but something was wrong. All but Zane were lying on the ground and he could not tell if they were alive though somehow he felt they were not. His father was there as well and he lay like his friends. Zane was standing in the middle of the yard holding Seliel who was limp by the neck. Zane looked to be inspecting her. For some reason he felt Zane had been the one to harm everyone and something about Zane seemed wrong. His whole body seemed dark with strange aquamarine markings resembling lightening crossing his skin and decorating his clothes. He had called out to Zane to question him about what he had done feeling disturbed by the scene around him and when he had done this Zane looked at him dropping Seliel where she lay on the ground motionless like the rest of them. He was greatly upset to see Seliel like that wanting to rush over to see if she was okay but the darkness to Zane scared him keeping him from getting close. When he looked at Zane he noted there was something wrong with Zanes eyes. They were dark with an unnerving aquamarine iridescence to them and he seemed dark, a mentally disturbed dark. A dark form took shape behind Zane out of the fog. It resembled a stag made of shadows with eerie aquamarine eyes. The stag gave off a deep unsettling voice it’s mouth not moving as it spoke commanding Zane to kill him. Zane obeyed the stag without question launching at him then he had been awoken. He had a feeling he knew what the dream was about. It was a visualizing of his fears and worries of what could happen if this stag took over Zane. The dream had greatly disturbed him but he was hiding his feelings to keep the others from worrying.
“You’re right. We’re not going to let this thing tear us apart or stop us. Zane if you feel the Stags presence at any time let us know. We can help, there has to be something to keep this entity at bay. Cole I think it best if you stay close to Zane and should he get possessed by this thing use your lava arms to try and restrain him,” Lloyd affirmed as the gate opened to let them into the ring and someone called them out. As they entered the arena Lloyd pulled Jay back to quietly comment to him that if things got bad to shock Zane; not enough to seriously hurt him but enough to knock him out for a while. They were all hoping it didn’t get that bad but they had no clue how powerful this Stag entity was or what it could do.
The ring had been set up with a few ruins, the most prominent being a central crumbled tower. A wagon missing one wheel sat next to the tower and a post with a simple red flag sat atop it. A few dead trees had been manifested around the ring along with some native fungi and low growing plants so it resembled the wastes. Once in the ring the gates behind them closed. There was a large crowd gathered to watch in the seating of the arena; clearly watching people fight the denizens of the ash wastes was popular entertainment here. Hassiri and the Nexo Knights were among the spectators sitting in the front row. Hassiri looked rather worried and so did the knights. They knew things could easily go wrong. The knights had brought their shields and weapons just to be safe but kept them hidden by their feet not wanting to put the other spectators on edge. Some of them were already on edge worrying Zanes presence would draw the Stags attention to the practise and lead to an attack from the Stag.
“Alright now while we do not have the exact beings the Stag has we do have the closest things. The beings you see in the ring before you are the types most commonly encountered by travellers in the waste from the Stags forces,” Tafari’s voice came over the PA from the control room which looked over the arena from above the gate they had entered from.
“In their worst attack groups we have a small band of hyenoids, they have replaced the Robo-bills that used to be used. A female Ash Walker with a cybernetic left forelimb and right eyeball is also frequently spotted being used as a living tank for the others. For your test we’re using a regular female Ash Walker; they’re bigger than the boys and more aggressive. A Birch Runner which we believe has internal cybernetics though only armour like plates are seen on parts of its body is also frequently spotted. A Fear-bricant is also seen in their groups. Of the non cybernetic and robotic beings you will face we have a Kappa. He only seems to use these for attacks that occur in wet environments like swamps, river and lakeshores however due to the trait of their venom we decided to include one for your test. Venom-fangs including fabricant versions are commonly apart of his attacks and are common deadly predators in the wastes. While Parrot-Crunchers are not normally in his attack groups we have included one due to their venom properties and the fact that these are common small herbivores in the wastes which the Stag could use on you. He also likes to utilise Racers however due to the limited space available for large winged opponents in the ring and their venom we are just using one Racer. Even on their own these creatures can be rather troublesome and are worse in groups. The racer is around here somewhere sneaky thing; you’ll probably flush it out. Now I warn you all the creatures who are naturally venomous still have their venom so watch out for that. The venoms can kill you and their effects are very unpleasant,” Tafari stated. All the beings she had mentioned were waiting in the ring for the command to start hanging around the ruins waiting for the command to start. They could see all except the racer who was nowhere to be seen. They were given a minute to look over what they were facing and prepare for conflict. During that moment Lloyd looked up at the control room and waved to his mother who waved back. Misako stood with Fae in the control room where a large desk which faced the arena sat. The desk had two keyboards and several buttons, dials and levers on it. Ava and Robin had been tasked with working the controls to give commands to the robotic beings and controlling the climate conditions of the arena. Since the two were coming along and were too young to get in a serious fight they were going to mainly help out by controlling the ship they were taking. To give them experience with controlling technology in this world they had been receiving training for it and been helping with repairing the ship. While the ninja were practising in the ring the two were being tested in their ability to control this realms technology during the fight. There was a few of the folk who usually worked the systems there with them to offer help if the two needed it and to give them advice. Tafari stood in her grey gi behind the control table to help out and overlook everything. Her arms were crossed and ears back. She was in a bit of a mood that day and she seemed highly irritable. She could tell something was not right with the day but she couldn’t pinpoint what. Wanting to get the session over with she ordered the start of the trial.
The Fear-bricant was chosen as the leader for their opponents, it boasted this by rearing up from the rubble it stood on by the tower and roaring. The ninja prepared to face these opponents standing in a protective ring. The Fear-bricant seemed to communicate to the others using some sort of deep metallic grumbling rattling noise. With that the Kappa dug below itself and vanished beneath the ground. The hyenoids joined the Venom-fangs who were led by a Venom-Fang Fabricant in launching in to attack. Jay was the first to be taken out of the circle as he swung his nun chucks at one of the hyenoids and the hyenoid grabbed his weapon and threw Jay into his fellow hyenoids. The rest got dispersed by the Ash Walker who charged at them swinging its head and tail in order to knock them over. As they dodged the creatures charge they were pushed into some of the other opponents. Kai ended up facing the Venom Fangs where he had to shove a stick he found into ones mouth to stop it from biting while swinging his sword at the others to try and keep the rest away. The Parrot-Cruncher was roaming on the outskirts of the fight rushing in every now and then to try and swipe its tail or bite someone forcing them to react quickly in order to not get quilled, bit and poisoned. The Fear-bricant seemed to have decided Lloyd was her target as it was following him around attempting to bite him or pierce him with its bladed forelimb by slamming the limb into the ground. The Birch Runner who had been given some armour to wear at first had decided to take Zane as his target but for some reason switched its focus to Cole who was keeping an eye on Zane. Cole was finding that though it looked pretty harmless the Birch Runner had a pretty nasty bite and kick which was made worse by the fact this creature was able to use ice powers with its attacks. It was also stronger and tougher than it looked. The hyenoids as they had already suspected were much like nindroids when fighting which made things a little easier, they knew how to deal with them. The hyenoids had been given crude swords, clubs and staffs to fight with and didn’t seem to favour a particular target. Instead they would attack someone at random as if testing what they were up against. The Kappa seemed to have vanished but it was just playing with them. It would come up from underground or from behind some rubble or foliage to nip at their heels or attempt to kick them with its venomous spurred hind legs before vanishing again. It wasn’t really trying to hurt anyone, just annoy and distract. The one that was trying to hurt them was the Ash Walker which was rearing up and swiping with its forepaws or slamming its forepaws down trying to hit someone, crush them or charge into them. During the squabbling they were surprised by Skeevers which would seem to appear out of nowhere from rubble or foliage to try and bite them. Luckily the Skeevers were easy to deal with. Generally a good hefty kick would send them away for a while before they attacked again. Like the Kappa they were just a nuisance and not a real threat. After the first Skeever appeared Robin came over the PA to say, “she forgot to tell you about the Skeevers; why did you forget to tell them about those” while Tafari mentioned after Robin, “I didn’t forget the Skeevers were supposed to be a surprise. They need to be prepared for surprises; the Stag and Ashers won’t fight fair.”
While they weren’t winning against these creatures they were at least able to hold their ground as they tried to figure out how to best take the creatures on. The good thing was it seemed they weren’t having any trouble from the Stag and Cole was thinking they might get a relatively normal training, well as normal as you could get when working with creatures from another realm at least. Zane wasn’t feeling the Stags presence and though the creatures were roughing them up they weren’t trying to do too much harm or worse; more like they were playing with them. There was one problem though, that racer. There was supposed to be one somewhere in the arena but there was no sign of it. Racers were rather big; it would be hard for one to hide especially since there were not many places for it to hide.
A shimmer of light by the tower drew Cole’s attention away from the fight and he wasn’t the only one. Most others had noticed it. Their opponents stopped fighting and began to back off a bit staring at the fabricant looking scared. Nervous of what was going on Cole looked at Zane to see him staring scared at the fabricant.
“Zane you okay buddy,” Cole inquired trying to not reveal that he had a feeling things were about to get bad, real bad!
“He is here,” was all Zane was able to mutter sounding like he might be in pain as he looked at the fabricant unable to take his eyes off it. Cole started to come over to check Zane the way he sounded worrying him but he found his attention drawn back to the tower. The shimmer they had originally seen was a racer-fabricant letting down some sort of cloak as it crawled on all fours up the tower and up the flag post to perch atop it. They began to get the feeling of something dark and cold invading the air and there appeared to be a black mist starting to creep across the ground from the shadows reaching out towards their opponents and even Zane!
“Hah, found your missing racer, is it supposed to have all that metal on it,” Jay laughed starting to feel nervous but trying to remain calm. The ninja were starting to get nervous.
“That’s not ours! That’s the Racer fabricant Celaena! One of the Stags minions and one of the five Racer-fabricants who can wield the elements like a dragon! Ninja get out of there!” Fae exclaimed over the PA stunned to see the creature while the racer fabricant looked at the ninja from its perch making the ninja uneasy. After it surveyed the area it stretched up and threw its wings open. Throwing its head back as it opened its wings it gave out a loud non metallic call that seemed to irritate their opponents. They began to shake their heads as if trying to throw the sound away. Zane didn’t appear to be affected by the sound but he was standing frozen in fear watching as a black mist began to surround him forming a cyclonic mass that was slowly shrinking onto him.
“Guys we need your help!” Cole called to the others worried after attempting to catch Zanes attention but Zane hadn’t responded and didn’t seem to have even heard him too scared of the black mist that was slowly constricting and seeping into his body. The others were already on their way having noticed the mist coming for Zane shortly after it appeared. They tried to catch Zanes attention but he didn’t appear to hear them as the mist invaded his body and he looked to be fighting something in his mind looking and sounding to be in serious pain as he fought whatever was trying to overcome him.
“No… leave me alone! I don’t want to serve you!” Zane yelled while fighting whatever was trying to take him over.
“You can fight it Zane, you’re strong. Don’t let him change you,” Kai encouraged while Lloyd went to grab Zane to get his attention and try to help him. It wasn’t easy as a faint but strong whirlwind of dark energy was still around him and Lloyd had to fight the fear and deep cold the whirlwind was creating to reach him. The moment Lloyd touched Zane he got shocked by a strange aquamarine energy and tossed back by the shock which gave him a dark empty feeling energy.
“What was that?!” Jay exclaimed and Lloyd expressed shaken and worried, “I don’t know.” Before they could try to help Zane again they were set on by the hyenoids and skeevers forcing them to defend themselves. The droids and skeevers had black hollow looking eyes with an eerie aquamarine iridescents to them. Their bodies had blackened and across their blackened skin and attire glowing aquamarine markings resembling lightening with a notable patch over the heart had developed. Looking around the ninja could see all their opponents had the same kind of eyes and markings now. Some of their other opponents like the Birch Runner, Kappa, Parrot Cruncher, Venom-fangs and Fang-fabricants joined in the fight while the others began attacking the metal gates out of the pen trying to break them; the Ash Walker went for the gate for combatants while the Fear-bricant went after the gate for the creatures. Seeing the ninja were in danger the knights wasted no time in climbing over the railings for the seating and jumped down into the ring to help them joining in the fight. Despite what was going on in the ring the people watching remained, despite being terrified, wanting to see what would happen. While they tried to defend themselves they could see Zane was still trying to fight the Stags hold however it was clear by the blackening to his body that was creeping from the tips of his limbs to his body core that he was not doing so well in his struggles. Zane could see the darkening occurring to his body and was clearly very scared of it starting to shake from what they could only guess was a mix of fear and pain.
“Zane?” Cole inquired trying to figure out if his friend was still fighting the Stags influence feeling disturbed and terrified by Zanes appearance. Zane looked like how he did in his dream from the night before. If his eyes had become the same disturbing aquamarine color as the markings on his body than he would look exactly like he did in the dream which would only terrify him more. While they wanted to get close and see if he was okay the ninja held back worried what would happen if Zane was under the Stags control. The knights hung back nervous that things were about to get bad and scared of what Zane could do. They had heard about the things he had done while under dark influences in the Never Realm and it had disturbed them. The sound of metal being bashed around brought their attentions to the Fear-bricant and Ash Walker who had managed to smash open the gates allowing creatures from the holding pens to rush out into the rest of the city through the arena.
“Zane?” Cole inquired trying to figure out if his friend was still fighting the Stags influence. While they wanted to get close and see if he was okay the ninja held back worried what would happen if Zane was under the Stags control. The knights hung back nervous that things were about to get bad. The sound of metal being bashed around brought their attentions to the Fear-bricant and Ash Walker who had managed to smash open the gates allowing creatures from the holding pens to rush out into the rest of the city through the arena.
“This isn’t good,” Kai blurted out before a growling noise drew them back to Zane. Zane stood up, growling a bit at them, taking his hood off before opening his eyes to reveal that though they were still his normal icy color they had developed an aquamarine iridescence. As he stood up some of the mist coalesced in his one hand as a dark staff. While they were all startled to see Zanes corrupted appearance with Jay being the most verbal about it while taking a few steps back none of them were as scared as Cole. He was frozen by fear from what he was seeing.
“So you are who seek to enter my territory. Pathetic, this one could not even hold off my weakest of holds. Are you the best your realms can offer? Let us test your metal against the power of the void!” the voice that Zane growled to them with while pointing the staff at them wasn’t his. By its deep empty tinted tone like what they had heard of they could only assume it was that of the Stag. Zane then spoke with his normal voice but it had developed a dark bestial and emptiness quality to it, “I will do as you say my lord and master. They shall be consumed by darkness or perish by my hands. Nil-strun-nos, the void shall consume all.” As he completed his words he whipped the staff he had made up to circle it once above his head before slamming it bottom down into the ground in front of himself where it exploded and shot into the overcast sky as a bright flash of aquamarine lightening breaking some of the glass panels of the dome as it went through them. Once in the sky when it hit the clouds it exploded on them shooting out an unnerving greenish tint to the clouds above the city and surrounding areas causing them to start to slowly spiral above centered around the arena building into a storm that struck unnatural greenish lightening randomly in and around the arena every now and then. The storm brought a strong cold wind to the area and many felt a darkness from its presence sending chills down their spine. As the storm built everyone in the city and area became terrified. Even though most had no clue what was going on they all had a feeling they knew what it meant, the Stag had come. With the storm started back in the arena their opponents then wasted no time in rushing in to continue the fight now getting joined by Zane who showed no sign in restraining his attacks against them.
“That’s not good, we’ve lost Zane!” Jay panicked as the fighting started back up and started spreading out into the city. Now however it was not just the beasts and robotics they had to fight but one of their own. Zane was joining their opponents in attacking them and he was not holding back in any of his attacks. He was using his bow and shurikans along with his ice powers, fists, his Spinjitsu tornado which had become a cyclone of dark energy mimicking the storm above and even teeth attempting to bite them if he had no other option to fight with. In all his attacks he was trying to do serious harm or even to try and kill them! To everyone’s shock the Racer fabricant began spraying like a dragon elemental attacks at the knights and ninja and it even turned its attention to the spectators now and then even using combined elements. As the chaos started the people began fleeing in terror as not only beasts and robotics which had been let loose into the city by the Fear-bricant and Ash Walker but dark shadowy beings and creatures deemed demonic monsters emerged and formed from shadows throughout the area joining in the fight. Hassiri made sure to get everyone out of the seating area before rushing down to aid some of the guard who were down by the combatants’ gate trying to hold back anything in the ring from getting out while also sedating animals using tranquilizer guns, darts and potions. The first one they made sure to knock out was the Ash Walker before attempting to try and get the knights and most of the ninja out of the ring but were soon forced to fall back as shadowy and demonic beings began spawning in the area out of the shadows. Not equipped to deal with them they were forced to flee.
Meanwhile in the control center they were trying to get control of the situation leaving Misako worried for her son and feeling helpless.
“Signals are blocked I can`t get any access to anything. All the systems are down!” Ava stated as she, Robin and the workers tried frantically to gain access to the systems and Robin declared, “the entire of Balmora is under attack. Livestock, pets even wildlife are going nuts and there’s these strange dark beings just seeming to appear out of nowhere!”
“Keep trying to access the system,” Tafari commanded them before rushing out of the room.
“The Stag is more powerful than I expected,” Fae gasped watching what was going on in the ring. All of a sudden the Robo-Bill Mzark jumped up onto the control desk from behind it hissing at them while Ghidorah rushed out from behind the control desk. Both stood on two legs standing like the Venom-fangs and had the same effects to them that others under the Stags control had. Neither had been in the room earlier. Ava and Robin fell out of their chairs as they rushed over to hug against Fae and Misako while the workers tried to push back the creature and construct before fleeing to stand with them as the construct and beast proved rather powerful and were able to wield dark magic to attack them with. Mzark jumped down to the floor and stalked towards them while his pal Ghidorah jumped onto the control board where he bit into it and tore a chunk of the board out causing it to spark and shut off.
“How’d they get in here?” Robin worried.
“They must have used the ventilation,” Ava explained as Ghidorah growled at them, the piece of control board and broken wires held tightly in his mouth.
“Was that control board the only way to fix the system?” Misako wondered as Ghidorah and Mzark began to stalk them into a corner of the room.
“I don’t think so but I don’t think they’ll let us leave,” Ava explained to which Robin stammered, “at least not in one piece.”
In the ring the ninja and knights were getting seriously roughed up. Jay was able to knock some of the hyenoids off line by electrocuting them though the others would simply reboot them; even animals who would normally have no clue or understanding of how to do such a thing were doing this! Most of their opponents were not easy to take out especially with the Racer fabricant Celaena blasting them with combined elemental powers as she flew around. If they were lucky they could trick Celaena into hitting one of their opponents with her attacks driving them off for a while or taking them out. Celaena could spit fire that glowed an icy blue and burned cold leaving a trail of ice, electricity that moved like water, dirt, sand and rocks that burned as if they were on fire, she could summon plants that were burning or shocked things from the ground, wind with sand as if breathing a sand storm and blast shockwaves of force knocking over or stumbling anything in its wake.
The most troubling was Zane. The ninja didn’t want to hurt him but that was made difficult as the Stag seemed to be using Zane to try and wipe out his friends. Every now and then he would attack the knights but these instances seemed to be due to the knights getting between him and one of the ninja or the knight attempting to fight him. Anyone who got in a fight with him were not standing a chance. His powers, resilience and strengths were abnormally stronger and his ice powers were creating a dark ice like what he had made while corrupted by the scroll of Forbidden Spinjitsu. Even more startling was Zane seemed to have developed a sudden mastery of dark magic. Clay was the first to notice it noting strange effects happening to the knights and ninja hindering their fighting ability and wondering where they were coming from. With his powers in magic he could feel it was a dark magic being used and he was worried over who or what was using it. He had noted several of the hyenoids and even some animals using dark magic but was shocked to find they had not been the only ones to acquire this dark skill . At one point he noticed Kai take out a shadow figure and saw Zane who was near him use a dark spell to lift Kai off the ground by his gi without touching him. Zane looked to start siphoning energy from Kai while prepping to toss one of his shurikans at Kai who was terrified and struggling to break free of the dark hold Zane had on him. Before he could do anything Jay gave Zane a hefty shock causing him to drop the spell and let Kai go. Zane was dazed for a few seconds after getting shocked before turning aggressively to go after Jay who seeing he had caught Zanes attention and terrified of what dark Zane could do fled from him while Zane chased after him looking to have been seriously angered by Jays actions.
“Does Zane know any kind of magic outside his elemental powers?” Clay inquired as he helped Lloyd get Kai back on his feet. Kai was shaken from Zanes actions and feeling a bit weak from Zanes energy siphoning which was made worse by the fact he was scared by how the Stags hold made Zane look. They all had to agree the darkened appearance the Stag had given to Zane was disturbing and fear inducing.
“Unless you count alchemy, cooking or tech skills as magic than not really; That things hold must be giving it to him,” Lloyd replied startled as he saw Zane use a dark spell on Nya preventing her from using her powers and making it an effort for her to move as if he was locking up her joints as she distracted him from going after Jay before he summoned for himself a dagger made of pure formed shadow to attack her with as he had lost his shurikans tossing them at Jay where they had gotten stuck in the stone of the ruins with the force he had thrown them with. Nya blocked several of his attacks with her trident before Aaron hit him with few shots from his crossbow from on his hover shield. This drew his attention to Aaron, the dark spell he had placed on Nya dropping as he changed focus. Zane knocked Aaron off his shield with a blast of dark energy before coming at him wildly swinging the shadow dagger he had created forcing Aaron to quickly recover his shield to block Zanes barrage of attacks. As the fight went on and Zane kept moving from one target to the next while trying to focus his attacks on the ninja they all began to notice his new gift of dark magic and other often disturbing traits. The Stag was doing more than just controlling him; it was corrupting him, enhancing his strengths, giving him new abilities and most disturbingly making him act and fight with a highly primal and animalistic attitude making him an incredibly dangerous and unpredictable threat. These changes to his being combined with his total loss of control was scaring the ninja who found no matter what they did or said they couldn’t snap him out of or break the Stags control. The knights who had worried about what Zane was capable of if taken over by the Stag were terrified to see it happening and unlike the ninja who were hesitant to do serious harm to Zane while fighting him the knights didn’t hold back. It took some convincing from the ninja to keep the knights from doing too much harm to him. Even though they knew he was not giving them the same treatment the ninja didn’t want to hurt him instead preferring to restrain him so they could try and save him from whatever it was the Stag had done to him.
It was clear Zane was no longer in control of himself and was unable to break free steadily becoming more monstrous in behaviour from the Stags hold. While fighting Zane would say things that weren’t him talking how the Stag would defeat them and some disturbing things describing the Stag. When he described the Stag the way he would talk sounded like the Stag was talking through him more than him just saying these things. It made him say things like: “I am why mortals fear the shadows”, “I am why mortals fear death”, “when the Oni have nightmares it is I they are dreaming of”, “I am the bringer of nightmares and death, the horror of the wastes and bringer of shadows and destruction”, “I am the shadow in the mountain, the king of the Red Tower, the master of beasts and droids, the lord of the emptiness”, “I am the son of the void, the king of darkness, the lord of emptiness”, “darkness is my domain and you shall bow before it”. He would also randomly state things while fighting that seemed to be Zane talking about himself and taunting the rest of them. During these times his voice sounded more like himself but still carried the tones of the Stags corruption. He would state things like “the void comes for you”, “we are surrounded by emptiness”, “Surrender and embrace the void”, “the void shall consume you as it consumes me” and “Can you not hear its beauty, the beat of the voids dark heart. It calls us, welcomes us, fuels us and I willingly embrace it”, “the lord of the void has chosen me and I shall not fail him”, “your efforts are in vain you cannot escape the darkness”, “your struggles are pathetic and meaningless” and “There is no hope for you mortals, the void will consume you all. Give in now for you cannot escape the darkness”. What he was saying and how he was saying it greatly disturbed them which was only made worse by how dark and unnatural the Stags hold made him look. Not wanting to hurt Zane and not wanting to hear the terrible things he was saying which was bringing dreaded feelings the ninja tried to avoid fighting him if they could which was hard since the Stag seemed to be forcing him to attack them. They felt that was at least a good thing. It was better Zane attacked one of them than hurt one of the civilians making problems for their relations with the townsfolk which were already stressed worse.
Shortly after the fighting had started the knights tried to call up a Nexo power from Merlok who had been watching in from the TV in the knights room which Ava and Robin had set up to receive feeds from the cities security cameras for him so he could keep an eye on what was going on. Despite trying his hardest he couldn’t send them any powers he was however able to communicate to the knights through their communicators to at least provide them with the relief that the Stag did not have a hold on him. In fact Merlok felt no evidence of the Stag near him despite the bestial and robotic inhabitants of the scholars’ center having fallen to his hold. They could all only guess the Stag had something to do with blocking their powers. Clay waited till the towns people weren’t around before trying to use his magical powers not wanting the people to know he had them. Seeing how suspicious the town were to any form of magic he was hesitant to show any of them he had them not wanting to draw any hatred to himself or the other knights. He was able to use his powers and they did have an effect and helped in the fight but there were some beings mainly the beings of shadow and the creatures labelled demons that had a resistance to the powers. He was tempted to use them on Zane to try and knock him out removing him from the fight but decided against it not wanting to accidentally hurt him and not sure if the ninja would approve of that action or if it would anger them. Given how protective of Zane they were and how temperamental some of them could be he opted to play it safe. He wouldn’t hesitate however to try and block some of the powers Zane would use to keep him from hindering or harming the others which he found was not easy. The dark magic Zane was wielding was far more powerful than his nexo magic and the ninjas elemental powers and Zane wasn’t the only one able to use this dark power. The hyenoids and some of the monsters could wield them as well. Some of these dark powers included the ability to strike terror into someone making them flee from fighting for a while, the siphoning of energy from their opponents, creating a sphere around themselves or others of energy that blocked any form of power, to temporarily daze opponents or stiffen their movements, to summon lightening from the storm to strike at their opponent, the ability to summon demon creatures like Serpent Flies, Vesparellions and dark energy corrupted Venom-fangs to fight for them and attack their enemies, the ability to temporarily paralyze an opponent or even to lift them off the ground without touching them often siphoning energy or shocking them with a strange dark energy while they held them up were just some of the things this dark magic could do. Even though the rest of the knights had no powers and were unable to get any nexo powers they were not as hindered as much as they thought they would be. In ways they were better off than the ninja in the fight. Not only were their weapons more damaging to their opponents than the ninjas regular weapons plus they had their shields they could shelter from some attacks behind. They also were not the prime targets for Zane who had become not only more powerful and resilient but rather savage in behaviour.
“Don’t eat me?!” Jay screamed shocking Zane who had to Jays shock and surprise bit him heavily on the one arm as if he was a wild animal and trying to tear a chunk of his arm off. The shock stunned Zane causing him to let go of Jay and allowing Jay to back away while Kai who was struggling against some shadow beings near them stated a bit unnerved by what he had seen, “did he just bite you!?”
“Yha, he bit so hard I think he broke skin! I think he was trying to eat me! What is that demon doing to him?!” Jay explained and Kai stated as Zane recovered and looked angrily at Jay, “are you sure it’s from the Stag and not because you keep zapping him? You know it really hurts him. If I was in his shoes I’d bite you too for that. Just do as Lloyd said and knock him out.”
“I don’t want to hurt him though and besides it’s not his fault he is trying to kill us and talking all creepy like… at least I hope it’s not his fault and that he’s just not expressing some deeply buried dark side of his!” Jay babbled before having to dodge a blast of dark energy Zane threw at him. He ducked and the energy hit the dead tree that was behind him exploding the area it hit causing the top half to fall over and land atop Lance who was fighting some hyenoids behind the tree. Lance was surprised by the tree and struggled to get out from under it as the hyenoids rushed in to take advantage of his situation. After his first attempt missed Zane used the same blast to try and hit Kai who thinking quickly put the shadow being he was fighting between himself and Zane causing the blast to hit the shadow being exploding it and scaring the two causing Kai to remark, “you either do something or he’s gonna and I don’t think we want to see what he’ll do!”
“Sorry pal but you’re not yourself,” Jay relented building up a charge as Zane summoned a shadowy dagger and came at him. Afraid of Zane coming at him Jay let go of the charge before it was fully charged. It still gave Zane a heavy shock sending him flying backwards into one of the walls of the ruin but didn’t knock him out as Jay had hoped. Zane hit with such force he left a dent in the wall before dropping to the ground to sit there heavily dazed. Zane sat on the ground dazed for a short while after getting shocked before clumsily getting up having received some damages from the impact. Looking around he decided to go after Nya who was closest to him. He created a bow and some arrows out of pure shadows using dark magic and prepared to aim it at her. She was fighting the Birch Runner which she had managed to de-armour with her trident. She was unaware that Zane was aiming his bow at her, Macy was aware though since she was fighting a hyenoid nearby and worried about being attacked by Zane was keeping an eye out for him.
“Nya watch out,” Macy called pointing drawing Nya’s attention towards Zane. She dodged out of the way as he shot his arrow which struck the Birch Runner in the shoulder making it run a couple feet away to pull out the arrow with its beak. To try and limit his attacks Nya threw her trident at Zane’s bow taking it from his hands and pinning it to the ruins wall behind him. She then raced over to try and wrestle Zane to the ground before he could attempt any other form of attack.
“Why hasn’t Jay knocked you out yet,” Nya commented before Aaron exclaiming, “look out” caught her attention. Aaron had his one arm stuck in the mouth of a Kagaur that had gotten into the ring as it dragged him around. The creature wasn’t watching where it was going more interest in trying to harm Aaron than what was in front of it. It was running straight towards them from behind her. Noting this Nya got out of the way stating, “sorry about this Zane” letting the two run past her where they ran straight into Zane then into the wall behind him where the three fell into a pile at its base several of the bricks falling out onto them when they hit it. The three were dazed from the impact and took a while to recover. Zane and Aaron attempted to get up both being banged up from the fighting and struggling to stand up. As Aaron got up still dazed he was attacked by a hyenoid before he could recover while Zane stood in pain and still dazed looking for someone to go after next. By now the ninja and knights had all lost their weapons and the knights had even lost their shields. Once a weapon or a knights shield had been taken from their hands or dropped or thrown one of the opponents would take it and they were putting them in a pile at the base of the tower where Celaena was fiercely guarding them forcing them to use various objects and their hands in defence. As they fought it became clear the Stags possession did more than control those he took over; their opponents didn’t seem to get tired or acknowledge when hurt and co-operated more as a single unit than a group of random beings who just happen to be attacking the same targets as they had earlier. It also seemed they had become stronger, far stronger than what seemed possible. All of them including Zane even seemed to be emitting an unnerving empty dark feeling from their presence. The feelings were worse than unpleasant but they tried their hardest to try and stay focussed and remain calm during the fight.
After nearly an hour of fighting Tafari returned to the arena having had to fight past beings of shadow and monsters just to reach it; the fighting had just seemed to be getting worse. As it dragged on more darker and dangerous monsters that hadn’t been in the fight before began appearing from the shadows and even the strange storm that encompassed the area appeared to be getting worse as in low lying areas a strange greenish fog that filled any who wandered into it with terrible and unpleasant feelings often of dread, emptiness and terror were starting to build. Some patches of this fog had even built up in parts of the arena making fighting for the ninja and knights harder as they now also had to avoid touching this fog. By the time Tafari returned they all were hitting their limit; being bruised and beaten. Even Zane was rather banged up from getting pushed away by the knights and ninja who were trying to avoid fighting him often to only end up getting him in the way of an attack by those under the Stags influence causing him to get kicked, hit, flung and run into by their opponents often with their opponents full force. Even through the dark corruption tainting his appearance they could see evidence of physical damages to him. To try and keep Zane from getting in anymore trouble and hurt anymore Cole was trying to restrain Zane while Jay, Axl and Aaron helped him and watched his back from attacks by the Stags forces which the others were trying to keep away. As Tafari entered the ring from the gates they had come in Cole had managed to wrap his arms around Zane’s shoulders from behind as he tried to pull Zane off his feet so they could try to pin him down so Jay could give him a serious shock to try and knock him out though Jay was struggling with that idea afraid he could seriously hurt his friend especially since he was clearly already in a bad shape. Despite the harm to him Zane was putting up quite a fight and had managed to put a decent sized cut in Coles left forearm with a dagger he had created out of dark ice. It took the combined work of Jay and Aaron to yank the dagger from his one hand while Axl held back his other hand so he couldn’t stop them. Despite how painful the wound was and how terrified of Zanes corrupted appearance he was Cole kept fighting; they couldn’t let the Stag think he had a chance to win and they needed to try and keep Zane from getting into too much trouble or harming anyone. If Zane accidentally got loose and hurt one of the civilians here then Zane would be in serious trouble and they might not be able to help him.
Tafari came rushing in headed straight for Celaena holding something in her hand. Cole was too occupied to notice what it was but he did notice that Zane wasn’t fighting as much going limp in his hold and their opponents also become distracted as Tafari reached Celaena who was perched with wings out and tail curled up atop the post in the rubble tower. Upon seeing her the racer fabricant hissed at Tafari who held the object up towards Celaena revealing it to be some sort of opaque whitish with a blackish purple iridescence crystal that was emitting a light that was reminiscent of moon light. Whatever it was in her hand had an effect on Celaena who tried to look away as if the light was hurting her giving off a hissing sound. As she held it up the stone began to give off a brighter light. As the light got brighter the opponents stopped their fighting. The shadow beings and demon creatures vanished while the beasts and robotics collapsed to the ground unconscious the strange markings of the Stags possession disappearing. It was a relief for everyone who had been fighting.
“Zane?” Cole wondered as Zane stopped fighting him and went limp in his arms the signs of the Stags possession disappearing from his body. Cole loosened his grip and tried to get Zane to stand but he couldn’t so just lay him on the ground unsure if he was okay. With the fighting ended they all turned to look at Tafari and Celaena.
“I do not fear you. Why don’t you go back to the shadows! Return to that wreck of a place you call home you foul demon! You have no power here,” Tafari boomed at the creature the object in her hand giving off more light as she spoke looking to anger the racer fabricant who along with displaying threateningly now seemed to be emitting a black smoke and giving off a rattling hissing sound. The storm above appeared to get more aggressive with some strikes of lightening striking by Tafari but she held her ground the light of her stone still growing. She didn’t even flinch as dark energy began to form a whirlwind around her like it had earlier to Zane. She stood her ground the light from her crystal holding back the dark energy which just seemed to be growing for several minutes before her light began to push back the darkness. As the darkness got pushed back the fabricant looked to start to get hurt by the light using its wings to try and shield it from the light. After over a minute of the light hurting it Celaena slowly turned to look at Tafari and without its mouth moving it emitted a deep, masculine voice.
“You win for now,” the voice growled before Celaena flew off through the gates the opponents came through vanishing in the darkness of its hall. As it vanished the storm died down and the eerie tint to the sky disappeared. The light from Tafaris gem faded as she lowered it to her hip, staring at the hall the creature had vanished down. All those left to watch the scene were stunned. None had ever seen someone best the Stag or drive him away nor had anyone seen the object that Tafari had used.
“You, all of you, get to the medical station and get looked after. You’re nowhere near ready for the wastes. I want you ready for more training by sundown,” Tafari boomed before storming out of the arena leaving them all stunned for a few seconds. The knights and ninja were all tired, injured and bruised. After Tafari left the ninja rushed over to check on Zane who was still just laying on the ground looking to be unconscious. They were all feeling shaken from fighting and Tafaris harsh tone and worried for Zane. The knights joined them equally shaken and feeling curious about what had happened. Zane didn’t look too good. He was clearly quite roughed up but also didn’t look to be showing any signs of life and was quite cold.
“What’d she just do?” Axl wondered as they came together and Kai remarked feeling out of breath leaning on Lloyd in order to stand up, “Don’t know but I think it saved our lives. I don’t know how much more we could take of that!”
“Is that thing still controlling him?” Jay inquired a little nervous keeping his distance from Zane while Clay stated, “Don’t get too close we’re not sure if the Stag is entirely gone from your friend.”
“I think whatever Tafari did she purged the Stags hold from him,” Nya hypothesized looking Zane over.
“Is he okay?” Lloyd worried noting Zanes poor state.
“He isn’t… is he…?” Jay began worried not wanting to say the word and Nya noted, “I don’t know.”
Notes:
The terms Fetcher and S'wit are curses used by the dunmer or dark elves in the Elder Scrolls and are often used to show disgust or dislike and hatred to other beings and things.
Originally this part was written a bit differently and I was not entirely pleased with the original. I felt it too mild and didn't give a good enough first impression of the Stag as a powerful demon of the void. I came up with the newer idea after going through Vateshran Hollows in the Elder Scrolls online. Vateshran is an arena or solo-trial in the game in the Markarth DLC from the Dark Heart of Skyrim chapter. It is regarded as the hardest single player content in game and boasts a lot of complex in game mechanics making it not for beginner plays even many veteran players have a tough time in this arena. I am not a beginner or veteran player and as of writing this part I have not completed the arena being stuck on the final boss Maebroogha the void lich (though I like to call her a far less PG name due to how much of a pain she is) who I am pretty sure by her looks and some of the creepy and disturbing ways she moves had some inspirations from that girl in the Ring horror movie. The fight against her helped me come up with a better more fitting first encounter for the Stag in the story. As a funny side note while doing the arena for the minotaur boss who you fight on four platforms surrounded by insta kill pits. One of the mechanics of the fight has you have to disrupt four mages perched on the inner corners of the platforms who will set the platform across from them on fire if you do not. The easiest and best way to do this is to bash them which is done by holding the shield button and pressing the main attack button (this is the setup for joystick on PC which is how I play). There is one problem here however in that the buttons for bashing are very similar to roll dodge which is shield then jump button. You can probably see where this is going but yha a couple times instead of bashing I accidentally hit roll dodge and rolled off the platforms killing myself. Update as of November 2022 I finally beat that Witch.
The design of those under the Stags control is inspired by the appearance of the Dro m'Athra, dark corrupted souls of the cat folk, from the Elder Scrolls Online. Dro m'Athra are the souls of the cat folk who have fallen to the void and come to serve the daedric prince Namira whose sphere is the ancient darkness and is the goddess of dark spirits and decay.
Much of how the folk treat Zane and other robotic beings comes from personal experience. I have a certain neurological condition, I don't like to reveal what it is because people hate me just by hearing its name, that has led people to act like that to me and many others who also have this condition. The condition makes a lot of things in life others take for granted or never even acknowledge hard to do and often gave me trouble while writing the story as it made it hard to properly word what I was thinking of (communication skills even digitally and written are often hard with my condition), I often struggle with executive dysfunction a common symptom of my condition and my condition sometimes made focusing on working difficult.
If have any questions go ahead and ask I do not bite. I will try to answer them, I will however not give away spoilers.
Chapter 22: Secrets in the Shadows
Summary:
Where else would secrets hide? Who has the secrets and what are they?
Notes:
Pictures relating to story can be found here: https://www.deviantart.com/nerdy-hyena/gallery/72478681/story-project
They are really good and help to visually flush out several aspects of the story including environments, characters, outfits, locations, creatures and other aspects often important ones in the story. All images I post in my work can be found there if you want a better look at them. Defiantly make sure to check them out.Also if you need a refresher on creatures, flora or aspects of the environment you can check out the second chapter in this work titled 'Keikiarys Guide to the Ash Wastes'. It includes short descriptions and pictures of these things.
Parts of this section are subject to change as the prequel story is written to improve story continuity.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
“Don’t worry you’ll all live, just going to need a lot of bandages and ice packs, maybe some stitching,” Ava stated as she helped bandage up Coles arm after having the wound Zane had given him stitched up. They were all in the medical station getting attended to. The ninja along with the knights, Misako, Ava, Fae, Robin and Hassiri were there. The station was a rather large room which seemed to serve as medical for all sorts of beings; people, animals and robotics. It was part of the scholars’ guilds section of the under-city. There were gurneys along one wall with tables along another. Shelves held both medical and mechanical tools in one corner and some wood and cloth dividers were piled against the one wall. The place was averagely lit, definitely darker than a medical room should be but that was likely due to being underground or the fact the room was running off a generator since the attack had knocked out the whole cities power. Other than some pictures on the walls there was no real decorations to the room which had lighter plaster and tile than elsewhere in the Under-city; likely to make cleaning the room easier as substance were easier to see on the lighter surfaces. Fae and Ava were finishing up the bandaging of everyone after they had been healed; those that normally worked here had worked on them before leaving to help the towns’ folk. They had made the knights and ninja sit on gurneys till they were done. Zane was still unconscious but he appeared to be alive. He had been laid out on one of the beds by the door. He had not been looked after as the ninja didn’t want anyone to touch him. That had been okay as none of those that worked in the center had wanted to look after him. Even though he was unconscious and not likely to hurt them they were still terrified of him. The ninja had not been pleased that most of the workers hadn’t even wanted Zane in the room preferring him locked up with the beasts but Hassiri managed to convince the workers to let him stay there. Hassiri had stood guard by him the whole time promising to deal with him if problems arose to ease the workers. Ever since arriving Robin was hanging around Zane wanting to help them help him but the ninja didn’t want him to work on Zane. They wouldn’t even let him hook up a tablet to monitor his systems. This didn’t stop Robin from trying to help out using his ears to listen to Zanes body to determine if things were working and using his hands to test his temperature. Around ten minutes after arriving in the place they had all noticed Zane appeared to be breathing and Robin confirmed he was. As time went on Robin was able to note other systems which had either been not working or functioning too low to be noticeable also were returning to normal levels and Zane was starting to warm up no longer feeling colder than ice.
“Don’t worry I work with robotics all the time. Sure they’re nowhere near as advanced or complex as he is but I’m willing to learn and I could at least try to ease some of his pain till you guys can help him. He can feel pain right? During the fighting he looked like he was in pain and he looks hurt pretty bad,” Robin offered trying to get the ninja to let him help Zane, “I work with the Squirebots all the time and I was able to repair and program a Serpeton I found in our room. Plus I made my Black Knight mech on my own.”
“Nya and Jay will look after him,” Lloyd insisted sounding a little meaner than he probably intended likely due to his injuries, which included a sprained ankle and some deep cuts including one on his leg that had been stitched up. Robin became a little down by Lloyds tone, he just wanted to help.
“Okay, I just thought I could help,” Robin explained a little upset.
“We know. It’s just Zane’s very special and they know best how to help him. If you want I’m pretty sure they’ll let you help out,” Cole explained to Robin trying to cheer the kid up. Both Nya and Jay didn’t see a problem with letting Robin help them fix Zane up later and it cheered him up.
“That was odd; the Stags never attacked that harshly before. It’s like he felt threatened by you guys or was trying to show off. Never thought of him the type to show off though he seems too strict for such actions,” Hassiri noted trying to change the subject from where he sat on a table at the side of the room. He had moved there after the workers had left no longer needing to stand guard of Zane.
“What kind of demon was that thing?! Can possess living things turning them to monsters, create brutal storms and bring monsters from the shadows! He could even turn one of our own against us making him go all primal crazy making him hunt us like a savage wild animal! We barely made it. Maybe we shouldn’t go to this Forbidden City, maybe there’s another way to these vaults or to defeat Dagon? Some safer way where we don’t face such a terrible monster?” Jay who had gotten a dislocated wrist and black eye from struggling with Zane blurted out beginning to panic and Fae stated, “I’m afraid not.”
“Jay’s right though, I don’t think we’re a match for this Stag being. Wow that’s really weird saying Jays right,” Kai who held an ice pack on his head and had gotten half his body paralyzed by the Kappas venomous spurs noted to which Nya who had pulled a muscle in her shoulder added, “If the Stag could take over Zane what’s stopping him from taking over one of us?” They were all struck by this question and went silent for a minute. It was apparently something not many of the folk here had ever considered. Why was he only favouring certain forms of life to do his bidding and not others when he clearly had the power to control whatever he wanted?
“You’re right he shows he has the power to take over and control people but he doesn’t. Why?” Misako inquired from where she stood next to her son comforting him as Fae bandaged up a wound on Lloyds leg.
“Don’t know but I’ve only seen two things with as much power and corruption this thing has, the Oni and the Overlord,” Lloyd commented getting worried over what the Stag could truly be. As he spoke Zane began to wake up struggling to sit up from damages and in pain.
“What happened? What is going on? Where am I?” Zane wondered putting his one hand on his forehead confused.
“Nice to see you finally join us. You’ve been out for nearly two hours now,” Cole remarked and Zane wondered, “I have?”
“Yha after you went monstrously crazy under that daemon deers hold trying to kill us! You bit me like some savage animal; it left a mark!” Jay exclaimed. Lloyd expressed to Jay to cool it before asking Zane, “Are you okay?”
“I… I don’t know. I sense I have acquired a lot of damages including some serious ones…” Zane began looking nervous and Nya comforted, “don’t worry we’ll get you fixed up when we are done here. You should just try to relax in the meantime.”
“Dude what was it like to have that thing in your head controlling you?” Aaron wondered sounding oddly cheerful for Jays liking and Clay chastised, “Aaron I don’t think you should be asking that now.”
“No that’s a good question. It could help us understand this thing. I know it might be disturbing Zane but can you remember anything from the Stags hold on you?” Lloyd wondered.
“I am not quite sure... I tried to fight his influence but he was so strong. He was worse than the forbidden scroll, far worse. His powers felt similar to the Overlords and the Oni’s powers but far stronger and somehow darker. There was something about it that felt…wrong and worse much worse... I am sorry I could not fight him and brought harm to you all. Being under his hold, it was like a terrible dream. I could feel I was there yet at the same time it was like I was not really there. I could not control myself or my thoughts but I could see and hear everything though it was like my senses were fogged. I wanted nothing but to harm others and destroy you and there was this feeling. It was like a hollowed cold feeling, a dark almost… death like feeling… everything felt empty…” Zane mumbled clearly disturbed about what had happened and uncomfortable with being the center of attention. He was also beginning to shake a bit before going quite as if just the thought of how it felt under that beings control sent him into some sort of shock. Thinking it might help Robin put a blanket over Zanes shoulders his actions confusing Zane as he was unsure what the action was intended to do. Seeing how Zane felt Hassiri told him, “don’t worry Tin Man what you did wasn’t your fault, no one blames you. That’s what this being does. He takes the innocent and turns them into demons.”
“Maybe it is best if I stay here. That way I will not become a threat,” Zane opted keeping the blanket Robin had put on him on.
“No you don’t have to do that. You’re one of us and we won’t let the Stag change that,” Lloyd assured Zane though that didn’t seem to cheer Zane up.
“True but what if that demon shows up again and we’re in these nightmare wastes? We only survived this time because Tafari managed to scare him off!” Jay exclaimed and confused since he hadn’t seen it Zane wondered, “she did? How?”
“Not sure, she had this weird stone that emitted light. It seemed to scare or maybe even hurt him but with it she broke his hold on everyone even you,” Kai explained.
“I wonder what that thing was. Maybe if we had something like that we could keep the Stag from controlling you Zane,” Cole noted. Deep down he knew they needed to stay together to face this thing or there was a good chance none of them would make it back, not alive at least. He did not want to verbalise this feeling though. Moral was already low, they didn’t need anything else to lower it.
“I don’t know but that whole fight was far out. I don’t mind if things get a little crazy but that was so out there crazy, like not fun crazy. I do have to admit though some of the things he could do and that storm were pretty wicked,” Aaron exclaimed from the bed he sat on. He had received a cracked rib, a cut on his forehead that had been stitched up and had to get a metal tooth implant because one got knocked out from impacting the ruins wall. Despite the pain and nerves over what they had gone through he still sounded upbeat which Jay found rather unnerving.
“Only you would think something like that was cool. If you ask me it was terrifying,” Lance expressed trying to clean the muck off himself. He was hoping it was dirt but the arena was not that clean and there had been plenty of creatures that could have left something unpleasant while in there and the muck smelt odd.
“Yha that fight was pretty brutal. As for your friend I think there is only one you can turn to. She seemed to know how to stop him,” Macy who was holding an ice pack to her face having gotten a black eye from the fight explained.
“I’d have to agree. I think if she hadn’t done what she did we might not have made it out of that ring in such a decent state. We likely would have ended up with missing body parts or worse,” Clay expressed wrapping up a bite he had gotten on his one arm from a skeever with Robins help. Unknown to everyone in the room as they talked Zane quietly got off the bed and slipped out of the room unseen keeping the blanket with him to cover himself in disguise.
“I don’t think she’ll be in the mood to talk, She’s very moody,” Axl stated and the others all agreed.
“Yha I think it would be a bad idea to try and ask her anything. She’d probably try to tear us apart,” Jay groaned.
“What is her problem, she’s more hot headed than Kai,” Cole remarked to Kai’s dislike.
“Don’t know but apparently a lot of those here try to avoid working with her unless they have to mainly because of her attitude,” Ava told them to which Fae added, “she’s like that to everyone but some of the older folk say she wasn’t always like that. They say she was friendlier and even tempered prior to her incident.”
“She’s probably been driven insane by those implants in her head, I’m pretty sure it would to me,” Lance expressed bringing a thought to the others.
“Why wasn’t she affected by the Stag, wouldn’t her cybernetics have been affected?” Nya wondered.
“In the control room she didn’t seem affected even though she has stated the Stag has tried to control her in the past. Maybe he didn’t want to control her but she showed she’s a threat to him so you think he would try to control her,” Misako noted.
“Maybe that gem she had, maybe it had something to do with it. When she came into the arena with it the Stags influence seemed to weaken,” Cole noted.
“Do you know what that thing was she had?” Nya inquired and the others seemed to think it over a bit.
“It looked to be Star stone,” Fae stated to which Hassiri explained, “Star stone is said to be a type of crystal found in some meteorites from comets. It is believed it can use your energy to produce light.”
“How it works and the extent of its properties are poorly understood because they’re rarely found. How Tafari got one, especially that big a piece, only she would know,” Fae added.
“Too bad we couldn’t get some. If that thing takes over Zane when we are in the ash wastes we’re doomed! I’m pretty sure he could tear us all apart well maybe Cole and Lloyd might stand a chance but I surely won’t!” Jay fretted beginning to panic. Kai was surprised to find himself agreeing with Jay to state, “normally I’d say you’re just freaking out but this time you’re right. With his powers and being a nindroid I don’t think we’d be a match for him should the Stag take him over not to mention whatever that was the Stag did to him just made him tougher and more dangerous… wow agreeing with Jay twice in one day that is real weird.”
“If only there was some way we could keep the Stag from possessing you Zane, it could make things easier,” Lloyd added. It was at that point that Cole realised Zane wasn’t in the room with them. He had just been there a minute before but now he was gone.
“Uh…Did anyone see where Zane went?” Cole inquired drawing everyone else’s attention.
“What do you mean he’s rate…” Jay began going to point where Zane had been standing only to find Zane wasn’t there causing him to panic more as he and the others started to worry.
“You don’t think he’s under the Stags control again?” Nya pondered making the others nervous. Though Cole initially thought the same something made him feel that wasn’t the case but since he couldn’t tell what it was or had any idea why Zane seemed to have vanished he kept quite.
“I don’t know but we should probably find him before something bad happens,” Kai opted as the ninja all prepared to head off to find their friend.
“We’ll help,” Clay volunteered and the rest of the knights agreed.
“Wait before you go I think it best if someone goes and talks to Tafari. You might not want to but she’s the only one who’ll know how to help your friend fight off the Stags influence,” Fae proposed to which no one was very eager to oblige.
“If you want to and face her wrath go ahead,” Kai argued.
“No I think it wise if one of those who knows him best ask her. It would mean more coming from you. I have something that could help you persuade her,” Fae explained. She was right even if they did find Zane and he was under the Stags control they would need that stone Tafari had to try and remove the Stags influence from him. But who should they send.
“I recommend you send someone who is level headed, emotionally stable and strong plus can take a beating should things go bad wouldn’t hurt you know just to be on the safe side,” Fae advised. With Faes advice they looked at each other and came to a decision.
Zane hadn’t intended to leave but while sitting there listening to the others talking someone or something contacted him calling themselves a friend and telling him to come find them in the storage room whose entrance sat behind the stairs in the main hall of the scholars center and to come alone. He initially didn’t want to go but for some reason he felt a strong pull to see who it was and what they wanted. He was curious about who had contacted him. He didn’t want to cause more harm to his friends so he had slipped out quietly so they wouldn’t try to come and possibly get hurt. Afraid of what the townspeople might do if they saw him he brought the blanket Robin had put on him wearing it like a hooded cloak to hide his appearance. After what had happened and not knowing if he could trust whoever this was he held one of his shurikans ready for a fight. He was not in the best of shapes. Some system malfunctions and internal damages some of which were serious causing him pain and preventing some of his systems from working properly but the others were busy so he would have to wait for repairs. He would just have to try and ignore them for the time being and hope whoever wanted to see him wasn’t out for a fight. The main hall was dark lit by only a few lanterns to save power while the city repaired damages done by the Stags attack earlier. Zane took one of them which sat on a table to light up behind the stairs dropping the blanket as he no longer saw a reason to hide, he had come across no one and he couldn’t see or hear any evidence of anyone nearby. An alcove sat under the stairs where floor pillows were stored and across from this was the door to the storage room he had been told to enter.
He opened the door to find the room was dark. It was small and everything was neatly stacked or stored. There were shelves holding things, some rugs piled up at the base of one shelf, some barrels, sacks and crates. A single worn tapestry which went to the floor hung on the back wall. There seemed to be no one there. Thinking maybe someone was just playing with him Zane turned to leave thinking he should maybe get Nya or Jay to check and make sure no one was trying to hack his systems until he heard something coming from the direction of the tapestry. Sounded like an animal scuffling around behind it. He went to investigate and upon pulling back the tapestry he found a door behind it. A faint reddish glow came from under the door. Zane cautiously opened the door and entered the room behind it.
The room was small and largely empty. A few crates sat in one corner and a small worn wooden table sat against the far wall. There a small figurine sat next to a decorative boxy and pointy and rather creepy looking candle holder which held a single red wax candle which was giving off the weird red glow he had seen underneath the door. He slowly went up to investigate the figure and candle to find a clue to who left it there. He got an unnerving and unnatural feeling from the items. There was a darkness to them. The figure was made of volcanic stone with various carvings which were painted red. Some of these carvings resembled the strange scriptures of the Asher folk which resembled the symbols used by Oni. There were gems which were placed to mimic eyes on the statue giving it an eerie look. The statue bore a great resemblance to an Oni…
The door closing behind him made Zane whip around to see why it closed. One of the hyenoid beings stood in front of the closed door blocking any escape from the room. There was something odd about this hyenoid though. He did not look like the ones they had seen before. He had the complete dark hairless synthetic skin covering his internal makes unlike the ones who had served the necromancers. He could have almost passed as one of the normal hyena folk if it wasn’t for several parts of his design which revealed his robotic makings. His eyes were a glowing blood red and he had what looked like a scarab beetle painted on his forehead in a whitish color. He had short greyish hair with a small greyish beard on his chin. He wore mild greyish toned clothes that made him look like a commoner which were worn and stained. He looked notably different from the hyenoids Zane had met before like those of the necromancers and the ones they used in the ring here. Something about him felt lighter and friendlier than those hyenoids. Zane prepared to defend himself unsure what this beings intentions were.
“Please sheath your weapons, I do not intend any harm,” the hyenoid stated bowing in respect. Zane was not entirely sure he should do as this being wanted but wanting to avoid a fight and curious about this figure Zane obliged. He remained alert though in case the figure meant harm despite what he claimed.
“I have been sent by my superiors to offer an apology for events earlier today,” the figure began.
“Your superior? Do you mean the Black Stag, why would he want to apologise?” Zane inquired confused to which the figure declared, “We serve him because he keeps us safe but this order is not from him. No my superior is our leader. He is a Cub of the Fang like us. He wanted me to give you a gift. He is sorry for what the Stag did and hopes you will not take what he did against us of the fang. We are not like our master and wish to be friends to you and your flesh-kin.” The hyenoid pulled out from behind himself as he talked a strange shuriken that Zane recognized from his one dream.
“This is the Red-Diamond Shuriken. My leader wants you and your friends to have this. He thinks it will serve you well in your quest,” the hyenoid explained giving Zane the Red-Diamond Shuriken. Zane looked over the item amazed to be seeing it in person and sensed this was no ordinary weapon. It looked to be made entirely of red diamond that had been cut, polished and encased in a golden metal that bore etchings of a dragons head on the grips surface. At the base of each blade in the pointed metal of the case was a circular knot work design revealing some of the red diamond beneath. He found himself captivated by the item and stared for a few seconds at the central gem that sat in the middle of the design. For a reason he could not explain, as if the item wanted him to do it he closed his eyes…
A massive cavern was lit by a large strange artificial structure which seemed to imitate sun light. Strange small faintly glowing crystals grew from on the walls and the ceiling in a few spots and what looked like a strange faintly glowing algae, lichen or moss grew from the ceiling and walls as well. While they did not provide much light they gave the walls and ceiling a decorative look and without the main light source on likely would give the walls and ceiling a resemblance to a nights sky. There were massive sculpted columns which had a slight tree like shape scattered around and seemed to help support the cavern roof. They had decorative goldish metal plates some had walkways going through them. Plants grew on these structures including vines, ferns, fungi, mosses and shrubs. Some only had plant patches on lower parts or what looked to be planters built in them while a few were completely covered by flora. A river wound through the cavern with a few smaller creeks winding into the river from various points in the cavern. Ferns, grasses, trees and other plants and fungi grew on the ground. A few structures like wooden and stone homes and stone towers were dotted here and there, mainly by the edges of the cavern close to the walls. There were some large structures which were built partially into the walls of the cavern. A large stone and metal walkway was elevated a few feet off the ground. The walkway ran through the cavern with smaller ones branching off now and then leading to the ground, into structures or to doors in the cavern walls. Stone watch towers edged the main walkway. More walkways crisscrossed throughout the cavern with some heading into the buildings of the caves walls and others attaching to the main one. Some parts of the walkways went through some pillars where they made viewing stations in the pillars. A group entered from a pair of massive metal doors at the one end of this cavern onto the main walkway. The group was made of an Ash Walker with a cybernetic left front leg, a fear-bricant, a racer fabricant, a bunch of robo-bills and a Kaguar whose tusks and beak were metal implants. Attached to the Kaguar was a worn and damaged wooden cart. A figure lay still in the cart covered by a cloth, only one of their badly injured hands stuck out hanging from the back. The group walked up to the far side of the cavern where a patio like area sat in front of a palace that was built into the wall behind it. As they neared the area a deep slightly echoing voice emanated seemingly from everywhere.
“What is this you bring into my sanctuary,” the voice inquired.
“We just managed to rescue her sir from Ashers,” a robo-bill who was more silvery in color than the others stated from where he sat on the Ash Walkers back. The group stopped at the patio while a gravelly dark smoke formed from nowhere to take the physical shape of a strange deer, a Stag. His antlers like his body resembled those of an elk. A short horn sat between its eyes, its lips were wolf like not deer like and its teeth were those of a bear not a deer.
“You still did not answer me fully Juib, what is it?” the deer questioned speaking without using his mouth and bearing his teeth for a few seconds at them.
“A person sir, hyena folk female young,” the silvery robo-bill Juib explained hopping off the Ash Walker and coming to bow in front of the Stag.
“What have I told you before? I do not want any filthy unintelligent and useless humans here. I do not care if their cat, hyena or ungulate folk, I do not even care if they are from another realm they are not permitted here. You know the punishment for your disobedience Juib,” the Stag preached and all the others seemed fearful cowering a bit from the Stags anger but Juib held his ground.
“Please sir, we have the technology, we could save her. Please for once let us do this,” Juib pleaded before looking at his fearful companions, “you know it is in our programming to help others.”
“I will only let you help those which I can add to my ranks, I have told you this before and I am not going over it again. I am starting to regret letting you keep that bit of your programming. Now throw her out in the ash and let the wastes claim her,” the Stag growled beginning to walk away from them.
“Please sir, we just want to help, it is all we ask for. We want to do more; we have little to do here anymore. We will still obey you, we will do whatever you want just let us help her, let us fulfil our programming, let us have more freedom in our lives. Every day we do your bidding and get little in return. We will still obey you,” Juib pleaded. The Stag paused as if thinking it over.
“Why do you hate every living thing? We know you only tolerate us because we are long lived. Just because she will have a shorter life than ours does not mean she does not deserve our help. Just because they mean nothing to you, they offer nothing to you does not mean we should abandon them or harm them. That is not what the Scimitars believed in. It is not like this was naturally induced. It was those monsters the Ashers. We could fix her up and return her home you will never have to see her again. She might have friends, a family. Please, she is dying,” Juib pleaded hopping up onto the cart and pulling back the cloth to reveal the badly mutilated figure beneath. The Stag turned his head to look at the figure and for a while there seemed to be something in his face, some sort of emotion. Was it sorrow, grief maybe? Or was he just seeing things? It was hard to tell. The Stag then looked away and seemed to be thinking it over.
“Fine you can save her but when she is ready take her to Balmora, do not keep her here any longer,” the Stag replied and it sounded like he was hiding something in his voice, some sort of emotion.
“Thank you sir, we will keep our promise you know we will,” Juib replied hopping down and coming to bow at the Stags feet. He then ordered the others to take her to get the attention she needed. Juib went to follow them but the Stag stopped him.
“Juib when you are done with her I want to see you, you know where to find me. I would like to have a chat with you,” the Stag told Juib not turning to look at him but his voice wasn’t angry, it was oddly calm leaving Juib confused.
“What about sir?” Juib inquired.
“I have some things to discuss with you. There is a reason I chose you to be my right hand…” the Stag responded emotionless before walking off…
The hyenoid asking if he was okay and the feeling of being gently shaken made Zane open his eyes. The hyenoid was looking at him confused having gently shaken him to try and snap him out of whatever it was he was in. Had that been a vision he’d just seen? Was that how the Stag saved Tafari? In truth though it had been Juib who had saved Tafari not the Stag; the Stag would have let her die. Maybe this Juib could help them when they reached Holamaya. It seemed he was the only one able to stand up to the Stag and change his opinion.
“Do you need help; I know you got roughed up quite a bit. Do I need to get someone?” the hyenoid inquired confused about why Zane had suddenly become unresponsive and just stood there with his eyes closed holding the item. It seemed to be worried that something was wrong.
“My friends will help me later. What does this do?” Zane inquired though he had a feeling he might already know.
“Okay… well I do not entirely know. It is a weapon I know that. I know it is special but Juib would not tell me anymore about it. Just that he wanted you to have it and not the Stag,” the hyenoid replied. Zane began to notice that being here seemed to agitate the hyenoid who looked like he was expecting to be attacked. His ears flicking in the direction of any sound no matter how quite, tail held close to his legs and nervously glancing around randomly from time to time. Zane also noted scratches on its metal skin and repaired patches of its synthetic skin. This hyenoid obviously had been roughed up a bit but he could not tell from what. Was it from the people, was it the Stag or was it from something else such as these Ashers?
“Juib?” Zane recalled. He’d heard that name before in his visions; he was the Stags second in command.
“He is our leader; he was there when the Stag took over. He keeps the Stag from punishing us too harshly and keeps our home safe, clean and running smoothly. The Stag does not care what happens to us or our home. We are just tools to him,” the hyenoid explained. Zane was beginning to see the folk of this town might have everything wrong about the Stags minions. They were just as much victims to the Stag as the towns people. The Stag though, Zane was sure they were right about him.
“They say those that follow the Stag cause harm and steal things…” Zane began.
“We try not to. We scare folk so they will stay away to keep them away from the Stag, he hates all mortals but he especially hates people. He only tolerates us cause he can scrap us back together when we come to the end of our lives, keep us going longer than we wish. He tolerates animals cause he can control them easily and he does not get attached to most of them. I do not know why it is like that. As for stealing we know it is wrong… we only steal what we need to keep our home running smoothly. We try to go the right way when we can. Some of the hyenoids are capable of blending in with society so they can sell things we farm or mine or make in our home to buy things but that can only get us so much,” the hyenoid began. The hyenoid put his one hand to the side of his forehead and Zane could sense he was getting a message.
“I should get going the Stag will be mad if he found I visited you. I have said too much to an outsider, that makes the Stag very mad,” the hyenoid fretted appearing to be agitated. Zane still had questions for the hyenoid but he understood the hyenoids fear. He was starting to feel a slight kinship to the hyenoid.
“Wait before you go can you tell me how did you get into the town? They all say you and the others should not be able to get past the fence without them knowing yet you are how?” Zane asked putting his hand on the hyenoids shoulder to comfort it.
“There are many ways one can get past the fence if they really want too. You just have to know where to look. Natural caverns and large tunnels dug by the large ants and beetles of the ash wastes for example. Many pass beneath the fence, unknown by the people. We are not the only ones getting through, this room, that lantern and statue,” the hyenoid began pointing at the table and what was on it, “those are Asher artefacts, that is an Ashers shrine. The town should not be worried about us but who left those.”
The hallway that led to Tafari’s dojo was dark with the only light coming from the partially open door to the dojo indicating she was inside. Cole stood holding the little chest Fae had given him outside hesitating on entering. He was not very happy about being chosen to speak with her though he did understand why the others had chosen him. He was hoping she was in a better mood than earlier or things could turn nasty. She always seemed ready for a fight with no chill; and he thought Kai was a hot head Tafari seemed much worse. He peered through the gap in the door to see if he could see Tafari and judge what kind of mood she was in. She was wearing her grey gi which Cole had only just realised had a symbol on the back. The symbol seemed to resemble a racer curled up and biting its tail, its wings following the bodies curl and the legs were missing. He guessed that was the symbol for Balmora since most flags, banners and a few tapestries in the town had that symbol. She was leaning against a table at the far end. The table held some sort of statue of the horned cat folk they had seen around this place and in the town. A few candles were on this table along with that gem she had earlier. Tafaris head was bent over and she gave no indication of her mood, she stood eerily still. The room was rather dark with only the center and where Tafari stood being lit up by lanterns or candles. The edges of the room were in shadow. He was not sure if this was because the power was still not fully back or if she just liked the darker conditions. By the shuriken stuck in one of the support pillars of the room and the trashed dummy on the floor Cole had reason to believe she had been in quite a mood earlier and had taken it out on some of her room. If he wasn’t careful she might take out her frustrations on him.
“Well better get this over with,” Cole encouraged himself looking at the small chest then back at Tafari. He didn’t want to do this but he knew it was the right thing to do. Tafari was the only one who could help them. The wound on his arm reminded him that if they didn’t find a way to combat the Stag they would be in serious trouble. They’d lose their friend and possibly their lives.
“Excuse me Tafari,” he began slowly entering the room. Tafari seemed unmoved, not even a flick of an ear.
“What do you want outlander?” Tafari inquired remaining unmoved and emotionless. Cole cautiously moved closer to her still trying to figure out her mood. She seemed level.
“Well me and my friends were…” Cole began before Tafari cut him off lifting her head and her ears perking up.
“This is about your metal friend isn’t it? My advice just let the Stag take him or terminate him; he’s not worth your trouble. Those like him are nothing but cold heartless imitations of life nothing more. You’re a fool to think otherwise,” she growled folding her ears back.
“Zane’s not like that. What do you have against those like Zane?” Cole argued feeling insulted by her comment. Zane was just as much a part of their family as anyone else, just cause he wasn’t made of flesh and blood like them didn’t mean he wasn’t one of them. Cole was getting annoyed at how the folk here treated Zane just because he wasn’t the same as them.
“Wait till they do to you what they did to me. You wait and see; he’ll turn on you and join those hyenek freaks in the Stags control. He’s probably headed to find a way to get to his new master now,” she ranted turning to look at Cole her teeth bared and eyes showing her anger as she crossed her arms and raised her tail bushing it out.
“Zane would never do that. You don’t know him; you don’t know any of us. He is part of our family and would do whatever it would take to help one of us and we’d do the same for him. I thought maybe you could help us but maybe it’s best if we look for help elsewhere,” Cole expressed not pleased with Tafari, “you ever think maybe you folk end up driving them to the Stag by locking them up at night, treating them terribly, bullying and harassing them and terminating them when something goes wrong instead of helping them? I’m not going to waste my time with you if you’re going to be like that. My friend needs me. My family need me.” Tafari seemed angered by his words but she didn’t show it very much.
“Whatever, once you folk are gone it won’t matter to me. You’re just going to be another foolish group of adventurers to fall victim to the wastes,” she stated before taking note of the chest Cole held,
“what’s in there?” She pointed at the chest and Cole realised he had forgotten to give it to her.
“I don’t know, I was told to give it to you,” Cole acknowledged, “here.” He handed the chest over to her and though he wanted to leave he was curious about what was in this chest. Tafari looked over the chest then put it on the table. She opened the box and revealed that a teddy of what looked to be a skeever and a small rolled up note were held within. The teddy was worn with a tear in the tail and right front leg and what looked like some minor burn marks. Tafari’s mood seemed to change from one of anger to something sadder. Cole was unsure what these objects meant but he could tell they meant something to Tafari, probably something from when she was younger.
“Who gave you this,” she asked leaning on the table over the items sounding angry but with a hint of something else; was it sorrow or maybe regret? There also seemed to be something in her remaining eye. Was it tears or was that just the lighting playing tricks on him?
“Fae,” he politely replied as she picked up the note to read it. After reading it she crumpled it up and threw it on the floor before going back to leaning over the table, her ears folded back. Cole wasn’t too sure what mood she was in but by the way she had thrown the note he was pretty sure it was not a good one. He slowly reached down to pick up the note and took a quick look over it. It was addressed to Tafari from a royal guard. It mentioned how they were sorry for failing to protect her family, for her loss and how this was all they were able to find that wasn’t destroyed. Her family had meant to ship it to her along with some other trinkets but this was all that they were able to retrieve from the ruins of her family’s home. The note mentioned how despite what she thought her parents were proud of her and finally felt she had done the right thing in joining the guard and they hoped she was happy and having a good life. They had always hoped she would return to visit one day.
“I should have been there for them but I wasn’t. If I had been maybe they would still be alive,” she stated in an even tone not looking up letting Cole know she knew he had picked up the note. She then picked up the teddy and looked at it before placing it at the base of her statue.
“I abandoned them cause I refused to take up the throne like they wanted me too, once I left I never spoke to them again even though they kept writing to me. They always told me family was important but I brushed them off. I was mad for all those years they’d tried to force me into something I was not. Now that they’re gone I regret having ignored them. I don’t even have a picture of them, everything was destroyed,” she explained staring at her figurine while leaning on her table with what looked like a mix of anger and regret. She remained quiet and Cole got the feeling she was not in the mood to talk, she probably needed some time to herself. He knew a lot about how she was feeling. He and his father had a rocky relation for most of his life. They stood there in silence for a few seconds.
“Maybe this isn’t the time to talk, I can come back…” Cole stated putting the note on the table and preparing to leave.
“This metal man of yours, what is he to you? Most would see him as no more than animated scrap not worthy of being classed a friend let alone a living being. I used to think that till I became this,” Tafari began making Cole stop in his tracks to hear what she had to say, “My cybernetics allow me to connect with those of metallic make. I’ve become aware that they can feel and think just like other living things and just how much they’re disliked because of what they are. Because of what I’ve become people have come to dislike me and treat me like them even though I’ve never done anything to deserve it. They seem to think I’m just a machine replica of who I was. A pawn for the Stag to get control over their town and not a person; I’ve even heard some people claim I’m not even really a living being anymore just mindless scrap. I have no one I can trust and no family anymore to turn to when I need them.”
“I don’t think Hassiri or Fae see you as that, we don’t and I don’t think the Knights think you’re that either, at least they don’t seem to,” Cole suggested.
“They’re different; people like them are rare especially around here… my family would have accepted me. It was while I was being turned into this they were destroyed,” Tafari explained looking at her cybernetic hands, “it was only when I came to a few months later did I learn of what happened to them. I was disturbed to find what had happened to me then to find the ones who mattered most in my life, the ones who cared for me the most and the ones I could turn to when I needed it most were gone. I was devastated. Many who I thought I could turn to turned on me when they saw what I had become. I have no friends, no family. I’m alone. I’ve bottled up my feelings for years. Things just keep getting worse and I’ve no one to turn to. I will admit I’ve sometimes thought of joining the Stag but I feel it would be wrong too. I don’t know why I stay here. I’m lost with nowhere to turn.” It was as if the object and note had sparked something in her and she was now venting her deepest feelings to him. Cole understood her feelings. He’d been there before. After his mother had passed he’d felt lost but then Wu found him and he joined the others. He’d gotten a purpose and a family, those he could turn to when he needed it, who would help him if he needed it and he would do the same for them. When they thought they lost Zane and when he had become a ghost he’d felt depressed and lost those times too but they were there for him even when he didn’t realise it. If they hadn’t been there he didn’t know where he would be but it probably wouldn’t have been good. When Wu went missing it was the same they had been there for him and he’d never told the others but so had Seliel. He’d never told her that either and he was wondering if he should have. He’d tried to focus on the mission but in the back of his mind he worried about what was happening back home and if he’d ever see Seliel again and if she was safe. She had come to mean a lot to him.
“I ask again that metal man of yours. I’ve seen how you treat him; you treat him like another person despite what he is. What is he to you and your friends?” Tafari looked at him as if judging him.
“He’s part of our family, a brother. Truly we often forget he’s not truly human,” Cole asserted.
“Would you risk your life for him?” Tafari inquired glaring at her statue.
“Yes just as he would for any of us, as a matter of fact he sacrificed himself once to save us,” Cole responded and Tafari seemed to be thinking something over. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly while looking at the note that had been in the chest.
“If you’re willing to risk it, I’ve been experimenting with something that could help. I can’t guarantee it will work and if it does it cannot fully prevent the Stag from taking control of him, if the Stag really wants someone he will take them, but it could help him fight some of the Stags more violent tendencies, especially towards you and your friends. Are you willing to take the risk? If so look me in the eyes and tell me so,” Tafari asked turning her head to glare at him.
“Yes we’re willing to try, wouldn’t you for a brother or any family member,” Cole responded without hesitation looking her in the eyes which unnerved him a little due to the strange coloration of her remaining eye. She waited a few seconds before heading over to an ornate little cupboard that sat against the one side wall of the room. She opened it revealing she had a few scrolls, a small chest, a few small weapons and what looked to be a kanun which made Cole wonder for a moment if she had a fondness for music. She picked up the chest and carried it over to her table. She opened it to reveal thin cut plates of some sort of stone kind of like agate. They were reddish in color with the exterior being a reddish black stone while the inside looked like a smoky glass. It was slightly translucent and the polished inner surfaces were reddish with circular patterns of varying shades throughout and a few pieces had some bluish hues on some spots. It looked a lot like agate but something about it made Cole believe that was not what it was.
“What are those?” Cole inquired aware of a strange yet familiar energy coming from them.
“Dragons blood stone. It is said to be the fossilized blood or even the heart of a dragon. It’s an incredibly rare material but it was never sought after since it has few uses. My great grandfather found these pieces not far from the Red Tower in what looked to be an abandoned Ashers stronghold. As worshippers of the Oni it was not uncommon for the Ashers to slay dragons. It largely has no magical properties except one. It can interfere with the powers of the Oni and Ashers, weakening their effects,” Tafari explained looking through the pieces, “on a hunch I tested it on myself. My cybernetics have weakened me to the Stags influence I will admit that and I feared he would control me. I have felt him try so I put one of these inside myself and whenever he tried I felt I could better resist him, that his influence was less strong. It can help but your friend will also need to stay strong. If the Stag senses doubt, despondence, desperation, loneliness, fear or sorrow the Stag can use them to get the upper hand and even with this your friend will be lost to the Stag.
If it wasn’t for this I might have joined your friend in attacking you today. It took a lot of strength to resist his control.” She picked out one piece which was brightly colored with a notable bluish patch near its centre which kind of looked like a little bird. She looked over it for a few seconds before handing it to Cole who inspected it.
“Don’t worry, it looks fragile but it isn’t. It’s as tough as steel and never loses its polish. It is best that you attach that inside of your friend as close to his heart or whatever counts as his heart as possible, might also be a good idea to connect it to his neural network in some way. That is what I have done and it seems to work,” she explained to him.
“Thank you, you don’t know how much this means to us,” Cole expressed holding tightly onto the stone.
“When you do enter the wastes I’ll also lend you my Star Stone, it’s a family heirloom. It has been passed down for centuries and it is said to have been given to my family by a Scimitar Samurai, the honourable Nerevar many centuries ago as a gift of peace between the old Scimitar tribes and house Jadeoran. I don’t know why but its light irritates the Stag and it interferes with his powers. Only him though, it has no effect on any other entity. It will help you and your friends to banish the darkness in both your friend and the world. You can use it to help purge the Stags influence from your metal friend should he become possessed and it can be used to light your way in the dark,” she added; “now I would like some time to myself if you don’t mind. And please keep everything I told you between us. No one needs to know of my issues.” She went back to leaning on her table as if meditating.
“Okay, I promise I won’t tell anyone and again thank you this means a lot to us,” he agreed and before he left he told Tafari, “You know you’re not what they say you are. Maybe if you just let the right people into your life maybe you could find some you could turn to; a new family. You might even find someone who loves you despite your flaws. Take it from someone who knows what he’s talking about.” Tafari glanced back at Cole as he was leaving for a second to think something over. Before he left Tafari called for him to hear one last thing.
“It’s a terrible feeling loneliness. There is nothing worse than feeling lost and alone. I’ve seen good folk driven into the ranks of bad people because they were lonely. It probably isn’t a pleasant feeling being in a foreign realm surrounded by those who hate you, who want to hurt you because of what you are and being forced into isolation from your loved ones. The only ones you can trust, who you can turn to for safety when a monster like the Stag is tormenting you. You can let your friend stay in your room. He doesn’t have to be locked up at night,” Tafari expressed without changing her position, “don’t worry about the rules or the people. I’ll deal with them. Maybe if he doesn’t feel so lonely, so scared… he could better fight the Stags influence.”
“You know maybe if you showed your softer side more often maybe more people would open up to you. You know some have told us there is someone who cares for you. He’s just too afraid to admit it,” Cole replied grateful for her help.
Notes:
If have any questions go ahead and ask I do not bite. I will try to answer them, I will however not give away spoilers.
Chapter 23: Tears Between Realms
Summary:
Troubles are mounting and the melding of realms has begun...
Notes:
Pictures relating to story can be found here: https://www.deviantart.com/nerdy-hyena/gallery/72478681/story-project
They are really good and help to visually flush out several aspects of the story including environments, characters, outfits, locations, creatures and other aspects often important ones in the story. All images I post in my work can be found there if you want a better look at them. Defiantly make sure to check them out.Also if you need a refresher on creatures, flora or aspects of the environment you can check out the second chapter in this work titled 'Keikiarys Guide to the Ash Wastes'. It includes short descriptions and pictures of these things.
Parts of this section are subject to change as the prequel story is written to improve story continuity.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
“What is that?” Jay inquired as they stood around one of the large tables in the main hall. The ninja and Misako along with the knights and Fea stood looking at the Red-Diamond Shuriken which was placed on the centre of the table. It had been the knights who had found Zane first. They had found him wandering the building looking for them carrying the strange object. They were relieved when they found he was fine and not under the Stags control. He had even showed the knights the Ashers shrine he had found and they had alerted the town guards who were looking into who had made it.
“It looks like the Red Diamond Star also sometimes called Whetu’s or Astara’s Star,” Fae expressed adjusting her glasses to get a better look.
“What does it do?” Lloyd inquired.
“The hyenoid could not tell me all he knew was it was special,” Zane replied.
“It says here that this artefact is a Piece of Creation. Unlike the Ancestor Scrolls this item has much weaker powers. Its main power is to harness the strength of the wielder to deal twice its normal damage and it can dispel some types of curses. It never loses its edge and like a boomerang will return to its thrower. It is also believed to reveal hidden knowledge but this has never been proven,” Ava read looking up the object on a tablet she had found in this place. Zane felt like telling them about the vision he’d gotten about the Stag but after what had been going on he felt it best to leave that out. Maybe he thought he could tell the other ninja later when they were on their own.
“That’s just what it can do, there is much more attributed to this item. Legend says that there are two of these so called Red Diamond items in existence and both come from the same origins. Despite the name they’re not made of diamond nor any mineral. Legend states they are pieces of the heart of Astara or as people around the wastes here call her Whetu herself which she willingly gave to protect the realms from darkness. Some tales even claim she sacrificed her whole heart to make them. The heart was bathed and polished in the light of the realms turning it to a crystal like substance which was then cut and polished by the Minomer folk into two items; the Red Diamond Shurikan and the Red Diamond Amulet also known as the Amulet of Souls. Both were imbued with great power. The amulet was said to have been given to the Dragon Master as a sign of his right as ruler to the realm and to aid in the protection of the realms alongside a sword Mystara had crafted from the golden rays of light known as Dawn-bringer for him while the shurikan was gifted to those Astara deemed worthy to be her champion to guard the realm and the light of all creation from the influences of darkness,” Fae elaborated and Jay cut in wondering, “if she gave her heart than how’d she live?”
“Don’t know that’s just what legends say. It could be literal or the use of the term heart could have a figurative meaning and not a literal one. Though most accounts seem to point to it literally being the heart however some tribes mythology claim it was her blood and not her heart she gave up with the term heart referring to her love of the realm which drove her to give part of herself to protect the realms. These legends come from the Mythic era, long before written history so it is hard to determine a lot of details,” Fae stated.
“What’s this Whetu? We’ve heard a few folk here mention this being,” Cole asked from where he stood next to Zane. He had placed the item Tafari had given him on the table in front of Zane. He had joined the others after they had found Zane but since they were occupied with the strange object Zane had he had not yet told them of the item he had.
“Whetu is a spirit that is worshipped by many tribes around the Blackwood dating back to mythic times. According to most sources she is the same entity as Astara from the Tribunal; a protector for the people and the realm. The difference in name is simply to do with regional language differences in the past. Natives often use Whetu which when translated means star while most others in the realm will use the name Astara when talking of her. Many folk around here have small shrines or statues to her. There is one in a planter by the bedrooms if you want to take a look,” Fae explained.
“From what I’ve read I would prefer this Sheoth, he sounds like a lot of fun,” Aaron noted cutting in to which Lance responded with, “figures you’d choose the one of insanity.”
“Whetu is said to be a Guardian Spirit protecting her followers from the horrors of the Blackwood and the Ashers along with other evils. There are many who still believe in her today and believe she still protects the lands despite the fact she disappeared long ago. Of the tribunal she is the most loved and commonly worshipped. While all of the Tribunal care for and offer protection of the living the acts and methods of Mystara and Sheoth are less open than Astaras were. Astara took a more active and open method of caring and protecting the living. Because of her disappearance she has come to encompass mystery and magic. Because she enjoyed the times of dawn and dusk with a love for the features of the sky particularly those after the sun has set the moon and star become symbols for her. It is said the Lunar-heart Rose, a glowing pinkish rose that flowers only during the hours of dusk and dawn, and the ore commonly forged into Lunar steel were created by her. It is also believed other realms have a belief in her as her doings aided in protecting all realms and led to her having influences in other realms. Since her true name has been lost to time each realm has its own name for her. We often call her Astara or depending on where you are in the realm Whetu. What she is called in your world I do not know but you probably know,” Fae added, “Though a shape shifter she often appeared to her followers in our realm in the same form as a black cat folk resembling a panther with two small horns on her forehead and small pale cream lunar marking on her forehead and star like specklings on her back and chest. Her eyes are often said to be a stunning golden color reflecting with moonlight. She is sometimes labelled the mistress of dawn and dusk or is called the lord of twilight since it was believed that was when she desired to appear or speak to her monks and followers.”
“I have never heard these tales of her before. Did this item ever hold any significance?” Misako pried interested in the history behind the piece and folklore of this realm.
“Indeed. Along with being made from herself she would pass it to those who proved their merit to her to become her champion. A hero for the common folk, when they passed it would come back to her till she chose a new champion. Many have wielded it through history including some notable warriors,” Fae went on.
“So since it was brought to Zane does that mean she sees him as her champion?” Jay proclaimed.
“I don’t think so. In most tales she makes her suspected champion prove themselves through a quest or trial to prove their virtues and prove they are worthy to wield it also I don’t think she would use a hyenoid to deliver her item to a champion she’d probably do it herself,” Fae explained.
“In our experience we’ve often found there’s some truth behind myths,” Kai interjected.
“Even so this shuriken disappeared around the time Holamaya fell to the Stag; the Red Diamond Amulet disappeared long before that along with Dawn-bringer when the Dragon Master passed. Both those the remaining son of the Dragon Master likely knows the location of but this weapon not even he knew what had happened to it. The last one to wield this shurikan, Astaras last champion was Jules the Wise,” Fae commented.
“You mean that figure we saw in the museum,” Nya spoke.
“Yes, he disappeared along with Holamaya over 40 years ago. That was where he was last reported. No one has ever heard of him since. It was like he just disappeared. When the city was rediscovered they hoped to find some evidence of what had become of him or if he didn’t make it what remained. So far nothing has been found in the area outside the city and since we cannot access the inside of the city what happened to him is still unsolved,” Fae explained.
“Does the name Juib mean anything?” Zane inquired.
“Not really, some tales state Jules the Wise had a Robo-bill he called Juib that was like a beloved pet to him. He had lost his entire family in the reptilian war so the Robo-bill became his companion sort of like a robotic cat. Nothing more, why do you ask?” Fae questioned.
“The hyenoid said that is who told him wanted me to have the shuriken,” Zane replied.
“If he did have a pet Robo-bill as the tales suggest then it likely serves the Black Stag now,” Ava noted.
“Why do you think they would give this to us? If it’s that special why didn’t they keep it themselves so they could use it,” Lloyd pondered wary of why they had been given this item and why this minion of the Stag had secretly met with Zane.
“You’re right that is intriguing,” Clay pondered equally disliking how they had gotten the item and why they might have been given it while Jay worried, “You don’t think it’s some sort of trap or trick by the Stag?”
“Possibly but it could also be useless to him. He’s tremendously powerful on his own, much more powerful than this weapon so this object is probably useless to him. He probably doesn’t care about it so he let the scimitar constructs do what they wanted with it. They probably noted your preference for ranged weapons and seeing you as a Cub of the Fang possibly inspired them to give you this as a gift,” Robin told Zane and Fae added, “that could be the case. What their intentions are for giving you this only they would know. The ways of thinking for Scimitar Constructs are often hard to work out even for those studying them.”
“Just to be on the safe side I think it’s best if it’s inspected for tampering or bugs. If it’s clean you should keep it, could prove useful against the Stag,” Clay explained.
“Sounds like a good idea, better safe than sorry,” Lloyd agreed, “speaking of which Cole did Tafari give you anything?”
“She gave me this,” Cole replied picking up the strange stone she had given him and showing it off stating, “she called it Dragons Blood stone. We have to put this rate by your heart and hook it up to your neural network Zane. She said it won’t fully protect you but can help. She has one of these hooked up inside her that’s why the Stag didn’t affect her. It apparently did try to control her but this helped her fight him off.” Cole gave the stone to Zane who looked it over before holding it close to himself.
“Sounds good, come Zane, you still need to be looked after. We can install that while we’re working on you,” Nya stated as she and Jay led Zane off to be looked after, Zane tightly clutching the stone as if he thought it would save his life. Robin followed eager to learn more about Zanes make. Misako was eager to know more on the mythology of the realm curious if it could reveal a little more on the stag or what item they were to be looking for so Fae agreed to take her to the cities library to look at some texts on the realms mythology and history.
“Anything else she tell you?” Clay pried after they had left.
“She also said she’ll lend us her Star Stone when we enter the wastes,” Cole replied. He’d promised to keep the talk they’d had private and he intended to uphold his promise.
“Wow she’s willing to let us use it? I wonder if she’d let us study it a bit,” Ava expressed.
“She also said we don’t have to lock Zane up at night,” Cole explained. At those words the knights became nervous.
“You sure that’s a good idea,” Clay inquired.
“Yha we’re aware he was wandering around last night,” Macy added stunning them. They thought no one else had seen Zanes mindless wandering. No one had been awake, or at least they hadn’t noticed anyone else up.
“Yha he came into our room mumbling something about things being wrong and some other weird stuff while stacking a bunch of stuff in strange tower like formations,” Aaron elaborated.
“It is hard to get any beauty rest when someone’s rummaging through your room. At least he was trying to be quite about it though,” Lance stated.
“Yha he wouldn’t respond to us or even seem to realize we were there, it was creepy,” Axl expressed.
“You didn’t tell anyone did you?” Lloyd inquired as he, Cole and Kai became worried. If they had told anyone some of the townspeople might want to take drastic action and could harm their friend.
“Don’t worry we didn’t, we trust your judgment of your friend. We don’t hold prejudices like the folk here. We know better and understand. You know him better than these people do,” Clay explained,
“you know if you want we have someone who could help you check your friend over to see if anything’s wrong. He also knows a great deal about magic he might know some way to help Zane combat the Stags influence.”
“You do, who is this person?” Lloyd inquired.
“Our mentor Merlok,” Clay stated and Aaron added, “he’s like an over three hundred year old wizard.”
“Why haven’t we met him? Is he still back in your realm? Do you need help getting him here?” Kai wondered.
“No he came here with us,” Macy began and the knights nervously looked around before continuing. It was just them in the room so the three ninja were confused why the knights were nervous.
“He’s just not in a form the people here would take kindly to so we’ve had to keep him hidden,” Ava noted.
“Is he like an un-dead or something?” Cole wondered and Ava responded, “no he’s like Zane, more technology than flesh.”
“Long story but there was an incident and he got digitized and fused with our ships operating system,” Clay explained.
“We worried what people here would do to him if they knew so we’ve been keeping him a secret,” Aaron added and Lance stated, “we’ve been keeping him in a mini version of the Fortrex in our room.”
“Miraculously for some reason the Stag never bothered with trying to control him,” Clay noted and Ava added, “we still have to figure out why. Either he was strong enough to fight the Stag off, the Stag was not interested in him or maybe the Stag was unaware he was here.”
“How come you never told us before?” Lloyd wondered.
“We were not sure if we could trust you but seeing how much you care for Zane like a family member…” Macy began and Axl finished, “we feel we can trust you now.”
“You understand just because they’re not human doesn’t mean they’re not family,” Aaron proclaimed.
“Your right, if you think he could help we’d be glad for him to take a look. I’m pretty sure Zane would approve of the help,” Lloyd agreed and Clay stated, “We’ll bring him over while Nya and Jay are still working on Zane.”
“Just because this might help I wouldn’t let your guard down, you can’t trust folk around here won’t try to hurt him. It’s also not 100 percent guarantee the Stag won’t try to sway him. He could still end up controlling your friend. If he ends up wandering around in a trance again and one of the towns folk find him things could go real bad for you guys especially after today’s events,” Macy disclosed.
“We won’t, we never let our guard down,” Kai boasted though Cole and Lloyd knew that wasn’t really true.
“On a lighter note I’ve heard the pieces to repair the ship we’ll be using should be coming in tomorrow. Sadly it will however take a few days possibly a week or more to complete the repairs so we have some time to train and prepare for the outing,” Clay explained and Cole agreed, “I think today showed we could use some extra time to train.”
“Sounds like a good idea,” Lloyd agreed.
“Speaking of training after we bring Merlok to you I think I’m going to see if anyone here is willing to teach me some defensive moves against these Asher people,” Clay mentioned and Aaron expressed,
“dude after the fight we just went through don’t you want to take a break.”
“No. The fight showed us we are not ready for the wastes, we need to train more to be prepared,” Clay expressed and Lance stated, “if you want to train go ahead, I’m going to see if this strange rustic town has a spa.”
“You can look for a spa later, now’s a time for training,” Clay declared.
“What do you guys think?” Aaron asked the ninja who were not wanting to get involved with their squabble.
“Well training is always good but so is resting,” Kai noted and Lloyd stated, “It’s up to you what you do. We’re going to take a break and check on our friend and see how he’s doing.”
“Alright, your free to join us in whatever we end up doing if you want,” Macy expressed while Clay and Lance continued to squabble over what they should do till Macy suggested that since they were strangers to this realm and it would help their relations with the townsfolk that they help with the cleaning and repairs from the Stags attack. Cole, Lloyd and Kai meanwhile headed off to see how Nya and Jay were doing with Zane. On their way to the medical center Hassiri came up to them holding something in his hand.
“Have you found your droid friend?” Hassiri inquired.
“The knights found him, he was just wandering around a little upset,” Lloyd replied. He didn’t want to reveal too much details not sure who they could trust here. He didn’t want to risk someone hurting Zane.
“That’s good. I thought you could use this for your friend,” Hassiri stated handing Cole the object he had. It was a bottle of some sort of oily looking substance. Cole lifted the lid to give it a sniff.
“What is this? It smells like a mix of oil and the Sea,” Cole noted. They were wary of the substance worried of what it was and what Hassiri’s intentions with it were.
“Scimitar Oil; It’s a special mechanical oil for droids and other constructs. Don’t worry it won’t hurt your pal. They say it has restorative properties for those like him. You can use it like you would other oils. It’s apparently good for droids like him. It also has a special effect for them if you make them eat or drink it. I’m not sure how it works but it can help calm those like him down when anxious or stressed; it can also apparently help relieve stress a bit kind of like some sort of tea for droids and can make them feel better. I was never really good with technology or magic so I can’t tell you much else about it. I’m not entirely sure how it’s made either, I do know a main component comes from an algae from a nearby fresh water sea and an ancient recipe the Scimitar folk came up with but other than that I don’t know. You would have to ask some of the scholars more about it they know more than me. They use this stuff for their constructs all the time,” Hassiri explained.
“Why are you giving this to us?” Lloyd questioned.
“I guess you could call it a gift for your pal so he can see not all of us here hate him. I wouldn’t be surprised if this incident makes him fearful of everyone. I wouldn’t blame him. Most people here do not understand constructs like him and will act out against him especially with what the Stag did with him. With what the Stag did I wouldn’t be surprised if most folk come to dislike or hate you guys after this. You should know there will always be some here who won’t hold this against you. You have no control over the Stag, there’s a reason we call him a daemon. We’re willing to help you even if most people here won’t. Most of the scientists here are still willing to help you and if you ever need anything you can ask me, even Zane,” Hassiri noted. He seemed nervous as he talked to them but they were unsure why he would be nervous and if his nervousness should worry them.
“That’s nice of you but you don’t have to,” Cole expressed.
“Don’t think much of it I’m always glad to offer any aid you need; now I have to help with getting the city functioning again. When your friends been fixed up your free to come help us,” Hassiri stated and Lloyd stated, “we probably will.” Hassiri then left headed for the main cavern of the Under-city.
“That was a little odd. Do you think we should trust this stuff he gave us?” Kai wondered once Hassiri was out of ear shot.
“I don’t know. I don’t think it would hurt to try it, Hassiri has been nice to Zane so far…” Lloyd began and Kai expressed, “yha but after what the Stag did with Zane how do we know these people are not going to try and hurt him or worse.”
“We’re just going to have to stay on guard. Hopefully this incident doesn’t foul people’s views of us or hinder our quest,” Lloyd noted before they continued on.
Most of the sky now had the cursed look to it. There were a few patches that lacked it or where it was only partially coating. There were small mounds of ash building up along the walls and walkway and some strange plants and fungi had started growing in the courtyard. It was hard to tell what time of day it was due to the darkness and discoloration caused by the cursed skies though technology stated it was late evening. The racer fabricant was perched on the wall his head bent over and tail just hanging down as if sleeping or meditating. Pixal was cautious of approaching it. Though she knew it meant no harm, it had been protecting them night and day since it had arrived, she was unsure if it would understand what she wanted to ask it. The creature seemed bestial in many ways even though it was cybernetic. She was unsure if it was capable of higher functioning thoughts or if it was more simple minded. The night before she had a vision of a strange dark stag wandering the monastery grounds which were coated in a dark low lying fog and ash with strange plants and fungi some dead and twisted looking growing all over. Darkness followed the stag as it moved. The Stag took up residence in Zane’s room where it seemed to enslave Zane turning his eyes black with an eerie aquamarine iridescence. It seemed to corrupt him turning him dark and evil. When she tried to rescue Zane or even just talk to this entity it made Zane attack her while it snarled like a wolf behind him baring its un-deer like teeth and uttering something in a language she could not identify. The language unnerved her making her afraid for her life. She could not recall how it had ended but it had disturbed her. She had never originally had dreams before. When she was in Zane’s head through him she became aware of what it felt like to dream and the effects it had on him both physical and mental. After she had rebuilt her body she found herself having these dreams or visions from time to time. After what the necromancers had said and the vision she had she was curious to know a few things that only this being might know. The data the hyenoids had given her did not cover everything from this world. Oddly they had put very little data on the Stag or these Ashers though she was not sure why. When she was close enough she touched the fabricants tail and it turned its head to look at her.
“I do not know if you can speak let alone understand but I would like to ask you something,” she inquired. The racer remained silent as it tilted its head as if confused.
“Maybe I should ask Razak, it does not look like you understand,” she contemplated when it looked like the fabricant wouldn’t respond. She prepared to leave when Pelagius finally replied.
“I am capable of understanding to an extent,” it did not move its jaws at it quietly spoke, the sound seemed to emanate from the implants in its chest, “we might have been created from beasts but our creators gave us higher knowledge and the ability to use their tongues in order for us to better work for them. I am just not comfortable using their speech. It feels odd to me and I am not comfortable talking to most folk, to you though I feel safe to speak, Sister of the Fang.” The fabricants voice was slightly metallic and there was also a beast like roughness to the voice.
“My friends are headed to a place dominated by an entity they call the Black Stag, what do you know of this being?” she inquired. Pelagius just stared at her with his glowing red eyes for a few moments as if thinking the question over before responding.
“I know one of my kind serves him. My master had him over many decades ago once. I had recently come into my masters’ service. His presence made me fearful, if it was not for the fact my master was there I fear he might have taken me to serve him. Master was never fond of him. I think he only invited him to assess what he was and his intentions. He has never talked to him since. Pure blooded Oni are not supposed to feel fear but the Stag makes my master fear,” Pelagius regaled, “fabricants and robotics in my world we have a term for him the others do not we call him Akulakhan (a-kul-a-khan), the cursed one with no name. He is powerful, ancient and dangerous but there are far worse things than the Stag there. There is one thing my master fears more than the Stag and that is the wastes themselves. He rarely ventures beyond the fences that contain the wastes. It is not the flora or fauna he fears nor the geological activity or ash. It is what lies there, hidden, a great deep darkness; horrors and corruption that could give the Oni chills. It stems from the Red Tower, the Dragons Maw, the Oni’s Heart. That volcano, at its base sits the heart of the Ashers kingdom, the heart of their corruption and evil.”
“What do you mean? The necromancers said the Stag would destroy them, that he was the worst thing in the wastes,” Pixal inquired confused, from what she had heard the Stag sounded like the worse thing in these foreign lands. What was worse there?
“Of course they would say that, they are in league with the worse beings of the wastes possibly of all the realms, Ashers. They worship the Oni. Not good ones like Sheoth or your Mistake but the dark evil ones. It has corrupted them in ways you could never fathom. Their cruelty and dark values are on par with the Oni, possibly even worse. They are the living embodiments of darkness, corruption and destruction. To them your friends are both a threat and a potential asset. If they could harness them or their powers the Ashers would be unstoppable. They could resurrect the Oni and conquer the realms. They could do unspeakable things and spread a darkness few could imagine. They might do your friends in before they ever reach the Forbidden City or worse corrupt them to serve their cause, turn them into Ash Ghouls or worse. If they cannot make them their slaves then they might try to rip their powers from their bodies even if it means destroying them and they would do it in the most painful and torturous ways to them. That is not even the worst thing. The worst is the Blight a horrid condition not even you or I would be spared from. Despite folk labelling it a disease it is not one, no one knows what it truly is. Who it effects, what it does; No disease, parasite, virus or the likes is like it. It could best be described as a curse. It affects all living things and drives them mad. Few last long with the condition. A few weeks’ no more, stronger folk might last a little longer but in the end it will take them too. If they get the Blight they will never make it back. My master believes the Blight is tied to something in the wastes, a curse or corruption, something the Ashers have done. I would not want to enter the ash wastes. Your friends are either very brave or very foolish to enter. I do however admire their courage to enter that place knowing what is there they must be very brave,” Pelagius continued. What Pelagius had to say lowered her emotions. Would she ever see the others again or was it all over. She tried her hardest to hide her feelings but some of it ended up showing, she needed to stay strong if they had any chance of success. But remaining trapped here and being powerless to help save their world from this menace was taking a toll on everyone there.
“I sense that answer upset you. I would not worry they are in good hands. They are being watched over by those who care. There are those willing to help them no matter the cost and they have each other that is better than most who enter the wastes. They are strong, I am sure they will be okay. I know of one who lives there, she will watch over them and keep them safe I guarantee it, she has protected my Sister of the Fang who works for the Stag and my master would trust her with his life,” Pelagius consoled her turning around to face her and leaning over to rub his metal beak on the top of her head giving off a bird like purring grumbling noise. It cheered her up a little and Pelagius let her stroke his beak. Pelagius then whipped his head up to look over the landscape and mutter,
“something is out there.”
“Is it the necromancers?” Pixal inquired stabilizing her emotions, now was not the time to lose hope they had to stay strong.
“No this is something else,” Pelagius replied before taking off to investigate. Once Pelagius had left Seliel came up to her. Seliel had been wandering around trying to find some solace from her worries when she had been drawn to talking in the courtyard. Everyone else was inside trying to find signals from places where the necromancers had not yet reached and arguing whether they should try and fight back the necromancers or wait for the ninja to return. They were all getting impatient and wanting to do something instead of just waiting around. Some of the other elemental masters such as Karlof, Gryphon, Tox and the Pale Man and some random folk like the mail man, the police commissioner from Ninjago city, Clutch Powers and even some serpentine had found their way to the monastery. Many had tales of seeing horrid and monstrous creatures, members of these Ashers, joining the necromancers and turning people into freakish beings like them. No one was standing a chance against them. Any who tried to fight them were being taken out and some folk who were fleeing were finding themselves suffering strange new illnesses. Any elemental masters they caught were being corrupted and turned into slaves for the necromancers, just like the Dragon Guard. Things were looking grim.
“I couldn’t help but over hear you out here,” Seliel spoke.
“I was hoping to acquire some knowledge from the racer. Being from the realm this evil originated I was hoping he had some knowledge we could use,” Pixal explained.
“A lot of it didn’t seem very good,” Seliel confessed.
“No it did not and if those things are coming here things might be worse than we thought,” Pixal noted looking at the ash and various flora that had started spreading trying to hide her emotions.
“You’re worried for them aren’t you? Worried what you’ll do if he doesn’t return,” Seliel commented.
“We all are. Now is not the time to think about that. We have to remain focused on what is occurring here. Until they return we need to keep the enemies at bay,” Pixal replied not acknowledging the last part of Seliels question trying to not address her emotions.
“You know you don’t have to hide your feelings from me. Cole has told me of you and the others and about you and Zane. About how special you are compared to other droids and your relationship,” Seliel acknowledged, “you know you kind of remind me of Cole. He tends to hide his feelings too. I get the feeling he likes me but he doesn’t show or say it much, like he’s afraid to acknowledge it and I don’t know why. He’s very closed off. It would be nice if he would admit his feelings to me and open up once in a while.”
“He has experienced much loss in his life. Loss can do things to people and can hurt them in many ways. Ways that can be hard to overcome. It messes with one’s mind and can make it hard for one to address their emotions. They become closed off to avoid the pains of their past and afraid to have to face them again…” Pixal began to explain before what looked to be one of the ungulate folk from this foreign realm dropping onto the ground next to them brought an end to their conversation. The folk landed on his back and lay dazed for a few seconds as Pelagius landed on the monasteries wall and threw down a knapsack which likely belonged to this folk. As the folk sat up they could see his left leg was badly injured. A bite mark which was possibly infected was on the left leg. The folk looked to have been wandering the woods for some time muddy with leaves and twigs sticking out of his hair and damaged clothes. The folk took a few seconds to register where he was seeming dazed but the moment he saw Pixal it was like something in his mind snapped and he freaked.
“No, no please don’t hurt me, I’ll worship you’re master… I’ll do whatever he wants just let me live,” the folk screamed in a gruff voice cowering and holding his arms over his face to protect his head. The folks panicking drew everyone else out to see what was wrong.
“What is going on?” Wu demanded.
“The racer fabricant found him. I think he is from this other realm,” Pixal explained.
“If the plants and animals are ending up here then it would make sense people could too,” Seliel added. The folk just remained cowering.
“He looks hurt we should maybe bring him inside and give him some help,” Maya expressed.
“He might know something useful,” Skylor added. It took a bit of coaxing to pull the folks arms away from his face and when they did he seemed to relax a bit looking around.
“You’re…you’re not folk from Lost Realm. This isn’t the Wastes,” the folk stated looking around with a mixture of confusion and relief.
“No you are in Ninjago. We will not hurt you. Why don’t you tell us who you are?” Wu asked.
“I’m Mahei, I work as an engineer for the Ghost Fence in Balmora,” the folk replied.
“Come we will get your leg mended and you can tell us how you got here,” Wu explained as Ronin and Karlof helped him up and helped Mahei limp into the monastery. Pixal picked up his bag and curious to see what was in it, maybe find more about this strange folk, she looked in and saw a book. ‘Keikiary’s Guide to the Ash Wastes’. She took out the book and showed it to master Wu.
“This Mahei could provide us with some valuable insight into what the ninja are up to. It appears he comes from this Ash Wastes the necromancers spoke of,” Pixal explained. They sat Mahei up in the TV room on the one couch. They had chained the hyenoids Razak and Ed together and they sat on the floor in the room. Ed was trying to play with a toy car while Razak kept trying to read, annoyed that he was tied to Ed. Mahei was terrified of the two hyenoids at first believing them to be spies for the Stag but they managed to convince him they were harmless prisoners. It took half an hour to mend his leg; they ended up pulling a few small reptilian teeth out of the wound. After his leg was mended they all gathered around to hear how Mahei had gotten to Ninjago. Mahei remained agitated and shaking even after his wounds were tended to as if he was still in shock.
“I don’t know. I had the day off so I went to the arena to watch the show. Everyone enjoys the arena, a lot more entertaining than television in the wastes. A lot of folk enjoy seeing our enemies get beaten up, brings hope I guess. The outlanders were being tested…” Mahei began before he was cut off.
“Outlanders what is this term you use?” Karlof inquired.
“Outlanders are anyone not from the kingdoms around the Blackwoods. As I was saying I heard these outlanders are like the Dragon Guard but they’re from another realm and would be going up against the Stag soon so I wanted to see what they were like. See if they have the potential. No one’s ever won against the Stag, well except that Tafari. She creeps me out; I think she’s his spy if you ask me. Any way everything seemed fine. Everyone was worried the Stag was going to show up after all the one of them is a metal skin. The Stag loves claiming them for his service,” Mahei continued.
“Metal skin, are you talking about Zane?” Pixal inquired.
“Hey I don’t know their names just that they’re foolish enough to enter the Forbidden City. They’re doomed if you ask me. Legends say even daedra fear the Stag, how terrible is something if the daedra fear it,” Mahei proclaimed.
“Daedra?” Seliel pondered.
“Daedra, most other places call them Oni; around the Blackwood some folk call them daedra I’m not sure where the term comes from but I think it has something to do with myths that the word Oni is cursed or just muttering it draws Ashers to you or something like that. I’m not too sure. I was not very good at history. Anyway everything seemed to be going fine at first then things went bad, real bad. The Stag showed up in his full horrifying glory. Every beast in town and nearby went nuts. So did the metal skins including the outlanders’ one. Turned him on the others it did. I managed to get out of the arena and outside so I don’t know how things went. I was trying to get home but a Venom-fang got my leg. If you want to know what they look like I have a book in my bag that shows them. Warning if you see them don’t let them get close, they’re very dangerous. Then again everything in the wastes is dangerous. Their venom causes hallucinations, even after you take the anti-venom shot you still end up hallucinating. In my poisoned state I must have run into the woods outside of town. I remember being in the forests north of the wastes then I’m in a different forest, one I don’t recognise. I don’t remember exactly how it happened it’s kinda foggy,” Mahei explained.
“You likely wandered through a portal in the wilderness,” Seliel explained.
“No portals you could see, portals can easily be found. They’re also temporary. I don’t recall anything like a portal. It was more like a tear, it cannot be seen but it can be felt. You just seamlessly end up wandering through without realising it and it’s always there allowing anything to pass through at all times blurring its position as it blends the areas around it,” Mahei expressed.
“You mean a portal could be anywhere and we can’t see it,” Dareth stammered.
“That would explain how the ash, the strange plants and creatures just seem to be showing up, it is like two rivers meeting washing debris from both flows together before washing them ashore,” Wu hypothesized.
“A tear would make sense for what the raven described. As it grows the boundaries between the realms disappear and they end up spilling together till they are a part of each other. One realm out of two, a Plane Meld,” Pixal deduced.
“That would mean then that there is stuff from our world spilling into this place, the Lost Realm as you called it, as well. Innocent people could be wandering through without knowing it,” Skylor stated.
“I’m pretty sure most folk in the Lost Realm wouldn’t hurt them but I would pity the poor fools who end up wandering into the wastes. That place is a living nightmare,” Mahei mumbled.
“It might be a wise idea to get that creature to see if any of these tears can be located nearby,” Ronin advised.
“Good idea would not want anyone accidentally stepping through,” Wu expressed before addressing Mahei, “the outlanders as you call them, do you know anything about them or what they are doing?”
“Not really. I hear they want to enter the Forbidden City to retrieve something to destroy that daedra Dagon; them and another group of outlanders who call themselves Nexo Knights. If you’re wondering I know nothing of this place except it is home to the Black Stag and his bestial and robotic minions. Also some scholars were foolish enough to build an outpost just outside the ruins, haven’t heard from them in a while. They apparently found some pretty interesting things there though. The outlanders are supposed to be leaving in a couple days. Most of the folk in the town are worried what will happen when they enter the city. It is said when outlanders enter the city it will bring death and destruction to Balmora. That’s if they make it, a lot of us have a bet they won’t even reach the ruins, the Ashers will get them before they even get close. Those beings are the worst things you could ever encounter,” Mahei told them.
“You don’t know the ninja very well. They won’t give up. They’ll reach this Forbidden City,” Skylor stated.
“I don’t know, what this deer guy is saying doesn’t sound very good,” Dareth exclaimed.
“We must have faith they will make it and find what we need to rid Ninjago from this daemon,” Wu expressed before addressing Mahei, “Until they return and Dagon is vanquished you can stay here. You might be able to impart some knowledge on the stuff that is turning up from your world.”
“I don’t know how useful I could be. I’ll admit I’m not a very knowledgeable person,” Mahei explained nervously as Jay’s mom Edna brought over a tray with some tea to the strange folk.
“Here you go deery a little something to calm your nerves,” Edna expressed. Mahei took a look at the tea as if weary of taking something from a stranger but then he noticed her hands. He knocked the tray from her hands stunning everyone else and held her hands out to inspect them. Her finger tips had started to turn a reddish color much like a rash. No one had really noticed or cared.
“Hey now mister I don’t…” Jays father Ed began but Mahei wasn’t listening.
“How long have you had this?” he inquired staring at the rash a look of horror and worry on his face.
“It’s just a rash, started this morning. Probably has to do with the ash,” Edna explained calmly, “sweet of you to worry.” He let her hands go but remained staring at them.
“It comes from the ash alright but that’s not a rash,” Mahei expressed, “that’s Blight. The Curse of the Wastes.”
“Are you sure? There is a lot of strange things showing up here someone’s bound to have a reaction to one of these new things,” Skylor expressed.
“Could be but if it spreads up your arms and develops a pattern like cooling lava as it spreads and you get a feeling that something’s wrong but you don’t know what it is or why it is wrong then it’s the Blight,” Mahei expressed and it was with his words some of them took note that this folks hands were reddish in color while the rest of his body was deer like in color. His arms were covered by long sleeves so it was hard to tell what his arms looked like but they were wondering.
“You speak as if you know this condition from experience,” Seliel suggested. Mahei let out a deep breath and rolled up the sleeve on his one arm to show off markings just as he had described.
“I don’t know how I got it. You have to be bit or scratched by the infected to get it and we remove the infected from town to keep everyone safe. My doctor says I probably got bit by a little bug that had it without knowing it. I’ve had it for a week, I probably don’t have much time left. Oddly it was glowing and uncomfortable until I got to your world. Now the glow has stopped and I don’t feel anything,” Mahei moaned, “I’ve heard tales that the farther you go from the Red Tower the slower the Blight works so the longer you can live. It might take longer to progress here then back in the Lost Realm, until the tear brings the Tower here of course.”
“This Blight, the fabricant said it has no cure. He believes it is some sort of curse. Is that true?” Pixal inquired.
“I’m afraid yes, it’s always fatal and no one’s ever been able to find a cure. Some in my world fear it will one day break free of the wastes and destroy us all. I thought that idea was crazy… till I got it,” Mahei replied staring at his arm in sorrow.
“If this Blight was to enter Ninjago…” Wu began.
“It could spread just like in the Lost Realm and wreck havoc. Cities have fallen because of it; many perish from it every year. It’s terrible what it has done,” Mahei butt in. Wu seemed to think something over. Ever since the ninja had left Wu had been trying to figure out why his father had warned him of this place and what this dreaded darkness was that hid in this realm. When the ash had started falling around the monastery he noted the strange darkness coming from it but it didn’t feel like something to worry too much about. When he saw the Asher Sorcerer he had good reason to believe it was that thing and others like it they should worry about. Then hearing about this Stag entity he wondered if that was the hidden darkness. Now hearing about this maybe it was this Blight his father had warned him of or maybe, even worse, it was a combination of these things.
“Edna keep an eye on the rash, if it starts growing let someone know,” Wu began.
“Oh I’m pretty sure it’s nothing,” Edna replied picking up the tray and tea cups.
“Anyone else have a rash starting up, put forth your hands so we can check,” Wu proclaimed. As they all did it they found some of them also had the starts of this rash. Wu, Maya and Coles father Lou also had it plus a few others. Pixal did not join in until Mahei demanded she did it too as it affected all living things, even the ones he called Metal Skins. When she did, taking off her gloves, she found she too had it and it was farther along than the others. Most of her hands had it. She was both shocked and confused. How could it infect her? How could she, or any of them have got it and what did it mean for Ninjago if this curse was spreading here?
“I’d say that settles it if it’s showing on the metal skin then that is the Blight. That means its spreading out of the wastes, the realms could be doomed,” Mahei exclaimed.
“That doesn’t mean we all have this blight. It could still be a rash and Pixal… maybe that’s just discoloration from touching some of the plants or fungi we’ve been trying to remove from the grounds,” Skylor expressed though she was not too sure of her own words.
“We will have to keep an eye on it and if anyone else starts showing it,” Wu proclaimed.
“We evacuated as many as we could but some of us were not so fortunate. We’ve noticed the strange figures moving through the area the last few nights. All are dark and robbed and just seemed to be creeping about in the woods. A few people who went out at night disappeared. We decided it best to flee before it was too late. We don’t know what it is but they’re clearly up to something. Ever since we started seeing these shadow beings we’ve heard strange sounds in the woods around town,” the man who was the mayor of a small town not far from the monastery explained. A group of about ten people of various ages from the town had come to the monastery early in the morning having fled their town as soon as the sun was up bring anything they could including not just supplies and personal items but pets and livestock which they had put in the monastery grounds causing quite a bit of ruckus as some of the animals weren’t getting along real well or were in rather foul moods for having to climb up the mountain so early in the morning. The mayor and some of the townsfolk had come in and were talking with Wu, Pixal, Maya, Ray and Seliel in the monasteries library.
“We’re not quite sure but we think they might have been planning something,” the mayor expressed and Pixal noted, “given the towns proximity to the monastery and the fact we know they are after us it is highly likely they are planning something.”
“Well we have one way of finding out,” Skylor noted as the folk from the Lost Realm Mahei led the hyenoid Razak into the room. They had Razak cuffed and wearing a muzzle with a leash attached. Anytime Razak tried to fiddle with the muzzle Mahei would give him a squirt of water from a spray bottle.
“Is the muzzle really necessary? It makes me feel like a dog,” Razak inquired to which Mahei stated bringing the droid to the others, “you were nipping people.”
“In my defence there is only so many times you can have kids poking their fingers into you that one can take,” Razak stated before Wu asked him, “you said you could offer us insight into the necromancers plans. What can you tell us about what they are doing around the village?”
“Well I can tell you the people just helped them speed up their plans. Sure they are not happy they could not take more of you to turn into their slaves but they will manage. They plan to use the town as a base of operations in order to launch an assault on your monastery in order to get a hold of you all. They have a few projects they are planning to test out that they hope will give them the upper hand to overwhelm Pelagius and the rest of you so you will not stand a chance,” Razak explained.
“That’s not good,” Ray noted and Wu agreed, “indeed. We should wait for nightfall then send a small group to scout out the village and see what they are up to.” They waited till the sun went down spending the day getting the villagers set up in the monastery. Once the sun was down a small group made of Pixal, Skylor, Seliel, Ray, Maya, Wu and the elemental master of the mind Nero who had recently made his way to the monastery in order to evade capture by the necromancers and their allies headed down the mountain to the village. They hid in the woods behind some flora to scout out what was going on. There was defiantly something up. The town a small open settlement centered around a main road that went through the town headed towards the monastery had been taken over by the necromancers who had quickly overtaken it filling the place with their supplies, vehicles, artefacts and cages of various sizes holding all sorts of critters. The place was lit by fires and braziers along with strange dark and decorative lighting of a design they couldn’t recognize. Likely from the Ashers they all felt. In the cages people and all sorts of creatures all coming from a mix of realms including not just the Lost realm and Ninjago but by the looks some other foreign realm as well were being held. From what they could see the necromancers were building some strange structures out of stone magically merging rocks into narrow upside down U shaped arch like structures that bore glowing lightening like markings through cracks in their surface and short thick spikes decorating their outer surfaces. These markings came in a few colors and there was a distinct indent in the top of each arch. All the necromancers were going about their business working on their equipment, with their supplies and the portals. The necromancers were now a mix of folk from the Lost realm, Ninjago and at least one other realm. From their hiding place Wu’s group could see some of what was going on but not all of it and they couldn’t hear much of what they were doing; it was largely acolytes that they could hear which were mainly complaining of doing the heavy work and how they should keep one guy away from the kitchens due the terrible coffee he had made which some of them were drinking feeling sick from it and others were nearly vomiting from just the small of it. They could make out two Ashers there as well in the center of the town working on the rock structures which they were building in the center of the town. They had a feeling if there was any information to gain it would be from the Ashers and those in the center of town. They needed to get closer to the center to try and hear about what was going on but it was not going to be easy. The necromancers had Shambles patrolling the area, some un-dead looking hounds that were commonly used by the necromancers as guard dogs known as Skinned Hounds were fighting over some bones in a pen at the opposite end of the town from where they were hiding and some Corpse-birds roosting on various buildings overlooking the area. They quickly came up with an idea. The acolytes for the necromancers didn’t have the un-dead appearance of higher members and they wore attire that covered a great deal of their bodies, stained and dirty dark grey hooded robes with black gloves and shoes and skull masks that covered a great deal of their face leaving mainly the area around their eyes uncovered. If they could get a few of them close and take them out they could steal their attire and use it to blend in with the others allowing them to sneak in close to the center of their base. Using the power of the mind Nero was able to lure three non beast folk acolytes away from the main area making them think they saw possible intruders in the bush and to go check it out. They knocked them out tying them up to one of the large strange shrooms that had started growing in the area as a result of the meld. Pixal, Seliel and Nero dressed as acolytes while the rest decided to try and find a way to free some of those they had imprisoned.
All seemed good. None of the necromancers seemed to take note of them. Even the Shambles, Skinned Hounds and Corpse-birds didn’t seem to care about them. To help the illusion they each grabbed something to carry around to make it look like they were working. Seliel picked up a crate, while Nero and Pixal picked up some firewood. They cautiously made their way towards the center of town sticking closer to the edges of the main area than down the center.
“So far so good,” Seliel expressed and Nero noted, “I have read some of the minds of those we have passed it does not seem many of them here are fully understanding what they are doing. They plan an assault on the monastery they know that however some of their superiors including these Asher folks have something planned to aid them but have been keeping quiet about it.”
“Well then we’ll just have to get closer,” Seliel expressed as they stopped for a second for Pixal and Nero to throw a log each of wood into a brazier that looked low to help keep up the illusion of working there. They then continued into the center. Nero and Pixal kept occasionally throwing a log from those they had picked up into the braziers till they no longer had any more. While the three made their way towards the center the others made their way around the outskirts to the cages and using some tools they took from the necromancers supplies freed those in the cages. For some odd reason the necromancers were ignoring the dwellings of the town. They weren’t using them in any way nor even trying to take anything from them. Since the enemy was ignoring the structures and to prevent the people from being found they told them to hide in the villages tavern till they gave them the all clear. The tavern sat at the edge of town on the road headed out to the monastery and had been left unlocked. Luckily the enemy was focussed around the main road allowing the people to sneak around the backs of the buildings unseen. For the creatures since a great deal of them would be easily noticed if they ran off they unlatched the cages and left the doors in a state the creatures could push them open if they wanted too but so the cages didn’t look open. A few animals instantly bolted mainly the small creatures but most just chilled looking unsure what to do. As they were releasing everyone one person who was dressed as a knight refused to listen and insisted on launching an assault on ‘these monsters’ as he called them.
“No we do not want to let our presence be known. We have some who have infiltrated the main area under cover who are gathering information for us. We do not want to compromise their work,” Wu told the folk who relented, “ah so your stealth workers then alright we’ll play it by your game but if we get into trouble I’m not going to back down. Sir Swordmore Brickland will not hide when there is work to be done. I am coming with you.”
“Alright but you have to be quite and keep low,” Skylor told the folk. While they continued setting the cages free the three undercover got close to the center.
“What do you think those are?” Seliel inquired as they stood on the outskirts of the central area where the necromancers had built the structures. There was three of them placed primarily in a row slightly positioned to face a central point in front of them where three folk were working one of them looking through a book. Two of the three were Ashers though they were not full Ashers. Most of their features were gone though they still had hair and hadn’t yet developed any glowing marks to their ashy grey skin. The last was a necromancer who looked to have been a person from Ninjago.
“That crates supposed to go over there,” a voice talking to them startled them drawing their attention away from the three by the structures and to a group of people, a mix of both beast folk and non beast folk, who stood to the side of the area looking like they were taking a break.
“The crate… goes over there,” the one folk expressed pointing at the crate Seliel held then pointed to one of the vehicles nearby, a loading truck with more crates on it.
“Sorry just got a little distracted…” Seliel expressed heading over to put the crate on the truck the other two following and one of the people in the group stated, “first time seeing one of those Asher beings? Yha there’s something odd about them. Ones like those two are not too bad to look at. Trust us there are more unnerving and nastier looking ones out there. There’s these ones called sorcerers trust us you don’t want see one of those.”
“Let me guess you must be new bloods,” another of the folk expressed as the three came over to the group.
“New bloods?” Pixal wondered confused by their term.
“New members, recent recruits,” the first folk explained and Seliel responded, “yha, that’s us. Just got set up the other day, this is our first big job.”
“So you probably want to impress the higher ups then, why don’t you take these then to those two,” the second folk stated pointing to three dark purple crystals in a crate by them then at the two Ashers.
“What are they for?” Nero inquired as they each picked up a crystal and inspected it.
“Not entirely sure, something about powering those rock arches for something. We’re supposed to bring it to them but between us, I’m rather apprehensive about getting close to those Asher beings,” the third folk expressed. The three were hesitant. They didn’t want to help the enemy with their dark deeds but they also didn’t want to blow their cover. They still had very little clue on what was going on. Seeing no way out of it they slowly approached the Ashers carrying the crystals.
“I cannot read their minds, their blocking any form of mental prying or attacks and there’s something unnatural about them,” Nero whispered as they approached and Pixal quietly added, “I have never sensed anything like it. They’re not living or dead and they are giving off a very strange energy. It is like that of the Oni but with an intense heat; hotter than fire but not quite as hot as lava.” All three could agree as they got close to these Asher beings that they could feel very unpleasant and dark energies emanating from them putting them on edge. They wanted to flee from the Ashers presence but they held their ground not wanting to give anyone a reason to be suspicious of them.
“Ah finally someone brings them to us. You three place the crystals in the holder in the top of the arches one per arch then we can get things started,” the one Asher commanded them as they approached. They reluctantly followed orders using a ladder that was leaned against the one to climb up and place the gem into the arch. They went one by one to each arch and placed the gem in. Once in the holder the gem developed a glow like the markings on the stone. While they did this the others who had taken a peak to see what the three were doing from a rooftop were confused over why the three were helping them with whatever they were planning. Once the crystals were in place the Ashers told them to stand back by the buildings. The three headed over to the house the others were observing them by and stood by it. Everyone seemed to stop what they were doing and look over to the arches. One by one the Ashers went from one arch to the next muttering an incantation. When the incantations were done energy danced across the stones before filling the center of the arch and changing the color of the glow in them to new ones. The first developed a bluish color, the central one red and the last a dark purplish glow. As they sparked to life they warped the areas around them. Any plant life died withering as the ground turned hard and blackened as if burned. This warping slowly spread out from the arches tainting the center of town with the dark energy that seemed to be powering them. All were emitting a strange low dark noise.
“Those look to be portals,” Wu expressed as his group snuck up to speak with the other three and Ray wondered, “but for what and to where?” No one was taking note of them all focussed on the portals. Shortly after opening they could hear strange noises coming from the portals before something came through. The first was the central portal. They could see waves of heat emanating from it as a large eight foot tall bulky humanoid crocodilian like creature made its way through grabbing part of the side of the portal to help push itself through. Its rough skin was broken randomly on its body with what appeared like seams of burning embers. It had scutes and bumps over all of its body with a notable rough patch on the top of the head. Spikes ran down the back of its neck and on its back, it had a notable ridge over its small fiery glowing eyes and a set of knarled horns stuck off the back of its head. Once through the portal it growled at the Ashers showing off its teeth and shaking its body a bit what looked like ash and flakes of burning flesh or scales falling off its hide. The ground around its portal developed cracks of burning embers emanating from the arches heart. Ash occasionally would fall out of it and the creature had a burning drool that burned areas it dripped onto. A nasty sulphuric and burning stench came from the beast. The next was the purple portal. A dark mist or fog was creeping out of it and dark shadowy flora had sprung up around the portal which a faint eerie cawing could be heard from. The cawing sounded like a crows but something about it sounded off and unnatural. A dark scythe came flying through the portal to land in the ground in front of it startling many of the necromancers along with those in Wu’s group. It was followed shortly after by something dark flying out to hover in front of the portal before it landed next to the scythe and gave off a deep barely bird sounding roar displaying its ragged feathered black wings and bony hand claws. The creature was a strange seven to eight foot tall un-dead looking half crow half human entity with a crows skull for a head and bony fingers and bird-ish feet. Icy green glowing orbs of light sat in the eye sockets of the creature, only the neck was well feathered with most of the body being a sickly greyish skin and it wore dark hooded robes that were adorned with metal and bony trinkets. The creature had the smell of a fetid bog to it. The last was the blue portal. The ground around it was blackened with a dark bluish black mist creeping out of it. Sickly green blue vines coated in blackened thorns creeped out from the portals and constricted around the stone of the arch and reached out to the surrounding area. A snake-ish hissing began emanating from it as a large strange greenish serpentine creature slithered out of the portal. The serpentine had a feminine build and bore four arms that ended in three long bony fingers that ended in long needle like claws on its humanoid upper half. The snake-ish head bore a strange spiked frill and had two sets of amber eyes one smaller set behind the first set. Its mid length snakes neck was rimmed on the sides by three spikes. The creature reeked of decay.
“What are these things?” Skylor wondered on edge and Seliel noted, “I don’t know but we’re partially responsible for letting them get here.” They were all startled and scared by what they were seeing.
“Technically we did not have much of a choice. We did not want to reveal our presence,” Pixal noted.
“Why do these pathetic meat bags summon us?” the serpentine creature hissed with a deep feminine voice that carried hints of being unnatural at the Ashers as she came out of the portal.
“You want beings the foreign dragons and that half machine freak Sheoth gave them can’t beat than these are it,” the one Asher proclaimed to those watching, “Dreadconda (dread-conda) are serpentine beings with a mastery in dark arts. They can siphon the energy from their targets, spit at them a paralyzing venom, constrict them and more. Vulcaroth (Vulca-roth) are said to be born in lava. These large crocodilian humanoids aren’t very bright, rather animalistic and have very limited abilities in dark magic but they make up for it with their great strength and ability to breathe fire. Then there is the Noctern Crows powerful, crafty semi un-dead looking humanoid crow beings. Despite their bird brains they are crafty, calculating and can wield dark magic along with weapons and their claws and wings.” As he spoke of them the Asher pointed to each of the creatures.
“Bird Brained! This filthy mortal dares call a regal member of the Shadow Court bird brained!” the Noctern Crow cawed hints of a crows caw to its voice. It picked up its scythe with one hand looking angrily at the Ashers flexing and rotating it’s shoulders and neck as if prepping to fight.
“Are you sure about this? There’s something disturbing about these things not to mention they seem rather animal like,” the necromancer who stood next to the Ashers worried cowering a bit from the creatures as they looked at him growling and hissing mad at being called animalistic.
“Animals, these are not animals. Some would call them monsters, others would call them demons. In our realm they are commonly called demons. Beings who originated in the void and have come to live within the realms as part of its fauna. For example Noctern Crows are frequently found in the Underworld and the Realm of Madness. All are powerful with great resistances. They do not age and very little can kill them. It is believed they cannot ever truly be killed simply banished back to the void where in time they can return to the realm in which they deem home. They can also easily find ways to travel between any realm even the departed realm. Those fools in their monastery won’t stand a chance against these things,” the one Asher explained before the Dreadconda demanded, “does the Oni’s spawn think we’ll obey it and these meat sacks cause we will not.” Its words unnerved those watching; only the Ashers were unfazed.
“You don’t scare me. I get how you work. You’ll all want something for your kinds service. First I can offer your kinds places of great power in Lord Dagons new world with all the mortals you could desire to play with. You can do as you please with them. Steal their energy, enslave them, torture them even eat them if you want it’s all up to you,” the one Asher began and the Noctern Crow cawed, “Tasties yes but what about shinnies as well?”
“Of course anything shiny that catches your eyes is yours. Take whatever you want from the people. Their possessions, property, food even their lives,” the second Asher proclaimed and the creatures looked pleased.
“We need to stop this before they can bring more of those things here,” Wu proclaimed but they were not entirely sure how to do it. To make it worse there was still some in cages they needed to free and there was the people hiding in the tavern not to mention they were greatly outnumbered by necromancers. Sir Brickland wasn’t one for waiting around when something needed to be done.
“How’s this we drive those monsters back to where they came from and smash apart those portals of theirs. Why don’t we give some of these cultists a good spanking while we’re at it,” Brickland proposed and Ray noted, “that actually doesn’t sound too bad a plan.”
“Okay but how are we going to get those things back through the portals,” Maya wondered and Skylor inputted, “I could try to use their powers against them.”
“That could work, got any information on these things Pix?” Seliel inquired and after doing a quick search of the data she had been given Pixal replied, “Noctern Crows are much like the birds they are a part of. They can be tricked and persuaded with food along with shiny objects. The crocodilian ones are not very bright or agile and can also be tricked by food and like crocodiles if their mouths are held shut they lack the strength to open them. The serpentine one is hurt more by electricity than anything else, have a blind spot behind their heads due to the frill and can be hypnotized by certain sounds just like the serpentine. Truly they all have few weaknesses or ways to combat them. Those Ashers are right; these are very powerful and dangerous creatures.”
“Well we are going to have to work with what we have got. We do not want these things to be let loose here…” Wu began and Pixal cut in to say, “maybe we should call Pelagius for some aid. His powers could prove very useful here.”
“No, I do not fully trust him. He serves an Oni and we have no way of knowing what either’s intentions are. I think it is safer if he does not get involved,” Wu explained. Pixal had wanted to include Pelagius in their mission but some of the others especially Wu had been hesitant. Wu was not comfortable about the creature hanging around the monastery grounds all the time and was wary of its actions. So far Pelagius had not hurt anyone though he did scare some folk mainly kids with his appearance, bestial behaviours and strange mix of organic and robotic sounds. Pelagius had so far shown no signs he intended them harm and only wished to aid them however due to his affiliations with an Oni, one they didn’t know much about many were hesitant to fully trust him. Pixal wasn’t entirely sure why but she trusted him. Ever since meeting him she had trusted him and felt his intentions were sincere. Not only did he help protect them but he even sometimes improved moods around the monastery. Pelagius liked to try and mimic sounds he heard sometimes using them to mess with people in rather playful yet harmless ways like the afternoon he kept driving some of them nuts by mimicking the sound of the microwave going off making people constantly going to check it to see if something was going on. They had found he liked to dance to music he liked and while they had been at first scared by his appearance and how he fed on his prey mainly scavenged meat, rabbits, game birds, squirrels, insects and fish tearing at them with his serrated beak the kids had come to enjoy playing with him as Pelagius enjoyed catching pieces of fruits the kids would toss in the air for him, liked playing fetch and attempt to copy their moves when they would dance around him. Despite this Wu didn’t trust him much and disapproved of others interacting too much with him and frequently made sure none of the others would reveal much information or planning for anything around the creature. He was pretty sure while it didn’t appear able to speak it could understand their languages. He worried it may be spying and somehow relaying information to this Sheoth whose allegiance and intentions they didn’t know much about. Wu didn’t have to worry too much about Razak and Ed as not many, not even Pixal who was rather trusting to Pelagius, trusted the hyenoids and not even the kids would interact much with them as Razak had a habit of nipping and though friendly and playful Ed’s appearance scared them.
“Uh guys we better act fast,” Nero noted as they could see some of the necromancers drag one of the people from a cage near the center of town out and dragged them towards the monsters.
“Who would like the first sacrifice as a payment for our dealings,” the one Asher wondered. All of them looked to want to take the first sacrifice.
“Little snack mine,” the Vulcaroth growled and the Noctern Crow cawed, “no it is mine.” The crow pecked the Vulcaroth on the head and the Vulcaroth spat fire back at it causing the crow to protect itself with its wings. While the two fought the Dreadconda went to take the sacrifice who was terrified of its situation. Before it could take a chance to grab the sacrifice the Vulcaroth grabbed and bit the Dreadcondas tail pulling it back. The Dreadconda whipped back to grab the Vulcaroth to bite the top of its head while the Noctern Crow pecked and clawed at the Dreadcondas back.
“Looks like they don’t entirely get along we could use that,” Seliel noted before the one Asher addressed the monsters stopping their squabble, “guys, we have plenty more for you don’t worry. We can get you each a sacrifice. Why don’t we discuss your terms so we can get started?”
“Let’s not keep this going any longer, let’s get things rolling,” Sir Brickland proclaimed readying himself for a fight with a sword and shield he had grabbed from the Ashers supplies. He strolled out into the open and yelled out to draw everyone’s attention, “hey monsters why don’t you go for something a little more challenging.” They were all drawn to him turning to look at him.
“Puny knight make crunchy snack,” the Vulcaroth expressed as the monsters turned their attentions to Brickland and began to stalk towards him. After removing their disguises Pixal who was dressed in her Samurai X attire and Seliel in her Phantom Ninja attire, an outfit she came up with to help in protecting her town, came to stand with Brickland to keep all their attentions on them so the others could sneak around and set the creatures off to help cause some chaos.
“These warriors think they stand a chance against you why don’t you show them what you monsters are made of,” the one Asher proclaimed while its pal noted, “seems we may have some intruders, search the camp for more.” The three charged at the monsters Brickland taking on the Vulcaroth, Seliel taking on the Dreadconda and Pixal taking on the Noctern Crow. Not long after they started to fight the encampment was sent into chaos as some of the creatures they had caged rushed out of their cages startled by the commotion and headed in all directions some including large species rushing through the camp to trash some of the necromancers equipment and supplies on their way out. Within the chaos Wu, Nero, Ray, Maya and Skylor rushed around taking out some of the necromancers and with the help of keys they found on some of them freeing more of the creatures and people sparking more chaos. This was further helped by some of the creatures notably some predators like Mire-Lions and Dire Bats launching attacks on the necromancers as well. There was one creature that not only joined in the attack but aided them in their attack and even surprised them with its abilities. They had been confused to find it in a cage large enough to comfortably house an elephant when the creature was no larger than a large housecat. They understood soon after releasing it why the Murk-wing Pryphon was in such a large cage. Once released it morphed in size from a pint sized creature to a large mino sized version of its self, its size now more accurately befitting a typical gryphon than the Pryphons normal size. Along with it's size change for attacks it could create cyclones of wind around itself, hit enemies with water twisters made of murky water, spit swamp water at enemies and send gusts of wind at foes, screech at them along with using its mighty nut cracking beak which in its large size now had the strength to crush some metals and large talons on enemies.
“Never underestimate the Pryphon. They may be small but they’re large at heart,” one of the folk from the Lost Realm proclaimed as the creature joined in the attack. Even some people helped out including another knight from the realm Brickland came from, a guard from Shintaro and a mage from the Lost Realm. There was even one folk from the Lost Realm which some of the people didn’t want them freeing though they did so anyway feeling she could help who was one of these folk known as a man beast, a were-wolf. She transformed into her beast form once freed and attacked the necromancers.
Not long after the fighting began fires started in the area as braziers were bowled over by creatures and the Vulcaroth used its fire breath attack to try and hit Brickland who used his shield to shelter from its attacks. While things seemed to be going good at the start it quickly didn’t turn out too great. The necromancers kept reanimating any shambles that got destroyed and they had plenty of skeletons and zombies they had secretly tucked away amongst their supplies that they animated for the fight. Along with them was the two Ashers who were masters of the dark arts and were skilled in combat. Even worse were the monsters. Not only were they powerful but they were resistant to normal weapons meaning they had to hit them more times to do any damage and even then it wasn’t much damage they did. The monsters however could do a great deal of damage and wielded dark powers which they didn’t care if they used on them, the necromancers or each other. The Vulcaroth could not only breath fire including a lava fire mix but if given a source of electricity such as the engine of a car that became exposed during the battle it could bite into it siphoning the electricity from it into itself then blasting this energy outwards to shock anything nearby. The Dreadconda could siphon energy from other living things, spit a venom that paralyzed for about a minute those it touched, wield dark magic including the ability to summon other monstrous creatures like bug serpent or hummingbird bug mixed creatures, constrict around victims not to mention had four arms tipped by sharp needle like claws. The Noctern Crow was quick, calculating, agile and could take to the air in attacks. Not only could it use different forms of magic but it could produce a screaming sound that not only irritated and disorientated everyone even the other monsters but could produce a screech that could reach pitches that could break glass which it did once startling everyone as anything made of glass including windows and dish wares in the cities center burst into pieces from its scream. The only thing they had going for them was the monsters clearly had no allegiances towards not only each other but any of the groups. They would take out necromancers and their constructs if they felt like it and really seemed to get on each other’s nerves. At one point the Dreadconda had managed to grab and pin a Dire Bat to the side of a building holding it there with its upper arms while it siphoned energy from the frightened creature with its lower arms. As it was doing this the Vulcaroth bit into the engine of a car that had been damaged by a large creature escaping the area. It sucked the energy from the engine then after a second to build up it exploded the electrical energy in a small circle around itself. The Dreadconda just happened to be within the limits of this circle getting shocked. Angered by who attacked it the monster abandoned the Dire Bat to attack the Vulcaroth slashing it across the chest and in retaliation the Vulcaroth blasted the serpentine with a blast of fire. When its blast was done the Dreadconda tossed a blast of dark energy at the croc creature which ducked its attack leading the blast to hit the Noctern Crow knocking it over to land face down atop Pixal who was fighting it. Pixal was unharmed by the creature landing on her but was a bit stunned. The Noctern Crow quickly got up turning to the other monsters angry and after taking a deep breath screamed a birdlike screech at them affecting everyone in the area glass nearby shattering with its final pitches.
Once everything and everyone were set free Wu’s team ushered all the people towards the inn to protect the people and formulate a plan. Things were not going well. They were over whelmed by the necromancers and their allies and instead of getting them put back through the portals the monsters were progressing outwards to the edges of the city following the fighting. As their forces had their backs pinned against the tavern, even the Pryphon was there with them reared up to intimidate the enemies, one of the Ashers called the fighting to a halt.
“Well well what do we have here? Trying to foil our plans are we,” the Asher proclaimed coming to the front line to look them all over, “you’re from the monastery aren’t you. Let’s see two dragons, two past dragons, two warriors, some freed prisoners and what is this one of the sons to the First Spinjitsu Master am I right. Well aren’t these quite the prizes.”
“We will not surrender to you,” Wu expressed and the Asher laughed, “we’d prefer it that way, makes you a lot worthier a prize. Now since you clearly are outnumbered and stand no chance of getting out of here at least not alive anyway let me tell you a little something. Once we’re finished with you we’re going to take over your monastery and we’ll wait for your precious ninja to return. When they do we’ll have something special waiting for them. They will think they are returning to those close to them but it will be some of us in disguise looking like those they care about and when they least expect it we’ll turn on them. They will either perish by our hands or succumb to the darkness of the realms and become monsters for us to enslave. Could you imagine how much of a shock it will be to them to have their own loved ones betray them? What a pleasurable sight that will be.”
“That is such a cruel thing to do,” Maya expressed and the Asher laughed, “cruel on the contrary I think it’s rather fun. Now take them out. We’ll need them in one piece but they don’t have to be breathing. As for you three the first one to take out the son of the First Spinjitsu Master will be greatly rewarded.” The Asher motioned for the fighting to resume and the monsters were the first to start an approach.
A sudden blast of ice hitting one of the large fires in the town caught every ones attention and stopping everyone. Most were left confused unsure what had done it or where the blast had come from. The monsters however looked to be aware of what had done it. They were looking up at the sky hissing and growling. When the others looked they at first didn’t see anything then they noticed something, a shadow moving across the dark sky. It came over the town and blew a coating of ice on some more fires circling again to land on one of the rooftops nearby.
“I have always wanted to suck the life energy from a dragon,” the Dreadconda hissed and the Noctern Crow cawed, “I get to peck out its eyes.” A large black scaled dragon with large polish bronze colored scale plates that looked to be made of metal adorning its back, head, front of legs and front of the forelimbs which were made into wings was perched atop the tallest building in the town. It used its wings to grip the sides of the structure to help balance on the roof and glared down at those gathered below.
“Deyra zu’u qahnaar hin vulom daal fin nil,” the dragon growled with a deep voice its mouth barely moving as it spoke. Pixal understood what it was saying as it spoke in the Scymer tongue. It had uttered ‘demons I vanquish your darkness to the void’. It seemed the monsters could understand the language as well as the Noctern Crow uttered, “I’d like to see you try.” The crow launched off to attack the dragon but before it could reach it the dragon hit it with a shout that sent it flying back and into a building smashing through its roof to lay dazed and stunned in the building.
“Hah hah, bird brain,” the Vulcaroth laughed before the dragon breathed ice onto it entombing it in ice. After a few seconds encased in ice the Vulcaroth burst out of the ice its markings brightly glowing with waves of heat coming off its skin. It turned angrily to the dragon and spat fire at it however the dragon took off before the fire reached it. It circled the town before flying low to breath a spiked wall of ice separating Wu’s group and their enemies. While the necromancers got either frozen in the wall or ran for cover Wu’s group, with the exception of the Pryphon who just rushed back into fighting the enemies, rushed into the tavern to escape the blast.
“I have never seen a dragon like that. Where did it come from?” Wu wondered worried over what the creatures’ intentions were as they held the doors closed to prevent any necromancers from trying to flee into the inn with them and Pixal noted, “it spoke in the Scymer tongue. It spoke of slaying the monsters they brought here.”
“You don’t think it could have come through one of those portals?” Seliel inquired and Skylor added, “it could have. As long as those things are open anything could come through and who knows where those portals lead.”
“I do not believe that thing is really a dragon. I can sense it is using some form of illusion on our minds to make it think it’s a dragon,” Nero explained and Ray wondered not liking the sounds of this, “then what is it?” They braved a look outside. Most of the fires had been put out by ice and many of the necromancers had fled not wanting to take on what they saw as a large powerful dragon. The two Ashers had been frozen in ice and lay as piles of ash with chunks of ice in them. The monsters and a few necromancers willing to brave it were the only ones still fighting the dragon as it flew around spitting ice at them. Interestingly the Pryphon was fighting on the dragons side and seemed unbothered by whatever was displaying itself as the reptilian creature. The two were besting the enemies and steadily pushing them back. The Noctern Crow threw its scythe at the dragons chest to try and knock it from the sky. When the weapon hit its chest they were all surprised to see the dragon dissipate and something smaller fall from the area to land on its back on the ground, the Pryphon coming to protect it.
“This is no dragon!” the Dreadconda hissed. It was Pelagius who took a second to settle from the impact before getting back onto his feet. They had left Pelagius at the monastery not fully telling him what they were doing. They told him they were just going to do some scouting but Pelagius had a feeling it was more. He had noted all the newcomers and heard some of them talking of the dark beings that had taken over their town. Though he was not privy to the knowledge the others had from talking with some of the people he had scouted the area earlier and noted suspicious activity. When the others had left he had a feeling he knew what they were up to. They had ordered him to stay guard at the monastery leaving him torn for a while. He wanted to obey however he knew they would be in trouble without his help. He became aware of the monsters having been let into the realms from a flock of sparrows that had been fleeing the area for a safer place to sleep. While they weren’t closely related species they were related enough that Pelagius could understand their chirps. With this knowledge he had made up his mind and come to their aid. He had been right their group had not done so well. Using skills in illusion Pelagius had disguised himself as a dragon to scare the enemy and distract the monsters.
“Why isn’t it Sheoths little pet, what is it you do for him. Fetch the mail, sleep on a sunspot, beg for dead rats like a parrot? Squawk Pelagius wants a dead rat squawk,” the Dreadconda teased Pelagius who growled back, “I am his companion not his pet and you monsters should know my purpose.”
“One of the guardians to the mad princes lands and the Lost Realm,” the Noctern Crow explained its monster pals looking at it un-amused, “what? We of feathers enjoy trips to his land. Lots of colors and tasties and the crazies like to give us tasties and shinies. Apparently though eating the crazies is somehow too far in Sheoths books; so is apparently relieving one’s self on them or his lordships palace grounds especially his lordship himself. Of course when birds do it he has no problems with it but when it comes to us no…” Pelagius didn’t wait for the monsters to prepare themselves and took to the air to start fighting them being joined by the Pryphon. He would swoop down at them with his metal talons, use the elements against them, whip his tail blade at them and bite them with his serrated metal beak.
“It's Pelagius,” Pixal noted as Wu’s group came out of the inn to see what was going on having seen the dragon disappear and something small fall from it.
“Looks like he’s trying to drive them back,” Skylor noted and Seliel added, “we should help him; looks like he did a pretty good job at thinning out the herd pretty well.” They rushed out to join in the fighting and managed to drive off the remaining necromancers. It took some effort but they also helped push the monsters back. The monsters were clever however and didn’t wish to go back to where they came from. When they saw they were being pushed back towards the portals they started fighting harder to push themselves away from the portals. The monsters were too powerful for them to take on all three at once even with Pelagius’s help so they needed to find a way to push them one by one back into the portal. They had some idea of what to do. The Noctern Crow and Vulcaroth both had ways they could be tricked into the portals they just had to find something amongst the supplies left by the necromancers they could use to trick them. While combating the creatures they would look for things to use. They managed to find a polished shield amongst the necromancers supplies and used it to catch the Noctern Crows attention. It didn’t take long for the crow to catch eye of the item calling out that the shiny was its. Using a tag team method they lead the crow back to the portal swapping the item between each other till they got close to the portal where Pixal tossed it through the gates. The crow totally ignored the fact it was rushing back through the portal as it followed the shiny through it. Once it had passed through the gates Pelagius attacked the gem powering the portal prying it out of its holder with his beak and talons before smashing it on the ground. Once the gem was removed the portal closed. For the Vulcaroth they found some meat and made a trail with it leading into the portal. The creature was quick to pick up the smell of the meat and followed the trail they had made snapping up the pieces of the trail. When it came to the gate however it paused looking around and smelling for more. It began to head away from the portal so Seliel took some meat and caught its attention before throwing the meat through the portal. The Vulcaroth followed the meat through and Pelagius wasted no time in destroying the portal. As each portal was destroyed the effects it was emitting died leaving barren dark grounds behind and causing parts of the portals to break off and crumbled onto the ground. With two of them gone that left only the Dreadconda remaining. They had managed to get the creature pinned in the area around the portal for it. The creature seemed to realise it was on its own and was outnumbered. It looked at the portal then at those around it before willingly slinking back through the portal. Once it was gone Pelagius destroyed the portal. With the portals gone the Pryphon returned to its normal size before taking off from the area while Pelagius came to perch on a damaged vehicle by them quietly watching as their group came together.
“We may have stopped them for now but they will be back,” Wu noted and Seliel opted, “yha but they left quite a bit behind. I’m betting we might find something’s about what they have planned around here.”
“True plus they have left quite a bit of things we could take back to the monastery for everyone,” Ray noted and Pixal agreed, “we most likely will need it. Given it is highly likely they will be back it is best the villagers do not return here for some time. The monastery grounds will be the safest place for them at this time.”
“Indeed, we will get them to help us bring these supplies up to the monastery and they can recover what they can of their belongings. We will send someone to get the villagers while those we rescued help collect supplies and take it to the monastery. We will make sure at least two remain here to keep an eye out for danger,” Wu explained as those they had rescued who came out of the tavern wondering what they were going to do. Many of them were lost with around half of them having come from other realms. None of them wished to brave trying to find a way home not too sure what was going on and not knowing what dangers awaited them out there.
“I think it best if you all come with us. We can offer you shelter till things get better and when they do we can help you find a way back to where you came from. We just ask that you help out with things that need to be done,” Wu proposed and the people were in agreement.
“Ray, Maya why do you not take…” Wu began trying to remember what the knight had called himself to which Sir Brickland regaled him allowing Wu to continue, “Sir Brickland and get these people to the safety of the monastery and tell the villagers they can come retrieve some of their things. The rest of us will start collecting the supplies and searching for information.” They began heading off on their tasks. Wu remained still for a moment to look over all these necromancers had brought and noted Pelagius who was just perched on a damaged vehicle like a vulture. Pixal was giving him some pets.
“As for you Pelagius; I will admit I was wrong not to trust you. I have been hesitant to trust you because of who you are aligned with, a being of dark origins. I will admit I am still unsure of your masters part in all this but just because you align with him does not mean you are like him. You are your own self not your master. If you had not shown up when you did we likely might not have made it out of this. Given what we saw here we are defiantly going to need help to get through this even if that help comes from sources we might not expect or like,” Wu told the fabricant as he approached it. The creature tilted its head looking at him before crawling off the vehicle to approach Wu and press his forehead against Wu’s his eyes closed and giving off a noise that sounded a bit like a purr.
“What is he doing?” Wu inquired and Pixal explained, “he is showing that he forgives you.” Pelagius then moved back and sat calmly next to Wu Pixal giving him some pets.
“What we saw here does not bode well. Not for us and defiantly not for the ninja,” Wu expressed looking at the damaged ruminants of the portals and the dark dead grounds around them and Pixal noted and Wu was in agreement with her, “we can only hope things are going well and they can make it back soon or we are going to be in for some rough times ahead.”
Notes:
If have any questions go ahead and ask I do not bite. I will try to answer them, I will however not give away spoilers.
Chapter 24: The Merchants Tale
Summary:
Who is this merchant and what does he have to say?
Notes:
Pictures relating to story can be found here: https://www.deviantart.com/nerdy-hyena/gallery/72478681/story-project
They are really good and help to visually flush out several aspects of the story including environments, characters, outfits, locations, creatures and other aspects often important ones in the story. All images I post in my work can be found there if you want a better look at them. Defiantly make sure to check them out.Also if you need a refresher on creatures, flora or aspects of the environment you can check out the second chapter in this work titled 'Keikiarys Guide to the Ash Wastes'. It includes short descriptions and pictures of these things.
Parts of this section are subject to change as the prequel story is written to improve story continuity.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
After the incident in the ring things didn’t seem to go any better for the ninja. Townsfolk who were fearful or aggressive didn’t hesitate to try and hurt Zane or drive him away if he was on his own. The ninja were quick to conclude that if Zane was to go somewhere outside the place they were staying one of them had to be with him in case one of the townsfolk tried to do something even if he used his cloaking ability; some folk seemed to be able to see through that. After the incident they had decided to give Zane a disguised profile to help hide him from the people to try and keep away unwanted attention. Due to his emotions sometimes causing his cloaking to fail or mess up they helped him put together an outfit so he wouldn’t need to work too hard in maintaining the cloak and if it did fail he could use the clothes to help hide his appearance till he could get the cloaking to work again. They made sure his outfit had a hood so if his cloak slipped even just a bit or failed then he could pull the hood of his shirt up to hide his head in disguise. They even gave him headphones to deter strangers from randomly interacting with him when he didn’t want them too thinking they would think he was listening to music and not bother him. They decided to give him the name of ‘Boon’ when he was disguised. For personality they felt a carefree chill style personality would best disguise him so they decided that Zane should mimic Aaron’s speech patterns and mannerisms to help play up the disguise. They had a pretty good reason to believe the people would not associate that kind of temperament with a droid; the people of Balmora had a simple stereotypical and harsh view of what robotic beings were supposed to be like. At first Zane was nervous and not too sure of the whole idea but after his first try with the disguise and seeing how it kept the people from harassing him he accepted and got into the idea more. The knights were impressed by the disguise and how well Zane could pull it off and agreed to co-operate with Zanes disguise. Aaron was even more than willing to give Zane some pointers to improve his disguise. Zane was quickly able to perfect his disguised persona to the point some of the others were unnerved by it. Some of them even noted he seemed to get a little too into his disguise at times. Jay and Kai were often spooked by how good Zane was with it and thought he was getting too into his disguise sometimes. Even Lloyd found it a little disturbing from time to time. If anyone was to ask about him the others would state he was a friend to the ninja and that the ‘metal skin’ as the people referred to Zane was remaining locked in the scholars center to keep everyone safe. It seemed to work. Most folk appeared to be fooled by it and it gave Zane some reprieve from the peoples dislike of him. He still received hatred from the people for being associated with the ninja but it was nowhere as severe as it had been before. The only times he did not use the disguise was when he was alone with the ninja or knights or during training.
After the incident the people were now also showing more distrust and hatred towards the others mainly the ninja. Though not as harsh as they treated Zane when he wasn’t in disguise, the townsfolk would make rude and mean comments to the other ninja and some would throw things at them like they did to Zane. A few had even openly commented wondering if the ninja were actually in league with the Stag since they preferred to side with as the folk put it a ‘heartless machine who was serving the demon of the wastes.’ It was not very comforting the way they were being treated by many of the townsfolk but they tried to ignore it instead focusing on their mission. Many of the scholars, Hassiri and the knights at least weren’t mean to them.
The townsfolk were not the only ones with a mood change, Tafari seemed to change her mood a bit towards them as well, she was still dominating and hot headed but she was more willing to tolerate them, even joke with them and didn’t yell at them as much if they got something wrong. The day after their brush with the Stag both the knights and the ninja each took a turn facing off against her one on one. She wore no armour, just her grey gi and wielded a tanto. For each one of them she defeated them often able to rip their weapon from their own hands and use it against them. She was able to wield Coles warhammer with one hand and snatched Zane’s arrows and shurikans straight out of the air with her bare hands even when she wasn’t facing him. They had even let Aaron use his hover shield which offered him little help against her; she was able to knock him off of it with no problem. She was able to overpower both Cole and Axl, two of the strongest of them. By the end of each of their turns she had each of her opponents pinned to the ground at the end of their own weapons. According to Hassiri she actually seemed friendlier and gentler to them than she would usually be during their face offs. Normally folk would come out bleeding, bruised or with dislocated or broken bones. Her sudden mood change towards them confused some of the townspeople who were not used to this attitude from her.
True to their word the knights had no prejudice towards Zane though after the incident in the ring they seemed to have become wary of him. Out of all the knights Aaron was the least nervous of Zane surprisingly showing little fear of him; Aaron’s lack of fear towards many things unsettled Jay making him nervous of Aaron. The knights admitted to the ninja the one day that they worried the Stag could end up controlling Zane again and they did not desire to have to fight him again. They preferred having him on their side. They at least treated Zane as an equal even around the townsfolk and helped keep him and the ninja safe from the more judging townsfolk. Unlike with the ninja the knights were more welcomed by the townsfolk. Both groups were unsure why exactly the people were more welcoming to the Knights than the ninja. Their relation to Zane was possibly one reason though the Knights were willing to show friendship to Zane even in front of the people and while it was often clear most people in the town disliked this it did not hamper the people’s view of the knights as much. They wondered if it could have to do with their powers. Tafari had stated to them before that people around the wastes were often not trusting to those with elemental powers and were cautious of many forms of magic even if it was meant for good.
Nya and Jay couldn’t find any evidence of the Blight in Zane nor could Merlok; then again they were not too sure what they were to look for but nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Merlok had inspected Zane and while he could sense evidence of the Stags hold he found nothing to worry about. The energy from the Stag was fading being residual from the Stags possession of Zane and would eventually be gone. Merlok had no clue how to fight back this entity having never encountered such a dark and powerful force. Once Zane had been repaired and checked over they successfully implanted the stone rate against Zane’s heart and connected it to his neural network. That stone Tafari had given them seemed to have worked on Zane. He wasn’t as distracted, he felt the Stags presence less often and only once did he mindlessly wander off. Nya had found him sitting next to the planter in the hall outside their room his top half was resting in the planter. He had fallen asleep in the planter by the shrine of Whetu who was also known as Astara having leaned the Red Diamond Star against the shrine and piled some rocks into what looked like an inuksuk shape in front of it, there was also a few small items and books he had randomly stacked there as well. Nya was not sure why she had entered the hall, she didn’t remember even waking up. Clay had been awake in the knights room across the hall trying to read a book on the best fighting techniques against the Ashers while it all happened. When he saw Nya enter the hall he had got up to see what she was doing. He helped her carry Zane back to his bed and put him in it. Zane remained asleep the whole time. Clay had told her he had seen Zane leave their room earlier and place the Star at the shrine before wandering off into the main hall. Clay guessed that was where Zane had gotten the items he stacked. Oddly Clay had also seen that it was Cole who had come into the hall and made the inuksuk. When Clay asked him why he had done it Cole still seemed to be half asleep and simply mumbled that ‘she’ wanted it before going back to bed. Clay assumed by ‘she’ he was meaning Whetu. He had also seen Nya pacing in their room for ten minutes which she had no recollection of and at one point he heard what sounded like Lloyd mumbling something about something in the wastes wanting to do something terrible to him but it was too quiet for him to make out exactly what was said. Clay explained to the ninja in the morning the events of that night. Other than when she was awake no one else remembered anything from that night. Outside Zane they guessed the others behaviour was due to nerves or stress. They were all nervous of entering the wastes; even the knights were nervous and were displaying the same odd behaviours like the occasional rough sleep, bad dreams and strange behaviour as the ninja. Neither had faced a place like this before and both were aware of a strange dark cursed feeling to the area that the native people seemed eerily oblivious to.
Outside the one episode of mindless wandering there had only been one other thing notably odd that Zane would do that they believed was also linked to the Stag. There had been a few strange incidents where something dark seemed to have come over Zane making him highly temperamental and aggressive. During these periods little and strange things could set him off making him angry and on occasion it would get bad enough he would attempt to attack or hurt someone even those he was close too and for some reason it was very difficult to bring him back to his senses once he had entered this state. These strange episodes were relatively short lived rarely exceeding 10-20 minutes but were troubling. Zane was often not fully aware of the mood change or even his actions during these periods and they had noticed his eyes would seem off. Most of the time it would take a bit of work but the ninja were able to calm him down or snap him out of this strange state but sometimes there was nothing they could do except be wary of him and keep him away from the civilians till he was out of the state. Luckily most of these strange episodes occurred when they were out of the public but a few had occurred in public. So far he hadn’t hurt or scared any of the townsfolk but they worried one of these episodes eventually might. The few times it had occurred in public he was in disguise and they felt that had prevented him from startling someone as they likely just thought he was someone having a bad day and not a droid having trouble controlling its emotions. These strange episodes unnerved and scared the other ninja; Jay especially and often had them on edge when Zane entered this state. The knights were also scared by the episodes but it luckily didn’t affect their relations. Despite being scared they would help the ninja keep an eye on him and keep him from causing problems. Clay, Macy and Aaron were even often able to bring him out of this state like the ninja could. When the episodes first started happening they were unsure what to think. Noting he frequently seemed much warmer than he should be during these episodes Jay wondered if his internal temperature control systems were malfunctioning and that could be why he was acting the way he was. The others didn’t think that was the case and after Jay and Nya checked him over and found nothing wrong it confirmed Jays idea was not the answer. One thing they noticed that could offer a clue was he wasn’t the only one having odd mood swings. Though none of theirs were often as extreme as Zanes leading them to threaten those around them both the knights and the ninja had noticed on occasion one or more of them would also have mood swings, sometimes pretty intense ones that could scare the others as well, which those having the mood swing often didn’t realise they were having. They had chalked these mood swings up to three things. The overall environment of these wastes with their strange cursed feeling, the food and drink in this place which they were all partaking in as it was all they had and stress from both their overall mission and the odd hatred to them from the townsfolk which didn’t seem to be improving no matter what they did. The people’s attitudes no doubt had an effect on Zane and he was stressed just like them plus some of the items given to them as food and drink which Zane also regularly would partake in did affect him as well and sometimes in quite strange ways. They couldn’t at first reason though why his mood swings were more extreme but it didn’t take them long to figure it out. Given his more extreme behaviour and the fact he would turn on those closest to him the answer was clear. The Stag was taking advantage of the mood swings altering them to try and control Zane. Luckily it seemed the stone he had been given was keeping most of the Stags control at bay keeping his behaviour from being worse and was allowing them to more easily bring Zane out of the Stags hold. Though it was worrisome that the Stag was still trying to control him it did offer them something good and hopeful. They had found at the very least some way to combat some of the Stags hold.
Repairing of the ship was taking considerably longer than expected and for the journey those in charge of repairing it decided to add some features to help give the knights and ninja a better chance against the threats of the wastes. They also had to improve the living quarters to accommodate all of them. Though worried of what the Void Breach was doing back in their world and that they didn’t have much time to stop the meld they decided to focus on the bright side. The added time gave them more time to train for the wastes; they both knew they would need it.
Both the knights and the ninja were tested a few more times in the ring, sometimes together so they could learn to work together other times on their own. They were put up against creatures of the wastes and hyenoids acting as Ashers; these times they got lucky. The Stag did not show up, though their opponents did give them quite a rough time during some exercises. Tafari tested them on more than just their combat skills. She tested their abilities to co-operate, to communicate without using words, their stealth and other aspects they had not taken into consideration. The first test after the incident and one of the most challenging they found was when they turned the arena into a maze to test their ability for stealth and co-operation. They released a mixed group of creatures and constructs into this maze to hunt them down. There was the fearbricant, scimitar spheres, hyenoids, a Kwaliit, some Kaguars a parrot-cruncher, treebills, skeevers along with some venom-fangs and their fabricant cousins that were released into the ring. The ninja and knights had to co-operate using stealth to escape and take down their opponents. It wasn’t easy as the creatures were often able to separate them and could pick them up before they even knew their opponent was there. Many of the constructs were even able to mess with Zanes sensors and senses tricking him to thinking they were somewhere else screwing him up. They got tricked, chased, beat up and humiliated by their opponents for over an hour. The people of Balmora found it very amusing. People still came to see their tests though they came wearing padding and wielding kitchen, sports or construction implements to protect themselves in case something went wrong. The people also were rather amused to see them getting beat up by the creatures. They especially thought it funny when Tafari tricked them the one day. She put both the knights and the ninja in the ring and said they were going to face the most dreaded creature they had. They were worried what it could be and were stumped when a single Scleroboa, a little hopping reptile no bigger than a chicken, was let into the ring. It just looked at them till Kai laughed at it thinking it was a joke. The creature then launched at him nipping, kicking and shocking anyone it could. While trying to not get shocked each of them fell into a trap which ended up drawing out one of the small creatures like birds, reptiles, amphibians or insects found in the wastes which would attack whoever set off the trap. After getting ruffed up and humiliated by the little creatures to the great amusement of the townsfolk Tafari explained her reasoning for what she did. She was trying to teach them that things were not always what they seemed in the wastes; to never underestimate anything. Threats and allies could come from the most unlikely of places in the wastes.
While training the knights took note of the ninjas skill of Spinjitsu and thinking it could help them with battles in the wastes they inquired to learn the skill from the ninja. The ninja were a little hesitant at first but agreed to teach them and for their training the knights agreed to outfit the ninjas armour and weapons so like theirs the ninja could use Merloks Nexo powers in the wastes. They were both pretty sure the towns people would not be happy with the ninja teaching the knights Spinjitsu nor would they be happy with the ninja learning to use Nexo powers. Not wanting the townsfolk to know about the training they practiced in secret in the only place they felt they could; the Holo-training deck on the Fortrex. They had tried at first the holding pen for the creatures and constructs for the towns training ring. Zane knew of a secret way to get to the place so no one would see them leave or enter; it was one of the secret passages used by the scimitar constructs to secretly enter and navigate the city however after their first try there they felt it was still too risky and worried townsfolk might find them so they opted for a place away from where the townsfolk might find them. The knights knew exactly where to go. Since townsfolk weren’t allowed on the Fortrex they felt safe training there plus the knights had their special Holo-training deck where they could create any environment and any enemies for them to practise with. The ninja were amazed by the knights training deck. Jay was nervous of it at first and Kai was a bit distrusting of it confused by its technology but they eventually warmed up to it. They were even able to use Zanes memory data to create a replica of the ninjas monastery grounds for training. Jay and Nya with Robins help were even able to fix up some hyenoids for them to use in training; they worked a lot better than the handful of simple non fighting squirebots the knights had living and hiding from the towns people on their ship. It was easier for the ninja to learn to use the Nexo powers than it was for the knights to learn Spinjitsu but they were determined to learn it and not going to give up easily. After some time the knights were able to start getting the hang of it and able to start using a Spinjitsu tornado. Because he trained the most Clay was the first to do Spinjitsu followed by Macy, Aaron and Axl. Lance was the last to get the hang of it. Robin even tried to learn it trying to join the others. Their first few times the knights were dizzy from the tornado but they slowly got used to it. They both continued to practice and learn in secret their new skills while they waited for the ship to be repaired and the time they would have to enter the wastes.
Because of the incident with the Stag and finding the Asher shrine many of the folk in town had become fearful of letting them continue their quest. The town council was aware of this and to try and prevent rioting and to try and calm the towns’ nerves the town council demanded the ninja do at least one thing to try and improve the ninjas relations with the towns people before they would let them leave. The council knew what they were doing was more important but they also knew it was important to keep the town at peace or someone might jeopardize the mission or worse. Desperate people would take desperate actions. The council knew it was best that the ninja try and remove any Ashers or their allies in the town. Of all the townsfolk those people were the most likely to cause trouble and tensions. The council wanted the Ninja to search the town and find any possible Asher headquarters or members. If they could take out even just some of the Ashers they believed it might settle the folk in the town; ease some of the tensions and worries and maybe get them to accept the ninja more. The ninja agreed with the council. The council gave them some hints on what to look for and where they could possibly find them. They were aware of some of the Ashers habits and where some of their folk liked to hang out but guards were afraid to deal with them. To aid the ninja the town council gave them special permission and access to the entire town. While the council wanted mainly the ninja to do this task they never said they couldn’t get aid in their task. Even though the knights were not experiencing hatred from the towns people as bad as that the ninja were getting they were still getting some and knew as foreigners to these lands their relation with the people was precarious, one mistake could make the people turn on them. They felt that if they joined the ninja in this task it could help bolster their relations with the town plus with more eyes looking for trouble they could search more places more thoroughly in a shorter period of time allowing them to finish the task quicker.
Wanting to get this over with as quickly as possible to continue their mission they decided to split up. They all dressed up in clothes like the common folk to try and better blend in. In fact they had started wearing clothes like the common folk whenever they were not training or working to try and make the people more comfortable and trusting of them believing it made them look less intimidating and friendlier to the people. They were not sure how well it worked but it did seem to make some people less uneasy around them. To avoid conflict and disturbing the people they decided to go unarmed. It was not wise if they ended up in a fight and they didn’t want to create more problems with the people. They were pretty sure the people would not like them wandering around their town with weapons. Nya and Lloyd decided to check out the under city which they did not realise at first was quite extensive with various hallways and abandoned places outside the reach of common folk. Many were poorly lit, had cobwebs and had crates and barrels some of which were broken or worn lying around in them with various creatures like rats, creepy crawlies and skeevers making it their home. The Knights went around investigating some of the dwellings in town and asking around about any strange happenings in town. They split up into groups with Clay and Macy going together, Robin and Ava went with each other and Axl, Aaron and Lance went together. Kai and Jay were sent to search outside the city walls on some nearby farms and plantations along with a large warehouse to the south of the city. Cole and Zane were sent to check some of the notable shops and restaurants above ground in the city that Ashers tended to use. Like usual when where townsfolk could see him Zane used his disguised persona with his commoners outfit and cloak.
The first place Cole and Zane had checked turned up nothing; it was a small pawn shop that was known to make dealings with the Ashers. The shop keep was an old guy of the ungulate race who likely had no clue he was dealing with Ashers, he seemed to be a little out there and rather confused though he interestingly could see through Zanes disguise. For some reason though the man kept referring to Zane as a hyenoid even when Cole tried to correct the man who then began referring to Cole as a hyenoid. He stated to them ‘don’t worry I won’t reveal your secrets to anyone my metal skin friends’ then he handed them both a little candy while giving them each a few pats on the head telling them not to spoil their dinner with it. They were entirely confused by him and decided he was not in a healthy mind set so was likely not to blame for dealing with Ashers. Knowing his mental state they probably used him because he would not be able to tell who he was dealing with so wouldn’t tattle. The next one they were checking out was a bar called ‘The Thirsty Lizard’. Despite the ash and unpleasant environment outside the inside was rather nice. It was spacious and the wooden floors and furniture were rather clean. Tapestries, lanterns, stuffed heads of some of the creatures of the wastes (one of which someone had humorously put a doll that looked like an Asher in its mouth) and colored decorative cloths were hung about for decorations and some planters with small native flora sat in front of a decorative wooden railing that separated the bar area from the rest of the place. A gap was in the middle of the railing to let people through and the whole bar area was slightly higher than the rest of the place. Even though they tried to remain unnoticed as they entered some folk did take note of them but quickly went back to what they were doing not interested with them.
“Where should we begin,” Cole whispered to Zane as they walked towards the bar and tried to not look like they were inspecting everyone. Some folk were sitting at tables just chatting or having a meal, some were playing pool, others were playing with darts by a back corner, in another back corner a group were playing some card games, by the one wall some folk were watching sports on the TV while having some food and drink, at one table some people were arm wrestling and some guy had managed to get atop and fall asleep on the jukebox that sat in a corner by the bar.
“Not sure. They said the proprietor is not one, they and their workers are the ones who let the guards know they had Ashers frequenting here. They want them removed but the guard is too scared to do anything,” Zane whispered back. The only thing the council could tell them about who to look for was someone with the tattoo of a snake, the symbol for the Oni or a scarab on a shoulder or their back. Often they had patches of bald grey gravelly looking skin over their bodies. Sadly most folk were covered; it was a chilly day outside so they couldn’t see any possible tattoos or skin conditions. For those who did have bare arms they had enough of their shoulder covered to make it hard to identify what kind of tattoo they had or to hide any possible tattoo. Everyone’s skin seemed normal for these folk. They did however notice one folk, a hyena folk sitting alone at a table a slightly touched meal of what was some sort of mashed yam or weird colored rice possibly a mix of both and some sort of meat. The folk had dark short hair and was a more greyish color than the normal hyena folk. A large scar crossed his face running from above his left eye, over the bridge of his nose and down his right cheek. There was some sort of pale mark on his forehead and his eyes were blood red with dark circles around them like he was sleep deprived or his eyes were irritated from the ash. His hair was short and gray along with a small bead on his chin. His clothes were very worn and stained from ash. A black dyed rice farmers hat hung on the back of his chair. This folk kept staring at them though they couldn’t tell why.
“Well with all the ‘merriment’ going on here someone’s bound to slip up and reveal something,” Cole whispered as they both pretended to look over a menu for the place at the bar, “is that guy still staring at us?” Zane glanced back at the folk who glanced around a bit before staring back at them.
“He is,” Zane responded before he got a communication from someone in the building with them. When he pinpointed where the signal came from he found it was the folk who was staring at them. Something about the folk seemed familiar to Zane but he was sure he had never seen this person before. The clothes though, they looked awfully familiar.
“I do not think that person is a normal person. He wants us to come see him,” Zane quietly stated which confused Cole.
“How do you know that?” Cole inquired.
“Why do we not go find out,” Zane replied. They took a minute before they got up and went over to the folks table.
“Come to see Divayth have you,” the folk stated to them in a gruff voice, “please come sit Divayth does not bite. If you have coin then Divayth has wares.” When they sat down with him at the table the folk let his cloaking down for a few seconds to reveal the hyenoid who had given Zane that unique shuriken. He recognised the beetle marking on his forehead. Now Zane understood what the hyenoid had been talking about earlier about how some of them could blend in here.
“I recognise you, you are…” Zane began before the hyenoid cut him off.
“You must be mistaken Divayth has not seen you before outlander where do you herald from,” he stated aloud before quietly talking to them with his normal voice, “yes, I am in disguise as I see you are as well; Smart choice Fang Brother. I am one of the several hyenoids capable of blending in here. To everyone I am a traveling merchant. Back home I am Juibs second in command, no wait actually third, Celaena is second then it is me then DJ then Kozac… anyway I keep the others in town in check so no one finds our secrets and make sure our dealings go well.”
“You’re a minion of the Stag what are you doing here? Looking to cause trouble?” Cole inquired.
“No, just selling some things. Ingredients, crops and meats, hides, cloths, metal works, some ores and tools. Nothing illegal or to hurt others, that is against our programming. Despite what you might think flesh skin we are not evil or wish to do harm. We just want to live our lives like anyone else. I know what you and your friends are thinking. The Stag is the enemy but I can say really he is not. The Ashers are your real enemies,” Divayth explained.
“The Ashers, we are here looking for some of them who might be hiding in town,” Zane explained.
“You two should order something then come sit with me. Make it look like we are discussing business over dinner, they are less likely to disturb us then. I have some things you and your friends should know. It is highly important for your plight,” Divayth quietly suggested nervously glancing at different folk in the place.
“Why…”Cole began before Divayth cut him off, “there are Ashers here. You are outnumbered. Besides I have some things you should know about the Ashers and necromancers… and Dagon; Very important information.” Cole and Zane got up and went over to the bar.
“Should we really trust this thing? He serves the Stag,” Cole questioned.
“It would not hurt to listen to what he has to say. Those that follow the Stag are just as much victims to the Stag as the people here,” Zane replied.
“What do you mean?” Cole wondered getting a little worried the Stag might have done something to alter Zanes perspective, make him not see the real threats around him and make him ally with these hyenoids who served the enemy possibly to try and turn him against them.
“That is the one who gave me that shurikan. Besides you see how the people treat me here imagine what it is like for them. They have no one to turn to for safety except this Stag who I can tell you I doubt they enjoy having him control them. When you see him without his cloak he is pretty banged up, I do not think the Stag is very nice to those who serve him,” Zane explained trying to defend Divayth.
“I guess it wouldn’t hurt but we should take what he has to say with a grain of salt,” Cole replied confusing Zane.
“Take his words with a grain of salt?” Zane pondered. Cole explained the meaning after they made an order before returning to sit with Divayth.
“So you wish to do business with the humble merchant Divayth,” he stated in the gruff voice.
“So what is this you have to tell us?” Cole inquired not entirely trusting this droid even though Zane seemed to be very trusting to him.
“The Stag and the Ashers have long been enemies. Ashers would never dare challenge the Stag but they have no qualms with threatening us... if only that was the worst thing they did to us,” Divayth began quietly talking in his normal voice, “because of this and because the Ashers often threaten and harm us whenever we leave the safety of Holamaya we have come to learn something’s on them. You know get to know your enemy. When the necromancers appeared we looked into them too. Everyone knows the two groups are linked but everyone else thinks they are just allies turns out it is deeper than that; much deeper. You’ve probably noticed they dress similarly. They have similar views to those not a part of their groups and have similar methods of dealing with those who challenge them.” As he talked Divayth seemed to be showing emotions though while Zane felt they were true Cole was unsure if this thing could really feel or if it was simply mimicking what it saw from others. As someone brought their orders Divayth ate some of his meal so no one would try to talk to him looking very uncomfortable and nervous. After the waiter left Divayth continued.
“Slowly eat your meal as if you are talking to me. You are being watched,” Divayth explained glancing over at the folk playing darts.
“Is it the Ashers?” Cole inquired as he and Zane glanced around at the folk in the bar to see if they could possibly tell who was an Asher. There did seem to be a few folks who were looking at them but it was hard to tell if it was just because these folk were curious about them, after all they were not beast folk so they were a different sight for these people, or if they were Ashers. While they were looking away and unknown to the two of them Divayth put some drops from a potion bottle he had hidden under the table into their food and drinks before hiding the bottle again. They did as Divayth had instructed not wanting to draw suspicion from the folk here.
“Yes they likely are waiting for the right time to strike,” Divayth replied, “now as I was saying their relation is much deeper than allies. You are aware that Mankar leads the necromancers. Well turns out he is also the leader of the Ashers. It was the Ashers who told him how to resurrect Dagon. When he set out to do that we looked deeper into this Mankar character. Apart from his time as a mayor there is no other record of him. As if he had never existed before then. Since we could not find anything there we looked into records from the Ashers. Turns out Mankar has been their leader for a long time, longer than possible for a mortal even an Asher. We dug deeper into their history that is when we found it.”
“Found what?” Zane inquired.
“Most will tell you Dagon was banished to the void. That is only half true,” he whispered.
“What do you mean?” Cole asked not liking where this could be headed and starting to warm up to Divayth. He was not sure why but something about this droid was making him feel its words and emotions were true. It was not lying or mimicking like he had originally believed.
“When the Dragon Master tried to get rid of him he only partially destroyed him. Most of his powers were stripped from him becoming trapped in the void and his physical form was temporarily destroyed but he was only half banished, half trapped. He somehow managed to stay tied to this realm. The Ashers likely had something to do with it. He eventually regained his physical form and used his Oni shape shifting ability to change forms and remain hidden as he built up his strength and followers in the Ashers and searched on how to regain his full powers.”
“Wait you said Mankar is the leader of the Ashers…,” Cole began.
“Mankar is Dagon!” Divayth continued while they were shocked, “seeing as he needed a way to stretch his influence to acquire more aid, more resources, and more followers he created a new group. He knew most would not join the Ashers because of their beliefs and ways so he created the necromancers whose desires and beliefs matched with more general folk so he could get more followers, build up his forces. His resurrecting ceremony really just restored his powers allowing him to become what he once was. What you see as Mankar now is an illusion he is using so others do not know his secret. The Ashers do not care but for many of the necromancers it would disturb them to know the truth. His so called ‘gift of immortality’ while it does gift them long life in truth it corrupts them. Blinding them from the truth and will eventually lead to them becoming Ashers, mostly Asher Slaves. They can be cured if Dagon is destroyed.”
“So if the item did not really destroy him then is our quest futile,” Zane inquired.
“No. Without his powers while he has a very long lifespan, he is technically an Oni after all, he becomes mortal. He can be hurt which means he can be destroyed and anyone can do it. His normal Oni immunities are stripped from him just like most of his powers. Destroy his mortal vessel and you destroy him. The great Scimitar Samurai Nerevar was attempting to destroy the Ashers when he was destroyed by them. He had no powers though like you guys and he did not know what I just told you. That could be why he failed. I’m guessing if you didn’t know that then you truly don’t know what is going on let me guess you’ve been told he is simply merging realms to create one a new right?” Divayth explained.
“Yha isn’t he?” Cole questioned and Divayth proclaimed, “that is only partially true it is much more than that. He is merging realms pulling them into the void in order to destroy them. He is doing what he was born for to bring about the end of the world and start it a new what some would call a Kalpa an endless cycle of destruction and creation. Our world wasn’t the first and it won’t be the last. Dagon is the end bringer the living embodiment of the end times and seeks to fulfill his destiny as the end bringer; by bringing the realms into the void he will be destroying them destroying all we know so the world can be created a new and he hopes to be this new worlds creator if he is capable of filling that role and what a world he would create would look like I do not know and dread to find out. Us mortals who have not sided with him will not fare too kindly in all this. From our research some say we will fully be destroyed turned to nothing but echoes of energy in time others claim we will in a sense be recycled into this new world with our energies returning to the void to await being reborn in this new world or to become one of those of the void. None of it is comforting but there is hope. If Dagon can be stopped before the melding is complete and he can begin the final process to the bringing about the end and recreation of the world we can reverse what he has done and save our realms and all we know. There is still time to stop all this and prevent the end of our world.”
“So we still can win. We just need to get to Holamaya,” Cole stated.
“I cannot help you there. You will have to get there and face the Stag on your own but I can help you with your current dilemma,” Divayth commented.
“We have to first find those Ashers to please the council so the people will let us go,” Zane reminded him. Both were almost finished what they had gotten and were starting to feel funny.
“Without making it evident look around,” Divayth suggested. When they did they noticed everyone seemed to now have a glowing aura emanating from the heart area. Most were a greyish color though some were black. Cole could see that Zane and Divayth were the only ones giving off a lighter grey, almost white, than the rest of the people.
“What’s happened?” Cole inquired while Zane added, “Why do the people seem to have a glow to them?” Both were confused by what was happening to them.
“I slipped something special into your stuff when you were not looking. A special potion Juib made to help us find Ashers, keep us safe when we are in town. Do not worry it does not cause any harm and will wear off in about an hour. You should now be able to see the Ashers. A pure warm white are animals, light grey to off white robots, grey people and black are Ashers,” Divayth explained. Looking around they noted that two folk playing darts were Ashers, three at the pool tables, three at the card game, two at the bar and one leaning against the wall by the door, eleven in total. All were watching them.
“Now that we can see them what do we do?” Cole inquired.
“I am unable to contact the others,” Zane added, his one hand on the side of his forehead as he tried to reach the communicators the council had given them.
“They likely will not let you leave; their masters want you dead or worse. The people will not stay and fight. They are too fearful. One good thing the owners of this establishment will likely call the guards for you should a fight start. Ashers are bad business for them. If you can weaken or knock out the Ashers the guards will capture them for you,” Divayth divulged pulling out a decorative wakizashi which bore a black handle and silvery white blade from under the table and placed it on the table. The blade was very similar in make to the weapons the town had given the knights.
“What are you doing?” Cole asked getting nervous.
“Are you armed?” Divayth stressed.
“Not really why?” Zane admitted worried about what Divayth might be planning.
“I do not think they are either. I calculate this will be the best way you can take them out. We shall let them make the first move that way they are on the wrong side of the law. We will just be defending ourselves,” Divayth explained looking at his blade.
“Uh…excuse me; you want us to get in a fight with these beings unarmed?” Cole remarked both him and Zane were very uncomfortable with this idea. They were not really ready to fight especially all these Ashers on their own! From what they had heard Ashers were just as bad and tough as Oni to fight.
“How else did you think you were going to get them, besides these folk are the lowest tier, acolytes. Weak powers, simple spell knowledge, basic combat training, no more than thugs. It is not like you are going to face one of their sorcerers or warriors. You can take them. Now prepare yourselves, I will get things started for you,” he answered before commenting aloud using his disguised voice,
“Sorry outlanders Divayth does not know where one could find the Ashers or their strongholds. This one is just a simple merchant not a scout or mercenary.” That seemed to have gotten the attention of the Ashers and the two at the bar got up and strolled over to them.
“You filth looking for us?” the one, a bulky ungulate folk in a leather jacket demanded.
“Yes, you and your buddies are to come with us,” Cole insisted trying to hide how nervous the two were.
“Oh really and why is that,” the folk growled putting a fist on the table as he leaned over it at them.
“The towns’ council has decreed that Ashers are no longer welcome in the city’s boundaries,” Cole explained as the folks pal, a hyena folk with a blind left eye and one of his bottom canines sticking out, shoved his hands on their shoulders and pinned Cole and Zane into their chairs. By this time the other Ashers were watching them while the normal people were unaware of what was going on.
“Oh really and what are you and your pasty friend going to do about it,” the folk challenged.
“If you dudes will not come willingly then we will have to resort to more forceful methods,” Zane insisted.
“Oh really you want forceful eh,” the folk said before he grabbed Zane by the front of his shirt and threw him into some of the tables bowling them over. The impact caused Zane to lose his cloak and dazed him for about a minute. The people were spooked by him hitting into the tables but were more freaked out when Zane de-cloaked. This caused most of the regular folk to panic and run from the establishment. The Asher then grabbed Cole by his shirt and threw him into the pool table. By this time the regular folk had all fled while the Ashers came to join their comrades in terrorizing the two. The people that worked there hid behind the bar while Divayth was the only one to stay by their side and fight with them. He cut the ungulate one across the chest, revealing Ashers had dark grey blood, with his wakizashi and as the guy bent over Divayth knocked his head into the table knocking him out. He then punched the hyena folk one in the face knocking him out.
One of the Ashers summoned one of the Shambles the necromancers were using while another cast some sort of spell that seemed to turn her skin to burning ash. While the folk were not afraid to get into hand to hand combat with Cole or Divayth they tried to avoid directly fighting with Zane opting ranged combat like throwing furniture, darts and throwing stars and ambushing him from behind so he couldn’t touch them. As they fought Cole and Zane remembered what Hassiri had told them, that Ashers were seriously harmed by ice. While Divayth was fighting on his own using his sword and spells Cole and Zane opted to try and fight cooperatively. Cole tried to restrain them while Zane used his ice fists to try and take the Asher out of the fight. What Hassiri said was true. The cold had a serious negative effect on them and it took only a few hits from Zanes ice punch to collapse them in pain on the ground as if they were freezing and unable to get warm. As they brawled some town guards came rushing in to handcuff the Ashers who were weakened or unconscious with cuffs made of Stalhrim a material said to be ice that was turned to stone that was found and mined in the northern and far southern regions of the realm and high in mountains. It could hinder the Ashers powers weakening them and slowed them down so they couldn’t move much.
Most were rather easy to dispatch but the girl using the ash skin and another who obviously was aspiring to be a sorcerer by the way he was casting spells to fight with were not. Both were members of the ungulate race. Cole finally managed to restrain the ash skinned girl using his lava arms so she would not be able to burn him or throw him with an oddly strong strength for someone of her frail looking build. All it took was a few of Zanes ice punches and her spell broke returning her skin to normal and leaving pretty serious frost burn marks on her skin. She collapsed to her knees shivering as if freezing leaving them to take care of the last one. The last one they had to take down was the aspiring sorcerer. A dark spot was already starting up behind his eyes and on his cheeks and the area around his eyes was darkening indicating he was starting the process into becoming one of the horrid sorcerer beings for the Ashers. Every now and then he would levitate himself a few inches off the ground while casting a spell or fighting; likely using some sort of dark spell. The sorcerer had given himself the same ash skin as the girl and had summoned a Serpent Fly which Divayth took on so they could take out the Asher. This Asher was spraying a spray of burning ash from his one hand at them. Whenever the Ash touched anything flammable it caught fire. To try and limit the damage Zane was using his powers to put the flames out and to try to keep the Asher occupied so Cole could sneak up from behind and subdue the Asher. It was a bit of a struggle but when they finally subdued him the Asher began to laugh.
“You might have won this round but you won’t the next time,” he stated with a laugh, “we have something waiting for you on the other side of the fence; something special. It will destroy you or bring you to our side. Your leader may have Oni in his blood but that won’t stop us from hurting you guys. Your desires clash with ours. See you in the wastes s’wits.” All it took was a touch from Zane and the being froze solid and fell to the ground. As he went unconscious the Serpent Fly disappeared, the folks spell broken without his consciousness.
“What do you think he meant by that?” Cole pondered aloud not liking the implications of what he had said.
“I do not know maybe Divayth might know,” Zane opted but when they looked for Divayth they were unable to find him. Just the blade he had been using stuck in a note on the table and a sack of coins. They picked up the blade, sack and note.
“Where do you think he went?” Cole inquired holding the blade as Zane read aloud the note, “Take this special blade crafted by the ancient and extinct Minomer folk. It deals extra damage to those with immunity and higher tolerance to normal weapons like full blooded Ashers. The coins should help cover some of the damages to the bar. I hope your quest is a success and I see you in the Forbidden City. Remember the Stag is not really your enemy. Good Luck and Astara guide you.”
Amazingly the whole time they were fighting the guy on the Jukebox remained asleep only waking up after the fighting was done when he slid off the jukebox startling himself awake. The guy had no clue what had happened and was confused by the mess around him and upset he missed the fight. To apologize for the mess they made Cole and Zane helped clean up the bar before they left and they gave the proprietors the coins. Afterwards they waited in their room till the others returned. By that time whatever Divayth had given them had worn off which they felt was a relief; whatever that stuff was started to hurt their eyes after a while and messed with their vision a bit making them sensitive to light. They were curious though what Lloyd would look like through that vision.
Lloyd and Nya had not found Ashers but did find evidence of Ashers. They found some illegal contraband linked to the Ashers hidden in a secret section of the under city where another Ashers shrine was located. They also found what looked like someone was trying to sabotage some of the under cities environmental controls and electrical grid. They could not find the culprit but they had reason to believe the Ashers were behind it since they were ambushed by an ash spawn near that area. The thing was nearly impossible to destroy constantly reforming every time they obliterated it and taking on various forms. They only managed to finally destroy it by Nya using her powers to soak it and Lloyd hitting it with a fire extinguisher to freeze it. After their squabble with it they could see why Hassiri didn’t wish to talk about them. They were horrid figures that vaguely resembled a living thing; this one largely took a human like shape, made entirely of burning ash and bits of burned bone and flesh. It occasionally took the form of a burning serpent. It could turn its limbs to weapons and spray burning ash. Dark pits resembled what were once eyes and a mouth. In the center of the eye pits was a mass of burning materiel that gave off a fiery glow. It was a horrid entity that gave them feelings of dread and emptiness. They hoped they would never see one of those things again.
The knights had some success. A few people had pointed out strange goings on with neighbours. Most were dead ends. Some were misunderstandings such as a guy angry with his neighbour for keeping Skeevers as pets. Clay had to intervene to prevent the argument from turning into a fight. That didn’t work making Clay and Macy have to break up the fight and settle everyone down which was not easy as the one guys pet skeevers got involved and the creatures were not easy to settle and kept riling up the people. In the struggle to get everyone settled Clay got punched in the face getting a black eye. Others were false leads leading to nothing but neighbourhood curiosities like one guy everyone thought was up to suspicious behaviour was actually trying to develop a breed of a non venomous version of the Parrot Cruncher to be kept as pets. He was not really having much success and while talking to them one of his creatures got out leading to Axl, Aaron and Lance having to catch it without touching it so they wouldn’t get venomed. Aaron and Lance ended up getting quilled by it during the struggle before the owner was able to lure the creature back into his house using its favourite snacks Ash Peppers. The venom was luckily not lethal and they only got hit by a few quills which they were able to pull out without any need for medical help but the venom did have unpleasant side effects making it hard for them to get their jobs done. Lance gave into the venom and passed out asleep the rest of the day so Axl and Aaron left him sleeping on a bench in the Under-city where some kids and even a few guards had taken the time to decorate him with make ups, markers and hair pins, ties and decorations while he slept. He was not happy about this when he woke up several hours later in the late evening and met the others even though everyone else found it rather amusing. Aaron tried to ignore the symptoms so they could get the job done. That was easier said than done and Axl ended up having to drag Aaron around the rest of the day as he couldn’t balance, had blurred vision and was often passing out asleep from the quills venom. By the time the two met up with everyone else in the scholars center’s main room to go over their findings for the day Aaron was fully asleep having been so for the past ten minutes so Axl had to carry him around. Axl just dropped him onto the main table when they arrived tired from carrying him around all day. Hassiri gave him a shot to combat the venoms effects but it took time to work so they left him sleeping on the table till he woke up a few hours later. Ava and Robin had tried to help but some guards did not realise they were with the knights and thought they were ditching school so had put them into Balmoras school where they were stuck till school ended late in the afternoon. They were not happy about it but some of the kids were willing to help them and were able to give them some leads which they contacted the others to look into. Only a few of their leads proved fruitful such as one guy who had created an Ashers shrine in his basement and was harbouring two criminals with ties to the Ashers in this basement. The knights were able to get the guards to aid in arresting the culprits.
Kai and Jay had found these folk had an odd view of what should be on a farm. While there were some normal things like rice, apples, peaches, melons, peppers, corn, yams, chickens, wheat, and cattle they also farmed the Kaguar for meat, milk and labour, Moss Runners for meat, eggs and some sort of secretion from their mouths which could numb pains and clean wounds, Retch for their hides and some sort of jelly, a large scarab beetle called a Boernix which was used for meat and its shell which was used as an ingredient in food and armour crafting, some of the shrooms and plants of the waste and one guy was even growing the dangerous Trauma root which attacked them when they got too close to it to the farmers amusement. When they investigated around the warehouse they were surprised by a couple from Ninjago who were thrilled by their presence rushing over to collapse to their knees and hug Kai and Jay who were a little stunned by the couples sudden appearance. The couple had been wandering the nearby wilds for some time getting beat up by the native fauna and flora as they travelled. It seemed the Plane Meld the Raven had spoke of had already begun. Tears between the realms had opened and things were wandering through them without realising it getting trapped and lost in a world alien to them. The people of the town were kind enough to shelter the folk from Ninjago till things were resolved and they were going to keep an eye out for more folk who possibly stumbled through any tears to rescue them before the wastes claimed them or worse the Ashers. Kai and Jay had not found any evidence of Ashers or their activity leading them to believe their activity was centered in the town and not the country side.
With the capture of the Ashers the council were happy but it didn’t seem to change the towns peoples minds. They still disliked the ninja. The ninja were worried about what the Asher had told them and confused by this folk Divayth and what Divayth talked about. Added onto what they had to complete and the townsfolk’s hatred to them the ninja were feeling overwhelmed. Things were getting more complicated but they had to remain strong if they had any hope of saving the realms.
Notes:
I wrote this part before I knew exactly where the story was going. I had the general idea for the story just not all the filler details. While writing I wanted an interaction that sparks someone other than Zane to start to trust the constructs as they would have to deal with them later in the story and I didn’t want just Zane trusting them while everyone was wary or hating of them. It would also help flush out that the people are not very trusting or liking of them. While working it out I realised a character I had made earlier as a villain was kind of useless, Mankor, as he wasn’t the main villain nor was he as active in the story as Onca or the hyenoids that serve with her or the Stag and probably wasn’t going to work out later in the story. Instead of going back and re-writing that section I thought of the ‘what if’ writing method. What if he was not the character he seemed? What if he and the villain were actually the same being just the one form was a disguise while the other is real? That of course led to a neat plot twist.
Divayth gets his name from Divayth Fyr, one of my favorite characters in the Elder Scrolls. This is further shown by Divayths disguised appearance of greyed skin, greyed hair, small beard and red eyes as Divayth Fyr is a dark elf which have greyish skin and red eyes plus Divayth has greyed hair and a small beard.
For those wondering yes Divayth was waiting for them and not just there by chance. Him and his allies are aware of the ninjas and knights actions and can put themselves in situations to interact with them if they so feel like it.
If have any questions go ahead and ask I do not bite. I will try to answer them, I will however not give away spoilers.
Chapter 25: Melodic Mine
Summary:
A strange incident at a local mine leads to more than the knights and ninja bargained for.
Notes:
Pictures relating to story can be found here: https://www.deviantart.com/nerdy-hyena/gallery/72478681/story-project
They are really good and help to visually flush out several aspects of the story including environments, characters, outfits, locations, creatures and other aspects often important ones in the story. All images I post in my work can be found there if you want a better look at them. Defiantly make sure to check them out.Also if you need a refresher on creatures, flora or aspects of the environment you can check out the second chapter in this work titled 'Keikiarys Guide to the Ash Wastes'. It includes short descriptions and pictures of these things.
Parts of this section are subject to change as the prequel story is written to improve story continuity.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
As the knights and ninja approached the egg mine which sat a bit outside the town to the southwest nothing seemed wrong. The mine was on the side of a hill that overlooked a small settlement below it where the mines workers lived along with a general shop, a few farmers and a tavern. The buildings were mainly small plaster and wood structures with decorative polished salmon clay tiles on trim to various parts of the buildings. There were a few workers sitting outside on the overlook in front of the mine looking dazed and confused and a few showed signs they had been attacked by animals but nothing was serious. The large wood doors that sealed the mines entrance were closed and the foreman was talking with a few of the workers. The two groups were confused. They had been told there was a possible disturbance they should look into here but it just looked like it was a minor problem with animals. Despite the title of mine these egg mines were more of a strange farm than a true mine. Egg mines were locations where the locals kept tamed colonies of the large ant known as a Kollop which were kept for food; both eggs and juveniles were used as food. Beornix beetles were sometimes kept there as well as they were also farmed for resources and the tunnels both would dig for their shelters often revealed seams of minerals or metals the people could harvest along with the food and crafting materials they would get from the large insects. This made these egg mines rather valuable locations for the town. They had thought it an odd request when told to come here to check something out as from what they had heard it didn’t sound like an issue they needed to resolve. The workers of the mine should have been able to handle it. To help with transport the knights gave the ninja a ride with their vehicles which they had aboard the Fortrex. They had all brought their weapons and the knights had brought their shields however they were all dressed in clothes that made them look like commoners. Even Zane was dressed like a commoner and to help hide his true nature in order to avoid unwanted attention he had cloaked his skin and hair to look human. Both the knights and ninja had taken to dressing like the people when not training or when outside the scholars’ center in order to try and seem friendlier to the common folk in hopes it would make the people warm up to them. They also didn’t feel the issue they had been called out for needed them to be dressed in their working attire.
“Okay what was it we were called here for?” Clay inquired to the foreman not really thrilled with being called to deal with animal attacks especially one those that worked with the animals should have been able to deal with. To their surprise a voice behind them expressed startling them, “Some experience.” It was Tafari in her guard attire. She came to stand next to the foreman and looked at them taking off her helmet to show she was not entirely pleased with the knights and ninja for showing up in street clothes and not their gear.
“Well we just thought this was some minor disturbance,” Jay mumbled and the foreman, an ungulate folk, stated, “well there is a little more to it. We haven’t said much because we do not wish to scare anyone. We believe some of the workers and the ants accidentally dug into an old subterranean Scimitar folk outpost and set something off. It has driven many of my miners crazy… hopefully a mage from the scholars’ center can fix them. Anyway as far as we can tell there is no signs this ruin is under the Stags reign. We believe this as there have been no sightings of hyenoids nor cybernetic creatures. This could also mean this ruin may have been cut off from the rest of the world for quite some time until we dug into it. As far as we can tell none of the constructs here are built for war just simple worker and scouting bots like Robo-bills, Serpetons and Scymer Beetles inhabiting the ruin. It shouldn’t prove too deadly for you.” As he talked they noticed some of the miners were humming a strange siren like song every now and then while looking a bit crazy disturbing a few of them with their state.
“I felt this would be a good chance for you to get some experience. If we are right this outpost might be cut off from other Scimitar ruins meaning its inhabitants are not apart of the Black Stags rule making them less dangerous. It will be a good chance for you to deal with wild constructs who are often more unpredictable than those you have been training with,” Tafari expressed and Clay began, “okay, we’ll head back and get properly dressed…”
“No you came here in those and you’ll go into the mine in those. You can’t break away from a fight in the wastes to go get dressed. You get ambushed in your PJ’s than you must fight in your PJ’s,” Tafari proclaimed, “now listen to the foreman and he’ll go over what you’ll have to do.”
“By the looks it this is an old outpost likely for trade or mining so you shouldn’t have too much trouble. From what we could get from some of the miners before they started going nuts is a few of them went to explore the place and shortly after a strange song started echoing through the mine every now and then. It turned the Kollops and Boernix in the mine aggressive turning them on their keepers and several forms of constructs came from deeper in the mine and attacked people dragging them deeper into the mine. Our best guess is those fools set off some sort of scymer tech defences. What you need to do is get down into these ruins find the machine that was activated and shut it down. If you can also try to find the miners,” the foreman explained and another ungulate folk by her attire they guessed was an archaeologist explained, “the constructs likely have taken any they caught into any holding or dungeon cells in the ruin. If not rescued they will be left to perish in the ruin. That won’t necessarily be the constructs fault; they don’t do it to be evil. It is in their programming to capture intruders and lock them up in the cities dungeons. It was their masters job to asses, care and release those imprisoned however with their masters gone there is no one who can perform this task leading to the fatality of the imprisoned. I don’t think the constructs understand their people are gone so they don’t understand their actions doom those they capture. These older creations are rather simple like children or animals so don’t fully understand their situation or the consequences to their actions. You will either have to find the dungeons to manually release the people or if you’re lucky you can find a scymer control rod, a short staff like item. If you do find one of those rods bring it here and we can use it to communicate commands to the constructs so they will release the people. We could also use it to change their programming a bit to stop this from happening in the future and maybe get them to work for us.”
“That metal-skin of yours isn’t with you is he?” the foreman inquired and Lloyd was quick to state defensively, “so what if he is? He’s a part of our family and can be with us whenever we want; why do you care if he is here?”
“Fine I don’t care the metal skins yours to deal with not mine. It’s just he might be susceptible to the effects of the sound like the constructs are so it could be dangerous to take him in there also the two little ones are not to go into the mine; I don’t want to risk their safety in there,” the foreman expressed pointing to Ava and Robin who had come along with the knights and Robin expressed, “that’s okay we’ll wait out here away from the creepy big bugs.”
“Did one of you bring a tablet?” Ava wondered and Clay stated pulling one out, “yes, best way to keep track of our schedule.”
“Good then we can keep in contact with you,” Ava stated before Tafari declared as she and some of the miners quickly ushered them into the mine, “alright now get your butts in there and get to work.” Once they were all in the mine Tafari had the doors shut and secured so nothing from in the mine could get out.
“Wait can we talk about this first?” Jay had tried to ask as they were shoved into the mine before muttering once they were locked in, “well that’s rude.” Inside the mine seemed calm. It was light inside lit up by various lanterns hung from and attached to the support beams of the tunnels. There were some of the Kollop ants and a Boernix beetle lying on the ground by the entrance which Zane inspected while Jay coward behind the others scared of the large insects. From the canisters scattered on the ground and the insects states Zane could tell they had been sedated likely to keep them from trying to break out of the mine and would be out for a few hours.
“Okay well I guess the first thing we should do is come up with a plan of action,” Clay declared and Kai stated, “why don’t we just head on down there and see what we can find.” He started to head off not waiting for the others and the others slowly followed him.
“And what if we run into trouble or there are multiple passages?” Clay inquired trying to stop them but they just kept moving.
“We run into trouble then we just whip some butts, for multiple passages uhm… we could split up or flip a coin,” Kai fumbled. They continued on following what appeared to be the main passage by its size. Clay and Lloyd took the lead and started talking over possible plans of action with the others as they went finding it odd to find no evidence of these constructs, the insects or workers. Zane couldn’t even sense any constructs in the tunnels, the earth around them was interfering with his senses. It also eventually rendered the tablet unable to contact the outside leaving them cut off from help if they needed it. Not long after entering the mine they heard a strange sound come echoed from deeper in the mine. They paused to listen to it. The sound was a melodic woman’s voice giving out a sirens song with hints that whatever was giving it was not really human likely something mechanical or spiritual in nature. Along with this call were faint chime like noises behind the voice.
“Is that the noise they’re worried over? It doesn’t sound bad. It actually sounds kind of nice almost calming,” Cole noted and Jay complained, “It’s loud and eerie not calming.”
“We could follow that sound to find where we need to go,” Kai offered and the others were in agreement. They were about to set off again when Zane who had dropped his cloak after they entered the mine surprised them by attacking Clay and pinning him to the floor.
“Sturdumz, niid-bthar, niid-mer; you are trespassing on Scymer territory. You will be taken to the zel, what you of non scymer know as a dwelling or city to be assessed and face punishment for your actions. If you co-operate willingly our masters may show you mzaul, mercy,” Zane declared trying to restrain Clay while Clay tried to get free of him wondering, “What are you talking about? Is this normal for him?” They were all confused by Zanes sudden behaviour. He looked to be trying to arrest Clay.
“No, Zane what are you doing?” Lloyd inquired not amused at Zane goofing around.
“You have not been permitted on these premises, if you co-operate and come along peacefully our masters may be lenient to you,” Zane declared and Jay wondered as the sound went through the mine again, “our masters? Who are you talking about? (gasps) You’re talking of the Stag aren’t you! The Stags got a hold of Zane! This was a trap! They’ve all betrayed us! We’re doomed!” Both Jay and Lance began to become anxious and felt like fleeing from Zanes behaviour everyone else however was just confused.
“Wait that sound… didn’t they say it could affect Zane?” Nya noted while Axl pulled Zane off Clay and along with Cole restrained him Zane declaring they were under arrest for trespassing as well and Aaron agreed, “I think they did. That would also explain why he said masters, plural, not the singular master which he would use for the Stag who is a single entity.” Aaron was holding onto the back of Jays shirt to keep him from rushing back to the door in a panic to plea to be let out while Macy held Lance in place so he couldn’t try to flee either.
“If what they said is correct it’s that sound making him do this. It would explain his behaviour and words and why he was fine till we heard the sound,” Nya stated.
“What is it doing to him?” Kai wondered confused and Cole noted restraining Zane who was proclaiming he had allies he would send for if they didn’t let him go, “I think it’s making him think he’s one of the scymer constructs.”
“Okay, is there some way to fix him we can’t have him acting like this for our task here,” Clay assessed now that they understood what was going on.
“We could take him back to the entrance and make him wait outside till we’re done. Some of us could go with him to make sure he gets there and stays there,” Lance offered wanting to leave the mine and Jay agreed but Nya had another idea. She asked to see Clays tablet. When he asked why she explained, “All we have to do is prevent him from hearing the sound. We have two options. We could try playing music through his headphones to block the sound or which I think is the better option we shut off his sense of hearing so he can’t hear the sound and he should return to normal. We’re going to need his help. He’s the only one of us who understands the Scymer language and writing.”
“Okay but if he can’t hear us how do we communicate to him?” Kai wondered as Nya worked on the tablet. They could tell rather quickly her hacking was successful as Zane calmed down.
“We can use the tablet to relay messages directly into his brain,” Nya explained. Zane was confused as Axl and Cole let him go and when he tried to ask them what was going on he realised his hearing had been shut off confusing him more. Before he could reactivate his hearing Nya quickly relayed through the tablet an explanation stopping his actions. He praised her for her quick thinking and noted how disturbing it felt to no longer have his sense of hearing before explaining that when he had heard the sound something about the sirens call got stuck in his head and before he realised it he felt something overtake him. It wasn’t something dark like the Stags hold even though it did make him feel like he was in danger. Instead it made him feel for some reason the place they were looking for was his home and he needed to protect it from those who were not registered as inhabitants or allies to this home. The insects were oddly registered as allies but his friends and the people were considered the trespassers who threatened this home. Zane was confused and a bit disturbed about it all. He had a feeling what had overcome him was connected to the Scymer programming he had been given.
“Okay with that solved we should get back to the task at hand. Nya will relay communications to Zane. We’ll stick together and head deeper in to see what is going on,” Clay declared taking the lead as they set off again. Anytime anyone would say something Nya would communicate through the tablet to Zane what was said and what was going on so he could understand what was going on. They followed the sound to lead them to its likely source. This led them off the main tunnel into several side tunnels. The passages were well lit by lanterns attached to the walls and support structures of the tunnels. The strange large eggs of the ants were scattered everywhere in the strange reddish hued nest structures the ants used to hold their eggs on the floors, walls and ceilings of the tunnels. Some of the grub like larva of the ants were also present in some areas just laying where it looked like workers had dropped them while transporting them when they had fallen under the sounds effects. They were careful not to step on the eggs, nests or larva and some of them notably Jay, Kai and Lance were grossed out by the sight of them. There was a small path through the tunnels where no eggs were laid for travelling through the areas and in some spots of the tunnels there were clear areas where miners were digging up various minerals and metals from seams in the tunnels walls. There were some various shrooms growing scattered here and there through the tunnels including glowing ones. In some areas roots grew on the walls, across the floor and ceiling with some strands that hung down from the roots having been groomed out of the way of the passage way. Lichens coated some spots mainly by glowing shrooms or strange stalactites which had glowing seams in them. They came across a few of the crazed ants and beetles along with some large spiders which attacked them on sight but it wasn’t hard for their group to drive them back despite some of them, mainly Jay and Lance, freaking out over the insects. The creatures didn’t seem eager to fight, it was more like they were defending their territories and Zane noted despite seeming it they weren’t actually aggressive. It was like they were being affected by the sound in the same way he had been. They came across a few people still in the mine; most looked to have gone insane trying to copy the song that was continuously echoing through the mine every few minutes mindlessly wandering, humming and fiddling with their hands. One person had seemed coherent but kept babbling on about man eating droids trying to hunt them down and tried to attack Zane with a pickaxe the moment he saw him claiming Zane was one of them. They managed to subdue the person before any harm was done but couldn’t get much out of him as he kept babbling on about metal skins prowling the mine snatching up his fellow miners to take to their den to feast on them like savage beasts. When they asked why he thought this the folk claimed to have seen it happen before when he and some friends entered a Scymer ruin. They had been caught and the droids had eaten his friends rate in front of him and when he had escaped a hyenoid had bit off and eaten some of his toes. They had a feeling this person was not entirely right in the head. Seeing he was of no use and the way he was talking was just riling Jay up making him anxious they let the folk go where he wasted no time in bolting away. They decided to ignore that folk and just kept going. By the fact the sound was getting louder as they went down deeper in the mine they had a feeling they were getting close to the source. At one point the sound unnerving him, making his ears hurt along with making him anxious and paranoid the sound would drive him crazy Jay picked up a set of headphones that lay by some tools in an area where there had appeared to be a struggle before the people had been dragged off deeper into the mine and put them on holding them tight against his ears to try and block as much sound as possible. He had to modify them a bit with some materials he found in an area that looked to be for storage and working to fit them to his head as they were designed for the beast folk but he managed to make it work. The deeper they went the more evidence of struggles they found.
“Why did you put those on? Whoever was wearing those could have had lice or fleas?” Cole stated to Jay after he put the headphones on and Jay expressed, “I’d rather those than being driven nuts by that sound.”
“Driven nuts, who’s to say you’re not already nuts,” Kai commented annoying Jay and Macy commented, “you know it is weird that some of these people have been driven nuts by the sound yet it doesn’t seem to be affecting us. Well most of us.”
“Maybe there is more to the sound than we can hear or notice,” Axl offered and Aaron offered, “yha like maybe this rather rad tune has some sort of hidden tones or notes in it that do different things to different beings. It makes those like our cyber bro who have this Scymer programming serve this ruin as its protectors and drives those with more mentally frail minds like the beasts and some people crazy.”
“Rad, you think this tune is rad?” Jay inquired to Aaron who responded, “it’s kind of hypnotic and relaxing. Sends shivers down your spine but in a good way. It’s kinda like a sirens song. Draws you in and you wouldn’t mind hearing more. I could go to sleep to this.”
“Serious, how could a song like that be relaxing? Do you know why sirens have such captivating songs; to lure you to your death!” Jay exclaimed rather loudly before being silenced by Clay who had stopped them before a turn in the passage in front of them and knelt peaking around the corner.
“Can someone silence jabber mouth, there’s some serious trouble ahead,” Clay demanded. Lloyd disciplined Jay before coming to kneel with Clay and see what he was looking at. The tunnel opened into a small cavern around the bend and in the one side wall they could see a rather large hole which went into a Scimitar ruin. Several passages ran into this cavern. Rubble from the cavern wall and the wall of the scimitar ruin lay scattered in the cavern near the hole that had been created. While there was nothing there they could hear something large and metallic moving in the ruin.
“What do you think that is? Some sort of machinery maybe?” Lloyd wondered before they saw a large armoured and armed construct walk out of the ruins and look to assess the place. It was a Scimitar Centurion.
“Okay it’s more than just scouting and worker bots here. It appears there might be a few militant ones as well. Are those… this is bad!” Clay noted as he and Lloyd backed up to hide against the wall startled and scared and Lloyd whispered to the others on edge, “there’s hyenoids here!”
“What!” some of the others expressed shocked and Macy noted, “they said there wasn’t any of those things here.”
“Technically they said they had seen no evidence of any, that doesn’t necessarily mean they weren’t here. Guess this ruin might not be as cut off as they thought it was,” Aaron noted and Clay stated, “the fact they’re here isn’t the worst thing about it. These don’t look like the ones they use for training in Balmora, they look like the ones the Stag uses.” This scared all of them except Zane who was confused about what was going on. After hearing about the droids Nya had forgot to communicate to him what was going on. Zane could see they were all scared but he wasn’t sure why. He went to see what they had been looking at but Kai quickly pulled him back while Nya remembered she had to commune what was going on to him and quickly explained everything to him. He seemed rather calm despite the news.
“I think we should…,” Clay began to speak before a commotion caught their attention. Some of them went to look around the corner to see what was going on. A pair of hyenoids were carrying the person they saw earlier who had freaked out over man eating droids between them coming from one of the other passages into the cavern. All the hyenoids in the cavern were dressed in garbs like the scimitar folks. They were decorated with polished bronze adornments like ear piercings, metal adornments in their hair, studs and decorations in the skin mainly on the cheeks, above the eyes, on the forehead or on the chin. One had painted markings on its synthetic and metallic skins done in designs of the Scymer. The person was trying to fight his way free yelling and pleading for mercy from the droids who didn’t seem to be listening to him and had no problems restraining him. The hyenoids paused to talk to each other in their language before the two dragged the person who kept yelling and pleading into the ruin.
“We should fall back and tell the others. This situation is worse than they realise…” Clay began before Kai unintentionally cut him off with, “Ow! What was that?” Kai had felt something sting him in the right ankle. Looking to see what he was reacting to they saw a winged serpeton reared up with wings out and mouth open in display. Inspecting his ankle Kai pulled out a small dart starting to feel funny.
“What did it hit me with? Why can I no longer feel the right half of my body?” Kai expressed starting to worry as the right half of his body began to feel numb before falling over as he lost the use of his right leg.
“Serpetons are scouts. They can inject threats with a venom made from the modified venom of the Parrot-Cruncher to hinder the ability of targets from fleeing so more militant constructs can capture them. It is not fatal but will hinder your ability to move for around an hour,” Zane explained as Cole and Jay helped Kai up and leaned him on Jay Kai expressing, “well that’s great.”
“Wait if that metal snake is a scout then does that mean…” Aaron began before Clay cut him off readying himself for a fight as they could hear something coming from both directions towards them, “they know we’re here!” The hyenoids and Scimitar centurion came from the side by the ruin while more hyenoids, Robo-bills and some of the ants came from the other direction trapping them. Before any of them could come up with a plan they were set upon by the constructs and insects. The section they were in was narrow making it nearly impossible to set up an effective defence so they opted for retreating. Lance, Cole, Macy and Nya cleared the path behind them for an escape while Clay, Lloyd, Aaron and Zane held off the centurion and hyenoids from the ruins. Jay meanwhile helped Kai get out of there while trying to hold back a panic attack over the large insects. When they had the path behind them cleared they made for their escape, Aaron making sure to grab Zane so he was aware they were leaving. They managed to make it several feet before a cow sized Boernix burst up from the ground in front of them cutting off their escape route. They could hear more constructs and insects coming there direction from the tunnel behind it. They didn’t have the space in the mines tunnels to be fighting these enemies and needed to get out of there.
“There was a small unlit passage back there, it might lead to another way out,” Cole noted and deciding to risk it they followed him back to where he had seen this passage. It was a dark unlit and rather narrow passage with an opening only large enough for them to get through one at a time. To protect them and hopefully hide their movements Cole used his powers to create rock barricades to block off the passages on either side of them. They could hear the constructs and insects attacking the barricades trying to get through. Cole waited till the others had entered before following and blocking off the passage with a rock barricade. What they thought might be a way out turned out to be a dead end leading to a small damp dead end cavern that had a layer of water coating most of the floor and foliage including several glowing variants from this Blackreach place growing in it.
“We’re doomed!” Jay complained before Clay told them all to be quite. They could hear the constructs inspecting the barricade at the caverns entrance. They could hear them testing the barricade as if trying to break through it. They remained quite hoping whatever was trying to get in would lose interest. After about a minute the sounds at the barricade stopped.
“Do you think they know we are here,” Lloyd wondered and Clay stated, “don’t know but it is most likely they do. They’re probably trying to find or think of a way to get in here. We should find a way out before then. Does anyone see any other way out?” They all made a quick look around. It didn’t look like it.
“Doesn’t look like it and I can’t reach anyone on the outside. The mine is blocking the signals,” Nya noted and Macy offered, “so we can’t call for help. Maybe if we’re patient and give them time they’ll leave and we can try to escape.”
“That will never work,” Jay moaned and Macy inquired, “why?”
“Because those monsters can detect Zane!” Jay exclaimed loudly Lloyd having to tell him to quite down.
“Is that true?” Clay wondered and Nya stated, “possibly. The mine walls might interfere; you’d have to ask Zane.” Clay went to ask Zane who was looking around rather confused before remembering they had turned off his hearing. Since they couldn’t really hear the sound anymore as it was muffled by the stone walls of the cavern they turned his hearing back on.
“Can we please not do that again, it is a very unpleasant and disturbing feeling to not be able to hear anything,” Zane expressed the moment they put his hearing back on.
“Zane can you sense those other droids down here or does the earth block them?” Clay asked and after a quick thought and check Zane replied, “no. The earth around us is blocking the signals. As long as we are in this mine I cannot sense them nor can they sense me.”
“That’s good. It could help give us some extra time. It will also prevent them from easily finding us when we do find a way out,” Clay declared to which Jay began to babble, “when you mean if, if we find a way out cause we’re probably not going to find a way out. We’re going to remain trapped here! We’ll either perish here after some of us turn to eating the rest of us, I’m looking at you Cole, or those monsters will find us and trap us down here for who knows what they want where we’ll never see the sun again!” Cole was ignoring Jay focussing on searching the rock walls around them using his powers to feel for a possible way out.
“Does he ever have a relaxed state or is he always like this?” Lance whispered to Lloyd while Axl asked Cole confused by what he was doing, “What are you doing?”
“Looking for a way out; using my powers I can sense the earth around us. I think there is a passage not far behind this wall. If I work this right I could break a hole into it so we could get out,” Cole noted and Jay panicked, “yha and those things will probably hear you and come running to capture us and drag us off to who knows where!”
“Hey where do you think they would take us if they did capture us?” Aaron wondered thinking something over. Jay didn’t like the sounds of that and Zane explained, “as they said it is likely these ruins have an area for prisoners. We would be taken there. What would happen after that would depend if this ruin is truly on its own or under the Stags control.”
“What if some of us got captured,” Aaron suggested. Most of them were unsure about that idea but gave it some thought. Jay was instantly against it and refused to think about it.
“If some of us were caught we could escape their prison then maybe find one of those control rods they spoke of to pacify the constructs and shut down the machine causing this,” Lloyd thought aloud and Clay suggested, “or those that get caught could cause a distraction to draw their attention so the rest of us could sneak into the ruins and find the machine.” After a quick think over of the idea most of them agreed to the idea. Jay was still entirely against it.
“What if what that guy was saying was true and these are man eating droids or what if that demon is here? We’ll just be heading to our doom,” he panicked and Zane noted, “I have not gotten any sense that the Stag is near and the attire worn by the hyenoids is interesting. From the few accounts of his servants given none describe them as dressing like the Scymer. That is more commonly associated with rogue populations of droids. Rogue groups often attempt to mimic their Scymer forebearers in behaviours and mannerisms becoming part of a ruins already established construct community. These communities often remove the dark programming from these individuals giving them more passive and even temperaments with little desire for evil doings. Unless another force has interfered with their programming they are generally rather docile towards other beings unless provoked. As long as we give them no reason to feel threatened they will not harm us.”
“So we’re probably fairly safe. These are probably a rogue group who’ve just fallen under that machines influence and are not necessarily acting evil,” Lloyd stated and Cole added, “yha and you shouldn’t believe everything every nut job in this weird place believes Jay. Why would droids want to eat people especially when they could have cake?” Despite Jays dislike of the idea they decided to go with it and quickly worked out a plan. Zane would take Aaron and Lloyd along with Jay who they were pretty sure would cause enough problems for the droids given how he was acting to cause a distraction. They were going to let Zane fall to the machines effects so he would take them to where ever the constructs were locking people up. The three were bringing Clays tablet so once locked up there they could shut off Zanes hearing so he would no longer be under the machines effects and help them escape. Cole lowered the barricade he had created to let the small group out of the cave before raising it again once they were out to keep everyone else hidden. There was no one on the other side of the barricade but they had a feeling they weren’t too far away. It didn’t take long for them to hear the sound and for Zane to fall under its spell.
“Please don’t hurt me!” Jay exclaimed when Zane confronted them like he had done to Clay before while unnerving Jay with how calm he was and seeming to be having fun with it Aaron stated, “alright you caught us Cyber-bro. Take us to this Zel of yours. We won’t give you a hassle and if Mr. yabber mouth does you can bite him, he loves that.”
“What!” Jay exclaimed and Zane stated under the hypnosis, “you are wise. I will make sure to let our masters know of your co-operation. They will most likely be lenient when it comes to your punishment of trespassing.” Zane then ushered them back down to the ruins. Some of the hyenoids and the Scimitar Centurion were there. To the threes surprise they weren’t suspicious of Zane and instead helped him take the three into the ruins. Three of the hyenoids helped Zane drag the three into the ruins. The miners had broken into what appeared to be a dwelling which went out to a large hall with several more dwellings coming off it. Despite the lights on the walls the place was only decently lit. For a ruin the place was well kept and clean from the continued working of the constructs. Even the rugs, tapestries and bedding of the place were in good shape. Outside the hall that appeared to be living quarters the path led to another larger hall built into a largely rectangular small but still decently sized cavern that was taller than wider. There was three stories of Scymer structures on the walls built in a tiered design and a river ran through the middle of the lowest level. The river came out of one rock wall and disappeared within the opposite wall and had a few small bridges crossing it. The living quarters exited on the second story in largely the middle of the cavern. Most of the other buildings in the cavern which were built into the rock walls of the cavern looked to be businesses and craft halls which were still in use by the constructs. The one end of the hall where the river entered the cavern was a dead end while the opposite had a corridor leading off to another section of the ruin though they couldn’t see where as it was closed off by large Scymer doors boasting the typical simple geometric designs of the Scymer folk. Some flora mainly from this Blackreach place and some from the surface were growing in planters, along the edges of the river and by the foundations of some structures along with the cavern walls and ceiling. Along with various things one would expect to find in a town area like wares, supplies, crates, barrels and planters with flora there was randomly deposited crates of some sort of ores placed about the place. From what they could see it looked like this ruin might have been a small outpost possibly for mining at one point. What seemed odd however was a good deal of the mined materials and items, even food, looked fresh as if recently acquired, made or mined making them wonder if the constructs were continuing some of their masters work in the town. There were some notable damages to the ruins which some of the constructs largely Robo-bills and hyenoids were attempting to repair. The hyenoids like those they had seen before were largely decked out to look like scimitar folk. Some even bore synthetic beards and moustaches which were often decorated by polished bronze beads. None were hostile or seemed to care about them more interested in repairing or trying to clean the place or doing daily chores than any intruders. Interestingly there was some of the miners wandering around the place. All the miners were clearly unhinged from the machine humming its tune and babbling gibberish while mimicking the hyenoids attempts to repair or clean things. Interestingly none of the constructs seemed bothered by the people and if they got close or in the way all the constructs had to do was growl at the people or say a word or two in the Scymer tongue and they’d walk away to do something else. They were taken down into a dwelling that looked to serve as a place for law enforcement. It was an average sized building with an area for workers in the front with a few desks and random Scymer items and in the back was an area for holding prisoners. All the missing workers who hadn’t gone nuts were locked up in there. Most seemed nervous but didn’t look like they felt any immediate danger was near. Once they entered the building the hyenoids inspected Aaron, Lloyd and Jay. Even though he was staying with them Zane hung back while the hyenoids did their job. The three had their weapons taken away and Aaron had his shield taken. Jay was scared of what they were going to do and agitated by how calm Aaron was; he wasn’t bothered or afraid of the hyenoids. They expected to be locked up with the rest of the people but instead were dragged to a side room where a small cell that held two prisoners was located. It was off to the side of the main cell block and along with the cell held all the items the droids had taken from the prisoners. One of the two prisoners was the guy they had met earlier who freaked out over man-eating droids the other was a member of the cat folk who just sat with his back against the wall with his arms crossed appearing rather calm though annoyed by its cell mate.
“These three are different from the others, they go in the special cell,” the individual who seemed to be the boss in the area stated before they were dragged off and put in the cell. This individual had a strange staff like item of Scymer make strapped to his back and appeared slightly larger and even through its ranger like attire they could tell was bulkier in build to the others likely to indicate its higher role. It was also notable in having metallic adornments on its forehead that gave it small horn like structures which stuck out from under the hood it wore and a row of metallic studs forming bumps in the skin along its cheeks under its eyes. These metallic adornments were polished bronze in color. As they were being put in the boss stopped Lloyd making him nervous over its intentions. It glared at him with its icy blue eyes and Lloyd couldn’t help but look into its eyes scared wondering if these droids could sense fear. As he looked at its face he noted a whitish mark on its forehead partially hidden by its hood; a whitish mark on the forehead was a trait commonly seen on droids who served the Stag. Quickly looking at the other droids he could see they also had whitish marks on their foreheads. That wasn’t a good sign. After the boss looked Lloyd over it reached into his shirt to pull out Clays tablet and look it over.
“Did you think you could hide this from us? What does this one intend for this item,” the hyenoid inquired and thinking quickly Lloyd replied, “entertainment. You know games, music and movies; just things to pass the time with.” The hyenoids didn’t look convinced and glanced at Zane who was still following them just hanging back and watching everything. They appeared to be suspicious of Zane.
“You will not need this. Flesh-kin will not have to wait for long to be dealt with,” the droid stated before pushing him in with the others. It then closed and locked the cell door. Once they were locked in the boss ordered to the hyenoids and Zane to keep guard of them till the master arrived placing the tablet on a table by the rooms entrance. As he spoke he used the staff item he had and waved it in front of Zane and two of the hyenoids a golden glow coming from the icy blue gem that was surrounded by four blade looking prongs in its top causing the threes eyes to flash for a second in the golden color before he and the others left. Lloyd was guessing that staff was one of these control rods they had been told to retrieve.
“Well this isn’t good we need that tablet,” Aaron noted leaning cross armed with his back against the one cell wall watching as the hyenoids began inspecting a collection of items they had gathered and put on the table near the entrance of the room while Jay kept quietly calling to Zane trying to catch his attention and get him to get them the tablet. Zane just looked to be ignoring him standing to the side and watching the two hyenoids looking like he was unsure of what to do.
“Are you crazy don’t try to get their attention!” the panicked one in the cell with them lectured and Jay countered, “but Zanes my brother…”
“No he’s one of them now!” the panicked one declared and Lloyd defended, “no he’s not. He’s just under the effects of that sound but we can fix that, we just need our tablet.”
“Yha you’re not going to get your tablet back anytime soon besides it’s gonna take more than that to release your metal-skin from Scymer control. That staff the one droid had was one of their control rods; he used it to give them orders that are superior to those of the Scymer machine making those sounds. You would need that control rod to release him from its hold and I doubt the one who holds it will just give it up to you,” the calm one explained.
“Well that’s a further setback… hey I’d be careful with that if I were you. That’s not a toy,” Aaron expressed watching intrigued and amused as the hyenoids checked out his shield looking to be curious. They got it hovering in front of them and seemed highly curious but also cautious of it. The one slowly climbed on it trying to balance as it stood up on the shield. It managed to balance for a few seconds before rapidly flying it into the wall. While the other hyenoid laughed at its pal for crashing into the wall Zane went over and helped it up. It appeared thankful for Zanes help. As it picked up the shield it looked to be highly curious of Aarons shield trying it out again this time managing to move it slowly. It rode it back to the desk they had things on before getting off it to pick up the shield and look it over Zane following to stand with the droid. They set the shield aside before continuing checking over the items setting ones that caught their interest aside.
“What do you think they’re doing?” Jay wondered nervous.
“They’re bideing their time probably waiting till we’re asleep then they’ll grab us dragging us to some twisted mixed workshop alter area where they’ll rip out our still beating hearts and offer them to their holy patron that demon deer before they cook us up and feast on us or worse feast on us while we’re still alive like savage beasts,” the panicked one began to babble working Jay up.
“Dude what kind of horror stories have you been reading?” Aaron wondered not really believing the guys paranoia and the panicked one screamed grabbing onto Jays shirt pulling him close to look him directly in the face, “they’re not stories! I’ve seen it! I almost became a part of it!”
“Don’t listen to him,” the calm one stated and Jay on edge inquired, “why is none of it true? There aren’t any man eating droids are there?”
“Well what happened to him was sort of true; droids did eat his pals but not because they were man eaters. It’s not unheard of for droids to eat people once in a while. They do it out of curiosity or more commonly because someone’s messed with their programming and made them that way, that’s most likely what happened to him. Anyway they’ve never been recorded to naturally becoming ‘man eaters’ and normally don’t eat people,” the calm one explained and the panicked one expressed looking at the calm one, “don’t listen to him. He’s like them!”
“What do you mean; is he part robot?” Jay wondered getting more anxious and the panicked one stated putting himself behind Jay away from the calm folk, “no he’s a man-beast! He’s hid it from everyone but I know. There are signs plus I’ve seen him worshipping that demon these metal-skin monsters worship, the dark deer.”
“He’s a were-wolf?” Aaron inquired intrigued and the calm folk explained, “I normally don’t reveal this to anyone, people have the wrong idea about you when they find out about it, just look at this guy, but I guess it couldn’t hurt to tell you. For some reason I feel I can trust you knights and dragons. I feel you will understand and not cause me trouble. Maybe it’s some sort of bestial intuition. Yha I’m a were-wolf and yes I am in sorts a follower of the great spirit Storabek. Some of his sphere I agree with but I wouldn’t exactly say I’m a devout follower and I would never hurt anyone or do anything that could hurt someone. Just because I have his curse and follow some of the teachings of Storabek does not mean I’m a monster or evil.”
“Yes you are! Storabek is related to that demon Stag from the Forbidden City. They’re the same monster!” the panicked one argued and the calm one stated, “In ways yes and in ways no. Storabek is an aspect, a piece of the greater being of the Black Stag…”
“You said his name now you’ve cursed us! He’s going to come for us now!” the panicked one gasped startling Jay who moved closer to Lloyd and Aaron leaving the beast folk to continue squabbling with each other. Lloyd and Aaron just ignored the two seeing they were of no help to their situation. Instead they were trying to figure out what to do as their plan was not working out as they had hoped. Lloyd tried to catch Zanes attentions a few more times but it was of no use. Zane did seem to acknowledge Lloyd was speaking to him but remained distracted watching the hyenoids investigating everything.
“You know for monsters they don’t seem very monstrous,” Aaron noted as some poorly stacked items falling over made the hyenoids jump becoming cautious of the table for a few seconds and Lloyd noted, “that could just be because we’re contained or these ones are designed for a task outside combat.” They watched as the hyenoids picked up a thermos checking it over before opening it to look inside and sniff at its contents. They looked at Zane who looked to be confused over there sudden attention to him and muttered something in the Scymer tongue. The one took a cup off the table checking it over before the other poured some of the thermoses contents into the cup both pausing to look at it.
“What are they doing?” Aaron wondered as the two shoved the cup into Zanes hands muttering something to him. Zane looked confused and a little off put by whatever was in the cup.
“Are they trying to hurt him?” Lloyd worried and the calm folk noted catching glimpse of what the droids were doing, “no just using him as a test subject. Hyenoids tend to operate like a clan with different ranks and roles. Your metal skin they probably consider a new addition to their clan which means he is the lowest ranked member which means he has to do what they say. They’re likely curious of what they found and instead of risking harm to themselves they’re going to put the risk on him and use him as a test subject. Don’t worry they won’t give him something if it could cause serious harm to him. They will not willingly cause serious harm to those they consider part of their clan.”
“How do you know that?” Lloyd wondered and the calm folk explained, “I’ve looked into those of Scymer make, got a bit of fascination for them. When you look into them you sort of learn how to pick up on how to read them. These ones intend no harm to us. They’re just curious; by the looks I don’t think they’ve had much contact with the outside world here. When we first entered the constructs even the hyenoids were non hostile and actually tried to avoid us much like animals would. They only attacked when those idiots tried messing with the cities controls when I told them not too…”
“What is that they gave him?” Jay wondered as Zane drank whatever they gave him looking to choke a bit on whatever it was as he finished it making the hyenoids curious and look back into the thermos.
“I recognise that thermos. Belongs to one of the miners, his names Varen but everyone calls him Mixes-things on account of his fascination with trying to come up with new food and drink recipes that have magical properties to them. Real nut bar he is. That’s his most recent one. I think the droids mistook it for a drink when it’s actually a soup. Varen thought it could give him the ability to see in the dark. It doesn’t work. He’s no alchemist so few of his recipes ever work. This one is a soup he made with corn, rice, flour made from dried buttercake shrooms, chicken broth and whole grasshoppers,” the calm folk explained while one of the hyenoids reached into the thermos and pulled out a whole grasshopper covered by the thick cream colored broth grossing Jay and Lloyd out, “Don’t worry it shouldn’t hurt your metal-skin. He probably just gagged on one of the grasshoppers.” The hyenoids dropped the grasshopper back in the mix before looking at them a look of mischief on their faces.
“What are they doing?” Jay worried as the hyenoids took the cup from Zane and searched for another on the desk.
“Wait you said when you first showed up here they weren’t hostile… were you one of those who set off the machine?” Aaron wondered and the calm folk explained, “I didn’t set off the machine but yha I was with the idiots who did. When we stumbled across this place we were curious. Not often you come across Scymer ruins that are untouched. I came to explore maybe learn something new; my companions thought they could lighten their work load by making the constructs work for us. I told them programming a construct is far from easy and unless you know what you’re doing you don’t mess with Scymer tech. They didn’t listen, set off the cities defences they did.”
“Do you know where the device causing this problem is located?” Lloyd inquired while Jay watched grossed and worried as the hyenoids poured what was in the thermos into two cups.
“Yha and before you ask I don’t know how to fix it. There were a few books in the control center one of them could be a manual for it but I can’t read Scymer, not many people can,” the calm folk stated and Lloyd explained, “that’s why we need Zane, he knows this language. He was given the data to understand it.”
“What are they doing?!” Jay panicked as the hyenoids held the cups they had filled into the cell putting them in Lloyd and Jays faces and the calm folk stated, “I think they want you to try it now.” The two took the cups hesitant, grossed out and dreading to do anything with it while the hyenoids watched them waiting for them to try it.
“Uhm it’s a nice gesture but no thanks,” Jay quickly expressed and Aaron teased, “oh come on Jay-bird don’t be rude to your hosts just have a sip.”
“No thanks, here why don’t you have it,” Jay stated putting the cup in Aarons face. Aaron was hesitant especially when noting a full grasshopper floating on the top. Instead he grabbed the grasshopper out and threw it into Jays face causing Jay to drop the cup and freak out. In retaliation Jay grabbed Lloyds cup which Lloyd was thankful for and began wrestling with Aaron trying to force him to drink some. He managed to get Aaron to drink some before Aaron wrestled himself free taking the cup from Jay and managing to make him drink some before Jay managed to wrestle free causing Aaron to dump what little remained in the cup on Jays head while Jay began freaking out being grossed and annoyed.
“I think there was a bug leg in my mouth!” Jay exclaimed trying to hold back from barfing and Aaron stated, “stop being so dramatic. You made me drink a whole one and you don’t see me getting sick.”
“That’s because you’re crazy! That stuffs not poisonous is it? I think I’m going to be sick,” Jay continued to panic. The calm folk confided the mix wouldn’t hurt them. It calmed Jay down a bit but he still felt like he was going to be sick. The hyenoids laughed over the twos fighting and Jays panicking while Lloyd felt rather embarrassed. A noise at the entrance caught their attentions. Looking back the hyenoids settled down and took a few steps back from the cell while Zane who had remained quiet watching amused at the twos fighting looked nervously at the entrance. The boss hyenoid from before was coming into the room. He said something in the Scymer tongue before stating to the two hyenoids, “you two stop playing with the prisoners. It is time; be ready. You…” he pointed to Zane as he addressed him, “come with me.” Zane looked like he wanted to refuse to follow but the boss pulled out the staff he had used before and used it on Zane to make him follow even if he didn’t want to. The boss took him out of the room leaving the rest of them. Lloyd was worried and disturbed. What were they going to do with Zane? These hyenoids showed signs they had ties to the Black Stag which didn’t bode well for what they might do with Zane.
“No Zane don’t follow that one!” Lloyd called trying to catch Zanes attention but it was like he couldn’t hear Lloyd and he followed the hyenoid without question.
“Try all you want he won’t listen to you. Not as long as he’s under the influence of that staff,” the calm folk explained and Aaron noted, “well this plan has fallen apart.”
“We have to get out of here and stop them from doing anything to Zane!” Lloyd expressed trying to push out the bars of the cell but they didn’t budge and the panicked folk exclaimed, “They’re probably going to give him to that demon who’ll make him a man-eating monster like these ones.”
“Dude can you try and think of something else, you’re just bringing down the mood,” Aaron stated before telling Lloyd, “I don’t think that’s going to work.”
“Do you have any other ideas? We need to get out and get out of here now,” Lloyd stated. Jay had the idea of trying to bargain with the two watching their cell. The two hyenoids seemed to be listening to him but were not buying any of his pleas or offers. Aaron thought some things over watching Lloyd who was inspecting the cell for possible weaknesses and continuing to try and break out by pushing and shoving into the bars getting nowhere but hurting his shoulder while Jay kept getting nowhere with the hyenoids who looked to be playing with him by picking up and trying to give him various items from their collection and not giving him the tablet and keys for the cell like he wanted. Nearly an hour passed and they were getting nowhere. Jay gave up feeling it was useless getting annoyed at the hyenoids and paranoid over what the Stag would do to Zane; most involved having Zane hunt the rest of them down and sacrificing their hearts for the Stag. Lloyd eventually stopped trying to break the bars his shoulder sore from ramming it into the bars and looked for some weakness to the cell.
“You’re not going to find a way out. These are cells of Scymer make. They’ll stand and function like new for centuries and it would take a dragon to break them. Not your kind of dragon but the actual massive reptile dragon,” the calm folk explained and Aaron whispered to the folk noting how stressed and worried Lloyd and Jay were getting, “look could you maybe offer some help instead of criticizing. I get if you don’t care what happens to their cyber-bro but to them he’s family and they’d do anything for each other. Sure many of you don’t like us nor wish to help us but maybe you could show some compassion. Put yourself in their shoes. What if it was one of your family members being taken and given to a demon against their will. Maybe you could lend us a hand instead of just criticizing.”
“I don’t have anything against you guys or your droid,” the calm folk noted while the panicked folk expressed sounding like Jay, “I do. The metal skins one of those monsters and you, how can you have no fear towards anything? I’ve seen you in the ring going to the extremes even if it puts you in danger. How can any person be like that! What are you?”
“I didn’t want to but… there might be an easy way to get them to unlock the doors,” the calm folk stated after a moments thoughts and Lloyd quickly inquired, “you do, how?”
“Blue-belle and Mr. Panic-britches here likely won’t like it but if I change into my beast form and attack others they will likely enter here to try and subdue me. I know one of my co-workers carries a special poison that can force a Were-wolf out of beast form all the time. This folks always been the nervous type and I guess my actions in the wilderness are partially to blame for why he has it. I’ve never hurt anyone outside rabbits and the occasional deer or runner but still some people especially around here are really scared by things that go bump in the night. Any way he carries it in a converted anti-venom shot, I can see they have it on their table and I’m pretty sure they know what it is. When they found it they looked at me and as minions to the Stag I’m pretty sure they know how to identify those with Storabeks curse. If I change and attack they’ll come in to subdue me. All you have to do is rush out while they’re occupied and your free,” the calm folk offered and Jay worried, “attack us as a half beast monster… that doesn’t sound like a safe idea.”
“Don’t worry I can control myself while a beast and won’t infect you just be prepared to act,” the calm folk stated standing up. Once up he seemed to meditate for a second before his body began to change stretching and morphing into a large wolfish humanoid form standing on the toes of its hind legs with a wolf like head, bushy tail, long arms with fur coating most of its body being thickest on its topside and hairless patches of its body mainly its hands, its feet, and parts of its muzzle and face. It was dark colored with blackish fur and dark grey skin and stood around seven to eight feet tall. The beast roared at them before launching atop Jay terrifying him while it snarled in his face attempting to bite him while Jay held its mouth back. Lloyd and Aaron tried to pull the beast off Jay trying to make the scuffle look real while the panicked folk just cowered in the one back corner. The hyenoids were quick to react to prevent anything from going on however they didn’t react the way they hoped. Instead of the two trying to use the potion on him they called in reinforcements from the rest of the building before opening the cell. Some of the hyenoids held back Lloyd and Aaron preventing them from escaping while others used weapons to scare the were-wolf off Jay and try to corner it so one of them could get close with the potion.
“We’ve got a bit of a problem. I don’t think they’re going to give us a chance to escape,” Aaron noted as Lloyd attempted to use his powers but got shocked by one of the hyenoids with a tazer stopping him.
“I can help with that,” the were-wolf proclaimed. He let out a roar then began picking up the hyenoids to toss them about making sure to take out the one with the potion first. He knocked them all out with ease slamming them hard against the walls and floor clearing a path for them out of the cell.
“Thank you. You probably don’t know how much your help means for us,” Lloyd stated as they reclaimed their equipment and the were-wolf stated, “you don’t need to thank me. Why don’t you set everyone free and I’ll make sure we have a clear way out of here.”
As hard as he tried he couldn’t break free of the hold of the strange staff the hyenoid had used on him. Its hold was stronger than the sound from within the ruins. Zane made his way down to a section that opened into the region known as Blackreach through a Scymer lift an elevator like structure in the ruins. As he made his way down he was trying to find a way to resist the strange hold the staff the hyenoid had used on him had. He hadn’t minded the sound as while it had been telling him what to do and controlling him to an extent it didn’t order him to hurt anyone or put anyone in danger just contain the trespassers. Given enough time he felt he might have been able to resist the undertones of the sound which only he had seemed to be aware of that were giving him the commands so he could ignore it. He did find it highly disturbing and unnerving what it did to him but unlike the hold the Stag had on him before he could cope with it as it wasn’t a dark feeling and didn’t put anyone in risk. It simply wanted him to protect this place and its inhabitants. He also had to agree with Aaron something about the sound was actually calming and pleasant. That staff on the other hand he felt like it was digging deep into his mind and demanding he do whatever its holder wanted giving him no option to disobey or challenge the commands. He found it very unpleasant and invasive. The hyenoids hadn’t been too bad. Other than making him drink that weird stuff wanting to know what it would do to them and if it was dangerous for his friends just wanting to play around with them using it they didn’t intend any harm to them or anyone else. While waiting in the make shift prison watching the hyenoids express their curiosity over the items they had found on the people and messing around with Jay being amused by his panicking he had been trying to break free from the sirens call even just a little in order to get the tablet back to Lloyd. He was still struggling with this task when the boss hyenoid had come in and ordered him to come with him and he was unable to make his own decision following even though he didn’t want to. The staff it had used on him was rather disturbing as it not only sent commands straight into his mind but the wielder could control his body forcing him to do what it wanted. The boss had given him what he felt was a rather odd command. To go down to the towns gardens in the Blackreach caverns and see if anything was going on. To make the command stranger it had told him not to worry about his friends as he would be seeing them soon. It had sent him down there with nothing but the weapons he had brought with him to the mine, just one of his shurikans he had brought to the Lost Realm with him and the Red-diamond Shurikan which he had taken to carrying around. Not only to keep it safe but to utilise its special traits. Once the lift had taken him down a set of decorative barred gates made of scimitar steel blocked off the lift from the patio area outside it but these were unlocked and he simply pushed them open. On the other side was a large terrace on an elevated region in the massive Blackreach cavern. The terrace was made of the scymer stone with decorative metal plates. Planters with flora native to the cavern decorated the edges of the patio which was edged by low and decorative stone with metal topped walls. Some sections of the wall were damaged or missing crumbling down the slopes of the terrace the patio sat on. Some Scymer lighting was on the patio providing decent lighting to the area compared to the dimly lit conditions elsewhere in the cavern. Despite the lack of sunlight the cavern was not too cold but it wasn’t very warm either. It was surprisingly damp with water pooled in low areas and flowing across some parts of the ground and walls. He could see a few various paths throughout the cavern with only some of them being lit with Scymer light posts and far in the distance to one side a faint fiery glow revealed areas of exposed lava were in some parts of the cavern. Strange flora mainly of fungi and lichens many of which had glowing parts filled the cavern along with various rock and mineral structures some of which were glowing. Even though he could hear calls from various creatures he could only see some insects like torchbugs in the cavern. Zane was amazed by the cavern. For some reason he felt the hold the staff had put on him waning and the sound from the ruins wasn’t there giving him his free will back. Despite this he was captivated by what he was seeing in this Blackreach place and didn’t want to leave it. He wanted to explore and study the place. He stood for a while looking over the cavern and inspecting the patio area. He knew he should be getting back to try and help the others now that he had his free will back but he couldn’t help himself in exploring the cavern.
At one point he heard a noise. Sounded like something climbing up the terrace. Following the sound he found a small Vale-deer had climbed onto the patio and was inspecting the planters. It was a dark blackish brown color with pale creamish strips and spotting on its body. It had a crown of small horns on its head and large saber fangs in its mouth. Its eyes were a stunning almost glowing icy blue color. It at first didn’t notice him and allowed Zane to get very close to inspect it. Given the caverns were rarely explored by people and it had likely been a long time since anything human or human like had been in the cavern the creatures lack of fear to him made sense. When it saw him it slowly approached the pale markings on its body giving off a faint greenish glow that pulsed slowly twice in brightness. Zane was intrigued by the creature letting it cautiously sniff him as he talked to it. The creature was rather calm even as Zane went to pet it. Before he touched it however he got a sudden wave of cold empty energy rush over him coming from the creature making him take a few steps back feeling startled and anxious. He suddenly became aware that even though he was seeing it he couldn’t sense this deer almost like it actually didn’t exist, an illusion or…
As he backed away from it a dark mist started coming off the deer and the lighting of the area appeared to dim darkening the area before the creature turned pure black as if it was just a shadow or empty void in the shape of a deer. He could only watch in horror frozen by fear as the deers form morphed rising up into a tall humanoid shape with the head of a stag. The figure looked to be made of pure shadow with two aquamarine glowing spots coming from where the eyes should sit. Even though he had only seen a figure like this in his dream Zane instantly recognised who it was recognising the feelings to the area the entity was creating. It was the Stag!
“Finally I have you on your own… I have something planned for you,” the Stags voice seemed to echo from the form sending chills over all the sensors of his body. The figure reached out towards him and feeling his power sources output start to race he managed to force himself to move and raced back to the lift. He pulled the lever to activate it but the lift didn’t move. Looking back he could see the Stag slowly following him. He closed the gates and tried a few more times to get the lift to work but it refused to budge. Zane was panicking as he saw the Stag getting closer starting to reach out to him expressing, “why do you fight me when you know there is no escape.” Zane pressed himself against the back wall of the lift shaking terribly and feeling trapped seeing no way out. When the Stag reached the gates he walked through them as if they weren’t even there and continued after him. Terrified as the Stag got close he coward putting his arms over his head and tightly closing his eyes as he could feel the Stag doing something dark that he couldn’t understand to him…
“This is taking too long, something must have gone wrong,” Nya noted as the others waited in one of the side passages by the cavern with the hole into the ruin. Cole and Clay were keeping an eye on the entrance. The Scimitar Centurion and two hyenoids were remaining on guard around it chatting a bit in the scymer language with the centurion using more machine noises than any actual language to talk. They could hear the machine was still active and the constructs showed no signs that there was possible altercations occurring in the ruin. After sneaking out of the cavern through a hole Cole made into a nearby tunnel they had snuck as best they could back to the entrance to the ruins. They were remaining hidden waiting for signs trouble was being caused in the ruin so they could rush in and help the others. After nearly an hour with no signs they were beginning to worry.
“Do we have a plan B?” Lance wondered and Kai stated as he leaned against the wall trying to stand even though the venoms effects still hadn’t fully worn off, “we could always just rush in there and kick some butts.”
“You know these three might not be good indicators of what is occurring in the ruins. They could have orders to remain here regardless of what is occurring elsewhere,” Cole noted watching the constructs with Clay.
“That could be true,” Nya agreed and Clay thought it over before stating, “okay, we’ll take these out and check out what is occurring inside.” They prepped themselves before rushing in to attack the constructs making sure to take them out quickly so they couldn’t call for help. Cole, Macy and Axl took out the Centurion while Clay, Nya and Lance took out the hyenoids. Kai tried to help but he still couldn’t use his one leg causing him to fall over where he was only able to take a couple swings at the one hyenoids legs as he lay on the ground. Once the constructs were taken out they headed into the ruin, Nya helping Kai back to his feet and to keep up with the rest of them. When they got inside the ruins they could find no evidence of anything in what appeared to be some sort of living quarters but they did find constructs and crazed miners wandering around a large section that appeared to be a town center. Everything was oddly peaceful. Despite the mix of beings no one was hostile to each other. The droids and constructs showed no signs they intended any harm to the people and were simply cleaning and working about the place as if the town still functioned like a normal town. Given what they had been told and from what they had so far experienced they all found it odd and unnerving. Since they could see no signs of Lloyd, Aaron, Zane or Jay they decided to take some time to observe what was going on. In order to observe the situation they cautiously made their way to the lowest level of the cavern and hid behind some crates and cargo which were a mix of Scimitar make and common modern make like what was commonly used in Balmora.
“This is strange,” Clay noted uneasy by the calmness.
“Why is everyone so peaceful? This doesn’t seem right,” Nya noted Kai propping himself up on a crate with his arms next to her since he couldn’t crouch on one leg. He was starting to feel the venom was wearing off as he had feeling in his leg again and he could sort of move it but it wasn’t totally fixed. They waited for several minutes observing the place finding the calmness odd. While they waited Lance played around with his phone while Cole and Axl took the time to have some snacks they had both brought with them. The others were not entirely pleased with them not keeping focus. Lance quickly found he couldn’t access any signals so began playing with the camera taking some pictures of the ruins and its inhabitants. While he looked over some of his pictures after he took some he noted something.
“Uhm, those special droids from the Stag, how do they differ from normal ones exactly?” Lance wondered and Nya stated, “well for a start they look more like these ones than those we have been training with and the most definitive sign is a whitish mark on the forehead often displaying some form of image or symbol. Why?”
“Either it’s some form of dirt or these droids have something painted on their foreheads,” Lance noted and Clay quickly took Lances phone from him to look at the pictures he had taken. After looking them over he then looked at the hyenoids in the cavern. Sure enough from those he could see they all had a mark on their forehead. For some it was incorporated into tattoos on their skin but even then it was still visible that it was a distinct mark for the individual.
“This is bad; these aren’t a group of rogue droids like we originally thought. These are minions to the Stag!” Clay exclaimed setting them all on edge.
“If they’re this demons minions then why are they being so passive? Shouldn’t they want to hunt us down and tear us apart like wild animals?” Kai who finally had the venom worn off inquired and Macy noted, “from what we have heard yha but none of these look interested in doing that?”
“Maybe it’s that sound. Maybe it’s keeping them passive,” Cole speculated after finishing one of his snack bars.
“Maybe, or there is something going on here,” Clay dreaded and Nya wondered, “like what; do you think it could be some sort of trap?”
“I don’t want to think it is but a lot of this whole ordeal adds up to that being a possibility,” Clay noted before an odd sound caught all their attentions.
“What’s a wolf doing down here?” Cole wondered before Clay noted getting anxious, “uh it’s not necessarily a wolf.”
“Is that one of these man-beast things we’ve heard of?” Kai wondered finally able to use his legs again. They watched as a half beast monster came rushing out of a building on the ground level at the end of the hall. It began to attack some of the constructs roaring at them and taking swipes with its large clawed forelimbs at them. Most of the constructs fled or hid looking like they preferred not to get involved more than having any actual fear to the beast. The people just cowered wherever they were.
“Should we do something?” Macy wondered and Lance expressed scared, “like what offer ourselves up as ordure’s?” They decided to remain hidden and not catch its attention. A few of the constructs remained and held their ground against the beast. At one point a hyenoid put one of the people behind itself standing protectively in front of it with nothing but a broom of Scymer make as the beast came at it. The were-wolf rushed at the droid and roared at it while it bared its teeth back at the beast not willing to back down. Fearing the person was in danger and dreading to see what would happen if the hyenoid got inflicted by the beast curse Clay rushed out of hiding to confront the beast smacking it in the head with his shield as it bit onto the broom which the droid refused to let go.
“Hey I’m on your side!” the beast expressed startling Clay who fell backwards in surprise. It let go of the broom and the hyenoid backed off leaving the person while the were-wolf focused on Clay.
“Don’t worry he won’t hurt us, he helped us escape,” Lloyd expressed rushing up to them from the same structure the were-wolf had come from. Jay and Aaron were not far behind him.
“The machine you’re looking for is down that hall,” the were-wolf explained to Lloyd pointing to the hall on the ground level that was in the opposite wall of the cavern to the one the structure they had come from was in.
“Again thank you for the help,” Lloyd stated to the beast who proclaimed, “don’t worry about the rest of us. We can get our way out of here. Shut down that machine and help your friend.” The were-wolf then followed the other people who were coming out of the building they had come from and helping their co-workers who had been driven crazy towards the exit of the ruins. None of the constructs hindered them or got in their way looking to not care about what was going on.
“What’s been taking you guys so long?” Kai inquired as the others met up with them.
“We’ve run into some setbacks,” Aaron noted working on Clays tablet and Jay expressed panicked, “one of these monsters has taken Zane somewhere; probably to meet their demon master!”
“One of them used this staff on him and forced him to follow it. He couldn’t break free of its hold. The individual that took him had all the trademarks of one of the Stags minions,” Lloyd explained worrying the others.
“That’s not good,” Clay noted and Nya wondered to Aaron, “can you find him?”
“Somewhat, some things messing with or interrupting his internal trackers so the signal only blips in for a few seconds once in a while but from what I could get he’s that way,” Aaron noted pointing to the hall the were-wolf had told them the machine was located.
“Huh, exactly where we need to go, what are the odds of that?” Cole wondered while Axl noted, “that sound has stopped.” They hadn’t really been paying attention to it but over the past few minutes the sound that had been causing the problems had stopped.
“Maybe Zane managed to find a way to break from its hold and shut it down,” Kai noted as they started heading towards the hall they needed to head through.
“I don’t think so, the hyenoid took him and I don’t think it wanted him to shut down the machine. I have a feeling it wanted something else from him,” Lloyd explained as they headed over to the hall.
“Like what?” Macy wondered and Lloyd explained, “given who it likely serves probably something dark.”
“Wait this could be a trap!” Jay exclaimed quickly blocking the doors to the hall once they reached them.
“It most likely is but if you want to see what has become of your friend we need to investigate it. Besides I sense something dark coming from this hall and I think it is in everyone’s best interest if we check out what it is,” Clay declared pushing Jay aside and opening the doors. There was a long hall on the other side that was lit by Scymer wall lanterns. Nothing seemed wrong in the hall however as they went through it and got closer to the other end they noted a strange cold coming over the area. The ruins had actually been rather warm so the sudden cold seemed out of place. Along with the cold some of them notably Clay and Lloyd got the sense of a dark energy nearby. When they opened the doors to the other end they were met with a large hall area. It was three stories tall and around a block in size. Only a few doors were in the room. The one they had come through, one at the opposite end and one on either side of the far end which likely lead off to other structures of the ruin. Above the door across from where they entered on the second story was a balcony which went back into a patio area where several machines were located. They had a feeling one of them was the machine that had caused the problem. Curved ramps ran up from the ground floor to the balcony. The place looked like it was likely a gathering place for the town possibly outside the town hall or palace of the ruler for the place. Despite being lit by Scymer lamp posts and wall lanterns the place seemed oddly dimly lit and a strange mist looked to be coming from the shadows in the place and hanging around the edges of the room. The place appeared empty except for one being.
A strange and dark figure was pacing by the opposite wall as if waiting for someone or something. The sight of the being put them all on edge and disturbed them. It wasn’t Zane like they had hoped and it was not a normal entity but one the people knew as a form of demon, a Noctern Crow. They were un-dead looking half crow half human monsters that stood around seven to eight feet tall. The body was largely corpse looking with the lower third of the bird built like legs and the three clawed tipped digits of the hand, two fingers and a thumb, being skeletal and the head resembling the large skull of a crow. While most of the body lacked any coating being a mainly bare greyed flesh coating the neck and random parts of the body had ragged black feathers coating them. Large tattered black feathered wings came out of the back by the shoulders while glowing icy blue orbs sat in place of eyes in the sockets of the skull. As was normally seen for these things the being wore a dark to black hooded and tattered robe that only went down to its knee caps. Unlike usual this one lacked any feathers decorating its robe and had only one shiny object which looked to be a small round plate of Scymer make which was attached to the tie around its waste on its robe. They had read of these things in their guide book. They were dark very dangerous and powerful monsters gifted in dark arts. There was something odd about this individual however. Its fleshy skin was silverfish and metallic looking and even the bones had a silver-ish tint to them along with hints of a slight metallic tinge. The creature appeared to be mumbling something to itself in a gruff crow like voice that carried hints of sounding familiar. They couldn’t exactly make out what it was mumbling as it appeared to be talking largely to itself. Every now and then it would pause to preen the feathers on its wings, scratch its head with its hind leg revealing these creatures also wore dark colored underwear and had a short featherless bobbed reptilian like tail or to peck at something on the ground. The sound of quite cawing occasionally came from the creature even when its mouth didn’t look like it was making any sounds.
“What is that thing doing here?” Jay worried hiding behind Axl and Macy noted, “don’t know but it probably isn’t a good sign.” They had a strong feeling they might want to back down and come back better equipped to deal with the creature as this was no simple opponent like creatures or droids. When they looked back however they found the doors had closed behind them and in a panic both Jay and Lance tried to open the doors but they wouldn’t budge. Axl then Cole who even used his lava arms tried to open the doors but they were unmovable and unbreakable.
“This isn’t good. We’re trapped in here with that thing. What do we do? We could try one of the other doors but we’ll likely have to confront that thing to get near them,” Lloyd worried and Clay noted keeping an eye on the creature, “I don’t think any of us would do to well in a fight against it if what that book said is true.”
“The book said they are capable of speech, maybe we could try talking to it and see what it wants. Couldn’t hurt could it?” Nya wondered and Cole noted, “yha but didn’t it also say bargains made with these things tended to end badly?”
“Surly it’s aware we’re here so why is it just seeming to ignore us?” Aaron wondered still holding onto Clays tablet and watching the creature pace.
“Maybe it’s like in some video games and that’s the final boss of this dungeon, if so then it’s waiting for us to make the first move,” Jay suggested and Macy wondered not amused by his suggestion, “like in video games? Why would you ever think of that?”
“Strange creepy setting, door mysteriously closed behind us and locked so strongly none of us can get out. We’re on a quest to aid others that took us into some ruins which will likely end here and that thing is a very powerful monster and looks like it is waiting for something like opponents,” Jay offered. As they talked both Clay and Lloyd got a strange dark feeling; there was more than the Noctern Crow in the room. There was something else that they couldn’t see. While the others argued over Jays final boss theory most of them even Nya not agreeing with it Clay and Lloyd looked all around the room.
“You feel that too?” Lloyd quietly inquired to Clay noting he was the only other one seeming to notice the feeling and Clay responded, “yha, something’s not right here. I don’t think this was just an accident we were brought here. I think something wanted us here and I don’t think it means to have a relaxed chat with us.” The two noticed the creature had stopped pacing and was looking at them looking ready to attack its head tilted to the side in a manner that indicated it was curious. A black fog began building around the outskirts blocking off the walls and dimming the lighting which caught the others attentions and caused Jay to remark, “see its going to start. It’s aware now we have a short time to make the first move before it makes a move!”
“Finally the foreign warriors who think they stand a chance here have arrived. Let me see what you can do without that meddling guard getting involved. Are you hunters or are you prey? Let us test your merit against my champion,” a dark voice they recognised as the Stags came from everywhere startling them all and causing Jay to panic before it sounded to personally address the creature, “my champion show to me the prowess of the knights and dragons of other worlds and show me your metal. Bring me their hearts and I shall greatly reward you.”
“I will not disappoint you my lord,” the Noctern Crow proclaimed. Something about its voice sounded familiar but they couldn’t exactly figure out why. The room seemed to get colder as the Noctern Crow took to the air and made a swoop at them knocking them all over with a chilly gust as it swooped through them before circling back to land atop the balcony perching on its edge to give off a deep roar that carried the hints of a crows caw to it as it perched its wings out in display.
“He could have at least let us have a moment to prepare,” Jay complained as they got up and prepared themselves for a fight. Before they could get up the Noctern Crow gave off a roaring caw launching off the balcony to dive down at them. Using a magic spell it created an icy chain to wrap around Lloyds one arm to pull him up to itself where in mid swoop it smacked him to the side with a swipe of its clawed bony hands without breaking its swoop before continuing its dive to land in front of the rest of them slamming its wings and a dark ice sickle it created during its dive into the ground in front of it sending an icy blast out from itself knocking some of the others over and creating some short shards of dark ice to shoot up from the ground around it. It reared up and roared a challenge at them. Axl was the first to challenge the crow while everyone else got up. He scuffled with it a bit with the crow using weapons limbs and wings in some form of martial arts before it got the upper hand and tossed him over its shoulders. It then cawed a challenge for the others. They all came at it hoping to overwhelm it but it took to the air to hover above them. Circling its weapon above its head it used dark magic to create allies to fight by its side turning the tables on them. It created a swarm of crows made of dark energy to pester them and summoned shadowy beings, void shadows, from the dark mist around the rooms edge. From its weapon it shot balls of freezing energy which manifested into frozen Serpent-flies when the balls hit the ground. With its allies summoned it landed to get back into fighting them. They continued fighting having to now deal with this creatures allies while also trying to attack the Noctern Crow which moved with a birds speed, the precision of a droid and the strength of a bear. At one point Cole managed to overpower the Crow knocking its sickle from its hands before it overpowered him and tossed him away like he was a doll; it then overpowered Nya who attempted to use Spinjitsu on it but the creature had no problems besting her attacks. After knocking her away it shocked them by creating its own Spinjitsu tornado, a black and aquamarine colored tornado, to send Jay, Lance, Clay, Macy and Kai flying.
“It can do Spinjitsu! How is that possible?!” Lloyd expressed shocked as the crow came out of its tornado hovering just off the ground for a few seconds before landing to give off a deep cawing laugh noise as if amused by its actions. The Noctern Crow kept using its attacks on them occasionally taking to the air to swoop down at an opponent or try to land atop someone. It would even pick some of them up with its hind legs lifting them off the ground a few feet before dropping them often on one of the others. It would attack with claws, peck and bite with its beak, use weapons it would create out of ice or pure shadows and hit them with elemental attacks primarily focussed on ice. Some of its elemental attacks included creating freezing whirlwinds to spin randomly across the room seizing whoever got caught by them with cold causing a frost to build up on their skin hair and clothes, freezing their feet to the floor which Kai was luckily able to free them if they got frozen, attempt to hit them with ice shards, causing ice to build on their skins from freezing winds it would toss at them and even attempt to freeze them solid in ice. It would also create a dense cold fog to fill the area so it could sneakily swoop attack one of them randomly pinning them down with its clawed feet while trying to peck, claw and bite its target. This fog not only made it hard to help those it attacked as it was hard to see but also made it hard for them to move as it chilled them to their cores making it hard to defend themselves. Luckily Clay knew a spell to counter most of its attacks even its fog attack whenever the creature made it to help dispel them to protect the others. The creature was fast however and often able to launch an attack on someone before the fog was fully dispelled. When the fog dissipated it would end its attack to prevent them from getting a chance to ambush it. There were also a few strange times where it used fire magic which they found very bizarre and surprised them.
“How can it use two elements? Alongside their dark magic and natural given powers they can only wield one form of elemental magic not multiples!” Clay wondered greatly confused and Jay wondered, “maybes it’s got some sort of enchanted item on its person or attire? Or maybe it’s special or the Stag gave it some special powers?”
“Let’s hope it’s just from a special trinket it’s already powerful enough as is. Plus this things bad enough already we don’t need anything more making it worse,” Lloyd commented as the Crow picked him up to take to the air then toss him into Cole. When it used the fire powers the crow seemed surprised and confused that it had used those attacks like it never expected it could do that allowing them to get a few hits in while it was confused before it continued its attacks. The crow continued a couple more times with the strange fire attacks randomly occurring strangely its own attacks clearly irritating the creature before it went back to solely using its ice powers and didn’t use fire again. While it was confused were some of the few times they could get any hits in on the creature; most of the time it was the creature besting them. The only other thing that let them get a chance at attacking it was when some of the others tried taunting it. If they were lucky they were able to distract it long enough for someone else to get in a blow. Knowing they were the only ones strong enough to take some of the crows blows Cole and Axl focussed on trying to distract it while the others tried to get some hits in. Occasionally some of the others tried to taunt it but it didn’t go so well for them. Usually after their first few failed attempts they would stop leaving the distracting to Cole and Axl however Kai kept making the mistake of taunting it and getting tossed about by the crow as he wasn’t often prepared or strong enough to deal with its retaliations.
While fighting it would occasionally mutter words and a few taunts at them in its deep gruff voice along with giving off crow like noises and its cawing roar. It would say things like ‘you are lice among feathers, irritating nothing more’, ‘come fools throw yourselves at my talons’, ‘feel winters embrace’, ‘can you handle the freeze’, ‘you are but prey, crunchy juicy prey’, ‘ice answers my call’, ‘come fools, feel winter's bite’, ‘feel my chill in your blood’, ‘how does it feel to be hunted’, ‘how does the prey taste’, ‘what should I peck out first? Your hearts or your eyes? Both are juicy nibbles’, ‘was the prey expecting something more for its efforts than cuts, bruising and pain?’ and ‘do not worry I will make the preys suffering last while the hunter feasts’. While the others were a bit disturbed, annoyed or on edge from its words every now and then they generally ignored what it was saying knowing it was trying to get to them. Jay on the other hand couldn’t help but get riled up by the words and kept yelling back at it which just seemed to please the creature that its words were affecting them. At one point Clay managed to get a break from some of its forces and went to hit the crow with a blast of light energy to the chest but as he prepared to hit it standing almost directly in front of it he heard it quietly mutter while looking at Clay, ‘enough let me go… get out of my head you monster’. Clay stopped his attack confused by its words. He hadn’t done anything to it yet and he wasn’t messing with its head. Why was it saying those things to him? He guessed it might have been a form of distraction as it attacked him while he was confused and hesitating tackling him to the ground and trying to pull his shield from his hands pulling something in his chest with its efforts before Cole managed to drive it back tackling it over with his lava arms active before the crow bested him and tossed him like a doll into Axl.
After taking out its allies they attempted to overwhelm it again but it took a deep breath before emitting a loud piercing bird like screech that had them all cowering covering their ears in pain and leaving a loud ringing in their ears for a while. Jay was the first to react to the sound hitting the creature with a heavy shock to silence it. The shock had a serious impact to the creature seizing it up for a few seconds and looking to cause it pain, more pain than they expected it should. Its eyes flickered a bit as it recovered standing dazed with its wings drooped swaying a bit on its feet. It looked angrily at Jay while recovering giving off an angry rattling almost metallic sounding growl at Jay. Aaron took a few shots at it from his hover shield hovering a bit above it but it pulled its wings over itself blocking his shots. It then shot a freezing blast at Aaron knocking him out of the air where he landed on his back winded by the side wall Clays tablet falling out of his shirt where he had put it in order to fight coming to sit on the ground next to him. He lay winded and slowly catching his breath a little dazed as the others continued to take on the Noctern Crow getting bested by it with almost every attack and noticed something on the tablet. He sat up and picked it up looking at it and watched a bit of the fight to determine what he was seeing continually checking between the fight and the tablet.
After managing to toss Axl, Cole and Macy away from itself piling them on top of each other Jay again shocked the Noctern Crow stunning it for a few seconds. After it recovered it lunged at Jay pinning him to the ground with its bird like legs placing one of its feet on his throat as it bent over to scream in his face looking very mad. This freaked Jay out as not only was he highly irritated by the noise but he was scared by the creatures pointy beak which it could easily peck his eyes out with if it wanted to being so close to his face. The creatures breath also got to him making him feel a bit sick as it smelled like the creature had eaten something rotting recently. The crow then lifted up to hover above them and as Jay slowly got up his ears ringing, feeling a bit dizzy from the sound and sick from its breath it tossed a blast of dark energy at him engulfing Jay in a dark fog. When the fog cleared they were all rather stunned to see where Jay had been stood a slightly scrawny and ragged looking large wide eyed auburn and bluish grey mottled rooster with curly feathers on its head and neck looking around scared and confused.
“Uhm, did it just do what I think it did?” Axl wondered shocked while the Noctern Crow made a deep cawing laughing noise that indicated it was amused with what it had done and Kai expressed stunned, “if you’re thinking turn Jay into a chicken… I think it did!”
“Jay is that you?” Nya wondered worried coming up to the bird who was pecking at Jays nun-chucks that lay on the ground as if trying to pick them up. He looked up at her looking to try and talk but all that was coming out was a bunch of clucks.
“Sorry Jay but I don’t speak chicken,” Nya stated and chicken Jay looked stumped before looking at himself. The moment he realised what he was he began to panic crowing, flapping his wings and running in circles while Nya expressed worried, “how do we fix this?!”
“Maybe one of the scholars back in town knows a counter spell?” Lloyd suggested feeling disturbed and agitated while Clay offered, “I know a spell but I’ve never used it in a serious situation before and I don’t think my magic is powerful enough to combat that things dark magic. Merlok could fix him but we first have to defeat that thing and hopefully get out of here before it turns more of us into livestock or worse.”
“Uh there’s a problem with that,” Aaron expressed quickly coming over to the rest of them on edge holding Clays tablet, “I think I figured out where Zane is.”
“You did, where is he? We could really use his help; he’s got a way with birds maybe he could reason with this thing,” Cole asked and Aaron pointed at the Noctern Crow, “there.”
“Are you joking around cause this isn’t a time to Joke,” Lloyd scolded and Aaron stated, “no this isn’t a joke. His signature is coming from that thing.”
“But how, that monsters clearly not Zane,” Nya noted before the Noctern Crow swooped down at them again and they dodged its attack.
“That’s what the tablet says, his gps tracker is pinning to that thing,” Aaron explained as from the air the Noctern Crow tossed a frost coated shurikan at Lloyd who ducked to miss it. The shurikan hit the floor and bounced a bit. Looking at the weapon that nearly hit him Lloyd noted something. While the others dodged the creature landing by them creating a ring of ice shards around itself pointed out towards them, chicken Jay hopping into Nyas arms for protection and Nya hugging him close to protect him, Lloyd went over to pick it up. Clearing off the frost with his sleeve he was disturbed to find this wasn’t just any shurikan. It was the Red-Diamond Shurikan; Zane had been using that weapon ever since receiving it!
“What is it… isn’t that…” Clay noted coming to see what Lloyd was looking at before both dodged an attack from the Noctern Crow. It attempted to get in a scuffle with them but Clay used a spell to knock it back causing it to land on its back. Before it could get up Lloyd jumped atop it and attempted to cut its chest. He managed to cut a piece of its robe up revealing part of its chest before it managed to grab the shurikan and push him back. In the quick moments in which it grabbed hold of the shurikan and Lloyd before tossing him away and into Macy Lloyd noted the hand touching the shurikan change from the bony hand of the Noctern Crow to that of Zanes! Once it let go of the weapon its hand went back to its bony monster appearance. The Noctern Crow jumped back onto its feet and roared at them. As it stood there they could all see Lloyd had managed to cut part of the robe off on the left area of its chest over its heart area revealing the body beneath. What they saw only confused and startled them more. The body didn’t look like what they expected from one of these monsters. While it looked fleshy with the strange metallic tinted sickly grey flesh they could see on the limbs there were clear marks like the seams to plating mimicking the build of a human’s body within the skin. It looked like the body of a droid; like Zanes including the distinct spot revealing the icy glow from his heart on its chest.
“Zane?!” Lloyd wondered feeling startled and confused, “what has happened to you?!” At the sound of his name the Noctern Crow looked at him looking to recognise his name. If this thing was really Zane than that helped explain some things. The familiar hints to its voice, how it was able to use Spinjitsu, it’s preference for ice powers over dark magic despite now having skills in both and what Clay had heard it muttering.
“What has happened to him? How did he become that monster?” Cole wondered disturbed and the Stags deep laughter caught them off guard before he spoke his voice coming from everywhere, “so the prey figured out who the hunter is; now that you know who he is what are you going to do? Will you destroy one of your own before he destroys you or will you give up? Who will be the hunter and who will be the prey? Only one side can be victorious in this hunt for survival and who will it be?”
“We’ll never give up demon and we’ll find a way to undo what you’ve done to our friend!” Lloyd called out to the Stag before quietly talking to the others, “what do we do? That thing has cursed Zane into a monster to serve it, how do we fix him? I don’t want to hurt him.”
“We just might have to hurt him cause I don’t think he’s going to not hurt us,” Axl noted as Zane took to the air to swoop at them landing to slam a sickle he made of dark ice into the ground sending a blast of freezing energy at them forcing them all to stumble backwards a bit.
“Maybe we just need to hurt him enough to weaken him and knock him out, then we can try and get him some help,” Nya suggested using her trident to hold back the icy sickle Zane had created and was trying to slash her with. She deflected his blade while Clay went to hit him from behind. Noting Clay coming Zane tensed up before sending a strong blast of frosty energy out from himself knocking everyone over thrusting his wings and arms out in display while giving a bird like screech.
“For that to work I think we’ll need a distraction so he can’t see it coming,” Aaron noted as they got back up and Lloyd added, “plus we’re going to need to hit him pretty hard in the head to knock him out for a few hours.”
“I can do that just keep him occupied,” Cole expressed and Macy wondered, “how are we going to do that?” They continued to fight with Zanes Noctern Crow form which was able to best each of them with relative ease no matter how hard they tried and was giving them plenty of bruises, pulled muscles and cuts.
“Well he does have a habit of getting a little too into roles he takes up. He might be taking his role as one of these things seriously or whatever curse he’s under might make him think he’s actually one of these monsters meaning he could fall for the same things those creatures fall for,” Nya suggested and Clay noted holding up his shield to protect himself as Zane pecked at him, “if that’s true I don’t see much that could help. There isn’t anything particularly reflective in here nor is there any rotting meat and the Stag probably has made it so he will not bargain or even talk with us.”
“We do have one thing; we know you picked up one of those shiny pendants from the ruins Lance,” Axl noted to Lance who expressed pretending to have no clue what Axl meant, “what, no I didn’t.”
“Come on the book said these crow things have a fondness for shiny objects; being one of them Zane might be thinking like one of them so he’ll likely fall for the same tricks these monsters do. Besides it doesn’t belong to you,” Macy stated trying to take Zanes legs out from under him but he took to the air to land on her and try to pull her weapon and shield from her hands.
“This place is a ruin, the owners are long gone. I don’t think they’d care if someone took it as a special trinket,” Lance proclaimed and some of the others stating his name in an angry manner, including some of the ninja, made him finally give in.
“Fine, hey look cyber boy look at this pretty shiny,” Lance called taking a polished gold-bronze pendant he had taken from the dwellings area of the ruin out of his pocket and holding it up while waving it a bit to catch Zanes attention. It didn’t take long for the shiny object to catch his attention. Zane seemed confused at first before taking interest and swooping over towards Lance. Zane landed a bit in front of him to inspect the object before hopping over like an eager crow to take the object. After a quick tugging battle and a peck to Lances hand Zane yanked the pendent away from Lance who slowly moved back scared of Zane. With his head moving in quick bird like movements Zane checked over the item and began looking over himself for a place to put his new shiny object giving off quite crow noises as he looked.
“Yes pretty shiny, focus on the shiny. That’s what you want isn’t it a pretty shiny to go with your pretty feathers,” Kai expressed while Cole snuck up behind Zane who looked to be distracted prepping to hit Zane in the back of the head with his hammer. To avoid dragging his attention away from the object the rest of them remained as still as they could. When Cole was in striking distance Zane became aware of his presence and turned to look at him cawing in defence, “my Shiny!” To keep his shiny object while he fought so no one could get it Zane quickly swallowed it grossing them all out before tackling Cole trying to pull his hammer from his hands while Nya remarked over his action, “I hope he barfs that up cause I’m not too keen on having to go in and remove it later if it gets stuck somewhere or causes problems.”
Zane managed to pull Coles hammer from his hand pecking at his fingers to make sure Cole let go of it and with one hand slammed it into the ground next to Cole the hammer and the ground around it getting coated in ice with the action. Macy and Axl both attempted to hit him from behind but he was quick to pick them up and turned using the Noctern Crows scream at them irritating them. Zane suddenly stopped his attack to look at his one foot a little surprised. While the others were fighting Jay had been trying to pick up his nun-chucks to try and at least do something in the fight. He had managed to pick them up but couldn’t effectively wield them while a chicken. Instead he decided to go with what he had and rushed over to peck and scratch at Zanes feet managing to perform a minor slightly feathery Spinjitsu tornado mustering some of his powers in the process to give Zane some minor shocks. Zane quickly clawed down with a clawed hand and snatched Jay up by the one hind leg. Zane held Jay upside down by his face looking confused. Jay tried pecking his leg free but Zane wasn’t bothered by his attempts so he created a small electrical burst. It shocked Zane but he didn’t let go instead once recovering he opened his beak slightly giving off a metallic rattling growl noise looking quite mad and scaring Jay who was afraid of what Zane might do to him.
“Hey drop the chicken,” Cole expressed surprising both as he shoved his fist into Noctern Crow Zanes mouth hitting him in the back of the throat. Zane dropped Jay who landed on his shoulders before slowly getting back to his feet a little stunned while Zane began making a coughing noise looking like he was choking on something.
“What did you do to him?” Lloyd wondered a bit worried as they congregated around Zane and Cole replied, “gave him something to eat so he wouldn’t eat Jay; I had an extra snack bar in my pocket that I shoved down his throat.”
“And why did you think he was going to eat Jay? He was probably just going to yell at him with that ear piercing sound. My ears are still ringing from it,” Macy wondered to which Cole replied, “why else would you turn Jay into a chicken?”
“Yha you would probably do that if you were in his situation but I don’t think Zane would do that,” Kai expressed and Aaron stated with a laugh, “I think he did it as a joke; I know I would after all it’s funny that the chicken of the group got turned into a literal chicken.” Jay was not amused by Aarons comments or laughing and rushed at him constantly trying to angrily peck at his feet to show his disapproval. After hitting himself in the chest a few times Zane finally managed to cough up the snack bar coughing it into Coles face and coughing a strange dark greenish black slime onto Cole with it grossing everyone out though by the noise he made it sounded like Zane was pleased and amused by his actions.
“Ugh what is this stuff? It’s gross and I think some of it got in my eyes and my mouth,” Cole expressed trying to wipe the stuff off himself ending up smearing it on himself more than wiping it off and Nya noted, “that doesn’t look like any of the substances normally found in his body. It’s probably something the Stag put in him likely some sort of dark substance to help corrupt and control him.”
“It’s gross, tastes worse than barf and burns; it’s a cold burn too. Odd cause this stuff is really warm,” Cole expressed as he cleaned himself off and the others started to notice something odd to him. It looked like he had activated his lava arms but the glow to them was an eerie void green color and his eyes glowed with tints of this strange color. Cole was unaware of what was happening even when the others pointed it out to him. Zane took to the air to hover above them and looked to do some sort of spell as a dark energy manifested then disappeared in his one hand as he made a rotating motion with the hand. As he cast the spell Zane cawed, “void plasm animate my foe, turn the hunted to the hunter.”
“What does that mean?” Clay wondered looking around confused unsure what the spell had done till Cole took a few swipes at him with his fists.
“Cole what are you doing?” Lloyd inquired and Cole who was confused and worried uttered, “I… I don’t know?! I can’t control myself… something’s wrong… in my head! I… you… you’re the prey and I am a hunter. Must weaken the prey.” His voice slowly developed hints of the strange emptiness sound the Stags voice had as he lost control and charged at Lloyd tackling him to the ground and trying to pull his sword from his hands. Both Axl and Nya came to try and pry Cole off Lloyd and restrain him. They managed to pull him off but he was too strong to restrain and started going after some of the others clearly being the victim of Zanes spell causing him to turn on the rest of them. As he fought Cole kept muttering words randomly. By the things he was saying it sounded like he was trying to fight to regain control of himself but was struggling against the dark spell. Zane just gave off a cawing laugh before re-summoning the void shadows, crows and frozen Serpent-flies. He then rejoined the fighting while the others tried to find a way to knock him out. Since the enemies ignored him, likely thinking as a chicken he was harmless or not worth the effort, Jay managed to get close to Zane who had landed to toss some of the others around as he fought and gave him a surprise attack. Zane had just tossed Nya into Clay as Jay jumped at him biting onto his bony foot and sending a major shock through him. Zane looked down at him dazed and angry after the shock as Jay challenged him scratching his one foot on the ground as if getting ready to charge like a bull. In retaliation for the shocking and to show he had no fear of Jay Noctern Crow Zane bent down to put his face in front of Jay to loudly roar at him holding his wings out and arms directed threateningly in display at Jay. After the display Jay stood stunned for a second slowly taking a few steps back without looking away from Zane before rushing off to hide behind the closest friend he could find Kai. Kai was confused by Jays reaction as he took out a frozen Serpent-fly melting it with his fire till he looked back at Zane who was looking angrily at Jay.
“Had to go and try to pick a fight with him huh Jay? Why don’t you leave dealing with him to those who haven’t been turned to poultry,” Kai expressed to Jay who grumbled angrily at Kai giving him a minor shock in disapproval to Kais comment.
“Hey bird brain why are you picking on a poor little chicken? Why don’t you pick on something more fitting for your feathered nindroid mug like a fiery hot ninja,” Kai teased turning his attention to Zane throwing some fire at him. Zane blocked the blasts with his wings before taking to the air and making a swoop at them. Kai dodged before Zane could hit him and as he swooped past Jay sent a shock at Zane surprising him and stopping him mid flight. He turned to look at them hovering above the ground angry. While he was distracted with them Lance took the chance to hit him as hard as he could in the back with his lance stating as he did it, “time to hit you like a piñata.”
His hit forced Zane to land but didn’t hurt him instead irritated him. He turned to Lance and roared in his face displaying his hand claws and wings startling Lance before grabbing him and tossing him into Kai knocking both into a pile. As Zane stalked towards them Jay got between them and clucked defensively building up a charge of his powers. He let it go giving Zane a shock. Zane was dazed for a few seconds before he shook off and looked down at Jay looking to be un-amused and angered with Jay’s actions. Jay gave a motion with wings out scratching with one foot on the ground as if challenging him to make a move. Zane stomped his one foot at Jay his wings out in display and took a swipe at Jay. Scared of what Zane might do to him Jay dodged his attack before rushing over to shelter by Kai and Lance. As he stood in front of them looking to get ready to attack Jay shocked him again. Zane shook it off before looking them over. Zane then took a deep breath crumpling over a bit while making some strange noises.
“Uh, what is he doing? Is he okay? He doesn’t sound like he’s okay,” Lance inquired and Kai expressed, “you should stop shocking him Jay I think you might have damaged something.” Zane then straightened up to spit a rancid vomit with partially to half digested chunks of maggots, weird glowing worms, rotting meat and a few parts from at least three rats, along with a shiny necklace and two shiny rings on Kai, Lance and Jay. He even vomited up the pendant which smacked Jay in the head. The three just sat shocked, stunned and disturbed as Zane made a deep cawing laugh at them clearly amused with what he had done.
“Or he just wanted to do that… he did that on purpose didn’t he?!” Lance expressed both him and Kai trying to not throw up and Kai stated, “by the fact he’s laughing about it I think so, this is so gross and wrong! I hope only a single wash can get this stuff off and the smell out… ugh when did he eat all this stuff, I don’t recall him having any of it for lunch.”
“Probably after being cursed into that thing,” Lance suggested. They sat trying to get as much of the vomit off themselves. Luckily for them it seemed their opponents who were starting to dwindle didn’t wish to get close to them put off by the vomit. While he was distracted laughing at the three Macy snuck up and took a swing at Zane giving him a hefty smack to the back of the head. Zane stumbled dazed but wasn’t knocked unconscious. While he was dazed Clay hit him with a blast of energy flinging him hard into the wall. He hit it hard back first before sliding down to land at its base. They weren’t sure if he was unconscious as the Noctern Crows form had no definitive eyes or eye lids but by the fact he just sat there, the light from the orbs in the eyes dimmed almost disappearing and he didn’t move or make a sound they guessed he was unconscious. With Zane knocked out they turned to helping the others finish taking out the few void shadows that remained and try to restrain Cole. No matter how hard they tried they couldn’t restrain him. They came close but a dark voice echoing through the hall stopped all of them even Cole. The place got much darker the lights barely giving off any light and thick black clouds came to fill the upper story of the place.
“Enough of this! I asked you to bring me their hearts and you promised you would do so willingly but instead you play with your prey like a whelp and not hunt them down as I requested. You are to be a hunter not a jester. I see I will have to suspend your freedom to get done what needs to be done,” they heard the Stags voice boom before Zane replied clearly sounding terrified, “Please my lord I am sorry, I promise to do better I beg of you please do not possess me!” Looking back to where they had left Zane they saw he was conscious again and was getting picked up by a black mist. He was trying to fight it frantically flapping his wings, pecking and clawing but couldn’t escape sounding to be terrified and in pain as he fought.
“I gave you a chance to obey me willingly but you defied me. It is too late to beg for my mercy. Did you think I was unaware of your actions, that you could hide your intentions from me? Now you will have no choice but to obey me. I will make you tear out their hearts or I will tear out yours,” the Stags voice boomed as the mist engulfed Zanes corrupted form. The Stags words and what Zane had been saying stuck with the rest of them. By the sounds of it even though the Stag had corrupted him and changed his form it sounded like Zane had made a bargain with the Stag so he could keep his free will to prevent himself from harming them. Looking back at the fight even though it seemed he had been against them with his fighting he really hadn’t been doing any serious harm to them. Sure he had given them some bruising, cuts, scrapes, bites or torn muscles but it was nothing that wouldn’t heal within a couple days. He had mainly just been tossing them about and messing with them doing things he likely found amusing or knew would irritate or disturb them rather than truly harm them. Turning Jay into a chicken, barfing on Kai and Lance, even turning Cole into a puppet had been rather harmless as like him Cole wasn’t really causing much harm to anyone and was mainly knocking them over or trying to steal their weapons to toss them aside. He was also biting them but aside from unnerving some of them mainly Kai, Lance and Jay he wasn’t really hurting them. It hurt when he bit but he wasn’t breaking skin and they could easily push him off. There was also the shurikan. Despite having thrown it at them he had made no attempts to recover it almost like he wanted them to have it though they couldn’t tell why. Was he wanting them to use it as aid in some way, maybe to break the spell the Stag had put on him or at the very least the Stags hold over him? It all made them think. Had he been acting as a threat to them to keep them safe from the Stag in hopes they would find a way to rescue him before the Stag found out what he was doing? If he was wanting help how come he had not said anything? Was it to keep the Stag from finding out or did whatever the Stag had done to him prevent him from saying anything? Clearly though his plan had not worked out and now Zane would have no choice but to cause serious harm or worse to them as the Stag had caught on to his plans.
As the mist cleared around him the Noctern Crow form of Zane shot out from the mist to perch on the balcony and roar at them, the hints of familiarity they had heard in his voice before gone replaced with hints of the Stag. His whole body had blackened developing some of the greenish lightening markings and his eyes and power source had turned to the aquamarine color. As he came to perch the clouds in the top of the hall began to circle and develop a greenish tinge like they had during the Stags attack before. He then used a spell to summon Void Wraiths, shadowy were-wolves and lesser void monsters like Voidfears, Serpent-flies, Vrimps and strange vulture hyena hybrid known Skurocs from the mists around them.
“I will not put up with your friends meddling. It is time you face me,” the Stags voice boomed from the Noctern Crow before he launched down at them creating a scythe made of pure dark energy and wielding it with one hand to attack them. As the Stags attack got underway they were quick to note when it was Zane in control they really had just been playing around and not actually fighting. Zane and even the monsters he had summoned hadn’t really been trying to hurt them just keep them occupied and defiantly had not been fighting to their true potential. The Stag and his monsters however did want to hurt them and worse and weren’t holding back. They were far tougher, stronger, faster and very powerful. The fight quickly got out of hand and turned towards the worse. If they defeated any of the shadowy or monster beings they would simply re-manifest from the dark mist that coated the edges of the room creepily rising and stumbling back into the fight. They were quick to find they couldn’t touch this mist as it would begin to burn them with a deep empty cold and any magical or elemental attacks that hit it just vanished as it hit the mist having no effect on it. They were struggling to combat the enemies and the place seemed to slowly be getting darker and colder as time went on. To make it worse they had no armour wearing nothing but civilian clothes, the Knights didn’t have full access to their Nexo Powers and they were down three members. Zane was of course cursed into a monster by the Stag and now being fully controlled by the demon. Jay was stuck as a chicken and though he tried to help he couldn’t do much as a chicken. He had at one point shocked the Noctern Crow but the monster just seemed to absorb it and with a dark laugh from the Stag shot aquamarine colored lightening back at Jay sending him fleeing for cover. Though still under the effects of Zanes puppeteering spell Cole had been spared the Stags control but was of little use in the fight. He was stuck pestering them and unable to properly protect himself when threatened by an enemy as not only did the spell make him distracted with focussing on the wrong targets but it also gave him poor reaction times. Seeing the fight was not going too well Clay requested from Lloyd to see the Red-diamond Shurikan getting an idea.
“Why?” Lloyd wondered and Clay responded, “I have an idea. Fae said it can be used to break some types of curses. Let’s see if that’s true. If so we might be able to save your friends.” Lloyd gave Clay the shurikan not entirely thinking it could have an effect. There seemed nothing magical to it and both agreed it didn’t feel special even though others claimed it was and even Zane had felt there was something special to it.
“Maybe it needs a source of power like our shields in order to work,” Clay thought aloud after taking a few swipes with it and noting no difference between it and his sword on the enemies. Using his magic skills he focused a light based magic into the weapon and took a few swipes at some Void Wraiths. He could see a notable difference as it took fewer swipes to destroy them.
“Okay so it does have some special properties but if what they say is true how can we use it to dispel a curse. Would it even work on the Stag?” Lloyd wondered not feeling very confident in the weapon. Clay thought it over while using the weapon. Noting Jay who was running away from a void were-wolf trying to escape it from eating him Clay decided to try something. He destroyed a Void Wraith then pointed the weapon towards Jay and focused his magic through it focussing on a spell he hoped could counter the one Zane had used on Jay. Just as the beast had Jay pinned down the spell hit him engulfing him in light startling the void beast which took a few steps back letting Jay go. When the light dissipated Jay was back to normal. He still had a few feathers sticking out of his hair and clothes with patches of vomit still on him but he was no longer a chicken. Realising he was back to normal he got up and used his Spinjitsu to take out the creature.
“I’m no longer a chicken! I’m no longer a chicken!” Jay exclaimed loudly and happily once the beast was destroyed and he exited his tornado. He then wasted no time in rushing to retrieve his weapon to get back in the fight.
“It worked,” Clay expressed and Lloyd countered, “okay turning someone into a chicken is probably not too hard a spell compared to what the Stag has done though.”
“True but it’s still not a simple spell,” Clay agreed before focussing on Cole and sending a spell through the shurikan that he hoped would dispel the spell on Cole who was trying to fight the spells hold so he could protect himself from some Void Wraiths. When Clays spell hit him the dark spells marks vanished from Cole and he was able to regain control. He dodged the enemies’ attacks and used his lava arms to break his weapon free of the ice that stuck it to the floor getting back into the fight. Even with two of them back it still didn’t help much in the fight. They knew what they had to do. They had to remove the Stags influence from the area but it was not going to be easy.
“Where did you get that?” the Stags deep commanding voice demanded loudly startling them. He sounded mad and close. Looking up Clay and Lloyd were startled to see the Noctern Crows form hovering in the air near them glaring down at them. He had seen them using the Red Diamond Shurikan and was not pleased by their actions. Thinking quickly Clay focussed a spell of light through the shurikan towards the Stag putting a large deal of energy into it. When the light hit the Stag it looked to irritate him but do nothing more.
“Try all you want foolish knight even with that weapon your powers have no effect on me,” the Stag declared and Lloyd took a shot at him with his powers. Again it did nothing to the Stag.
“Not even you can do anything to me green dragon. Now let me guess it was one of my metal animals that gave you that, I am pretty sure I know which one too. Did they think it would give you a chance against me cause it will not, against those ashen heathens maybe but not me. There is nothing that can harm me,” the Stag boasted before swooping down at them slamming his scythe into the ground at them. The two dodged his attack but had to quickly defend themselves as the Stag came at them with a bird like speed trying to slash them with his weapon giving them little time to react. The others tried to help them as much they could but they were struggling against the void beings. The Stag managed to pull Clays shield which he had been using to protect him and Lloyd from some of the Stags attacks from his hand with the scythe. Instinctively in defence Lloyd used his powers on the Stag who wrapped his wings around himself to block the attack. Clay went to grab Lloyd to get him to move so they could put some distance between themselves and the Stag before the Stag could continue to attack. The moment he touched Lloyd Clay felt a strange and strong energy shoot up his arm that held the shurikan coming from the weapon. The energy lit his arm up with a bright light from his magic powers startling him causing him to drop the weapon. When he dropped it the light faded from his arm as the energy stopped.
“What just happened?” Lloyd wondered quickly picking up the shurikan and Clay respond, “I felt a strange surge of energy come from it when I touched you. It felt like it was drawing energy from both of us.” The Stag spread out his wings and raised his weapon to attack. Without thinking Lloyd sent his powers through the shurikan at the Stag holding him back. He focussed on putting as much power as he could through the weapon scared if he didn’t the Stag would cut him in half or worse. He was focussing so much power through the weapon it was causing his hands and arms to glow from power. Thinking about what he had felt Clay got an idea and put a hand on the shurikan. He focussed on a light based power and sent it through the shurikan using as much of his power as he could causing the arm he held onto the shurikan with to develop a strong light glow. His power combined with Lloyds through the weapons enhancing ability created a strong beam of light that hit the Stag and started not only holding him back but pushing him back causing the Noctern Crows form to start shaking as it struggled against the light a black mist starting to fall from its body. Where the light impacted the darkening caused by the Stag slowly began to fall back revealing the original creatures’ body. Seeing what they were doing was having an effect Lloyd and Clay focussed more power through the weapon starting to weaken both with the amount of energy they were using. It wasn’t long till they were blinded and knocked back by an explosion of light the weapon dropping from their hands with the explosion. They were all startled and blinded by the light. It took over a minute for their senses to recover leaving them all worried and scared of being attacked. As their senses recovered they were all surprised but relieved to find the void beings were gone, the mist had receded to the edges of the room, the clouds above were gone and the room was well lit again.
“So you found a way to break my hold, this means nothing to me pathetic mortals. I would finish you but you are currently not worth my time or the effort. I have seen all I need to and it does not amuse me. I was not even using a portion of my potential on you and you barely stood a chance. I will spare your pathetic souls for now but next we meet I may not be so lenient. Let us hope by then you are more worthy prey,” they heard the Stags voice echo through the room putting them on edge. They could see no sign of him and it wasn’t long till they could feel the room warming up and the dark mists disappeared telling them the Stag had likely left. The ninja quickly looked for Zane worried the Stag had taken him. To their relief they found Zane laying on his front on the ground near the wall with the balcony. They rushed over to him while the knights looked at their surroundings not entirely sure the Stag had left. The ninja were worried as Zane didn’t look to be moving and wasn’t responding to their calls. Other than looking a bit roughed up and dirty he seemed fine. Lloyd went to shake him a bit to see if that did anything. Zane lay still for a few moments before tensing up covering his head with his arms muttering in a terrified tone, “no leave me alone I don’t want to serve you.”
“Zane it’s just us the Stags gone you’re safe,” Jay expressed as they tried to stir him from whatever state he was in gently talking to and shaking him but he appeared to be unresponsive. By the looks and what he was saying they felt he was stuck in the state he had likely been in when the Stag had found him and started to turn him into one of those monsters. Hoping he might know something to help Lloyd called Clay to come over to see if he could offer aid. Clay decided to use as powerful a calming spell he knew hoping that would be enough to help him. After using the spell on him Zane slowly relaxed and looked around. He was still defiantly scared and disturbed but he was no longer in that state of shock.
“Is he gone?” Zane worried as they helped him to his feet. He was shaking, looked to have some minor internal damages and was clearly scared and confused.
“We think so… at least for now,” Lloyd stated and Zane regaled appearing to be in a state of shock, “he trapped me in Blackreach… I could not escape then he did something… turned me into one of those monsters. I didn’t want to but I made a deal with him. If I obeyed him he would not take me over again… it was all I could do to keep from hurting anyone.”
“Don’t worry it’s over now, you’re safe and no one was really harmed,” Lloyd expressed before Lance blurted, “speak for yourself! Do you see what your pal did to me; I’m probably going to have to shower for a week to get clean!”
“There’s nothing wrong with that you can shower all you want when we get back to town,” Macy expressed and Jay quickly blurted being very shaken and on edge, “okay the Stags gone, Zanes free of his curse and some of us need a shower now can we please get out of this cursed place before anything else can happen to us or that monster comes back!” They were all in agreement with him.
“I think that’s a good idea. We should check the ruins first and make sure no one’s still trapped here then we’ll get out,” Clay decided.
“It was a trap, the Stag was there waiting to ambush us. By the looks of it he made the insects break into the ruin allowing some of the miners to set off the machine that started the problem in order to draw us in. We managed to drive him off but I don’t think we scared him. In truth he sounded rather un-amused by us,” Clay explained to Tafari, the foreman and some of the miners as the knights and ninja stood in the center of the mining encampment outside the mine. They were all bruised, sore, tired and shaken from their scuffle in the mine. They had made sure no one was left in the ruin and as a safety precaution to make sure nothing from the ruin could get through Cole collapsed the hole into it and several of the passages by it to try and keep the place from being found again anytime soon. Luckily no one was left but oddly all signs of the scimitar constructs and hyenoids was gone as if they had never even been there. It just disturbed them more about the place. When they had gotten out of the mine they found all the people had made their way out of the mine having fled as quickly as they could to escape the place. Even some of the ants and beetles had come out of the mine looking like they had no intentions of going back in anytime soon. Most of the people were waiting in the settlements center to hear how things had gone. Many of the people were a bit startled by their appearance confused about how they had all ended up looking so roughed up and shaken. A lot of them were also grossed out by the smell and sight of the barf on Lance, Kai and Jay who would express to anyone going to question them about it ‘don’t ask’. Zane had pulled the hood of his shirt over his head to hide as much of his head as possible since he couldn’t activate his cloak because of his overwhelming emotions and he didn’t want the people to see him without it. Along with feeling the same things as the others Zane was still disturbed and scared from what the Stag had done to him and felt a bit embarrassed about having fallen to the Stag again. Robin stood close to him while they stood in the settlement. Despite not being very comfortable around Robin after what he had been through Zane currently wasn’t minding the kids company even when Robin held onto his arm something Zane was normally not very comfortable with. Worried how the people would take it and how it would make them perceive them both the knights and ninja had agreed to keep some of the details of the fight to themselves. They made no mention of Zane being turned into a monster and getting enslaved by the Stag; instead they turned it into being just a regular Noctern Crow which the Stag had summoned. They also on Jays persistent requests made no mention of him being turned into a chicken though some of them, mainly Kai Cole Axl Aaron and Lance, teased him with cluck noises or puns with poultry now and then annoying Jay. Of all the things he had done while cursed as a monster Zane had been most pleased and amused by turning Jay into a chicken. He had thought since the others often joked about Jays skittish and nervous behaviour sometimes referring to him as a chicken why didn’t he make Jay into a literal chicken and see what they would all do with that. He had also hoped it would stop Jay from shocking him; getting shocked was painful for him and caused temporary disruptions to many of his internal systems further increasing the pain. Kai, Cole, Axl, Aaron and Lance were also quite amused by it, even Nya, Macy, Clay and Lloyd felt some amusement from it but Jay was far from amused not only greatly disliking the whole ordeal but also having a fear that Cole or Axl might try to eat him or at least a piece of him while he was poultry. This fear had only been made worse by the spell Zane had used on Cole making him nippy occasionally trying to bite Jay even though Cole had never intended to bite anyone, it had been the spell making him do it. That didn’t offer much comfort to Jay.
“Well at least you got the people out and made it out alive and largely unharmed,” the foreman expressed, “you might have sealed it but I think we might seek some more precautions to prevent that ruin from being uncovered anytime soon.”
“That defiantly sounds like a good idea. Zane found that ruin has access to this Blackreach cavern. That means anything could come through at anytime including more of the Stags minions,” Lloyd agreed.
“Don’t worry we’ll see to that it is done. As for you guys you should head back to town and get cleaned up,” Tafari stated to which the archaeologist stated her hand over her nose, “might I suggest take a bath… maybe a series of showers and why don’t you use a whole bar of soap while you’re at it. Some of you really need it!” Seeing there was not much for them to do at the mine now that the problem had been dealt with they headed back to the scholars center. First thing they did was get Merlok to check them over for dark influences; they were all surprisingly clean even Zane. They made Kai, Lance and Jay go first so they could shove them as quickly as possible into the showers. The three didn’t mind and were eager to get cleaned up. Both Kai and Lance spent over three hours cleaning up using as many different grooming implements and soaps as they could find, even ones meant for animals and some of the places machinery. The others thought it was a little extreme but the two were incredibly grossed out and wanted to make sure they were clean and no longer smelled. Jay took a few hours extra to get cleaned up as he had a bit of a problem; one he was rather embarrassed about though everyone else was rather amused with. Clay hadn’t done too bad dispelling the spells put on Cole and Jay however while Coles had been done perfectly Jays was not as thorough. Merlok was still impressed how well his nephew had done as the countering of a spell that changed one being into another was no simple task and for his first time using the spell in a serious situation he hadn’t done too bad. He had however not removed all evidence of the spell leaving Jay with feathers still coming out of various parts of his body sometimes in clumps. Merlok assured him once removed they would not grow back but he would have to pull them out to get rid of them or simply wait for them to fall out on their own which could take several months. He was not too thrilled about what he had to do as it was rather painful but Jay opted to pluck the feathers which felt uncomfortable in his skin and he didn’t want to have any evidence of the embarrassing incident left. He had Cole help him pluck out the feathers. They could hear him crying and complaining in pain for close to three hours as they plucked the feathers before he got cleaned up. It would have taken a shorter time if it hadn’t been for Jays complaining and his tendency to accidently shock Cole from time to time when some of the feathers were plucked out. Every now and then one of the others would pluck a few out as well often surprising him with it as they all went to have a shower at some point through the day in order to get cleaned up. Zane had at least been nice enough to numb the area with some ice a bit before plucking some feathers out even though it still hurt however most of the others were rather rough with it. Some, notably Kai and Aaron, also annoyed him by making cluck noises and poultry puns as they did it.
After plucking the feathers Cole also got cleaned up wanting to get the residue of the Void Plasm Noctern Crow Zane had coughed up onto him off unnerved by the cold empty feeling it gave him. From what he could tell Merlok believed this Void Plasm was energy from this void given a physical form and had likely been put in Zane by the Stag as part of the Stags corruption. All of them had traces of this stuff on them from coming into contact with Zane while he was under the Stags hold though the plasm was only clearly visible on Cole and Zane. Its residues were invisible on the others. Though he had no experience with the substance Merlok was pretty sure washing with warm water could get rid of the stuff and other than causing unpleasant emotions the stuff was relatively harmless, it wouldn’t turn them evil. The Stag could tap into the energies of this void meaning he likely had ties to it. Zane still had some residue of this plasm in and on him and as a safety precaution as they had no understanding of what it could do Nya with Robin and Avas help as Jay was getting feathers plucked from himself cleaned it out of Zane before sending him to clean off the residues of it left on his skin in the showers. While cleaning the plasm they also repaired any damages they found and had to remove several various sized pieces of Scymer metal makes that while the Noctern Crow Zane had shoved into himself mainly in different hatches and seams of his body feeling an uncontrollable urge from the monsters highly bird like nature to collect what he had felt like calling at the time ‘shinies’, any highly reflective or shiny metal object he had found lying around. It took a bit of work as he had gotten a few pretty wedged in himself and a necklace he had shoved in his chest had gotten wrapped around some wires coming from his heart making it a very delicate procedure to remove it and not hurt him. While also under the monsters nature he had hunted and eaten some rats, a bunch of glowing worms, glowing bugs like torchbugs, a fist sized spider and some beetles, a frog with a glowing core and eaten the rotting remains of a vale deer he had found also as a result of the monsters nature which he had found very hard to control. Other than causing minor energy surges to some of his circuits causing disruptions and discomfort to his systems from the energy produced by the matter as his body processed and converted the matter into energy he could use along with creating a faint yellowish green glow to some of his internal works and wiring from the glowing chemicals of the creatures and vale deer that had been processed already it really wasn’t a problem they had to deal with and by the next day the problems would be gone and he’d be back to normal. Despite the problems it gave him Zane was in not too bad a shape from the meat from the Vale creatures. If he had been truly human it would have been much worse as sensors in his body indicated meat from these creatures would be toxic to humans. He had also swallowed some of the shinnies he had found including a ring which by the odd feelings it had given him, the odd energy he had felt from it and the fact while it had been inside him he had been able to use fire elemental magic he was sure had been enchanted. Luckily though he had coughed up all the shinnies he had swallowed when he had barfed on the others removing them from his system so they didn’t have to. The enchanted ring was one of the reasons he had thrown up on Lance and Kai. It had been irritating him and he wanted to get it along with the other shinnies out of his system. The other reason was he knew that action would really bother both Kai and Lance who both prided their looks and being clean; Jay just happened to be a bonus.
What the Stag had done to him disturbed and unnerved Zane. He had been greatly befuddled by having his physical form morphed into that of this monster which had been made worse by the dark feelings of the void plasm the Stags touch had left and a spell the Stag had left on him that prevented him from asking for help. If he had tried to say anything to try and tell the others about his situation all that would come out were random noises of the monster frustrating him causing him to be more aggressive than he intended during the fight. He had tried to control the monsters nature but in his confused and irritated state the nature that came with the form had overwhelmed him quite a bit. Despite the problems it had given him though Zane felt a little pleased with the Noctern Crows nature overwhelming him. He was pretty sure he had been a bit of a nuisance to the Stag. He had noted his constant meddling with shinnies, eating random insects and meats he found and despite knowing it was his own reflection the crows nature made him attack his own reflection whenever he came across reflective surfaces like mirrors, kitchen wares, windows and even puddles while the Stag was dragging him to that room had really annoyed the Stag. Further if the Stag tried to touch him or take something from him he would peck and bite in defence. Oddly the Stag had never reprimanded him despite the Stag clearly being annoyed by the behaviours and often looking like he wanted to do something harsh to him. The Stag simply kept referring to him as an idiot or dumb animal and demand he try to control himself.
Once things settled down and they had cleaned up they all just hung out in the main room to relax. By late evening they were all hanging out in the seating area watching the TV and relaxing as best they could as they still felt residual effects of unease from the energy the Stag had brought to them making it hard for them to relax. They had already had dinner and it was getting late. Many in the center were already in bed which was where they wanted to be but the feelings from the encounter with the Stag had most of the knights and ninja too on edge to go to sleep. Aaron had passed out on his back and come to lay largely on a floor cushion with his feet and one hand hanging off the cushion having fallen off it as he slept, Jay was on some floor cushions with Nya putting a healing cream one of the scholars had given him on the spots he had plucked feathers out of which were red and sore along with putting quite a few bandages on some spots. Cole, Kai, Macy, Axl and Lance were sitting on the couches watching the TV with all on the verge of falling asleep but too unnerved to close their eyes. Ava and Robin had already gone to bed not being affected by the residual effects of the Stags energies. Zane had already fallen asleep on a floor cushion lying curled up on his side; Robin had put a blanket on him before he had gone to bed even though the others had told him he didn’t need to. Robin had felt Zane could use it, if not to keep warm at least for comfort. Lloyd and Clay were hanging about the base of the stairs talking with Hassiri who had brought them something to try and relax them.
“That Scimitar oil really seems to work in calming Zane down. He was so on edge earlier there was no way he would have fallen asleep now look at him fast asleep as if nothing’s wrong. It took about a litre of that stuff to do it but it worked. We had to mix it into quite a few things in order to make sure he had it all. He was so shaken we could barely get him to have anything even the usual tea we make for him even when we made it into an iced tea. We mixed it into his dinner along with one of his favourite’s things a milkshake to make sure he had it all. Jay wanted to make him have two litres of the stuff but the rest of us agree that would have been too much. Kai wanted us to make Jay drink some to see if it would work for people too. I don’t think it does. I think he just wanted Jay to stop babbling. What did Aaron have to let him sleep? I’m too on edge to close my eyes let alone try and sleep how can he be sleeping?” Lloyd expressed and Clay noted “Nothing, he just tends to pass out if he gets too anxious, stressed, worried or scared.”
“Scimitar oil doesn’t work on people but this will. This should help you all relax. Just mix it in with some tea or whatever you’d like to drink and your good. We use this for our guards after they’ve had encounters with Ashers or the Stags minions. It can be very hard to calm down after those incidents. I could barely imagine what it’s like to actually be in the presence of that monster,” Hassiri explained handing a large bottle of potion to both Clay and Lloyd. Seeing how the events of the day had left them all they had asked Hassiri if he knew a way to help them all calm down enough to get some sleep.
“It’s not nice believe us. I have never felt something that unpleasant and dark before. We didn’t even see him in his physical form it was just his presence and it was terrible. Hopefully this stuff works, I don’t think any of us are up for a sleepless night after what we went through today especially if we have to listen to one of Jays paranoid babblings all night… hopefully he’ll drink some of it. I know I won’t have a problem with the others especially Cole. He’d probably drink the whole thing without realising it if I let him; he ate a whole cake after dinner and didn’t even realise it. Probably could’ve done the same to a second one if we hadn’t stopped him. Jay on the other hand might get a little paranoid over it and not want to touch it. He’s getting paranoid over the strangest things lately,” Lloyd regaled and Clay stated, “if he doesn’t have some we could always hit him over the head. I’m not too keen on hearing his panicked babbling while I’m trying to sleep.”
“Well I hope you have luck, if not we can always lock Jay in the room with the animals all night so everyone else can get some shut eye. Now I’m off to bed, if you need anything else don’t be afraid to come and ask,” Hassiri stated and Clay inquired, “before you go we were wondering what do you know of this void thing. The Stag keeps mentioning it and seems to be able to draw energy and power from it. He was using it on us and used it to help control Zane.”
“Well that can be hard to explain. Many concepts of the void are said to be beyond the understanding of even the most knowledgeable mortal minds. It is said to be a primal force that has always existed even before what we could consider time and existence. It is an ultimate and primal darkness and a great force of chaos, destruction and change but also of stability and creation. Many scholars believe the realms sit in this void like islands in its vast empty and dark ocean. Normally the realms are protected from the void by the energies from their creation and the energies of their borders and the life within the realm however there are things that can cause tears to these letting the voids energy seep through into a realm. Some beings like Ashers and Oni are even able to pull energy from this place into the realms for their own use. Even worse beings from the realms can fall into or be dragged into the void and if they don’t escape quickly they are consumed by its energy turning into a chaotic and cruel monstrous piece of this void that will try to reach into the realms and drag others to suffer the same fate or to try and wreck havoc within the realms. Some even suggest the Oni are the direct children of the voids darkness. While we’d consider the void evil for the destruction and chaos it causes it technically isn’t evil or good it just is what it is the most basal and primal form of chaos and change. Good and evil are not concepts to the void as it cannot comprehend them for it technically isn’t a form that can comprehend anything. It is simply energy; unconscious unformed energy nothing more. Some tribes in our realm used to and some still do worship the void acknowledging it as the inevitable truth and the ultimate force of change; that all things came from it and so must one day return to it. They see it as a force of good despite what it does and do not fear it. That’s a bit unnerving if you ask me though these people have never caused much harm in the world despite their cryptic beliefs.
“As for the Stag being tied to this void this concept is not new to me. I have heard stories about the Stag being tied to the void before. Some say he is a manifestation of a large piece of its energy that fell into the realm or was pulled into it by the Oni and then somehow developed a consciousness allowing it to be able to think and actively interact with mortals and the world around it causing selective and calculating chaos. I’ve even heard some say he is the reason the Oni left our realm as this void demon turned out to be too dark and chaotic even for them; that they fled in fear of this monster hoping he would remain trapped here and could not follow them leaving him to drag or consume this realm into the void. Not sure how much of the tales on him are true but it’s a scary thought. A monster that can terrify the Oni must truly be something as the Oni don’t fear much,” Hassiri explained sending shivers down their spines.
Notes:
While doing some editing I felt the first part was lacking in something. I felt they needed more encounters and confrontations with the Stag earlier in the story than what I originally had plus I wanted more fun and scenes with the knights and ninja working together. While writing I have a list of possible events that I could use in the story so going through it a few stood out and I felt like digging into them putting them together in one. This lead me to creating this chapter.
The Stag morphed Zane into the form of a Noctern Crow because he knew if Zane was his normal self the others would hesitate and not fight him like the Stag wanted. The form of a Noctern Crow would also give Zane much greater power so he could single handedly take all of them on at once with little problems and the nature that would come with the form plus the void plasm the Stag put in him would make Zane attack his friends even if he doesn't want to. While cursed as a monster Zane does have largely full control of himself so most of what he does in the fight he has control over but somethings cause him to loose control. He has great difficulty combating anything sparking the Noctern Crows nature (like shiny objects, glowing objects and especially things the crow finds edible, insects, prey animals and rotting meats) and if things irritate, annoy or anger him (such as Jay constantly hurting him by shocking him) he looses a bit of control and often becomes more aggressive than he intends. The whole time while stuck as the Noctern Crow Zane is trying to let them know he is the monster while also keeping up the illusion to the Stag that he is obeying him. The curse prevents him from saying anything about it plus in his state he is struggling to fight the monsters natural behaviours so he has to come up with alternative ways to let them know hoping they will eventually clue in and help him before it’s too late. He knows he can't fool the Stag for long. He shows them he knows Spinjistu and that his powers are ice in nature (he is very uncomfortable with the dark magic using it sparingly and even when he uses it he doesn't use the darker effects it can do or anything to harm anyone. The fire magic is an accident from the crows overpowering nature and both confuses and irritates him). He gives them the shurikan hoping it will help them clue into his identity.
Why turn Jay into a chicken? Cause I thought it would be funny for him to become a chicken; he would probably hate it but his reactions to it would be hilarious. It was also one of those spontaneous thoughts that helped push the story onwards.
This chapter takes some inspiration from a quest in the Morrowind chapter of the Elder Scrolls Online. It is a rather fun and humorous quest in the town of Gnisis where a mage accidently sets off a dwarven machine that drives the miners and the insects in the mine known as Kwama crazy.
How Scimitar Oils calming ability on droids works (I imagine Jay and Nya inquire to one of the resident scholars about the stuff before using it. They talk to the one who works on Mzark while he is fixing him from the Stags attack, Zane meanwhile hangs nearby out of sight listening also wanting to know but nervous of being seen near the people): the oil gets broken down in the droids synthetic stomach. When it passes through the synthetic intestines which absorbs various components of broken down organic and in-organic matter and send it to intestinal power converters which can convert the matter into the energy used by a droids power source providing excess and renewable energy its components get absorbed too. These intestinal power converters can either put the power directly into use or send it to the power source/battery for storage for later use. When the oils components are converted to electrical energy the scimitar oil develops a unique signature to the energy that causes it to get instantly used where in the droids brain this signature to the energy causes a numbing to emotional circuits and stimulates the codes responsible for calm and relaxed emotions to become active and keeps them active. The circuits remain active as long as energy from the oil is in use which generally lasts for around two to four hours after the last of the scimitar oils components have been absorbed and converted by the digestive system the timing for which is depended on the metabolism rate the droids system is set for. Energy use of course is depended on whether the droid is active which means the energy lasts a shorter time or in a relaxed state which lets it last longer. It doesn’t leave any lasting effects and won’t harm anything about them or change them in any way. I see it as a sort of calming medicine for droids.
While writing fight scenes I often listened to this song, try reading these scenes while listening as well and you'll find it will really livens up the scene: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCj9bfDgjIU&t=419s
Chapter 26: Trials of the Tribunal
Summary:
The people dislike and refuse to trust the ninja but they trust in this Tribunal; if the ninja can get the tribunals blessing will the people finally trust in them?
Notes:
Pictures relating to story can be found here: https://www.deviantart.com/nerdy-hyena/gallery/72478681/story-project
They are really good and help to visually flush out several aspects of the story including environments, characters, outfits, locations, creatures and other aspects often important ones in the story. All images I post in my work can be found there if you want a better look at them. Defiantly make sure to check them out.Also if you need a refresher on creatures, flora or aspects of the environment you can check out the second chapter in this work titled 'Keikiarys Guide to the Ash Wastes'. It includes short descriptions and pictures of these things.
Parts of this section are subject to change as the prequel story is written to improve story continuity.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
The ninja were training with the Knights for fighting against the Ashers. The knights were playing the role of the Ashers as they sparred in the ring against each other along with three of the training hyenoids who were on the knights side. Both had dressed up for the part. The hyenoids had even been programmed to use some of the Ashers spells such as the ability to summon creatures, to blast ash from their hands and create cloaks of ash for protection to make the training more authentic. Despite who they were portraying the citizens from Balmora watching were cheering on the knights more than the ninja even though they were there to help the people just as much as the knights. The people seemed to not trust the ninja despite what they were doing for them; they were especially untrusting of Zane no matter what he did. Some people who had ended up trapped in this realm due to the meld from Ninjago and Knighton were watching them as well. These people however didn’t hold the same prejudice as the people of Balmora however were often hesitant to show their true feelings of the two groups due to fear of the natives. As they were fighting one of the towns folk threw a scrap item made of Scimitar Steel at Zane hitting him in the back. The folk called down telling Zane he should go live with the Stag before Kai yelled back at the person expressing, “what’s your people’s problem? Can’t you see we’re here to help you, including Zane?” His comment angered a few of the folks one of which threw a slightly hard object at him hitting Kai in the face. It was one of the strange vegetables of this realm called an Ash Yam.
“What was that for?” Kai yelled back holding his nose and the folk yelled back, “why don’t you go with him metal skin loving s’wit.”
“Just ignore them, it’s not worth the trouble,” Clay cautioned pausing as he practiced with Lloyd who paused with him.
“I think that one made my nose bleed,” Kai cursed holding his nose. He went to pick up the Ash Yam to throw it back but Lloyd stopped him, “Kai don’t that will just make things worse.”
“I’d listen to your friend and Zane just keep to the other side of the ring, no one should bother you there,” Clay proposed. Zane who had been standing there looking a little worried and confused did as Clay said and moved to the opposite side of the arena. Clay and Lloyd then went back to fighting.
“Why does everyone here still hate us?” Lloyd inquired as they sparred.
“Not sure. The people here are very suspicious of everyone especially outsiders. We haven’t been free of their hatred much either. They do seem to be more aggressive in their hatred to you guys however,” Macy who was sparring with Nya stated.
“Really they don’t seem so suspicious or hating of you guys anymore,” Nya noted and Aaron who was sniping from a simple tower that had been constructed for their training noted, “Yha that is real strange, guess they could just be starting to warm up to us maybe.”
“True. We haven’t done much different than you guys for the people here so it is strange that they still have such a hatred for you guys. I have talked with Hassiri about it and he thinks it might have to do with your powers,” Clay suggested.
“Our powers? Why?” Kai who was sparring against Lance wondered and Macy added, “I think he said it has something to do with the Dragon Guard rarely coming to their aid, a distrust of the supernatural and natural born powers remind the people of the Ashers and stuff like that.”
“But our powers are nothing like those of these Ashers. Theirs is dark and evil ours are good. Besides doesn’t Clay have some special powers,” Jay who was sparring Axl along with Cole expressed.
“Yha but I’ve been largely hiding them from the people. Seeing how they treat you guys I’ve been trying to keep them from hating us equally as well. I’ll admit it is not a good feeling to be un-trusted and un-liked by those you’re supposed to be helping,” Clay explained.
“True yours, Merloks and Clays powers are for good but to the people here it is something they don’t understand so they react fearfully to them. To make it worse those that often use such powers around this place are not the nicest of people. Most are Ashers or related to them in some way,” Ava noted from atop the tower where she sat with Robin and Aaron. She was giving commands to the hyenoids through a tablet while Robin was using a mini ballista he had made to shoot rubber bolts at them. The two were dressed in robes mimicking those worn by the sorcerers.
“How then do we show them our powers are for good and gain their trust?” Cole inquired.
“Well Hassiri did tell us of something anyone seeking to prove themselves to the people here can do,” Ava noted.
“Really what is it?” Lloyd inquired curious. The knights seemed apprehensive of telling the ninja what it was but finally agreed to tell them.
“They call it the Trial of the Dragon or the Dragons Pilgrimage,” Robin explained.
“Dragons Pilgrimage? What’s that?” Lloyd inquired.
“The Dragons Pilgrimage or the Trial of the Dragon is a set of trials one can complete. There are four of them; one for each member of this Tribunal of theirs and one for the Dragon Master. The people here do not trust many but they look up to the Dragon Master and the members of the Tribunal. It’s part of an old worship tradition I believe. It is said anyone who takes and successfully completes the trials will get the blessings of each of them. I don’t know if the blessing part is true but if it is completed people here seem more welcoming to outlanders no matter who they are. I’m not entirely sure why. I can tell you though these trials are no easy feat to accomplish and will truly test you,” Clay explained.
“Did you take the Dragons Pilgrimage?” Kai asked as he tried fighting Lance, his nose had stopped bleeding but now he had a bruise on his face.
“A few days ago, all of us except Robin and Ava took it,” Axl noted. As they were talking they were slowly fighting less getting distracted by the conversation.
“We’re too young thankfully,” Robin noted and Ava added, “these trials are not fun, easy or pleasant.”
“It sounded like a good idea at the time, we were wrong,” Clay noted.
“Can anyone take this trial?” Lloyd inquired getting curious.
“Sure you just have to ask the monks in the Temple of the Dragon and they’ll get you started,” Lance noted.
“Are you thinking of taking it?” Macy inquired noting Lloyds tone. By now they had all stopped and gathered by the tower to talk. The hyenoids were hanging back unsure of what was going on and keeping to themselves.
“It could be worth a try. I’ll admit it’s not very comforting having all these folk hate us for no reason,” Lloyd explained and Clay noted, “that’s not a very good reason to take these trials. Trust us it sounds easy but it isn’t far from it. I’m not even sure if the effort was worth it.”
“Yha and coming from mister super knight here that’s saying something,” Lance noted.
“What about fearing these people’s hatred might turn them to the Ashers to try and get rid of us?” Jay inquired to which Zane wondered, “Is that the reason for your questioning of the maintenance lady this morning?”
“She was being nice, even to you. That does not seem right for these people?” Jay barked to which Cole postulated, “Or she was just being nice. She has been nice to use since we arrived even to Zane. I think you’re starting to get paranoid.”
“He does have a point though. Some of these people might do worse than just throw random objects or make rude comments to us,” Nya noted.
“You do have a point,” Clay agreed and Macy added, “This Pilgrimage could help you but it’s not for the weak of mind or faint of heart. The trials test you and push you to your limit. They might sound easy but they’re not, far from it. Not many complete the trials, some even perish from it.”
“You have to fight your fears both in a physical and mental sense,” Clay stated and Lance added, “you have to do all sorts of hard work. Fighting, wandering the unpleasant wilds…”
“You have to spend a night entirely defenceless in the wilderness,” Axl noted and Lance complained, “not to mention you can’t bring a tablet or phone. Do you know how hard it is to go without social media for a whole night and to sleep on the cold hard dirty ground?”
“Actually that part wasn’t that bad. It was kind of fun and that skeever that came to hang with me was rad. They’re not as bad as everyone says they are, they apparently like to play fetch like a dog and enjoy belly rubs,” Aaron expressed to which Lance noted, “You only liked it because you’re insane.”
“We could give it a try, it could help bring these people to our side and maybe even make them leave Zane alone besides it couldn’t be worse than anything we’ve faced before,” Lloyd opted. The knights didn’t seem convinced.
“Yha we’ve faced some pretty tough things before,” Kai added.
“Well if they think they can do it let them,” Lance expressed and Aaron added, “It could be good for them. They might even like it. It was kinda fun.”
“Well if you’re up for it I’ll let Hassiri know and he can put in a word with the monks in the temple and they’ll get you set up,” Clay expressed.
After their sparring session the knights had kept their word. They told Hassiri who talked to the monks who sent for the ninja late in the afternoon. The ninja had been told to come armed and armoured. They entered the main hall of the temple, a large room set up in a hexagon like shape with the side walls being the longest with three shorter walls at the far end. Each of the shorter walls had a tapestry depicting one of these Tribunal members on it and a plaque on a pedestal in front of it. Uniquely colored rugs sat in front of the pedestals each with different designs. The rug in front of the one they were guessing depicted Sheoth was golden and purple with butterflies and what looked like faint vines or a faint floral pattern on it. The one in the middle depicted the entity they had heard been called Mystara who took the form of an ungulate folk. Her rug was a sand color with green and depicted tea leaves all over it. The one on the right was the one they called Astara though she looked like how this Whetu was depicted. The two were very similar entities and many in this realm believed they were the same entity. The ninja believed it was the same entity. Her rug was a dark blue with various sized silver spots making it look like a piece of the night sky. Red paper lanterns with a dragon on them decorated the structure and a statue of a dragon sat against either side wall. Along the walls were tapestries that depicted the history of the wastes such as Whetu defending the settlements from the Ashers, the eruption of the Red Mountain which obliterated much of the once lush landscapes of the region burying them in ash, attacks on settlements by the Stags beasts and constructs or Ashers, the building of the Ghost Fence and the constant struggle between the people and the monsters from the wastes. A few did not match with anything they knew of the region’s history leading them to believe they were either parts of mythology or supposed prophecies such as dragons and warriors attacking Ashers in the wastes, a shadow dragon attacking a burning Balmora, an eerie one depicting beasts and constructs bowing to this shadow dragon which had aquamarine eyes with its wings held out over other dragons of various colors which were laid out before it, these other dragons looked to have been slain, and a battle around a strange whitish tower that seemed to be fused with a few other structures a strange red beam shooting from the towers top into the dark red tinted sky above.
The structure was light and felt comforting compared to the town outside and the folk present, all monks most of which were meditating, were peaceful. They did not give them looks or threaten them like other folk in town. Instead they were welcoming and friendly. It confused them why then they had been told to bring weapons if the folk here were so peaceful. One of the monks, a member of the ungulate folk stood in the center waiting for them. He wore off white robes and had the golden colored metal implant of a crescent moon in his forehead. He was greyish in color with one blind eye and one red eye. He lacked any human like hair but had a short dark grey beard on his chin.
“I hear you wish to partake in the Dragons Pilgrimage,” the folk mentioned as the ninja approached.
“Indeed and you are?” Kai blurted and the figure stated, “I am Chodala, I oversee those who take the pilgrimage. How much do you know of our mythology here outlanders?”
“Just the basics I guess; that the Dragon Master created your realm and three Oni sided with him. You call these three the Tribunal…” Jay began and Chodala cut him off to ask, “do you know what each member of the Tribunal are represented by?”
“This dude Sheoth encompasses insanity and is often associated with butterflies, cheesecake and yarn and this Mystara lady encompasses wisdom and is associated with tea, meditation and riddles and Astara who some believe is also this Whetu lady encompasses mysteries and is associated with like the night sky and that,” Zane who was in his disguised persona replied.
“Indeed metal-skin,” Chodala stated surprising them. Though he was using his cloak to hide his appearance from these folk worried they might hate him if they knew what he was Chodala seemed to be able to see through it.
“Did Hassiri…” Lloyd began before Chodala cut him off, “no he nor the knights told me which one was the metal skin and though we know who you are we have not seen you before so could not know which one was the metal skin. I sensed it the moment you entered.”
“You’re not going to exclude him from the trials are you?” Cole wondered voicing what the others worried.
“No, he can partake. It will be interesting to see how a metal-skin fares on the Pilgrimage. Only one has ever taken it before, the current Dragon of Ice and last creation of the Scimitar folk. Now you know enough to begin so why don’t we begin. These beings are consider sacred to the people here; The Dragon Master creator of our realm and the tribunal three Oni who sided with him and came to help protect our realm. The Tribunal are Sheoth the Lord of Insanity who rules over his own lands to the south; Mystara who long hid as a wise woman running a Tea shop in a small village by the capital. She always offered aid and protection to the Dragon Guard and any other who fought for the light but recently she was slain by an Oni assassin sent by the Ashers. Luckily she was avenged by the Dragon Guard who took out this assassin. Finally there is Astara, many here believe she and Whetu are the same being. In our realm she disappeared at the end of the times of myth. She is seen as a protector and often battled against the Ashers to protect the wastes and its people from them. The Pilgrimage has a set of trials tailored to the members of the Tribunal and the Dragon Master. Four trials each unique. It might interest you to know that when joining the Guard Dragons or any of the houses knights must always perform the pilgrimage. Each of the currently active members of the Dragon Guard and the knights of the prong have partaken in it and succeeded and every year common folk up for the challenge or seeking the blessings of the tribunal and Dragon Master partake in it. Even your friends the Nexo Knights have taken it and succeeded,” Chodala explained.
“So what do we have to do?” Kai inquired eager to start.
“For each trial you must perform tasks tailored for each of them. As Dragons you are permitted to use your powers in each trial but you may find that they will be of no use. For the Lord of insanity one must enter the Grove of Reflection as we call it. You will enter alone and equipped for a fight. Inside you will face your inner insanities. Only by defeating them shall you pass.
For the Lady of wisdom and energies you will need to make the Tea of Death Turning. Do not worry you are not drinking this concoction; you will be using it as a spray and testing it on some Shambles we have in the basement. While brewing the concoction must be done on your own you are permitted to gather the items you will need for the tea together.
Then for the Lady of Mystery you must spend a night alone in the wilderness beneath the stars her favourite time and any troubles you come across you should try to take the peaceful method, you must fight without fighting, show compassion to those many would consider lesser than themselves or not worth the trouble.
Finally for the Dragon Master one is to simply meditate. Get a feel for the world he has created. This one you can do together,” Chodala explained before leading them off not giving them time to ask questions. They were all confused about the trials and hesitated before following. Chodala took them out of the main hall and down into the basement of the building. A few rooms were in the basement one of which had a door with a strange symbol on it. It resembled an Oni’s face whose expression was split in two with half appearing to be smiling while the other half was frowning. Small colored gems sat in the teeth and eyes of the carvings with those on the smiling side being reddish in color with the other half being cyan in color. The door was unnerving and confusing to all of them.
“What’s with the strange and kinda creepy decoration on the door?” Cole inquired.
“The door depicts the two main halves of insanity; mania and dementia both are equally powerful and equally dangerous,” Chodala explained.
“So I’m guessing this is for Sheoths trial, what are we up against?” Lloyd inquired.
“Behind this door is the Grove of Reflection inside of which will be your first trial. You will be pitted against your own insanities; your fears, doubts, worries, desires and emotions. You must defeat them in order to pass. You are to enter and face this trial alone. For your privacy none will observe you so what transpires beyond these doors only you will know of. If things get too much for you there is a switch in the room to end the session. The location of the switch is clearly marked so you can find it with ease,” Chodala explained and Kai burst in confused with, “what do you mean? How do you face your own insanities? What’s in there?” They were all confused unsure of what exactly they were to be doing and what Chodala meant. His explanation didn’t help clear things up.
“When you enter you will see. Who would like to go first?” Chodala asked. They were all hesitant worried about what was on the other side of the door and not wanting to be the first to take the test. Seeing their hesitation Chodala made the decision for them.
“Why doesn’t the metal-skin Zane go first? It will be interesting to see how he does,” Chodala expressed politely ushering Zane through the doors into the room before closing them when he was on the other side. Zane was not thrilled with being chosen first but if they were going to go through with these trials to gain some trust among the people here he guessed it was best to get started. He was anxious about what he might face but if this was going to make the people even just a little less aggressive to him than he was willing to face whatever lay in the room. Once locked in Zane checked the door making sure it was locked before looking around. Since he was alone he abandoned his cloak. The room was strange. It didn’t look much like a room. It looked like some strange cavern or cave underground. It was large with plenty of space to manoeuvre around. Some of the strange glowing mushrooms that grew outside were growing throughout the room along with some low growing plants. The ground looked to be a mix of moss and dirt with a few puddles and the walls were a mix of stone and large strange roots stretching down from the ceiling. The roots created various places for something or someone to hide in the room. A fog was rolling on the floor and the room felt damp. The room smelt of damp earth and something else, something Zane could not identify. Even though he could not see or sense a light source other than the strange shrooms the room was decently lit. The switch Chodala talked about was behind a panel labelled ‘safety switch’ by the entry door, the only way into the room. In the center of the room was a standing stone with a strange writing on it. The writing resembled Oni scripts and was glowing slowly fading between a cyan and red color. Zane slowly moved to the center of the room to get a closer look at the stone tightly holding his bow. He couldn’t read the scripts; he didn’t know the Oni language. He looked around trying to figure out what he was supposed to do. What did they mean by having to face ones insanities? There appeared to be nothing in the room however he could sense an unknown energy in the room though he could not pinpoint where it was coming from. He was worried unsure of what this test was and afraid the energy he was sensing was the Stag. He was alone in a strange room, perfect time for this Stag to try and get him.
“What do you think you are? You are a robot, a machine mimicking a living thing not human why do you try to be like them?” a voice spoke from by the entrance stunning Zane. It was his voice he had heard but he hadn’t spoken. He turned to see where the voice had come from and was baffled and shocked at what he saw. The figure he saw standing between him and the exit holding a bow pointed at the ground but ready to pull it up and fire at a moment’s notice looked exactly like himself, a clone. There was a slight difference to this figure however. Its one eye was an icy blue; the other was a bright sanguine red.
“What are you?” Zane inquired confused and nervous. Was this part of the trial or was it something else? He could sense the energy he had been picking up earlier was this being which seemed to be a clone of himself but what was it? What was taking his form and using his voice? Zane found this figure very disturbing putting him on edge.
“I am you but I do not hide from the truth,” the figure replied.
“What do mean? How can you be me?” Zane asked feeling unnerved but trying to hide this feeling from the clone.
“Try all you want to be like what you think are your friends but you know deep down you are just a machine; a heartless imitation of life no more. You are no more a living thing than the dirt beneath your feet,” this clone replied shooting his bow from his hand where it came to land by the back wall. The figure and its words were starting to disturb Zane. The entity then rushed at him and forced him into hand to hand combat. The figure was able to match his every move. Eventually Zane pulled out his shurikans to try and get an upper hand but his clone ripped them from his hands and took a few steps back.
“They all know you are a machine, your so called friends are only treating you as a fellow person because they fear what you are and what you could do to them should they treat you any different,” his clone stated before stunning Zane by shifting into the form of a Robo-bill with the same two toned eyes and using his voice, “you are no different than we are?” This clone was terrifying Zane and he could sense something in this room was messing with his emotions aggravating and worsening his feelings, his fear and sadness. This entity knew his deepest fears and was using them against him messing with his mind in ways he had never experienced before. The Robo-bill threw his shurikans back at him. He managed to dodge the one but the other caught his left arm and pinned it to the standing stone.
“See wires and metal just like us not flesh and blood. There is nothing special about you,” the Robo-bill growled as Zane pulled the shurikan out of the stone freeing his arm and revealing the weapons blades had cut through his clothes and skin causing some wires from his inner makings to be exposed and become damaged.
“Does that hurt? Are you really feeling that or are you just pretending to feel it. An illusion to make you seem alive,” the Robo-bill teased as Zane looked over the wound. It seemed to hurt but he was not sure if he was really feeling anything or just imagining it. This beings words were starting to get to him making him grow more and more anxious playing with his mind making him doubt his own thoughts and feelings. He tried to ignore its words, tried to contradict them in his mind but he was struggling to do so. The Robo-bill lunged at him and Zane managed to block its attack and fling it over himself and the stone.
“What are you? How can you know my deepest fears? What else do you know of me?” Zane questioned the being.
“I know everything. Your past, your friends and family, the female droid you are attached to. I know all your secrets, all your desires even things you do not realise about yourself. Deep hidden things. I am your inner insanities, the madness within you, an echo of your being,” the being spoke before lunging to perch atop the stone in the form of a Venom-Fang Fabricant.
“Just because there is skin covering my mechanics does not make me a living thing, we are still machines. We are more alike than you realise; animated scrap no more. Why do you not join us? Abandon those people, they do not really care for you,” the fabricant growled attacking him. The more this thing talked the more anxious Zane was becoming. He was finding it hard to fight caught up on everything this being was saying. It was tearing at him mentally attacking him in ways he was not prepared to deal with. He was starting to doubt things. His friends, his feelings, his memories, his identity! This was making him slip up as he fought it allowing the entity to get the upper hand. It went to bite him and Zane just managed to dodge the creature only to trip over one of the roots and fall face down onto the ground. He lay there trying to recompose himself. He was trying to ignore the entities words but he couldn’t. They were getting to him and lowering his mood. He no longer felt like fighting back even though he wanted to. He didn’t want to believe what it was saying but it was hard. The creature was depressing him and somehow able to alter his emotions preventing him from improving his mood. He looked back at the entity as it stood looking down at him waiting for it to make a move.
“What do you want from me? Why do you desire to mentally pick at me? Is this part of the trial?” Zane inquired feeling defeated.
“What do you think tin-man?” the entity spoke its voice changing from one that sounded like his to that of the Stag as it dissolved into a dark mist that morphed into the shadowy Stag form he had seen in a dream before. It bared its wolf-like jowls but its mouth didn’t move as it talked. Zane was horrified at seeing the Stags form.
“This is not part of the trial is it?! You are here to torture me. Leave me alone, I don’t want to serve you,” Zane moaned getting up and backing away from the Stag. The whole time it was the Stag tormenting him trying to drag him down and break him into submitting to it! It had been in his head before that was how it knew everything about him.
“Oh but you do. You are a machine but if you serve under me I can make you so much more. I can take away your fears, your doubts…” the Stag chastised stalking him. Zane looked for the switch to end the trial in hopes to get help, to get away from this demon but he could not find it. The room seemed darker and somehow the entry was gone! He was trapped! His fear just kept deepening and he began to panic wondering what to do to save himself. He threw the shurikan he had at the entity but even though it hit the Stag disappearing in his ethereal body and the Stag reacted to being hit the weapon didn’t do any damage.
“It will take more than that to harm me. Now come join me, you will not regret it,” the Stag growled as Zane looked around for his other weapons. Both lay by the far wall behind the stone at the center of the room. If he couldn’t get help he was at least going to try and defend himself. He wasn’t going to let the Stag claim him without a fight!
“You are wrong. Everything you have been saying is wrong. I am not just a machine; my friends do care for me and see me as one of their own. Maybe I am like the Scimitar Constructs but we are not just machines,” Zane replied as he rushed over to where his weapons lay. The shurikan lay on the floor but vines had wrapped themselves around the bow and he was having trouble breaking them off. He went to try and freeze them but was shocked to find his powers weren’t working. He could not sense anything like venge-stone nearby blocking them leaving him worried over what was messing with him.
“Let us see what you can do without those shall we,” the Stag growled as he stalked closer to Zane. Zane picked up the shurikan and tried cutting the bow free. The vines were tough making it an effort and Zane could sense the Stag getting closer. He threw the Shurikan at the Stag to buy him some time as he worked the rest of the vines off his bow. The Stag laughing caught Zane off guard.
“Foolish metal-skin, to think you can defeat me. You are just a machine with no friends, no family, no life; you have been fooled into thinking you can feel and are loved, that you are living. Forget these delusions, come join me. You can be a part of my family and I shall give you a life,” the Stag growled lowering Zanes emotions making the doubts he had felt earlier re-appear halting his actions. He focussed on good memories he had with his friends and which contradicted what the Stag was saying to help give him the courage to fight. He was living, he could feel, his friends loved him and saw him as family. The Stag was wrong; he couldn’t let this being defeat him. It would destroy him and those he cared for he couldn’t let it win. Zane aimed his bow at the Stag aiming for its forehead. For a split second Zane looked into the Stags eyes and something didn’t feel right making him hesitate. In his visions the Stags eyes were an aquamarine color not one being red and the other cyan and there were dark empty feelings that came with it. There was strange unnatural energies coming from this thing but they didn’t quite match with what he had felt from the Stag before. Was this really the Stag? He was not sure but he didn’t want to take the chance that it was.
“So then you would prefer to die,” the Stag growled seeming to smirk before prepping to charge at him. Zane shot at the Stag and the moment his arrow hit the Stag the being dissipated into smoke and continued at him. Zane fell backwards as the smoke hit him and he tucked up on his side cowering with his eyes tightly closed and hands over his head terrified of what the Stag was going to do to him. After a few seconds of silence and nothing happening Zane braved a look around. He was alone in this strange room which looked like it had when he had first entered. Everything was eerily quiet and calm. He was terribly shaken and confused. He slowly got up worried for an attack and started to see if he could get out of that room. His shurikans lay by the stone in the center. He slowly approached to retrieve them wary that something might be hiding in there and wanting to get out of there before the Stag or whatever that had been returned. He picked up his shurikans and went to leave but noticed what looked like a coin or token lying at the base of the stone. It was made of stone and small. It was polished and looked like it might have been part of an amulet. It had the carving of a butterfly on it. For a reason he could not understand he picked it up and took it with him. He cautiously made his way to the door worried something might attack him again. The door was unlocked. He slowly opened it to see the others waiting worried on the other side.
“Zane what happened?” Nya exclaimed noting the damage on his left arm. The others quickly picked up that he was disturbed as he was shaking terribly, visibly disturbed and holding his arm in pain.
“What did you do to him?” Lloyd angrily demanded from Chodala who remained surprisingly calm as he replied with, “nothing, he took the trial and I see by the charm he holds that he has passed.” Chodala pointed to the small stone object Zane had been drawn to pick up.
“There was this thing… it attacked me… it used my fears against me. It kept changing its shape. First it was me then a Robo-bill then a Venom-fang Fabricant. It then became the Stag but something was wrong…” Zane began as his friends took him to the far wall and sat him down trying to calm him.
“The Stag, it’s here?” Jay worried.
“What you saw was merely an illusion not the Stag,” Chodala stated.
“What is in that room?” Lloyd inquired starting to get mad.
“Your inner madness. The energy in the room takes the form of things you fear and plagues you mentally with your fears, doubts and worries. Only by defeating your fears and defeating the physical being you see will you pass. Many do not make it past this trial and some never walk out of that room,” Chodala explained.
“What kind of trials are these,” Kai demanded.
“The Dragons Pilgrimage is not for coddling you, these trials are meant to test you to take you out of your comfort zone and challenge you. Sheoth tests your mind challenging one to face their fears and greatest mental wounds. You can either face them and persevere or fall and succumb to them. It is a test of courage and will. Mystara tests your intuition, your patience and ability to learn. Things take time, the Ivory-Gold tower was not built in a day and if you are unwilling to learn then you might as well fall behind. A sharp mind is greater than a sharp sword. Hers is a test of the mind. Whetu tests your heart, your moral. One should respect all things whether living or not and an honest caring soul should know when to strike or when to spare others even an enemy. They should show compassion and respect to all living things they encounter no matter what they are or do to you,” Chodala explained. His explanation calmed them down a bit but they were still not too happy.
“Are we sure we want to do this?” Jay fretted.
“We agreed to do it, to prove to the people here we intend to help them,” Lloyd replied.
“How do we even know this will work? The people could still hate us,” Nya pointed out.
“Indeed there will always be some that will hate you but by taking this Pilgrimage some folk might start to warm up to you. It is no mere feat to accomplish the Dragons Pilgrimage and many never accomplish it. Only those courageous enough to face their fears, willing to learn and be patient, to show kindness to all things and know when to spare others even if they are your enemy have any chance and only those who align with the light of his world will gain the Dragon Masters blessing,” Chodala proclaimed.
“Well ninja never quit, we decided to do this we cannot back down now,” Kai noted and Cole added, “If we chicken out it will look bad on us and the people might hate us more.”
“If you wish to continue the room is ready. Who is next?” Chodala stated. They were all nervous of continuing and hesitant to enter the room. Kai was the next to brave the room. The others waited for their turn afraid of what they would face in the room. While waiting Nya and Jay made a temporary fix to Zanes arm. They put the wires back under his skin and wrapped a cloth around the area to keep anything from falling out or getting in. They would have to properly fix it later.
For each of them the energy in the room would appear as a clone to them that rarely for some of them could morph into various forms of things or beings that put them on edge, scared them or even had a negative effect on their mental state. The being always had the strange dual colored eyes no matter the form it took. It could even affect the rooms environment to make things worse for them. This being yielded their fears and flaws against them trying to demoralise and mentally wear them down as it attempted to destroy them. It was even able to prevent them from using their powers. Though each eventually passed the test receiving the same token Zane had gotten when they exited the room they were left shaken, had bruises and cuts and were incredibly pale having been disturbed by their experience. For Kai the entity tormented him with being powerless to save those he cared about, loosing those closest to him, of failure and his fear of water. The energy had gone so far as to attempt to drown him by flooding the room as they fought causing Kai to come out of the room soaking when he was done. As if he knew Chodala had a towel for him to dry off and a robe for him to change into so his clothes could dry while the others had their trial. Cole who went next was tormented by the deaths of those he cared about, being weak, his fear of heights and falling, his qualities as a leader and team mate, picking at who he was and about the loss of his mother and him failing to uphold the promise he had made to her the figure even able to take her form and use her voice on him.
“I can see why the knights warned us against these trials,” Cole remarked after his turn. Nya was next and the entity picked at her identity claiming she was no one just a normal person, that she was not a valued member of the team and claiming she would fail picking at her fear of failure and terrorized her with being weak and useless. Jay went next and the entity picked on his insecurities, teased him about his joking and over talking, his relation with Nya claiming she didn’t actually like him and was only taking pity on him which was made worse by the figure using her form and voice to tell him this. It also routinely claimed he was the weakest of the group and would fall to the wastes using various beasts and monsters to try and tear him apart. When he finally got out still feeling shaken by the energies words he went straight for Nya seeking her comfort. He was relieved and felt better when she didn’t push him away and offered him a few blunt yet comforting in her own way words to him. Lloyd was the last fearing and dreading what he was to face. He was hesitant to go through with it and had to force himself into the grove in order to get it done. To his horror Lloyds corrupted clone had the ability to shift his form into a corrupted Oni like form and terrorized him with the worries that he could turn evil like his father and hurt those he loved. Lloyd took the longest in the test and was more shaken than the others. For each of them when they finished their test Chodala had a Monk see to their wounds and gave them a special potion in the form of a tea to help them calm down from the trial, the monks even used the Scimitar oil for Zane and gave them the tools to fix his arm. Even with this they were all finding it difficult to calm down. After they had all completed the trial and passed Chodala expressed, “now if I were you get some rest and be ready for tomorrow. Your next test starts at dawn.”
They had met Chodala first thing in the morning after a restless sleep. The ninja had found their dreams plagued by nightmares. The knights had told them they had the same problem after that trial leading them to believe the nightmares were an after effect of Sheoths trial.
“For Mystara you will need to head out into the surrounding area and collect the items you need to make the Tea of Death Turning. Once you have the items you will return and on your own supervised by our monks you will make the tea then test it. This may sound simple but I guarantee you might find more than you expect,” Chodala had explained handing each of them a list of what they needed before sending them off. Most of the items they needed were from the plants and fungi of the surrounding region. It was cool with temperatures barely reaching 10/50 (C/F) degrees, damp and overcast outside with small flakes of ash sparsely raining from the sky every now and then.
“Why couldn’t we just buy the items?” Jay complained as they wandered near a farmer’s field looking for the plants. He was not happy with having to get up early after a restless sleep to wander around the wastes especially with the damp and cold. He preferred to be back in his warm bed to try and get more sleep. Kai was with him on this not happy with the damp and coolness either but the others were not as bothered and willing to put up with it to get the job done. Zane, who was in his disguised appearance, had the guide book they had been given to help identify the plants and shrooms while Cole carried the large basket they were planning on putting things in to carry them. The field was down a little ditch and looked to be growing rice. There were several workers in the field. None of them seemed interested in what the ninja were doing there as they continued their work planting their crops. The ninja walked along a trail that had been worn into the ground on a ridge above the farm field. To try and avoid standing out they had all dressed in clothes like those of the common folk hoping to avoid unwanted attention and trouble during this task. While it was recommended they go unarmed only Cole and Zane had gone along with this. Jay had brought his weapon feeling too scared of this place to go unarmed and not trusting the people Nya and Kai had brought their weapons. Not wanting to leave such a special item unguarded Zane had left the Red Diamond shurikan with the knights to keep it safe but even though Lloyd trusted the knights he didn’t feel safe going unarmed in this place so had brought the special blade Divayth had given them to both keep it and them safe. Though Chodala had made the knights swear to secrecy till the ninja were done their trials so they could not give hints or aid to the ninja the knights had warned them that despite sounding easy this task was not and likely to hold more than they expected.
“You heard what Chodala said, we have to collect the items ourselves only the powdered Venom-Fang venom can be collected by someone else,” Lloyd explained and Nya added, “it’s a good thing Hassiri knows someone who can get us what we need. I’d hate to try and collect it ourselves.”
“What is it we need again?” Kai asked feeling a little confused.
“Sap from one of the tall shrooms known as an Emperors Parasol, leaves of the Ash Fern, Fiery lantern pod, Nirnroot, Leaves of the Aloe tree, a bone spider, petals of the Ashen cherry blossom and venom from the venom-fang which has been dried to a crystallized form. Weren’t you listening?” Nya regaled reading over the list they had been given.
“I was; I’m just having trouble remembering it. My memories from this morning seem foggy. It’s so weird, it feels more like I was dreaming than actually being there,” Kai noted feeling a bit disturbed by his current state of mind.
“Probably has to do with not getting enough sleep last night,” Lloyd speculated and Jay stated, “I’d agree with that.”
“Is this one of the plants we need, looks like an Aloe in tree form,” Cole inquired as they came up to a decent sized tree like plant whose trunks and few branches were topped with what looked like Aloe Vera plants. The plant was only a few feet taller than them and had thorns on its non leafy parts.
“Yes, we need some of the leaves,” Zane noted as Cole put the basket down and rubbed his wrists, the others had noted that he had been rubbing his wrists like they irritated him or were sore all morning.
“Are you okay? You’ve been doing that a lot all morning,” Lloyd commented about Coles behaviour.
“Yha, my wrists are just stiff and sore. Not sure if it is from fighting yesterday or maybe it’s the ash; that stuff irritates my skin,” Cole noted and Zane added, “The Ash defiantly is not very healthy. It messes with my systems and can irritate some of my senses often in ways I did not think possible.”
“It makes my skin dry and itchy and feel like its burning sometimes,” Nya noted and Jay commented, “you too. I thought it was just me.”
“How do people here stand it living in this stuff? It stinks. I don’t know if it’s the smell or the ash or something else but every now and then something makes my chest hurt,” Kai noted as they collected some of the leaves and put them in a jar in the basket to keep them separate from the other ingredients they had to collect hoping to also keep them fresh and safe.
“First item down, if you want Cole one of us could help you carry the basket,” Lloyd opted.
“Sure,” Cole agreed and Jay stated, “what next?”
“That large fungi there is the Emperors Parasol we need sap from,” Zane noted pointing at a tree sized mushroom only a few feet away from the Aloe Tree. It was large with a large pale burnt orange cap, purple tinted dark brown-gray lower and dark off white upper colored stalk and strange pale burnt orange pod structures on the lower part of its stalk. A few ranging from sapling to tree sized specimens grew together.
“Okay how do we get sap from it?” Jay wondered while Cole commented, “do fungi even have sap?” As they worked on how to get sap from the fungi they were unaware of what was happening in the field behind them. A group of bandits had moved in and forced the workers into a circle and onto their knees forcing their hands onto their heads as some of the bandits searched the farm for valuables and supplies. The ninja only became aware of what was occurring after they had collected some sap, or at least they hoped it was sap, from the fungi by cutting into the trunk as deep as they could finding a thick syrup like liquid pouring out. The trunk was surprisingly tough and wood like even though it was a mushroom not a plant.
“What’s going on down there?” Cole wondered as he put the jar with the sap into the basket. They all turned to look.
“Don’t know but I don’t like the looks of it,” Kai stated before Lloyd led them down to see what was going on. They left the basket, list and book by the shrooms.
“Is this all you got. Some bags of rice and flour, tea bags and dried kagaur meats,” the one bandit who looked to be the leader an ungulate folk with the scar from a burn over his right eye demanded roughly picking up one of the farmers, a hyena folk, by the front of his shirt.
“We are simple farmers we do not have much. We have not had a good harvest and much of our livestock has fallen ill from the ash,” the farmer pleaded.
“Hey what are you doing to these people?” Lloyd questioned the bandits as they approached.
“None of your business false dragons now head back to where you came from and no one gets hurt,” the leader proclaimed throwing the farmer to the ground.
“Why don’t you leave them alone? They have it tough enough here without the likes of you hanging around,” Kai proclaimed.
“You know we could get something for them. The Ashers are willing to pay handsomely for anyone who can bring them the false dragons,” the one bandit a cat folk who looked to be a mage told the leader who gave a nasty looking smile as he looked at the ninja.
“Sounds like a good idea,” the leader proclaimed as he and his group pulled their weapons ready for a fight. The ninja pulled their weapons ready to defend themselves.
“Try to not cause too much damage to the field or accidently hit the farmers guys. We don’t want to give the people a reason to hate us more,” Lloyd whispered to them all before the bandits rushed at them. The bandits were not much of a fight for the ninja despite outnumbering them. They were more of thugs than anything else and they were clearly unprepared for Spinjitsu.
“Now are you going to listen to us?” Cole commented after throwing the leader to the ground.
“I think we might need some aid for this. Do it,” the leader stated to the bandit who looked to be a mage.
“I’ve been waiting to use this spell for a while now. Let’s see if that spell I bought from Ashers is any good,” the mage stated before muttering something and shooting a glowing purplish orb at the ground nearby from his hands. Where the orb hit the light took on a very large form ash being dragged from the ground into the form. The light got brighter before suddenly dissipating and revealing a Fear! The ninja were stunned and scared at what they saw. From what they had heard and read this creature was this realms equivalent to Ninjagos Grundle and none of them had ever wanted to face one of those again.
“Let’s see how you fetchers do with this. Does anyone know if the Ashers want them in one piece or are they fine with multiple pieces? Do they want them alive or are they okay with…” the leader began boasting before Jay cut him off not wanting to hear the word dead stating, “don’t say it!” The Fear roared at them slamming its hands on the ground as it roared before getting back onto two legs and charging at the ninja. They dodged out of the way and the Fear hesitated trying to determine which one it was going after. It chose Jay who slid under a large cart trying to hide from the creature as its first target. The Fear charged into the cart head first. Its snout hit into the cart and slid up and over it as the Fear came to stand over it placing one foot on the cart to pin it down. The creatures weight broke the cart where it stepped forcing part of the cart into the ground as it bit at the cart tearing it apart. Nya threw her trident at the Fear to try and draw its attention away. The trident hit but it just bounced off the creatures skin. The Fear looked at her but before it could charge at her Kai threw a blast of fire at its face. This didn’t hurt the creature instead it angered it as it looked at Kai baring its teeth. While it was distracted Jay slipped out from under the cart. He tried to use his weapon on its foot hoping to disable it and give it a shock however when his nun chucks hit the creature it did nothing and the electric shocks he sent through the weapon just seemed to make the creature slightly annoyed. The Fear smacked Jay away with its one forepaw sending him to land several feet away in the mud. Zane, Cole and Lloyd who were closest to him came over to see if he was okay while Nya and Kai tried to distract the creature to keep it away from the farmers. The whole time they were fighting the bandits kept laughing at and teasing the ninja saying things to try and unnerve and disturb them.
“This things almost invincible, anyone got any ideas?” Jay wondered winded from the impact.
“I’ve got one. Let’s see how tough it really is,” Cole remarked rushing over to use his lava arms to slam down onto the creatures foot. He was shocked to see it had done nothing to the creature. The Fear just looked at him annoyed.
“That should have broken at least a toe!” Cole croaked slowly backing away from the creature not wanting to take his eyes off it in case it retaliated. The Fear charged at Cole who dove out of the way of the creatures attack. Lloyd hit it with a blast of his powers while Zane shot some ice shards in its direction to try and draw its attention away from their friends. The ice shards missed the creature but had done as intended and drawn its attention. As the creature looked at them Zane remembered something.
“The Blade Divayth gave us try it on the creature,” he instructed Lloyd who they had given the weapon to.
“Why weapons don’t seem to hurt it?” Lloyd commented confused as the creature prepared to charge at them.
“Just try it,” Zane yelled at him as the creature came charging at them. As it got close to them Lloyd pulled out the special blade and took a swipe at the creatures lower leg as he and Zane dodged the creature as it passed them. The Fear screamed in pain and they could see the blade had cut the creatures leg. As the creature inspected the wound in pain Lloyd looked at the sword. It had worked; whatever this blade was made from could hurt the creature. There was something else he noted. He expected to see blood on the blade but there was nothing just some ash which fell off as he rotated the blade. When he looked at the creature which was now looking angrily at him Lloyd noted the wound he had left on the creature was not bleeding but dropping ash! It was as if this creature was made of ash!
“Zane hit it with some ice,” Lloyd instructed and seeing the creature charging back at them and not wanting to be attacked by it Zane obeyed and hit the creature with some shards of ice. The creature screamed in pain stopping in its tracks as the ice pierced its hide and the areas around where the ice hit took on an ashy appearance.
“This isn’t a real Fear! It’s some form of Ash spawn!” Lloyd noted before instructing to the rest of them, “Zane, Nya you two freeze the creature the rest of us will make sure the bandits can’t escape.” Nya used the water from the field to soak the creature while Zane froze it; once frozen the Fear exploded into chunks of ice and ash as its spell broke. As the creature began to freeze the bandits attempted to escape seeing their plan was not working out the way they had thought. Cole, Lloyd, Kai and Jay cut them off before they could escape and subdued them. The farmers gave them some rope to tie up the bandits till the town guards could arrive and take them away. The farmers were grateful for the ninjas help but when the ninja asked if they could help clean up some of the damages from their fighting the farmers pleaded that they leave afraid the ninjas presence would attract Ashers to them. It was disheartening to see the people’s reactions to them but at least the farmers weren’t attacking them or showing hatred to them. That was a nice change. The ninja had to keep collecting what they needed for the trial so they decided it best to let the farmers be.
They collected the rest of what they needed by noon from outside the town. None of them had been comfortable with collecting the bone spiders which they had collected from a cave. They had needed six, one for each of them. Despite not being lethal they were very creepy looking especially with their translucent limbs. Luckily the spiders didn’t have to be living. By the time they had gotten back into town the clouds had moved apart letting the sun out allowing it to warm up and become more comfortable.
“What do you say we get some lunch before we continue the trial?” Jay wondered holding a jar with dead spiders as far from himself as possible. They had found the basket they were using couldn’t hold everything they needed and some of them had to carry some of the items.
“I guess we could,” Lloyd commented as they took a break by a park, they were feeling oddly tired. They guessed it was from the fight the day before and the lack of a proper sleep. While relaxing and enjoying the sun and its warmth they were quick to note a cluster of people at the parks edges by some houses. Curious to see what was going on they headed over to investigate bringing what they had collected with them. A grey colored ungulate folk was sitting on the ground holding his waist which looked to have been slashed at. He was bleeding and in shock as a guard and some of the other folk tried calming him down.
“What’s going on?” Cole asked but none of the people wished to answer telling them to move along as it didn’t involve them.
“No, no I can’t calm down. That monster stole her face! It was wearing my wife’s face!” the folk kept uttering.
“What does he mean it has her face?” Lloyd inquired unnerved by the folks words and Jay who was disturbed by the comment added, “how do you steal and wear someone else’s face?”
“Ashers magic, I’ve heard of it before and hoped to never deal with it. Some Ashers use their dark magic to make themselves look like someone else. It allows them to sneak into places they shouldn’t be. Skin Stealers we call them,” the guard explained. At the term Ashers the towns folk gathered got nervous.
“Please dragons don’t let that monster steal her face, destroy that thing,” the injured folk pleaded when he saw the ninja.
“I don’t trust you outlanders but he is right you have to destroy this thing before it can complete whatever it wants to do. You are the only ones who stand a chance against those things besides I don’t want to face it,” the guard expressed. The ninja were not happy with how the people were treating them but they saw this as a possible opportunity to try and get the people to warm up to them.
“Okay, can you tell us a bit about what happened, where is this thing?” Lloyd inquired.
“I came home from work and I saw her enter my home but it couldn’t be her. The Blight claimed her five years ago,” the folk began starting to tear up.
“They often use those that are missing or departed for their illusion why we are unsure but knowing those entities probably for their cruel pleasure,” the guard explained.
“What happened next?” Cole asked and the folk continued, “I went to confront this thing and it laughed at me as it tried to kill me. I just managed to escape. The monsters still in my house, please before it gets away dragons destroy it.”
“Why would these Asher dudes target you?” Zane inquired. With his disguise active no one was bothering him or questioning his words and those gathered didn’t seem suspicious of him.
“I don’t know, I’m a nobody just a worker, an engineer and mechanic for the Ghost Fence not a guard or council member, I’m no one special,” the injured folk replied before the guard grumbled, “why does that matter get your worthless butts in there and get rid of that thing.” Not wanting to anger the guard the ninja headed for the folks house placing their stuff next to the buildings foundation. They hesitated for a second before entering worried about what kind of being they were facing. They had yet to face a true full blooded Asher and from what they had heard none of them thought they were ready to face a sorcerer. The people that had gathered and folk passing by stopped to watch them. Putting on brave faces to not reveal how nervous they were the ninja headed inside to face this entity. The building was a small two story structure. The first floor was very open with the kitchen which had an island in the back right, a small study area was at the back left partially under the stairs while the front was a small recreation area. A dining room looked to be off to the right separated by walls and a door possibly leading to a bathroom was at the base of the stairs. They could not see the upstairs. When they got inside they found what looked like a female hyena folk going through what looked like documents and blueprints for the ghost fence and some of the towns defences in the study area of this folks home. She wore a sleeveless black with red trim and iridescence robe, burned blackish red cloth wraps on her forearms and had a magic enchanted staff strapped to her back. Not wanting to get into a direct attack with the Asher they attempted to sneak up behind this thing.
“So the foreign dragons have showed up. Well this was unexpected but I guess I could make it work. My superiors will be very pleased to have me bring you in,” the folk expressed turning to face them equipping its staff and abandoning their cloak revealing a nearly full blooded Asher beneath. She was humanoid but with burning eyes and mouth and her skin looked like burning ash. She still had hair which was dark but she lacked the bestial features of the people of this realm.
“Whatever you were planning ends now,” Kai exclaimed rushing in to attack the Asher who dodged his attack tripping him with her staff as he went by. She then threw a spell at Jay knocking him into Cole before countering Nyas attack and flinging her with a spell into Jay and Cole as they started to get back up knocking them all back down again. When Lloyd went to attack her she used a spell to fling him back into and over a couch knocking it over with his impact. Zane went to shoot some shards of ice at the Asher but she dodged his attack before looking at Zane with an evil smirk worrying him. She then used some sort of spell to lift him off the ground and began to suck energy painfully from him.
“Leave him alone,” Cole yelled at her. She gave the others an evil smirk laughing before tossing Zane into the cabinetry of the kitchen breaking them and leaving Zane unconscious, or at least they hoped unconscious, on the floor in the lower cabinets. Cole rushed over to wrap his arms around the Asher and try to pull her off her feet while Jay went to try and get Zane up. To Coles surprise the Asher gave off a strong electrical energy which shocked Cole and sent him flying into a bookshelf in the study area stunning him.
“What was that?” Jay inquired and the Asher responded with a sinister laugh, “Skin Stealer magic, it’s not just enough to look and sound like someone. Sometimes you need to mimic someone’s powers or energies. Isn’t that right dirt boy.” The Asher then mimicked Cole’s earth powers to shake the ground to knock the others off their feet. Kai went to attack her but she dodged his attack and grabbed his arm. Her arm developed waves of what looked like fiery energy before she threw Kai into the kitchen cabinets where he bounced off them and landed on the floor stunned and dazed. The Asher then used a flame attack at Nya who used her water powers to combat the flames with help from the kitchens sink. Because she was just mimicking and didn’t have real elemental powers the Asher was unable to sustain the flames to combat Nyas powers. She ended up getting soaked as her power dwindled but she didn’t seem to care instead she laughed maniacally unnerving them.
“It’s going to take more than a little water to cool me down,” the Asher boasted steam coming off her body which though still ashy was no longer burning as she laughed. The water seemed to have had a minor effect on her cooling her down and making her skin smoke from steam.
“We need Zane to freeze her,” Cole noted as he helped Jay pull Zane out of the broken cabinetry and sat him on the floor by the island as the others came to congregate in the kitchen hiding behind the island crouching on the floor with them hoping to plan without the Asher hearing.
“How can we do that?! I can’t wake Zane up? I don’t know what she did to him but he won’t wake up,” Jay panicked.
“Cause he’s unconscious Jay, you’d probably be the same way if she had done to you what she did to him. I think she stole some of his energy from his power source, that’s why she could shock you. We just have to give him time to wake up,” Nya noted pointing at Cole and Lloyd added while the Asher began to taunt them trying to draw them out, “it would make sense that she couldn’t mimic his powers. Ice hurts them so I bet they can’t wield or even mimic it.”
“Okay but how do we stop her! We can’t wait for Zane to wake up that could take too long and I don’t think she’ll wait!” Kai fretted as the Asher began using her magic to attack the island trying to destroy it.
“Why doesn’t she come face us, why attack the cabinetry?” Cole wondered and Lloyd replied, “Notice how she didn’t touch Zane, she used a spell instead. I think they’re afraid of him because of his powers.”
“Yha when we faced some of their acolytes before Zane just touched them while barely using his powers and it had a serious impact on them,” Cole noted.
“Just because we can touch her I don’t think we should. We should avoid touching her so she can’t mimic our powers,” Nya noted.
“So then what do we do?” Kai inquired as one of the Ashers blasts shook the walls, breaking part of the island and knocking a fire extinguisher onto the floor. Lloyd took note of the extinguisher and remembered how he and Nya had stopped an Ash Spawn in the Under-city.
“We’ll have to make do with this,” Lloyd proclaimed picking up the extinguisher. He and Nya knew exactly what to do. Nya got up and began to soak the Asher and Lloyd quickly turned the extinguisher on her. It started to work at first but the Asher then brought up an energy field to protect herself laughing as she did it.
“What do you think I am a mindless Ash Spawn? I can out think you,” the Asher boasted as Lloyd and Nya stopped seeing it was no use continuing while she had the ward up. As the Asher dispelled the ward she blasted Lloyd with a ball of energy and Kai noticed the Asher seemed to be using her staff a lot whenever she cast a spell.
“I think the staff is the source of her powers,” he mentioned to Jay and Cole. They watched for a second as she again put up her ward as Lloyd and Nya tried again to freeze her.
“Your right, maybe it helps her focus or enhance her powers,” Jay theorized.
“Well if that’s what’s giving her power let’s see how she does without it,” Cole stated rushing in to grab it from her ripping it from her hands surprising her and smash it on the ground breaking it.
“My staff!” the Asher exclaimed getting mad, “without that my spells are less effective and powerful but I’m not powerless.” She grabbed Cole roughly by the wrist and threw him mimicking his powers into Lloyd before turning her attention to Jay who was trying to give her a sneak attack. She grabbed him and lifted Jay up by the front of his shirt and began to draw energy from him like she had done with Zane.
“Ow… I can feel it … she’s drawing energy from me…it hurts!” Jay moaned and the Asher replied, “the more energy I take from you dragons the weaker you get and the less you will fight while I will get stronger and can fight longer.” Nya went to hit the Asher with a blast of water but before she could a shard of ice pierced the Ashers side and she began to freeze. When the ice hit the Asher her spell stopped and she dropping Jay who felt exhausted and weak. The Asher stumbled to the side and looked at where the ice had come from angered. Zane had come to and though feeling weak and tired from the Ashers spell had got up to attack her. He hit her again with his powers mustering as much energy as he could to freeze her solid. Once she was frozen solid she exploded leaving a pile of ash and ice chunks on the floor. Zane swayed a bit before falling into the island still weak and exhausted from the spell.
“Zane good to see you up, could have used you earlier,” Jay mumbled as Kai helped him stand up as the spell had left Jay feeling too weak to stand on his own.
“Are you okay?” Lloyd asked Zane coming to help him stand up.
“She drained some of my energy. I can feel the spells effects slowly wearing off but it will take some time before my power sources energy output is back to normal,” Zane replied leaning on Lloyd for support.
“He’s okay, we just get them some lunch and they’ll be better in no time. I know I will. First though we should let them know the Ashers been dealt with and maybe apologise for the mess,” Cole stated.
“What do you think she was doing here?” Nya wondered inspecting the papers the Asher had been looking at.
“I think she was looking for weaknesses in the Ghost Fence. We should let Hassiri know about this,” Lloyd speculated as they began to leave Zane leaning on him for support. They waited a second for Zane to reactivate and stabilize his disguise before heading out. They didn’t want to draw any suspicions to Zanes disguise besides with the townsfolk gathered outside they knew he would not feel comfortable going outside without it. Because of the energy draining Zane was unable to maintain and barely able to activate the cloak, he didn’t have the energy for it. Lloyd decided to give him some help by using his powers to power Zanes cloak for him so Zane wasn’t wasting energy on it and could focus on recovering from the Ashers spell. Just in case his cloak still slipped with this aid Zane put the hood of his outfit up and over his head to hide as much of himself as possible.
“Sorry about the mess but she was tougher than she looked,” Cole expressed to the folk waiting outside. An ambulance had arrived to take care of the folk who had been attacked and a few more guards had arrived.
“Yha she’s ready for you to pick her up. You’ll probably need a dustpan or better yet a vacuum to get her,” Kai joked still helping Jay stand up. The people outside were still not very pleased with the ninja but a few seemed to be grateful that they had dealt with the Ashers but said nothing likely afraid of how the other folk would react. Not wanting to waste time with the folk, they had the trial to continue after all, they collected their stuff and headed off. They got some lunch in the Under-city where they met with Hassiri to retrieve the venom-fang venom and explained to Hassiri their encounter with the Asher. Hassiri assured them the energy drain spell she had used on them would not leave any lasting effects and he would look into what the Asher had been looking at. Afterwards they waited a bit for Zane and Jay to recover before heading to the temple.
When they got there Chodala inquired how their trip had gone.
“Well we had to deal with bandits attacking innocent farmers, those spiders are unnervingly creepy and we had to stop a psycho Asher who tried to drain us of our energy but other than that it was fine,” Kai sarcastically mentioned.
“So you helped those in need?” Chodala pried.
“Yha, why were we not supposed to?” Lloyd wondered curious about Chodalas tone. It sounded like he knew something they didn’t.
“No you were supposed to help them. Not many realise why one has to collect the items from the wild and not simply buy them. There is more to Mystaras trial than there seems dragons. Mystara helped those in need of aid when they needed it just as you did. Those truly deserving of her approval would have aided any they encountered who needed aid even when it interferes with your task. They say the universe works in strange ways. Even if you do not do well on this next part I have a feeling she will bless you,” Chodala explained surprising and confusing them. Chodala didn’t give them time to inquire more wasting no time in taking them further into the temple placing each of them in their own room where they had all the tools they needed and the recipe to follow. With each of them Chodala left a monk he felt would best pair with them to watch over them and make sure they did the work alone. The recipe seemed simple but it took two hours to make properly.
Zane followed the recipe with no problem even though having the strange folk in the room with him made him nervous at first till he realised the monk wasn’t going to hurt him. Instead it sat reading a guide book on birds of the wastes playing their calls through his phone more interested in doing his own thing than watching Zane. Zane didn’t mind; he liked the bird sounds and since he didn’t feel comfortable chatting with the stranger the noises kept the room from becoming unnervingly silent. Kai had a few mishaps and a minor explosion which spooked the monk he was with who spent most of the time using a chair as a shield and on edge afraid he might get hurt. Kai was annoyed at how long it took to make the potion but got it done. Jay also had a few mishaps and explosions but eventually got it done. He had rambled on most of the time he was working which began to drive his monk, who preferred a more quite environment, crazy. Cole took a little longer than the others but he didn’t want to screw it up so made sure to carefully read the instructions every few minutes. He kept trying to strike up a conversation with the monk not liking the silence spending most of the time talking to himself since the monk was not very talkative. Nya also had no problem with the recipe. She struck up a conversation with the monk in her room. The monk seemed fine with it at first till she started ranting about how the people of Balmora reacted to and treated them, Tafari, the Ash and other things that bothered her making the monk uncomfortable though he was too scared of her to say anything. Lloyd was nervous the whole time. He was worried of messing up his potion and of failing the trial. He was also confused about the incidents earlier in the day. Had the temple set them up or had they been genuine and it was just a matter of coincidence that they had come across them when they did. He talked with the monk about it as he worked and the monk assured him that apart from overseeing the trials and offering supplies and locations for the trials they did not interfere with any trial. The monk uttered the same thing Chodala had said that the universe worked in strange ways.
Once they were done the monks took them into the basement into a new room. This one was large and looked like a training Dojo however there was one thing different. Against the far wall were several of these Shambles creatures. The ninja were unnerved by the beings even though when they entered the Shambles didn’t move. They remained still like they were statues.
“Alright, I will wake up a shamble and you will then use your potion on the creature. If it destroys the Shamble your potion has worked. Now one at a time,” Chodala explained. He used a spell to wake up one of the Shambles which rushed over to them. Without thinking afraid the thing was going to attack Jay tossed his potion at the Shambles. The glass container holding the potion broke when it hit the creature spilling its contents on the shambles which exploded sending parts of it around the room and scaring the monks.
“Sorry,” Jay apologized and Chodala expressed while the monks picked up the pieces of Shamble and put them in the one corner, “I think you used too much of the bone spider but it worked. Just so you know these things won’t hurt you. I do believe this is yours.” Chodala picked up off the floor in front of him a small stone item and handed it to Jay. It looked to be a token like the one they had received from their trial for Sheoth except the symbol on it was a tea leaf not a butterfly. They continued each taking their turn. Chodala would activate one of the Shambles they would throw their potion at it and the monks would clean up for the next one to go. Zane went second and his potion worked correctly causing the Shambles to fall apart giving off a burst of freezing energy as it died.
“Very good, you’re a natural at alchemy aren’t you?” Chodala expressed picking out a token from the Shambles remains and giving it to Zane who was pleased by Chodalas remark. Cole went next and like Zane it worked as it was supposed to.
“So those cooking lessons working for you then?” Kai joked as Chodala gave Cole his token. Cole was relieved his had worked and a bit annoyed by Kais comment. Kai went next. When the potion hit the Shambles it exploded like Jays had but pieces of it caught on fire.
“Too much Ashen Cherry Blossom but it worked,” Chodala noted as the monks put out the fires and cleaned it up. Nya was next and hers worked as it was supposed to. Lloyd was last and also worked as intended. By the end they had each gotten a token from the Shambles remains.
“Good you succeeded. Now why don’t you take some time to relax? I will brief you in the morning for your next test,” Chodala explained when they were done.
Notes:
If have any questions go ahead and ask I do not bite. I will try to answer them, I will however not give away spoilers.
The energy in the Grove of Reflection and the grove itself are part of the voids energy and some of it can be seen as the fog that fills the place. As you walk into and through it the energy analyzes you to determine what to do before it faces you. The being that it becomes deceives, lies and terrorizes those it faces messing with their senses and emotions to pull you down, weaken you and demoralize you. It will start off looking like you but will morph into those who a negative reaction from or the sight of will have a bad affect on your mental state or will even go so far as to morph you into a dark version of yourself. It emits an energy that once your emotions lower it tries to block them from rising to further challenge you. It physically cannot be defeated, it is defeated by ones courage to face their fears and continue on despite their fear. Once you reach this state and deliver a blow to it the being dissipates and the energy backs off acknowledging you have won. Despite the rooms ominous reputation rarely does it actually prove lethal. Those that never walk out perish from their own fear and not the room or energies themselves and despite being apart of the void if you perish in the room your soul is not claimed by the void and left free.
Chodala has a sort of sixth sense. He can see what others cannot and can see glimpses into the future. They are not very detailed more like vague feelings about it but it is enough to lead him to predict certain events or be aware of certain goings on that he has no knowledge of. I also imagined him having a connection to Mystara allowing him to commune from time to time with her.
Interesting fact prior to 300 million years ago there were fungi and ancient shrooms that grew as tall as small trees or large shrubs and likely helped plants establish themselves on dry land as fungi can break down rocks and minerals turning them to fertile soil. These fungi even developed wood like material to help keep them standing upright like plants. Why fungi haven't kept up this large size or attempted to get bigger is unknown but it would have been a cool sight to see and considering how bizarre and interesting many living shrooms are it would be cool to see what they could have done if not limited to modern sizes.
Chapter 27: Trial of Moon and Star
Summary:
Alone at night defenseless in a dangerous and alien world where monsters are out to get them; what could go wrong?
Notes:
Pictures relating to story can be found here: https://www.deviantart.com/nerdy-hyena/gallery/72478681/story-project
They are really good and help to visually flush out several aspects of the story including environments, characters, outfits, locations, creatures and other aspects often important ones in the story. All images I post in my work can be found there if you want a better look at them. Defiantly make sure to check them out.Also if you need a refresher on creatures, flora or aspects of the environment you can check out the second chapter in this work titled 'Keikiarys Guide to the Ash Wastes'. It includes short descriptions and pictures of these things.
Parts of this section are subject to change as the prequel story is written to improve story continuity.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
In the morning Chodala explained to them about their next trial. For Whetu they had to spend a night alone in the wild with no weapons or any means of defence. He gave them a list of items they could use. They were allowed to bring a simple shelter like a tent or tarp along with a blanket, bedroll and pillow; they could use a candle or oil lantern but no battery or other electrical light source. Campfires were permitted. They could bring whatever they wanted for food and drink and they could bring a simple first aid kit which the outfitter Chodala sent them to urged should carry anti-venom shots for the many venomous creatures of the wastes. They were not permitted cell phones or any other technology that could be used for entertainment or survival. They could use a map and compass and could bring one book which Chodala recommended the guide book they had been given. If they wanted any form of entertainment it had to be non-technological in means. If they wanted music they had to use an instrument, they wanted a game then they were out of luck and if you wanted to watch something you could watch things in your environment like ants crawling about or a bird preening. Jay and Kai were not happy about that but the others weren’t bothered. They were given all day to collect what they needed and prepare before they were to head out several hours before sundown so they could reach their chosen locations and set up while they still had light. The ninja spent a while discussing how they were going to deal with this trial. They were not comfortable spending the night alone in an unfamiliar land where there were people and highly dangerous entities out to get them without weapons to defend themselves. They decided that even though the rules stated they had to be alone they didn’t say they couldn’t camp near each other. They chose a location by a lake in the forests north of Balmora; they would appropriately distance themselves around the lake so they were not too close to each other but should things happen they could come to each other’s aid. Chodala agreed he would drop them off at the forests edge and pick them up the next day. To go along with having to be defenceless they went without their normal gear dressing as commoners for the trial and before they left Lloyd got Clay and Macy to help him make sure the others were obeying the rules. Nya had tried to sneak some knives and throwing stars out with her, Kai had tried to bring his phone and Jay had tried to bring both a tablet and handheld game with him; other than Lloyd Zane and Cole were the only other ones following the rules.
Chodala dropped them off by the forests edge near a small settlement close to the lake they had chosen shortly after noon. They followed a path into the woods towards the lake watching out for the many dangers of the area such as the Trauma roots and venomous animals. It was overcast and warm with some biting insects out to pester them. As they trekked they kept getting a feeling that something was there with them, watching them and making them nervous but they couldn’t see anything causing this feeling. Despite the feelings the place gave the landscape wasn’t too bad. It was hilly dominated by large rolling foothills and showed signs that at some point in the regions distant past glaciers likely coated the region leaving the landscape rather rocky and worn. Randomly deposited rocks and boulders of various sizes including ones as big as houses were scattered over the landscape, in a few places rocky cliff faces or even the smoothed rocky ground itself were exposed and small pockets of wetlands mainly bogs that were slowly being turned into dry land by the flora of the region sat in low lying areas. While there were a few areas of open land mainly where large animals had made pathways or clearings the area was largely forested. The forest was a mix of trees like cedars, junipers, pines, maples and the rare cluster or two of birch along with some other species of wastes trees like the Eucalid Locust and Niben Redwood and there was a good variety of small plants and fungi including a few of the large Emperor Parasols. Even glowing flora including Fiery Glowstalks could be seen in the forest though their glow was not really noticeable in the daylight. Ferns and horsetails mainly coated the forest understory with shrooms poking up here and there while grasses coated more open and swampy areas which also boasted various reeds and water loving plants and shrooms. In damp areas exposed rocky surfaces were coated by lichens and mosses which even grew on the trees and large shrooms as well. Some of the flora was also growing atop and even out of rocky surfaces through the area. In a few spots ruins of artificial structures lay largely in rubbled states being reclaimed by the environment itself. Ash coated the mainly conifer needle coated soil like everywhere else around the wastes but at least it wasn’t falling from the sky. Plenty of bird and insect sounds could be heard but outside that and the occasional wind, large animal call or snapping twig things were quite. The ninja were following a well worn trail through the forest which led to the location they were headed to.
“Maybe it’s Whetu,” Jay stated trying to not think of any alternatives to what was giving them the feelings of being watched nervous about this part of the trial.
“I doubt that,” Kai noted looking through the brush to see if he could see anything.
“I would rather think it is that over the alternatives,” Jay countered and Zane noted, “It is likely just animals. It is very unlikely they wish to harm us, they are probably just curious to see us in their forest.”
“Can’t you like sense what is around us or something?” Kai asked Zane who responded with, “ever since we have arrived in Balmora my sensors have not been working right. I can largely only sense what I can hear or see just like you now.”
“Me and Jay have both checked and even the knights mentor and those two knights in training Robin and Ava checked you over, they even used their ships diagnostics on you and we’ve found nothing. There’s nothing wrong with you,” Nya noted and Cole added, “It’s probably the Ash.”
“I would have to agree. There is something to this ash that is not normal or… right,” Zane agreed. When they reached the lake they had to split up to head to the locations they had chosen. They briefly went over their plan making sure everyone remembered it before splitting up. Jay had the hardest time with this trying to convince someone to come with him but none were going to co-operate with him. They intended to follow the rules as much as they could. They had come so far they couldn’t give up now. Before he left Kai made a few cluck noises and teased Jay with a poultry pun which just riled him up as they separated.
After separating they each wandered around near the lake before choosing a place they felt best suited them to set up camp. Nya decided to stick close to the lake shore and searched for a decent location to set up camp. The first spot she had chosen she was driven away from by a pair of the highly aggressive goose species known as Cobra-Chickens which kept trying to attack her till she left the area. She reasoned they were probably cranky cause they had chosen that spot to nest in so she gave them their space even though she was not happy with being hissed at by a goose. Eventually she found a spot a little further away where the geese didn’t seem interested in bothering her. It was a spot by the lake shore where plenty of reeds including some of the strange Lunar reeds were growing. She believed that if she needed to she could use the reeds and lake for defence. Maybe she could even drag any attackers near those two geese if she had to.
Zane also chose a spot by the lakeshore. As he had wandered towards the site he was keeping a tally of the various flora and fauna he came across. He found it relaxing to count, identify and observe the environment around him. It helped remove the negative effects the town and its people had put on him and made him feel relaxed and calm. The spot by the lake he chose was by the remains of an old Scimitar ruin likely from an old outpost or watchtower along the shore. Curious Zane had gone in to inspect the place, see what he could learn from it. On the outside it was overgrown, inside it had no inhabitants and had been cleared of anything valuable leaving just furniture, light fixtures which weren’t working even though there was a trap that was, rugs, tapestries, bits of scrap metal and empty Scymer containers. Given its state Zane believed constructs or the Stag had cleared it out either long ago or he was hooping was not the case recently. There appeared to be a tunnel leading deeper into the earth in the ruin but it was blocked by a gate that appeared to be un-open able inside the ruin. Zane had a feeling the tunnel led down into Blackreach. He set up outside the ruin. The whole location he had chosen was partially hidden in a stand of mainly cedar trees. The ruins, the sites seclusion and the lake made Zane feel safe so he chose it as his spot. Zane theorized that if he had to he could use the lake or the ruins to help defend himself especially if an Asher showed up. He was pretty sure no matter what he would do he couldn’t protect himself from the Stag. He would just have to hope the Stag didn’t show up.
Cole chose a spot a little ways away from the lake shore in a stand of cedars by a rock outcrop. It was a small clearing sheltered from the wind by the rock outcrop and the forests with a distinct path leading down to the lake. By the looks he had reason to believe the clearing and path were created by large animals like the Ash Walker to move with ease through the area. Scratches and smoothing to the rocks surfaces with shed scales and reptilian fuzz at the base of the small rocky cliffs indicated the creatures liked to use the rock as a back scratcher. He hoped while he was there nothing too big decided to come by for a good scratch putting his tent and himself in danger of being crushed.
Kai chose a spot away from the lake on a raised area sheltered by maples and a low but large shroom which he was going to use to shelter from the elements under. It was dryer than the lowlands and though the shrooms had a strong earthy smell he would prefer that over a damp bed. He was hoping the shrooms could also help hide his presence in the region by hiding everything in shadow.
Lloyd chose a location of highland by the lake where he could overlook the surrounding area from a nearby cliff which overlooked the lake. He was hoping when night fell he might be able to see the others campfires from the location. The spot was open making it easy to spot but he was willing to take the risk in an attempt to make sure he could see the others were okay.
Jay had reluctantly went on his own struggling to leave the spot they had split up from for a while. He had complained loudly about Kais teasing and having to sleep alone in nothing but a canvas tent on the ground in these foreign and dangerous lands filled with dangerous and monstrous creatures while trekking through the woods. During his ranting walk he got surprised by a rustling in the brushes in front of him and in a panic to find a place to hide he ran head first into a tree trunk. The rustling had been nothing but a lone Slothdillo, a large docile ground sloth, which had been peacefully making its way through the forest on the same game trail Jay had been following. At the sight of seeing Jay panic and run into a tree the creature stopped and stared a few seconds at him unsure what to do. After seeing it was nothing to worry about Jay got up and slowly tried to make his way around the creature babbling on at it. The creature which had been startled by Jay turned the opposite way and hurried away making a few glances back at him to make sure he wasn’t following it. The creature did not want to get involved with this strange being who was loudly wandering through its forest. Eventually Jay chose a spot near a rock outcrop which had a large cedar growing against it not far from the lake to shelter at.
By sundown they had each set up their camp sites. Even though they were alone they kept getting the feeling they were being watched the whole time they had set up their sites putting them all on edge. Occasionally they could see an animal stop to watch them before going on its way but their gazes were not what was giving them the feelings. There was an edge of the unnatural to this watched feeling making them believe it was something unnatural giving them the feeling. Since they couldn’t find whatever was watching them they could only hope whatever it was did not intend any harm to them.
“Are you sure this isn’t breaking the rules?” Jay asked through the communicator about an hour after the sun had gone down clearly worried and on edge.
“No, they said no technology that could be used for entertainment or navigation they said nothing about communication,” Lloyd replied back. Zane just sat by a campfire listening to the others argue through his communicator as he looked around. Even though he didn’t need the fires warmth he had made it anyway. Its sounds and smells offered comfort reminding him of past times where he was out at night with the others making him feel comforted and like he was not alone. He was feeling a little lonely despite all the life forms around him. Around sun down a group of Kwalit had wandered into his sight and after a minute of yelling at him and him giving them their space the creatures had settled down and did their own thing. They were currently browsing by the lake. Seeing how they didn’t mind his presence and hoping they disliked the Ashers he was using them as an early warning system for any possible threats. The creatures seemed to feel comfortable around him and occasionally would come rate up to him and let him pet them. Zane wasn’t minding them, the creatures’ presence was staving off some of his feelings of loneliness and they weren’t being a nuisance like the glowing Torchbugs which seemed to be attracted by the glow of his eyes causing them to frequently get uncomfortably close to his face. He had already ended up accidentally swallowing a few trying to bat them away from his face when they came by. He also felt comforted by the Kwalits presence, he felt as long as the Kwalit seemed fine and relaxed he was safe, at least from Ashers. He was not sure about the Stag.
“Yha but these could still be used for entertainment,” Jay noted and Kai’s voice came through the communicator sounding annoyed to ask, “how?”
“I could tell jokes,” Jay replied and Kai wasted no time in stating, “then we’ll mute your end, do you want to risk that?”
“No,” Jay replied before Nya came on to state, “we have a reason for doing this Jay.”
“Yha I doubt most who take this trial aren’t prime targets for a group who wish to see them…” Cole began before Jay cut him off to say, “can we not talk about that, especially that word or anything to do with that word!” Zane was finding their arguing not very helpful and distracting from keeping an eye out for danger so was only partly paying attention to it. Noting a sparrow sized beetle crawling on the log he was using as a seat he picked it up and looked it over while listening to the others. He was not into the argument and was more interested in the world around them at the time. There were lots of fascinating things in the world around them and they could be doing something more creative like studying their environment than arguing.
“If you’re not comfortable with using the communicators then you don’t have to use them. Besides we’re supposed to be using them for emergencies or updates not arguing,” Lloyd came through angry at the others. The beetle Zane held was not too happy with being held trying to bite him.
“Hey Jay started it,” Kai objected and Lloyd replied, “I don’t care who started it I’m finishing it. Unless you have something important to tell the rest of us then stay off the airwave.”
“You’ve been pretty quite Zane are you still there?” Cole inquired and Zane replied, “yha, there are plenty of intriguing things in these woods.” Zane put the beetle on his arm to see what it would do. It stood still for a second before beginning to clean itself more relaxed now that it was not being held. After a quite minute the distant call of an Ash Walker caught the attention of the Kwalit who looked up for a few seconds before going back to what they were doing telling Zane the noise was nothing to be alarmed at. After the call Jay came back on over the communicator in a panic.
“What was that?!” he muttered and Nya replied sounding unamused, “It’s just an Ash Walker Jay.”
“They don’t eat people do they?” Jay moaned.
“They’re mainly plant eaters though they will eat meat once in a while. The book says they rarely have been known to eat people,” Cole replied and Jay muttered, “rarely, that means there is a chance they do,” and Kai came through teasing Jay with, “yha particularly people who ramble on all night.”
“Come on guys not now,” Lloyd came through clearly not happy with the others messing around. Jay and Kai apologized.
“Did anyone check what the weather is supposed to be overnight?” Cole wondered and Zane who had checked before they left Balmora replied, “Mostly cloudy, 60 percent chance of rain over night, possibly a thunderstorm. Slim chance of an ash storm and temperatures are to remain cool hovering around 5/41 (C/F) degrees.” Knowing what the weather was to be like Zane had placed his tent beneath the cedars on a high spot so he wouldn’t get too wet if it did rain and the wood he had collected for the fire was placed in a sheltered spot beneath the cedars to help keep it dry.
“Probably should collect some more wood for the fire then, I’ll let you guys know when I’m back at camp,” Cole replied and Jay came over to complain, “Great rain and cold as if this night couldn’t get any worse.”
“You shouldn’t say that, you know it can get worse,” Kai noted as the beetle dropped off Zanes arm and he watched it wander away…
After the arguing Nya had decided to do something more constructive with her time. She was checking out the strange Lunar Reeds with their glowing pod tops. Ever since she had arrived at the sight she had gotten the feeling something was nearby watching her but she could not find anything. The others had agreed that they were getting the same feelings but could not find anything either. It was very unsettling. While inspecting the reeds she noticed something in the water near the reeds. It looked to be something shining or glowing. There were few stars and the two moons were barely visible through the gathering clouds and her campfire was not close to the water so it was unlikely something was reflecting light. She knelt down to get a better look at it. There seemed to be two glowing objects, they almost looked like they could be eyes.
“What is that?” she questioned putting her one hand on the shore as she prepared to get a closer look. The moment her hand touched the shore something launched out of the water and pulled her under. Though shocked she attempted to fight her attacker but whatever had attacked her let her go and she was able to gain a foothold and stand up. She stood in the shallows and looked around to try and find her attacker. At first she couldn’t see anything then she noticed crawling out of the water onto some tree roots near her to hiss at her a Kappa its eyes shining a golden color.
“Did you pull me under? Why did you do that now I’m soaking and I didn’t bring a towel or a change of clothes,” she muttered at the creature as she waded back to shore. Once on the shore she used her water powers to try and remove as much of the excess water from her clothes as she could before heading to her campfire to dry off. As she sat down she noticed the Kappa slowly and cautiously crawling towards her. It put the fire between it and her and lay down looking at her. It looked as if it was expecting to receive a treat but she was not in the mood to give it anything.
“You attacked me, why should I give you anything?” she expressed to the creature as it slowly crawled around the fire keeping some distance from her. It went over to the pack she had been using to carry supplies which she had leaned against the log she had set up to sit on by the fire and began sniffing it. Nya pulled it away from the creature closer to herself not wanting it to run off with her supplies. It jumped back when she pulled the bag away but slowly came back getting closer to her just staring up at her as it did.
“What? What do you want from my bag?” she wondered as the creature kept staring unblinking at her. She looked through her stuff and could think of only one thing the creature was wanting.
“You don’t deserve this but I guess it couldn’t hurt to let you have a little if it means you won’t steal my stuff,” she stated throwing some bits of food in front of the creature. It watched the food for a second before snapping it up. It then lay down looking like a basking gator and just stared at her.
“You’re not getting anymore,” she told the creature but it remained still. She sat for a few minutes tending to the fire and keeping an eye on the Kappa which didn’t move, remaining as still as a statue. When she sat back down she pulled out the guide book to look up the creature curious to why it had attacked her and why it was just laying motionless staring at her.
“Kappa have been known to drag people into the water mistaking them as prey… they do not intend to harm people, it says they’re shy animals. This one doesn’t seem shy,” she read before feeling something crawling onto her lap. She quickly looked hoping it wasn’t a snake or spider and was surprised to find the Kappa had crawled onto her lap and laid down.
“What are you doing? For a wild animal your oddly tame,” she noted before reading on about the creature, “…beware of venomous spurs on hind legs. Where are these spurs?” She looked over the creature and noticed it was dangling its hinds legs off her in a way so its spurs wouldn’t stab her. She instantly noted something odd about the spurs. Instead of being coated by keratin like the claws which they were supposed to be like they were made of a bronzish metal. Everything else about the creature seemed normal.
“Why do your spurs appear to be made of metal?” she wondered giving the creature some pets. It was surprisingly soft and something else. Some parts of its body felt odd almost like there was something under the skin. Some sort of plating or armour. These creatures didn’t have armour under their skin like crocodiles and whatever she was feeling was too un-uniform on both sides to be natural. She gave it some hefty pats on these strange solid spots and noted a hint of a metallic sound come from the creature. Curious she looked it over picking up various parts to get a better look at them. The creature was oddly calm with it all and remained relaxed. She couldn’t see anything notably odd to the creature other than the claws of its hind feet and its left front leg were also made of metal. The digits in the paws also felt more robotic than natural in build. There was a distinct scar that looked to be from a burn on the left area of its chest stretching a bit onto the right side of the chest and a scar on the top of its flattened beaver like tail looked to have come from a bladed weapon. There was also its eyes. The odd glow was not very natural and looking deeper while they looked to resemble natural eyes there were clear traits of an artificial nature to them.
“You kind of look and feel like someone took a creature and shoved mechanical parts into it. What exactly are you?” Nya wondered. Curious she put the creature down at her feet and picked up her book. While she looked through the book the creature climbed back up onto her lap but she was too determined to find what she was looking for in the book to care about the creature climbing onto her lap. She was pretty sure she had seen something about wild animals with metal parts in the book. When she found it the section offered very little information however what it did mention was not very comforting. The book mentioned odd but rare occurrences of wild native species with parts of their bodies that seemed to be made possibly as a replacement with metal and creatures had been found that when analyzed were discovered to have internal cybernetics or synthetic replicas of parts replacing the organic parts and some even had metal plates that looked to act as armour under the skin even if there was no clearly visible sign on the outside of their bodies of the cybernetic internal makes. Creatures with metal or cybernetic infused in them were often believed to be associated with the Stag serving as scouts for his forces. Why the creatures were imbued with robotics many were unsure of. Some felt it was so they could more easily work with his robotic minions while others felt it was to make the creatures deadlier. This was not a good sign.
“You’re not just some random animal are you? What are you doing here? Is it for this dark master of yours? What do you have planned?” Nya questioned the creature picking it up to look it in the eyes. The Kappa was entirely chill as it looked back at her. She had the strong desire to drive it from her sight worried what it might do to her if it was one of the Black Stags servants but for a reason she couldn’t figure out as she looked into its eyes she felt this thing offered her no threat. There was even a strange slight pull to keep it around; she almost felt it was like a watchdog and it could help keep her safe. A sudden noise in the woods nearby caught both their attentions sending a small flock of birds out of the nearby trees. The Kappa gave a hiss at the sounds direction and growled towards it. Curious Nya put the creature down. She picked up a stick and lit the end of it on fire. She cautiously approached the woods where the sound came from and held her makeshift torch out to illuminate the woods which she could swear were somehow darker than they had been before. Was it really darker or was that just her imagination? She couldn’t see anything. She picked up a fist sized stone and tossed it into the area she thought the sound came from. She saw it fade into the dark and she heard it hit the forest floor and roll a bit. She listened to see if anything was disturbed but she heard nothing. She paused hesitant to turn her back on the woods unsure if something was there or not.
“Must have just been an animal,” she hypothesized trying to brush the occurrence off as she went to sit back by her fire though she didn’t fully believe her words. She was getting an unnerving feeling that something was out there and she didn’t like it. The Kappa just crouched by her feet staring into the woods even after she had sat down. She found the intense stare it was giving to the woods unsettling. Something had caught its attention. As if it’s stare wasn’t unnerving enough it was being surprisingly quite. She expected it to maybe make at least some quite growls but there was nothing and listening she realised something else. Other than the sound of her fire and the faint sounds of the lake it was oddly silent. There was something about the silence she found unsettling. To break some of the silence she decided to try and contact the others, maybe let them know about her strange visitor. She went to use the communicator but couldn’t get through to anyone. All she could get was static. She looked at her communicator confused.
“This was just working…” she noted before a distant rumbling caught her and the creatures attention. They both looked up at the sky. The moons were no longer visible covered by cloud cover.
“Looks like the storm might be coming sooner than predicted. I wonder if that’s why these aren’t working. Well that throws a wrench in this plan then,” Nya noted looking at the communicator before looking at her fire, “I guess when this batch is done burning I could head to bed as long as it doesn’t start to rain before then. I don’t really have much to do out here and I’d rather not spend the night cold and wet.” She sat for a while keeping an eye on the fire and the woods. She wasn’t aware of it at first but soon noticed the Kappa had vanished. Looking at her pack it was untouched. She couldn’t see it by the fire or shore. Scanning her sight wondering where it had gone she was surprised to see its head poking out of her tent just plainly looking at her as it lay relaxed on her bedroll.
“Oh-no, that’s where I will be sleeping, you’re a wild animal you sleep out here,” she proclaimed getting up and heading over to pick the Kappa up and put it on the ground outside the tent. The moment she put it on the ground the creature rushed back into the tent. She tried several more times to remove the creature from the tent but every time she moved it out it went straight back in irritating her. She eventually gave up seeing it was not going to stop.
“Fine, you can stay but you have stay by my feet and don’t kick me with those spurs and if you are working for that demon and try to do anything to me than you better hope he keeps me caged or I’ll come after you and make sure you pay for your actions do you hear me,” Nya proclaimed. The creature just calmly lay looking at her.
“I guess of all the animals out here you’re not too bad of one to share my sight with. You smell like seaweed but it’s not too bad… you’re kind of like a weird mix between a beaver and a crocodile aren’t you and I guess you’re kind of cute. Your clean, you’re not too big or dangerous. The book says you have some ice based powers, I guess that could be helpful,” she noted looking back at the Kappa…
Not wanting to get wet in case of rain Kai had set his tent up under one of the large low shrooms. It had a strong earthy smell but he was willing to put up with it if it kept him dry. After Zane had told them the weather report for the night Kai had moved the wood he had collected for his fire to under the cover of the shroom to make sure it would stay at least mostly dry. He was not a fan of the cold so wanted to make sure he didn’t lose the fuel for his major source of heat.
“There that should keep it dry,” Kai expressed looking at his site. He quickly became aware of something being off. He had left his bag of supplies by the entrance to his tent however it was gone! Looking around he noted in a tree nearby on a low branch one of the Tree-bill creatures going through it, dropping things it didn’t want on the ground.
“Hey you little thief that’s not yours,” Kai expressed throwing a fireball at the creature. He aimed it so the fire just went past the creature. Not close enough to hit it but enough to scare it. Startled the creature dropped his pack and fell out of the tree into some bushes. Kai rushed over and collected his stuff putting it back in the sack before the creature could grab it. He then brought it back and put it in his tent. A stone hitting him in the back drew his attention back to the tree. The creature was sitting on a boulder in front of the tree yelling at him.
“Oh so you think you’re so tough. Don’t you realize you’re not even half my size? Your no bigger than a cat what are you going to do?” he challenged the Tree-Bill strolling to stand rate in front of it. The creature didn’t back down and just held its mouth open a bit as if daring Kai to put his hand near it so it could bite him.
“I’m not falling for your tricks. Do you even know who I am? I’m the master of fire,” he proclaimed creating a little flame in his hand and showing it off to the creature who seemed unfazed, “do you really think you stand a chance against me.” Thanks to the fire he had created Kai quickly picked up something odd about the Tree-bill. The crest on its head and some of the spines on its back were reflecting the light and brass in color. They didn’t look normal.
“Why do parts of you have metal on them?” he wondered before the Tree-bill suddenly changed expression. It became fearful and alarm called before rushing up into the tree looking down at Kai.
“Well I don’t think you will be bothering me again, I would like to know though why you look to be wearing metal?” he noted before a noise behind him caught his attention. He turned around and was surprised to see a large bizarre reptilian creature called a Mire-lion. Its head was held low as if stalking and its mouth was held slightly open to show off its teeth. Its four eyes were staring at the flame in his hand.
“Uh hi, now you’re something to worry about,” he noted dispelling the flame in his hand which drew the creatures’ attention fully onto him.
“They said we couldn’t use our weapons but we can use our powers,” he expressed throwing fire at the creatures back to try and scare it off. The creature was defiantly surprised but it shook off the fire and hissed at him preparing to pounce.
“Your fire-resistant, that’s not good,” Kai murmured before dodging the creatures pounce. He rushed over to his wood pile believing to have seen a stick he had picked up that could be used for self defence. He couldn’t find it so picked up the pointiest stick he could see. When he looked back he noticed as the creature stalked towards him that it stopped for a second by his campfire looking it over before looking back at him.
“The fire? What was that the book said about these things… something about seeing temperature right,” Kai remembered. He knew he didn’t stand much of a chance against this thing in hand to hand combat. It was armed with large claws and teeth, was armoured and apparently fire resistant and as big as a bear so he had to come up with some other way to not become the creatures dinner. He lit the stick he had on fire and slowly waved it in front of himself. The Mire-lion closely watched it moving its head with the stick.
“You like heat here you go, follow the hot stick,” Kai expressed throwing the stick a few feet away. The Mire-lion followed the stick hesitating but anxious to pounce on it giving Kai enough time to try and find a safe place. Hoping it couldn’t climb he climbed the nearest tree, a large dead one. As the flame on the stick went out the creature lost interest in the stick and turned its attention back to Kai who was climbing into the tree. It stalked over to his tree and circled below it. It made a failed attempt to climb the tree but it was too big and heavy to get into the tree and fell back to the ground.
“Can’t climb this tree can yha, that’s a relief,” Kai noted sitting on a large upper branch as the creature seemed frustrated that it couldn’t reach him. It walked a complete circle around the base of the tree before it reared up and slammed its forepaws into the tree giving it a hefty shake.
“Somehow I don’t think this was a good option,” Kai noted feeling the tree shake. It felt like the tree was not as sturdy or solid as he had originally thought. The Mire-lion slammed into the tree several more times and Kai could hear the sound of dry rotting wood cracking. He looked around and could see only one structure he could possibly use for safety that was if it was strong enough to hold him and he could time the jump right, the mushroom he was using as shelter. As he felt the tree start to tilt backwards as it began to fall he went to make a jump for the shroom but his timing was off and he went down with the tree landing hard on the ground. The creature waited till the tree had fallen and Kai lay dazed and winded on his back beside it having landed harder than he wanted on the ground before making a move. The creature stalked towards him getting up on the fallen trunk preparing to clamp its jaws around his head as Kai could only look up at it feeling like this was the end for him.
A rock hitting into the side of the Mire-lions head stopped it and it whipped its head around to look at where the rock came from. The Tree-bill had come down from the tree and came to throw stones at the Mire-lion. It began calling loudly and throwing more stones at the Mire-lion who turned its attention to the Tree-bill. It wasted no time in rushing over to clamp its jaws onto the Tree-bill as it tried to flee and began to viciously shake it.
“Hey leave it alone. It’s annoying but that’s no reason to attack it. Pick on someone your own size,” Kai remarked getting up and throwing a ball of fire at the Mire-lion who stopped shaking the Tree-bill and looked back at him. The Tree-bill looked limp as it dropped from the larger creatures’ jaws and when it landed on the ground. Before the Mire-lion could attack him again Kai used his Spinjitsu to attack it sending it flying into a boulder back first with some force. After landing on the ground the creature looked up at Kai stunned.
“Should we see how fire proof you really are?” Kai questioned holding fire in his hands. The Mire-Lion cowered and though Kai wanted to attack the creature mad that it had tried to kill him he restrained himself. The creature was just doing what its instincts told it too. It was not trying to be evil, it just wanted food.
“Maybe next time you’ll think twice before messing with a Spinjitsu master,” Kai stated as he dispelled the flames. When the flames were gone the Mire-lion took off running with its tail between its legs. With the predator gone Kai turned his attention to the Tree-bill worried it was seriously hurt. It didn’t look to be moving but after a few rubs to its side it slowly lifted its head looking to be dazed.
“You’re okay? That’s a relief,” Kai expressed as the Tree-bill got up onto four feet dazed. It looked up at him swaying on its feet. It then clumsily walked over to his camp site and lay stretched out on its belly by the fire.
“A little shaken are we? I guess I would be too,” kai stated a little shaken by the whole ordeal coming to sit next to the creature by the fire. As he started to calm down something occurred to him.
“We weren’t supposed to fight! I hope that doesn’t go against the trial. The thing was trying to kill me, it was self defence. They won’t punish me for that will they... I guess I shouldn’t have also stopped it from attacking you being nature and all but you saved my life so I owed it to save yours right?” Kai theorized worried he had screwed up the trial. The creature just lay next to him enjoying the warmth of the fire.
“Hopefully I didn’t screw things up,” Kai worried petting the Tree-bill as his communicator started to pick up a signal but he was only getting static. He tried to contact one of the others to see if they were trying to communicate with him but he couldn’t get through to anyone worrying him more…
Cole had managed to collect an arm full of sticks and branch pieces for his fire. The whole time he was in the woods using a lantern for light he had been getting a very unnerving feeling that something was following him. He had stopped a few times just to listen and inspect the woods but couldn’t find anything. Even creepier he had found a strange and quite creepy looking shrine to this Storabek being not far from his site partially hidden under a rocky outcrop and overhang that was decorated by equally strange along with ancient looking paintings on a the rock. It was a little hard to depict exactly what the paintings were representing and he was no expert in the matter but there was some indications some of the paintings were referencing the Black Stag as the entity known as Storabek a lord of the hunt and wilderness. There were depictions of creatures including these were-beasts of Storabeks make and even monsters of the wastes. He couldn’t tell what the figures were doing but most seemed to be hunting each other or in the act of being hunted. He couldn’t tell what the pictures meant or why the shrine was there but it put him further on edge especially since by the remains around it and the fresh stains of what he was guessing was blood staining the shrine and area that it was still in use and had been used recently. Cole didn’t hang around that area for long hurrying up in his collecting and heading back to his site as quickly as he could. Being back in his site eased some of his feelings but it didn’t relieve it entirely. As he entered his site he placed the wood he had collected with some he had collected earlier by the rocky outcrop where he had set up his tent using the rocky cliff as shelter from possible ambushes. As he put the wood down he noticed something in the soil. A footprint, it was fresh and though not too large defiantly wasn’t from something small. He looked around his site feeling on edge. He noticed more of the footprints. Whatever had made them looked to have been snooping around his campsite looking for something. Whatever it was he was greatly relieved had not taken any of his food or drink but had pulled the blanket half out of his tent and looked to have rooted through the wood pile. He stoked the fire before picking up, cleaning off and putting the blanket back in the tent. He picked out the guide book to investigate what could have made the tracks wanting to know what had been in his site hoping it wasn’t dangerous and had just been some animal. He sat on a rock that sat near his fire to read and was shocked when it moved! He fell backwards landing on his back surprised to see what he thought was a rock rise up out of the dirt as a Kaguar. It reared up and Cole had to quickly roll out of the way before it slammed its fore end down on him. As he got up the creature turned to look at him swaying its big tusked beaky head from side to side in display.
“Sorry for sitting on you but the way you were laying made you look like a rock,” Cole expressed before the creature charged at him forcing him to dodge it.
“I guess you woke up on the wrong side of the bed huh,” Cole noted getting back up before it charged at him again making him dodge it again.
“You’re really in a mood aren’t you?” Cole noted getting up again. He didn’t want to fight the creature but it didn’t seem to be calming down. As it turned around shaking its head getting ready to charge again Cole thought quickly about what he could do to stop it from charging. The rules for the trial stated that he wasn’t supposed to fight so he was stumped about what he could do. Noting his surroundings he saw a decent sized tree and got an idea. He put the tree behind himself and as the Kaguar charged at him he moved aside expressing, “let’s see if this knocks some sense into you buddy.” As he moved the Kaguar realised what it was running into and it attempted to stop but it was moving too fast to make a sudden stop and stumbled into the tree. The Kaguar lay on the ground for a few seconds before slowly getting up and looking around. It looked back at Cole and roared at him before angrily shaking its head at him.
“Have you settled down?” Cole inquired as the creature turned its body to face him. It snorted and stomped its one forefoot clearly not happy. Cole braced for the creature to charge at him again thinking he might have to fight it to stop it attacking but it seemed to relax. It began to lumber towards him shoving Cole aside with a swing of its head before lumbering over to where it had originally been laying and plopping down to lay back on its spot.
“Hey you don’t have to be so pushy,” he expressed as the creature had pushed him aside. The Kaguar didn’t seem to care. It lay with its back to him its head held high looking off into the bush. It lay there not seeming to care about Cole now.
“Fine you can stay there. As long as you don’t charge at me again or try to trample me in my sleep I see no problem,” he stated to the creature who didn’t acknowledge him, it didn’t even move when a Torchbug landed on its head and crawled around on it. Cole went and sat by his tent using one of the logs he had found as a seat and looked up this creature.
“By the sounds of it your like some strange cow just more reptile like,” Cole stated to the creature which still didn’t respond, “Thick headed like one too aren’t you?” He sat for a few minutes watching the creature wondering why it had chosen his site to take a rest in. He guessed it might have been drawn by the warmth of the fire. His communicator went off but it only had static. He tried to contact one of the others to see if someone was trying to contact him but he couldn’t reach anyone. There was just static.
“This isn’t good,” he noted before being spooked by the Kaguar who had silently gotten up and strolled to stand behind him staring into the woods at the opposite side of his site. The intense unblinking stare the creature was using unnerved Cole.
“Is there something there?” he inquired as his communicator gave off static and he again tried to reach someone. He was starting to get the feeling that something was wrong.
“The communicator was working earlier, why is it suddenly having problems? Could it be the storm they sometimes act up during storms or is it something else?” Cole wondered before the Kaguar gave a hefty snort at the woods.
“Something is out there isn’t it? Could it be messing with the communicators?” Cole asked the creature which didn’t take its eyes off the woods. He was nervous of what had captivated the creature but wanting to make sure it wasn’t something dangerous he picked up the lantern he had brought and a stick and slowly went over to where the Kaguar was looking. He looked in the woods which seemed darker than normal. He wasn’t sure if that was just because he was scared or if they really were darker. As he looked through the woods he got the unnerving feeling that something dark was out there. He could hear movement in the woods and he thought he could see shadows moving but he was unsure if he was really seeing something or just imagining it. At one point he thought he saw two small red glowing shapes deep in the woods. He tried to reason that they were probably the glowing Torchbugs that were hanging around but those had yellow, orange, purple and a few had an icy blue glows to them not red. The shapes looked awfully a lot like they could be eyes but to what he was pretty sure he didn’t want to know. When he could no longer see the glowing objects as they seemed to abruptly vanish he rushed back to his fire to sit on the log by his tent tightly clutching the stick worried something might be waiting to ambush him in the woods. The Kaguar came to lay next to him looking around.
“I don’t want to know what’s out there do I?” Cole inquired looking at the Kaguar where he suddenly noticed something odd. The creatures tusks and beak were made of a brass colored metal.
“Did someone do that to you? These things are fused into your skin!” he remarked getting a close look at the creatures’ beak and tusks. The creature didn’t mind him touching it something he found odd for a wild animal. It seemed oddly tame. The Kaguar looked to be more interested in surveying the woods. As he inspected them Cole noted a few etched designs on the top of the beak. Checking the guide book he noted they looked awfully like symbols the Scimitar folk put on their constructs and structures confusing him. How did it get these metal implants? The Kaguar looked like a wild animal so why did it have these? The people that normally created this kind of stuff were extinct. These creatures could live over 100 years but it looked too young to be old enough to have met those people. Maybe it just looked young for its age though he didn’t think that was the case. Even if the Scimitar folk had done this to the creature it still meant one thing around here. This creature was a minion to the Stag!
“You’re not with the Stag are you? Did he do this to you or was it those cat people with the fangs? Why did someone do it to you?” he began to ask but the creature didn’t react. A loud animals call in the bush startled him and the Kaguar looked in the direction the sound came from. It snorted at the sound but seemed unbothered by it.
“What was that? Was that some of your allies for your dark master?” Cole wondered but the Kaguar didn’t react. When he asked if it was Ashers the Kaguar looked at him getting up and seeming to become nervous pawing a few times at the ground and tossing its beak up at the forest before looking over the woods. Ever since him and Zane had talked to Divayth Cole had been wondering how much about the Stags minions was true and what was just tales spun up to scare folk. Seeing how the Stag had affected Zane he was pretty sure at least the animals were not happy with being the Stags servants and had little choice, he was unsure about the robots. Divayth had seemed sincere and gave indications he was not too happy with it but he was just one of many that served the Stag. Divayth could just be one in a million or he could have been tricking them to try and sway Zane but somehow Cole felt Divayth had not been tricking them. Something about him made Cole feel he had been honest to them which just confused and worried him. Could he be falling under the Stags spell? Would it take people? Even though he knew Zane wasn’t truly human to Cole he saw Zane as human as the others so if it could take control of Zane that meant it could take control of people. The sound of something moving through the bush startled him and the Kaguar got agitated snorting at the sound and shaking its head at the sounds direction to show off its tusks.
“They’re out there aren’t they those Ashers? We’re number one on their hit list aren’t we? If you promise not to do anything to me and not give me to that thing you call a master you can stay with me. Also my food is mine, you can eat whatever it is you normally do out here got it. We’ll keep an eye out together for those monsters and protect each other agreed?” Cole inquired to the Kaguar who seemed to respond with a snort…
Zane just sat watching the Kwalit that were hanging around his site and was trying to keep an eye out for danger. Zane had brought with him a tea made with this Scimitar oil to help him relax; the others had suggested he do it. The stuff usually worked but for some reason it currently wasn’t helping to relax him. He was getting a strong sense that something dangerous was in the woods putting him on edge but his malfunctioning sensors made it hard to tell what leaving him with just his base senses to sense what was around him further unsettling him. His malfunctioning systems was disturbing and irritating him especially now; he was in a dangerous situation. Alone in a foreign realm where there were dark beings that wanted to get him. One seeked to just destroy him the other wanted to enslave him and had already tormented him a few times with what it could do. If it hadn’t been for the help of others the monster likely would have won and claimed him but now he was alone. A very dangerous situation if this demon decided to show up to get him. He at least had the animals to help him. As long as the animals were calm he felt he could be calm. A few minutes went by and the Kwalit seemed to get anxious nervously looking around and quietly talking to each other. Zane got up and looked around trying to figure out what was agitating them. The Torchbugs and other insects that had been around had disappeared and apart from the Kwalit there were no other sounds from wildlife like there had been before. Something had scared them all away or silent. The Kwalit focussed on the forest behind Zane seeming to yell at something before rushing off. Even though most of his extra sensors had not been working properly lately leaving him to rely on his base senses for a brief second he was able to pick up something humanoid in the forest behind himself and he could sense it intended harm. He quickly dodged as a dark masked figure dropped from one of the trees coming to land where he had been standing a dagger in its hand stabbing into the ground. Zane prepared to defend himself as the figure stood up laughing. From what he could see the figure looked to be an Asher. Their bestial features were gone but their skin was not fully there to being the burning ash look a full Asher was. They still had hair on their heads which was short and dark and its eyes were a burning red. He was having trouble identifying if it was male or female. It wore a dark armour which looked to be a mix of leather and chitin similar to that worn by the Balmora guard however it didn’t have a hood or helmet, just a dark cloth mask.
“Well so much for a sneak attack,” the figure expressed pulling its mask down.
“Who are you?” Zane questioned.
“An assassin for the Ashers, they sent me to make sure you don’t walk past that fence tin can,” the figure boasted rushing at Zane taking a swipe towards him. Zane dodged the attack and went to use his ice powers only to be shocked that he couldn’t muster them. The figure started laughing making Zane nervous. If he couldn’t use his powers how could he defend himself against this being and how was it stopping his powers?!
“Cursed-stone, works as good as your realms venge-stone at stopping your powers. My weapon is made entirely from it. Let’s see what kind of damage it can do to a dragon shall we,” the figure boasted. Zane tried to contact the others through the communicator for help but found only static leaving him to believe the Ashers had done something to block the signals so he was alone.
“No helps coming metal man now prepare to meet your fate,” the Asher proclaimed coming at him again. He dodged the attack and attempted to try and take the dagger from the figures hand. He got in a scuffle with the entity who was attempting to stab him in the chest. During the struggle the Asher managed to pin him to the ground and was attempting to stab him in the heart while he tried to hold back the dagger. He was trying his hardest to fight it trying to muster even a tiny bit of his powers to try and get the upper hand but he couldn’t. This being was shockingly strong for its average build and size. He was terrified this thing was going to win and was struggling to fight it back when the Asher was suddenly ripped away from him as something light colored and shiny burst into the Asher bowling it off and away from him. As it was torn away Zane managed to keep hold of the dagger and was shocked at how close it had come to nearly piercing his heart and ending him. He sat up shaken from the fighting and confused at what had hit the Asher. He looked at his attacker. Standing between him and the Asher was a Birch Runner who had brass colored metal armour plates coating parts of its body. The runner looked back at Zane checking him over as if to see if he was okay before turning back to the Asher calling, swiping with its forepaws and snapping angrily at it.
“So the metal man has made some friends, no matter I can take you both out,” the Asher proclaimed pulling out a normal steel dagger. Even though it was preventing him from using his powers Zane kept the dagger to defend himself as he got up and helped the Birch Runner attack the Asher. He attempted to knock the dagger from its hand while the runner kept trying to bite it, claw at it or slap it with his tail. Eventually Zane managed to knock the Asher to the ground. With the Asher down he tossed the cursed-stone dagger as far away as he could in to the lake and summoned his ice fists. The Asher just laughed as it lay on its back propping itself up on its elbow. The Ashers unexpected reaction unnerved Zane.
“You think you can stop us? Even if you destroy me your still doomed,” the Asher boasted and Zane questioned on edge, “what do you mean?”
“Oh if only you knew, your powers can’t protect you forever. There are more of us. If I don’t finish you others will or something else, something worse,” the Asher laughed and its words made Zane worried. What was it meaning?
“Tell me what do you mean? What will finish me?” Zane demanded but the Asher objected proclaiming, “I ain’t telling you anything.” The Asher then launched at him and reacting without thinking he attacked it using his ice fists. The Asher burst into ash laughing leaving Zane stunned and worried. What did it not want to tell him? What was going to finish him? Was it the Ashers or the Stag? He looked at the Birch runner who just looked at him. With the threat of being killed gone he suddenly realised what he was looking at. This was the Stags Birch Runner, the armour plated one! Why was it here? Had it come to retrieve him for its master or was it on its own and wanted to help him? Was it a spy, a duel agent? Was it going to trick him into trusting it and drag him to the Stag during the night?
“You are one of the Stags minions, why are you here?” Zane wondered wary of the creature. It just looked at him with red glowing eyes. Zane suddenly got a wireless communication from the creature. It claimed he was superior to it and that it wanted to protect him seeing him as a brother of the fang. It had no intentions of harming him or bringing him to the Stag, it just wanted to shelter with him for the night. The runner kept its head low acting submissive to him. Curious that the creature could communicate to him mentally through some sort of machinery Zane inspected it more. He picked up a considerable amount of robotics in the creature before it gave off a signal to block off any access to its robotics. It sent him a message pleading that he not pry into its being; that made the runner uncomfortable. Even though he was curious Zane obliged. He understood, he wouldn’t want a stranger poking around his systems or body either. It slowly approached him and he held out his hand for the creature to sniff.
“Is it just you out here? Does the Stag give you free will and free reign or do you have to serve him every minute of everyday?” he inquired as the runner sniffed his hand before it responded.
“It is just you. You do not wish to talk of the Stag… Does he make you nervous?” Zane read aloud as the runner sent to his mind messages from its robotics, “He makes you nervous, then why do you serve him? ... He saved your life so you feel you owe it to him… how did he save your life? … He repaired your body… Is that how you got your cybernetics? …. Yes but you do not want to talk about it. You want to stop talking. But I have questions? … You do not feel comfortable talking and do not think you can answer my questions. Okay, I guess you are right. You probably do not understand much of what I have to ask. I mean no offense but you are an animal. A lot of things the people and Stag do and say probably are just as confusing to you as they are to me.” The runner walked over and lay down by his fire and looked at him as if expecting him to come over. Zane went over and sat down next to the runner who looked at the fire closing its eyes looking very relaxed. Zane was still shaken from nearly being killed but started to calm down. He felt comforted by the Runners presence despite who it served. He felt its words were genuine and it meant no harm. Runners were social animals and given its unique anatomy, half machine and half organic, Zane guessed it was a pretty lonely existence for the creature at least amongst its own kind. He was guessing it felt comforted by his presence as well.
“Can I ask what you are called? Do you have a name?” Zane inquired but the runner didn’t respond.
“I guess you like your privacy,” he said to the creature. After a moment of silence it looked at him for a second and from the cybernetics in its chest it spoke with a quiet slightly child like voice ‘Bruma this one is called Bruma,’ before it looked away and closed its eyes again. Static coming from his communicator drew Zanes attention away from Bruma. He tried contacting one of the others but still couldn’t. He was confused about why the communicator wasn’t working.
“Are the Ashers responsible for this or is it something else? Do you know? You are not behind it are you?” Zane inquired and Bruma looked at him for a second to utter ‘mountain’ before going back to relaxing.
“Do you mean the Red Tower?” he wondered and Bruma simply responded with ‘mountain’. The sound of distant thunder caught their attention and Bruma looked up over his back at the sky.
“Sounds like the rain is closer than the meteorologists predicted. If you like you could stay with me for the night. We should remain dry in the tent. Does the metal of your armour rust? Is it just sitting on you or imbedded in your skin? Is it tied to some sort of internal skeleton or separate?” Zane offered. After nearly getting killed by an Asher Zane was glad to have someone around who could help him if he needed it especially seeing as he was unable to contact the others; he was also curious to know more about this being. He was unsure if it was against the rules for Bruma to be with him. They had to do this part of the trial alone however he had reason to believe it meant no other person with him. It didn’t count to animals or constructs especially since no matter what you did there would always be some sort of animal nearby so in the wilderness he technically wasn’t alone. He was just not with other people. Bruma looked at him then at his tent. It got up and went inside to lay by the entrance poking its head out.
“I guess that is a yes. Hopefully the Ashers will not try to attack me again,” Zane noted surveying the forest around his site keeping an eye out for danger…
“Sure let’s spend a night alone in a strange hostile realm in the middle of nowhere, who’s bright idea was that,” Jay complained tending to his fire on edge. He had set his tent up next to the rock wall and close to the tree hoping that would make it harder for something to attack him if most sides of his tent were sheltered. He sat down on a log by his fire to read the book they had been given. Every now and then a call from something in the bush would make him jump and he’d look around to make sure nothing was nearby. As he sat reading he became aware of something making quite calls, it sounded like it was coming from somewhere in or close to his sight.
“Hello is someone there?” he inquired getting up and tightly gripping the guide book as he looked around for where the sound was coming from. He followed the sound to the tree he had set his tent up next to.
“You’re just a little bird or rodent right? Not something venomous or big with more than four limbs?” Jay mumbled looking over the base of the tree. He noticed what looked like two eyes shining between some of the roots. The moment he locked eyes with the eyes under the root something burst out from beneath the roots shocking Jay who fell backwards the book slipping from his hands. When he sat up he saw a small bipedal reptile standing on a root looking at him with large lavender eyes and the last third of its right forearm was made of a brass metal however Jay didn’t notice its metal arm, he was too scared to note the details. It yelled at him before hopping off into the undergrowth disappearing.
“Wait what are you?! You’re not venomous are you, you’re not going to come back with buddies and eat me in my sleep,” Jay panicked retrieving the book from where it landed in front of his tent. He flipped to what he thought the creature was, a Scleroboa.
“Not venomous… do not hunt in groups that’s good… shy and docile. So you’re pretty harmless,” Jay read stopping to look where the creature went not wanting to be surprised again. The sound of twigs snapping drew his attention to the opposite side of his camp. He slowly approached and looked around.
“Sorry if I scared you but to be fair you scared me first. You can come out I won’t hurt you, could I get a better look at you? You’re a Scleroboa right? Is that your home under the tree? Sorry if it is I didn’t mean to set up camp in your home. I’ll just be here for one night if that’s okay,” Jay talked noting one of the bushes moving. He slowly approached the bush and began to look into it hoping the creature wasn’t going to bite. A growling hissing noise behind him caught his attention. He turned around to see what was making the noise and a shiver went down his spine. Three Skeevers were stalking towards him.
“You’re not one of the little hoppy reptiles!” Jay expressed quickly looking them up in his book, “Skeevers, powerful jaws… can carry diseases such as Ataxia and Serpentus! No thanks!” Jay was at a loss on what to do. He had no weapons and he didn’t want to get into hand to paw combat with these things and risk getting infected with one of the nasty diseases of this realm.
“Technically were not supposed to fight but this isn’t fighting its scaring,” Jay proclaimed dropping the book to use his powers to send a bolt of lightning to shock one of the Skeevers. The Skeevers were spooked at first but quickly regained their senses as the one Jay had shocked shook off.
“Your tougher than you look, guess I have to hit you harder,” Jay theorized starting to power up to hit them harder but the one he had shocked wasted no time in launching at him to stop him. The Skeever knocked Jay backwards into the bush attempting to bite him. Before it could sink its teeth into him he hit it with a shock that sent it flying several feet backwards. Jay struggled to get out of the bush twigs and leaves getting caught in his clothes and hair as he struggled out and onto his feet. The Skeever he had shocked hung back dazed while the other two seemed unsure what to do questioning on continuing their attack. True to their bold nature they decided to chance it and the two continued to stalk him the third slowly joining hanging back seeming to be nervous.
“Serious? You’re still wanting to risk getting shocked? No wonder the people here say as foolhardy as a pack of skeevers!” Jay noted as they stalked towards him. If it was just one he felt he could risk the fight but there were three and he was afraid one of them would sneak attack him while he dealt with one of the others and give him some horrid disease that could turn him into what he believed would be a vampire, lizard person or zombie. A rustling in the bush behind him terrified him more as he thought there was another or one of these Asher folks hiding in the bush. He was terrified and unsure what to do quickly looking between the Skeevers and the bush. Which direction should he run? What fate did he wish to face more? Something jumping out of the bush startled him and he fell backwards before quickly sitting up to see what it was, terrified of what it could be.
The Scleroboa he had seen before stood where he had been looking at the Skeevers who hissed at the little creature. It called back at them giving a bounce in circle in place before snapping its jaws to send a blast of electricity at the Skeevers. The Skeever Jay had shocked was the first to get shocked and clearly disliking the repeated shocks fled leaving its companions who attempted to catch the Scleroboa as it hopped around shocking, nipping and kicking them. At first Jay was afraid the little reptile would also attack him but it showed no interest in him and even stopped the Skeevers from attacking him when they tried.
“I’m guessing you’re on my side? Why don’t I give you a hand. Two against two that seems farer,” Jay noted getting up to help the Scleroboa scare off the Skeevers by repeatedly shocking them. It didn’t take much after Jay joined for the Skeevers to run away with their tails between their legs. Once they were gone Jay picked up his book and sat by his fire a little shaken but relieved the Skeevers were gone. The Scleroboa followed him and stood a foot away looking at him.
“I guess I should thank you. I guess not everything out here is scary. You can use lightning too,” Jay mentioned showing off his powers to the creature who responded by showing its powers sending electricity through the whiskers on the top of its head. It hopped over to lay next to him looking up at him.
“I think I’ll call you Sparky,” Jay stated slowly reaching out to pet the creature nervous it might bite. It didn’t bite but instead moved into his pets until a loud screaming call nearby spooked it and it looked where the sound came from.
“What was that? Hopefully it was just those skeevers complaining of burnt fur,” Jay joked nervous it was something dangerous. After a second call which Jay felt sounded closer Sparky quickly hopped into Jay’s lap clinging close to him.
“You scared of what’s out there too?” Jay inquired to Sparky hugging the little reptile looking around at the woods for danger. After a moment of silence his communicator went off startling him and Sparky. It gave off static and nothing else. He quickly tried contacting the others to see if they were trying to contact him worried something was wrong. He couldn’t reach anyone. It was all static.
“This isn’t good, who’s messing with the communicators? The Ashers? The Stag? Maybe it’s Whetu! She wants us to do this alone so she messed with the communicators so we couldn’t speak to each other!” Jay rambled looking at Sparky half expecting the little reptile to respond but it just stared at him. Rumbling of thunder in the distance made the two look up at the sky.
“I guess that storm is getting close. Hopefully it’s not too bad, all I have is a tent,” Jay mumbled before Sparky hopped off his lap and into the tent turning around to poke its head out of the entrance to look around.
“You want to stay with me tonight? I’m okay with that, we’ll keep each other safe,” Jay noted before a loud call of a wild animal which sounded very close nearby sent him scrambling into the tent tightly holding his book to sit next to Sparky looking outside.
“What do you say we call it an early night huh? Less likely to get wet from the rain or torn apart by some vicious hungry predator if we shelter in here right?” Jay mumbled growing anxious picking up and hugging Sparky who looked to be equally scared and didn’t object…
As he tended his fire Lloyd kept an ear out for possible dangers. Despite what he had hoped the cliff view did not help him see where the others were. He had been hoping to at least possibly see light, even just a faint hint of light, from their campfires but no matter how hard he looked he couldn’t see anything. He was worried something might happen. They were each alone in the wilderness far from shelter or aid should something go wrong and a group of very dangerous beings possibly some of the most dangerous he had ever seen were out to get them. To make it worse they didn’t have much to protect themselves if danger appeared; just their powers and martial arts which would be useless against the monsters that could come for them especially since those monsters would most likely come at them armed with things to disrupt their powers. Apart from Chodala, the Nexo Knights, Hassiri and his mother they had told no one else where they were spending the night but he was sure if someone really wanted to find them they could. From what he had seen and what others here including Hassiri had told them these Ashers had many dark secrets. It wasn’t just the Ashers he worried about. There was also the Stag. Even though he knew deep down Zane would not abandon them or betray them for no good reason he had seen already that Zane was powerless against this things control and the terrible things it could do to him. Without one of them with him Lloyd worried the Stag might take the opportunity to take Zane and turn him to this entities side maybe even turn poor Zane into a monster for this demons service. Zane had gotten lucky before that someone was there to save him from the Stag, without anyone there no one would be able to help or save him if that demon showed up. Lloyd had no fear over the wildlife doing anything. They really weren’t much of a threat despite how scary or dangerous some could be and he knew Kai and Jay would likely be the only ones foolish enough to do something to cause an animal to attack. The others would act wisely around them. Even then he knew they could handle animals if they had issues; well most of them. He wasn’t entirely sure about Jay. Lloyd could only hope nothing went wrong but whenever he tried to push the thoughts aside he couldn’t help but feel something was wrong. He didn’t know what he just felt that something was wrong.
After tending the fire he sat by it and looked at the pile he had collected for fire wood. It wasn’t much; he had only a few twigs left. He had just put the last descent sized pieces of wood on the fire and he didn’t think they would last long. If he wanted to keep the fire going for much longer he would need to collect more but he was nervous of entering the woods to collect more especially without a weapon and on his own. Since sundown he had kept hearing what sounded like something moving through the woods close to his camp every couple minutes but every time he looked he couldn’t see anything. At one time he even thought he heard what might have been a small scuffle in the woods. He was hoping it was just animals, hopefully nothing dangerous or under this Stags control, but he got the feeling it was probably something else, something probably out to get him, something worse than a venomous bird-lizard. Other than whatever was in the brush things were relatively quiet. Some animal calls and the wind through the forest could be heard but nothing else. Things were calm for several minutes before a loud call from something that sounded to be in trouble caught his attention. Whatever it was sounded big and close by possibly whatever had been wandering near his site he thought. He hesitated wondering if he should ignore whatever was making the noise in case it was an ambush or see what it was and offer help. The sounds from the creature and his conscious got the better of him and he decided to take a look.
He picked up his lantern and slowly headed off towards the sound cautious that an ambush could be waiting for him. Only a few feet from his site he came across a clearing in the forest and lying in the center was the source of the noise. Lying on the ground caught up in some sort of trap was a Kaiju, a strange hoofed mammal which had fingers and claws instead of hooves and skin covered horn like structures on its head. A net weighted down by large dark stone weights lay on top of it and its hind legs and left foreleg were caught up in snares. It was unable to move only able to call out for help. When the creature saw Lloyd it stopped calling trying to pull away from him in fear but it couldn’t move.
“Calm down I’ll help you. What did this to you?” Lloyd wondered cautiously rushing over to the creatures’ aid, it seemed to calm down but wouldn’t take its eyes off him. Taking a quick look over the creature Lloyd decided to try and deal with the snares first. He attempted to use his powers to break the wire of the snare but his powers failed. He tried a few more times but couldn’t get them to work. He looked around confused, what was messing with his powers? He noticed the weights holding down the net.
“Those must be this Cursed Stone, this realms venge-stone,” Lloyd noted, “try to stay calm I’ll get you out. It will just take a while.” Lloyd tried to keep the creature calm as he tried to work the snare off its legs. It was no use; it was on too tight to slide off without cutting into the creatures’ skin and Lloyd didn’t want to hurt the creature.
“If only I had a knife or something sharp to cut this,” Lloyd commented looking around for something to help remove the wire. The sound of twigs snapping caught his attention and looking to where the sound came from something glinting from the light of his lantern by the forest edge caught his eye.
“What’s that?” he wondered heading over to it to investigate keeping an eye out for more traps. Just placed on the ground was a dagger the same make as the blade Zane and Cole had gotten from Divayth. The presence of the dagger made Lloyd nervous. Why was there a dagger, one which looked brand new untarnished by the elements just sitting here? He worried it was a trap. He looked around wondering if who left this was still nearby. He couldn’t see anything. He slowly and cautiously picked it up and was a bit relieved when nothing happened. Nervous and wary he returned to the Kaiju with the dagger and cut the snares off its legs. Seeming to sense he intended to help it the creature relaxed. Once the snares were cut Lloyd moved on to cut the weights off the net. As he cut the rope tying a weight to the net he noticed a few symbols on the weight. They resembled Oni writings, like the writings used by these Ashers.
“Ashers must have set these traps… I’m betting they were intended for me but you stumbled into them first. They were probably hoping I would stumble into them when I collect fire wood then they could ambush me while I was trapped and powerless!” Lloyd thought aloud getting a chill down his spine. The noises he had been hearing earlier those must have been Ashers trying to draw him into their traps. They somehow knew where he was! It was highly likely they knew where the others were as well! He would have to contact them to let them know but he first had to set the creature free. From what he had learned the Ashers would do terrible things to this creature if they got it. Ashers lacked any respect for any other form of life and enjoyed the torture and cruelty of others. As he cut it free he noted all the weights had these markings on them confirming to him that it had likely been the Ashers to set these up.
“Okay you should be able to get up now,” Lloyd commented once he was done cutting the ropes watching to make sure the creature was free and unharmed. It got back onto its feet and shook off looking at him.
“You good? Looks like it now I need to warn the others. We’re not safe out here,” Lloyd expressed trying to reach the others with his communicator. He tried a few times but got nothing but static making him even more worried. He was torn. This trial could help make the towns people more accepting of them and he wanted to complete it. After starting it Lloyd had also become interested in seeing if he could gain the acceptance of the Dragon Master and the Tribunal, would they accept him to help their realm? At the same time however they were in danger. The trial wasn’t worth it if something bad was going to happen to them. If he couldn’t reach them through the communicators he would have to reach them in person which would be breaking the trial. He went to head off to get to the others but the Kaiju surprised him attacking him to pin him to the ground and trying to prevent him from getting up despite how hard he struggled against it.
“What are you doing?! I have to save my friends!” he yelled at the creature before managing to wriggle out from under its paws. He got up and started to run but the Kaiju reared up and slammed its forelimbs into the ground shaking the earth and sending Lloyd off balance knocking him backwards off his feet. As the ground shook several traps around the clearing went off including a bear-trap only a few feet in front of where Lloyd had been headed. Lloyd sat in shock looking at the trap which had been buried so he couldn’t see it as the Kaiju came to stand above him looking down at Lloyd.
“That could have taken my foot off or at least broken my leg!” he exclaimed, “you saved me?! Did you know those were there?” The creature just looked at him. He sat stunned for a minute. He had nearly been seriously harmed and likely would have been caught by Ashers to suffer some terrible fate by their hands. He sat for a few seconds to calm down shaking a bit from the shock to realise he had nearly been seriously hurt. Even though he was shaken he still strongly felt that he needed to come to his friends’ aid. Lloyd was still shaking but he picked up his lantern and headed to his site to grab a few things this time moving slowly and keeping an eye out for more possible traps. He thought he should at least bring some first aid supplies in case one of the others had been attacked. As he headed to his site the Kaiju slowly followed behind him keeping alert at the woods around them. He guessed since he had rescued it the creature felt safe around him and was sticking close to him for protection.
As he got close to his site something a few feet away from him on the forest floor caught his attention. There were a few piles of something which had some smoke coming from them with some faintly glowing spots. They kind of reminded him of the remains of a camp fire. He got closer to inspect them nervous. They were piles of ash with pieces of cloth and crude weapons like those used by Ashers scattered around and in them. Lloyd felt one of the ash piles, it was still fairly warm. He felt something in the ash pile and pulled it out. It was a throwing star whose blades were tipped with something, something wet and cold very cold. The only thing that he could think of it being was some sort of chemical like liquid nitrogen. As he looked over the area he noted signs of a struggle and about a dozen or more ash piles scattered around. He began to realise what it was he had been hearing earlier. His worries were true. There had been Ashers nearby! They had been trying to lure him into a trap but something had gotten them first. What had attacked them? He hadn’t been hearing things there had been a scuffle but what attacked the Ashers? He searched the sight curious to know what had done this. What was more dangerous than and able to take out a group of Ashers? Along with the throwing star he had pulled out of the one ash pile he found a few bolts and arrows of scimitar make, footprints though he couldn’t identify from whom they came from he could just tell it was something humanoid wearing boots which had left them, and some other liquid spattered in a few spots that seemed to resemble some sort of oil. By the strange sea smell of the liquid he was guessing it was scimitar oil, a strange unique oil used for scimitar constructs and droids made from the algae of the nearby inland sea called the Great Lake of Lost Souls. Hassiri had given them some for Zane claiming it was healthy for him and could be used in many ways including making Zane eat or drink it. They had been using it for him and it defiantly looked to be working. Along with having restorative properties for robots it apparently also had the ability when consumed to calm an anxious droid which after having arrived in Balmora they had noticed Zane had become very anxious. None of them blamed him for his anxieties though. He had good reason to be anxious here unlike Jay who seemed to have become more anxious and paranoid over the weirdest things since arriving in Balmora.
From what he found it looked like scimitar folk had a hand in the Ashers demise but that race was extinct leaving only their constructs to have been able to do this but that wasn’t a good sign. Unless there was an undiscovered Scimitar ruin around there with constructs who had not been claimed by the Stag then it was highly likely it had been entities from the Stags forces who had been here. He didn’t like the looks of it. Two threats were out here and knew where they were and were out to get them! He had to warn the others!
He cautiously approached his site worried of what he might find. Everything in his site seemed normal but he quickly noted something was off. Something had restocked his wood pile with enough to last him the night then some and the guide book which had been in his bag in the tent was leaning against the outside of his tent.
“Someone was here but who?” he wondered looking around. He couldn’t see any footprints, there were no traps as far as he could see but when he inspected his book a folded note fell out. He inspected it as the Kaiju strolled into his site watching him. There seemed nothing special about the note. When he opened it up it simply read, Dragon of Energy the dragons will be fine, until first light the cubs will guard them from the tower. Green dragon should stay at his nest or face the wrath of the tower; let the cubs handle the monsters of the mountain. The dragons will be safe, sincerely a friend.
The letter left him confused and worried. What was it meaning? Who was this friend? He suddenly got something coming from his communicator, it was faint and choppy but he could make a few things out. The voice didn’t sound normal; it sounded somewhat electronic. To him it sounded like the voice said, Winter has his dragon of ice, Croc-Beaver has his dragon of water, Hopper has his lightning dragon, Tusk has her earth dragon, Crest has her fire dragon and Mane has her energy dragon. It then mentioned ‘monsters of the tower have been terminated, dragons safe for now keep watch’. It sounded like some sort of code but from whom he was unsure. He got the feeling it had to do with them though. People in this realm kept referring to them as dragons, he understood why. Ninja in this realm were called Dragon Guard which instead of being called a master of an element were termed Dragon of said element. What were the entities with these dragons however? He looked around at the woods worried someone was out there waiting for him. The only thing he could see was the Kaiju which was browsing on the shrubbery. He doubted the animal had anything to do with this. Why would it be interested in helping people unless it was under the Stags control? If it was under the Stags control then why would it have saved him? Somehow he didn’t think it was under the Stags control, it seemed like a normal animal that was just seeking safety after falling to an Ashers trap. Even though animals likely would have no care in human issues he was pretty sure they understood what the Ashers were and disliked and feared them just as much as the people.
Lloyd wanted to go warn his friends but somehow he felt it was a bad idea to leave his site. The line ‘green dragon should stay in nest or face wrath of the tower’ had him worried something was waiting to ambush him in the woods. According to the note as long as he stayed in his site whatever was out there would leave him alone, if he left his site it would get him. He sat by his fire feeling torn. He wanted to make sure the others were okay but he was afraid of what was waiting in the woods. Given there seemed to have been a fight between Ashers and constructs likely from the Stags forces and Ashers had set up traps to catch him he didn’t feel safe leaving his site in the dark of night. He was alone, unarmed and unable to contact the others for help. If he fell into a trap he would be doomed likely taken prisoner by the Ashers or Stag and how would the others know what happened to him or where he was? They needed to stick together to complete their mission, how could they do that if he was taken prisoner?
“What am I to do?” he worried looking at the Kaiju as it came to stand by him looking down at him…
By the time the rain started near ten thirty most of them had gone to bed. With not much to do and preferring a warm dry tent to the cold rain outside they saw it the best option. Even though she had told it to stay at her feet the Kappa curled up to Nya like a cat and refused to move. She just accepted it starting to warm up to the little creature. Kai was unaware the Tree-bill had followed him into his tent thinking it was sleeping by the dying campfire till it lay on his head as he tried to sleep. He managed to convince it to lay next to him since he couldn’t convince it to leave the tent. He guessed after nearly being torn apart it was seeking comfort and maybe some warmth since it was cold outside, he understood and was fine sharing with the creature as long as it didn’t try to lay on his head again. The Birch Runner lay beside Zane as he went to bed pressed rate into him. Zane lay on his side and the runner lay against his back following his bodies curve. Zane felt comforted by the creatures presence. The runner lay facing the tents entrance keeping an eye out for danger for a while before resting its head on Zanes side to sleep. When Cole went to bed the Kaguar lay outside not seeming to care what he did but as he tried to fall asleep the Kaguar shoved its head and forelimbs into the tent and lay down with a thud using him as a pillow. The creature refused to move and wouldn’t let him up. Thinking it could be worse he decided to just accept it. The thing had a musky smell but at least it was warm, wasn’t drooling and wasn’t venomous. Lloyd stayed up till almost midnight sitting in his tent still contemplating if he should try to reach the others while the Kaiju had come to lay by the tents entrance asleep. Eventually he fell asleep still unsure what to do but hoping everything would be okay. Jay tried to get to sleep but noises from outside, whether thunder, wind or animal kept him up. The Scleroboa did not seem too happy with the noises either. He didn’t fall asleep till after midnight using his pillow to try and block the sounds from outside the Scleroboa curled up next to his head.
When they got up in the morning each of them found their animal companion had left. They were confused and a little upset to have found they were gone but they accepted it, the animals had lives of their own which did not revolve around them. They also found when they awoke that they had clamped in their hand a token like they had gotten during the previous trials however this one had the carvings of a crescent moon and star on them. They had passed the trial. The morning was cold and damp and they decided it best to pack up and head to meet the others hoping things had not gone bad for them. The communicators were still not working right making it hard for them to know if the others were okay. Nya, Cole, Kai and Zane all found piles of ash with pieces of Asher cloth and weapons near their sites as they packed up and evidence of a scuffle. Jay was too scared to have noticed anything wanting to just get out of there. As they met up they regaled to the others what had happened during the night.
“It seems very strange these animals all came to be with us,” Cole noted after all but Jay had met up by the lake. They were waiting around for Jay before rendezvousing with Chodala.
“I find the fact Ashers were so close to us and were taken out by something without us even aware of their presence very disturbing,” Nya added and Lloyd offered, “I found evidence that points to the Stags minions being involved. If that’s true it’s even more worrisome. Why would they take out the Ashers and not harm or take us?”
“Yha that is very odd, maybe they were fighting over who gets us,” Kai offered and Cole noted, “Then why didn’t the winning party capture us?”
“True, things here do not seem to add up,” Zane expressed as Jay finally met up with them wide eyed with sticks and leaves sticking out of his hair and clothes.
“Oh thank this Whetu I’m not the only one to survive!” Jay croaked rushing over to hug the closest of them to him which was Kai who was not happy with it. Kai just pushed Jay off him annoyed causing Jay to land face first on the ground.
“I am talking to my friends right and not some clones or disguised operatives for one of those monsters right? I’m looking at you Zane if that’s really who you are? How can we be sure that’s really you and not one of those monsters who serve under that daemon deer?” Jay began to rant his tone and accusations startling Zane a bit. The others were not amused telling him to drop it and just ignored his paranoia.
“Hey Jay did you notice anything odd last night or this morning around your campsite. Strange oddly tame creatures? Piles of Ash in the woods?” Lloyd inquired.
“I don’t know, why would I go wandering around these woods of nightmares? There was though this little hoppy sparky bird-reptile who came to hang with me after helping me drive off some skeevers who wanted to eat me but he was gone this morning,” Jay commented.
“Another strange creature…” Lloyd pondered remembering what he had heard during the night, “winter, croc-beaver, hopper, tusk, crest and mane.”
“What are you going on about?” Jay questioned and Lloyd regaled, “something came through my communicator last night. It mentioned those words and that each was with a dragon which I think meant us. Those words match with the creatures that visited us. Winter a Birch Runner which have ice powers, Croc-Beaver the strange Kappa, Hopper the Scleroboa which move mainly by hopping, Tusk a Kaguar, Crest a Tree-bill and Mane a Kaiju.”
“The creatures, they were watching us?!” Cole wondered and Kai asked, “Why?”
“Why else, they probably work for the Stag,” Nya expressed and Zane added, “Bruma did admit that he worked for the Stag but then why did they not bring us to their master while we slept and why were they watching us?”
“Don’t know, when we get back to town we could look into it,” Lloyd offered before they headed off to meet Chodala.
The trial for the Dragon Master had gone very simple and surprisingly easy compared to the previous trials. They had to meditate in the Dragons temple having placed the tokens they had received before in front of them. They were not sure what had happened but were sure they had fallen asleep. They each felt they had gotten visions of something possibly relating to future events as they slept but they couldn’t be sure and they didn’t remember them when they woke up. They just remembered feeling strange about it. When they had awoken their tokens were gone replaced with one that had a dragon like imagery to it made of a strange dark blue gem like material with silver metal base, accent and outlining pieces. It was made into some sort of fastener that they could pin to their clothes. Confused over the item they showed it to Chodala who was intrigued. He said it was a sign they had passed the trails; they had received the blessings of the Tribunal and the Dragon Master. Supposedly the item they had been given while it was mainly for decoration as a pin or fastener was said to bring good luck. The color of the materials it was made from was also significant. According to Chodala the dark blue and silver color meant that Whetu was guiding them. When they talked to the knights after the trial the knights revealed what happened during their trial which included a run in with a necromancer who summoned a Noctern Crow, a very strange night in the woods and having passed out during the masters trial and possibly receiving strange visions though they couldn’t really remember any of it. They also showed the ninja that they had been given the same item however theirs was a different color. All but Aaron had one that had green gemed with sand colored metal which Chodala had explained meant Mystara was guiding them. Aaron had one with a deep purple gem material with golden colored metal color indicating Sheoth was guiding him. Even though neither of them felt the luck part of the item was true both the knights and ninja took to wearing or incorporating the fasteners to their outfits as a token of their accomplishment in the trials. Both didn’t think the guidance part held much truth to it either but they did have to admit after they had passed the test something did feel a little different.
After the trials they noticed that they now had a comforting and safe feeling they had not felt since arriving to Balmora. While they felt the trials really hadn’t done anything Chodala assured them for many in the town it had meant a lot. After a few hours after the final task the ninja had noticed some people no longer gave them hostile looks or mumble curses at them like before and a few had apologized for some of the things they had said or done. The ninja felt however that it was still too early to tell if the trials had really worked but hoped these were signs it had. After having completed the trials they sat in the main hall of the scholars’ center going over what they had uncovered about their night time visitors. Misako had joined them after having inquired with some of the resident scholars.
“Was anyone able to find anything about our animal visitors last night?” Lloyd inquired.
“Hassiri recalls the Kaguar sounds like one Divayth uses for pulling his merchant cart and we know this Divayth serves the Stag…” Nya noted and Zane added, “the Birch Runner told me himself he serves the Stag but as payment for saving his life. He would not communicate of anything else.”
“Weird, an animal that holds a life debt, not really something you’d think animals would do,” Cole noted and Kai added, “Clay did see Ashers in the woods who were attacked by the Stags minions but he doesn’t know what happened to either group. Apparently a Kaiju trapped him in his site all night by laying on him. The other knights didn’t note any evidence of Ashers but did recall having oddly tame animals hanging around their sites during their trials as well. Aaron had a skeever hang with him, Axl said a Bearcoon hung out at his site, Lance noted a Parrot-cruncher hanging around his site and Macy had a Slothdillo hang around her site.”
“They did note some things were a bit off to the creatures and more than temperament,” Nya noted and Zane elaborated, “the skeever had luminescent green eyes, metallic claws and a metal plate on its head. The Bearcoons claws and part of its lower jaw were metal, the Parrot-cruncher had a metal plate on its chest and metal horns and spikes, the Slothdillo’s claws and back armour were metal and the Kaiju matches the one Lloyd saw.”
“So it is likely it is not just us the Stag was watching,” Lloyd noted and Cole wondered, “but why?”
“According to the scholars here sometimes constructs and even animals working for the Stag have been recorded simply hanging around town or following what seems like random caravans or people without interacting much with them. They believe these entities were watching to asses often for thefts and attacks even though only around half of those encounters resulted in later attacks or thefts. As for the dead Ashers it has been noted before the Stags forces wiping them out. They believe the two get into fights over what no one is sure but it is believed either over territory or resources. Some believe the Stag might be aligned with the Ashers however most folk note he has never been recorded aiding them and interactions between Ashers and the Stag and his minions are hostile,” Misako offered.
“They were spying on us! Does anyone else find that creepy? What if they’re still watching us?! What are they planning?” Jay babbled before Lloyd cut him off to mention, “that is some worrying thoughts but what worries me more is both the Stags minions and these Ashers were both close to us and we were unaware they were even there.”
“Not to mention they were likely fighting over us probably to see who gets to take us,” Kai noted and Nya added, “Then why didn’t they take us? It would have been easy for them. No weapons, they have items that can stop our powers, we were alone and we were sleeping most of the night. We would have been defenceless to their attacks.”
“Maybe it was a matter of timing, they could be waiting to take us when we get on the other side of the fence? Could cause less issues for them than catching us on this side,” Zane offered.
“True, could be easier to catch us over there than to try and sneak us past the fence though they seem to know how to get past the fence unseen with ease,” Cole theorized before Jay blurt out, “or they want to rip us apart on the other side where no one can find us and their savage beasts can tear our remains apart so no one ever finds what happened to us!” Everyone else just stared at Jay a little stunned by his comment. Even some of the scholars relaxing or studying in the room turned to look at him.
“Is it just me or is Jay getting more paranoid than usual?” Kai asked the others.
“Seems like it,” Lloyd commented and Jay exclaimed, “I’m not being paranoid! Haven’t you seen how hostile this place is? People who hate us just for being here, horrid monsters who wish to tear us apart, a daemon deer and a land of ash filled with killer vines, giant mushrooms and animals like giant bugs and killer bird lizards with people who seem oddly chill with it all even the eerie cursed feeling to this place! How come you aren’t worried about any of this?”
“We took those trials to make the people less hostile and the land isn’t that bad. It’s actually very interesting,” Cole noted and Zane added, “indeed. There is lots of interesting aspects to the environment and creatures here. It is interesting how they have adapted to the conditions created by the volcano. Besides the environment here is no more dangerous than anything found in Ninjago it just feels different because it has adapted to the conditions in this realm.”
“Anyone other than Jay have any other inputs?” Kai inquired.
“The scholars were interested in why the Stag or his minions would take interest in you all. They understood why he would want Zane but not the rest of you or the knights. He cares little for people and has never shown interest in any elemental master which they call dragons before. Even when they come close to his territory he never protects them or shows an interest in them. He simply ignores them,” Misako explained.
“What makes us so special to him then?” Cole wondered and Zane offered, “His interest in us could be a matter of timing. Seeing as this Dragon Guard has been caught and corrupted and Dagon is merging multiple realms together if as many believe he is not in league with the Ashers he might be wanting to bolster his forces to make an army comparable in strength to Dagons either to protect his territory or to overtake Dagon and his new realm.”
“So basically he waits for others to do the dirty work then he swoops in and claims everything for himself,” Lloyd simplified.
“Typical bady behaviour,” Kai noted and Nya put forth, “something’s still don’t add up for that though.”
“True. He could be feeling threatened by us. Members of this Dragon Guard have never sought to enter his home before,” Zane noted and Cole added, “But then shouldn’t he have tried to harm us if he feels threatened by us?”
“Well he has tried to attack us,” Jay regaled and Nya confirmed, “And this time we were alone with no weapons or back up. It would have been easy for him to harm us so why did he spare us?”
“Maybe as Zane said it’s a matter of timing or something else could be going on?” Kai offered.
“But what? Things here seem to be getting more complicated and this Stag entity is one of them,” Lloyd expressed.
Notes:
The parts in the story about insects being attracted to Zanes eyes I am surprised has not been portrayed in the show yet. Anyone who has gone camping or spent a night in the woods knows any light even of the dullest glow has insects of all sorts losing their minds and flocking to it just to touch it even if it kills them. Insects are not very bright.
If Ava and Robin were able to partake in the trials they would pass. For those wondering Jestro, yes he does appear later in the story, would be accepted by the mythical figures but might not pass the trials. He could do Whetus and would be able to succeed in the first half of Mystaras trial but would not do so well on the second part and struggle against Sheoths trial possibly not being able to do it. He would likely be guided by Sheoth.
While a great deal of the environment is inspired by locations in the Elder Scrolls series with some inspirations from the prehistoric world, particularly the Yixian formation a formation in northeastern China that thanks to the massive volcanic activity of the time led to amazing preservations of many of the regions inhabitants and even the environment, a great deal of the environment is also inspired by the Algonquin highlands (which actually shares a great deal of similarities to the environment of the Yixian formation). The Algonquin highlands is a region of central Ontario I greatly enjoy visiting especially in the summer. The area was once a mountainous region over 500 million years ago but over time the area has been weathered down to massive rolling hills. Glacial activity over the last million years has heavily scarred the area smoothing rocks, creating masses of lakes in low lying regions, cliffs everywhere, and leaving boulders sometimes of truly massive sizes everywhere. Soil layers are thin atop the hills leaving foliage to grow straight out of and atop the rocks often proving just how paper beats rock. It is a truly captivating, inspiring and beautiful landscape. I have plenty of photos of what the region looks like on my Deviantart page in a gallery for Algonquin park (https://www.deviantart.com/robo-birdie/gallery/67148454/algonquin-park) as well as for Provincial/State, and National parks (https://www.deviantart.com/robo-birdie/gallery/66722510/provincial-state-and-national-parks).
If have any questions go ahead and ask I do not bite. I will try to answer them, I will however not give away spoilers.
Chapter 28: The Fabricant and the Mage
Summary:
A Scholar needs some help with his fabricant, doesn't sound too hard does it? It's not like there's something secret going on...
Notes:
Pictures relating to story can be found here: https://www.deviantart.com/nerdy-hyena/gallery/72478681/story-project
They are really good and help to visually flush out several aspects of the story including environments, characters, outfits, locations, creatures and other aspects often important ones in the story. All images I post in my work can be found there if you want a better look at them. Defiantly make sure to check them out.Also if you need a refresher on creatures, flora or aspects of the environment you can check out the second chapter in this work titled 'Keikiarys Guide to the Ash Wastes'. It includes short descriptions and pictures of these things.
Parts of this section are subject to change as the prequel story is written to improve story continuity.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
It was afternoon and Nya, Cole and Zane were in the Under-city having some time to relax in their commoners clothes after having trained with the other ninja earlier. The Under-city was busy with people going about their business, some merchants were selling wares from stalls, and kids were playing. There was even a group from the bards collage practicing their plays and songs which Cole was observing from where he sat on a plant ledge with the others by one of the lower levels planters interested in what the group were doing. Everything in the city was peaceful. They still had a couple days before they were to depart so were making the most of their time and trying to relax before the dreaded journey ahead. Lloyd was hanging with his mother while Kai was with Jay playing at one of the Arcades in the Under-city. The knights were currently doing their training for the day however Ava and Robin were too young to participate in with what the others were doing. Despite having the freedom to do whatever they wanted the two had come to hang with Coles group. They had a feeling they knew why to as Robin was sticking close to Zane and kept asking him questions, rather personal ones like how his internal systems worked which Cole and Nya could tell Zane was not comfortable talking with the kid about especially in public. Zane was in his disguise trying to remain undetected by the towns folk while watching some birds that were eating seeds someone had thrown out on the one path for them. He found the birds rather calming to watch; Robins questions were making him anxious even though he was trying to ignore the young knight whose questioning was making him uncomfortable. They had noticed that the trials they had taken had improved the moods of the towns folk towards them, some people very much so, however most of the natives still didn’t trust Zane who was still nervous of going un-disguised around them. They at least no longer tried to harm or threaten him at first glance however many of the natives still made rude comments to or about him. Luckily most of the people from Ninjago or Knighton who had ended up trapped there didn’t hold the prejudice however some, mainly the weak minded and nervous types, had grown at the least wary of Zane due to some of the things natives would tell them particularly about the Black Stag and droids.
“You’re artificial organs what are they made of, how do they work? Do you have to eat all the time or do you do it to fit in with everyone else or do you just like to? It often seems you like too? I’ve seen you eat pretty much every day. I noticed you like cold drinks too? What’s your favourites? Can certain things make you sick or mess with your systems if you have them? How do you keep from overheating? Do your powers help with that or do you have different systems for that? I noticed you like cold things is that because of your powers or does it help with temperature control? I’ve heard you do dream; when you dream what do you dream of? Are you aware of it when you are dreaming? Does it scare you to dream? Do you get nightmares? What is your power source? How long does it last? Is it special? Do you have problems with joints locking up if you use them too much? Can you see in the dark? Do you have problems with static? If I had a sock with static would it stick to you? Does it hurt when you get shocked? Have you ever been struck by lightning? If so how bad did it hurt? If I stuck a magnet to you would it stick? Would it mess with some of your systems like balance and navigation? Does the fact you’re made with metal and wires instead of flesh and blood like the rest of your family sometimes bother you? Do you sometimes get the urge to destroy humanity? If so how do you control it?” Robin inquired rambling on unaware he was making Zane anxious.
“What?! Why would you think that of me?! And why are you so interested in my internal workings?” Zane wondered feeling nervous looking around worried the kids rambling might draw suspicions to them. So far no one seemed to be taking any interest.
“You know now’s not the time to be asking stuff like that kid,” Cole whose attention had been drawn away from the bardic class by Robins excited talking quietly told Robin and Zane added, “the towns folk are not to know I am here. Most still do not like me. Besides didn’t Jay already tell you a lot of what you wanted to know?”
“He covered quite a bit yha like how you have synthetic versions of many organs even though because of their make you don’t consider them true organs though everyone else does and that they’re not just for cosmetics even though you don’t need things like oxygen. A lot of your systems actually have functions sometimes vital ones too like how your digestive system functions like an organic beings though it’s more like a hyenas than a persons in how powerful it is and how much it can break things down that way if you end up eating bits of bone or the pits of fruits like peaches it doesn’t damage or cause a blockage in your system plus you can utilise more of the consumed matter into energy than a person can, even more than you’re old body could, and that you get this energy from these special devices lining the outside of your intestines which absorb the matter and convert it into electricity which your heart which he said you guys still have no clue what it’s made of which while functioning like a battery isn’t like a battery can store or put to use rate away to help relieve stress from power output because if overworked your heart will explode which would kill you and since you technically only have half of your original heart since you shared it with your love; do you think I could meet her someday too? Anyway since you have only half your heart it is more vulnerable to being overworked. Plus those features also helps your heart recover from things like over excretion or things like that Asher zapping your energy from it that happened the other day or it can store the energy for later use for when you need it. How you have a simulated metabolism which is set to the lower end of high levels though you can change it or even shut it down if you need to. Plus how some of your systems like your lungs and digestive tract have these special sensors in them that can detect things that would make you fall asleep and make you react like a normal person would unless you or others are in danger then you can override those commands. These sensors also let you pick up things that would make someone sick or could kill them. It might disrupt some of your systems but won’t kill you or cause serious harm like it would a person. He said that feature makes you like a canary in a coal mine for you guys,” Robin babbled barely taking a breath as he excitedly talked and Cole expressed a little surprised by the kids enthusiasm, “geez kid we get your excited but don’t forget to breath while you talk.” Zane had heard a bit of Robin and Jay talking about him. They had been in the main room of the scholars center talking. Zane had been in the room trying to read a book when Robin had come in to ask Jay questions. Zane had tried to ignore them feeling uncomfortable with their talking. He didn’t think they intended to make him uncomfortable but they had been a little loud, Zane felt Robins enthusiasm on the topic helped with their chats volume, which their talking about him in a close to public setting just steadily made him more and more uncomfortable as they went on so he had soon left the room to find somewhere more quiet and secluded to read his book and relax.
“You can remember all that from one chat but you can’t remember to clean up when Clay tells you several times in a row,” Nya commented.
“Why would you take a small song bird into a mine? That’s not good for the bird… I know you are just curious and I don’t want to be rude but your being a little too…” Zane was unsure how to politely tell the kid he was agitating him and making him uncomfortable. He was also confused over Robins term of a canary in a coal mine.
“Oh am I making you uncomfortable? I’m sorry it’s just you’re so fascinating and complex and so human like… I’ve never met someone like you before. The squire-bots from our world are nowhere near as complex as you and I have not been allowed to study or work with the hyenoids or constructs from this world much. The people here don’t like strangers working with the constructs. They’re afraid of someone causing them to go rogue and attack the city. I find you guys very interesting. You’re so complex and fascinating,” Robin explained.
“If you want we can answer your questions later when we’re not near any of the town folk,” Nya offered and Robin agreed.
“You know if you’re interested you can download from the Balmora wildlife service’s an audio library of bird and animal sounds for the area, can be a good way to help identify creatures, especially those hiding in undergrowth or stuff like that. Might be a good idea for us all to check it out before we venture into the wastes that way we can better identify possible threats; Note though a lot of the creatures make weird, eerie or almost unnatural sounding calls,” Ava stated as a dishevelled grey colored ungulate folk wearing laboratory robes came running up to them scaring the birds off.
“You’re the ninja right?” the folk stated stopping by them and catching his breath.
“Some of us yha?” Cole stated. They were all confused. Who was this folk and why did he want them?
“The metal skins with you right, that’s him using some cloak or illusion spell or something right?” the folk noted pointing at Zane. The fact he was looking for Zane made them worried. Was he wanting to hurt their friend? It wasn’t uncommon for some of the folk to recognise Zane even when cloaked, most who recognised him would simply ignore him just giving him dirty looks but a few of these folk still tried to hurt Zane when they saw him.
“How…” Zane wondered before the folk cut him off, “sorry I should introduce myself. I’m Raynor. I work for the scholars guild. Venoms and poisons, I help create anti-venoms and study the properties of various venoms and poisons.”
“What do you want with Zane?” Nya wondered. What this folk did was even more worrisome. Some of the toxins in this world could hurt Zane and were lethal to the rest of them.
“Where should I start… okay I recently came into possession of a Venom-Fang fabricant, I call him Morty. I wanted to see if there is any difference between their venom and a regular Venom-Fangs plus fabricants are easier to convince to co-operate than a wild animal even if you raise that animal from hatching…” Raynor began.
“Where is this going?” Cole inquired.
“Sorry, still a little scatter brained. The venoms wearing off, Morty bit me last night when I went to feed him. I took the shot and had to wait for the hallucinations to stop. It was a very unpleasant time,” Raynor explained, “any way I need the help of your metal friend, he can connect to scimitar constructs right?”
“Yha why?” Zane wondered starting to get curious.
“I don’t know why but Morty has gone berserk. He’s been rather docile until now, a little nippy and moody at times typical Venom-Fang disposition but overall a good boy so I don’t get why he has gone crazy. I’m hoping you can help me, maybe you can see what is wrong?” Raynor asked, “Please I mean no ill to you.” Though a little hesitant they decided to investigate however they were going to remain vigilant in case it was a trap. With their agreement Raynor took them into the scholars’ outpost they were staying in and went down one of the halls that did not lead to the bedroom section. Several rooms came off the hall all looked to be labs of various sizes and for various purposes. There was one of the rooms with a unique door in the hall. A large metal sign was nailed onto it. The sign was a bright red with the words “Caution Dangerous Entities Inside” written in white letters. Raynor took them to this door.
“For everyone’s safety I have to keep my lab locked,” Raynor explained unlocking then opening the door, “sorry about the mess, tried to clean up. That is very hard to do when hallucinating. Luckily Morty didn’t release any of the other creatures.” Inside the room was set up with the lab to the left of the door. Against the right wall were glass doors for pens. There were four and only two looked to be in use, one held a Kappa while the other held a Parrot-Cruncher. A few terrariums were stacked on each other against the front wall on the right of the room and in a row in the middle of the right side of the room. These terrariums held various reptiles, amphibians and insects. Papers, tools and scientific equipment were thrown about the room. Against the back wall were a few doors one of which went into a room with a large window to look into the room, likely for observations. Inside the observation room was a mess with smashed containers, torn cloths and pillows, and splotches and smears from something on patches of the floor and lower wall. Pacing in this room making a metallic clicking was the Venom-Fang fabricant they guessed they were here to deal with. At the sight of them the fabricant hissed and slammed itself head first into the glass window which luckily didn’t break though the ninja got spooked. The creature looked mad, very mad.
“Don’t worry that glass is tough enough to stop a charging rhino, he can’t break free,” Raynor noted trying to straighten a few things up.
“What would you like me to do?” Zane wondered a little nervous.
“Talk to him, see if he will communicate with you. It would likely be best to enter the room to do this, just try not to get bit. Luckily their venom is not lethal to droids but it does mess with their systems and will make you hallucinate among some other nasty effects,” Raynor explained leading Zane over to the door for the observation room. The fabricant just watched them appearing to be curious about what was going on. Cole and Nya were not liking the sound of this and Zane was worried though he was also interested in this strange half robotic entity. He had not had a chance yet to communicate with one of these beings and outside Divayth and Bruma Zane had not had the chance to communicate much with any robotic beings of this realm, he had been worried they might try to mess with him especially if they were under the Stags control but after talking with Divayth he no longer worried about that and was curious to interact with some of these constructs.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea. We’ve seen how dangerous these things are,” Cole noted and Nya added, “this sounds like it could be a trap, don’t do it Zane.”
“No trap I swear. I just want some help,” Raynor expressed while Zane looked at the fabricant.
“Sure putting him in a room with a dangerous half machine creature with a venom that can hurt droids isn’t a trap,” Cole remarked. As Zane looked at the creature he got the sense it knew what he was even through the cloak and was interested in communicating with him.
“Why can’t he communicate with it out here?” Nya wondered.
“The glass messes with signals and communications with technology. The room also has a ward to prevent outside signals from messing with beings inside…” Raynor expressed.
“It’s okay guys, I will be okay,” Zane told the others before entering the room. The others watched worried. The fabricant watched Zane enter the room. When he was in the room the fabricant moved to the opposite side of the room to observe him a bit wary. It then slowly walked towards him holding its head low and not taking its eyes off Zane who was trying to connect with it. To those outside the room it looked like the fabricant was stalking Zane but Zane knew otherwise. It was being submissive. The fabricant came to stand a few feet from Zane looking like it was ready to pounce worrying Nya and Cole. The fabricant was very willing to communicate with Zane; it didn’t speak but communicated wirelessly with its cybernetics. They communicated for about a minute this way.
“Is he speaking to you? What does he say?” Raynor asked and at his words the fabricant gave a slight growl and snort.
“It is. It is rather annoyed that you keep calling it a he when it is a she. She also does not like the name you gave her,” Zane noted.
“He’s a she! I should make notes of this. That would also explain a few things,” Raynor noted pulling out a notebook to make some notes.
“Didn’t you check its gender when you got it?” Nya wondered and Raynor stated, “I didn’t want to offend him… I mean her. That would have been a little too personal and I felt it might have taken offense to me doing that. I want it to trust me so I can work more easily with her. I guess I have to rename her… maybe Mortisha?” The fabricant snorted at Raynors last words not pleased.
“She would prefer you call her by the name her original masters called her, Juniper,” Zane noted as the fabricant shifted to stand in a more relaxed way. Zane then had his cloak shut off for a few seconds and come back on again without him controlling it. The fabricant did it and let him know she was doing it making Zane curious but also worried. Why did she do that and was she going to try and do something worse?
“Why did you just do that to me?” Zane asked her and she communicated to him that she was just curious and wanted to see what he looked like without the cloak. She also wanted to show him he was not being very cautious when connecting making it easier for others to hack him. Zane hadn’t realised it but with his worries of being possessed by the Stag he had neglected keeping an eye out for others trying to hack him. When he checked he was stunned to realise something had been trying to hack his systems, luckily his safety systems were advanced enough and up to date preventing whatever had been trying to hack him from succeeding. Juniper let him check her and the same digital signature that had tried to hack him had tried hacking her but her systems were just as up to date and advanced as his preventing whoever it was from hacking her.
“What’s going on?” Nya wondered not liking how the fabricant seemed to be able to control some of Zanes systems. Juniper communicated with him letting him know why she had gone crazy the night before.
“When you leave the room like you did for dinner last night do you lock the door? Was it locked when you returned?” Zane wondered looking over Juniper, she co-operated with him just watching. When he checked out her tail blade he noticed a dried substance on the metal.
“Yha, I have to; part of the rules for keeping the creatures here besides I don’t want anyone hurting any of them or messing with them, they need to be in the best of conditions for my research. Each has their own diets and special needs and yes it was still locked when I returned. That’s when I found her going nuts in there. Why do you ask?” Raynor wondered as Zane got a closer inspection of the substance on Junipers tail blade. It looked to be dried blood but not regular blood. It was dark grey, Ashers blood! Looking at the splatters and smears in the room other than a few which were reddish likely stemming from when Juniper bit Raynor the rest were made from Ashers blood.
“Someone has been breaking in when you are not here,” Zane noted.
“What do you mean, nothings been stolen, really there is nothing to steal here, I don’t have precious gems or metals like some of the other labs or dangerous chemic… unless… oh no!” Raynor began thinking before heading over to some drawers and fridges in the lab section to inspect the samples within them.
“What is it?” Cole wondered as he and Nya thought it over.
“Why would someone break in here, it’s filled with venomous creepy crawlies,” Robin noted as he and Ava were looking over what was in the terrariums. Both were creeped out by the creatures, particularly the insects.
“That would explain some of my missing samples, I thought I was just miss placing things,” Raynor noted looking over his samples.
“Why would someone want venoms? What would you do with them?” Ava asked.
“What couldn’t you do? In the wrong hands they could make poisons, toxic gasses and other terrible things. Some venoms attack and destroy the nervous system, others stop the heart or make you bleed to death from your eyes and mouth, some are even flesh eating and eat away at your skin! If properly processed you could create all sorts of poisons with them. With enough or even powerful enough venoms you could take out the entire city that way,” Raynor explained getting worried, “ninja you have to help me find who has been breaking in and recover what they stole before it’s too late!” Zane came out of the room and let Juniper come out with him. She seemed rather calm now that she had freedom and someone who would listen to her.
“According to Juniper a group of at least three individuals were here last night to milk some of the creatures for their venoms. Because they could not hack her systems they drugged her so she could not interfere, that is why she was going crazy when you found her. From the dried blood on her tail blade I would have to deduce it was members of these Asher folks who broke in,” Zane explained.
“Ashers!” Raynor expressed checking out the dried material on Juniper’s tail blade, “that makes this even worse!”
“Ashers! We should get the others,” Cole opted but Raynor objected, “no you don’t have time for that. The stuff needs to be recovered before they can weaponize it. You three will have to do this. Sorry young ones but I don’t feel comfortable letting you two help. I know you’re with the knights but this is too dangerous for young ones like you.”
“That’s okay, we could stay here and help you secure the lab so this doesn’t happen again,” Ava expressed.
“It’s not ideal but your right, we need to stop these Ashers before it is too late and I guess two of us have powers that can stop them,” Cole noted and Zane added, “hopefully they are just low tier members like the acolytes. Given our encounter with that full member we would not stand a chance against them.”
“If you find where they’re hiding we could contact the others for you and send them to help?” Robin offered and Cole agreed, “Sounds like a good idea. We’ll locate them and wait for the others before making a move.”
“Okay but how do we find them?” Nya inquired before Juniper called out drawing everyone’s attention to her.
“Venom-Fangs have a good sense of smell, stronger than any dogs, she could track their scent for you,” Raynor noted and Robin added handing Nya a small snake like scimitar construct with a little tablet, “here this could help. It’s a Serpeton I found, I named him Brassy. I repaired him and connected him to the tablet so I can control it when I need to. We could also communicate through him and you can use him for remote surveillance.”
“Alright hopefully this doesn’t take too long,” Cole noted as Juniper began sniffing around. When she picked up the scent she gave off a cackling noise before following it out of the room. The three followed her as she led them out of the scholars’ center into the main section. She had to search the main area to pick the scent back up. There were so many new scents, sights and sounds she was easily being distracted and overwhelmed by it all. She had never been let into the common areas before. She checked out some of the plants and stalls. She even hopped up and began helping herself to a food venders wares. Cole had to pull her off the vendors stall while Nya apologized for the fabricants behaviour to the vendors owner who was terrified by the creatures sight. Zane communicated with her and managed to get Juniper back on task. It took her a while of sniffing the first floor of the place before she was able to pick the scent up again. As she moved about trying to pick up the scent whenever she got too close to someone they would move away from her, scared. Cole and Nya kept apologizing and assuring folk she meant no harm while Zane kept an eye on her. Juniper picked the scent up by a passage that led to the maintenance and storage sections of the Under-city. She led them down this passage taking them to the storage section. She led them into a poorly lit section which looked to have recently been damaged by an earthquake. Rubble was on the floor and cracks in the structure were being repaired however no workers were in sight despite their supplies lying around. They guessed the workers were probably just having lunch. Juniper entered a large storage room and stopped by the entrance looking around moving in an agitated way as she stood in the entrance. The ninja stopped in the hall behind her.
“Is this it?” Cole wondered as they looked around. There were shelves holding crates, baskets and various small items like clothes, toys, household items and the likes lining the far side wall. Various sized crates, chests, barrels and baskets sat about next to and in front of the shelves. There were some articles of furniture, a dresser and a wardrobe, a few rolled rugs were in the room as well. While the hall they stood in was dark the storage rooms were decently lit.
“Something in the room is masking the scent so she cannot find it. She also does not feel comfortable entering the room,” Zane noted letting down his cloak, “she feels the Ashers are nearby.” The ninja had to agree something felt unnerving in the room though they couldn’t see anything.
“I’d have to agree with her. I’m getting that same feeling I got before that Ash Spawn ambushed me and Lloyd,” Nya noted.
“Should we enter the room?” Cole wondered nervous something could be waiting to ambush them in the room.
“We could use this to look around, make sure nothing is hiding in there,” Nya noted pulling out the Serpeton. They agreed. Nya placed the construct on the floor and turned on the tablet while Juniper came back into the hall with them. Juniper investigated the Serpeton as the tablet connected to it and woke it up. The Serpeton looked around before turning to look back at Nya who held the tablet.
“Looks like it is waiting for a command,” Cole noted as Nya looked over the controls of the tablet. She tested it out getting it to move around in front of them for a few seconds.
“Seems easy enough, okay Brassy let’s see what you can see,” Nya stated as she controlled the construct taking it into the room. Through the tablet they could see what the construct saw. Through the construct they took a look around the room. Nothing seemed odd or to be hiding anything. The room appeared to be one of three connected to each other side by side. The room to the left of the entrance appeared much like the original, simply storage for items. A few rats got disturbed by the construct which attempted to catch one of them before Nya got control of it again.
“It seems it has a mind of its own,” she noted as she led it to the room on the right. The room appeared like the other two but for some reason the Serpeton began making a rattling and snake hissing noise and was objecting to entering more than a few feet into the room.
“He senses something,” Zane noted. No matter how hard she tried Nya could not get the construct to explore the room, it was refusing to obey the controls.
“I’m going to have to hack it to manually and fully control it,” Nya noted seeing the constructs free will was making it hard to search the room. Before she could do anything however the Serpeton entered the room further, almost like it understood what she was going to do and didn’t want that to happen. Nya could still not control it but it seemed to be doing exactly what they wanted. It looked around the room before making a direct move to the wall behind a wardrobe. A crack was in the wall with a noticeably sized hole at the base. The crack was likely made from an earthquake however instead of dirt falling through the wall like was to be expected for an underground structure there was light! The Serpeton looked through the hole but was not entering it. They could see another room was on the other side. They could make out a table with alchemical equipment and some artefacts of Ashers make in the room.
“They’re behind the wall,” Nya noted and Zane added, “Brassy does not sense any hidden entrance in those rooms indicating the entrance to the room is located elsewhere down here.”
“So how do we find it,” Cole wondered as Zane became aware that Juniper was no longer with them, she had disappeared.
“We can help you find it,” a voice expressed but before they could see where the voice came from they found a sack being placed over their heads and their hands were tied up behind their backs before being dragged somewhere. They tried to fight but couldn’t muster their powers and the bracers tying up their hands had a weakening effect on them. They were unsure where they were dragged to but wherever they were taken they were forced to kneel. When the sacks were removed and their eyes adjusted to the light they found themselves in a dark room. It was lit only by red candles and dark looking braziers and was decorated with the strange, creepy and macabre decorations of the Ashers. Several figures surrounded them, most looked to be full blooded Ashers. Any resemblance to what race they had come from, their gender or who they once were was gone. Their skin resembled burning ash, their eyes were sunken and burning, most had no hair and the few that did the hair was thin, sparse, short and burnt looking. Most wore very little clothes mainly sleeveless to short sleeved robes, cloth loincloths, kilts or pants with blackened leather armour on the shoulders and most wore cloth wristbands and foot wraps. All cloth attire was dark blackened appearing singed more than actually dyed and the edges on a few of their attires bore burning reddish markings of the Ashers scriptures which were very similar to those of the Oni. The other folk were a mix of mainly ungulate folk with one or two of the other races and those who were not yet full Ashers but had lost all resemblance of which race they came from. These folk showed signs they were starting to become Ashers. Parts of their skin were developing the color and texture of the full blooded Ashers. Some were dressed like the full Ashers while the others were still dressed like commoners.
“What do we have here? Three of the ninja,” the one full blooded Asher boasted, “well aren’t we lucky.”
“Caught these three snooping around nearby, we caught them off guard,” one of the others stated while the one who had talked first closely inspected each of them.
“Why aren’t you showing anything yet? Oh well it won’t matter now,” the first one stated looking over Zane who was worried over what this folk meant by that. What wasn’t he showing yet? Were the Ashers wanting the Stag to do something to him or were they trying to do something to him?
“Contact Dagoth Glares these three are to be converted into Ash Ghouls. Then we will get the other three. Put these ones in the small study room with the other prisoner,” the Asher declared after looking them over. Some of the folk then ushered them away and threw them into a small room. They tried to break free from their captors however their hands were tied behind their backs and by the fact they could not use their powers they guessed they had been cuffed with this cursed stone material. By the looks of it this was the room the construct had shown them through the crack in the wall. They recognised the table with the apparatuses and they could see the crack in the wall. What they hadn’t seen from the construct was the cage holding a serpent folk of a type they didn’t recognise, one they probably guessed came from this realm not theirs. The serpent folk looked terrified sitting on the floor of his cage shaking. The folk wore nothing but plain tattered clothes. The Ashers sat them down next to the caged folk laughing at them and making fun of them before leaving closing the door behind them.
“Well this isn’t good,” Cole noted trying to break free of the cuffs.
“What did he mean I am not showing anything yet? Showing what?” Zane worried.
“The others don’t know where we are? It could be hours before they find us. We have to find a way out of this,” Nya noted trying to break free.
“Preferably before this Dagoth Glares shows up to make us their slaves, what is this Dagoth Glares? Hopefully he’s not one of those sorcerers. From what others have said I never want to face one of those, I don’t think we’d stand a chance,” Cole expressed while the three tried to get themselves loose. It was useless they couldn’t break free.
“You don’t want to see Dagoth Glares. He’s one of those sorcerers, a very nasty and powerful one too. He turned those workers to Ash Slaves,” the serpent folk whimpered from his cage drawing the threes attention.
“You’ve seen this Dagoth Glares?” Cole asked.
“Yes not by choice either,” the serpent folk stuttered clearly shaken.
“Do you know what they’re doing here?” Nya wondered.
“Why did they steal venoms?” Zane inquired.
“They’re trying to make poisons to help take down the cities and armies. They want to poison the water supply,” the serpent folk explained, “I would have joined the workers as a slave if it wasn’t for my race being venomous.”
“If only I could reach my phone we could call for help,” Nya expressed.
“That likely will not work given we are underground and the make and complexity of the structures likely will make receiving phone signals nearly impossible,” Zane noted.
“Maybe you could think of something more positive Zane,” Nya commented and Zane stated, “Before we were captured Juniper went missing.”
“That’s not really positive Zane,” Nya noted. They sat for a while looking around for something to help them but they couldn’t see anything. After half an hour and not seeing anything that could help they started to feel hopeless. Their only idea was to try and break free when the Ashers came to retrieve them. They decided to save their energy for that time.
“What was that!?” Cole expressed trying to look behind himself after a while.
“What?” Nya wondered.
“Something cold brushed against my arms!” Cole worried before Nya stated feeling the same thing rub against her arms, “I felt it too! What else do you think is down here besides the Ashers and rats?”
“Hopefully it’s not a centipede, those things have too many legs!” the serpentine panicked. When this cold thing rubbed against Zanes arms he felt the bracers he wore loosen. He was able to remove the cuffs! He looked at his now free arms confused.
“How did you do that?” Cole wondered as the other two looked at him.
“I did not,” Zane expressed before the Serpeton, Brassy, slithered out from behind him and came to rest in Zanes lap a key in its mouth.
“He did it,” Zane noted as Brassy then slithered off him and unlocked the other two.
“He must have still been sitting where we left him in that hole, but where did he get the key,” Nya wondered as her arms came free. Once the ninja were free they began to look around the room. Zane and Nya looked over the items in the room while Cole peaked into the hall.
“Hard to see anything, these Ashers really like it dark,” Cole noted.
“We should destroy their work so they can’t complete it,” Nya noted.
“We should take as many out as we can too but first we should probably get the others and maybe some guards. The fewer of these things hiding in the town the better,” Cole added.
“Sounds good, let’s get out of here and get help,” Nya noted collecting the research so they could take it with them.
“As far as I can see it looks clear, we could try to escape now,” Cole stated.
“Please take me with you! Don’t leave me to those monsters!” the serpent folk exclaimed.
“He is right we should not leave him for the Ashers to use,” Zane agreed.
“I guess it wouldn’t hurt, he could also help us,” Nya noted as the Serpeton unlocked the cage and let the serpentine, who quickly rushed over to cling to Cole shaking from fear, out.
“Okay let’s get going,” Cole expressed gently pushing the serpentine off him and Zane picked up the Serpeton which kept a hold of the key. They left the room entering a dark hall which was lit only by a few candle sconces.
“Where should we go?” Cole wondered and after a quick attempt to sense anything around them Zane found something here was messing with his sensors. It was starting to bother and unnerve him that things in these wastes were messing with him.
“I cannot sense anything here. It is like they have something set up to mess with technology,” Zane noted getting frustrated.
“Snake folk do you possibly know where to go,” Nya asked the serpentine.
“I had a sack on my head when they brought me here. The only room I have seen is the one they keep my cage in,” the snake folk expressed.
“Okay, I guess we just have to look around,” Nya stated and Cole added, “hopefully we don’t run into any Ashers.” They decided to head to the left. The hall continued with a few doors coming off it trying to be as quite as they could. They didn’t want to alert anyone to their presence and they didn’t dare check behind any of the doors. When the hall came to an end they headed back to try the right side. If that yielded nothing then they would check behind the doors. To the right side of the room they had been locked in the hall continued and came to a large room. The room looked to be a gathering place or, what they dreaded, a place for the Ashers corrupt rituals to be performed. Dark red candles lit the room up and various Asher decorations decorated the place. The strange statue Zane had seen before but a bigger version, a large strange dream catcher like structure stuck on a pole, skulls from various beings, a row of various sized bells held in a frame and strange often macabre drawings on the walls and floor decorated the place. They all were getting very unnerving and uncomfortable feelings from the room.
“We probably shouldn’t be here,” Cole expressed.
“Agreed,” Nya expressed before the Serpeton let out a hiss and began rattling. It jumped from Zanes hands and hurried off back down the hall and vanished in the darkness.
“He sensed something, I am having trouble sensing what he did, something is wrong. I think it is this room,” Zane expressed having trouble controlling some of his systems; his head was starting to feel foggy. Before they could move they all felt something they could not see wrapping around their arms and pulling them to the floor, Nya dropped all the research as her arms were pulled down. They tried to fight this unknown force but found themselves powerless against it.
“So they found a way to escape. Oh well this makes it a little easier,” an Ashers voice growled as several Ashers came out of the shadows. The Ashers dragged Cole, Nya and Zane and placed them on a large symbol on the middle of the floor. The ninja were forced to kneel while the serpent folk was dragged to the side and held there by some of the Ashers. Once the ninja were in the center of the room still being restrained by the strange energy the Ashers moved back to the sides of the room.
“It looks like they are going to perform a ritual,” Zane noted and Cole added, “I guess we’re joining them. Do you think they’ll have cake and maybe some punch afterwards?”
“I do not think these folk are the type to be that nice after a ritual,” Zane advised.
“Now’s not the time boys we have to get out of here before they can do anything to us,” Nya chastised trying to break free. One of the Ashers rang the bells in a strange pattern then from the shadows the nightmarish figure of an Asher Sorcerer strode out to stand in front of them holding its knarled hand out towards them. They guessed this was the entity creating the strange force that was preventing them from moving. They had heard what these things were like but to see one for real was like looking at a nightmare making the three feel terrified.
“I’m guessing this is Dagoth Glares?” Cole alleged before the sorcerer summoned dark tentacle like vines which wrapped around their arms and legs to hold them down. The three struggled to break free beginning to panic. They found they could at least use their powers but it was of little use. The tentacles seemed to be resistant to their powers and too strong so they couldn’t break free. The sorcerers spell was too strong. The ninja were in a panic. As far as they could tell no one was coming to rescue them. If they couldn’t break free they would end up being turned into Asher Slaves and likely turned on their friends who would stand no chance against them. The Asher Sorcerer began mumbling in the Asher language what they believed to be a spell. Some of the Ashers began making a circle around them out of ash and some unknown material whose presence gave a feeling that reminded them of dark matter. They were feeling hopeless, beat and terrified.
The sorcerer and Ashers suddenly stopped the ritual and the ninja could feel the energy the sorcerer was holding them with lift as a Venom-Fang fabricant, Juniper, lunged onto the sorcerers back from the shadows and bit into its neck stabbing her bladed forelimbs into the sorcerers chest. Though they had no clue where the fabricant came from they didn’t wish to waste this chance and launched an attack at the Ashers in the room. They freed the serpentine who despite being scared helped them fight in an attempt to escape. Juniper joined them leaving the sorcerer who bent over holding its neck in pain the bite glowing from Junipers venom. It didn’t take much to beat the Ashers true to what they had been told they were destroyed by ice and being caught off guard were quickly overtaken especially with Nya and Zane using their powers together to freeze them.
“Now how do we get out of here?” Cole wondered after they had taken out the Ashers.
“Maybe Juniper knows,” Zane stated as Juniper who stood with them kept an eye on the sorcerer who began to recover and look at them. The sorcerer pulled out a dagger from its cloak and went to throw it at Zane who was unaware of the sorcerer, none of the ninja were aware of what Glares was doing; they thought he was defeated by Junipers venom. As Glares threw the dagger Juniper put herself in the way getting stabbed in the side. The ninja saw her get hurt and came to her aid.
“No leave it in you could do more damage by pulling it out,” Nya expressed stopping Cole from trying to pull the dagger out of the fabricants side while Zane put his one arm under her shoulder and helped elevate her front half up. Juniper was clearly hurt and in pain but she felt well enough to hiss at the sorcerer who began to get closer to them. It summoned a spell creating shadow figures to come from the shadows and hold the ninja.
“It will take more than a bite from a freak of a lizard or your pathetic powers to stop me,” the sorcerer hissed with a raspy and eerie voice at them, “you will be one of us.” The ninja started to fight the shadow figures trying to break free as the sorcerer began laughing at them. While trying to break free Cole bumped into something behind himself. Even though he felt it was nothing, just one of the creepy decorations, he was compelled to look behind himself. When he did he was spooked, his blood running cold from what he saw. A figure stood behind him in the armour of the Scimitar Samurai like what they had seen in the museum. This one’s armour however was dark in color with pieces that gave off a dark fiery glow and the helmet had a face plate which was reminiscent of an Oni mask. Only the figures glowing dark red eyes were visible through the mask. The figure raised up a sickle which looked to be of the same make that the weapon Divayth had given them was made of and swiped at him with it. Cole ducked from the figures attack and the sickle missed him instead slicing through the shadow figure destroying it. The figures presence caught everyone’s attention and they looked at it. The figure said something in a language Cole could not identify, Zane could identify it as the lost language of the Scimitar folk but was too occupied with the fight and scared by the beings presence to try and translate it at that time. With the figures words more figures dressed just like the first each wielding different weapons came from the shadows looking ready to fight. The Asher growled something in its language at the figures, it sounded very angry.
“You may have clipped the wings of our dragons but we will not let you clip the foreign dragons. Why do you not join your Oni masters in oblivion you foul daemon spawn,” the first figure growled with a deep commanding tone to the sorcerer moving to put himself between the ninja and the sorcerer. As he spoke some of these other samurai destroyed the shadow beings releasing the ninja and the serpentine. They then pushed the ninja and serpentine together and forced them onto their knees by Juniper who seemed not to give a care about the strange folk almost like she knew them, instead she was calmly watching everything.
“Who are these?” Nya whispered unnerved by their presence to the others while the first figure growled in the scimitar language at the sorcerer.
“I’m not sure it’s a who but more of a what?” Cole expressed and Zane added, “They are giving off a signal that prevents me from sensing them. I do not think they are human, they might not even be of the living.”
“Scimitar Samurai, the militant spawn of the Black Stag. I’ve heard of them before and hoped to never see them,” the serpentine shuddered cowering.
“You always find a way to escape us but this time that will not be so, someone wishes you to pay for your crimes Glares and he will see it done,” the first figure growled as a black mist started to invade the room and even come out of the samurai.
“We will see about that,” Glares growled raising his vanquished allies into Ash Spawn and summoning more shadow entities.
“The Stag! He’s here!” Zane stuttered trying to shoo the mist away as it began to crawl onto them feeling terrified. There was a deep unnatural feeling to the mist, a cold dark emptiness that terrified the three of them as the mist seemed to crawl onto and grab them. They could even feel the mist seeping into their bodies. The mist slowly enveloped them before everything went black.
“Are you sure they’re okay,” Lloyds voice spoke. He sounded worried.
“As far as we can tell yes, they’re very lucky. As far as we know no one has survived unscathed from an Asher sorcerer before,” Hassiri explained. As Cole, Nya and Zane came to they found themselves in the medical bay of the place they were staying. Lloyd, Jay, Kai, Misako, the knights and Hassiri were with them. The three had been laid on the beds. Jay and Kai were with Nya; Lloyd, Clay and Macy were around Cole while Aaron, Robin and Ava were around Zane.
“What happened?” Nya wondered and Clay explained, “we were hoping you could tell us, Robins Serpeton led us to you. At first we thought you three were dead you’ve been out for several hours now.”
“We found you three along with a serpentine and a fabricant unconscious down in the storage tunnels not far from what looked to have been an Asher base. The place was obliterated and one of their sorcerers was destroyed. You were colder than ice, banged up and barely showing signs of life,” Lloyd explained.
“Those things… these Scimitar Samurai, they must have done it,” Cole expressed and Zane wondered, “Is Juniper okay?”
“The fabricant? Raynor is taking good care of her. He really loves his creatures. I helped him fix her up and she’ll be fine. The knife missed anything vital,” Robin stated.
“Scimitar Samurai? What are those and how did you run into them?” Macy inquired.
“Scimitar Samurai are the Stags most elite and dangerous warriors. It is said he created them from the void, making them beings of pure dark and emptiness to serve as his unstoppable fighters to destroy and conquer whatever he wants them to,” Hassiri explained.
“We were searching for those who stole Raynors work when Ashers ambushed us. One of their sorcerers was going to turn us into their slaves when those samurai came from the shadows and attacked,” Nya explained.
“The Stag… he was there… I cannot recall what he did,” Zane began trying to remember anything. He remembered the samurai and the mist but was having trouble recalling anything else. He found it disturbing that his memories were not working properly. He was worried the Stag had done something though Ava assured him there was no evidence of tampering by the Stag.
“I remember the mist but nothing else,” Nya noted.
“I can’t remember anything either,” Cole agreed.
“I’d say your lapses in memory are most likely a result of shock, from what I can get from you it looks like the Stag was possessing you three. It was most likely a serious shock to your systems to be under his control in that situation. In time your memories should come back,” Ava noted looking over a tablet she had hooked up to Zane.
“You’re really lucky he let you all go, especially you Zane. He could have taken you for his own use. I will have to say though that it is odd how he showed up to save you then just let you go,” Macy noted.
“Maybe he wanted to make sure the Ashers didn’t get them,” Axl implied.
“True sounds like he did save you. Maybe this could be a good sign. He might be willing to co-operate with you, or it could just be a matter of circumstance and he just wanted to make sure the Ashers couldn’t get you and had no desire to take you for himself, yet,” Clay theorized.
“I wouldn’t worry too much about it now. If I were you three I’d take some time to come back to your senses and just put what happened to the back of your mind. It’s over and you’re alive. You still have your mission to focus on,” Hassiri advised, he sounded short tempered which was not usual for him.
“I guess you’re right, it’s just disturbing,” Cole expressed.
“By the way did you happen to catch the name of the sorcerer?” Hassiri wondered.
“I think they said it was Glares,” Nya recalled and Zane added, “They said his full name as Dagoth Glares.” A hard to read expression came over Hassiri’s face. There seemed to be tears starting to appear in his eyes before he stormed out mumbling something under his breath. It sounded like he was cursing this Glares being. After he left they heard what sounded like him violently punching the wall a few times and a scream from the hall before it went quite.
“What was that for?” Kai inquired about Hassiris behaviour. The ninja were confused though the knights seemed to understand and seemed saddened.
“Glares is a well known sorcerer around here. He has terrorized many settlements near the fence and has been responsible for some serious and terrible attacks,” Macy began and Axl added, “Hassiri knows this from experience.”
“May we ask what happened?” Misako inquired.
“When we got here they put us under Hassiris charge. We wanted to know more about him so we asked around. The people here were more than happy to tell us about him. Hassiri used to have a good life. A wife, kids, a prosperous farm on the outskirts of a small relaxed and peaceful village then one day Ashers attacked the village led by Dagoth Glares. All the sorcerers go by Dagoth then their name. That is how you identify them from normal Ashers. Glares is well was one of their most powerful and cruel. Anyway Hassiri tried to fight them back alongside the rest of the village but failed. He was no fighter then just a farmer who had never faced such an adversary,” Clay stated and Aaron noted, “Yha a farmer could easily handle bandits but not Ashers. Not even many warriors can stand up to them especially with a sorcerer in tow.”
“The village was destroyed, many perished. His farm was destroyed and his family… they didn’t make it. They were at least spared from becoming slaves but that is little comfort especially considering what those monsters do to living things. After that he joined the Balmora guard and has longed to make Glares pay for what he did, to avenge his families death at the hands of that demon and spare others the same or even worse fates. Apparently a lot of folk around here have been affected by the Ashers many in very unpleasant ways. His story is not the only one like that. This Raynor you helped, he used to be an adventurer with his sister. They were close. Their parents had died when they were young so all they had was each other, until one wrong decision brought them near an Ashers den. She didn’t make it. Raynor has never wandered outside settlements since. Many have lost loved ones or lively hoods because of the Ashers and what those beings have done has scarred many in ways they will never recover from,” Clay finished.
“Will he be okay?” Lloyd wondered.
“Yha, I think he’s just upset that he didn’t get to finish off Glares himself,” Lance stated.
“He probably just needs some time to himself, now if your fine you can leave whenever you want, just so you know I doubt Tafari will let you use this incident to get out of training so I’d take the rest of the day to relax,” Macy stated, “would you like us to stick around to help you guys or are you okay?”
“I think we’ll be okay now, thanks for the offer though,” Lloyd expressed looking at Jay and Kai who agreed with him.
“Alright, if you need anything we’re willing to help, we’ll be hanging around the center for the rest of the evening if you need us,” Clay expressed as Ava unhooked her tablet from Zane before the knights left.
“Are you guys really okay?” Lloyd asked when they were alone. He had a feeling they were not likely to admit something was wrong around anyone from this realm and they might not want to admit something’s around the knights, especially Zane. While they trusted the knights they were still not comfortable revealing or talking about some things around them. As for the townsfolk outside Hassiri and Fae none of the ninja felt they could trust the folk of this realm. They had no clue who was an Asher or who could be working for these dreaded denizens.
“Yha it just feels like I’ve been training for days, I feel so sore and tired,” Nya noted trying to move without feeling stiff or sore and Cole looked at his arm which Zane had cut in the incident in the ring. It had a fresh bandage on it and was giving him a great deal of pain.
“Did my arm get cut again?” he wondered.
“The stitches ripped and it did look like something cut you in the same spot,” Lloyd noted, “when we found you three it kind of looked like you had gotten into a pretty nasty fight, all banged up and dirty.”
“The knights helped us get you back here and fix you up. You’ve been out for a few hours,” Kai noted and Jay added, “by the condition you three were in and the carnage left in those tunnels you looked to have been in a serious fight down there. Are you sure you don’t remember what happened?”
“Not sure I think I’m starting to remember something, moving shadows and those Spawn things,” Nya noted as she remembered vaguely a squabble. It felt like it had been a dream, a horrid nightmare of a dream she had been unable to wake up from but could feel everything that happened as if she was awake. Cole and Zane felt the same.
“I think the Stag used us, like we were his puppets. One of those Spawn cut me. I think the thing was trying to stop me,” Cole noted. As the three began to remember what had happened the feeling of being under the Stags control came to them. It was a dreaded cold empty feeling that shook them to the core.
“My memories, they are just like when the Stag had control of me before! They are unclear and fogged like a dream,” Zane noted getting nervous.
“He had control of you guys! He can control people!” Jay worried; Jay didn’t want to be controlled by this dark being. Just hearing what being under this dark beings grip was like was terrifying enough for him.
“I think it’s all coming back, he used us to destroy the Sorcerer and his ally things, he made me collapse the tunnel on them and their entrance into the city,” Cole noted.
“Me and Zane had to use almost all our power and energy to freeze the sorcerer, those things are incredibly powerful, I hope we don’t have to face one again,” Nya noted.
“I understand how you must have felt those times before when that thing has gotten a hold of you Zane. That things hold on you, it has to be the worst feeling I have ever felt, not even death could feel that bad,” Cole remarked and Nya added, “I’d have to agree with that.”
“That feeling lasts for hours and even when you push it to the back of your mind it still remains and keeps returning to make things feel terrible even when you should be happy,” Zane noted as Misako came over to comfort him.
“Maybe we can find a way to fix that,” Misako stated placing her hand comfortingly on Zanes one arm and Lloyd added as Raynor came into the room, “we’re here for you guys. We’ll do whatever we can to help you get over this.”
“I wanted to personally thank you for your work. Hopefully whatever they were planning has been thwarted and I hear you got rid of one of those horrid sorcerers. You would not believe how good it is to hear that. You wouldn’t know how much it means to people here that you did that. I know my sister would be grateful that monster is gone,” Raynor stated sounding down and not as cheerful as they expected someone to be after hearing one of the nastiest Ashers had been defeated, “I’m sorry I don’t really have much to give you for your help.”
“You don’t need to thank us,” Kai stated and Lloyd noted, “We’re here to help, you don’t have to thank us.”
“Anyway I should get going,” Raynor expressed before turning to Zane pulling out a piece of paper, “Juniper wanted to give you a message. She wrote it herself using my computer, she’s very smart and skillful. She wrote ‘do not fear the Akulakhan, he is not what he seems. Beware the tower and the monsters it spews for they are the monsters they seem.’ Then she wrote something in the scimitar language. I can’t read it, she wrote you can though.”
“The what? A cool a can?” Jay wondered as Raynor handed the paper to Zane.
“Akulakhan (a-kul-a-khan), that is the term Scimitar constructs and droids use to refer to the Black Stag. From what scholars have found it seems to best translate as the ‘cursed one with no name’. No one really knows what that means but many think that droids see the Stag as a curse to them since he uses them as pawns often in cruel and near fatal ways and he doesn’t have a true name. He is just called by the most common form he takes, a Stag,” Raynor explained while Zane looked over the note.
“What does all that mean? It’s clear the Ashers are monsters but what does she mean by the Stag isn’t what he seems?” Lloyd wondered.
“Maybe she’s a little confused. The Stag could have messed with her mind,” Nya noted.
“It’s hard to understand sometimes what fabricants think. I’ll check her over to make sure everything’s fine. Anyway I wish you luck and I hope you succeed. I don’t even want to think of what could happen if you fail,” Raynor noted before leaving.
“Well wasn’t that cheery, as if we don’t have enough worry on our plates,” Cole expressed and Lloyd noted, “seems many are counting on us to succeed.”
“What did Juniper write to you in the Scimitar writing Zane?” Nya wondered.
“Trust in the cubs, they understand your plight and will help you,” Zane replied.
“Cubs, is she referring to other scimitar constructs and these hyenoids. I guess I could see why she says that. They probably stick together here since the people offer them no help,” Kai noted and Jay expressed, “yha if I were you though Zane I wouldn’t trust everyone of these ‘cubs’ who knows which ones are under the Stags mind control.”
“I will be fine,” Zane replied and Lloyd stated, “but if you’re not we need you to tell us.”
“I will,” Zane agreed before looking over the note again while the others talked. He was confused. Why was she telling him not to fear the Stag? The Stag wanted to do terrible things to him. It wanted to pull him away from his friends and family and turn him into a mindless killing drone. What did she mean by he was not as he seemed. Zane had seen no proof to contradict that the Stag was in simplest terms a monster. Even the hyenoid Divayth who served under the Stag showed he saw the Stag as a cruel dark being and nothing else. How could the Stag not be what he seemed?
Notes:
This one has some inspiration from a true real world event. The part about Raynor thinking Juniper was a male is inspired by my grandparents cockatiel they had when I was younger. For years they thought it was a male which they called Morty then one day it laid an egg revealing it was actually a female so they renamed her Mortisha.
Why would Juniper be offended by a gender search? Because for reptiles and certain birds you have to feel up in certain private areas for certain things, what is called probing, which as you could probably guess they don't like.
Cole, Nya and Zane have a little adventure of their own. In this chapter it reveals the Ashers are not as far from the city as people think they are. There was hints before but here you find out they are camped rate beneath everyone’s feet waiting to strike and even some of the nastiest and most powerful members are here without anyone knowing. Until now only Zane has felt the Stags hold, making him feel isolated from the others since they do not know or understand what it is like but now he is not alone. Cole and Nya get a taste of what the Stag feels like.
I actually have written out some of Jays talk with Robin about Zane, it helped me write out that paragraph. Along with describing about some of his internal workings there is a few little parts with character interactions. Because I cannot fit the entire thing I worked out here I posted the whole thing in the chapter featuring shorts for part 1 at the end of the chapter. I will post the little part on character interactions here cause I thought they were fun and interesting:
"Despite how resilient his systems are they’re not invincible. He knows that and so do me and Nya but the others sometimes don’t realise this and have caused some problems. On one of their missions together while undercover Kai created a firestorm to cut off some criminals escape and forgot to warn Zane who got caught off guard by the edges of the blast and accidently breathed in some of the fire in surprise. It did some damage to his lungs. Luckily since he doesn’t need oxygen it wasn’t serious and we were able to get parts to replace what was damaged but it took a few days to get them and in the meantime Zane was stuck breathing funny and coughing from irritation and pain from the damages to the sensors in his lungs. Kai felt so bad for what happened he helped me repair the damages even though he really didn’t know much about what he was doing and seeing Zanes internal makings both grosses and disturbs him quite a bit. Another time Cole made this meal I forget what it was called but it was real bad. It was shortly before we lost master Wu for a year in this time related incident. Pixal had warned him not to try it as it seemed dangerous but he didn’t listen not wanting to hurt Coles feelings and had it with the rest of us. Most of us spent the night throwing up but Zane had a bigger problem it made him more than just feel sick and disrupt his system. His body processed it in a weird way. His digestive fluids along with the internal heat of his body turned most of it into this thick stringy sticky stuff that clogged up like the first twenty centimetres of his intestines with what looked like really thick, tough and gross cobwebs. He didn’t want Cole to know not wanting him to feel bad as he was already feeling bad for making everyone sick plus some of Coles cooking in the past had caused him problems or hurt him making Cole really upset for what he did to Zane but since we put Zane offline while we worked on him Nya told Cole and got him involved in removing the stuff. I think it was as a sort of punishment for making us all sick. It was not easy to remove the stuff thanks to it being thick, a bit elastic and sticky like a real nasty bread dough. It took us over four hours to get all the stuff out and clear out any still in his stomach to prevent further problems. Along with our normal tools we use when working on him we had to use some non conventional tools like a bottle cleaner from the kitchen, if you’re wondering yha we got a new one after that as no one wanted to use it for the dishes afterwards plus Zanes digestive fluids did some serious damage to it. Nya also made Cole use his bare hands to reach in there to remove some of it. I think she did it as a sort of punishment to him. Yha it grossed him out quite a bit and nearly made him sick a few times. I think that incident helped push him into taking cooking classes. He’d been contemplating it before but not long after that did he actually start taking them. He also never made whatever that was again, we’re all grateful for that." I actually have a short story inspired by the work of Jay explaining Zanes anatomy which can be found here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/44691181in my works. It's fittingly titled Anatomy of a Droid.
Chapter 29: Scimitar Samurai
Summary:
What are these spawn of the daemon elk and what have they done to some of the ninja?
Notes:
Pictures relating to story can be found here: https://www.deviantart.com/nerdy-hyena/gallery/72478681/story-project
They are really good and help to visually flush out several aspects of the story including environments, characters, outfits, locations, creatures and other aspects often important ones in the story. All images I post in my work can be found there if you want a better look at them. Defiantly make sure to check them out.Also if you need a refresher on creatures, flora or aspects of the environment you can check out the second chapter in this work titled 'Keikiarys Guide to the Ash Wastes'. It includes short descriptions and pictures of these things.
Parts of this section are subject to change as the prequel story is written to improve story continuity.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Lloyd, Kai and Jay walked into the ring where the knights were training. They were not in the greatest of moods looking defeated, upset and worried. The ninja were going to train with the knights for the best defensive tactics against Ashers but three of them were not there. The knights were quick to pick up that something was wrong. They stopped their training as the ninja came up to them.
“Where’s the others?” Axl wondered and Lloyd replied sounding worried, “they won’t be joining us today, they say they’re very sore and tired but I think it is more than that. I think they are greatly disturbed from what happened yesterday.” After they had woken up from their incident the day before the three had taken Cole, Nya and Zane into the scholars center’s main room for them to relax and try to calm down. They gave them the night off from any chores or work and gave them some things to try and help calm them down; Scimitar Oil for Zane and a special potion Hassiri gave them for Cole and Nya. It seemed to help a bit but for some reason was not as effective as before. Not long after getting them set up the three could tell whatever they had been through had shaken them up far worse than anything they had been through before. Not only was it difficult to calm them but the three had bolted like frightened deer from the room when one of the scholars who was on a stepping stool trying to reach a book on the upper shelf of a bookshelf accidently leaned too much into the shelf and knocked it and the shelf behind it over creating a mess and a great deal of noise. It took them over ten minutes to calm the three and get them to come back into the room.
“Yha they’re definitely not themselves, my sister keeps doubting herself and is worried over the strangest things. Stuff she normally doesn’t worry about. She’s acting like Jay! Zane is clearly very anxious even though he is trying to hide it. He has become very jumpy like he’s expecting to be attacked. He’s quieter than usual too. Coles in much the same way, would you believe he didn’t even want cake! We even offered him a whole one just for himself and he wasn’t up for it. Jays supposed to be the chicken not any of them!” Kai blurted out and with a giggle Aaron made a few clucking noises at Jay teasing him about the incident in the mine to Jays displeasure. Lloyd then acknowledged, “None of them will also openly admit it either but it’s like they’re afraid to be alone. It’s as if they fear being attacked or worse. If they’re not with each other they want one of us to be with them.”
“Yha Cole made me come to the bathroom with him last night… in the middle of the night while I was trying to sleep. He refused to go alone,” Kai stated a little annoyed and embarrassed by the incident and Jay added, “Nya made us keep one of the lights on all night. Sure I didn’t mind that but it’s not like her. She’s not afraid of the dark!”
"I don't think the three of them slept much last night either. Whatever that Stag did to them has really had a bad effect on them," Lloyd stated clearly worried for the others. The knights felt for them and wanted to aid but were unsure what to do.
“I wouldn’t blame them, they went through something pretty terrible yesterday to face one of those sorcerer monsters plus become puppets for a demon,” Clay noted and Macy added, “yha those sorcerers are supposedly worse than living nightmares with their hollow eye pits which some describe as feeling like looking into the emptiness of the void to look into and they say the very beings of those monsters emit darkness and evil which taints the areas around them. They say looking at these Asher Sorcerers is worse than looking at an Oni, far worse, and from what scholars have noted by studying constructs the Stags possession is said to be terrifying and scarring to all he infects. They say he brings a cold emptiness feeling that not even depression or death can match. It’s said to feel as if this void, an ultimate dark emptiness, grips you to your very core so all you can feel is emptiness and darkness.” They all felt disturbed chills going down their spines by just the thought of such feelings.
“That sounds terrifying!” Jay expressed and Aaron noted, “not to mention what that monster did to and with them. Those have got to be some pretty nasty memories for them to remember.” At one point during the evening Tafari had called all of them to her Dojo to see something. Hassiri had kept an eye on Cole, Nya and Zane in the scholars’ center for them while they were gone as while they didn’t directly say it the others could tell the three didn’t want to be alone. Tafari showed them some surveillance footage of the area some of the guards had managed to uncover. It had been both shocking and disturbing. Even though they hoped the three couldn’t remember it they were pretty sure they did. The footage showed the inside of a storage room and looked over most of the central and back of the room from its vantage up in the opposite corner to its view. There was nothing special in the footage for a while till the back wall to the storage section was suddenly smashed outwards. The hole and whatever lay behind it was covered in darkness with a dark fog spilling into the section from this room. Some figures then came out of this darkness. Though under the effects of the Stags hold which had blackened them and gave them the eerie aquamarine markings and eye glow they could tell who the figures were; Cole, Nya and Zane along with a serpentine who carried out the fabricant and carried it into the hall. Their friends hung back for a second looking at the darkness. They fought off a few void wraiths that came through the hole out of the darkness at them with their bare hands before Cole and Zane grabbed something out of the darkness and dragged it into the center of the room. It was one of these Asher sorcerers! They forced it into kneeling in the centre of the room Zanes touch starting to freeze the area he held onto and Nya came to stand in front of it. She spoke to the monster in a voice that was clearly not hers, it was the Stags! The Stag had decreed with a voice that chilled and scared them all to hear it ‘you black blooded spawn of darkness I will give you one chance at mercy, beg for it I dare you’. The sorcerer growled back with an equally disturbing voice as the Stags at him ‘never, I would rather spend eternity in the void than bow to the likes of you; you black hearted false prince of the void’. The Stag was disturbingly pleased with the sorcerers answer declaring to it ‘I hoped you would deny as like for all those you have affected even if you begged even if you sold your soul to me I would have denied you any mercy. Enjoy your place in the void volcanic scum’. As if hearing that monsters voice come from Nya wasn’t disturbing enough things got pretty dark after his words as the Stag had made her thrust her bare hand into the monsters chest and rip out the sorcerers heart her arm coated in a dark ice as she did this. Dark ice grew out of its chest when its heart, or what they guessed was its heart as while it looked like one it was a sickly pale yet heavily charred hunk of unknown matter, was torn out before coating the sorcerer which exploded into ash and a strange bone skull object they had found down in the tunnels once it was fully encased. The Stag then made her toss the heart aside as if it was worthless. Once the sorcerer had been dealt with Cole used his powers to collapse the room of darkness burying it in earth and rock. That was all they could get as the camera that recorded everything got damaged from the quaking caused by the room collapsing. What that monster had done with the three was one of the darkest and most disturbing things any of them had ever seen and just further proved to them how demonic this entity really was.
“Do you think there’s anything we could do to help them?” Jay inquired worried for the others especially Nya.
“Not that I am aware of, I don’t know how anything could get over feelings like that or what happened to them… maybe a day off could help them out a bit; maybe getting them to do something simple might relax them and take their minds off the events,” Clay offered.
“Like what?” Lloyd wondered.
“A change in scenery maybe, that’s easier said than done around here though,” Macy suggested and Lance opted, “a spa’s always nice. I managed to find one here that wasn’t too bad.”
“There is the community center, they have a rather enjoyable pool and hot tub from what we’ve heard not sure if they would be interested in some of the activities they offer,” Aaron suggested.
“For obvious reasons Balmora has no zoo and I don’t think they would find it enjoyable volunteering on a farm or in a loggers camp around here and after what we went through in that incident defiantly not a mine. There is no amusement park nearby. They could go for a hike in the wilderness; there are some nature hikes nearby I hear they’re rather pleasant and being late winter to early spring birds are in their most spectacular colors rate now. There is also Balmora’s Museum…” Clay listed and Aaron cut in to add, “the museum currently has an exhibit on the most exotic locations of this world sounds like a rad thing to see. They also have one of the largest and most diverse collections of Scimitar artefacts in this realm.”
“Well if you think it will help I guess we could try something,” Lloyd agreed and Macy stated, “Why don’t you take them for a hike and this afternoon we can take you to the museum. It could also prove useful for the rest of us to get a look at some of the artefacts and beings found at this Forbidden City. Don’t worry about Tafari I’m pretty sure Hassiri can get her to forgive you for today.”
They decided to take the knights advice. Lloyd, Kai and Jay were taking Cole, Nya and Zane for a wilderness hike, later they were going to meet the knights at the museum before finishing off at the community center for the hot tub. The day was okay. It was cool but not cold though in the sun it felt warm. It was sunny with a few clouds and no ash was falling. Despite the layer of ash coating the soil the wilderness was filled with plants and fungi which all seemed rather healthy and plentiful despite the harsh ash which they all felt had something wrong with it. Dressing in their commoner clothes they took a trail that was clearly marked out and not very difficult to travel. It was a common wilderness trail made and maintained by the city. The path was well used and though it did go up some hills they were not too large and the ground of the path was rather level even when it went up hills or by ridges. The trail had markers to help keep people on the right path, boardwalks over marshy areas and every now and then education boards were along the trail giving information on the environment, wildlife, structures found in the wilderness or local history. The trail they were taking was a small looped trail that should only take two hours to complete though they decided to take it slow in order to relax. The trail had taken them first close to the Ghost Fence where they had gotten a good look at it. Whenever they had tried getting a close look at the fence in town the folk would get rather disturbed greatly disliking Zane anywhere near the structure and not very trusting of the others near it either. The fence was truly an impressive structure. While they were near it Kai kept trying to trick Jay into touching the energy field of the fence wanting to see what would happen; though tempted Jay wisely ignored Kais teasing. The trail had then veered away from the fence taking them through a forest and along some wetlands. There wasn’t many people out on the trail as most were still at work in the town which they thought was a good thing. Cole, Nya and Zane had seemed rather apprehensive about being near strangers all morning and they didn’t want to make the three feel worse. Of the few they saw the most notable was a family of tourists who had looked like they had been beaten up by a swamp monster being wet, having broken reeds in their clothes and bite marks from something on them. The family luckily was friendly to them but unnerved Jay by warning them of the monster geese known as Cobra Chickens hanging by a swampy area that had attacked them for no apparent reason. The geese just seemed to be in a mood. They had seen a few birds as they hiked and had startled a deer but hadn’t seen much else though plenty of birds, insects and frogs could be heard. The hike seemed to be working a bit. The wilderness was having a calming effect on the three and they appeared to be in lighter moods than they had in town. The three had been highly agitated and depressed earlier. They looked to be at the very least calm now. Lloyd, Kai and Jay did notice though that the three were frequently looking over their shoulder at the slightest sound as if fearing an attack, were unwilling to let their guard down to relax and were strangely quite even when talked too.
Cobra Chicken:
“This is nice isn’t it? None of the judging towns folk, no fighting or training just the six of us on a peaceful walk free of danger or responsibilities. Just us alone in this relatively peaceful wilderness,” Lloyd commented.
“I guess so,” Nya agreed not sounding too sure of her words while Jay noted, “it is nice to get out of the town and away from those people. Why are so many of them so moody and unpleasant?”
“Maybe it’s this Ash. You can feel something terrible coming from it,” Cole noted and Lloyd agreed, “There defiantly is something wrong with it. It’s like dark matter but both milder yet somehow worse and its effects seem to be unnoticed by most of the people. Fae told me most people around here especially those who have never ventured away from the wastes are unaware of the strange effects the ash has. She thinks there might be some sort of illusion magic to it keeping those exposed to it over long periods of time from realising the true dangers it poses so it can ensnare more folks.”
“Let’s hope it doesn’t start to affect us,” Kai noted as they stood on a wooden lookout which overlooked a large pond whose shores had become swamps by a forest edge. Zane was looking over the education board which talked about the ecosystems of wetlands before joining Nya, Cole and Jay who were looking over the swampy areas and the water below the overlook trying to see something. Lloyd and Kai were keeping an eye on the others and watching for any signs of trouble around them, mainly Ashers or villagers aligned with Ashers who might take the ninja wandering on their own unarmed as a chance to attack them. All seemed calm. They could see a few little fish in the water below and some songbirds flitting through the shrubs and grasses in the marshy area. There were some ducks and a pair of Cobra-Chickens, a strange species of goose, which hissed at them for no reason whenever the pair swam close to where the ninja stood. The geese startled Jay when they first came up to them and had him hiding behind Zane whenever they came by. At one point a Kappa came swimming by. It swam close to them to check them out before swimming off to disappear behind some vegetation at the far end of the wetlands.
“You know you guys didn’t have to do anything? We’re just feeling a little drained from yesterday that’s all,” Cole noted before a rustling in the grasses beside the overlook put Cole, Nya and Zane on edge. Something jumping out of the grass onto a rock by the shore then startled the three making them tense up and hold their breaths. They relaxed a bit when they saw it was only a frog but they were clearly still on edge. While the creature had startled Jay as well his reaction was nowhere as severe as the other three and he had been quick to relax; the other three looked like they were ready to bolt or going to have a panic attack till they saw it was only a frog.
“I think it’s deeper than that,” Lloyd commented touching Coles arm causing Cole to jump, “you know you can tell us what’s wrong. We could help you. Talking about it might make things better.”
“We’re fine we just need some time to rest,” Nya expressed.
“Come on sis I know something’s wrong with you. You can tell us what’s wrong, we won’t think anything different of you,” Kai expressed putting his hand on Nya’s shoulder.
“Yesterday just took a lot out of us that is all,” Nya snapped brushing her brother off.
“Give us a day and we’ll be fine,” Cole stated and Zane added, “it just takes a while to get over the Stags effects that is all.”
“You know we just want to help,” Jay offered.
“You could help by not bringing the subject up,” Cole argued as he Nya and Zane seemed to be getting angry at the other three.
“We came out here to relax. Why don’t we leave all this disturbing talk for later and enjoy our hike. Look I think I see a turtle,” Kai stated pointing to something by some swamp grass that seemed to be just chilling in the water. Wanting to make the others feel better and prevent any fighting Kai decided to change the subject.
“Are you sure that’s what it is?” Jay commented squinting to try and get a better look at this ‘turtle’. The others looked to what he was pointing at as well.
“It looks like a stick,” Cole noted and Zane added, “It is just a fallen log which has developed a coating of algae.”
“Well it looked like a turtle,” Kai admitted as Lloyd whispered in his ear, “good idea, maybe we should give them more time before talking about this.” For the remainder of their hike they avoided bringing up anything to do with the previous day’s events. They saw a few interesting creatures on their hike like a few Birch Runners foraging in a marshy area, a small group of Retch who were floating in a clearing along the path that despite being very passive even letting them touch them without being bothered unnerved Jay with how they moved and just seemed to float there, a Parrot-cruncher who stole their snacks annoying Cole who though he really wanted the snacks back was in no way going to challenge or even touch the venom coated reptile and a group of Tree-bills which tried to steal their canteens mesmerized by their shiny metal exteriors along with Zanes skin. The creatures gave him a bit of a grooming licking his face and hair. Zane wasn’t bothered by them instead enjoying their interaction. They had a group of small parrots come and check them out pleasing them with the birds inquisitive and playful behaviours when they paused for a break halfway through the trail and they came across some ruins that looked to have once been of a small Scymer settlement possibly of a farm which they guessed by the fact there was crop plants growing wild all around the place. To Coles dismay though none of the plants were producing anything edible as it was too early in the year for that. There was no evidence of constructs around the place and any artefacts had already been pillaged from the ruins. Some animals were using the place for shelters including a group of Skeevers which bolted from the one building into the woods when they looked into it and a mother Slothdillo and her two cubs who had turned the one house into a makeshift den and startled Kai and Jay when the two had looked into it and she came rushing out at them to protect her cubs causing the two to trip over each other as they fled from her. The weirdest sighting they had on the walk was a Kaiju which surprised them as they rounded a corner on the trail and found it standing in the middle of the trail with its head held lowered and looking dead at them with an unblinking stare. It had no fear of them as it looked at them before slowly turning to move off. It moved ahead on the trail a few feet before disappearing in a thick wooded patch made largely of pine trees. Lloyd felt the creature looked familiar like the one that had visited him the night of Whetu's trial but he wasn’t sure.
After they had returned from their hike the ninja had joined the knights who were also dressed in their commoner clothes and had brought along Misako to Balmoras Museum. The walk did seem to have a good effect on the others but they could tell something was still bothering them. They first went through the museum’s exhibit on the Exotic locations of this realm. There was of course the Ash wastes and the Blackwood but also others some of which were truly strange.
One known as Blackreach was a massive underground cave system that ran beneath large portions of the continent with even some branches being found beneath the Ash Wastes. Blackreach was home to glowing mushrooms, plants and even stones and housed bioluminescent creatures which were termed Creatures of the Vale along with entities made from the fusion of undead animals or sometimes even people or robotics with plants and fungi which were termed Gloam-beasts who acted as guardians and keepers for the caverns flora protecting their domain from the intrusion of the surface world. Some tales of the region claimed Storabek, one of the aspects of the Black Stag, had taught the fungal hive mind that ruled these caverns how to create the Gloam-beasts though why no one knew the answer to. This one really intrigued some of the ninja. There was also the nearby Great Lake of Lost Souls a large inland brackish freshwater sea known for its highly treacherous waters and unpredictable and often harsh storms which had claimed many shipwrecks and lead to many disappearances through the eras leading to its grim name. Its waters were said to be protected by a few mystical humanoid spirit beings known as Nereids and it was even believed lake going often reptilian sea monsters could be found in its depths. Then there was the Glacial Woods a cold wooded region in the north dominated by Glacial Birch and Frostbite Cedars which had been home to the last Scimitar Folk and his creation the first hyenoid who now was the Dragon of Ice. These snow coated woods were said to hold many ancient secrets frozen in their little explored depths. Many beasts in these woods had taken to developing ice like armour and coatings to claws and teeth as protection from the elements and each other. There was then Ice reach a lost continent at the north pole of the planet said to be lost to time and ice. It was said to be a frozen wasteland where time was broken and worked in mysterious and unnatural ways and the dead often rose as semi frozen and often half decayed reanimated beings. Few had ever set foot there or returned from it. There was also the Bog of Pestilence which was a low lying dark swamp forest region filled with acidic, poisonous and diseased waters which reminded the ninja of the Toxic Bogs. Many of the beasts here had developed strange adaptations to deal with the conditions with mainly reptilian and insect creatures able to tolerate the landscape. A type of Slothdillo was one of the few mammals found in the region. Then there was the Forgotten Forest a largely unexplored and very treacherous forest which was home to many secrets and was believed to be the ancestral spawning grounds for the group of animals they called Repto-birds like the Racers, Runners, Venom-fangs, Walkers and their kin. Few ever dared enter these dark forests with most who did never returning. The ninja spent some time there with the knights learning of these exotic and strange locations. While there Lloyd, Kai and Jay noticed the other three seemed calmer than earlier in the day. It was clear they were still disturbed but they were no longer watching over their shoulders or jumping at everything. They were wondering if what they were doing was working to calm them down.
An example of a creature from Ice Reach:
The second exhibit they visited was a hall displaying Scimitar folk artefacts. They checked out a section that displayed artefacts found outside Holamaya thinking it could prove useful to see some of the things they might find at this place. The first thing they all noticed however was what appeared to be a model of one of the Stags Scimitar Samurai ready to attack holding a sickle above its head placed in the center of the room. It looked eerily realistic including the glowing parts to its armour, glowing eyes and the dark unnerving feeling it emitted. While everyone else was intrigued by the armour Cole, Nya and Zane found themselves fighting to not enter a panic and bolt from the room upon seeing it. It brought back the feelings they had felt the day before while under the Stags control and it terrified them. The three clung close to the outer wall of the room not wanting to get close to the armour even though they could not take their eyes off it.
“That thing isn’t real is it? It’s just a replica right?” Jay worried scared by its appearance and the energy the armour was giving off. They were all put on edge by the armours presence and could feel a chill go down their spine just looking at it but most of them were able to remain relatively calm while near it. The armour seemed to bring a chill to the air and made the room feel darker than it actually was. They could feel a dark unnatural energy coming from the armour; it felt like an invisible mist of cold dark energy was seeping from the armour to fill the air around it. Some of them including Aaron, Jay, Ava, Robin, Lloyd and Clay even got a strange feeling that the suit was somehow watching them even when they weren’t looking at it. The ninja and Misako felt part of the energy felt unnervingly familiar; it felt like the energy from the fog the Oni had brought to Ninjago City when they had tried to invade.
“No that’s real bro, a genuine Scimitar Samurai outfit believed to have been made by the Black Stag himself,” Aaron explained sounding more cheerful about the item than Jay liked.
“Well most of it is. It says here the armour is but oddly while the weapon used to be real shortly after being put on display the weapon was replaced with a fake however no one working here did it and there was no indication that someone broke in,” Macy noted reading the plaque beneath the model and Axl added, “maybe it’s original owner wanted it back.”
“What exactly are these Scimitar Samurai?” Lloyd inquired trying to hide the unease he was feeling in his voice. No one yet had noticed Cole, Nya and Zane shaking and cowering by the outer wall of the room.
“After what happened yesterday we asked around here about these things. We got a lot of mixed results and apparently terrified a lot of folks just by mentioning the names of these things; the guards were not happy about that. A lot of people claimed they’re some sort of spirit or daemon; unholy monstrous spawn of the Black Stag meant to terrorize and destroy all who get in their way acting as his soldiers. That they are beings of pure dark energy that feed off your fear and soul energy and grow stronger with every innocent life they take. Many also claimed these things mainly strike at night especially on moonless nights to tear apart any person they come across giving their victims souls to their dark master or turning you into a monster like them. Some even claimed they were once people who gave themselves to this Storabek trading their hearts for a dark heart made of pure void energy turning them into his demon spawn to hunt down those their master pleases to. According to the scholars however most of what we were told was just tales often spun up often out of fear. I asked some of the scholars about these and they told me the truth, well at least what I hope is the truth. It defiantly sounded more realistic than what most people were claiming. They said these things are simply droids, hyenoids no different than others of the Stags forces. There’s nothing mystical about them they just have programming more finely tuned for combat than your typical droid along with wearing this strange magically imbued and unnerving armour,” Clay explained a hint of unease to his voice as he looked over the armour Robin partially hiding behind him while Ava hid by Macy the two feeling highly unnerved by the armour. His words also disturbed Jay and along with the feelings from the armour had him hiding behind Axl.
“How was this suit acquired? Is there a story behind it?” Misako inquired.
“Indeed, it came from the only specimen every captured. It was rate here in Balmora. They said the thing just suddenly appeared in the Under-city one day and attacked some folk. It put up a serious fight and took a lot of guards to hold it back before the guards managed to subdue it,” Macy began.
“They only managed that because it got electrocuted while it fought,” Lance noted, “not very impressive for either party if you ask me.”
“What they did to it was not cool man,” Aaron noted not sounding very cheerful.
“I’d have to agree with Aaron on that. Just because it wasn’t human didn’t give them the right to treat it the way they did. The guards and a few researchers took its armour away and performed various experiments on the droid they found inside. They tried to find some of the Stags secrets through it. Some of the experiments they performed on it you could almost say would be torture for a droid. They took apart pieces of it, interrogated it for days and messed around with its programming and internal makings poking and prodding it to learn all that they could all while keeping it online so it was aware of what they were doing to it. Then one day the droid disappeared, all but its armour and weapons were taken,” Clay explained and Macy added, “Many believe others of its kind claimed him so they could not learn its secrets. If you ask us we think its pals probably rescued him to save him from the cruel treatment it was being put under.”
“What did they learn from it?” Kai inquired.
“They’re just droids not monsters. It’s their suits that give off those feelings,” Axl noted and Aaron added, “Yha they’re just droids obeying what their master wants they have no desire to hurt others. You could say they are more of the Stags dogs than daemon spawn.”
“Outside what we’ve told you not much else was learned from it other than it was an incredibly complex and sentient machine capable of conscious thought and some emotions. It was also learned that the Stag uses the droids as workers with different classes for different purposes. From what could be deciphered there are several types of workers and the Scimitar Samurai. The Samurai are an elite and militant group of warriors designed to take on any opponent and strike fear into all who see them. They guard not only their home and allies but are used for secretive attacks on cities, towns and properties. The Stag makes their armour himself imbuing them with an unknown substance to give them such feelings to further strike fear into people and make them appear otherworldly hiding their true being,” Clay explained.
“The one this armour was taken from seemed to have been given the name of Kozac. We looked into this name and found it is tied to the Stags most skilled and dangerous Samurai who seems to act as the leader for these things bowing only to the Stag and four other individuals who were un-identified. No one could explain why such a high ranking and skilled warrior screwed up and got caught but many seem to think he must have malfunctioned. These Scimitars forces rarely attack during the day and they rarely attack alone especially in a busy town center so something must have been wrong,” Macy noted.
“How much is known about the Stags forces?” Lloyd wondered, they had been more focussed on the Stag himself so far not his followers. So far they really hadn’t had much experience with them and their last encounter seemed oddly passive. That likely had been though a ruse in order to aid their master in leading them into his trap so they hadn’t really seen the true side to these beings. They were pretty sure once they reached this Forbidden City the droids would show them their true natures and not be so passive. Seeing it was likely they would have to face these beings too Lloyd felt it wise they should learn a bit about them before they left in a couple days. Unknown to the others Cole, Zane and Nya snuck out of the room before rushing off no longer able to control their emotions and needing to get away to somewhere they felt safe.
“Other than what we have told you not much, there is believed to be something either a droid or some sort of system known as DJ which works for the Stag. It is a well known digital signature around here known for hacking systems. Often for things like shutting security services on and off likely so those like the Samurai or others of the Stags forces can move about unknown in cities, it also steals copies of data from researchers and guards and messes with communications among other things. Interestingly it has never tried hacking the Ghost Fence but has an odd interest in hacking radio stations or personal devices to copy music or play video games. Disturbingly we found the second day we were here this DJ had hacked our ship without us knowing and copied a bunch of information including some personal things,” Clay noted unnerved by this fact and Macy added equally disturbed, “yha what it copied was strange. It looked primarily into information of our world and about us and not much else. It didn’t seem to care about messing with systems or stealing anything. It also oddly took some time to play some video games.” The knights were all clearly disturbed about what this DJ had been able to do without their knowing.
“It put some serious high scores on some of them. There’s no way a human could beat the scores it got!” Axl imputed.
“Until you found him no one had a clue Divayth was actually one of them. I knew he was giving off some strange vibes when we first saw him shortly after we arrived but I wouldn’t have thought he was a droid,” Aaron noted.
“He was so kind and innocent, I’d never think he was serving the Stag nor did he seem like a droid, he acted so human like,” Axl expressed.
“He did have some strange quirks though, I guess we know why now,” Lance added. By this time Lloyd, Kai and Jay realised Nya, Cole and Zane were missing.
“Where’d they go?” Lloyd worried and Jay whimpered, “Do you think they’re okay?”
“I don’t know but we should probably find them,” Kai proposed. The others were in agreement and began to search. They all did a quick sweep of the museum before meeting back up. They couldn’t find the three anywhere in the museum. The knights had the idea the three were seeking somewhere they felt safe so suggested they should check where they were staying and sent the ninja ahead. The knights were going to check and see if they could find Zanes signal through the Fortrexs computers to see if they could locate them that way. Lloyd, Kai and Jay headed back to where they were staying while the knights headed to their Fortrex. The ninja had a feeling the knights were right. The others were likely looking for a place they felt safe. They believed the knights were right the only place they felt they might go to feel safe in Balmora was the place they were staying. It was the only place in the city they all were comfortable in. When they got there however they were surprised and even more worried to find no one there and no one had seen the others. They were at a loss of where to look next till the knights contacted them with some surprising news telling them to meet them on the Fortrex. They wasted no time in rushing over to meet the knights who revealed they had found the other three. As they had all suspected the three had been looking for somewhere safe to hide but the place they had chosen surprised Lloyd, Jay and Kai though the knights understood why they had chosen it. The three were in the holo-training deck on the Fortrex having made it look like the common room of their monastery; a place they felt safe. The knights had not let the three know they knew they were there and hadn’t interacted with them. They felt it best that Lloyd, Kai and Jay talk to them. The knights waited in the command center while the others went to talk with the three.
“What happened? Why did you guys just disappear on us?” Kai wondered as he, Lloyd and Jay entered the training deck. The other three didn’t answer though it looked like they wanted to. They were just sitting together on the floor looking troubled and disturbed. They seemed agitated and had jumped at the noise of the training decks doors opening. Nya and Cole looked pale and they all looked to be shaking a bit.
“Do you need to talk? Don’t worry it’s just us here,” Lloyd offered and Jay expressed, “talking about it could make things better. Keeping whatever you’re going through bottled up could just make things worse.” The three remained quite. It looked like they were going to refuse to talk so Kai came to sit next to his sister and stated, “you can try and hide it all you want but we know something’s wrong.”
“That suit…,” Nya began after a short period of silence.
“It brought back those feelings,” Zane expressed.
“Yesterday really scared you guys didn’t it?” Lloyd noted.
“Those Ashers almost turned us into their slaves and those sorcerers they have. They’re like living nightmares just to look at and what they do… then to be under the Stags control… it was such a cold hollow feeling…” Nya began Jay coming to sit next to her to comfort her and Cole finished, “then those things coming from the shadows, those Scimitar Samurai. There was something about them. Looking at them felt like looking at an Oni but somehow worse and just their presence was so… so disturbing…”
“They’re just droids in suits,” Jay offered and Cole countered with, “when you see them in action though you don’t think that and we didn’t know that then. It felt like we were surrounded by something worse than the Oni.”
“There was something wrong. I could not sense what they were and the Stag; it is such a terrible feeling to be under his control and the stone I was given doesn’t seem to help stop him!” Zane noted.
“Has the stone offered you any help?” Lloyd asked.
“In ways it does help but the Stag can still take control of me and worse! He is so powerful I don’t think anything can stop him,” Zane expressed.
“If it is offering some help even just a little you should keep it just to be safe,” Lloyd commented before Jay blurted out, “but the Stag can still control him! He turned him into a bird demon! He can take control of people! He can control us! He could easily take control of one of us when we least expect it and turn us into monsters!”
“True and he has given no indication of what he wants from us nor why he desires to apparently hunt us down and tear out our hearts...when he had you three could you get any feelings or thoughts from him?” Lloyd asked. Cole, Zane and Nya thought it over.
“No just this cold hollow feeling he brings,” Nya noted and Cole added, “It felt like I was dying and there was something else, something felt wrong… it’s hard to describe. It’s like when someone tells you something’s right but you know it’s not but when you look at this something you can’t see what it is that is wrong even though you know deep down it is wrong.”
“During those trances you were having Zane were you aware of anything? Is that how it felt?” Lloyd inquired. Zane thought it over before replying.
“I am not sure. Some I have no memory of and others the memories are foggy and feel more like a dream than a memory. That feeling though is there and when the Stag is near there is this feeling, his presence feels like an empty void and the cold he brings. I know cold but from him that is not a cold I recognise. I do not know what it is but it is far from comfortable,” Zane responded. Just the description of what the Stags presence was like gave the others chills and both Cole and Nya agreed with Zane on what the Stag felt like.
“And we have to confront this thing?!” Jay fretted starting to panic.
“We have to in order to save our world,” Lloyd pressed before saying after noting how disturbed the three looked and how Jay was starting to panic, “We’ve faced tough enemies before we can face the Stag and we’re not facing him alone.”
“We’ll face him together and we have others willing to stand with us against this threat,” Kai joined in. Their talking seemed to be working a bit on the others as they seemed more relaxed but they still looked shaken.
“Ninja never quite, we’ll show this thing that and we’ll teach him what happens when he messes with us,” Lloyd declared hoping to encourage the others. Kai was instantly with him but the others hesitated. Deep down even if they didn’t realise it they knew he was right. The feelings the Stag had left however were hard to get over and overpowered all other thoughts and feelings no matter how hard they tried to combat it.
“Come on guys the two of us can’t stand against this thing alone. United we stand, alone we fall,” Kai imputed after a moment of silence. The others were still discouraged.
“Come on guys,” Lloyd encouraged starting to get upset. If he couldn’t snap them out of this they would not be able to complete what they had set out to do. They would fail and their world would be destroyed. All they cared about and loved would be destroyed and they likely would either lose their lives or worse be slaves to these Asher beings and Dagon.
“We’re in this together; we have each other’s backs. Come on you’re not going to make me do this alone with Kai, you know that will only mean trouble,” Lloyd opted trying to lighten everyone’s mood.
“Hey, it’s not just me who can cause trouble. Are we forgetting who released a bunch of angry snakes from their prisons,” Kai objected understanding what Lloyd was trying to do.
“Okay I’ll accept that was me, at least I don’t talk to too much when we’re supposed to be quite,” Lloyd stated trying to get Jay to join them however Jay didn’t seem to click in with what he was trying to do.
“How come you always point out my flaws! At least I don’t break things we’re not supposed to while fighting,” Jay expressed and Cole knowing Jay was talking about him responded with, “hey sometimes you need to be destructive.”
“Like the other night in the bathroom? Did you have to hit the wall that hard? There’s a decent sized hole in it now!” Jay argued to which Cole defended himself saying, “Hey at least I got rid of that bug. Did you have to scream that loud about it? I’m pretty sure the folks across town could hear your screaming.”
“You do realise that ant was harmless, it was probably just looking for fresh water,” Zane noted to which Jay screamed, “didn’t you see the size of it?! It was almost as big as your fist! And why did it have those spikes if it’s harmless!”
“Do you boys have to argue now?” Nya noted to which Kai commented, “yha, save that energy for the Stag. We could make him regret tangling with us.”
“You know maybe we could just let Jay talk his ear off. He might just give us what we want so he can have some peace and quiet,” Lloyd joked to which Zane responded not understanding it was a joke,
“I do not think that would work. I am pretty sure he could simply silence Jay with his powers.”
“It was a joke Zane,” Lloyd commented and Kai expressed, “The Stag hasn’t taken your sense of humour has it?”
“No, I do not think he cares about that,” Zane responded after a few seconds of thinking it over.
“Come on guys, we’ll do this together. We’ll face the Stag, get what we need then teach him a lesson for challenging us,” Lloyd opted.
“Yha, you know the Stag doesn’t seem any worse than most of the other baddies we’ve faced. He seems to like to hide away in his mountain like a hermit and make others do his bidding. Maybe he is not as bad as he seems you know all bark and no bite,” Kai noted to which Zane was quick to respond with, “No he is something else. You have yet to fully feel his presence and power. If you had him control you or turn you into a monster you would not take him so lightly.”
“Yha if you felt what it is like to have him using you like a puppet you would not take him so lightly,” Cole noted. Lloyds tactic of trying to brighten their moods didn’t seem to be working, instead it was just making Jay more panicked and making the others less cooperative so Lloyd was opting to try something else.
“What is with you guys? Given all we have faced you can’t all of a sudden be giving up? We haven’t truly faced the Stag just been his puppets. Sure he makes you feel bad but so does a lot of other things. We’ve faced giant snakes, ghosts, and Oni we can face this Stag now come on we still have the day off. We will enjoy ourselves. This funk you’re in is just hurting yourselves and fuelling the Stag,” Lloyd commanded. They were silent for a moment before doing anything.
“Tafari did tell me the Stag feeds off negative energy,” Cole noted.
“Lloyds right we can’t let this thing get to us, a lot of people are counting on us; our friends and families, all those of our realm, the knights realm and this one” Nya expressed.
“That’s right, we will face him and show him what happens when he messes with us,” Kai proclaimed.
Notes:
The Kaiju they see on the trail is the same one that visited Lloyd during the trials, its watching them.
In the museum the weapon was reclaimed by its owner as it belonged to them and is a very valuable tool as it is made of a material that can harm demons. Even though the armor is important as well and they would want the armor back the armor was left to help instill and keep the fear of the Stags Samurai in people.
How Scimitar Oils calming ability on droids works (I imagine Jay and Nya inquire to one of the resident scholars about the stuff before using it after their first encounter with the Stag. They talk to the one who works on Mzark while he is fixing him from the Stags attack, Zane meanwhile hangs nearby out of sight listening also wanting to know but nervous of being seen near the people): the oil gets broken down in the droids synthetic stomach. When it passes through the synthetic intestines which absorbs various components of broken down organic and in-organic matter and send it to intestinal power converters which can convert the matter into the energy used by a droids power source providing excess and renewable energy its components get absorbed too. These intestinal power converters can either put the power directly into use or send it to the power source/battery for storage for later use. When the oils components are converted to electrical energy the scimitar oil develops a unique signature to the energy that causes it to get instantly used where in the droids brain this signature to the energy causes a numbing to emotional circuits and stimulates the codes responsible for calm and relaxed emotions to become active and keeps them active. The circuits remain active as long as energy from the oil is in use which generally lasts for around two to four hours after the last of the scimitar oils components have been absorbed and converted by the digestive system the timing for which is depended on the metabolism rate the droids system is set for. Energy use of course is depended on whether the droid is active which means the energy lasts a shorter time or in a relaxed state which lets it last longer. It doesn’t leave any lasting effects and won’t harm anything about them or change them in any way. I see it as a sort of calming medicine for droids.
If have any questions go ahead and ask I do not bite. I will try to answer them, I will however not give away spoilers.
Chapter 30: Shadow over Life
Summary:
Finally they enter the wastes but are they ready for what they must face?
Notes:
Pictures relating to story can be found here: https://www.deviantart.com/nerdy-hyena/gallery/72478681/story-project
They are really good and help to visually flush out several aspects of the story including environments, characters, outfits, locations, creatures and other aspects often important ones in the story. All images I post in my work can be found there if you want a better look at them. Defiantly make sure to check them out.Also if you need a refresher on creatures, flora or aspects of the environment you can check out the second chapter in this work titled 'Keikiarys Guide to the Ash Wastes'. It includes short descriptions and pictures of these things.
Parts of this section are subject to change as the prequel story is written to improve story continuity.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
The night before they were to leave Tafari demanded Lloyd come see her in her Dojo and that he came alone. He was nervous of going to see her, especially alone, but Cole gave him some advice. He had told the ninja about his interaction with her, he felt they should know more about her so they could better deal with her. He advised to not bring up anything to do with her cybernetics or past nor talk about robots or family; they were apparently very sensitive topics that caused her to snap. Lloyd tried to quietly enter the Dojo where he found Tafari had set up a table in the middle with a map overlooking the wastes. Her star stone sat atop it. She wore her grey gi and was sitting by her shrine facing the door meditating. It seemed despite how quietly he entered the room she somehow was aware he was there and opened her eyes to look at him. “You wished to see me?” Lloyd inquired trying to not reveal he was a little nervous of talking with her as he came up to the table in the middle of the room. Tafari got up and went over to the table. “As I promised I will be lending you my Star Stone,” she began picking the stone up and showing it to Lloyd, “I will teach you how it is used.” She tossed the stone at Lloyd who fumbled with it a bit as he caught it. Once it was in his hands it began giving off a slight dark bluish light which made Tafari huff in amusement.
“You don’t have to be afraid of me,” she proclaimed. Lloyd was confused.
“How’d you…” he began before she cut him off.
“Know you’re afraid, the dark light. The stone uses your energy to produce light. Your energy is affected by your emotions. Negative emotions produce dark light, positive ones bright light; the stronger the emotion the brighter or darker the light. You need to keep your emotions strong and stable to keep the light working,” Tafari explained, “why don’t you give it a try. Think of something that makes you happy. Something you like, someone you love, a memory… possibly of someone you love who is lost. A close family member you once looked up to and loved but have now lost maybe?” Lloyd was a little taken back by the last thing she said. Was she talking about his father? But how did she know anything about him. They never talked to her. Not wanting to show his suspicions he gave it a try anyway. He found it a little hard to focus hung up on what she said. How did she know something about him?
“You’re not doing very well are you?” she commented noting his failed attempt. It almost sounded like she was clearly aware she had said something that had a personal meaning to him.
“You know nothing about me yet what you said about memories sounded so specific…” Lloyd began.
“Don’t worry I meant no harm. I am aware of your friends’ dazed wanderings. During those states I was able to hack his systems through mine, look over memory data. The Stag doesn’t care if other forces hack into his minions. As long as they don’t try to take them from him or turn them on him you can hack them all you want. Don’t worry I wasn’t looking for anything incriminating or embarrassing and I wasn’t going to hurt you or your friends. I just wanted to know something,” Tafari started leaning on the table to look over the map.
“What did you want to know?” Lloyd inquired worried over what she had been looking for.
“I got a sense from you I have only felt from a few other beings. One is Sheoth, the Oni mad prince, the other is the Stag,” she stated glancing at him.
“Are you saying…” Lloyd started a little confused but after some thought he came to see what she was talking about and it horrified him.
“I wanted to know if my hunch was right and it was. You’re part Oni. Just like you I can sense Oni in the Stag but there is something else, something I cannot identify in him as well. Something that is not in you, something darker,” she declared pinning a little black flag on her map in the location of Holamaya and some things began to make sense to Lloyd. The Stags power, his cruel destructive nature they made sense for an Oni but some of his other traits, they didn’t match.
“So you think the Stag is…” he began till she cut him off, “is part Oni, indeed. Two things though do not make sense. That stone has no effect on Oni. It does not affect you and it does not bother Sheoth, a pure blooded Oni yet it affects the Stag. Secondly there is the Ashers. Ashers worship Oni and all matter of darkness and beings of the dark but they despise the Stag a being said to have been born of the voids darkness. They hate him as much as the people do. Odd cause even though Sheoth is an Oni that they don’t care for they don’t hate him they’re just indifferent.” They stood in silence for a few seconds.
“Do not fear you may share blood relations with Oni like the Stag but he is not like you. What you are he is not. He’s something else so don’t worry about the Stag meaning you could turn evil. You’re not like him. There is brightness and warmth to you I can sense it, there is no brightness in the Stag only darkness. Now why don’t you give it another go with the stone? Remember to think happy thoughts maybe of times spent with a beloved parent. Use it to fill your heart with warmth and light,” Tafari suggested standing up and looking at him out of the corner of her cybernetic eye. It sounded like she was trying to direct him on what to do. He cleared his mind and did as she instructed. This time he remained focused and watched as the stones light changed from its dark color to a lighter one and began to glow brighter. He was thrilled to see it working.
“Is the light all that’s needed to push the Stag out of someone?” Lloyd inquired happy to have succeeded.
“I have reason to believe so. It will take a rather bright light however to knock them out and the effect sadly is only temporary. The Stag will likely seek to retake your friend when you let your guard down. Remember when you face the Stag you have to show him you won’t back down. The Stag seems to feed off negative energies. Fear, isolation, loneliness, despondence, grief, sorrow, dread… whatever makes someone feel bad gives him strength,” Tafari explained looking at him.
“Do you think the Stag can be destroyed?” Lloyd wondered.
“Because no one knows exactly what he is there is no way to identify what could harm him or what could fell him. Truthfully I do not think he can truly ever be destroyed. Like the void that is believed to have birthed him he has and always will exist. He is as a part of the fabric of our world as light and dark. I can tell you this though despite what he has shown you and the bestial form he takes he is capable of having complex and civil conversations. He can also be bargained with however what he may bargain for likely will not be in your favour or to your liking. You likely won’t be able to defeat him but you will be able to converse with him. Hopefully he is willing to converse and come to an agreement,” Tafari explained.
“If he’s not…” Lloyd hesitated.
“Well then you’ll have to get creative. Maybe your metal friend could sneak in and retrieve what you need after all the Stag doesn’t care about folk like him though you would risk losing him to the Stag or maybe some of you could distract the Stag while the others search. One thing you have going for you if the legends are true then an enchantment protects the vault and it should keep the Stag out while you search,” she suggested. There was something Lloyd had been wondering ever since they arrived; something no one had made clear to them.
“If we do get there and we get in; what are we supposed to be looking for? No one’s clarified what this object we need is or looks like,” Lloyd faltered.
“I am not sure but I have a feeling you will know it when you see it,” Tafari offered, “now before you leave I have a warning for you. Being part Oni the Ashers might be attracted to you. Seeing as you are going against what they would want they will see you as a disgrace and likely try to eliminate you or they might see you and your friends’ powers and try to claim you for their use. You guys are entering dangerous territory. You and your friends might be strong and you have powers but you are no way a match for the Ashers. Don’t be foolish, don’t try to act brave. That’ll be the death of you, all of you. If the Ashers can’t turn you into one of their followers or a pawn they will destroy you. There is no reasoning with them. You cannot bargain with them or appease them. If they attack you don’t be foolish, do not stand and fight them, flee. It might sound strange but flee to the Stag. They will not follow you into the Stags lands. They fear the Stags powers and without an Oni on their side they will not dare challenge him on his turf and lucky for you Dagon is still in your world not here with those evil spawns. Good luck and may Whetu have mercy on your souls.”
The next day they prepared their land ship for the journey early so they could head out by sun rise allowing them to get a decent days travel through the wastes hoping to cut down the amount of time they would be in the wastes. They were all dreading the journey ahead but they had little choice and they all knew they couldn’t wait any longer. They didn’t know how much time they had left and from reports and what they had seen things were getting worse, much worse. Not only was there the effects of the plane meld which was disrupting environments and leading to people and other beings from various realms getting misplaced in the realms but the Necromancers and their Asher allies were getting worse in their attacks and wreaking havoc all over the place. They were opening these gates of their own design that acted like stable portals allowing monsters from dark realms and locations to enter the realm and join them in their attacks. The Ashers were also creating dark cyclonic storms that ravaged the environments of the regions they struck, corrupted and tortured those caught in the vicinity of the storm and spread dark diseases of their make to the area. Beings from people to beasts were mutated into monstrous husks of themselves by these storms and often set upon towns and villages to wreck havoc on the innocent. While they hadn’t seen much of these attacks yet around Balmora they had witnessed from some of the watch towers these storms in the distance. The clouded skies would turn a bright blood red and the area darkened and if close enough with a spyglass you could see red mists or fogs fill the area beneath the storm. These storms would persist for around 1–2 hours before dissipating and leaving an area largely ravaged by darkness and destruction with flora turning dull and fauna turned into monsters. Most areas were faring poorly to the gates and storms causing many to seek shelter in cities especially those with walls, in old forts and even walled ruins to escape the dangers. There were few safe places in any of the realms being affected.
A few days earlier the city guard had taken them as aid to a small local settlement to deal with one of these storms letting them get an up close glimpse of the damage the Ashers were doing. While the storm raged the Ashers with some of their devices attacked the town using the storm as a shield against any attempts to interfere with their attack. By the time the knights and ninja had gotten there it was too late to help the village as most of its people had succumbed to the Ashers storm and the town had received heavy damages. They could only save a few who had been lucky enough to get out of the storms reach before it got too bad. The storm was still raging and a large portal gate had been erected in the center of town. To help protect the town the knights and ninja aided the guard in taking down the portal and disrupting the storm by destroying the three dark and disturbing totems they had set up in the town as focal points for the magic creating the storm. It had been a tough job. As if battling the monsters that had come to inhabit the town and the corrupted beings in order to destroy the portal and the storm hadn’t been bad enough they had found that most of them were vulnerable to the effects of the storm so couldn’t enter its perimeter or even get close. The Ninja, Clay, Tafari and oddly Aaron had been the only ones immune to the storm. They guessed the ninjas powers, Clays magic and Tafari’s cybernetics or maybe the Dragons Blood Stone she had implanted by her heart had kept them safe. They had no clue why Aaron was immune till after the event. Prior to being called to the mission Aaron had gotten roped into a dare by some of the people from Ninjago and Knighton. They had recently arrived to the realm and were scared a drink some of the townsfolk had given them to try and cheer them up known as Balmora Blue, a common and famous party drink of the town which was made with Buttercake shrooms, Lunar Reeds, Lantern-pod and the symbiotic fungi of the Brightwood Cypress of the area added to a concoction of Kaguar milk and ice cream which could have various flavours with chocolate being one of the most common ones added to it. The drink was harmless though did lead the drinker to develop strange glowing blue markings over their body and a blue iridescence to the eyes for several hours which was what lead to the drinks name. These effects worked on all sorts of entities that drank it not just organic ones; droids, ghosts, stone beasts and even demonic creatures were also affected. One of the scholars had pranked all of the knights and ninja during one of their early days in the city with it. They had all taken it pretty well when they had learned it was harmless and the one who had pranked them had intended to cheer them up. Even Zane who they had thought would have been disturbed by it given his unease to the people here took it pretty well and wasn’t too bothered by the effects. Jay while he took it well had been unnerved by its effects. To show the people they were safe and could trust the people of the realm despite their bestial and sometimes scary looks he had some of this drink with them. Along with the markings and eye effect the drink had due to a chemical compound found in the Buttercake shrooms used to make it that acted like caffeine it had made Aaron a bit hyper which led to him being more fearless than usual. The strange glow and iridescence plus Aarons fearless behaviour scared and unnerved Jay. It turned out some of the ingredients of the drink such as the Lantern-pod and materials from the Brightwood Cypress helped combat the effects of the magic from the Ashers storm. Clay and Aaron had to join the ninja to take out the totems while Tafari stayed back with the others helping to keep the monsters from getting out of the town. It had not been easy and took quite a bit out of them but they had managed to succeed and thanks to Aaron they had given the guard some hope of how to combat and deal with these storms in the future.
As soon as they had heard the ship was ready they prepared to set out the very next day. They knew if they intended to fix things before it was too late they had to act as quickly as they could. They weren’t going to wait much longer. The sun was not even up yet as they began to pack things up in the ship the day after it was done. Most of them were not pleased with the timing instead wanting to sleep in.
“You can take a nap later when we’re on the move. Now it is important we get everything packed up and ready to go by sun up,” Clay had proclaimed to them all before they started. The ship they were to use was low hung with four sets of wheels designed for traversing the unstable and rough grounds of the wastes. It was called The Ash Strider. The command centre on the ship had a massive partial dome made from an impact resistant glass like material over it to let them see where they were going. The ship kind of reminded them of the land bounty. The lower sides of the ship were armour plated while the top was wooden made of wood from a tree in this world whose bark was as tough as steel. Since they were headed to Holamaya and it had been the Scholars Guild who had paid for the repairs to the ship they were given a few tasks by the scholars center as payment for their aid. They would need to make two stops in the wastes to check some equipment left out there and they were going to deliver some supplies for those staying at the Holamaya research center along with checking in on them. The ninja and knights worked together to load up the supplies they were going to deliver and need for their trip; Food, water, pieces for repairs, medical equipment, some digging tools and cleaning supplies, and clean bedding. The oddest thing they were made to pack were four Kagaurs. They were told should something go wrong and their ship was unable to get them back they could send some of them to ride the Kagaurs back to Balmora for aid to which Aaron and Axl joked if things got real bad they could eat the creatures before resorting to cannibalism. The joke just made the other knights roll their eyes but it creeped out Jay. Zane could see the logic in it and Cole wasn’t too bothered by the idea either but the rest found the joke a little uncomfortable. While working Ava and Robin managed to sneak Merlok in the mini-trex onto the ship and secured and connected him to the Striders main network so he could aid them in their journey. It took over an hour to get everything on board and set up. They were finished loading and left just as the sun was rising, the wastes seemed calm and the sky was partially clear leaving a red sky visible in some places. Some folks and guards watched them from the towers of the fence along with Fae, Tafari and Misako as they passed through the gates.
“Red sky at morning adventurers warning,” one of the guards standing on the same tower as Misako, Fae and Tafari stated not sounding very happy.
“Now that they are past the fence there is not much we can do,” Tafari expressed.
“They are in Whetu’s hands now,” Fae commented looking at the Shrine that marked an unfortunate battle where everyone had been buried by an ash storm. Various candles covered the top of it, all lit and offerings from the regular folk and serpent folk were left around it.
“You two I have a job for you, we need to find the secret passages those of the wastes have been using to get past the fence. It is best for the towns defences if we destroy these entrances so we will not be surprised. I’ll give you some documents to look over let’s see if we can find how the monsters of the wastes are getting into town,” Tafari addressed Fae and Misako.
On the ship the ninja stood with most of the knights on the ship’s deck surveying the landscape they were now entering. They were all feeling uneasy and dreading what they were going to face.
“Here we go. Sadly the Ash Strider is built for stability and defence not speed and the added armour to her hide now has slowed us down a bit so it will take some time to reach our destination. As long as we do not encounter an ash storm or any trouble it should only take two days, three at most,” Ava spoke through the PA system from the control centre where she and Robin were working with Merlok to drive and navigate the ship while also keeping an eye on its sensors to keep an eye out for danger.
“As an agreement for getting the parts we needed to fix the ship we have to make two stops for the Scholars department to collect data from some of their devices they have left out here. It shouldn’t take too long. Might as well kick back and enjoy the ride. First stop a place with a really disturbing name the Valley of Despair,” Robin added over the PA.
“Valley of Despair, that doesn’t sound pleasant,” Jay commented and the others were in agreement. Something about this land was unnerving them all but they could not tell what. Was it something in the air? The Ash? The plants? Or was it something they could not see, possibly stemming from the Red Tower? Lloyd remained staring back at the fence for a while worried about leaving his mother behind, alone. It was safer for her to stay behind and help the town guard than to come with them but he worried what that prophecy could mean for the town and what could happen to her should the prophecy come true. He had faith Tafari, Fae and Hassiri would keep her safe. He’d have to rely on that till they got back.
“Trust us it is probably one of the most depressing things you’ll see here,” Aaron expressed looking and sounding rather unhappy. None of the knights looked like they wanted to visit this place, as if just the thought of going there depressed them.
“We passed that place our first day here as they towed us to Balmora, let’s just say just the sight of it will disturb you,” Clay explained. As they travelled everything seemed calm, even the wind was mild but that brought no comfort. Despite being only partially cloudy the wastes seemed dark as if it was fully overcast. They could see the Sun but it was as if there was a thick haze in the sky dimming it and making the air unpleasant. There was a strong unpleasant and burning smell to the air that they not only disliked but made it hurt to breath. Even Zane was suffering from whatever was in the air. While resembling the ancient rugged and worn landscapes on the other side of the fence the landscapes on the wastes side felt and looked more heavily worn and damaged by the volcano and the environment it had created. Dunes of Ash lay atop a rocky landscape that had once been a patchwork of grasslands, forests and swamps. Many of these environments were still there but they were now heavily tainted by the volcanic activity. Many bodies of water showed signs their waters had been tainted causing them to boil, give off toxic gasses, possess the ability to turn anything that touched it and any plants whose roots tapped into its waters to stone or were highly acidic. In some areas that looked to have once been bogs sulphuric fields and swamps of chemically tainted waters now dominated; the conditions of the waters in the environment coating their shores and nearby foliage with a layer of sulphuric and other mineral deposits. Scattered greyed dark and worn forests were spread around the place along with stunted and twisted trees scattered through the open areas. The trees were mainly varieties of hardy conifers like cedars and redwoods, some broad leaves like maples and locusts and ancient looking species of broad leaved varieties like gingko with the occasional tree shrooms scattered about. Stands and individuals of various dead trees were also scattered about the place. The dead trees had parts of their bark scraped off by the wind and the ash had singed the wood beneath in some areas. Some dead trees looked petrified others were dripping with mosses and lichens or near sulphur pools were coated with sulphur and dripping with strange sulphur liking lichens. Mushrooms including the giant tree forms and bioluminescent species along with smaller plants and grasses grew over many areas managing to grow on the rocky terrain, in the sulphur fields, tainted bogs, worn forests and the ash dunes. Many of them were clustered close to the larger plants and shrooms and the various rocky elements of the region. Various rock structures carved by the elements dotted the landscape some forming pillars or spires, others archways, cliffs and even ravines in some areas. In a few places large cracks and seams crossed the ground often in valleys where tainted fogs and volcanic gasses seeped from the rifts. Fogs and mists some rather thick and others tainted by volcanic gasses turning them strange colors were scattered in low valleys, swampy regions and through some forests. On a few of the trees and tree shrooms vines, small plants and fungi grew while mosses or lichens coated many structures and flora in the region. Some of the mushrooms and plants had parts that emitted a small glow in low light levels attracting insects and birds to them along with a small bioluminescent relative of the Racers called the Min-min. Racers occasionally flew overhead likely looking for something to scavenge. Every now and then they would come across a single specimen or a small group of the various reptiles and giant insects or the strange retch creatures that were resilient enough to try and eke out a living here. Sometimes a bird sized hornet with glowing accent markings or a strange moth would come by to check them out where they tended to pester Zane attracted to the glow from his eyes. Zane kept trying to shoo them away from his face not liking them being so close to his eyes. Just like anywhere else they ever went the insects seemed to be attracted to the glow his eyes gave off especially in darker environments. There were plenty of bugs here likely drawn by the dying plant matter and fungi of the place. Every now and then bones of all shapes and sizes including some possibly coming from people unfortunate to get lost here and the empty exoskeletons of the wastes insects were eroding from the dunes or getting buried by them. Some of these remains even had the native flora growing on or out of them slowly encasing the remains and small to medium sized creatures seemed to be using the exoskeletons of the large beetles as shelter from the elements. In some places there were ruins of old farmsteads, forts and small settlements, watchtowers or outposts. Much of their structures were heavily damaged, coated in lichens or barely standing as they were getting buried by the blowing ash and the hardy flora of the region. Despite its harsh and unpleasant looks the sounds often strange of many of the regions fauna echoed through the region keeping away any silence and letting them know the place was still full of life. To the southeast of them the massive volcano loomed, its top a glow and smoke billowing from its top. Every once in a while a faint deep rumble could be heard from it or some ash would fall from the sky. Over there time there they had heard the volcano been called a few names. The Dragons Maw, the Red Tower, Red Mountain, Oni’s Heart, Bleeding Peak, Sahqo-Strunmah; No matter what it was called it was clear it loomed over the landscape casting an unnerving shadow here tainting everything with its dark energies. Something about the volcano didn’t feel right, they could all feel it.
“Don’t let the stillness fool you. This is a place where the calm is scarier than the active,” Macy expressed at one point. For their journey to this valley they all remained on the deck to see what this alien place looked like. The environment they were passing through was both intriguing yet at the same time unnerving to look at. They reached their first stop by noon. Overall the day was cool but not cold with only a mild wind. The sky had become overcast by this time and they had put out some lanterns to offer some extra light if anyone needed it and to try and brighten up the dreary feel of the place. When they got to this valley it was highly evident how this place got its name.
A series of canyon like valleys cut through an uplifted area. A yellowish haze hung in the valley where bones and bodies of all sorts of creatures lay scatteed; all were dead. Some were being buried in the ash, some looked mummified and others were fresh. They stopped by the entrance to the valley. Three abandoned and partially ruined stone buildings, likely a failed attempt to set up a research station, sat by the valleys entrance. Other than the flora there was no signs of life, not even flies, nearby. Plenty of worn foliage was growing in the surrounding area largely twisted and warped Bristlecone pines and shrooms. In the valley itself dead or some resilient little plants, lichens and fungi were managing to grow though not many looked too healthy. The place was mainly just ash and rock sitting in a yellowish light fog which was thickest by the ground. In a few places what looked like cracks in the earth sat seeming to emit some of the yellowish haze from within them.
“Ninja say hello to the Valley of Despair also sometimes called The Corridors of Death,” Clay proclaimed as they stopped in front of the valley, the ship parked with its right side facing the valley so they could all get a good look at it. The sight of the valley was disturbing to them.
“This place looks like some nightmarish version of a graveyard,” Cole commented feeling unnerved while Nya expressed as a breeze coming from the valley brought a horrid smell with it, “there’s something not right here.” The smell was a mix of sulphur and decay. It was making all of them feel sick, even Zane admitted to not feeling well from the smell.
“They say not even the most resilient scavengers will feed here,” Axl commented feeling disturbed.
“Volcanic gasses are seeping out of the soils here; Toxic gasses. Anything that needs oxygen perishes. The gasses hang close to the ground reaching about two meters into the air and suffocate anything that enters. Only animals that can fly above the toxic layer or are tall enough can escape its effects,” Clay explained to which Aaron added, “If they don’t fly low, land or put their heads low enough to enter the gas layer that is.” Neither of them were happy about being back near this terrible place.
“Once you fall down in there you never get back up. The folk who helped us get to Balmora told us horror stories from the people who work out here about this place,” Lance noted feeling unsettled and Jay inquired not entirely sure he wanted to know the answer, “what kind of horror stories?”
“People and beasts foolish enough to seek shelter from storms in the valley never returning,” Axl stated on edge and Aaron added nervous, “they also said folk passing by here often see shadows moving through the fog and hear faint voices in the wind or even see the dead moving!”
“That’s just superstition though right,” Cole wondered unnerved.
“You’d think but when you see the horror on peoples faces when they talk of it and you see this place it's hard to brush it off as mere superstitions,” Macy expressed on edge.
“To make things worse there are bits of radiation coming from something in there so not even robots can get too deep in the canyons, their inner workings get fried by the radiation stopping them permanently. That same radiation also messes with navigational equipment. Often folks and even droids lost out here will wander into the valley without knowing it during storms or at night, being led astray by malfunctioning equipment,” Clay added.
“We’re not going in there are we?” Kai worried.
“No we can remotely download what we need from here. It will take about twenty minutes though,” Robin came over the PA to explain. The two were listening in with Merlok from the control center.
“We should remain on guard the wind can carry that gas over here and if we do not get inside we will be in trouble. The ship has built in sensors that will set off alarms if the gas starts to approach this direction. If we hear the alarms we should not hesitate to get inside,” Zane noted.
“Keep an eye out for any movement in the valley as well. Apparently Ashers are unaffected by the gasses and could ambush us when we least expect it from the valley,” Clay explained disturbed as he surveyed the valley for possible dangers.
“How are they not affected by the gasses?” Lloyd inquired not liking the sounds of this fact.
“Not sure some say it has to do with their dark powers others say it is because they’re truly not living anymore but something else,” Aaron revealed unsettled by the thought. As they looked over the landscape they could see possibly all the creatures the guides they had been given were found there plus more. Some were on their own like a large Fear which looked to have been sitting there for decades, plants growing from its dried hide in some spots, and an Ash Walker whose hide had mummified revealing it too had been here for quite some time. Others were in groups like a herd of Retch, some of the large scarab beetles known as Boernix, a flock of racers and some Venom-fangs. Creatures of all sizes from as small as rats and insects to those as massive as the Fear and Ash Walkers had fallen victim to this natural trap. Some of the bones scattered in the place looked to have once belonged to people and the serpent folk of this world. There was even a few robots, mainly Robo-Bills and some Hyenoids that looked like the ones the necromancers were using, had fallen to the place and were rusting or being buried by ash. Some creatures they could not identify, either they did not know what they were or they were simply bones now, and some of the fresh ones were creatures they recognized having came from Ninjago or Knighton! If there was a tear to their worlds in that valley anything that wandered through it or near it was doomed. They could only hope there wasn’t any tears there and these creatures had unfortunately stumbled across the valley while wandering the wastes probably looking to get home. They waited on edge for around 25 minutes before they set off again. The distant rumbling of the volcano, soft breezes and echoed calls of distant wildlife kept away any silence that would have made things eerier than they already were. Luckily the wind was mild and didn’t blow any of the gas in their direction, just the horrid smells from the valley. Every now and then one of them would think they saw movement, dark shadows moving through the mist, or heard whispers coming from in the valley but nothing ever came of it so they brushed them off as just being tricks of this horrid landscape. Robin came over the PA as they were leaving startling all of them as they had all been on edge keeping watch over the valley.
“We have some bad news, looks like an Ash Storm is building up to the southwest, going to be a real doozy for anything in the open,” Robin noted and Ava added, “The computer estimates it will start blowing through in a few hours. We’re going to push the engines and try to reach the Swamp of Delapitation before then. We can try to use the ruins to shelter from the worst of the storm.”
“Let’s hope it’s just a storm,” Clay postulated worried.
“What do you mean by that?” Kai wondered not liking what Clay could mean.
“Apparently these Ashers sometimes use or even create the storms so they can attack in secret,” Lloyd explained and Lance added while on his phone, “I guess they don’t care about their complexion, this ash is terrible for your skin.”
“Let’s try not to worry about it, not much we can do until it happens out here,” Macy noted and Nya added, “we might as well enjoy the somewhat fresh air and whatever suns out here while we can. When the Storm hits we’ll have to remain below deck and re-filter air. If we don’t close all vents or entrances the ash could enter the ship and we’d have problems. It isn’t good for the ships parts or our health.”
“One thing we could do while we wait is prep the deck for the storm,” Clay noted looking over the seats and lights they had put out along with the various hatches for windows and doors that needed closing.
“I guess we could do that, would make less work for when the storm does hit,” Lloyd agreed.
“I think I’ve had enough of the ash and foul air out here, I’m going below deck to see what kind of video games this thing came with,” Lance stated starting to head below deck and Clay followed him trying to order him to help out first. Macy followed starting to prep the deck for the storm by carrying some of the chairs below deck leaving Axl and Aaron with the ninja.
“Hopefully we don’t have to dig the wheels out,” Axl stated.
“Yha apparently the last time this ship got caught in an ash storm it took four hours for the Knights of the Prong to dig the wheels out. They say it probably would have taken longer if those Boernix hadn’t sought shelter by the Strider. They helped remove some of the ash as they left after the storm,” Aaron expressed.
“We will help with whatever needs to be done,” Lloyd offered.
“So will we but an ash storm is the least of what we could face out here,” Axl noted and Jay wondered not liking the sound of the knights words, “what do you mean?”
“Even if we don’t face Ashers we could get stranded out here,” Axl noted and Nya added, “The ship could break down or get buried by ash. Then it can take some time to get aid out here. It’s not like they can send another ship to get us. There are few ships that can traverse these lands and it’s highly advised you don’t travel on foot out here.”
“Yha didn’t you here all those stories in town,” Kai express and Cole added, “People who got lost or trapped out here even for just a few days went nuts and never recovered.”
“Yha surviving here ain’t like anywhere else. Even if you can find food, water and shelter it’s easy to be driven mad out here even without the threats from the Stag and Ashers. It’s the very land itself they say, it messes with your mind,” Aaron testified.
“That’s why I bought this book,” Jay noted holding up a book he’d got in the market place in Balmora, “Surviving the Ash Wastes: a guide to staying safe and sane in the wastes’, “If we run into trouble I’ll be prepared.” Jay then went and sat on a chair by a table that held a lantern to read the book.
“I don’t need a survival guide whatever happens I’m just going to chill with it,” Aaron expressed.
“Are you crazy or something?” Kai asked; he was not very amused with Aaron’s crazy view of things. He often seemed too relaxed with things no matter how dangerous they were and often seemed to like putting himself in the way of danger. He felt some of Aarons behaviour made some of Zane’s odd behaviour seem normal and Kai was surprised to find himself agree with Jay that Aaron was not entirely right in the head.
“Somewhat,” Axl acknowledged and Aaron explained, “I don’t let things bother me too much and just go with the flow. You can’t control everything in life so why worry about what you can’t control. Worrying just wastes time and makes things worse. Besides broken bones, cuts and pain are temporary; you worry about those and you’ll miss out on a lot of great and cool things. I’d rather enjoy my life, live life to the fullest, than waste it worrying about its troubles or end.”
“That’s not really that crazy,” Cole commented.
“I do see the sense in that view,” Zane expressed while Lloyd noticed a rather large millipede, it had to have been at least a meter long, had crawled aboard and was on the deck. It crawled towards Jay who was unaware it was coming towards him. Even when it started climbing up his leg Jay was unaware it was there, too occupied with the book. The others noticed it too but before anyone could say anything Aaron and Axl silenced them.
“No just watch. Those things are harmless,” Aaron explained and Axl added, “This is going to be funny.” Over there time together the two had taken a liking to messing around and pranking Jay amused by how he reacted when scared or on edge. It wasn’t till the bug crawled atop and over the book he was reading did Jay became aware of its presence and freaked out throwing the book and millipede on the deck in front of him and falling out of the chair.
“What in Ninjago is that!” Jay screamed as he fell and Aaron and Axl laughed at him. The others couldn’t help but join in. It was rather amusing seeing Jays reaction to it.
“It touched me! It touched me! Why didn’t anyone tell me that thing was crawling on me!? It didn’t bite me did it I don’t want to get Blight!” Jay began yelling drawing Clay, Macy and Lance out to see what was going on.
“It’s just an Ashapede, a large millipede, they’re harmless! Besides you’d clearly know a blighted animal when you see it and this one isn’t Blighted,” Clay explained picking the bug up and throwing it overboard not amused by them goofing off.
“Still all those legs and look at the size of it!” Jay expressed. When the bug was gone he picked up his book.
“I’m going inside, I’ve seen enough of the wastes today,” Jay shuddered hurrying into the ship with his book in hand.
“I think it best if we all go inside, ash storms can be very unpredictable and can strike sooner than predicted,” Clay advised un-amused to which Aaron expressed, “Oh come lighten up bro. We’re just trying to lighten the mood a bit.”
“Now’s not the time guys. This is a very serious mission. A lot is at stake here,” Macy criticized.
“We know, we can still have some fun though right. Besides it’s not like anyone’s getting hurt,” Kai chimed in.
“I guess but we should prepare for the storm then you can goof off,” Clay agreed. They all helped prep the ship for the storm. Closing and locking hatches and grabbing any of the remaining items that were on deck to help carry them in. As he helped out for a reason he could not explain Cole found his attention drawn to the volcano. He stood staring at it almost mesmerized with a sudden overwhelming feeling that something was wrong but he couldn’t tell what. Lloyd calling to see if he was coming caught his attention and snapped him out of it to look back at Lloyd, the wrong feeling suddenly vanishing as he looked away. Lloyd stood by the entrance to below deck. Zane stood with him. It looked like Zane was mesmerized by the volcano as well by the way he was staring at it slightly swaying on his feet as he stared almost like he was in a trance.
“Yha, hey Zane you okay,” he replied shaking the feeling from his head while walking over to them. It took a second before Zane replied taking his eyes off the volcano.
“I cannot identify why but I get this feeling there is something unnatural out there, in the wastes. Something dark and unpleasant,” Zane replied looking a little worried and Cole agreed, “I know what you mean. That feelings far worse here than in the town, makes your hair stand on end and your skin crawl.”
“I get what you mean. I can feel it too, I don’t know who wouldn’t. It probably has to do with that volcano. Fae told me Ashers perform dark rituals around it and in it and they created a stronghold for the Oni at its base long ago. I’m betting the dark energies from all that have tainted the volcano and its ash cursing everywhere it touches. That’s probably what we’re feeling,” Lloyd imparted before they all head in.
Notes:
While writing the part where they are traversing through the wastes I listened to the song In Church (Cyann and Ben version) which I had first heard in the movie Stranger than Fiction. I've always felt the song would be very fitting when played over scenes of a severely damaged or apocalyptic like landscape and listening to it helped me get the feel for what it would be like to go through the Ash Wastes a dark volcanically altered and devastated landscape filled with death, decay and nightmares. I think any reader should try reading through this part at least once while listening to the song, the music can really enhance a scene. It really helps gives you a feel for the scenes the knights and ninja are going through. If you don't have the song you can listen to it fully here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qh7DFgxFfpM
If have any questions go ahead and ask I do not bite. I will try to answer them, I will however not give away spoilers.
Chapter 31: Ambush
Summary:
The titles pretty self explanatory; they thought they could escape the attentions of the daemons but they were wrong. Warning plenty of intense action ahead.
Notes:
Pictures relating to story can be found here: https://www.deviantart.com/nerdy-hyena/gallery/72478681/story-project
They are really good and help to visually flush out several aspects of the story including environments, characters, outfits, locations, creatures and other aspects often important ones in the story. All images I post in my work can be found there if you want a better look at them. Defiantly make sure to check them out.Also if you need a refresher on creatures, flora or aspects of the environment you can check out the second chapter in this work titled 'Keikiarys Guide to the Ash Wastes'. It includes short descriptions and pictures of these things.
Parts of this section are subject to change as the prequel story is written to improve story continuity.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Within an hour of getting below deck the ash storm blew in. It was like a grey blizzard. They had closed all vents and access to the outside and strongly locked them. They hung out in the control center for the journey trying to keep an eye out for dangers. It was nearly impossible to visually see anything outside making them rely entirely on the ships sensors for navigation. Everyone was on edge for the travel, some more than others. Jay by far was the most spooked but even nearly fearless Aaron was on edge and jumpy from the storm. Anything could be hiding the storm and they didn’t like the possibilities. They managed to make it to the Swamp of Delapitation by sundown and stopped for the night. The so called swamp was actually the ruins of a village that sat on a lake shore. What had once been a bustling village was now an overgrown and partially buried ruin. The lower regions had become an ashy swamp as they sank into the swampy and murky shores of the lake and the highlands were being claimed by the ashen dunes and forests of the wastes. They parked the strider on some of the middle grounds by what looked to have once been a central area of the town using the ruins of a large three to four story structure what they guessed was possibly some sort of temple or housing row to try and escape the worst of the storm. Even though they were inside they could hear the muffled sound of the wind whipping outside and once in a while what sounded like a rock banging on the metal armour of the vehicles hull could be heard. According to the knights they were safe inside though this didn’t seem to help calm Jay down as he remained on the edge of having a panic attack the whole time.
The two groups both helped make dinner and clean up after it everyone on edge the whole time worried for a possible ambush. After dinner they all sat around the dining table which was located in a rather spacious room to chat and try to relax. While a main table had been set up in the room it was not large enough for everyone to sit at. They had put up a small secondary table which they had put bean bags from the recreational room around. Nya, Jay and Lloyd sat at this little table along with Ava and Robin while the rest sat at the main table. They had put the Star Stone on the middle of the big table and had hooked up a tablet and propped it up with the help of some books on the table for Merlok to join them. Over their time in Balmora they had gotten to know each other a bit but had been too busy prepping for what they were to face and trying to gain the towns trust to really just hang out much. The ninja had decided to take this down time to learn some more about the Knights and the knights decided to take this time to learn more about the ninja. They had been talking for a couple hours and it was starting to get late.
“So your part Oni and part Dragon,” Macy stated surprised to Lloyd.
“Wicked bro,” Aaron expressed and Clay noted, “You guys have really been through a lot.”
“Yha, it’s like troubles attracted to us or something,” Jay expressed and Cole expressed, “I guess that comes with being the protectors for your realm.”
“True to that, threats seem attracted to us as well,” Aaron expressed.
“It would be nice if the bad guys could take a break for once,” Lance butt in while looking at social media on a tablet.
“How many times do we have to tell you to put that thing away?” Clay scolded Lance who complained back pointing at Ava who was working on a tablet, “you let her use one.”
“I am not perusing social media but doing actual work,” she noted as Robin looked over her shoulder.
“What are you working on?” Jay wondered trying to see what was on the tablet.
“Just keeping an eye on the striders surveillance systems,” Ava noted and Merlok added, “with the threats facing us all out here we must remain alert for the slightest hint of danger. These Ashers could strike at any moment.”
“Yha don’t want to get surprised out here. Surprises in the wastes can be very unpleasant though sometimes funny. While fixing the Strider we got a surprise. It was rather humorous,” Robin noted, “We had an issue with a racer. A baby racer was hiding in one of the broken pipes below deck and burst out when we removed the pipe. It stung several workers before it was subdued. It was rather hilarious to see about 20 grown people chasing the little thing which looked like a winged puffball as it flew around and stung them. Luckily their venom is not as strong as the adults so it doesn’t last as long and isn’t lethal.”
“Animal surprises are not really what we need to worry about. It’s the unpleasant monster surprises I worry about. We definitely don’t want to be surprised by those Ashers,” Cole noted and Jay worried, “what about the Stag?”
“I am not sure how exactly we can identify his presence. The energies from the volcano mask everything else with similar dark energies like this Stag,” Merlok noted and Ava added, “we got lucky for the Ashers. Both these Knights of the Prong and Dragon Guard had developed sensors just for picking them up but had not figured out how to pick up the Stag. Unlike them the Stags energies of emptiness make it hard for things to pick him up. To sensors it’s like he doesn’t exist.”
“Maybe Zane knows something, the Stag really likes trying to control him,” Axl noted as they looked at Zane who was uncomfortable with all the attention and being singled out as the Stags favourite.
“I am unsure. Something in these lands has been messing with my senses and it has just gotten worse since we passed the fence. I do know when the Stag is near I can sometimes detect what appears to be an empty void in the vicinity. I do not pick it up all the time and since the incident with the Scimitar Samurai I have not sensed or felt his presence,” Zane confided.
“I wonder why?” Nya wondered and Macy hypothesized, “Maybe he thinks you’re coming to join him so is waiting for you to enter his city.”
“Zane would never do that right Zane?” Kai expressed and Jay added, “at least not normally. If under the influence of something dark and sinister yha he could.”
“So could anyone of us. Maybe our courage to enter his territory and challenge him on his own grounds has scared him,” Lloyd expressed noting how they were talking of him was upsetting Zane.
“I don’t know, I don’t think that thing feels fear, or anything. Just emptiness and darkness,” Cole noted the mention of the Stag bringing hints of what it felt like to be under that things control to his mind and Aaron encouraged, “try to think positively dude. Thinking like that’s just going to bring you down man.”
“Speaking of threats we were told these monsters called Oni used to live in the Volcano. Does anyone know if they’re still there and if they pose a threat?” Clay wondered.
“Technically they were in a stronghold at its base not in the volcano itself. According to the data I was given no other Oni except Sheoth the mad prince are believed to remain in this realm. It is the general consensus given the data available that no other pure blooded Oni exists in this realm anymore,” Zane regaled and Merlok added, “All but this Tribunal of theirs are believed to have left long ago towards the end of their mythic era, no one knows exactly why and the other members of the Tribunal are no longer here. I would not worry about this Sheoth. From what I could uncover he would not cause trouble for us if anything he would rather help in our endeavour. This realm after all is his home and while not fully good he is not truly evil either. He is more of a neutral entity.”
“That’s good, one less thing to try and attack us here right?” Kai proclaimed.
“Could we maybe talk of something else; something other than the monsters that wish to tear us apart! Something lighter like that Star stone,” Jay mumbled growing unnerved by the thought of the Ashers or Stag attacking them and the storm outside.
“Well that is a considerable piece of Star Stone. Apparently they’re largely found as smaller more amulet sized objects,” Ava commented.
“Did Tafari say how she got it?” Macy inquired.
“She said a Scimitar Samurai gave it to her family long ago. I think she said his name was Nerevar,” Cole explained.
“That hyenoid we met in the bar Divayth, he made a comment about Nerevar,” Zane added and Merlok regaled, “Nerevar you say? From what I could find on this realm this Nerevar is an ancient figure in this realms mythology, a great warrior and king to the scimitar folk and the first champion of this Whetu. He lived long ago before these reptilian wars, before the Red Tower blew, older than even ancient times, just at the end of the times of myth. So far back in time this was that his people had not even discovered the robotics they later became famous for. They only made simple machines and mechs then. This Nerevar was said to have been asked by the Dragon Master himself to take a force to try and wipe out the Ashers at their own stronghold. He brought together a mighty army combining folk from far and wide even from other realms but his forces were out matched and unprepared for what they were to face and failed. It is said they underestimated what they were up against. Not only did they have to face the Ashers but many of these denizens they label here as daemons including quite a few Oni. Only one soldier from his army managed to survive. When he reached civilization he told of how the Ashers had destroyed them and sacrificed Nerevar in the volcano for their Oni masters and turning any who survived the battle into Ash Slaves. This soldier passed soon afterwards from the Blight, the first recorded case of it.”
“They should have called this place the cursed realm. Seems every time something can go wrong here it does then it gets worse,” Jay expressed and Kai remarked, “like some of your jokes.” Jay took offense to that.
“Not that the history lesson isn’t fun but it’s getting late and I need my beauty rest. You know how to use that stone right?” Lance asked.
“Yha why?” Lloyd pondered.
“We’re a lot closer to Holamaya now, the Stags influence will be a lot stronger now than it was in Balmora,” Aaron addressed.
“Yha and no offence but I don’t want your friend to mess up my hair or face while I’m sleeping,” Lance remarked, “It takes a lot of work to look this good.”
“He’s not going to do that, right Zane?” Kai maintained and Aaron added, “It’s not just him whose susceptible dude. We all are. The Stag has shown to us he will take over humans if he feels like it and I think only Merlok is strong enough to fight the Stags influence. The rest of us could easily become his puppets.”
“Aaron’s right he could take any of us,” Cole agreed.
“As if things here couldn’t get any more unpleasant, now we could become puppets for a daemon deer. For those wanting to know what kind of unpleasantness we are to face tomorrow where’s the last place we have to stop? What colourful name does it have? The plains of regret, dunes of depression or some other morbid or depressing name,” Jay joked.
“Actually it’s called the Springs of Hope,” Ava stated.
“It can be a wonderful place just depends on what critters show up,” Aaron noted and Zane expanded, “it is a glacial fed lake by the base of the Mountain of Dawn the mountain Holamaya is built into. The fresh water attracts many animals from the surrounding area providing them a clean non volcanic polluted source of water. As a popular watering hole many animals routinely congregate by its shores in relative peace.”
“Sounds like an interesting place,” Lloyd noted before Lance commented getting up and starting to head out, “well it’s late so I’m headed for bed. Gotta get that beauty rest.”
“Your right it is getting late, we should probably all head to bed. We might have a busy day tomorrow. I’m not being mean to you Zane but I’d recommend we close our doors while we sleep for safety reasons just in case something gets on this ship during the night,” Clay began and Jay butt in to say, “like another of those centipedes.”
“That was actually a millipede not a centipede…” Zane began to explain before Jay cut him off to state, “I don’t care about the difference. It was big and had too many legs!”
“I’d agree with the closed doors, the last thing we need is to be ambushed by something out here. Hopefully nothing happens we’re going to need the rest for tomorrow. We probably will have to face this Stag when we try to enter his city,” Lloyd agreed and Nya noted, “plus we have to make that stop for the scholars’ center by these springs.”
“Now that we know what we’re in for I’d say it’s time for bed,” Kai expressed. They all agreed. The repair crews had set four rooms in the strider up for them to use as bedrooms. Each had two bunk beds built into the walls, one set on each side of the room, and had an attached bathroom with a toilet, sink and shower separated in a little closet sized room. Lance demanded he have one room for himself so that left three for everyone else. Nya, Macy, Ava and Robin shared one of the rooms. Cole, Zane, Jay and Kai were sharing one room while Lloyd shared with Aaron, Axl and Clay. The sound of the storm raging outside and the occasional bang from something hitting the side of the ship made it a little hard for them to fall asleep. They were all worried the Ashers might try to do something while their guard was down but eventually they all fell asleep.
By morning the storm had stopped allowing them to see the ruins of the village they were parked in. It was still rather dark as clouds and a dark haze filled the sky but the ash had at least stopped blowing. When they went to bed they had closed the doors but when they woke they found their doors wide open. The furniture in the dining room and common room had been oddly stacked and the Kagaurs were not in their pens luckily though they had at least not been let out of their section of the ship; other than that not much seemed out of place or wrong and there was no evidence anyone or anything had broken in. When they had woken up they noted it felt oddly chilly in the ship and though it was still late winter/early spring it didn’t make much sense to them as they had left the heat on in the ship and it was still on when they had gotten up. The knights were confused over the strange chill. The ninja on the other hand were not so confused but more of worried. Kai, Cole and Jay had awoken to the cold and found Zane seemed to be having a very unpleasant dream and was unresponsive to them having oddly seemed to have lost some control of his powers while he was in this state. Their room was the coldest on the ship and the frame and bedding of the bed Zane slept on had patches of ice on them while frost had gathered on the floor next to the bed. Afraid he might hurt someone or himself or spook the knights who were confused and a bit worried over what was happening they along with Nya and Lloyd tried to wake him up.
When they finally got him awake Zane was greatly disturbed. He had dreamt that he was lying dead, fully having the Blight, in a dark room on a stone table. Red Paper lanterns hung on the walls indicating the rooms’ large size but despite looking to give off light the only light in the room was focused on him. The ground was a stone floor but he could not see what the rest of the room was made of. A deep voice spoke to him as the stag headed man he had seen in a dream before strode up to him from the darkness the silver hyena with glowing lavender eyes at his one side. He got a clearer view of the Stag than he had gotten in previous dreams and it was disturbing. He was large around seven to eight feet tall and well muscled. His skin was void black with faint lighter deer like spotting to his back, sides, neck, shoulders and thighs and while his head and neck were furred like the elk it resembled his body while hairy did not have a furred coat. His eyes glowed an unnerving icy aquamarine color and while his head closely resembled an elks his muzzle looked more like a wolfs than a deers. The Stag man had a spear in his one hand and all he wore was what looked like worn and highly tattered pants. Even though he recognised the voice as that of the Stag the Stag mans mouth did not move and the voice seemed to come from everywhere instead of from the figure. The voice told him ‘Poor animal. You struggle and fight, and understand nothing. Only I can deliver you from your curse and save the realms.’ The stag headed man then reached out and touched him. The moment the figure touched him the Blight vanished from him and Zane slowly felt life comeback to his body before he sat up alive. He remembered looking at the stag headed man and noticed around his neck he wore a necklace with a large distinct red diamond held in a golden clasp or base. The Stag man then beckoned him to go ahead into the shadows before him as the voice stated ‘come join me and I can spare you the darkness that consumes you stealing the life and light from your body.’ Though he felt it would be wrong to do so Zane had felt a strong pull to enter the shadows and follow this Stag figure who eerily made him feel safe. He was hesitating on entering the shadows trying to resist the great pull to enter when he heard the others calling him and he awoke.0
Zane had never really talked about it but his experience with death after his fight with the overlord had left him with a deep fear of dying and death which he often tried to hide or ignore. He had long been able to hide it but something about that dream had felt so real and so terrifying that he could not hide his fear. It had disturbed him so badly he felt he could not hide it anymore and needed to say something to help keep his emotions in control. He struggled a bit to confide with the others but when he finally opened up about this to them they were all pretty sure they knew what his dream had meant. It was the Stag messing with him trying to sway Zane into joining him, scaring him into thinking the Stag was the only one who could keep him safe. The Stag was still trying to get him and they felt if he had done as the Stag headed figure wanted and walked into the shadows then maybe the Stag would have gained full control of him and they would have been in trouble. They praised Zane for resisting the Stags pull and promised they would help him keep the Stag away and keep him safe though they were not too sure how yet they were going to do it.
They were lucky that the storm had not piled up too much ash by the Striders base so they did not have to dig it out and were quickly on their way. They stayed above deck keeping an eye out for any signs of trouble. They were relieved the Ashers had left them alone at night but worried what the Ashers had planned for them and when were they going to make their move.
The day was overcast and it looked like rain was on its way. Even though the sun was probably up behind the clouds it was dark in the wastes making it look like it was late evening and not day time. It took till shortly after 11 in the morning for them to get to their destination. Unease over what they might face and the dreary conditions had given everyone lowered moods. The glows given off by some of the shrooms and the Min-min creatures which were following the ship to feast on any bugs it stirred up were at least pleasant to look at and added some interesting and beautiful looks to the sad environment. The bugs that had come to pester them all not long after they had set out however were a nuisance to everyone especially to Zane as they were drawn to the glow from his eyes so kept getting uncomfortably close to his face.
“They seem to really like you, I think they’re attracted to your eyes,” Axl commented to Zane at one point while Zane tried to shoo some flies away. The ninja and knights just stood around together annoyed by the biting insects that were pestering them.
“Yha he knows but there’s not much he can do about it,” Nya commented swatting at some flies while Zane gagged on a fly as he ended up swallowing another one in his attempts to shoo them away.
“How many have you eaten today?” Cole inquired grossed out about the thought of eating live insects while he tried to shoo some away as well hitting one that landed on his arm and bit him.
“So far nine, yesterday it was 29. So far it has been eight moths, nine beetles, seven flies, seven torchbugs, four mosquitoes, one cicada and I think one was a small dragonfly; probably going to be more by the end of the day. Accidently swallowing them is not a pleasant feeling especially while they’re still alive,” Zane acknowledged not pleased about it.
“It’s kinda gross that you’re keeping record of what they are,” Kai commented hitting a fly that was biting his arm and Aaron chimed in, “well at least he knows what they were. Hey do you think the torchbugs would make your insides glow? Actually I probably wouldn’t want to know that, it be both weird and gross.”
“At least none of them have screwed up your voice this time,” Jay joked from where he sat next to a lantern trying to read his survival book but spending more time hitting away insects with it than reading it, “why are bugs attracted to lights!?” The bugs were bothering everyone but they were swarming Jay the most because of the lantern he sat next to; the brightest source of light on the deck.
“Don’t know but we should be thankful we don’t have to enter these Bogs of Pestilence here. There’s apparently mosquitoes known as Kotovas as big as hummingbirds there,” Clay noted and Aaron expressed, “that is definitely not rad.”
“I should warn everyone, we’re approaching the Springs of Hope which is on the edges of the Stags territory,” Macy noted and Lloyd began, “Since this is an oasis in the wastes there is likely to be plenty of wildlife hanging around. Beings the Stag could use to attack us. We should be on our guard…” He was cut off by Jay screaming. A strange half reptile half moth looking creature had landed on Jays back to snap at insects.
“What is that? Is it going to bite me?! How many legs does it have?” Jay panicked unable to see what the creature was. A few others came flying in to snap up the bugs.
“No they’re harmless,” Macy stated with a chuckle at Jays over reaction before picking the creature off Jay and placing it in his hands to show him what it was.
“I guess they’re kind of cute,” Jay commented admiring the little creature.
“They are Ancestor Wings. Pint sized relatives to Racers. They feed on insects,” Zane explained.
“Fae told me of these little things. Most places in this realm see them as a good sign. They are said to be one of the few beings able to pass from any realm to the Departed Realm with ease. Something not even dragons can do. There are ancient beliefs that the ancestors can speak from the Departed Realm through them. To comfort loved ones or relay messages. They are quite tame and docile little things because many places give them free food and safe shelters often because of these beliefs,” Lloyd explained as one of the Ancestor Wings landed on his head and he picked it off to let it rest on his one arm so he could stroke it.
“They’re quite soft looking,” Cole commented as one climbed up his arm noting the thick fuzzy coat covering their bodies, and Zane was intrigued by one that came to rest on his arm which Nya and him were able to pet. They were soft and rather tame for a wild animal. The little creatures kept flitting from each of them coming to rest on them and look around for a few seconds before flapping off to someone else snapping insects up along the way.
“These little things are cool,” Aaron noted and Axl added, “it’s nice that their keeping the bugs away.”
“These little creatures aside we should be on guard. The Stag could attack us here and even if he doesn’t then the Ashers will. They won’t try and follow us into the Stags lands so this would be their last chance to attack. Also since the animals here are going to be rather temperamental it will be dangerous for us to pull the strider close. The devices whose data we need to collect are in a wooded area on a platform by the shore of the lake. We will have to park some distance from it so we do not disturb anything that might be there and travel on foot to the devices putting us in danger of attacks. We do not want to get in any trouble out here so stay on guard,” Clay explained as they pulled up on a ridge that looked over a large bay on a large lake. As they pulled up the insects and Ancestor Wings headed for the lake where bigger beasts were hanging around finally giving them some reprieve from the bugs.
On the ridge with them were some of the tree sized mushrooms of the Emperor Parasols variety and some ragged conifers mainly of the redwood and cedar variety where underneath grew some other plants and fungi. Some rather large Boernix scarab beetles were feeding on the detritus there. A small cow sized Boernix had been brought down by three venom-fangs who were not too pleased with the Ash Strider pulling up near them to disturb their dinner. They did some yelling and displaying at the ship before pulling their beetle meal off into the wastes to eat in peace. By the lake shore three Ash Walkers, a male and two females, were grazing on some shrubs while two Kaguars wallowed in the shallows and a small group of Runners made of the Moss and Birch Runners were drinking from the shallows. A few of the floating jellyfish like Retch creatures were floating by the woods edge which sat a bit of a distance away from the ridge a clearing of mainly ash with some sparse often grassy vegetation separating the two. Mixed into the forest edge with the platform they were to be headed to attached to it was ruins to what looked to have been some sort of fort or stronghold. All that remained of the structure were crumbling flora coated walls, a few crumbling outbuildings which spread into the open ground ahead of the forests edge and at least two still largely standing towers. One was still relatively intact and stood a bit away from the lakeshore being engulfed by the forest the other sat on the lakeshore leaning a bit on its foundations towards the lake and broken in half with the top half sitting largely submerged below it in the lake. Everything seemed calm; none of the creatures looked irritated or aggressive but from what they had learned that could be an illusion.
“Okay Macy and I along with Ava, Robin and Merlok will remain with the Strider and keep an eye on the sensors and act as a lookout from here. You ninja along with Aaron, Axl and Lance will head down and retrieve the drives from the devices and replace them with new ones,” Clay explained handing a sack containing the drives they were to replace the ones in the devices with to Lloyd who stated, “we should try to keep our distance from any creature. We don’t want to disturb them.”
“Retchs are known for being highly passive Ash Walkers however are known for being aggressive and temperamental,” Zane acknowledged. With that a ramp was lowered from the side of the ship allowing them to get down to the wastes. In case there were Ashers waiting somewhere down there Lloyd brought the sword Cole and Zane had gotten from Divayth. The beetles gave an aggressive display but just backed off not wanting to get in a fight. As their group headed for the platform which sat at the edge of the wooded area several yards from where the ship parked the Ash Walkers gave off their howling noise then growled as they watched the group walk past. The male reared up and stomped his forelimbs down mad at them but they kept their distance. The runners and Kagaurs just glared at them watching as they passed some of them giving off hisses or growls but made no attempt to attack them.
While they were headed for the device Ava called Macy and Clay to the control room.
“We’re getting odd readings from somewhere nearby,” Robin explained as Clay and Macy entered the control room and came to stand with Ava and Robin who stood around a large table which had a computer in it. A screen was standing up out of its center and Merlok was on the screen.
“What is it? Where is it?” Clay inquired.
“Not sure. We’re getting a massive reading of an unknown energy. It’s messing with many of the ships instruments,” Ava explained.
“Could it be one of these tears of the plane meld? Possibly one back to Knighton?” Macy wondered.
“It looks to be centered somewhere in the woods, possibly on the other side of the river or lake. It could be one of these tears. The energy is very similar to the one that brought us here but there is something slightly different about it,” Merlok explained as Ava and Robin tried to pin point the energies origin on the computer.
“Subsurface scanners are also picking something up,” Robin noted.
“Earthquake?” Macy wondered and Ava noted, “not sure. Something’s masking its full signature preventing us from truly knowing what it is.”
“We’ll have to keep an eye on it hopefully it isn’t Ashers. As for this energy keep trying to find where and what it is. It could be a link back to our realm, if not we should hope it’s not from somewhere dangerous,” Clay expressed…
Back in the wastes when the group reached the platform Nya and Jay climbed up onto it and got to work removing the old drives and installing the new ones while the rest kept guard for any trouble. Things seemed oddly calm with no signs of Asher presence. The lack of Asher interference in their journey so far they all found unsettling.
“What do these devices we’ve had to collect stuff from do?” Kai inquired while they all kept an eye out for danger feeling highly on edge by the calmness of the area and Axl hypothesized, “Some sort of science stuff I think.”
“I believe it is for monitoring of environmental conditions, geological activities and biological entities that enter its range likely for studies into the ecology of the region and the effects the volcano is having on both the environment and its inhabitants,” Zane explained inspecting the device and the various sensors and devices attached to it that seemed to be situated throughout the ruins while Aaron noted, “whoa what a mouthful for environmental studies metal-bro.”
“Is it just me or is anyone else getting a bad feeling?” Cole expressed nervously looking over the area.
“Maybe you shouldn’t have cake for breakfast?” Kai teased and Cole was not amused.
“No I get what you mean. There’s something not right here, worse than elsewhere in this cursed place,” Lloyd agreed as he and Zane noticed the creatures were growing agitated. The Kagaurs took off into the wastes followed by the Runners. The beetles by the Ash Strider buried themselves in the ash and the male Ash Walker reared up giving a few sniffs at the air before leading his girls into the wastes with a deep bellow. The Retch were quickly floating away from the forest edge headed towards the Ash Strider and the wastes beyond. Macy and Clay were drawn onto the deck wondering what was going on with the creatures. Disliking the creatures reactions and the atmosphere of the place Kai called for the two to hurry up.
“We’re all done… what do you think is wrong with them? You don’t think they sense something do you?” Jay commented getting worried as he and Nya got off the platform and joined the others. They had all noted the creatures sudden fearful behaviour and disliked what it could mean.
“Not sure but probably. I don’t think we should hang around to find out what it is. We’ve got what we need let’s get going,” Nya stated not liking the feeling the wastes gave either, “where are the knights?” The ninja hadn’t noticed but after they had reached the device Axl, Aaron and Lance had wandered off to investigate something they felt was odd several feet away.
“What are you guys looking at?” Kai inquired as the ninja approached them. The knights all looked confused and stumped by a bush sized birch tree sapling.
“It’s a shrub,” Jay remarked confused by the knights confusion.
“You’ve surely seen shrubs before,” Kai teased.
“Something about this birch feels odd. It’s giving off some really weird vibes plus that book we got said birch trees usually don’t grow in the ash; they’re not chill with it,” Aaron explained while Zane took a closer look at the shrub.
“I guess it is kind of strange, I don’t see any others like it around here,” Nya noted looking over the area.
“If I am not mistaken this is a birch from the Birchwood forest in Ninjago,” Zane suggested noting a weird energy coming off the plant.
“How would it get here?” Cole pondered and Axl suggested, “maybe there is a tear to your world near here.”
“If it is from your world then do you recognise this footprint?” Lance asked from where he stood in a rather large rounded footprint, “It’s pretty big.”
“That looks like…” Jay began before they all spotted movement in the forest behind Lance.
“What is that?” Axl questioned looking up at a very large whitish pale blue tinted skinned creature with long thin legs.
“Treehorn!” Jay screamed as they all took a few steps back not taking their eyes off the creature. The Treehorn seemed more confused than aggressive as if it was trying to figure how it had gotten there and what this place it now found itself in was. If it had been hunting them it would already have made a move but instead it was standing looking around.
“It looks to be confused if we slowly head back to the ship and make no sudden moves or noises it might ignore us,” Zane suggested and to Jays dislike sounding oddly more curious than fearful Aaron asked, “Are they dangerous?”
“They can be,” Cole expressed. They slowly turned and started to make their way back to the ship keeping an eye on the Treehorn as they went. It seemed to not take note of them.
“I think there is something underground!” Cole remarked stopping to look at the ground halfway to the Strider, they all stopped but only a few of them thought they could feel the slight vibrations from something underground.
“Probably just those beetles,” Aaron expressed while Jay who had not taken his eyes off the Treehorn warned, “I think we should hurry up!” The Treehorn was now stalking rather quickly towards them. Before anyone could move however the ground beneath the Treehorn collapsed into a pit dragging it down. While it struggled to escape something clamped around its neck and began to rise from the pit. They all watched in horror as a massive reptilian creature raised from the ash holding the Treehorn which was frantically trying to escape in its skeletal looking jaws. The creature was rather snake like though it had a set of muscled forelimbs which bore three large broad spikes up the side of the forelimb. These limbs ended with four digits that were tipped with claws that looked to be made of obsidian and it had a pointed monitor lizard like head which bore foreword jutting spikes on the cheek area; two on the upper jaw and a larger single one on the lower jaw. Parts of its body like its snout, shoulder area and the spine of the body core had transparent skin and muscles allowing the bones beneath to be seen. An area running from its chest to lower belly seemed to have transparent skin which let what looked like a glowing lava filled interior be seen through the skin behind its non transparent bones. The teeth just seemed to jut from its bony rough beak like snout and its eyes glowed a deep dark blood red beneath knarled and bony eye ridges. There appeared to be a fiery glow in the creatures mouth stemming from somewhere down its throat. The skin was a dark brownish grey with a rough and ashy like texture allowing it to blend in with the ash around it. It was over two stories tall and longer than a bus. It flipped the Treehorn to the ground with a single swing of its head and neck with little effort. The Treehorn landed with a hefty thud sending ash spraying and just lay on the ground still as the creature put its one hand on its neck and crouched over it to stare at them.
“W…what…is that…that monstrosity!?” Jay fumbled as the creature looked them over flicking a forked tongue out; a sharp long spine was sandwiched between the forks at the end of the tongue jutting from its centre.
“Ash Crawler! The loyal tank like horror of the Ashers!” Aaron expressed showing a deep fear.
“If you’re scared of that thing I’m guessing it’s really bad?” Kai expressed.
“That book said the Ash Crawler is a mutated monster of nightmares made by the twisted dark magic of the Ashers. They have the same powers as the Asher sorcerers and more!” Lloyd noted as they all stood frozen in fear by the creature.
“If they hit you with that spine in their tongue you become an Ash slave or worse an Ash Spawn and there is no cure!” Zane explained as the creature heavily slammed its tail into the ground once on either side of itself. As it did this a small group of Ashers burst from the ground wielding black metal weapons with burning lava like engravings in the metal. The Ashers were humanoid in shape and they lacked the bestial features of the people of this world. They didn’t look much like normal people either though. They lacked ears and their eyes were sunken pits with burning centres. Their skin looked like the ash of the ground and some had deep grooves in their skin which had a burning glow in them. Though they resembled ash spawn they had functioning mouths like a normal person and they wore clothes and wielded weapons. They all wore tattered pants and sleeveless shirts which were black with edges and symbols that seemed to be a glowing red on them. A few had arm bracers that looked to be made of burning cloths or wore tattered robes of the same style as the rest of the clothes. Some retained some black, sparse and charred hair which came in various lengths and styles on their heads.
Seconds after the Ashers rose the ash seemed to move beneath their feet and some areas began to rise and take on forms. Ash Spawn, a swarm of them. Many took on a human like form while others took on the forms of creatures; Birch Runners, Moss Runners, Boernix, Retch, Racers and even a Fear. The Ash spawn encircled them preventing any escape. Ash Spawn even appeared by the ship, some that took the form of racers landed on the deck holding their wings out in challenge to those on board. The Ash Crawler let the Treehorn get up as its skin began to turn to ash, some spots burning, and its eyes turned into dark pits with burning centers. It had become one of the Ash Spawn! Once the spawn had been risen one of the Ashers started the attack while one of the others used a spell on the ash. Where the spell hit large chunks of dark carved rocks rose up out of the ash to congregate together merging into a massive arched structure with a reddish gem coming to rest in the center of the top of the arch. Once formed the arch sprang to life with dark energy as a portal letting some of the Ashers monsters like Vulcaroth, Serpent-flies, Vesparilions, Noctern Crows and a Dreadconda along with others they had not yet faced like Gloam Harpies a type of harpy being with bat like instead of bird wings and scales coating its body while also possessing a reptilian scorpion like tail that could inject a pain inducing venom, Vrimps vulture headed imps, Viends monkey like imp creatures and Dolgrims ogre like monsters into the area to join in the fight developed in its center. The energy from the portal tainted the environment around it blackening the area beneath it making the ground look like burning embers while the clouds and sky overhead developed a reddish tint to it beginning to circle focussed around the portal and brewing into a storm.
“We’ll have to fight our way back to the ship!” Nya expressed as they fought back the Ashers and their monsters and Aaron declared trying to fight through the monsters unable to take to the air thanks to the Noctern Crow, Vrimps and Gloam Harpies which would attack him anytime he tried, “I think it would be in our best interest to close that portal and take out as many as we can before we try to flee.”
“I think I’m in agreement with Aaron, there’s too many enemies and we don’t want to risk any getting to the strider and disabling it. That’ll leave us trapped out here and in great danger. We need to thin out their numbers,” Lloyd agreed. Their opponents wasted no time in attacking them. While the knights and ninja tried to stick together as they fought their enemies worked to separate them and get each of them on their own. They at least managed to stay largely in pairs but they frequently kept getting separated and would have to fight their way back to someone else in order to avoid getting isolated which they were pretty sure would lead to some very bad things for them. A Vulcaroth, one of the harpy beings and two Ashers broke off from the main group to aid the Ash Spawn on the ship which were trying to get past Clay and Macy in order to get inside and damage it so it could no longer run. Their enemies were relentless. They at least had luck in that Zane’s powers could permanently stop the Ashers and Ash Spawn but even when Nya gave him a hand with her powers it was hard for him to hit any of those they needed him to thanks to some of the monsters focussing on him in order to keep him from removing the Ashers and Ash Spawn. The Noctern Crow and Dreadconda both took to focussing on Zane. The Dreadconda was trying to drain him of energy to weaken and tire him so he couldn’t fight back while the crow was trying to simply tear him apart to take his skin as a trophy. They all tried to stick close to Zane and help him break free and escape from the enemies in order to try and thin the tide but it wasn’t easy. While they were able to utilise an ice based Nexo Power which both the knights and ninja were able to utilize it was still not easy for them to take out their enemies. The Nexo power really helped combat the Ash Spawn and Ashers especially when combined with Spinjitsu which they had all learned to use and while it had some effect on the monsters they weren’t as affected by the element as their masters and had high resistances to most of the ninjas weapons. The weapons the knights had along with the sword Lloyd had and the Red Diamond Shurikan did more damage than the others weapons but even then the monsters were tough. When they did get lucky and a monster was destroyed it would dissolve into a dark energy which would rush back into the portal where another of the same monster or maybe it was that same one reformed, they didn’t know and didn’t have time to think it over. Once out of the portal the monster would get back into the fight as if nothing had happened. The Ashers meanwhile were largely hanging back to prevent any of them from giving them a hit often summoning more spawn whenever they took one out and guarding their portal from being attacked.
It was clear the Ashers and Ash Spawn understood Zane was the biggest threat to them. They had their monsters pestering him and were trying to keep the others away from him so he could get no help. The enemies were also not only trying to subdue him so he couldn’t use his powers but eerily were also trying to bring him closer to the Crawler who was trying to pierce anyone it could reach with its tongue, slam its tail on them, swipe a forelimb at them, or charge through them to split everyone up. They all were trying to avoid the crawler as best they could and while its attacks were annoying they at least also took out or knock out of the way some of their opponents giving them a chance to try and get back together or get a short breather. The weapons the knights wielded could hurt the creature but only two of the ninjas weapons had an effect on it. Whetus Star which Zane was wielding and using to help boost the strength of his elemental powers to try and help curb the enemies numbers and the special blade from Divayth which Lloyd was wielding. Whenever it was cut the damages they dealt revealed the creature had black blood which temporarily caught fire when it touched anything. None of them had the power to do any serious harm to the crawler which didn’t even seem to acknowledge when they hit it.
All of the spawn and Ashers were able to spray burning ash, the beasts spat it from their mouths while the humanoids used their hands, and the humanoid spawns were able to create weapons as sharp as glass that burned as they cut from the ash that made them. Those that resembled the Retch had the same electrical elemental powers as their normal counter parts while the Birch Runners who had frost based attacks in life now used fire. The Vulcaroths luckily used manly their fire breath teeth and claws but some like the Dreadconda were using dark magic’s. The Dreadconda often liked trying to drain energy or magically restrain them. Only drawing its attention elsewhere worked to stop it from trying to restrain and drain someone. Whenever the Dreadconda appeared they made sure to take it out as quickly as possible to limit the amount of damage it could do. No matter how hard they tried they seemed to be getting nowhere. The knights and ninja were greatly outnumbered and out powered. They tried to remain in a close circle to prevent being attacked from behind but every now and then one or more of them would get pulled or knocked out of the group and they would have to fight their way back. On the ship it wasn’t going good either. Clay and Macy were trying to keep some of the enemies from getting into the ship while Robin and Ava were trying to prevent some that had gotten past the other two from reaching the ships engines.
After having failed several times at hitting someone the Crawler decided to try a new move. It disappeared beneath the ash for a few seconds before bursting up from beneath the group sending everyone flying in various directions. Axl and Lance got flung back into the lake; Aaron got thrown into a Trauma Bush where he disturbed a Moss Runner who was trying to hide from everything causing it to attack him. Kai and Lloyd got thrown into an ash dune by the lake while Cole was flung into the ash by Nya and Jay who were thrown closer to the Strider. None of them could see where Zane landed. After having destroyed the enemies on the ship Clay and Macy rushed down to the wastes to help the others. The creatures attack dispelled most of the Ash Spawn causing them to dissipate into the Ash that was flung up as the creature lunged up from beneath the ground leaving a couple humanoids, the Treehorn and the Fear along with the Ashers and their monsters who all hung back watching the crawler and awaiting their next commands. As they all got up and the dust settled they could see the Ash Crawler had Zane pinned on his back beneath its one forelimb and it looked to be planning where to stab him with its spined tongue. Zane seemed to be unconscious or dazed since he was not moving and when they called out he didn’t respond. All the enemies looked pleased and eager for what the crawler was about to do.
Just as the creature went to shoot its tongue out Kai threw a fireball that struck it in the side of the head causing it to mess up its aim and strike the ash next to Zane missing him. The creature looked towards Kai angrily showing off its teeth which were eerily back lit by the fiery glow coming from down its throat.
“We’ll distract it you get Zane to safety,” Lloyd called to Nya, Jay and Cole who were closer to Zane than Kai and Lloyd were hitting the crawler with a strong energy blast, “try to get back to the ship.” The creature looked at Lloyd as he spoke and there was a glint of something in its eyes as it looked at him. Some of the monsters looked to recognise what the crawler did as well. Lloyd was pretty sure he knew what it was.
“I think it knows I’m part Oni!” Lloyd mumbled unable to tear his gaze in fear from the creature as it hissed at him.
“Those Ashers worship Oni maybe it will listen to you,” Kai suggested but Lloyd responded knowing it wouldn’t, “Tafari told me they’d want to destroy me.”
“Then that’s not good!” Kai expressed as the creature came charging towards them. As the crawler rushed off after the two the others quickly rushed over to Zane while their enemies closed in on them to try and split them up and immobilize them while the Crawler went after Kai and Lloyd. While the two kept the crawler distracted trying to not get pierced by its tongue the knights helped Nya, Cole and Jay get over and help Zane. Luckily Zane was only dazed and once they helped him to his feet he seemed fine just a little shaken and tired.
“We have to help Lloyd and Kai,” Cole remarked noting Kai and Lloyd were having trouble getting away from the Crawler. The Crawler made a lunge and as it landed the ash in front of it went flying taking Lloyd and Kai with it. The two landed several feet ahead of themselves dazed. The Crawler then got on its belly and half pulled half slithered its way towards them. It wrapped its body and tail around them cutting off any means of escape. The crawler prepared to stab at Lloyd who was preparing to have to try and cut the creatures tongue to try and save them. Just before it could though Zane shot a shard of ice at it through the Red Diamond Shurikan as he, Nya, Cole, Jay and the knights fought their way over to the twos aid. The shard landed in the creatures left eye blinding it on that side. The Crawler screamed in pain and pawed at its eye, just like its Asher masters it had a weakness to ice as well. The Crawler scowled at Zane and the others as they came over before throwing itself into the ash and vanishing below ground.
“Zane create a platform we can stand on,” Lloyd commanded and Zane wasted no time in creating a platform of ice on the ash for them to stand on. When the platform was done they got on it and stood in a circle, their backs to each other, looking for where this creature went. Their enemies closed in around them trying to find a way to break them up. The Ashers kept summoning more Ash Spawn and creatures kept coming back through the portal.
“Not cool man, this is so not cool,” Aaron expressed after managing to destroy two spawn only for an Asher to summon four in its place laughing at him as it did it. They were quickly starting to tire. With Nya’s help Zane managed to take out the Treehorn and Fear but it took a lot of energy to do it making them more tired than the others. The bigger the entity the more ice it took to destroy it but by using the water from the lake they were able to cover even the Treehorn with enough ice to destroy it. While they fought they struggled to try and find the crawler who seemed to have disappeared. They were sure it wasn’t gone just waiting for the right time to strike when they were all too weak to stand a chance against it.
“We should get back to the ship and get out of here,” Kai commented and Clay expressed, “that’s currently easier said than done. I think we should destroy the portal first then try to make an escape.”
“Exactly what I thought,” Aaron stated before a few seconds later what sounded like an explosion from the Strider could be heard even though nothing was visible causing Jay to panic, “That didn’t sound good.”
“Even if we were to try and run if we don’t destroy all these things they are likely to keep trying to follow and attack us,” Lloyd noted.
“And I don’t think the Strider could stand against their attacks,” Macy commented while Nya added, “and from the sound I think they managed to reach the Striders engines and damaged them. I don’t think it’s going anywhere anytime soon.” A few seconds later the Crawler burst up from below them sending them all flying in different directions as it broke through the ice. The creature screamed in pain obviously hurt by contacting the ice but it shook it off and quickly sought out Lloyd who was a little dazed but hurried, a little clumsily, to his feet in order to defend himself. The creature shot out its spined tongue and Lloyd managed to dodge it quickly swinging the special blade as he did and cutting off the end of its tongue. The creature screamed in pain as its cut off piece of tongue landed on the ground, most of it turning to ash though the spine remained turning into a piece of charred bone. The creature vanished beneath the ground again as they fought back into a defensive circle wondering what the creature was going to do next.
“Hopefully without that spine that thing can’t turn us to Ash Spawn. What do you think Zane?” Cole hypothesized as they continued to fight back the enemies. Zane appeared to be unresponsive. He was fighting abnormally aggressive and violently the enemies. He had even strangely created a naginata of pure and eerily dark ice to aid in obliterating the targets despite still having his shurikans and starting to use a strange aquamarine tinted magic that allowed him to create a strange electrical like energy that he could manipulate to grasp things to pull them close or restrain them. He could even use this energy to manipulate objects and throw them about often trying to hit their opponents and the portal or even to tear apart an enemy.
“Dude what’s gotten into Zane?” Aaron wondered as they noticed his strange and disturbing change. Zane was quickly decimating their opponents in a rather aggressive manner with little care to what was going on around him. He was starting to scare everyone else. Even their enemies seemed to become fearful of his change in behaviour and most of the monsters were backing away from him or even fleeing back through the portal scared of him. Not only their opponents were scared but both the ninja and knights were getting anxious over Zanes sudden change in behaviour and new power. It wasn’t normal for him to suddenly go so berserk even in a fight. He was unresponsive to them and didn’t seem to care if he nearly or did hurt someone else while fighting. His strange new powers were also disturbing as the ninja knew Zane wasn’t very good with magic and according to Clay the magic he was using was dark something Zane defiantly would not be interested in. They all also started to notice a strange sudden coolness come over the area and something made their hair stand on end. They were unsure though if Zane was causing the coolness or if it was from something else.
“Hey Zane buddy where did you learn to use such magic? I didn’t think you had it in yha,” Jay mumbled trying to hide his overwhelming fear which was only worsened by how Zane was acting and Axl questioned feeling unsettled, “why is it suddenly getting so cold?”
“Could be from Zanes powers,” Lloyd suggested and Macy expressed, “I think it’s a little more than that.”
“I don’t know but this isn’t normal for him,” Kai noted and Nya inquired “No it isn’t far from it; are you okay Zane?” He didn’t respond but kept fighting while the others hung back nervous of getting close to him. The Ashers that remained looked to be trying to escape clearly terrified but Zane wasn’t letting them escape and destroyed all of them showing no mercy even when a few of them pleaded for it. The monsters had all fled leaving the Ashers to their fate. They noticed as he fought the ice he was creating and using was starting to look dark much like it had in the Never realm and bore dark glowing aquamarine cores.
“What’s come over him?” Cole wondered as he and Nya began to recognise the feeling suddenly coming over the area. It was a cold unnerving empty feeling that was making the two very agitated.
“He’s acting like he was while under the forbidden scrolls hold but somehow worse,” Jay fretted. Zane managed to obliterate every single Asher and its spawn. He then used the strange dark magic on the stone in the portals frame to tear it apart bursting the crystal into shards. When the gem exploded the portal died an explosion emanating from its center as it broke to pieces and crumbled to the ground. The storm above continued but now it faded from reddish to void green and brought dark mists to start emanating from the ground. With the portal destroyed Zane stood with his back to them staring at the ground a short distance away from them holding his ice weapon as if ready for an attack. They were all worried and getting scared, something was seriously not right.
“Look at his arm,” Clay expressed. Dark markings exactly like those he had developed when under the Stags control began to appear on his body. Jay was about to talk when the Crawler burst up from the ground several feet in front of Zane. This time though the Crawler was fighting against a group of Boernix beetles who were holding onto the crawler with their pinschers and mandibles and biting it. The crawler was struggling to fight the beetles as some Birch Runners came out from the wastes and forests headed for the crawler and some Kappa came out of the lake headed in the same direction. Zane threw the naginata he had created with one hand into the creatures shoulder and it screamed in pain as the icy creation pierced its skin. The area around the impact site developing frost burns. They were all getting terrified afraid of what was happening.
“Something’s not right,” Cole worried recognising the feeling in the area and dreading what it meant. They were all confused by these creatures sudden courage and scared by what it meant.
“No it’s not,” Clay commented noting the black with aquamarine iridescent eyes and dark skin markings all the creatures had. Just like those they had seen in the ring when the Stag had attacked them.
“They all look like back in the ring when the…” Jay began and they all got the same thought startling them.
“Zane? You okay buddy?” Lloyd cautiously stated slowly getting close to Zane to tap him on the shoulder. Zane seemed transfixed by the struggling Crawler the markings steadily growing to cover his entire body and attire. The moment he touched Zanes shoulder he felt an unnerving and deep cold rush up his arm. He quickly pulled away and backed up scared by the feeling. After being touched Zane finally turned to look at them scaring and shocking them all. His eyes were black with an aquamarine iridescence and he had been fully consumed by the dark markings of the Stags hold. He was under the Stags full control!
“He’s been possessed by that daemon!” Lance panicked before Zane spoke to them startling them.
“You water Dragon do as I say” the voice that came out of Zane as he pointed at Nya wasn’t his. It was deep, dark and non-mortal sounding. It was the Stags! It was like he was now possessed by the Stag. They were unsure what to do. They had left the Star Stone in their quarters on the Strider and they were unsure if there was some other way to knock the Stag out of Zane or what the Stag wanted.
“Maybe the Stag is like a ghost and we could soak him out or maybe I could shock him out?” Jay whispered to the others on the verge of panicking but before anyone could say or do anything the Stag spoke through Zane again.
“Just remember anything you do will just hurt your friend not me. Your powers and weapons are worthless against me now quite fooling around; the Boernix cannot hold the Ash Crawler for long. If you wish to live you will follow my orders,” Zane growled with the Stags voice; the Stag had obviously heard Jay freaking him out more.
“He’s right we’d just be hurting Zane if we tried to attack the Stag,” Aaron acknowledged.
“What do we do?” Macy inquired. Nya and Cole were shaking remembering how it had felt to be under the Stags control and terrified of his presence.
“Should we trust the Stag? Why does he want you sis?” Kai inquired not liking that this daemon wanted his sister. They looked at the Crawler as it was being attacked and restrained by the Boernix and Birch Runners which were trying to drag it closer to them and the lake. They then looked at each other.
“Tafari said the Stag hates Ashers just as much as the people. He might be wanting to destroy them as well. She also said we might be able to bargain with him,” Lloyd whispered to the others.
“Bargain? With that thing?!” Lance expressed and Clay noted, “I don’t know if that’s a good idea. We know nothing about this Stag or what it wants.”
“We could at least try besides if we don’t get rid of that Crawler we aren’t making it out of here alive,” Lloyd reasoned.
“Couldn’t we try to destroy it on our own?” Kai wondered not wanting to let this thing touch his sister.
“Given its size and power I think it would take more than just Zane and my powers to create enough ice to take it out. The Stag can control animals that could help but I don’t want that thing controlling me not again!” Nya fumbled and Cole added, “You could barely imagine how terrible it feels for that thing to control you!”
“We don’t have much time or options though. This might be the only way,” Axl noted and Macy added, “You said it can make bargains. We could try to make a deal, we’ll give him our help and in return he has to stop controlling us and leave Zane alone.”
“Sounds like a good deal,” Lance agreed. Nya and Cole were fighting to keep from having a panic attack and rushing off to get away from this thing. They were frozen with fear and could not take their eyes off Zane. They could all see this. Kai and Jay came to stand close to Nya while Axl and Aaron came to stand close to Cole to try and make the two feel safe.
“Fine, but we must make a deal. We’ll obey you if you will stop harassing our friend and let him go and you stop controlling us like we’re your puppets,” Lloyd addressed the Stag trying to look brave. They couldn’t tell if the Stag was thinking it over but it took a few seconds before the Stag responded.
“I will agree to your terms now water dragon I must take control of you,” the voice demanded from Zane to which Nya, terrified of that idea, yelled, “What!? Why?”
“I can enhance your powers, make them stronger. On your own your powers will be insufficient to complete this task and I have a feeling you would not willingly do what I need done,” the Stag explained through Zane. Nya hesitated not wanting to be controlled by this dark entity again, dreading the idea, and she could tell by everyone else’s reaction they did not like this idea either. She didn’t want to feel the feelings this thing brought again.
“You either do as I say or you are all going to die. You do not fool around with Ashers,” again the Stag used Zane to talk through noting their hesitation. Nya didn’t want to do it but deep down she had a feeling the Stag was right.
“Alright you can do it but just this once and never again,” Nya agreed and after she finished speaking her eyes became like those of the creatures and Zanes and she developed the same markings to her skin and attire as the Stag took over her.
“For the rest of you I would stand back so you do not get in the way,” the Stag this time spoke through Nya who went to stand with Zane. All felt hearing this monsters voice come from her was very creepy and unnerving but they obeyed moving a couple feet back not wanting to get hurt by whatever the Stag was going to do. With the Stags energy Nya lifted up, as if it took no effort, most of the water of the bay throwing it onto the crawler creating a pool below it and retaining some as a layer over the creatures’ skin. The Stag then made Zane and some of the creatures use their Ice powers on the water that coated the Crawler and the pool underneath it. The Birch Runners stomped their feet into the pool and the Kappa touched the water with their snouts to turn the water into ice as they developed an icy armour on their hide. The crawler screamed in pain as the ice slowly enveloped it and even started to erupt from within it! The Boernix fell off or let go and moved back so they didn’t get caught in the ice. As it happened they saw what the Stag meant, his energy seemed to make Nya and Zanes powers more than twice as strong as normal, it made them disturbingly strong, dealing a serious blow to the creature which despite not being held by the beetles anymore seemed unable to move like it was still restrained bringing a dark thought to their minds. Was the Stag using Nyas’ water powers to control the crawler through the water in its body?! And the ice erupting from its body, they had never seen that from Zanes powers either. Was the Stag using Zanes’ powers to turn the water in its blood and body to ice so it ripped through the creatures hide to harm it?! Such use of their powers was dark and frightening and something about the Stags possession of them even made them look dark, an evil dark greater than anything they had ever seen. The creature sounded to be in tremendous pain as if being tortured as they attacked it scaring them with a deep fear that struck at their very hearts making them back up even more.
Once the Crawler was fully encased in ice and unmoving all the creatures backed down and fled. The Runners ran into the woods while the beetles went underground and the Kappa went into the lake as they were no longer being controlled and their instincts kicked back in. The storm slowly died leaving a calmer but still dark greyed overcast sky and the mists slowly died down. The crawler was motionless for about a minute in the ice before it looked to be trying to break free. The dark ice started cracking and they all backed up a bit worried the creature was going to break free and attack. When the ice broke it exploded outward and collapsed with a burst of ash that came to pile atop it with a bunch of massive partially charred bones from the Crawler coming to lay mixed up and atop the ash and ice. The collection of materials didn’t move or reform.
“Is it dead?” Jay worried as they all stood scared to move trying to figure out the same thing worried it was going to spring to life at any moment.
“It is,” the Stags voice came from behind them terrifying them and when they turned to look they were shocked to see an Ash Walker standing there looking angrily down at them, its eyes and body showing signs of one possessed by the Stag.
“Now I warn you foolish knights and ninja. Leave these lands, go back to where you came from and enjoy what little time you have left. If you continue into my lands and do not heed my warning then you will have to face my wrath,” the Stags voice growled from the Walker whose mouth did not move. The walkers eyes then returned to their normal color and the markings disappeared. The creature looked a little confused before bellowing at their group. It then turned and fled back into the wastes.
“Do you think he’s gone?” Jay fretted on the verge of panicking once the Walker was gone.
“Maybe, I’m more interested if he will hold up his part of the bargain,” Lloyd wondered as they looked over at Nya and Zane who were lying in the ash. They rushed over to them. The two were freezing to the touch but no longer had the possessed markings and appeared to be alive. After a few minutes they began to wake up and slowly sit up the others helping them up. They looked tired, confused and shaken but their eyes were back to normal.
“Are you guys okay?” Kai asked as he and Jay helped Nya get up and comfort her. Cole and Aaron helped Zane up while Macy and Clay checked them over for signs the Stag still held control of them. They appeared clean.
“I never want to feel that way again. Such a dark, cold and empty feeling…,” Nya croaked in shock from her ordeal.
“Were you guys aware of what he was doing with your powers?” Lloyd inquired wanting to find out more about this Stag being and what it could do. It was clear now that it was a dark being, possibly one of the darkest any of them had ever seen, unafraid to do things that would cause serious pain to others, pains and harms you would not even want to wish on an enemy.
“I believe so. I never want to do that again. That was such a cruel thing to do,” Nya responded starting to relax though clearly disturbed.
“What about you Zane? You’re being quieter than usual are you okay?” Lloyd asked and it took a few seconds before Zane replied his voice back to normal, “I think so. His possession came so suddenly I was not even aware of him till he had full control. Then I had no control. It felt so terrible, so horrid. I could not stop what he was doing with me. Then he just let me go, I did not have to fight like before. I cannot believe it made me do that it was such a cruel thing. Not even that creature deserved such a cruel treatment.” Cole gave Zane a reassuring pat on the shoulder and Jay hugged Nya who moved into his hug welcoming its comfort.
“Why don’t we get back to the ship and you two could take some time to rest,” Kai suggested and Macy agreed, “I think that would be a good idea.” They started to head back Clay making sure to pick up the bag with the hard drives so they didn’t forget their task which despite having been dropped and gone through the fighting was intact and hardly touched.
“Well it looks like the Stag held up his agreement,” Lloyd concluded as they were heading back to the Strider and Clay noted, “so Tafari was right he can be bargained with but I don’t think we’ll like what he might want from us.” When they got back to the Strider they looked at the mess on the deck. Plenty of ash coated the deck. Ava and Robin came out to meet them.
“Bad news one of those harpy things managed to slip below deck and sabotage the engines,” Ava explained and Robin added, “we might be able to repair them but it will take some time.”
“We should probably also get this cursed ash off the deck,” Clay noted and Lloyd agreed, “indeed, we don’t want to risk it reforming into those Ash Spawn again.”
“Well that could have gone worse,” Lance expressed and Aaron noted, “I guess we have the Stag to thank for saving our hides.”
“I guess, so what are we going to do?” Axl inquired.
“Well we can get to work on the engines. If we’re lucky we could get moving within an hour or two if not it might be a day or two or possibly worse,” Robin noted. None of them were happy with those prospects. After what they had just went through they didn’t want to remain out in the open in these wastes.
“We could help with that,” Nya commented to which Jay wondered “Don’t you want to rest?”
“No, I need to be doing something to get the feelings that thing has left out of my head,” Nya responded and Lloyd asked Zane, “what about you Zane. Do you want to help out or would you like to rest?”
“I think I would rather work, keep my mind busy,” Zane replied to which Cole expressed, “that would be the wise and healthier idea. An idle mind just makes the feelings worse.”
“Sounds like a good idea, once we’re moving and out of this cursed place we can take a rest and get cleaned up,” Macy decided.
“Agreed, I’d like to be at the Holamaya research station before dark. The Ashers are likely to try again and I doubt the Stag will aid us a second time. This fight really showed us we’re no match for any of the threats out here,” Clay declared not happy with how poorly things went and Cole asked, “How close would you say we are to Holamaya?”
“If you look to the east and south a bit you can just see it,” Zane noted pointing towards the place. To the east the wastes began to turn into a forest. Ash still coated the ground and the trees which consisted mainly of hardy conifers whose branches had ash sitting on them like snow and the leaves had greyed from their normal color. A path led into the forest, it was likely where they were going to travel. This path and forest led up into the mountains and situated on one of them just visible through a fog that engulfed them was a large structure at the mountains base.
“Truthfully we probably won’t make it there till late tonight if we can get going in less than an hour and we push the engines to go as fast as we can. If we take longer and travel at slower speeds who knows when we’ll get there,” Ava noted and Kai expressed, “Hopefully after that the Ashers might keep their distance from us.” They all glanced at the remains of the Ash Crawler and got chills just remembering what had occurred.
“Alright, I and Robin will get started on the engines. If anyone has any mechanical skills we could sure use the help,” Ava noted. Nya and Jay offered to help in the engine room and the four went below deck to help out in repairing the engines leaving the rest on deck.
“We should make ourselves useful and clear off this ash. We might also want to sweep the ship, make sure nothing that shouldn’t be here is hiding below deck,” Lloyd stated and Clay agreed, “indeed. Don’t want to be surprised by anything.” They all agreed and got some brooms, brushes, dust pans and whisks from below deck to clean with.
While working Zane distanced himself a bit from the others even though they encouraged him to hang out with them. Even though they felt Zane shouldn’t be alone they decided to oblige and gave him his space feeling he just needed some time to himself after the Stags possession. They encouraged him though that if something was wrong they would be there to help him no matter what.
Zane had lied a bit to the others; he had been aware of the Stag and had agreed to let the Stag take control of him. The Stag hadn’t been mean about it like before. While Lloyd had cut the Crawlers tongue off the Stag had spoken to him in his mind. He had explained that if they wanted to defeat the Ashers and save themselves then they needed his help. Zane had at first been against it not wish to co-operate but the Stag declared if they didn’t get his help than they weren’t going to make it and promised he would not harm anyone he cared about just the Ashers. He would also let Zane go free once the Crawler was destroyed. Zane had a strong feeling the Stag was right. They would not have bested that creature on their own; it would take more than just his powers to freeze it even with help from Nya and the Nexo Knights powers. He had felt the Stags power in the arena, in the incident in the mine and ruin and the incident in the Under-city. The Stag was immensely powerful, more powerful than anything they had ever encountered. The Stag had enhanced Zanes powers making them stronger and while under the Stags influence he had felt like he had limitless energy, strength to surpass Coles and injuries felt numbed. Sure it also brought a disturbing cold dark emptiness feeling but at that moment they had needed the Stags aid so he had agreed despite how terrible it would make him feel. He felt the others would not have approved of such a move after all the Stag had tried to wipe them out before and all they had heard, seen and felt of the Stag was that he was an entity of evil. Zane had to agree with that after seeing what that thing had made him and Nya do and the strong feelings of hate and anger the Stag gave off while using him to attack the Ashers and Crawler. It had deeply scared and disturbed him.
Thinking of the Stag brought the dream he had the night before to his mind and the words he had heard in the dream confused him; what did those mean and why would such a demon save him? Surely it wouldn’t be out of compassion or empathy. It would likely be for something dark which he would be very uncomfortable with. Zane looked around to make sure no one was looking then he pulled back his one sleeve to look at his arm. On his metal skin were the distinctive glowing markings of the Blight! He had found it the previous day on his hands but had been covering it up so the others didn’t find it. It had started with an odd feeling in his arms, legs and chest the day before and it now seemed to be spreading rather rapidly though he didn’t know why. He wasn’t sure either where he had gotten it. He hadn’t come into contact with anything that had it; at least he didn’t think he had. Maybe in his dazed states he had come into contact with something that did have it, he wasn’t sure. Not only was it spreading up his arms and legs but the glow was ever so slightly getting brighter. In daylight it wasn’t noticeable, even now in the overcast conditions of the wastes it was not too noticeable under his clothes just appearing like a faint discoloration of his skin but from what he saw in his dreams it would get bright enough to be visible as a faint glow in average light levels even through clothes. He was going to have to try and cloak it from the others if it got worse so they wouldn’t find out. He couldn’t let them find out. Their mission was more important than him; there was a lot at stake. He just worried that he didn’t have enough time to make it back to Ninjago and see Pixal one last time before the Blight claimed him.
His dream came to his mind again and he looked up at Holamaya. In the arena he hadn’t noticed anything nor when he had been cursed into a monster and forced to fight his friends but then again he had been fighting the Stags possession and influence the entire time for both incidents and wasn’t looking but this time since he wasn’t fighting this time he had become aware of something. Something the others might think him crazy for, think he was still under the Stags influence. Despite the horrid feelings the Stag gave him, feelings he never wanted to feel again, there was a small bit of Zane that did feel comforted by the Stags presence, a faint light and warmth to him, but he couldn’t tell why. He was hoping this was not part of the Blight influencing him.
Notes:
Things get pretty dark when the Stag gets involved but this is intentional. It shows just how dark and cruel an entity the Stag is.
If have any questions go ahead and ask I do not bite. I will try to answer them, I will however not give away spoilers.
Chapter 32: In the Shadow of the Stag
Summary:
Finally at the Forbidden City but what will they find?
Notes:
Pictures relating to story can be found here: https://www.deviantart.com/nerdy-hyena/gallery/72478681/story-project
They are really good and help to visually flush out several aspects of the story including environments, characters, outfits, locations, creatures and other aspects often important ones in the story. All images I post in my work can be found there if you want a better look at them. Defiantly make sure to check them out.Also if you need a refresher on creatures, flora or aspects of the environment you can check out the second chapter in this work titled 'Keikiarys Guide to the Ash Wastes'. It includes short descriptions and pictures of these things.
Parts of this section are subject to change as the prequel story is written to improve story continuity.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
They were able to patch up the engines enough to get them going within an hour and were off. The engines would need more work but no one wanted to be waiting in the wastes. They preferred their chances being neighbours to the Stag than to the Ashers though after what they had gone through they ideally didn’t want to be anywhere near any of them but they had little choice. It didn’t take them long to get the deck cleaned off. While searching the ship to make sure nothing was hidden on board they found a nest of Vesparilions had been placed in the cargo bay and a few Serpent-flies had been hidden on the ship. They destroyed both before they got cleaned and fixed up. They had taken turns as they got cleaned up making sure at least two of them were on guard and helping Merlok navigate the ship the whole time. When going to check on Zane and give him repairs the ninja were a little worried as he at first wasn’t wanting them to help him despite clearly having damages that needed tending to causing him problems and pain. He eventually gave in but refused to go offline or to shut anything down so he wouldn’t feel any of the pain from them having to repair things. While worrying they quickly came to believe they understood the problem. They had a feeling Zane was afraid of the Stags influence and possibly worried that putting himself in such a vulnerable state could let the Stag get a hold of him. They understood and didn’t pressure him to do things he didn’t want to do. He was the last one to get fixed and cleaned up. Even though they had time to relax as they made their way to the station none of them took to relaxing. After getting cleaned up they all found themselves congregating in the control room of the ship remaining alert and on edge hoping nothing serious would occur.
Ever since they had left Balmora they had been climbing in elevation without really noticing it and only now as they climbed the semi snow coated forested foothills did they realise it. Shortly after the battle it had started to rain. Zane believed it was an after effect of the energies the Ashers had used on the environment that suddenly caused the rain to break. They hadn’t fully cleaned off the ships deck by the time the rain started but the rain helped clean off the deck. In the lower elevations of the wastes the rain had been warm and heavy. By the time they reached the base of the Mountain of Dawn where a massive structure, the research base, sat it was after sundown by about two hours and the rain while still heavy had become cold and was now a storm with bright pinkish tinted lightening. The research base was a plain looking structure with a large bay for cargo vehicles out front and behind it half merged into the mountain was a massive dome structure. The area around the center was dominated by a temperate forest of mainly conifers like cedar, junipers and pine along with a few maples and birches. A few of the fungi including large specimens grew through the woods and randomly large boulders some as big as houses sat alone or scattered with other rocks which were often adorned by lichens with the occasional plants growing on or sprouting out of them. Ferns and conifer shrubs filled the understory with various shrooms including glowing species scattered through the woods. The forest of the area was dense and dark. Snow and Ice was scattered over surfaces here not ash which was much thinner and sparse here. This was likely due to a few rounded peaks in the foothills to the south of the location creating a sort of shield for the area keeping most of the ash from the volcano from reaching the area. As they approached the station they could all see the station out of the large glass partial geo-dome like structure to the front of the control center where they all stood waiting. It was hard to see the majority of the station past the cargo bay making it hard to tell if anyone was up. The cargo bay was dark. They were sitting outside the entrance to the cargo bay as Ava and Robin kept trying to contact someone inside. All they were getting was radio static. The darkness and lack of contact did not bode well.
“Something’s not right. There are about eight people in there, usually there is more but recent issues have most remaining in Balmora. With so few they shouldn’t be playing around, not out here. At least one of them should be up and on guard. They were told we were coming about a week ago,” Clay expressed the situation making him nervous.
“Maybe they’re just scared of the storm?” Jay offered but no one considered that comment.
“If we can’t reach anyone then we should open the doors manually. The less time we’re in the open the better,” Cole noted and Clay agreed. They tried a few more times to contact someone but all attempts failed.
“We’ll have to open the doors manually. You hot head come with me,” Clay ordered pointing at Kai who was not sure why he was being singled out.
“Why are you choosing me?” Kai protested. He did not want to go out in the rain, especially a cold rain.
“Cause your powers could help provide some light,” Clay explained.
“Didn’t we bring flashlights?” Kai questioned.
“Yha but someone misplaced them in one of the crates in the hull. It would just be quicker this way,” Ava explained and Jay added, “I think the quicker option is better. It’s probably safer in there than waiting out here where those monsters can ambush us again.” With that Kai reluctantly followed Clay out of the room, a short while later they came onto the top deck. Kai was holding a small flame in his one hand and not pleased with the rain. The ramp was lowered and the two went over to the hanger doors. A panel sat next to the doors. Clay unlocked then opened it. Inside was just a lever. He pulled it and the doors split in the centre and slid to the sides opening the doors. As the doors opened two spooked Venom-Fangs rushed out startling the two causing Clay to whip out his sword ready to defend himself and unnerving everyone in the ship. The creatures ignored Kai and Clay instead just rushing past them to vanish in the dark woods. Before it vanished one of the Venom-Fangs stopped to look back at them, its eyes glowing and parts of its side stripe reflecting from the fire light, before it followed its friend.
“That’s not a good sign,” Macy stated back in the control centre when they saw the Venom-Fangs. They pulled the ship inside and once everyone was in Clay closed and locked the panel outside then opened one inside and pulled its lever to close the doors. Inside it was dark and the storm could still be heard raging outside. Against the wall opposite the doors halfway up was a walkway which led through a normal sized doorway into the main building. It was dark in the hallway, too dark to see what was in it or where it led though they were pretty sure it led into the living quarters. There was no one in the cargo bay.
“Something about this doesn’t seem right,” Aaron expressed and Ava noted, “this is odd.”
“What’s odd?” Nya wondered.
“The ships sensors indicate this place is run off geothermal power and the lights in here are triggered by motion. They should have come on when we entered but it appears something is preventing them from working,” Merlok explained.
“You think something might be wrong?” Lloyd inquired a little unnerved but trying to hide it; they were all unnerved.
“It is very likely there is something wrong,” Merlok proposed before they all left the control centre and headed out onto the top deck and into the bay to investigate.
“Jay, Kai I want you two to head into the main building and find the utilities room, see if you can figure out why the lights aren’t working. The rest of us will wait here and try to find those flashlights,” Clay called from the ground. Jay was worried about entering the dark building though Kai encouraged him and boasted that they could handle it. They headed off while the rest looked for the flashlights. Turned out Lance had been too tired while packing early in the morning and had packed and placed them in a crate holding some of the food. Shortly after finding the flashlights the lights came on and shortly after that Jay and Kai came rushing back ruffed up and spooked with Jay yelling how something had attacked them. Kai was the one to explain what happened. There was apparently a spider the size of a dinner plate in the utilities room that had dropped down on them when they reset the breakers.
“Did you see anyone in there?” Macy asked to which Kai remarked, “Unless they’re invisible then no.”
“Why don’t we split up and search the place see if we can find anyone, Ava and Robin you stay with Merlok and see if you can find anything on the ships scanners,” Clay suggested. Most of them agreed.
“Do we have to do that now? Why don’t we take the night off and search in the morning?” Lance complained to which Macy stated, “because there could be something dangerous going on here.”
“Yha and we don’t want to risk being ambushed while we’re vulnerable,” Nya expressed. With that they headed off into the structure. They took the flashlights in case they needed them and after what they had gone through they did not feel comfortable splitting up into too small of groups instead they went in two groups. Lloyd led Cole, Zane, Axl and Aaron while Clay led Kai, Jay, Nya, Macy and Lance. There was a couple rooms all quite large. Lloyd’s group searched the kitchen, study, recreation and utilities room which Jay and Kai refused to enter with that spider in there, while Clay and his group searched the sleeping quarters, bathroom, medical centre and dining room.
Not only was it dark inside the structure but it was cold. The heat had clearly been off for some time. With the generators started back up the heat was slowly coming back on but the structures size meant it would be a while before temperatures were comfortable. As they went around they noted on many windows someone had hung blankets in front of them or attempted to black them out with various substances like dark paint and what they hoped was dirt. They were unsure if this had been done to conserve heat in the structure suggesting a long period of power issues or if it was for hiding. Had the researchers not wanted to see something outside, did they not want to reveal their presence to something outside or both?
The sleeping room had beds lining both sides of the room and an area at the far end was sectioned off with wooden dividers where behind them were dressers and a place to get dressed. Next to each bed was an end table which held a shelf for books, a drawer for personal effects and a light. A few ropes hung across the ceiling lining the walls and had paper lanterns and colored clothes hanging from them adding some decoration to the place. Simple but colourful rugs decorated the floors. There didn’t seem to be anything wrong, other than some of the beds being a little messy.
The kitchen seemed fine though when they turned the light switch on it blew the lights and a covered pot on a counter held rotting food which even Cole and Axl were put off of. It was clear the Venom-Fangs had found the little amount of food that was there as it was all chewed up and thrown about by the pantry a few shed teeth from the reptiles were lying around in the mess. They had even ripped through metal cans to get at the contents. The dining hall had one large table going down the centre and benches lining either side. The room was decorated with hanging paper lanterns and cloths hung by ropes. The paper lanterns were all out but everything else was relatively normal. A tea pot on the table had tea in it but it was cold and several cups were strewn about on the table along with some napkins. A few potted plants were in the room and though they looked fine their soils were dry.
The study was the largest room with a wall lined with wooden book shelves that reached to the ceiling and some tables holding various objects. There were various pieces of Scimitar make, bones, some sort of stones, books, scrolls, writing utensils and what looked like alchemical equipment on the tables. Some potted plants and fungi could be found around the room all with dry soil. A few computers sat against the one wall one of which was hooked up to some sort of more ancient structure of scimitar make by the looks of which was meant for reading those data cubes. Over all it all seemed fine, as if people were coming back to continue their studies later that day. On the one table which held some Scimitar folk mechanical pieces was a key. Thinking it might prove useful Lloyd picked it up to bring it with them.
In the bathroom it looked like some of the folk had a shower and were forced to leave quickly dropping or throwing towels everywhere and one of the taps for a sink and a shower were left on spilling water all over the floor. They turned off the taps and found nothing else was unusual there. The recreation room had two couches aimed at a TV against one wall, a small section in the one corner with exercise and lifting equipment and against the one wall were a few more book shelves and some comfy looking reading chairs. A guitar sat leaned against one of the chairs in the reading area. Rugs, tapestries, cloths and lanterns decorated the room. Nothing was out of place. In the medical room all the supplies were gone but it was just fine. Other than the large spider which fled when they aimed their flashlights at it the utilities room was fine as well.
Overall they found no one and nothing seemed too wrong though there was signs that something was off such as the covered windows, food left out and untouched and the mess in the bathroom. The fact all planters had dry soil and the rotting food and cold tea revealed no one had been there in a few days. There seemed to be no evidence of how the Venom-Fangs got in but at the same time it was clear they had nothing to do with the missing researchers. There was no remains of kills or evidence of fighting with them. They had clearly been living off the remains of the pantry and the running water in the bathroom for at least a few days. It kind of looked like someone wanted them to think the Venom-Fangs were responsible so had given them the means to survive for some time for whenever someone was to check in on the place. There was an air of unease and a great creepiness to the place even though things didn’t look that disturbing.
The last place they had to check was whatever was inside the dome. The knights headed back to the strider to check in and see if the others had found any evidence of anything through the striders sensors leaving the ninja to check out the dome. The door to the dome was locked and before Cole was going to break down the door Lloyd remembered the key he had found. It was compatible. When they opened the door behind it was dark and the lights weren’t working. A wooden boardwalk was on the other side which had stairs leading down to an ash coated ground like outside. Using the flashlights they looked around to see if they could find any possible light source. A generator sat at the base of the stairs to the walkway. Hoping it was connected to some sort of lights they got it running. As it booted up a bunch of stage lights came on focused around the centre of the structure from where they were placed at the outer edges of the structure. As they came on what they revealed terrified them, though Jay reacted the most.
“Let’s get out of here!” he screamed preparing to bolt up the boardwalk. Lying near the centre of the room was a Scimitar dragon, its head angled to the side and mouth open directed straight at them. They had thought there was a glow behind its green jewel like eyes indicating it was alive but it turned out to just be a trick of the lighting.
“Jay wait,” Nya stated as Zane went to investigate the dragon. It was lying in the ash and though it looked like it might be sleeping it was clear the ash and time had taken its toll on it. Parts of it were still buried in ash and ash and broken wires were falling out of some of the seams in its metal skin. It was made of Scimitar steel which was only slightly tarnished and pitted by exposure to the ash and elements.
“It appears it is no longer alive,” Zane declared feeling a little saddened by its state getting a feeling of mortality from its presence. They looked around the room. The place was about half a football field in length and at its highest by the mountain about three stories tall. The Scimitar Dragon took up a good portion of the room. Its wings were folded into its body and it lay a bit on its right side its legs tucked in and lying on its right hip as if sleeping. Its tail was curled up over its legs. Its neck and head were stretched out in front of it. The dragon sat a little to the left of the centre of the room close to the left side wall of the dome. To the right of the dragon built up off the ground on a wooden platform likely to keep ash from interfering was an area set up as if for the cleaning and prepping of artefacts. On the tables some ash encased bones and an ash encased Robo-bill lay with an ash encased chest which was open to reveal various artefacts of scimitar make which were untouched, probably protected by the chest they had been closed in. At the far end in the mountain side the structure was tied into was a set of large doors a little over twice their heights sat. It was made of the golden bronze colored Scimitar steel like the dragon and though slightly tarnished it seemed little touched and its decorative geometric designs were plainly visible.
“I’m guessing that leads to Holamaya,” Cole remarked at the doors.
“How are we supposed to get in though? There’s no door handles!” Kai remarked. Sure enough there was no door handles though some spots of reworked metal indicated where they had once been.
“I think they swing outwards,” Zane commented noting scrape marks in the ash on the ground by the doors as Jay made a failed attempt to push the doors open.
“Maybe there is some way they can be opened from the inside. Zane can you find anything?” Nya wondered. Zane took a moment to search but oddly he couldn’t find anything. Even odder he could not sense any other being on the other side. With that special programming he had been given he should have been able to sense any cub of the fang on the other side which there should have been but there was nothing, as if there was nothing, some sort of void perhaps, on the other side. It disturbed Zane.
“What do you think that could mean?” Cole wondered feeling unnerved when Zane explained it all to them. Kai noticed something behind the Scimitar Dragon and went over to investigate, Jay took notice and followed.
“Maybe the Stag or the ruins themselves have some sort of cloaking to them. Sort of to keep out prying eyes,” Nya hypothesized.
“Maybe, we’ll have to find some way to get in,” Lloyd commented as Kai and Jay investigated what looked like a fort made of crates, barrels and blankets which was sandwiched between the wall of the dome and the Scimitar Dragon. A roof for the makeshift fort was a tarp strung between the wall of the dome and the dragon. Inside this fort looked like someone had been trying to hide out. Some baskets of food and medical supplies were underneath a table. Three makeshift bedrolls were made close to the dragon one of which had a Scimitar Cube which sat on a folded note hidden in it.
“Hey guys look at this,” Kai called and the others came over, “What do you think this was for?”
“It’s like they were trying to hide from something,” Lloyd commented. Jay picked up the note from under the cube and read it.
“To whomever finds this, hopefully a friend, please take this cube and use the Scymer computer in the study to read it. It is very important. If the Stags forces find it please deliver this to Hassiri in Balmora. Why would they leave this? Where’d they all go?” Jay read before freaking out as someone touched him on the shoulder.
“Whoa sorry bro didn’t mean to spook you,” Aaron expressed.
“Don’t worry it doesn’t take much to scare him,” Kai pointed out.
“We couldn’t find anything on the scanners. Merlok noted something here is blocking signals preventing anything from assessing the city but he’s not sure what. Clay wanted to know if you found anything?” Aaron stated.
“Tell him to meet us in the study and we can go over it,” Lloyd decided. A few minutes later they were all gathered in the study. They quickly went over what they found while Nya and Jay put the cube in the special holder on the special computer.
“Where could they have gone?” Clay pondered and Lance speculated, “Maybe they just finally snapped and ran into the wastes to try and get back to Balmora. Alone out here I know I would.”
“That’s because you’re a socialite. These were scholars most of them like the isolation,” Aaron explained.
“Maybe there is a clue on this cube,” Macy addressed to Nya and Jay. When they got the cube in the device a file was loaded up which was written in the Scymers writing. Only Zane was able to read it.
“It appears the scholars believed they were being watched possibly even stalked by something they believed to be unnatural. They were seeing strange shadows moving in the woods over the past month. The shadows were human like, appeared only when it was dark and they felt they were unnatural. They were confused since they did not think Ashers would dare come this close to Holamaya and the Stag has left them alone…” Zane began.
“Really the Stag left them alone? I thought he would have been terrorising anyone who would stay here,” Kai stammered to which Macy explained, “We were told shortly after the dig site was established the Stag made a pact with the scholars proclaiming they were allowed to do as they pleased out here. Folk working here just had to leave his minions alone and they were forbidden from entering the city itself. They follow the rules he left them alone. Zane please continue.”
“Due to their fear of what was occurring they kept all exterior entrances locked at all times not wanting whatever it was to get in, terrified of what the shadows could be. When they started having issues with the power two weeks ago they opted to stay in pairs till they could figure out what was going on. The day the city contacted them alerting them that we would be coming the two Venom-Fangs were found in the excavation dome. It was searched but they found no means of entry other than from the city. Not wanting to upset the Stag thinking they might be his they let them stay and did not bother them. The creatures seemed rather tame and other than stealing scraps were harmless and mostly kept to themselves. They kept the entrance to the dome locked ever since not wanting to be surprised by anything else. Over the next few days they started to see moving shadows in the building and they started to disappear often with no evidence of what happened. The Venom-fangs even began to react fearfully to certain areas of the building. Two days ago only three remained and they built that structure in the dome thinking they might be able to hide from whatever was taking them till help arrived. Since it was the only place the Venom-Fangs did not react to they thought it was the safest place. They were hoping we would get here soon to rescue them. It ends there,” Zane finished. This just added more confusion to things.
“I doubt the Stag had anything to do with this, unless something’s changed,” Clay noted.
“If it was the Stag though wouldn’t they have seen these shadows in the dome first? Also would the fact they were using this Scimitar writing and the note mean they didn’t mind if the Stag or his allies found it?” Nya asked.
“True, also if it had been the Stag we would have found their remains. Disappearances are more the doing of Ashers than the Stag. The Stag just leaves you for the racers to pick over. I don’t think it would be Ashers though. I doubt they would have the courage to trespass here unless something’s changed,” Lloyd added.
“Maybe it’s the necromancers,” Cole opted.
“They would be foolish enough and most have very little knowledge on the Stag and no real fear of him. Only those around the wastes have any real fear or knowledge of him,” Zane explained and Clay noted, “It’s getting late. After what we went through today we should get some rest. We can go over this some more tomorrow and try to find a way into the city. I think tonight to be safe we sleep in the Strider and no one goes wandering off alone.” They were all in agreement however Jay was insisting they could park the Strider outside the ‘haunted’ building to which they disregarded.
The ninja and Knights were preparing for bed after having some down time to relax. They had reached Holamaya and would look into its problems and how to enter the city tomorrow. After their brush with Ashers earlier and the eerie state the research center had been left in they felt they needed some time to relax and have some fun. They had dinner and afterwards had some fun in the ships recreation room challenging each other to some video games. It had improved moods a bit but it was clear they were all still shaken up from the days events; some more than others. They were staying on the Strider for safety and had locked all ways to get into the ship to keep themselves safe. They had all gone to their bedrooms and were prepping for bed. Cole, Jay, Zane and Kai were sharing a room while Nya shared it with the other girls Macy and Ava along with Robin. Lloyd was sharing with Clay, Aaron and Axl. Lance still demanded to have a room to himself. Even though he was staying in another room Lloyd was hanging with his family before bed. Cole was prepping his bunk, Jay was reading his book on staying sane in the wastes while talking with the others and Kai was brushing his teeth and cleaning up by the little sink in the rooms bathroom but was hanging by the doorway to talk with the others. Zane was just sitting on the bed he had chosen, a lower bunk. He appeared to be looking through the guide book they had gotten from Balmora but Lloyd could tell something was wrong. He was being very quiet and when talked to would take a few seconds to reply as if he had not been paying full attention. He seemed distracted, distant. All day he seemed different from usual especially after the attack. He had been nervous and distant, keeping to himself and often trying to avoid being near others even them. He was quieter than usual too and had often seemed lost in thought. The other ninja had noticed his behaviour but were pretending to not have noticed not wanting to make Zane feel nervous or uncomfortable. They knew it must be very unpleasant and nerve wracking to get close to the den of an entity that for over a month had been harassing him. Lloyd was unsure what to think of Zanes change in behaviour though most of them agreed it had to do with anxieties over the Stag and nearly getting destroyed by Ashers. Jay had on the other hand had come up with some weird idea that the Stag had put a spell on or some robotic or magical worm in Zane to try and brainwash him into serving the Stag. Luckily Jay wasn’t voicing his opinion whenever Zane was around. They all knew Jays paranoid thoughts would hurt Zanes feelings if he knew them. The wastes seemed to be making Jay more paranoid everyday they spent in it. Even though Lloyd agreed with the others, except Jay’s paranoid view, he had worries it might be something worse but he was unsure what it could be and was hesitant to ask. When he saw Clay walk past their room he pardoned himself to go talk to Clay.
“Hey Lloyd, I was just heading to check the sensors, make sure nothings changed,” Clay stated as Lloyd approached him.
“I was wondering if we could talk?” Lloyd inquired as he followed Clay.
“Sure what would you like?” Clay replied as they walked down the corridor.
“I don’t want to cause any alarm but… well it’s about one of my friends…” Lloyd began nervous worried how Clay would take what he had to say and what it could mean for the mission.
“It’s Zane isn’t it?” Clay offered as they entered the control center.
“How’d you know?” Lloyd wondered and Clay responded, “we’ve noticed he seems to be acting odder than usual including to you guys.”
“You're right, I think something’s wrong. Zanes been quieter than usual, more skittish and seems distant. A few times it even seemed like he was trying to avoid us but I do not know why. After we gave him that dragon stone he went largely back to his old self but after this morning... he seems to be worse than when we first entered Balmora. He’s hiding it but we can all tell something is wrong, small things give it away. I don’t know if it is what happened, because we’re so close to the Stags home or if there is something else going on but I don’t like the possibilities,” Lloyd imparted while Clay listened checking the ships computers. There was nothing new and all seemed quite.
“I wouldn’t be surprised. It cannot be a good feeling to have that thing using you as a puppet whenever it wants then to nearly be killed by those Ashers only to be camped rate at the doorstep to the demon that has been plaguing you just a few hours later cannot be very comforting or pleasant,” Clay comforted.
“True I just worry it could be something worse,” Lloyd commented.
“Like what, the Blight?” Clay inquired curious.
“Maybe, I don’t see how he could have the Blight though; we checked him and saw no signs of it and we have kept an eye on him. He hasn’t come into contact with anything that looks to have it, at least not while we were around. There are a couple of times he was on his own but I don’t think he would have come into contact with it then he would avoid coming into contact with anything that would have it, he’s not reckless like Kai. If it was the Blight he would have already shown signs of it wouldn’t he but he doesn’t; just signs of the Stag tormenting him. No the worst I could think is that he could possibly betray or abandon us. He has been over trusting to too many of the constructs here including one with clear and direct ties to the Stag. I worry one of them might have done something possibly to try and bring him to their side. Some form of corruption or manipulation. If that happens I don’t know what we’d do. How would we get him back, would he let the Stag do terrible things to us? Would he help the Stag threaten our world? If he does side with them and not because of the Stag or the other constructs messing with him then why? Why would he choose them over us, his family?” Lloyd worried. There was a moment of silence; Clay looked at Lloyd with concern before he replied.
“You and your friends know him best, would that seem like something he would do?” Clay wondered.
“Not normally, but this place… this Stag entity… it seems to have affected everyone in some way, just look at Jay I’m pretty sure this place is driving him crazy and making him overly paranoid,” Lloyd began and Clay stated, “yha we’ve noticed that. Some of those ideas he has are quite crazy. Where does he get them?”
“Yha we know and you’ve only heard some of his strange ideas. You should hear some of the ones he has on you guys especially Aaron; I have no clue where he gets half his ideas. Anyway as I was saying Zane has been affected the most and the worst by it all. He tries to hide it a lot but we can tell,” Lloyd regaled and Clay expressed, “personally from what I have seen I don’t think he would willingly betray you or the others. You are right though; this place does stuff to individuals no matter what they are. I could see the Stag tricking him into betraying you thinking it could protect you, if that were to happen you would lose him. I don’t think this Stag would ever let him go. With his powers I’m betting that daemon sees him as an asset, a living weapon for its own purposes. I doubt though Zane would do that, he is clearly too terrified of the Stag and I wouldn’t blame him.”
“Your friend probably is just in a bad way from most folk hating him, the Stag bullying and using him and the Ashers trying to wipe us out. I am no expert but maybe he just needs your guys comfort to get over it all. Maybe let him take things easy, have time to relax and don’t expect too much from him. Maybe he just needs some time to rest and think some things over. Maybe in time he’ll tell you what’s wrong when he knows what to say,” Clay assured Lloyd.
“I guess… I just hope he tells us before something drastic happens or it’s too late. I still have no clue what this Stag is or how to stop it. There are so many unanswered questions and I don’t want to lose a member of my team, my family, especially to that thing or this place. Maybe if we let him take it easy or give him time he’ll open up to us. Thanks for the talk,” Lloyd expressed.
“You’re welcome now why don’t you head to bed? We’ll have a busy day tomorrow trying to find how to get into the Forbidden City. I’m just going to check a few more things then I’m retiring for the night,” Clay stated giving Lloyd a pat to the shoulder.
“Alright,” Lloyd agreed. He began to head back to his room but paused turning back to Clay to inquire one last thing.
“If something should happen to us or me can you make a promise?” he wondered.
“Sure what is it?” Clay said.
“Can you keep my mother safe and if we don’t make it can you make sure she makes it back home safely?” Lloyd worried.
“With a knights honour I promise I’ll try my hardest to keep her safe. Now why don’t you get some rest and I know it’s hard but try to not think of the worst. Try to stay positive,” Clay expressed.
“Thanks, I’ll try,” Lloyd expressed before leaving. Clay waited a few minutes by the computers. Soon Macy, Aaron, Axl and Merlok joined him in the control center. Merlok had been listening in through the computer and the others had noted Lloyd talking with Clay and were curious about what was up.
“He’s right to worry isn’t he?” Clay asked Merlok worried about the answer.
“I am afraid so,” Merlok answered and Aaron inquired, “were you able to try some sort of scan on Zane?”
“It was difficult, he has become very closed off and on guard since this morning but I was able to pick something’s up without him becoming aware of anything,” Merlok expressed.
“It’s more than this Stag plaguing him isn’t it?” Macy noted worried.
“I am afraid so. I could not get much but I was able to pick up something dark has come to settle inside him and is slowly consuming him,” Merlok explained. The knights were not happy or pleased with the news. They had come to know the ninja as friends and it was very disheartening to hear one of them was doomed with such a horrible fate.
“It’s what we feared isn’t it? I wasn’t wrong in my observations of those markings was I?” Clay worried and Merlok confirmed, “I am afraid not. It would appear he has been cursed with this Blight.”
“How long has he had it?” Axl wondered.
“That is hard to say, that Dragons blood stone could have been slowing the conditions progress or entering the heart of these cursed lands could be speeding up the condition. He could have recently got it or had it for some time while we have been here. Without a thorough scan I cannot really tell,” Merlok explained and Clay noted, “and I doubt he’d agree to that. From how he has been acting he knows he’s infected and is trying to hide it.”
“Should we tell them?” Macy wondered and Aaron noted, “what would we say? That one of them, one of their family has been cursed and likely doesn’t have much longer to live.”
“It can’t be pleasant to learn a loved one has this curse,” Axl noted and Clay expressed, “Would it be right for us though to tell them? Should we let them find it on their own or leave it up to Zane to tell them? He must be using his cloaking device to hide it from them. Either he’s embarrassed by it or doesn’t want them to know worried over what they would think or not wanting them to worry.”
“He can try to hide it but eventually the others are going to find out,” Aaron noted and Macy stated, “I think it best we wait for him to say something. Let him tell them when he feels it is right to do so. With all that’s been going on he’s probably very stressed and needs some time to work things out before letting them know.”
“Hopefully though he doesn’t wait too long,” Axl noted and Clay stated, “we’ll give him a few days. If he doesn’t tell them by then we’ll let the others know.”
“Maybe in the meantime you can look into this thing and see if there is something we could do. Some possible cure or at least a way to stall its progress so we have more time to look for a cure,” Macy stated.
“I will try but we likely will have to prepare for the worst. This curse is unlike anything I have ever seen or felt. It is ancient and the darkness it comes from is unlike anything I have ever known,” Merlok explained and Clay stated, “we could at least try.”
“Indeed we can. Also be on guard knights the strange energies of this place are masking many things but I was able to pick up that Zane is not the only one who has been cursed,” Merlok stated and Axl inquired, “who else is cursed?”
“I am not sure but any one of us could be infected by it. Even one of you knights,” Merlok stated and the knights looked at their hands and arms for possible signs of this Blight. They couldn’t see anything.
“We’ll just have to keep ever vigilant for anything now we should head to bed so the others don’t become suspicious,” Clay proclaimed.
“Interesting, birds like this need warmer temperatures, I wonder if the warmth from the ash brought it here,” a hyena folk expressed looking over a little songbird he held in his hands one of which was entirely robotic. Much of his body was half robotic. The left side of his face around his eye and forehead, part of his lower jaw around the chin area, his legs, most of his teeth, his entire right arm and some internal parts of his body were cybernetic. While most folk of his kind would have been fearful, not understanding, of what he had become the folk he had come to live with did not mind. They were the Scimitar folk. They had made him this way to save his life and he was grateful for it. It was not uncommon for the scimitar folk to replace damaged or missing body parts with robotic implants. To them it was no different than a pirates peg leg or hook hand just their cybernetics were much more versatile and capable of not just functioning like the part they replaced but able to feel and provide extra senses for their owners. Due to the threats from the serpent folk he was staying in their stronghold of Holamaya to help defend the secret vaults hidden deep within. The place was built inside a massive cavern inside a mountain, the mountain of Dawn. His home was a two story stone and wood structure built in a section by the northern wall of the place. He was in his study which occupied the top floor. His best friend and companion Juib, a Robo-bill made of Lunar-Steel, was curled up like a cat on his table next to a bird cage sleeping.
The little songbird he held was still but alive waiting for him to let it go. This species was from the warm wet forests of the Blackwoods not the cold alpine forests of the surrounding area where it had been found. As he held the little bird he noticed its normally dark eyes seemed to get even darker and develop an aquamarine iridescence.
“That is odd,” he noted before suddenly feeling a headache centered where his cybernetics were implanted. He put the little bird back in its cage and rubbed the left side of his head thinking he should take a break from his studies. A sudden loud commotion outside caught his attention. Rushing downstairs and outside he saw the folk of the city were being attacked by their own creations, pets and livestock! All seemed to have the same eyes he had seen in that bird. The normal folk were fleeing while the guards were trying to fight back to keep the others safe.
“What is going on? Is it the serpent folk?” he asked two of the guards who came rushing past his house. They stopped to talk to him.
“I do not think so Jules, this is something else. Folk at the entrance recalled seeing a black mass charge at them from the woods before disappearing. Shortly after everything went nuts! We are trying to get the civilians out before we launch out a full attack,” the guard stated before they continued heading to aid others. Jules went back inside and grabbed a sword and the Red Diamond Star before rushing out to help. He rescued a small scimitar girl from the attention of a Fear fabricant and got her back to her parents. He told them to get out of the city before heading into the library at the southern end of the cavern where the secret entrance to the cursed vault was located. He was worried this mass the guard had mentioned was after the vault. As a designated protector of it he had to make sure this thing was not trying to break into it and if that was what this thing had come for he knew he would find it there. The entrance to the library was a mix of stone and wood and a small table in it held a statue of Whetu on it. The sounds of squabbling outside seemed muffled and distant in the room. He went to head down the hall to the left of the entrance but as he entered the hall he stopped holding the left side of his head in pain. The headache had turned into a throbbing pain before receding and vanishing. As he recovered Jules saw ahead of him a dark mass forming. He readied his weapons to fight.
“You will not have anything from those vaults whatever you are,” Jules commanded as the shape of a strange unrecognisable deer formed in the mass. It stared at him with eerie aquamarine eyes. He had heard rumours of this entity, tales from travelers and adventurers of a shadowy Stag that stalked the woodlands and ruins of the world attacking anyone who crossed its path but he had never thought it was real. To see it for himself and see it was not just some being of myths he was stunned and unnerved but he put on a brave face.
“Why do you fight when you have already lost?” a deep voice seemed to come from everywhere, “foolish mortal. I cannot be destroyed but you can.” The sound of metal clacking behind him made Jules look over his shoulder to see Juib stalking like a panther, down on all fours, towards him giving off a metallic growling. Juibs normal lavender eyes were dark with an aquamarine iridescence, dark markings were on his limbs, back and face and what looked like blood coated his fingers. Juib held back as if waiting for a command. Jules was upset to see his companion under this things control.
“Your city has fallen and so shall you,” the voice boomed and as Jules prepared to attack the dark stag he suddenly felt his attention drawn to his special shuriken. He looked at it mesmerized for a few seconds. It was as if the item was communicating to him and the red of its blades reflected in his eyes. He then looked at his sword, then the statue of Whetu, then Juib who had stopped growling and stood silent and motionless. When he looked into Juibs eyes he thought he could see fear and pain showing in them as if Juib was fighting this entities control but it was too much for him. It was painful to see his beloved pet, his companion, like that. Jules then looked at the sword again for a few seconds before throwing it away to the side out of his reach. The shadowy deer was unmoved by his actions though Juib watched the sword fall and stared at it as it lay on the ground. What looked to be a sad emotion came to his rather emotionless face as if he was saddened knowing what Jules was going to do and upset by it.
“Whether I fight or not it will not change the outcome. You will win, I cannot hurt you, none of us here can. Our city will fall to your rule we cannot stop it. Please do as you wish with me but spare the citizens of this place. They mean you no harm and just want to live peacefully. If you spare them they will flee and not bother you. Before you do anything now I want to let you know. There will come a day this curse will be purged, the city freed from your dark reign and the truth revealed but it is not today. When dragons return to the mountain and the ash rises you will see,” Jules stated trying to hide the tears coming to his eyes, “now do as you wish I will not challenge you.” Jules closed his eyes awaiting his fate. He did not want to do this but he knew this was the end for him, the Star had shown him it. It had also shown him that his death would not be in vain, the Stag would agree to his terms sparing the citizens and one day things would be set right, he would not be there though to see it.
“Wise choice. For your courageous and honourable choice I will agree to your terms,” the voice boomed before darkness engulfed Jules. A cold dark emptiness that felt like he was being engulfed by the void…
Cole found himself kneeling in a dark room. Red paper lanterns hung on the walls indicating the rooms’ large size but despite looking to give off light the only light in the room was focused on him. The ground was a stone floor but he could not see what the rest of the room was made of. A dark stag headed man strode out of the darkness, a spear in his hand and a necklace with a large red diamond was hung around his neck. The man stood in front of him slamming the end of his spear into the ground and scowled down at him. Cole tried to get up to face the Stag man but he felt as if he didn’t have the strength to and remained kneeling feeling weak and vulnerable. Something felt wrong. He looked around but saw nothing but the darkness then he looked at his hands. On them and his arms were the glowing marks of the Blight! He was terrified.
“Maybe I should pity you animals, brave you are to have made it this far and face me as your life slips away but young and foolish,” a deep slightly echoing voice spoke but when Cole looked at the Stag man his mouth did not move. The voice seemed to come from everywhere.
“Maybe if you pledge yourself to me you can join your friend in my service and be spared. Together we could purge this curse from the wastes and realms. Kneel before me, take my hand in friendship and I will show mercy, deny and face my fury,” as the voice spoke Zane came from the shadows behind the man and stood next to him. Zane also had the Blight! His hands, arms, feet and legs were covered by the markings and even around his eyes which appeared normal. Zane was holding his bow and aimed it at Cole who found he was unable to move or speak no matter how hard he tried. Zane said nothing and something about him looked dark and mad, a dark mentally disturbed mad. Cole wanted to fight the Stag to try and snap Zane out of whatever trance he was in, to get away from this dark entity who just looking at him made Cole feel as if he was being touched by the cold darkness of the Oni but he couldn’t. The feelings this entity brought, the cold hollowed feeling, he had felt a similar though more mild version of this feeling only a few times before and he dreaded it. The worst was when his mother died. Her death was the worst time he had felt those feelings and he had never wanted to feel them again.
The Stag man reached out a hand to him and for some reason he could not entirely understand Cole wanted to reach out and touch his hand. It somehow felt like the wise and safe thing to do, it felt right, even though he knew it was wrong. He found himself starting to reach out to touch his hand but he stopped mid way trying to fight the urge. He had to fight the urge. Why was he going to touch his hand? The Stag was a being of darkness, who knew what it wanted and what it could do especially if it had control over all of them. They’d seen a taste of what he could do and it had horrified them. He had felt what it was like to have the Stag control him and he didn’t want that. If this being had all of their powers what kind of damage could it do?! What horrors would it unleash?! He had to fight but that urge to agree to the Stags words was growing stronger and it was harder to fight the urge as his hand slowly got closer…
“Cole get up!” Lloyd yelling his name awoke him. He was in the bedroom on the Strider and he could see no evidence of the Blight on him. Jay had been shaking him trying to wake him up. Kai, Lloyd, Nya and Clay stood in the middle of the room. They were all looking at him waiting for him to get up. All looked worried.
“We have a problem!” Jay exclaimed.
“The Four Kagaurs are missing … along with Zane,” Clay explained. In a bit of a panic they all hurried to the command centre on the Strider where the others were all waiting around a very large computer screen on the one wall.
“In case one of those shadows was to be in the bay last night we turned on some security cameras for the cargo bay. Sadly there is no sound but we found this. It happened about an hour ago,” Robin explained as Ava loaded up the footage from a security camera. It was taken from the entry doors and focused on the Strider behind which was the cat walk and the way into the main building. The main building was too dark to see anything but the rest was lit by a light that mimicked moon light on the ceiling which the knights had left on for the camera since the night vision was not working. There was enough light to make out shapes and some details but not a lot of fine detail.
Everything seemed fine then for some reason there was a period of static. When the picture came back on two hyenoids were waiting by the base of the stairs for the cat walk. Though their mouths weren’t moving it looked like they might be talking by the way they moved their heads. They paused as two more came out of the ship onto the deck followed by another figure. Zane! They went and met the ones waiting by the stairs. They stood there talking for a bit, the hyenoids mouths now moving, but the camera was too far away to give a clear enough picture to see what they were talking about. The hyenoids then headed up into the main building. Zane remained for a few seconds; he looked back at the ship then followed the hyenoids disappearing in the dark. It was hard to tell if he was showing any emotions as he looked back at the ship or walked away however the ninja believed Zane looked to be nervous possibly upset.
“Did he just follow them? We made a deal with the Stag; I knew we couldn’t trust him!” Kai blurted while Cole noted, “But his eyes seemed normal. None of them had those weird Stag possessed eyes or markings like we saw earlier.”
“His eyes appeared normal in the ring too though,” Lloyd commented.
“What do you think they were talking about?” Nya wondered while Jay babbled, “Probably how the Stag is going to tear us apart for coming here after he told us not too. I’m betting they’ll ambush us, tear us apart then feast on our remains with their dark master later and Zane will end up joining them because they’ve brainwashed him into being one of them!” Everyone else just looked at Jay. The ninja were not amused while the knights were stunned by Jays over reaction.
“Dude I don’t think they’d do that!” Aaron stated after a while of silence.
“I don’t think Zane would do that even if he was under their control,” Nya confided and Lloyd added, “besides if they were going to do away with us they could have done it while we were asleep.”
“Indeed, there is something else going on here,” Clay noted.
“He looked nervous I wonder if something was wrong,” Nya noted and Jay expressed, “but we checked him over and he looked fine.”
“Yha but he could have been hiding something, he has done it before,” Kai noted and Cole who remembered his dream mentioned, “maybe the Stag did something to force him to abandon us. Some sort of bargain maybe.” Cole thought of bringing up the dream he had but he decided not to. One of them was now missing and they needed to keep moral up. He also had no clue what a lot of it meant and he did not feel like trying to think it over at that time.
“Maybe, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Stag double crossed us,” Lloyd mentioned.
“There is something odd about this clip. They obviously came into the room during the period of static and likely were doing more than what we saw. They probably were even wandering around in here while we were asleep; kinda creepy when you think of it. They likely caused the static, it’s not uncommon they do it to keep their movements secret; happens in Balmora all the time. What’s odd is they let us see this. It’s like they wanted us to see this,” Ava explained.
“But why? Why did they want us to see this?” Macy wondered and Jay blurt out with, “isn’t it obvious! To show us he won and has taken Zane. Any one of us could be next or maybe he will force Zane to hunt us down like animals for the Stags cruel enjoyment!” The others were again stumped by Jays comment.
“I think this place is messing with Jays mind. He’s getting more paranoid every day,” Kai whispered to Lloyd and Cole who both agreed. The lights suddenly went out in the bay leaving only those in and on the Strider on confusing and unnerving them.
“Guess someone needs to go out there and jump around to get the lights back on,” Jay laughed trying to remain calm while on the verge of a panic attack. Ava and Robin looked confused.
“We took them off the sensors before we went to bed; put them onto a normal switch mode. They should still be on,” Robin explained prompting Kai to ask, “Then that’s not good is it?”
“No one’s out there to mess with the switch so the power must have gone out. Why don’t you guys take some flashlights, head to the dome and see if you can find any evidence of your friend. Maybe they’re still in the building. We’ll head to the utilities room and see if we can figure out what is wrong with the power. We’ll meet you in the dome,” Clay proposed. They were in agreement. The ninja headed to the dome thinking that was the most likely place the hyenoids would have taken Zane while the Knights headed to the utility room. When they got to the dome they tried getting the generator going but for some reason it refused to start.
“I know one way to jump start a generator,” Jay commented while the others were looking around with their flashlights to see if they could see anything. None of them wanted to venture away from the entrance afraid of what might be hiding in there. Jay used his powers to jump start the generator and as it booted up the lights slowly one by one turned on and once the ones at the far end turned on they were all shocked.
Lying near the entrance to Holamaya was an Ash Walker! It lay with its back to them and kind of reminded them of a horse by the way it was resting. Oddly it remained unresponsive to the lights turning on and remained with its eyes closed as if sleeping, its head hanging down from its upright neck.
“How did that get in here!?” Kai blurted out startled.
“There is only one place such a big creature could have come from,” Nya responded and they all looked at the doors to the Forbidden City. The doors were just big enough to let an Ash Walker crawl through.
“What is it they said that walker the Stag uses looks like?” Cole wondered as they all slowly moved closer to the walker to get a better look at it, Jay was trying to hide behind him annoying Cole as Jay tried to use him as a shield. The walker didn’t seem to acknowledge them.
“A cybernetic left front leg and right eye,” Nya responded. Its eyes were closed so they could not see its eye and its left side was hidden from them facing the mountain. What they could see was some metal plating on the right side of its head and a few of the spikes and plates that made up the armour of its back were metal as well. No one had mentioned these features. Was this some random metal fused walker or the Stags favoured walker? They all had a strong suspicion they knew the answer but they wanted conformation of their thoughts. Lloyd tried to see if he could get around the creature and see its left side but as he got close to it the walker slammed its tail on the ground and let out a deep snort and growl not moving its head as it did this sending him back to the others. You didn’t want to mess with such a massive creature.
“Okay maybe we could try and get it to stand up or move?” Lloyd opted before they noticed a slight movement in the ash around them. They then watched in shock as two Venom-Fangs and the metal plated Birch Runner they had been told of, Bruma, rose from the ash around them shaking the ash off themselves as they did.
“We’re doomed!” Jay screamed as the creatures looked at them. Their eyes were normal for their species, even though their seemed to be a glow to them, so they were not possessed but being wild animals they could not let their guard down, these creatures were still likely to attack them even without their masters influence. The creatures gave a few hisses and calls at them before the creatures turned their attention to the entrance to the research centre, growling as they did. Turning thinking the knights were coming in they all were horrified to see the monstrous figure of an Ashers sorcerer standing in the entrance with a group of full blooded Ashers like those they had encountered in the wastes in front of it.
“Thought you could get away from us did you? You got lucky last time, you won’t this time,” one of the Ashers stated. For some reason they could not understand the Runner and Fangs put themselves between the ninja and the Ashers as if protecting them. Cole was the first one to acknowledge something behind them feeling a slight but deep vibration coming through the ground originating from something moving behind them. He looked back to investigate and was stunned. The walker was standing on its hind legs, rearing up, to show off its massive size as it gave off a deep bellow.
“Well that got it to move,” Jay joked as they all looked up at it. Sure enough the left front arm was entirely robotic and its right eyeball was replaced with a cybernetic replica that boasted a golden glow. Around this eye and in the chest connecting to the cybernetic arm were markings that resembled circuitry under its thick skin. Cole couldn’t tell if this was from real circuitry under its skin or just decorative tattoos on the creature. This was indeed the Stags Ash Walker! The walker glared at the Ashers seeming not to care about the ninja who stood rate in front of it.
“You think they can protect you?” the Asher called again.
“Actually we have no idea what they are doing,” Cole stammered. The Birch Runner stomped on the ground towards the Ashers sending a growing sheet of ice towards them which was stopped by the sorcerer throwing a fire spell on the sheet, stopping it and melting it before it could reach them. The runner hissed its frustration at the Ashers.
“Nice try now it is our turn and now you don’t have that cold hearted metal freak with you. Whose goanna save you now?” one of the Ashers growled. A bolt suddenly came from the direction of the scimitar dragon to hit the one Asher in the shoulder. At first they thought maybe the Knights had found a way in thinking that bolt was from Aaron, he did wield a crossbow after all, but when they looked their hopes were dashed as they saw a group of about five of the Stags Scimitar Samurai perched on top of the Scimitar dragon. Each wielded their own type of weapon. The bolt didn’t seem to do any harm to the entity who just pulled it out with an evil looking grin as it stared at the hyenoids.
“Nice try but only the cold and ice can harm us. You should know that you brainless tin cans,” the Asher who got shot boasted.
“We were not trying to hurt you just distract you,” the one hyenoid commented as Cole felt a cold hand touch his shoulder. He jumped startled and turned to look hoping it was Zane who had touched him, it kind of felt like him. To his disappointment and shock it was instead a hyenoid who wasted no time in throwing a sack over his head and cuffing something around his wrists. The others got surprised by hyenoids as well who did the same thing while the hyenoids on the dragon argued with the Ashers. It was clear by the sound that the two groups had a deep hatred and rivalry with each other one that clearly was enough to distract the Ashers from their task. After having been blinded the ninja could feel themselves being dragged away and no matter how much they tried they were unable to muster their powers leading Cole to believe they had been cuffed with this Cursed Stone which acted as this realms Venge Stone. Cole was not too sure, being unable to see anything, but he was pretty sure they were being dragged into the Forbidden City.
Notes:
A note on the pink tinted lightening, I have seen this quite a few times in the Algonquin highlands an elevated region averaging around 500 meters/1640 ft above sea level. I believe the difference in color to the lightening is the result of differences in the atmosphere resulting from the elevation.
For Fun some of Jays Paranoia I came up with:
To Zane: J- “you’re not hearing voices are you?”
Z confused- “My hearing is fine I have no problems picking up others voices.”
J- “No I’m talking like in your head speaking only to you, telling you to do things like get in a fight with someone, strangle the rest of us in our sleep or sacrifice us on some dark alter for some daemon?”
Z- “No… why would you think I would do that?”
Secretly to Cole after he and Zane met Divayth:- J- “you sure that’s all what he gave you did? It didn’t start warping your minds?”
C- “all it did was do something with our vision to make the Ashers visible, some sort of detect life magic I think.”
J- “okay but did you keep an eye on this Divayth? He didn’t try screwing with Zanes mind behind your back?”
C- “sure cause I was able to keep an eye on both him and Zane while trying to not get pulverized by those thugs. They were just as wrapped up in the fight as I was they didn’t have time for any funny business. I think you’re being a bit paranoid.”
J- “Think what you want but I’m going to be keeping my eyes on Zane and you. We’ll see whose being paranoid…”
J- “What is with that Aaron, how can someone have no fear! He’s got to be under some sort of curse or maybe he has some sort of mind controlling worms in his brain. Whatever he’s under I hope I don’t get it.”
J- “I don’t think Aarons human, what do you think he is? An elf, a were-wolf, maybe some sort of robot or un-natural being? Whatever it is it has no fear?”
J- “Clay has these powers right? Why isn’t he using them? Are they actually dark powers? If so we better be careful, who knows what he’ll do to us.”
J- “Do you think Robins actually an ally to the Stag possibly one of his droids in disguise and his fascination over Zane is because he wants to learn how to convert Zane over to the Stags side?”
J- “Why’s Lance play with his hair so much? Does he have something hidden in it like a camera for some dark beings to spy on us?”
Aa to J after he hears some of Jays paranoia just to play with him- “Hey bro you know why my last names fox? Wait for nightfall and I’ll show you, hope you can run bro cause I have the urge to hunt and crave for the taste of human chickens. (then mimics a wolf howl while J backs away from him unnerved)”
Secretly to Kai, Nya, Cole, Lloyd especially after starting trek into the wastes:
J- “Do you think this Ghost Fence or the Stag has something that could be emitting a signal kind of like a sirens song to mess with Zanes mind? Do you think it could start messing with our minds?”
J- “Do you think that daemon could have put something in the air to mess with Zane and turn him on us like some sort of spell or curse?”
J- “That Fang-cub programming Zane was given do you think it allows others with it to secretly commune to him in his head without others knowing and one of these cubs is speaking to Zane to convince him to join them? Maybe altering his programming to make him evil like them?”
J- “Maybe one of these secret minions for the Stag put something like a magic or robotic worm or slug in some food or drink someone’s gave him where it waited in him till he was sleeping to find a way out of his stomach and into his brain where its slowly messing with his programming and turning him to the Stags side?”
J- “Do you think some of the Torchbugs constantly around Zane are actually tiny robots that are trying to hack him and alter his mind? Maybe they’re whispering something in his ears like tiny sirens to sway his mind?” When someone asks why he thinks this he responds “why else are they hanging around him so much?” He’ll accept the logical explanation that they are attracted to the glow of his eyes but doesn’t drop his idea.
Kai after hearing some of Jays paranoia especially some of his more bizarre ideas- “Where are you getting some of these ideas?”
Jay whenever someone calls him crazy for his ideas- “You wait and see. When we’re trapped by that monster and Zanes sided with them or even sacrificing us to his new master you’ll see. You won’t be calling me crazy then.” And “How else would you explain Zanes strange behaviour?” to which Cole, Kai or Lloyd could comment “How should we explain your strange behaviour?” to which Jay denies he is acting strange or being paranoid. Whenever one of the knights hear any of Jays paranoia they wonder if this is normal behaviour or if something’s wrong with him.
If have any questions go ahead and ask I do not bite. I will try to answer them, I will however not give away spoilers.
Chapter 33: The Stag
Summary:
We finally meet the daemon in the flesh! Well as flesh as an ethereal being can be.
Notes:
Pictures relating to story can be found here: https://www.deviantart.com/nerdy-hyena/gallery/72478681/story-project
They are really good and help to visually flush out several aspects of the story including environments, characters, outfits, locations, creatures and other aspects often important ones in the story. All images I post in my work can be found there if you want a better look at them. Defiantly make sure to check them out.Also if you need a refresher on creatures, flora or aspects of the environment you can check out the second chapter in this work titled 'Keikiarys Guide to the Ash Wastes'. It includes short descriptions and pictures of these things.
Parts of this section are subject to change as the prequel story is written to improve story continuity.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
“I think we can let them see now that they cannot escape,” the commanding voice of a hyenoid proclaimed before the sacks were taken off their heads. It took a few seconds for their eyes to adjust to the light of the place before they could look around. Instead of hand cuffs they had been cuffed with some sort of metal wrist bands. The bands looked like this Cursed Stone but there was something different about them. They were a dark metal with cracks of a cold dark color etched into them here and there. The cracks appeared to resemble some sort of symbols they could not recognise. Whatever they were made of they worked just like venge stone blocking their powers no matter how hard some of them, mainly Kai, tried to muster their powers. Being able to see again Cole found the hyenoids had indeed pulled them inside the city. The place was decently lit for being built in a mountain but still quite dim. They could make out that they appeared to be in some sort of square or foyer like region. Two equally sized large Scimitar doors sat across from each other. One behind them which Cole believed was the one they had come from and one in front of them which was down a long hall dimly lit by some metal lanterns fastened to the wall. To the sides in the foyer were highly damaged facades of half a building built into the walls on either side a few metal light structures built onto their walls to provide the light in the area. Dead vines and plants sat on the lower walls and in what looked to have been planters at one point. Above them on the ceiling of the cave was a large round structure that looked to have once been some sort of light structure but was now dead leaving the light structures on the buildings and walls as the only sources of light. Ash was scattered by the entrance behind them but did not continue into the rest of the place. There were a few piles of rubble by the edges but other than that it was relatively clean. The ninja were surrounded by five hyenoids who wore civilian style clothes, the two venom fangs and the Birch Runner. The ninja were all cuffed and confused. Kai and Lloyd were struggling to break the cuffs off, Jay was starting to panic while Cole and Nya were nervous recognising the feelings given off by the Scimitar Samurai armour worn by some of the hyenoids and dreading the memories and emotions it brought. By the door behind them the armoured hyenoids stood with a mechanism that looked to open the door. Interestingly the mechanism was entirely manually operated.
“That’s why Zane couldn’t open the doors, it’s all manual,” Kai whispered to the others while the hyenoids were talking with each other using the Scymer language.
“Odd, you’d think being so technologically advanced they would have a more advanced way to operate the doors,” Jay quietly pondered trying to stay calm and not go into a panic.
“The simple mechanical method could be safer and more efficient at keeping trespassers out. It can’t be hacked and requires a physical being to operate,” Nya quietly responded nervous. They were all scarred and nervous unsure of what their captors had planned for them. Their weapons had been taken from them and were being held by some of the armoured droids.
“I guess in a place like this it makes more sense to go that way. Don’t want just anyone coming in,” Cole guessed.
“Celaena will take care of those Ashers. Take these into the main chamber the Stag wants to see them,” one of the hyenoids wearing armour with a deep commanding voice that Cole felt sounded familiar told a hyenoid wearing civilian style clothes. The armoured individual was not wearing his helmet like the others allowing the symbol for a samurai to be seen on his forehead. He also had war paint like markings on the skin around his eyes and on his cheeks that bore a bizarre mixed iconography between technological and daemonic symbols. Mixed in with these markings were a few small metal implants that resembled bumps and small spikes on his forehead and cheeks. He had dark yet bright red eyes and dark warriors’ style hair. It all gave him a dark almost monstrous or demonic appearance. The individual he had talked to was rather contrasting to his appearance. The civilian droid had the symbol of a radio on his forehead, short messy silvery powder blue hair, electric blue eyes, goldenish and reflective markings resembling circuitry on one side of his face and scimitar designs around the mark on his forehead and the other side of his face. His clothes were bluish with electric golden coloured decorations and designs to them.
“The one with the red eyes, I recognise his voice… and those eyes!” Cole whispered to the others feeling nervous and Nya added equally disturbed, “He was the one leading the samurai when the Stag possessed us.” The two were shaking scared of the beings presence and the memories and feelings it brought.
“He’s overly creepy!” Jay commented struggling to keep it together. The hyenoid with the radio symbol motioned to his pals in civilian clothes and the creatures who then herded the ninja down the hall in front of them.
“Where are you taking us? What have you done to our friend?” Lloyd questioned as they were led down the hall while Jay blurted out not amusing the other ninja, “please don’t eat us or tear us to bits or whatever it is you do!” The hyenoids laughed at Jay but none responded to them as they led them down the hall. They opened the doors when they reached the end of the hall and what they saw on the other side was both shocking and stunning.
It was hard to believe what they saw was inside a mountain. On the other side was a massive cavern lit by the strange light structures like in the first room. The light they emitted looked a lot like sunlight. Strange small faintly glowing crystals grew from on the walls and the ceiling in a few spots and what looked like a strange faintly glowing algae, lichen or moss grew from the ceiling and walls as well. While they did not provide much light they gave the walls and ceiling a decorative look and without the main light source on likely would give the walls and ceiling a resemblance to a nights sky. Massive sculpted stone columns with decorative goldish metal plates some which had walkways going through them seemed to help support the roof. Plants grew on these structures including vines, ferns, fungi, mosses and shrubs. Some only had plant patches on lower parts or what looked to be planters built in them while a few were completely covered by flora with one even being encompassed in a massive redwood which looked to have grown over it areas for passages and the structures metal decorations having been cut out in the bark and branches. Various types of racers and birds perched on these structures or flew around in the cave. Walkways made of a mix of stone and metal went in various directions all connecting to the large main one they were led onto which was held a couple feet off the ground. Small walkways led from this main one to the ground. A river which had various creeks branching from it wound through the place originating at a waterfall which poured from a small tunnel with a cracked ceiling at the far end of the cave. Structures like wooden and stone homes and stone towers were dotted here and there, mainly by the edges of the cavern close to the walls but a few stone watch towers hugged by the main walkway. Some large structures were built partially into the walls of the cavern. All bore decorative Scymer metal plates and decorations to them. A few tall structures were encased in some form of redwood tree spaces for the structures metal decorations, windows, platforms, doors and pipe work cut out of the bark. Scymer lamp-posts lined pathways though they weren’t on. Various lichens, mosses and other vined organisms dripped off tall structures and upper walkways. Planters with decorative flora dotted areas that looked to be settlements and there were sections where hubs of machinery for different workings in the cavern were held beneath Scymer pavilions and often separated with metal barred Scymer walls and gates to keep creatures out. Structures on the ceilings seemed to be like those of the under city in Balmora to simulate weather. Many looked to have most of the machinery built into a likely space in the rock above however some piping was visible running across parts of the ceiling. Where pipes were exposed walkways for maintenance crews hung next to them coming out of structures built into the walls and roofs to access the structures. On the ground were small farm fields and pens with livestock like chickens in some places. Others were left as natural with plants and shrooms from the wastes, surrounding forest and this Blackreach place they had seen in the museum growing wild all over. Even trees and the tree sized mushrooms were growing in the cavern there tops coming close to but not touching the caverns ceiling. At the far end of the walkway was a large patio like platform elevated a bit above the walkway which sat in front of what looked to have once been a palace built into the wall. Cole recognised the place from the dream he had, he wanted to tell the others but he felt it was not the right time to talk about it. Maybe later if we make it, he thought.
As they were led towards the patio various creatures from the wastes, Blackreach and beyond, including a pair of these hoofivore creatures and some species from both Ninjago and knighton, stopped to watch them from the ground and the pillars. Some of the animals clearly showed signs of cybernetic implants or parts. Creatures seemed to be everywhere hanging out on structures, utilizing flora, hanging in both wild and domestic regions and all were surprisingly calm. The constructs didn’t seem bothered by them and the creatures weren’t scared of the robotics. The hyenoids that were there also stopped to look at them. The hyenoids were mostly dressed in civilian clothes with some dressed like the extinct Scymer folk and some were dressed as the samurai. Each of the droids boasted a unique symbol on their foreheads. Some were working the farms; others were cleaning or working on or in structures, others were patrolling like guards and some were even fishing from the river. There were Scimitar constructs including Robo-bills, a robotic hoofivore, various fabricants and a scimitar centurion there as well which stopped what they were doing, most helping the hyenoids, to watch. All the entities seemed curious about who they were and what was going on. None of the individuals seemed hostile or under the Stags control and unlike the folk in Balmora they didn’t seem to have a hatred towards them. They seemed more curious or indifferent.
“You know for such a dark entity I wouldn’t expect his lair to be so nice,” Kai commented.
“I know this could almost pass as some sort of exotic resort town. Kind of makes it more creepy doesn’t it?” Jay expressed and Lloyd agreed, “considering who rules here yha.” They were all on edge and scared. They were led to the patio at the end of the walkway where they were surprised to see Zane. He was standing talking with a hyenoid who had lavender eyes, white hair, off white monks like attire which bore golden scimitar symbols on its trims, was barefoot and had a symbol that was half a gear and half the overhead view of a stags head on his forehead. Zane was not wearing the cuffs they had. As they neared the platform the hyenoid drew Zane’s attention towards them. Zane seemed worried and unsure of what to do or say to them.
“Zane! What are you doing here? Why did you abandon us for these things?” Jay questioned motioning to a hyenoid who did not seem too thrilled and a bit disgusted at being called a thing.
“The Stag didn’t hold his bargain did he?” Lloyd asked sounding worried.
“No he kept his bargain. I chose to come here willingly,” Zane expressed looking guilty.
“What!? Why?” Jay exclaimed as they were all stunned. They could not understand why he would want to willingly come here. Zane had made it clear how terrible the Stag made him feel and they were confused why he would want to have those feelings again.
“Why would you want to serve the Stag? You said yourself how terrible it felt to have the Stag control you, why would you want that?” Kai questioned. Looking trapped Zane expressed, “I do not want to serve the Stag.”
“Then why would you come here?” Nya wondered and noting their questioning was making Zane more nervous the hyenoid Zane had been talking to cut in to proclaim, “He came to see me.”
“Who are you?” Cole inquired to which the hyenoid responded, “I am Juib. Your friend wanted to talk to me. We will have to continue our talk later though; the Stag is on his way. Now I think it wise if you speak only when talked to. The Stag is very temperamental. I would also recommend you grovel before him and he might be more lenient towards you.” Cole was a little confused. He recognised the name Juib from his dream but Juib was a special looking Robo-bill not a hyenoid.
Juib herded Zane over to stand with the rest of them where the hyenoids who brought them in then forced all of them to kneel. Shortly after a deep un-natural voice seemed to come from everywhere which spooked the hyenoids and beasts who all backed off, all but Juib that was. Juib stood on the patio stone faced staring at the ground like he wanted nothing to do with what was going to happen.
“So you did not heed my warning. You are either very brave or very foolish,” the voice stated as a black smoke rolled out from under the patio and walkway around them coating its top leaving where they all knelt as the only piece not covered. The smoke was shockingly cold and even Zane, who had the highest tolerance to the cold out of all of them, was affected by it. The cold of the smoke was making the air around them colder to the point they could see their breaths every now and then. This was an unnatural dark smoke. The smoke surrounded them on the walkway and some of it that was on the patio in front of them coalesced into the shape of a large elk like deer with eyes that burned an eerie aquamarine color and a short horn between its eyes. The stag stood like a deer preparing to charge with his head held low, ears back and eyes narrowed. Despite taking a physical form a puff of small dark smoke or mist seemed to come out of its hide every now and then from random places. Just looking at the figure brought the cold dark empty feeling and though he wanted to look away thinking that might put a stop to the horrid feelings Cole found he was unable to take his eyes off the figure, they all were unable to stop looking at it.
“So which are you?” the Stag questioned his mouth not moving as he talked. His deep slightly un-human voice seemed to come from everywhere even from within their own minds and carried a hint of an echo to it. His voice unnerved them all though three of them were feeling worse from its sound than the others. Cole, Nya and Zane began to feel like they were going into shock from the sound of his voice remembering his control over them and the feelings it had brought.
“Remember don’t show fear, he feeds off it,” Lloyd quietly whispered to the others trying to seem calm as the Stag swung his head slowly side to side surveying them. They were trying to act brave but they all found themselves shaking from fear even if they were able to pull off the appearance of being emotionless. Understandably Zane refused to look directly at the Stag instead focusing on the floor by himself or the mist around them and both Cole and Nya struggled to look anywhere near him.
“I know what you come for tell me why should I let you enter the vaults?” the Stag questioned trying to meet his gaze with one of theirs. They were all hesitant to respond not sure how to answer it in a way to please the Stag, if there was a way to please him.
“We need something to stop Dagon to prevent him from destroying the world. Because we like our world and don’t want the world to end!” Jay finally blurted out when he accidentally looked into the Stags eyes which made him feel the full cold dark empty feeling Zane, Cole and Nya had talked about. After looking into his eyes Jay found he could no longer act brave or look at the Stag and looked away putting his hands over his face to shield his view of the Stag only braving a quick peak every now and then. The Stag laughed at Jays words with a deep unnerving cackle before speaking his forms mouth opening in amusement for a short time with the noise revealing wolf like jowls to his deer head. His teeth were bear like and a stark white fading to a hint of aquamarine at their bases contrasting sharply with his black as the void form. It unnerved them all even more as it made his deer like form seem less like a natural creature and more of a daemonic one. His laugh caused some of the constructs and creatures to further back up or to even try and hide from him.
“Oh how little you mortals understand things then again your little minds might not be able to comprehend the truth. Dagon is not just merely fusing realms. He is dragging the realms into the void where they will eventually be destroyed becoming one with the voids energies and become the building blocks for his new world. He is starting in your realms but in time he will target all the realms and everything in them till nothing is left. He is destroying the world to create one anew,” the Stag declared after an unsettling laugh showing off his teeth. The Stags revelation startled them all and sent shivers down their spines.
“What about those living in the realms, what happens to them?” Lloyd inquired and baring his teeth almost looking pleased the Stag growled, “A lucky few who give into the void and become one with it may survive and get to play a role in his new world but everything else will eventually perish before he is done and be recycled into his new world.”
“We’re not going to let that happen, we have to stop this,” Lloyd declared to which the Stag proclaimed, “Really and how do you not know that maybe this is supposed to happen? Maybe the realms are supposed to be destroyed, to end in order to make way for a new one.”
“Destroying the world to create one of un-death, darkness, cruelty, pain and torture I don’t think so it has to be stopped,” Lloyd countered and the Stag snorted at him.
“Oh how little you mortals understand… trying to hasten the end may delay it while trying to work to delay the end may bring it close ever think of that?” the Stag questioned and Lloyd who was not in the mood for chatting with such a dark corrupt being stated, “we didn’t come to have a philosophical talk with you.”
“Maybe you should, anyway I do not care what happens. It will not bother me if Dagon destroys your realm or this one nor will it matter to me if the world ends so give me a better reason,” the Stag growled baring his bear like teeth in his wolf like jowls which unnerved them even more.
“What better reason would there be?” Cole faltered attempting to come off brave and look at the Stag but still unable to do so. After his words the Stag began to laugh, a deep unpleasant sounding laugh which had the hints of a growl in it scaring Cole, Nya, Zane and Jay even more. Only Lloyd and Kai were able to still try and look calm even though they could feel they were starting to feel overwhelmed by their fear.
“There is not, I do not care your reason. I like it when mortals feel fear. I warned you if you did not leave you would feel my wrath. I have long waited for those like you. The Dragon Guard never dared come close to my lands but you foolishly did. With your powers I would be unstoppable. I could obliterate those Ashers, purge the lands and tear apart the boundaries between realms and overtake Dagon....” the Stag began his teeth bared before Lloyd cut him off.
“You cannot have our powers and we will never serve you. Tafari told me what you are. You are part Oni,” Lloyd spoke to which the Stag stalked towards them coming to stand in front of Lloyd his head bent down so it was at the same level as Lloyds his teeth still bared. Lloyd was still trying to look brave but was starting to struggle with the illusion while having the Stag so close to them while Kai could no longer hold back his fear and started to cower from it.
“And I know what and who you are. Do you think that scares me, do you think I feel a kinship towards you because I do not. You are no more than a pawn to me just like your friends. I am far more powerful than you could ever be,” the Stag growled baring his teeth as if preparing to bite rate in Lloyds face. Lloyd tried to meet the Stag eye to eye but he couldn’t look it in the eyes. The feelings the act brought up terrified him. There was something unnatural and disturbing to the Stags eyes but he couldn’t tell exactly what and just trying to think of what it could be sent shivers up his spine.
“Can you please talk like a normal person!” Jay shrieked still unable to look at the Stag. Hearing the voice coming from everywhere and in his head plus not seeing any mouth move to make it was starting to give Jay a panic attack. Not to mention the sight of a creature often considered gentle and docile with features, namely a mouth of a vicious predatory animal that would kill and eat them was unsettling and a nightmarish sight to him. Cole, Nya and Zane were in a state of shock shaking and silent from the Stags presence unable to look at him. Their eyes were closed and they were huddled down trying to make themselves look as small as they could hoping the Stag would leave them alone. They had felt what this thing could do to them and they were scared it would try to possess them again or worse especially if one of the others angered the Stag too much.
“Jay you’re not supposed to show fear,” Kai whispered to him trying to hide his fear while the Stag gave a deep sinister laugh startling them all. Cole, Nya and Zane opened their eyes to see what was going on still highly disturbed.
“You do not need to show it, I can sense it. You are all afraid as you should be. So you want me to talk in what you would deem a normal way I can do that,” the Stag took a few steps back dissolving into smoke and reforming as a man with the head of an elk stag. His skin was black as the void with slightly paler markings that mimicked the spots of a deer on his back, sides, neck, shoulders and thighs. He was well muscled with a body that stood seven to eight feet tall. While his body was hairy only his neck and head had a furred coat. His eyes glowed an unnerving icy aquamarine color as he glared at them. The Stag wore nothing but worn tattered pants. They all braved a look to see what form the Stag would take. Cole recognised his shape as the one he had seen in his dream and he could tell by the look of horror on Zane’s face it was the one he had dreamt of as well. There was one difference to the Stags form from the one in his dreams though; he was missing his spear and that necklace.
“Does this better suit you?” the Stag scowled looking angrily at Jay his mouth now moving with the words though still baring the bear like teeth and wolf like jowls.
“A little,” Jay replied taking a quick glimpse still cowering.
“Whatever shape you take doesn’t matter,” Lloyd commented giving Jay a look to tell him to remain quite before addressing the Stag again, “we came here to save our realm and we intend to accomplish that even if it means fighting you.”
“Good luck trying. There is nothing that can harm me, not even you. Those cuffs you now wear will prevent you from using your powers and only I will be able to remove them. Should you try to remove them yourselves you will feel a pain like none you have ever felt before and the only way to stop it is to put the cuffs back on,” the Stag laughed pointing at the cuffs around Lloyds wrists.
“Wait why isn’t Zane wearing any?” Kai pondered to which the Stag responded, “because I can use his powers against the Ashers and he knows better than to challenge or disobey me.” The Stag glared at Zane who was trying his hardest to not show how terrified he was of the Stag though he was starting to shake uncontrollably and still unable to look at the Stag.
“That’s only because you’ve been torturing him. Pestering him whenever you get the chance, turning him into a monster and forcing him to attack his own family for your own amusement,” Nya commented summoning up as much courage she could to defend her friend. The Stag was unaffected by her words and simply brushed them off, “insignificant mortal problems and emotions; if you cannot handle what I can do then you never should have come to these lands or sought to challenge me.” Clearly the Stag had no cares about what he did to and with mortals. There was likely going to be no way to please him or get on his good side. They would have to try a different method.
“What if we make a deal, we were told we could possibly come to some sort of agreement with you,” Lloyd implored trying a different approach.
“I will not agree to anything you could offer. An agreement would entail to both parties getting something generally of equal value but I have no intention of helping you and how can I be assured you will keep your part of the bargain,” the Stag chastised, “besides I believe you would never agree to my terms.”
“And what would those terms be?” Kai inquired dreading the answer.
“That you willingly serve me, obeying my every command, for all of time,” the Stag commanded.
“And how could we even do that. We’re not immortal,” Cole noted and the Stag sneered at them proclaiming, “I can give you new bodies, ones that will better stand the test of time and which I can keep reviving and keep going for as long as I please.”
“You mean you’ll turn us into one of these hyenoids or some form of demon!” Jay remarked and the Stag added, “if you so desire I can make your new forms maintain a form resembling your current bodies.”
“We would never agree to that and we’ll never serve you. You’re a force of evil and we fight for good,” Lloyd declared standing up to face the Stag which made all the hyenoids and beasts watching back off and cower even more. They were obviously terrified of what might happen. The place seemed to get much darker, almost like it was night. It was as if the lights in the place were being affected by the Stags mood. The ninja were getting even more scared and now no one was able to look at him as they cowered though Lloyd was trying to hold his ground trying to keep looking at the Stag even though he was clearly showing his fear of this being. The Stag came to look Lloyd straight in the eyes baring his teeth.
“See we could never make a deal. Whether you want to or not you will end up serving me. I will eventually break you and if I cannot then I will find a way to rip the powers from your frail bodies and give it to those who will obey me even if it means destroying you. You made the mistake of coming here now you will pay the price. You are never getting out of here,” the Stag boomed before ordering the hyenoid with the radio on his forehead to come up to him. The hyenoid got on one knee and looked at the ground not meeting the Stags eyes.
“Yes sir,” the hyenoid stated hiding his fear in his voice which bore an electronic sound to it.
“Put them to work DJ, we will try to break them. Give them the most taxing, dangerous and unpleasant jobs ones that will make their bodies ache and their minds rot. In time we will break their bodies and spirits till they either bow to me or fall to their graves,” the Stag commanded before turning to Juib who remained still and emotionless, “Juib you can take their metal friend and continue your work with him before he is to slave with his friends.”
“Yes sir,” Juib and DJ stated not looking up, neither looked very happy. The lights brightened up as the Stags form dissipated and the smoke slowly disappeared. The droids waited a few seconds after the smoke was entirely gone before either of them decided to do anything. Juib came over and pulled Zane away from them, taking him towards some buildings by the north wall of the cavern while DJ and some of the others grabbed the rest of them by the wrists and began pulling them away towards the southern portion of the cavern despite their protests.
Notes:
If have any questions go ahead and ask I do not bite. I will try to answer them, I will however not give away spoilers.
Chapter 34: Problems Gathering
Summary:
Things just don't seem to get any better for any of them.
Notes:
Pictures relating to story can be found here: https://www.deviantart.com/nerdy-hyena/gallery/72478681/story-project
They are really good and help to visually flush out several aspects of the story including environments, characters, outfits, locations, creatures and other aspects often important ones in the story. All images I post in my work can be found there if you want a better look at them. Defiantly make sure to check them out.Also if you need a refresher on creatures, flora or aspects of the environment you can check out the second chapter in this work titled 'Keikiarys Guide to the Ash Wastes'. It includes short descriptions and pictures of these things.
Parts of this section are subject to change as the prequel story is written to improve story continuity.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
When the knights had reached the utility centre they had been ambushed by some Ashers but had managed to fight them back using some Nexo powers and fire extinguishers to freeze them. Fearing the ninja might be in trouble they had headed to the excavation dome only to find it empty. The remains of what looked to have once been Ashers and an Asher Sorcerer were melting out of chunks of ice scattered around the place. Aaron found a bolt they recognised as having come from the Stags forces and Clay and Macy had found the ninjas footprints leading straight into the Forbidden City.
“Now what do we do. I don’t think there’s any way we could get in there,” Lance commented.
“I know you still have much training to do with your magic training but maybe you can try and do something to open those doors,” Macy asked Clay who thought it over for a few seconds. He was still new to using magic and still had much training to do with Merlok in order to master it. He had been keeping those powers largely hidden since they arrived in this place. The ninja didn’t mind his powers acknowledging them as much like their elemental powers, some like Kai had even wanted him to use them to mess with Jay and Cole had wondered if he could make cake with them, but he knew most of the people of Balmora and its surrounding area would not like them. After noting the towns apprehensions to anything supernatural like magic shortly after arriving in the town they had decided it best he kept his powers hidden. Since it was just them there he decided to give it a try.
“It couldn’t hurt to try,” Clay responded. He tried to use his powers to unlock the door or sense something behind the door but nothing happened no matter how hard he tried. While using his powers he could also get a strange feeling about the place; a strange dark and unnerving emptiness to the doors and anything around and behind it.
“There’s something wrong with this place,” he noted after his failed attempts feeling unnerved.
“You’re not wrong there. All sensors are claiming there is nothing here or behind that door as if there is an empty void there,” Ava noted looking at her tablet and Merlok who was on the minitrex by the entrance noted, “the feelings I am getting from this place are very concerning and disturbing. It is like there is an emptiness to this place. It feels like a piece of the world should exist here but yet it does not exist as if it has been removed from existence.”
“Creepy dude,” Aaron noted and Axl wondered, “Why is that?”
“It likely has to do with this Stag entity. Either it is from his presence, he has cast a spell over the city to hide it from anyone seeking to enter or he has done something to the city that disrupts the nature of this location,” Merlok suggested.
“Whatever it is it isn’t good. It’s clear the ninja have been taken into the city,” Clay noted and Macy added, “and who knows why or what for?”
“What do we do now?” Axl wondered. They all looked at each other. They were worried and stumped. Even though he wanted to aid the ninja to purge this horror that now threatened their world to save his home and those they cared about there was no way to help them now. Not unless they could find a way into the city.
“I don’t think there is much we can do. We can’t break in and I doubt the Stag will just let us in,” Macy noted and Aaron added, “maybe there’s another entrance to this place.”
“We could try,” Clay began looking at some of the artefacts lying around then at the large Scimitar doors.
“Ava do you think we might be able to pick up or connect with Zane?” Clay wondered.
“We can try,” Ava expressed before searching for his signal on her tablet, “shoot, I had his signal for a second now it’s gone. It appeared to be somewhere in the void of the city.”
“That does not sound good or pleasant,” Lance noted before Aaron expressed surprised as something connected to his headphones and spoke to him through them, “ Whoa hey that’s a little loud, wait what was that?” At the same time something sent a message to Avas tablet and Merlok.
“What is it?” Clay inquired.
“Someone called Juib somehow managed to hack into my headphones to send a message, he says the ninja are alive,” Aaron noted feeling both surprised and confused someone could hack his headphones and Ava added reading from her tablet, “I think I got the same message. This Juib states the Stag wants to keep the ninja alive and trapped in his city for some reason.”
“Does he say why?” Macy wondered and Lance noted, “if you could have those with powers like theirs in your army wouldn’t you want them too.”
“Wouldn’t he want Clay for his magic powers too then,” Robin noted and Clay stated, “true but he hasn’t shown any interest in me or Merlok so maybe it’s something about elemental masters that he wants.”
“That is true. This Juib didn’t explain why the Stag wants them just that we shouldn’t worry and for our safety we should head back to Balmora,” Aaron explained. None of them liked the sounds of that.
“Is this Juib threatening us?” Lance inquired and Aaron noted, “He didn’t sound threatening. He actually sounded rather polite.”
“Juib… we’ve heard that name before,” Clay noted thinking about it.
“He was one of the many constructs present in the city when the Stag took over. He was a companion for these champions of Whetu,” Merlok explained and Robin noted, “didn’t Zane mention him before.”
“Indeed I think he did. Do you think we should trust his words?” Macy wondered. They thought it over for a few seconds.
“I don’t know,” Clay stated as they all looked at the doors into the city.
“You know these constructs have proven more helpful than hindering,” Aaron noted and Axl stated, “couldn’t they have just been tricking us though to get us here?”
“That is possible,” Macy noted.
“I think we should look around, maybe check the surrounding landscape see if there’s something a cave or doorway that could offer us another way into the city. Let’s not give up till we try everything,” Clay proposed and Lance speculated, “what if we find nothing?” Clay thought it over for a few seconds.
“Then maybe we’ll just have to trust this Juib and head back to Balmora. We’ll collect as much as we can from this place and take it back to town I doubt anyone will be returning here anytime soon and some of what they found here could prove useful. Maybe if we can’t find a way in here there is some way in through Balmora,” Clay proposed.
“True, they must have some subterranean tunnels or something that let them enter the city unseen all the time,” Aaron noted. They were all in agreement.
“Sounds like a plan,” Macy stated before expressing, “do you think they’ll be okay in there?” They all looked at the doors to the city unsure of the answer before they headed off to get started on their search.
“Throw the water on it then hit it with the extinguisher!” Ray yelled as he held back an Ash spawn with a staff. Swordmore Brickland threw a bucket of water on the ash spawn then Skylor hit it with a blast from the fire extinguisher. After it froze they gave the frozen figure a hefty whack causing it to collapse in a pile of grey ash filled ice. Around the courtyard others were fighting against some of these cursed spawn while in the air the Fabricant Pelagius was fighting a corpse bird. A member of the necromancers who looked to have been a person from Ninjago was standing on the walls of the monastery cheering on the ash spawn and raising more of them with some sort of spell from the ash that had come to cover the ground dancing and singing in joy with what he was doing. Pelagius managed to pin the Corpse Bird to the top of a large tree like mushroom that now grew out of the edge of the courtyard, part of it growing on the wall, as he attempted to bite the Corpse Bird or stab it with his tail. The Corpse Bird was attempting to do the same however Pelagius was able to dodge its attacks. Below them Pixal was struggling against another Spawn while Wu and Seliel attempted to hit it with water and an extinguisher. Most of the others who had ended up at the monastery were sheltering in the building which some of them were trying to hold the spawn back from. Karlof, Nero, Maya, and a couple others who had come from across Ninjago and even Knighton were outside trying to hold back some spawn from getting inside the monastery. Every time someone had destroyed a spawn the necromancer on the wall would summon another dancing and singing as he did it clearly happy with himself.
Pelagius finally managed to deliver a stabbing blow to the Corpse Birds ribcage with his tail sending it fleeing from the scene before turning his attention to the necromancer who was stunned by the constructs sight as it came to hover in front of him with a strange icy ethereal armour that made him look like a dragon, this Dragon Aspect. The sight of Pelagius in this Dragon Aspect changed the necromancers gleeful mood into one of horror. Pelagius blasted the necromancer with a frost breath turning him to ice and sending him flying backwards off the wall and down the mountain before dispelling his aspect. With the necromancer gone the others were able to destroy the last of the spawn and group together.
“What were those things?” Skylor wondered while Pelagius landed on the wall.
“Ash Spawn, horrid un-dead vestiges of ash that take the form of those who die in the wastes. They are the foot soldiers for these Asher folks,” Pixal explained and Seliel acknowledged as they came together, “Thank goodness those things gave you that knowledge Pixal or we would have been screwed.”
“Their attacks are getting more frequent and worse,” Ray joined.
“It is like they are playing with us,” Karlof imputed.
“They are not the only thing that has gotten worse,” Maya added and they instantly knew what she was talking about. It was clear now that some of them had this Blight that Mahei had mentioned of. Luckily for those that had it the condition seemed to be moving slowly but it was clear it was spreading. Along with those who had originally had it Skylor, Karlof, the hyenoid Ed, and some others had also gotten it. It had lowered moral as they began to question if they would make it till the ninja returned or if they would be gone before then.
“According to Pelagius and the book that folk from this realm brought many believe the Blight is tied to the ash. If we maybe found some place to stay not covered by this ash it might stop spreading,” Pixal noted.
“It might be a wise idea to find somewhere new to shelter. Not only are the necromancers getting worse but we are running out of space and supplies with all those coming to seek shelter here,” Ray chimed in. People both the people and serpentine from across Ninjago even as far away as Shintaro had come seeking aid and shelter at the monastery from the necromancers ever increasing influence along with these Asher beings and the strange effects now occurring from this plane melding which were slowly increasing in the severity and devastation it brought. Even people from foreign realms like the Lost realm had found their way there and both the people and robotic beings known as Squirebots from the realm Brickland came from which all but Wu had not heard of known as Knightonia had found their way there. They had so many they had to put tents in the courtyard for people to sleep in. The Blight was starting to spread through these folks too.
“You are right. We should go over places we could take the people then you should take everyone there. I will wait here for the ninja to return,” Wu asserted upsetting the others.
“You cannot stay here by yourself! You would never stand a chance against those things when they return,” Maya exclaimed.
“We do not have much of a choice. Staying here is no longer safe or viable and we could not leave a letter. The necromancers could find it and find us,” Wu explained. The moment Wu finished talking they were stunned to hear a metallic voice seemingly come out of nowhere.
“You do have a choice, you have me,” the voice stated drawing everyone’s attention to Pelagius who was perched on the wall watching them. Most of them were surprised to hear it talk, some even spooked.
“It talks!” Karlof exclaimed and Skylor added, “You were right Pix, he can speak.”
“It would be wise for you to seek alternative lodgings where the cursed ash has not touched. I have been imbued with the powers of dragons I can keep the necromancers at bay on my own. By staying here and guarding the monastery it will provide the illusion that you are still here even though you are not,” Pelagius declared.
“And you could let the ninja know where we are and take them there?” Wu inquired.
“Affirmative,” Pelagius responded and Wu thought it over. He was not entirely sure they could trust this creature. He still knew very little of this creatures master other than he was an insane Oni. Pelagius though had helped them before and shown no signs of aggression towards any of them. He had proven his desire to aid them before but Wu was still not entirely certain if his protective behaviour was because it was simply following orders, if it was covering up deeper intentions possibly by this Sheoth or did it really desire to protect and help them.
“Do you think we can trust that thing?” Skylor quietly wondered to the others and Nero offered, “if you want I could try to read his mind.”
“I would trust him,” Pixal offered to which Ray countered “no offense but that thing being half robotic might be swaying your judgement. We know very little about that thing other than it serves an Oni.” While the others were arguing over whether to trust the fabricant or not Wu remained quit looking over it. It had helped and saved them before. Maybe it was the dragon in this creature but something about it made him feel its intents were genuine and it really wanted to help. Even though its master was an Oni when Wu had been talking to him he got the sense this Sheoth was not like most Oni. Yes he was clearly insane but Wu got the feeling he meant no ill to them or most folk. The tales from that book while some were disturbing or dark he got the feeling any harm Sheoth caused was due to his insane nature more than a true desire to harm anyone. There was a lightness to this Sheoth and there was an even greater lightness to this creature. There was dragon blood in this creature and if Sheoth was like normal Oni then it would despise him not claim allegiance with him. Wu had also seen Pixal interacting with Pelagius and had heard them talking. He had gotten the feeling this creature was not lying in its words or emotions. Pelagius looked into his eyes and he looked into the creatures and his decision was made.
He went to address the others only to find they had started to argue over who should be thrown to these necromancers to try and keep them from harassing them and to lighten their current burdens. This wasn’t normal for any of them and it seemed to have come from nowhere. Unless this Blight was more than a cosmetic condition, was it affecting their mind? Or was it something to do with this ash? Ever since it had started falling Wu had been aware of a dark unnatural energy to this stuff. Like dark matter but worse, like something only the Oni could have made. The Blight as well as their current conditions and the stuff coming from these wastes must have started to affect their minds. Some people seemed fine others were prone to more aggressive moods and arguing more and some were more anxious and paranoid.
“The necromancers must have purposefully opened a rift near here leading to the wastes. They know what that place can do to people and that the Blight was there. That is why they have just been playing with us. They know they cannot best me so they have decided to go a different route; one Sheoth did not plan for. They knew bringing the wastes here would bring the Blight and drive you to your own destruction,” Pelagius observed and Wu realised things might be worse for them staying here than they realised. If they stayed here any longer then things were going to get worse, much worse. He silenced the others from their fighting and once they stopped all seemed to not entirely remember that they had been arguing or what they had been arguing about.
“The Blight, the mountains curse, it can take different forms but in all it drives its hosts insane. Some are harmless others are driven to aggression,” Pelagius noted and Brickland wondered, “What is he on about?”
“We all need to get away from here for our safety. I say we should trust this creature his heart is in the right place despite what he serves,” Wu stated and somehow they all felt it was the right thing to do.
“We will figure out a place to go and we will all leave by sundown. The creature will be the only one to stay behind. The longer we stay near this cursed ash the worse off we all will be,” Wu decided and no one seemed to want to argue with that.
“We made it to the station. It looks like Ashers might have taken out the researchers,” Macys voice came though the two way communications radio they had set up on the table in Tafari’s dojo. Tafari who was dressed in her grey gi, Hassiri, Fae and Misako stood around the table she had set up with a map on it of Balmora and the nearby wastes. They were getting an update from the knights on what had happened and what they were doing. Due to the volcano and ash they had been having trouble contacting them but had finally managed to get through to them though it was not the clearest sounding.
“The ninja have they succeeded?” Misako inquired worried for them, especially for her son.
“We lost them. The Stags forces took them into Holamaya. We tried to find a way in but all ways were blocked and we could not gain access to the city. Something contacted us from in the city it told us the ninja were alive at that time. We do not know if they still are or if something’s happened. We can talk more when we get back,” Clays voice came through the radio. Things did not sound good. Aaron then stated through the radio, “we’re coming back to Balmora. We’ll bring back the supplies, no use leaving them here, and we’ll be bringing all the research they had. It might prove useful.”
“Well they’re safe from Ashers at least but who knows what the Stag will do to them,” Hassiri commented as Tafari turned off the radio.
“It probably won’t be good. Did you two find anything on those plans I gave you?” Tafari addressed Fae and Misako.
“Somewhat,” Fae stated as unknown to them two guards, both ungulate folk, were coming into the room with a family from Ninjago. The parents were rather catatonic with quills from the Parrot-Cruncher sticking out of them while the kids, a boy and a girl, were trying to break free from the ones hold scared of this strange folk.
“It appears your under city has had several renovations over the years and in some a few old service corridors or maintenance tunnels were closed off or redirected leaving pieces cut off and hidden behind walls,” Misako explained while Fae rolled out some old plans on the table. As they talked the girl managed to break free from the guard and tried to run away but since she was paying more attention to the guard than where she was going she ended up running straight into Tafari. Tafari looked back at the girl who had fallen backwards and came to sit looking up at her terrified by Tafari’s appearance. Everyone but Misako seemed to think Tafari was going to do something drastic as they all held their breaths and refused to move. Tafari stared at the girl for a few seconds with the same stern look on her face she always seemed to have before addressing the guards.
“What did you bring here?” Tafari asked her voice oddly emotionless and even which unnerved the others even more. As she talked the girls brother came to huddle with her.
“I’m sorry General Tafari. We found them in the wastes. They had the misfortune of running into a group of Parrot-Crunchers before we found them and the parents got quilled by the creatures. We’re going to take them to the medical bay but we wanted to know what we should do with the kids till their parents are better?” the one guard explained not hiding his fear in his voice. As the guard talked the kids looked around and upon seeing Misako, a person like them, they got up and rushed over to her for shelter. Misako comforted them telling them these strange folk were not going to hurt them despite their scary and bestial looks.
“You can leave them here till their parents are better,” Tafari stated seeing how comforted they were with Misako, someone who looked like them.
“Okay, we’ll take their parents for treatment then,” the guard stated him and his co-worker clearly nervous of this arrangement not trusting Tafari. Hassiri seemed surprised by Tafari’s sudden calm manner when in the past she would have scolded the kids.
“To what you were saying before we were interrupted. I’ll get some of the guards to inspect those areas. Might have to tear down some walls to access them,” Tafari commented leaning over the table and looking at the maps while the kids clung close to Misako staring at Tafari.
“Okay… we also noted a few abandoned mines, all within a day’s travel, whose entrances once sat near the fence. Some might be some distance away but mines tend to be much bigger underground and some tunnels could come close to the fence,” Misako added.
“If someone really desired they could have tunnelled from one of these under the fence into town. Sadly a few of these mines sit in parts of the Valley of Despair,” Fae continued as Tafari became aware that the kids were staring at her. She looked at them for a second not making it very obvious before turning back to the maps trying to ignore them, she wanted to get her work done.
“We could see if some miners would take a few guards and check them out. As for the ones in the valley sadly there is nothing we can do. Not even the robotic hyenoids can enter there. They are not affected by the gasses but something there does hurt and even kill them. From the research we have been able to attain we believe something, probably from the volcano, is releasing some sort of radiation which not even those of metal make are immune to. The levels are small enough to not threaten anything outside the valley but it’s enough to mess with and even hurt rather severely the droids if they enter the valleys. It fries the metal skins dead, can’t be a pleasant way to go for them I would imagine,” Hassiri chimed in.
“I believe there are also large tunnels created by the large beetles and ants of the region some could pass beneath the fence without anyone knowing. I am unsure how you could find where any of these are,” Misako added.
“There isn’t really a way. We keep taps on those kept as livestock for the city but we cannot possibly know about all those in the wild,” Tafari explained before the boy quietly asked her, “What happened to you?”
Hassiri and Fae looked as if they were going to have a panic attack afraid what the kid had said might somehow set Tafari off. They all knew she had a sensitivity to her cybernetics. Because she was not as experienced as the others with Tafari Misako was rather confused with the others reactions. From what she had seen from Tafari’s interactions with the ninja and what her son had told her of his interaction with her Tafari didn’t seem as bad as what a lot of these guards and other grown ups here talked about. She seemed to just have emotional issues likely stemming from the trauma she had experienced in the wastes.
“I was attacked by bad people and some special robots healed me. They apparently thought I was one of them so they tried to make me like them,” Tafari stated with an even and emotionless voice not looking up from the maps before she addressed Hassiri with a more authoritative tone, “organize as many groups as possible to search these areas. It might be wise if we can get some people to volunteer in the searches. Get more eyes looking for possible secret entrances. Guards, miners, hunters and loggers can search the wastes but I don’t want civilians to enter the wastes. It’s too dangerous for them. They can help in the city. It might also be wise for home owners and shop keeps to check any basements or cellars they have just in case something has made an attempt to enter the city through their dwellings.”
“Are you a ninja? You’re dressed like one,” the little girl asked noting what Tafari was wearing. Tafari looked at the kids and noted that the one was holding a little green figure and the other held a silverish one, the figures looked like the ninja. The figures brought to her memory what Cole had told her about letting her more gentle side show might make people more friendlier and trusting to her. She was aware of Fae and Hassiri’s reactions; it was the same one everyone always gave to her when dealing with her. One of fear and distrust, something she was tired of seeing.
“No… but I have met your ninja,” she responded and the kids seemed to lose some of their fear of her and become intrigued. She then turned back to Hassiri.
“I’d recommend we get started as soon as possible. If the prophecy is true then it could start at any time. Best be prepared. Let’s get some areas of the Under City set up to shelter folk should things take a turn for the worse and maybe have a backup plan to get everyone out. It might seem odd but also collect anything that causes freezing temperatures. If Ashers attack we’ll need it. Check with the labs and the science classes of the school and high school first. The warehouses might also have something,” Tafari ordered and Hassiri agreed before leaving to get things started. He stopped by the door to look back at Tafari for a few seconds worried with a hint of something else, something she was not too sure was, and she was aware he did this even though she did not make it evident.
“You’ve seen the ninja? Where are they?” the girl asked.
“Yes I’ve seen them. They’re here; we call it the Forbidden City,” Tafari noted pointing to Holamaya on her map before addressing Fae and Misako, “when the knights return you should go through some of the things the research teams found. Maybe they might have found something useful. Old maps of the area, records… maybe there was once a subterranean connection between the Forbidden City and Balmora. That could explain how the Stags forces can get in.”
“What are the ninja doing there?” the boy asked.
“They’re challenging an evil and powerful spirit that takes the form of a deer so they can recover an artefact to save your world and ours from a great evil being,” Tafari explained to Fae’s surprise, Fae was sure Tafari would be unhappy and angry by the kids questioning her.
“We’ll see that it’s done when they get here,” Fae commented to Tafari’s command before she and Misako prepared to leave.
“Did it hurt when they did that to you?” the boy asked and Fae inquired, “do you want us to take them with us?” Fae was not very trusting of Tafari with children though she had never proven dangerous towards them; it was more of her temper Fae was afraid of.
“No they can stay. I don’t mind. Besides I’m betting they would be bored looking over old maps,” Tafari expressed to Fae’s surprise before explaining to the kids, “at first yes but like a cut the pain eventually went away.” Fae was a little hesitant to leave the kids with Tafari but Misako quietly encouraged Fae to give Tafari a chance as they left leaving the kids at the table with Tafari as they questioned her about her implants and what the place they were in was and what it had been like to work with the ninja. Tafari didn’t seem bothered with answering their questions.
Notes:
If have any questions go ahead and ask I do not bite. I will try to answer them, I will however not give away spoilers.
Chapter 35: Part 1 Bonus Short Stories
Summary:
Part 1 of the story is complete before we start part 2 here's some bonus short stories that offer a different point of view and flush out side characters or concepts of the story. Due to posting issues either from my computer or internet not letting me post it in part 1's shorts I had to split it into two parts; this is part 1.
Notes:
Pictures relating to story can be found here: https://www.deviantart.com/nerdy-hyena/gallery/72478681/story-project
They are really good and help to visually flush out several aspects of the story including environments, characters, outfits, locations, creatures and other aspects often important ones in the story. All images I post in my work can be found there if you want a better look at them. Defiantly make sure to check them out.Also if you need a refresher on creatures, flora or aspects of the environment you can check out the second chapter in this work titled 'Keikiarys Guide to the Ash Wastes'. It includes short descriptions and pictures of these things.
Parts of this section are subject to change as the prequel story is written to improve story continuity.
All shorts are in the order to which they occur in the story.
A synopsis of the shorts are as follows:
Arrival- Someone has spies watching the ninja as they arrive in Balmora.
Clan of Fangs- After their first brush with the Stag Zane has a run in with some of his minions who welcome him as one of their own and offer him some controversial advice.
Beasts of the Stag- The knights get tasked with dealing with some monsters terrorizing some local farms. Zane and Kai tag along to offer help but they find things are more complicated and risky than they first thought.
Zaaron- Robin keeps making Zane nervous. One day to try and avoid his attention he goes disguised as Aaron but when Clay mistakes him as the real Aaron it leads to some complications.
Maze of Chaos- The knights and ninja are tested on their skills to work together in a maze. Things don't go as easily as they hoped.
Knights Work- The knights decide to do some work for the town.
Droid-sitting- The ninja task the knights to watch over Zane for them for a day to keep him safe.
Undercover Mis-hap- An Ashers attempt to catch him leads the Raven to take Zane undercover on an Ashers mission.
Void Emperor- During a test in the arena Zane goes a little overboard but is he really the one at fault or is something controlling him?
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Arrival This story takes place during the Ninjas arrival in Chapter 11: Balmora
After having arrived in town early in the morning Divayth had set up his merchant cart on the path that led to the train station to do business. There were a few shops along the strip. Normally he set up shop closer to the main street but he had chosen this location today because his master wanted him to keep an eye out for special new visitors to the town. The Kagaur who had pulled his cart was grazing on some hay he had put out for her while he did business. Her eyes bore a green glow which everyone in town luckily paid no attention to. She had a metal beak and tusks which everyone thought were ornamental and not prosthetics which they actually were. Divayth knew otherwise, due to a bad run in with Ashers she had cybernetic implants. While folk went about a few checking out the items he had for sale Divayth kept an eye on the train station waiting for the train to arrive. At 11 in the morning on time the train appeared. Divayth looked around taking note of two other entities who were also keeping an eye on the train. No one else seemed to care about the train, then again only a select few in town knew what was coming on the train. Something special that could make a major difference in their world. The other two who were taking note of the train was what appeared to be a tourist and a Racer who was perched on a housetop both Divayth knew very well. Both were allies to Divayth and both like him were undercover using special cloaking devices to hide their true nature, if the townsfolk really knew what the three were they would not have been allowed anywhere near the town and would be experimented on or terminated if they were found out. Shortly after the train stopped some figures got off the train. One they recognised, Tafari the captain of the guard. The others however were new. Their clothes were not stained by ash and they could clearly tell they were not from this realm. They looked a little unnerved and stuck together following Tafari.
“That must be them,” the racer who was named Celaena communicated wirelessly into Divayths head as they watched. The three communicated directly into each other’s senses through their internal technologies so no one else could hear them communicating. They were wary not to let Tafari know of their presence, they were communicating in a radio frequency they hoped she was unable to recognise. As the strangers got closer the three noted how townsfolk seemed to not care too much for the strangers though were particularly hostile to one who was holding something in a pillow case close to himself, a robotic raven. Divayth was quick to pick up this one was much like him and his allies. He was what the folk here called a metal skin, a droid. As they got closer to him Divayth pretended to be checking out his Kagaur. He crouched down and looked away hoping this new metal skin would not notice him, recognise him or pick up on their signal, Divayth did not want his cover blown. As they passed Divayth glanced at them, none took note of him. Divayth communicated wirelessly to the one dressed as a tourist to take pictures of the group but to not make it evident. After they passed Divayth secretly connected to the metal skin who was unaware he had done this. The strange metal skin was highly agitated by the strange folk around him and sticking close to his friends. In his agitated state he seemed to be neglecting to keep an eye out for those that might try to hack his systems. Divayth meant no harm he was only curious to know more on this stranger like him. Divayth was able to confirm this metal skin had the programming to make him a cub of the fang and Divayth noted something else, something special about him before disconnecting not wanting to draw suspicions.
“Did you get the pictures?” Divayth communicated to the undercover tourist who replied that it had and Celaena communicated to him taking to the wing to fly towards the temple keeping watch on the group from above, “you think that is them?”
“I think so, I think they are the dragons he told us were coming,” Divayth communicated back to Celaena before telling the tourist one to take the pictures to their master to confirm this.
“If they are do you think they can do it? Do you think they are the ones the scrolls prophesized?” Celaena inquired to Divayth as she came to perch on the temple roof still watching the group.
“They are dragons, whether they are those dragons I do not know. Let us hope they are, we could sure use a change to this cursed place,” Divayth expressed.
Clan of Fangs This short takes place after chapter 15: Secrets and Shadows
After having tended to him the others had left to help with cleanup and repairs from the Stags attacks in the rest of the Under-city hoping their helping would improve the cities view of them. They were pretty sure this event would have just worsened the townsfolk’s view of them. They had left Zane in the scholars’ center worried the people would do something drastic to him if they saw him. Even though Zane felt like he should be helping the others he understood why they told him to stay there and he had to agree with their feelings. After what had happened in the ring they thought it best to keep Zane away from the villagers for a while. It was just him and the Robo-bill Mzark in the scholars’ center’s main room. Zane was keeping busy and trying to be helpful by cleaning up the main hall of the center where Mzark had led a rampage with the pets to terrorize the scholars before aiding in the chaos at the ring. The lights were still out so he was working by the light of some lanterns he had put out on the tables. It was also unnervingly quite in the room. He wanted to put some music on to drive away the quite but even if he could he didn’t feel safe doing so. He wanted to be able to hear any sound in case something might be looking to get him. Zane was on edge jumping at any noise and every moving shadow. Even though they had implanted that special stone in him and he could feel some differences with it he was still nervous worried the Stag would still try to get him or that someone might sneak in to harm him. The feelings the Stags possession had given him and left him with were very disturbing and very hard to shake. It was a dark, cold emptiness that not even the feelings of dying, depression or grief put together could match. Added to the feelings the Stag had left he felt incredibly alone. Even though the others tried to sympathize and understand how he felt there was no way they could understand it not unless the Stag got a hold of them as well. As he righted a chair that had been knocked over a loud bang behind him caused him to jump in a panic. Turning to look he was relieved to see it was only Mzark who had knocked over a small table while jumping off it.
“Oh it is just you, do you think you could help out instead of making more of a mess?” Zane inquired as Mzark came to sit in front of him. Mzark grabbed his arm with his mouth and began to pull on it like he wanted to lead him somewhere.
“What is it? You cannot speak can you? You lack the programming and any form of Vocal apparatus to allow for speech,” Zane noted before he received a communication in his mind from Mzark.
No I cannot speak but I can still communicate with a fang brother,’ the communication spoke in Zanes head. It went on to say, ‘please come you do not need to work. You need to speak with those who understand, you need the Fang Cubs. Come I will take you to them.’
“No I do not think that wise…” Zane began hesitant to follow Mzark who began to drag him out of the hall.
‘Do not worry they will not harm you, you are brother,’ Mzark communicated to him.
“What about the people? If they see me…” Zane began to worry before Mzark interrupted him, ‘do not worry we will not be seen by them, cubs have ways to get around without being seen by the people.’ Mzark picked up a lantern in his mouth and led Zane to behind the stairs. He moved the pillows out from the alcove under the stairs and pressed on a piece of trim at the back of the wall. It surprisingly slid back into the wall then the wall slid down revealing a hidden passage with stairs leading down beneath the stairs. Zane was hesitant to enter worried about where Mzark was taking him but also curious to find out more about this passage; this must have been how the hyenoid who had given him Whetu’s Star had gotten into the hall without anyone knowing. Mzark gave him the lantern then with a gentle nudge urged him down the stairs. Zane slowly began heading down the stairs remaining alert for possible dangers. Mzark followed behind him. When they were both in the passage Mzark pushed a stone that stuck out of the side wall of the passage into the wall causing the passages entrance to rise back up and close off the entrance. Zane was anxious and scared about being trapped in the tunnel alone. He was worried this might be a trap by the Stag.
‘Do not worry nothing here will hurt you, this is not a trap. Please follow me,’ Mzark expressed sensing his emotions. He hesitated before following Mzark. The tunnels were dark and winding. They went down a bit then levelled out and began to wined around what Zane guessed was sections of the Under-city and the basements, foundations and sewers of the city. Zane was unable to navigate the tunnels and was even having trouble discerning which direction was which getting confused and lost by the passages complexity, darkness and seemingly lack of coherence. Mzark seemed to have no problem navigating. Zane guessed he likely had a map for the tunnels built into his programming. The passages were a strange mix of what looked to have once been sections to the Under-city that had become cut off, natural caverns which were occasionally reinforced by stonework which matched that of Scimitar make and stone tunnels likely made after the Under-city probably by the Stag or his minions. Occasionally glowing fungi, algae or plants grew in the tunnels offering some light and the occasional dimly lit lantern hanging from the ceiling largely placed where passages intersected helped provide any light. Cobwebs, broken crates and barrels, piles of rubble and fungi lay scattered through the tunnels. The tunnels were fairly dry and cool smelling mainly of earth and fungi. As they went Zane was trying to create a mental map of their travels in case this was a trap and he needed to find his way out again.
“Where are you taking me?” Zane wondered. Mzark didn’t respond as he led Zane into a passage that was open at the end. The passage led out into the holding pens for the arena. As they entered the holding pens Zane became even more nervous and uncomfortable. All the creatures and constructs were loose and active. No human was nearby. Like elsewhere the power was out but braziers and candles had been lit to provide light. The constructs were tending to each other and the creatures. Some of the hyenoids did not look like they belonged to the city. They looked more like the one who had given him Whetu’s Star leading him to believe they were probably servants to the Stag just like that one had been. Zane was worried of interacting and even just being seen by any of them so remained still by the passages entrance. A noise behind him startled him and turning around he saw a Venom-fang Fabricant crouched behind him making a hissing noise. He quickly backed away from it dropping the lantern not wanting to get in an altercation with it. As he backed up he bumped into something large and quickly turned around worried over what it was. He was even more startled that he had bumped into the Fear-fabricant which was crouched resting and watching over some runners as they ate from a food trough a collection of plant materials. The Fear-bricant looked down at him and Zane without thinking held his arms over his face cowering afraid it was going to attack.
“Do not worry Fang Brother no one here will hurt you,” a strange voice said to him. Zane took a peak and was somewhat relieved to see the Fear-bricant was just looking at him and non hostile. He looked for where the voice came from to see one of the Stags hyenoids coming up to him. This one like the one he had seen before was dressed like a commoner however he had electric blue eyes, short messy silvery powder blue hair, a few golden reflective markings resembling circuitry on one side of his face and scimitar symbols on the other side and the whitish symbol of a radio on his forehead. He had wires sticking out of pockets in his bluish with golden decorated attire and there were parts of his clothes that looked to be able to be pulled back so hatches on his body could be opened to allow him to connect to external devices and systems.
“What is going on here?” Zane inquired still nervous and wary.
“The humans abandoned those here and this section because of the Stags attacks so we came to tend the area. The humans likely will be too fearful to come anywhere near here for some time so we are going to make sure everyone is taken care of in that time,” the hyenoid spoke with the weird voice, he sounded a bit electronic.
“My names DJ by the way, Stags tech expert, well technically he is the tech expert in Holamaya. I am the second though when the others need something like retrieval of data or messing with systems I am the one everyone comes to; no one dares ask the Stag for anything, not unless you want to get a beating that nearly scraps you. You already met one of my brothers correct; I am next in rank to him. You are the metal skin Dragon right, the Dragon of ice Zane right. Sorry about what the Stag did with you. You are not alone here. We all here have been his puppets at least once. Yha it is very unpleasant and hurts in ways you never thought possible any way what brings you here? Never thought of you being one to wander around the city on your own especially with the dangers out there; The Red one, green one or the silver one yha I could see them wandering around despite the dangers though the blue one likes to hang with the silver one a lot does he not. He is very skittish, reminds me of a prey animal. The blue one hates being alone, the dark one likes his privacy like you do,” the hyenoid began rambling on, “sorry back to the topic what are you doing here?”
“Mzark brought me here, he told me I should see the Cubs of the Fang,” Zane replied starting to relax.
“Did he? Why is that Mzark?” DJ inquired to the Robo-bill which sat by them just staring at them.
“You are right he is very shaken and we are some of the few who could help him… Yha we do understand… It should be left up to him though Mzark if he wants our help not you… I know you just want to help,” DJ spoke as the Robo-bill communicated to him but not Zane. DJ then turned to Zane.
“Sorry about Mzark. He saw you alone and felt you should be with us for safety and comfort. He thought your human family had abandoned you since they left you alone in the hall while they went into the under-city,” DJ explained.
“They have not abandoned me…” Zane began defending his family feeling offended by the constructs thoughts and DJ expressed putting a hand on Zanes shoulder, “do not worry I know. They just want to keep you safe, Mzark is how do the humans put it… all heart no brain or something like that. He is a much older construct. He was designed for help but not given much updating in his mental programming. He is as they put it simple in the head. He just saw you alone and simply thought you had been abandoned. You know your humans best; I trust your view of them. Mzark is right though in that they cannot help you with what the Stag did. Unless they feel his touch they could never understand... how it feels, what it does to you. If you ever need to talk with those that do understand we are here to help you. There are plenty of brothers and sisters of the Fang in the city who could help. Just tell Mzark and he will take you to one.”
“That is a nice offer but I think I will be fine. I have my family…,” Zane expressed and DJ offered, “Alright I get it you would be more comfortable with your family than us strange droids and creatures that is up to you. Do what makes you happy just know if you ever need it we are here to talk. If you need to we could even take you to Juib or Celaena, they are old and very knowledgeable. If there is something you need to talk about that you do not think your family would understand or could help you with we are here to help. Just remember Zane Hi-Kos-Ni-Voth-Niid-Fahdons or in the common tongue Yana.”
“Yana?” Zane wondered. He understood the first part as the Scimitar tongue which translated to ‘You are not without friends’ however he had no translation for Yana.
“It is an anagram; it means ‘You are not alone’. Things might be dark but just remember you are not alone. You have your family and if you need it we are here for you no matter what. We understand, we may be from different worlds but we are much more alike than you think. Sometimes your family just cannot understand no matter how much they try, they are not droids so they can never fully understand how we see the world,” DJ comforted him.
“True…,” Zane mumbled thinking over what DJ had said. A lot of it was true.
“Just remember just because we serve the Stag does not mean we are anything like him. We are clan mates and will help you no matter what even if the Stag tells us not too. The clan comes first. Again if there is any help you need we can offer it,” DJ expressed and after a few seconds of thought Zane replied, “I guess you are right.”
“Indeed, if you ever need us you know how to contact us. Now we should get you back before your friends are done in the Under-city. I am betting they would be highly distressed to not find you where they left you,” DJ explained before leading Zane back to the passage to take him back to the scholars’ center.
Beasts of the Stag This one takes place shortly after the first encounter with the Stag.
“Are you sure this is a good idea? There’s a reason the town council asked us and not the ninja to look into this,” Macy stated and Lance added, “yha you saw what he could do in the arena when he had no control imagine if he gets cursed into a savage half machine half beast thing and has no control.”
“Not to mention I don’t think the ninja would be very pleased if we did something that hurt their cyber bro,” Aaron noted and Clay proclaimed, “I know but none of us are really good at tracking. As a droid Zane has in built senses that could help us find what we are looking for. We’ll just have to be extra cautious with him.” Since they were some of the most skilled fighters they had available and the town guard was stretched thin already fighting to keep the city and nearby settlements safe from the necromancers the city council had asked the Nexo Knights to look into a possibly dangerous occurrence. Something had been wrecking havoc on some local farms and savagely ripping livestock apart. From evidence the town had they had reason to believe the culprit was someone under the curse of man-beasts lycanthropy, a were-wolf. Because of this the council had avoided seeking the ninjas help and didn’t want the knights to get the ninja involved. They were scared of the ninja possibly contacting this curse worried over what it could do to them especially Zane. The knights understood the councils worries but they also knew it could really help them if some of the ninja aided them with this. They had asked if Zane could help aid them in this task, the ninja were hesitant and wanted to talk it over first before making any decision. The knights understood; with how people in this realm viewed and treated Zane the others had become quite protective of their friend and wary of anyone asking for or about him. The knights were waiting in their room for the ninjas answer.
“Alright Zane can help you but I have to come along too,” Kai proclaimed as he and Zane came into the knights room.
“That’s fine with us bro, the more we have the quicker we could get this done,” Aaron expressed and Clay stated, “alright now that we’re settled lets head out and get this over with. We’ve been told the culprit seems to be hanging around the farms near the forests south of the town. Don’t worry we have some rides to get us there. Hope you got a source of light cause it’s going to be dark out there.”
“No worry I’ve always got a source of light. The benefits of being the master of fi-yha,” Kai boasted bringing a small fire to his one hand. They then began to head out Ava, Robin and Merlok staying behind in the room. Before he left Clay whispered to Macy and Lance who were closest to him, “the hot head is not the one I’d take for this task, would’ve preferred someone more level headed like Cole or Lloyd but we have to respect their choice.”
“Well as long as he doesn’t do anything reckless I don’t see anything wrong with him tagging along,” Macy stated. Using their vehicles they had with them on the Fortrex the Knights along with Kai and Zane headed out to the location they had been told of. Along the way the Knights briefed Kai and Zane on all they knew of the case. It was night and cloudy with a bit of a chill in the air. They stopped off at a farm on the edge of a forested region that looked to have recently been ransacked. The fence for holding in livestock was smashed in several places and there were no signs of livestock. Some of the crops were trampled and what looked to have been a small barn or shed had been torn apart. The door to the house, the boarding over the windows and the plaster and wood walls of the house boasted large scratch marks over them. There was no sign of the dwellings inhabitants. Behind the farmstead a dense and dark forest made of the typical flora of the region sat. Some of the glowing native flora of the region helped illuminate its dark understory.
“Whoa what happened here?” Aaron expressed as they arrived and got out of the vehicles. The knights and Zane held lanterns while Kai made a small flame in his hand to provide some light.
“This was the place of the last attack, the farmer and his family are safe in town for now till we can find the culprit. Considering what we might be dealing with I think it best we stick together. First thing we should do is look for tracks,” Clay declared as they cautiously searched the farm and its fields. As they searched they all got an uneasy feeling from the area.
“Didn’t they say there were remains of the livestock here when they left?” Axl wondered and Zane theorized, “if the culprit is bestial in nature than it is highly likely the culprit returned to claim its prey or scavengers could have taken them however I cannot see any track ways matching any known scavengers of the area.”
“No just these large strange looking ones. Kinda looks like a wolfs, a really big mutated wolfs,” Aaron noted finding some track ways in the pen for livestock. They all came over to have a look at the tracks.
“They look recent, within the last day or so,” Zane noted inspecting the tracks and Clay inquired, “can you tell which way the track maker was headed?”
“It appears to be headed into the woods,” Zane proclaimed and they all looked at the woods where something had clearly recently trampled through into it. The uneasiness they could all feel they felt strongly emanating from the woods and they also got the feeling of something watching them from within its dark understory. They were all hesitant to enter.
“I’m not very keen on wandering around this disturbing place but we have a job to do. Might as well get it over with, hopefully this man-beast thing isn’t too far away. I don’t want to spend any more time out here than we have to,” Clay declared leading them into the woods. They all stuck close to each other as they surveyed the woods following the path this thing had made through the place. They all felt uncomfortable and on edge.
“Why does everywhere in this place have this unnerving dark feeling to it?” Lance voiced and Kai inquired, “you guys feel it too?”
“If you’re talking about the feeling that something dark and sinister seems to have a hold on this realm than yha,” Macy agreed and Aaron added, “it’s so un-chill; sends shivers up your spine for no reason and always has you on edge.”
“Makes this place feel like it’s cursed,” Axl noted and Zane expressed, “So we are not the only ones aware of the strange aura to this place. We were worried it was just us feeling it.”
“Yha, nice to know we’re not the only ones here feeling it,” Kai stated and Lance agreed, “yha, what makes it even creepier is the locals don’t seem to even notice it.”
“Most of them thought we we’re joking when we asked them about these feelings; that just made the feelings even more unnerving,” Clay regaled disliking the eeriness to the place. The deeper they got in the woods the worst the feelings seemed to get.
“What do you think is causing it?” Macy wondered and Kai stated, “don’t know but whatever it is feels worse than dark matter.”
“Dark Matter?” Clay wondered confused, the knights were confused by what Kai was talking about.
“It is a substance found in our realm of Ninjago that can turn anything it touches for lack of better words evil. It is found primarily under the dark island,” Zane explained for Kai to add, “yha it can turn anything evil even Zane. If something can turn Zane evil than you know it’s bad. We got hit with it once, got Zane, me, my sister, Cole, Jay… I think Lloyd and maybe Wu were the only ones not affected by it. It’s pretty nasty stuff…”
“I wonder if anything like that is in our realm,” Macy wondered and Lance was quick to state, “if there is we should make sure to keep Jestro far from it.”
“Who’s Jestro?” Kai wondered and Aaron explained, “oh just someone we know. He’s the royal Jester, not very good at that though. He tends to have the bad habit of turning evil. Clay and him are friends.”
“It’s not entirely his fault he was turned evil, dark forces affected him making him what he was. He’s tried to make up for his wrong doings…” Clay stated and Lance butt in to say, “Yha, but with these monsters from this realm invading I wouldn’t be surprised if he ends up joining them.”
“Really I think maybe he’s learned his lesson and will fight back against them this time,” Clay countered and Macy stated, “yha I don’t know given his record…”
“Quiet do you hear that?” Zane stated picking up a sound in the woods near them. Everyone went quite and listened. It sounded like something of notable size was moving through the woods.
“What is that?” Clay quietly whispered and Kai stated, “not sure but we should probably check it out.”
“It could just be an animal,” Macy noted and Lance worried, “or it could be one of these man-beasts wanting to eat us!”
“I think to be on the safe side we check it out. Weapons ready just in case it is something dangerous,” Clay declared. They all readied their weapons Kai dropping the fire in his hand as they slowly picked their way towards the sound. It came from a gap in the woods by a small cliff where at the base sniffing a pile of debris was what they guessed was one of these man-beasts, a were-wolf. It was a partial humanoid monstrous wolf hybrid creature with a bluish silver coat. It seemed unaware they were there. Their group stopped some distance from it.
“Okay we found it what do we do with it?” Kai quietly wondered and Clay whispered back unsure, “well, I’m not entirely sure. The town wants us to destroy it but… something about that doesn’t seem entirely right. It is a monster yha but it’s also a person. It might not be entirely their fault they’re causing havoc. Most inflicted with this curse cannot fully control the bestial nature of the condition. They probably didn’t even want the curse.”
“There is a cure for this condition isn’t there. Maybe we could take it into town where someone could help them,” Aaron proposed.
“Yha but I doubt this thing is like a big puppy and will just follow us to the authorities. It will probably want to eat us,” Lance sarcastically remarked confusing Zane who inquired, “was that how you planned to deal with it? That is not a very wise plan …” before Kai cut in to explain, “It was a sarcastic remark Zane.” The creature picked up their scent and looked back at them baring its teeth at them. Even though it looked to be prepping for an attack it remained still.
“Whatever we’re going to do we better do it quickly before that thing attacks,” Kai remarked before something ran into him from behind. He got in a quick scuffle with it before his attacker broke away taking his sword with them.
“What in the world!” Kai exclaimed as Zane helped him back up. Now standing between them and the monster holding Kai’s sword out to them was Kais attacker; a male member of the ungulate folk wearing worn commoners clothes who stood defensively and baring his teeth at them.
“Don’t you dare touch her!” he growled.
“Her? How do you know that things a her?” Lance inquired confused and the ungulate folk stated, “because she is my sister, even in her bestial form I can recognise her and she me. I know what you are out here looking for and she’s not to blame, neither of us are. I don’t want to but if I have to I will hurt you.”
“Okay there we don’t wish to cause trouble. Just put down the sword and we can talk,” Clay declared trying to settle the situation before things could get out of hand. The person refused to let his guard down so Clay made the others put their weapons away hoping it would ease this folk.
“Look we won’t hurt her. Can I ask what your names are?” Clay inquired talking calmly.
“Koda, my names Koda. My sisters is Aela,” the person stated still not relaxing.
“Okay Koda, the town council just want her to stop harassing farms out here. I’m guessing with her curse that is hard for her to do but we can help with that. We know some people who could help, if you want we can get you help to fix her by removing her curse,” Clay stated but the person was refusing to relax.
“Fix her… you talk as if something’s wrong with us. There’s nothing wrong with our curse, we may be so called ‘monsters’ but that doesn’t mean we are monsters,” Koda growled and Zane noted from how Koda was speaking, “you use the term us and we instead of her. Am I right to assume that she is not the only one with this curse?”
“You are… we never intended to become cursed… it was an accident…,” Koda stated and Kai inquired, “may we ask how it happened?”
“My sister got bit while collecting firewood; we don’t think it meant to hurt her as it ran off after it bit. She probably just startled it. Despite what many think most were-beasts are pretty harmless. They’re simply like animals not monsters. Most don’t seek to harm others. I got cursed later during her first transformation. She never told me she got bit so I didn’t know what was happening. I heard a noise from her room so I went to see what was up. I found her door was locked and I got worried she normally doesn’t lock her door. It’s just been the two of us since we were young… our parents passed from Serpentus when we were young,” Koda began and Kai sympathized, “sorry to hear that. I know what it’s like. My parents were kidnapped by a maniac so me and my sister grew up without them.”
“So then you understand when all you have is each other… your bond is strong. You’d do anything for each other…” Koda stated and Kai agreed, “yha I know; I would do anything for my sister and she’d do the same for me.”
“Indeed; worried something was wrong I broke down the door to make sure everything was okay… we were both quite surprised. In a mix of fear and surprise she bit me. We’ve come to terms with our curse and can control it. We don’t seek to be cured anytime soon. Despite what you might think we don’t use our curse for evil. Sure we’ll hunt the occasional rabbit, rhea-guar, deer or other wild animal but we always eat what we kill or give it to those who need it. We don’t hurt those who don’t deserve it or for fun. Instead we use our curse for good,” Koda explained starting to calm down and his sister in her beast form relaxed as well. He still held Kais sword at them defensively.
“Really, how can you use your curse for good?” Macy wondered.
“Many don’t realise but this curse makes us immune to the curses of Oni make such as vampirism and even the Blight. We can keep those inflicted from harming others and our enhanced senses from our beast within help us find them, criminals, bandits even those monstrous Ashers no matter how well they try to hide. Also as lycanthropes we are able to take on others like us with no problems and keep those who do seek to harm others or who are unable to control the curse like the one we’re out here looking for from harming the innocent,” Koda explained.
“Like the one you’re looking for? Who are you looking for?” Clay inquired hesitant to fully trust these two. The other knights and Zane were not sure how trustworthy the two were however Kai felt strongly that they could trust them.
“We know why you’re out here; we’re here for the same reason. To find the beast terrorizing local farms…” Koda began and Axl wondered, “wait how do you know why we’re out here?”
“Truly it’s not hard. Farmers tell each other about it, some of them get paranoid and tell shop keepers while they buy traps to try and protect themselves and their properties, shop keeper can’t keep their mouth shut about it, it just goes on from there and soon many hear of it. It would only be a matter of time till the town council caught ear of it and sent someone to solve the issue to keep peace in the town. Never would have expected them to give the task to outlanders though. Thought it would go to the guards,” Koda explained and Clay inquired, “that aside, you were saying about this culprit?”
“They are right it is a man-beast but it isn’t from one of flesh. It’s a horrid monstrosity half of flesh and half of machine; a construct likely a hyenoid cursed with Storabeks curse,” Koda explained and Aaron wondered, “Storabek?”
“Storabek the Hunts-Father, Lord of the Wilderness, Lord of the Hunt and father of the curse of man-beasts. He’s a great powerful spirit that was once worshipped by many tribes through northern and alpine lands but many now consider him a type of daemon possibly related to the Oni as he turned on his followers and is known for many dark deeds. Oddly despite his cruelty and darkness there are many who still worship him often drawn by his sphere of the hunt particularly hunters, woodsman, those who get a thrill from the hunt and those who have come to cherish their skin-changing curse. Storabek created the curse of man-beasts and before you ask in some ways we accept him as our patron since we carry his curse we are now in ways his children but no we do not actively serve or worship him. We don’t do sacrifices or rituals or summon him. We just accept he has power over us and if he calls upon us we must answer or face his dark wrath,” Koda explained and Macy wondered, “really and how do you know it’s a droid with this curse?”
“Because we’ve seen it; me and my sister overheard a farmer in the market talking about it and decided to look into it. While searching we found it feeding on a cow. With our curse we could recognise it as one of our own but also not one like us. With its glowing eyes and the metal parts of its body which reflected the light of the flora in these dark woods there was no mistaking that thing was not from any man. We were scared of the thing. It tried to attack us but we ran and managed to give it the slip. I have no doubt that is your culprit. Droids can rarely control this curse when inflicted and they turn into wild savages; true monsters that attack anything that moves or catches their eyes. They often remain stuck in the beast form and are driven mad when not in it because of their lack of control. I bet this one is no different. We set a trap on the farmstead you came from earlier to try and catch the creature when it returned to scavenge what it left. It managed to escape the traps but not before it received some damages causing it to drip what we guess is some sort of equivalent to blood, maybe some mutated oil, as it moves around. It’s allowing us to track it,” Koda stated while his sister gave a nod of conformation from where she crouched by a patch of leaf litter and dirt that was stained by this substance.
“How do we know what you say is true?” Macy inquired. After a moment’s pause to look back at his sister Koda threw Kais sword back to him where it landed in front of him before proclaiming, “There is only one way; come with us and we’ll show you. We promise we won’t hurt you or give you our curse. When we find the culprit you can do as you please with it. Take it back to town to be studied or simply terminate it; it doesn’t matter to us. I’ll even give you this to help you…” Koda pulled a strange object and threw it at Kai who clumsily caught it before looking it over. The object resembled an epi-pen or the anti-venom shots sold back in the town.
“That’s a special formula we made that can force a were-beast out of its beast form for a while. Hopefully it works on cursed metal-skins the texts we found said it should; it will make dealing with it much easier. You just have to stab it with that nothing more,” Koda finished. The knights, Kai and Zane looked at each other unsure what to do. The knights and Kai who first picked back up his sword huddled together to talk it over. Zane hung back a bit while listening to them.
“What do we do? How can we be sure they’re speaking the truth,” Macy inquired and Aaron added, “yha they could just be luring us in to curse us as well.”
“Or to eat us!” Lance exclaimed and Kai offered, “A droid cursed with being a were-wolf that sounds like something Jay would think of. Maybe they can’t control this condition as well as they think and don’t realise it. We could take them to town where someone could try to help them; maybe give them a cure. What do you say Zane… Zane?” Zane had wandered over to inspect the substance making sure to not get too close or to directly touch it.
“This is a rather strange substance. There are qualities of a mechanical oil like that Scimitar Oil to it…” Zane noted and Kai asked coming over to see what Zane was doing, “whatcha yha doing pal.”
“I do not think they are lying about this culprit. I have noted small spills of this strange substance along the path leading up to here. I did not think much of it due to how strange it was but with what they say it makes more sense now,” Zane explained before asking Koda and Aela, “when you catch this droid what did you plan to do with it?”
“There ain’t much you can do for it. If brought back to town they will seek to study and experiment on it which I don’t think would be a good idea. Terminate it is the only option I can think of. It will just keep causing havoc if not and risk infecting more individuals,” Koda explained.
“If we help, what about you two?” Clay inquired and Koda growled, “what about us?”
“Well I’m pretty sure the town would not be happy with were-wolves hanging nearby,” Macy noted and Koda stated, “what we do will be up to us; you do not need to worry though we promise what we’ll do won’t threaten anyone.” All but Zane were still hesitant but decided to go along for now so the culprit did not have time to get away. With their agreement Koda transformed into his beast form which had creamy goldenish colored fur and sniffed at the substance.
“We have the smell, it goes this way,” Koda spoke his voice sounding deeper and gruffer in his beast form. Though he spoke his mouth didn’t properly move with the words. Koda and Aela began to lead them off through the woods moving on all fours.
“Wicked you can talk while in that state,” Aaron expressed and Koda explained, “it is a learned skill; a rather hard to learn skill. My sister is still trying to learn it; she’s a little too impatient to practise like I have.” They followed the trail as it lead deeper into the Blackwoods keeping alert for this beast cursed droid.
“You shouldn’t have brought the metal-skin. This thing we’re following will be attracted to him. You’re risking him getting cursed or worse out here. He could easily be turned into a monster and turn on us,” Koda whispered to Clay as they travelled.
“Well we felt we could use his aid besides I’m pretty sure he’ll be okay. He’s not some mindless machine. From what we’ve seen he can’t be easily swayed and will do the right thing besides isn’t it a little hypocritical of you to be calling him a monster when by definition you are also a monster,” Clay whispered back and Koda quietly responded, “true but just because we’re monsters doesn’t mean we are monsters. I’m just saying be on guard. No matter how good he is or how hard he tries to fight it things here can warp even the purest of hearts to darker than the void. Trust us it is not always the monsters that do the monstrous things. Only by becoming a monster did me and my sister see who really were the monsters. The truth would surprise you.” Without warning Aela growled what sounded like “Metal one down” though it was not very clear out of nowhere before lunging atop Zane from behind to pin him down to the ground surprising and startling him and worrying the others who felt they had just been led into a trap. Seconds after Aela pinned down Zane a startling half bestial half machine style of were-wolf lunged from the dark undergrowth atop Aela biting her on the back. The thing looked like a were-wolf with dark blackish fur but the areas of skin while looking like dark organic flesh were clearly more synthetic in make baring slight metallic tints to it. Along with the metallic tinted synthetic skin were what looked like clearly metal made plates embedded in or growing out of parts of the body like some strange growths the fur like fibres sticking up around them where they were embedded in furred areas. To those who didn’t know what this thing was they might have mistaken the plates as armour embedded into a regular were-wolf. The metal skin covered parts of its face and top of the top snout, made up the ears, shoulders, the back running a bit down on to its sides, top of forearms, outer sides of the upper arm and thigh, the front of the lower legs and made a distinct patch on its chest over its heart that bore a circular mark at its center revealing the bluish glow from its power source. Its eyes were more artificial looking in make with a bright greenish glow to them, the claws and teeth were clearly pure metal and its calls and even breathing had a clearly metallic signature to it. This beast held onto Aela trying to pull her down and off Zane who she was keeping pinned down while trying to fight the creature with her brothers’ aid. Koda had managed to bite onto its one leg and was trying to pull it off its feet but this droid-beast was stronger and with its extensive metal skin patches more resilient to attacks than Koda and Aela. The droid beast temporarily turned to Koda to attack him freeing itself from his grip to then pick Koda up and toss him at the knights who were rushing in to join the attack. Koda hit them knocking them over while Kai rushed over to hit the droid-beast with a blast of fire to the face. This action clearly irritated it singeing some of its fur but didn’t really do much damage. The creature went to lunge at Kai but Aela intervened tackling Kai out of the droid beasts lunge. The droid-beast roared at Aela before turning its attention to Zane who was attempting to get up but feeling shaken was having trouble getting to his feet. He came to sit looking at the creature as it stalked towards him feeling terrified by it stalking towards him. The knights and Koda had gotten back up and were preparing to rush in to help Zane.
“Wait let me try something,” Clay expressed to the others stopping them. He summoned up some of his magic skill picking an electrical based power thinking the creatures half machine nature might weaken it to electrical powers.
“Aaron hit it, careful you don’t hit Zane this could seriously hurt him,” Clay proclaimed touching Aarons crossbow to charge it up with Nexo powers. While Aaron aimed at the beast it stalked closer Zane looking him straight in the eyes. Zane couldn’t help but look straight back into its eyes. He could swear for a second the droid beasts eyes softened even become saddened as it looked into his eyes and he got a feeling this thing wanted something from him though Zane couldn’t tell why he felt that. Before it could launch an attack at Zane Aaron shot it several times. The electrical power defiantly had an effect giving it quite the shock. After a few seconds to shake off the blasts effects it turned to roar at the knights before rushing back off into the undergrowth Koda and Aela giving chase. With them gone Kai got up and hurried over to help Zane up and check him over.
“I am okay, she just startled me,” Zane stated as the knights came over Clay inquiring looking Zane over, “you weren’t bit by any of them were you?”
“I do not think so,” Zane stated looking himself over. Macy then stated, “we need to catch up to them and stop that thing.” As they started to follow the direction the three had run off to they could hear a howl like noise echo through the woods coming from where the beasts had rushed off through.
“I think they’re calling for us,” Aaron hypothesized as they all followed the trail the beasts had made. It led to a somewhat clearing in the woods. A large dark structure sat partially overgrown by foliage and fungi and partially in ruin in this clearing. Any of the flora growing on it or near it looked dark and very unhealthy compared to the rest of the flora in the woods. Koda and Aela just hovered nearly cowering at the edges of the clearing hesitant to get closer to the structure looking scared of it. The structure was a large round edged rectangular structure with upward slanted walls and a flattened platform on the top where a large building like structure sat atop it. A stairway went up the side of the structure whose whole build seemed to be made of a dark volcanic rock. Something about the structure they all felt unnerving and they could feel a deep darkness, far worse than what they had already been feeling in this place, emanating from it. Bones and husks from insects and droids lay scattered around and on the structure; many looked to have been laying there for years.
“What is this so unnervingly and un-rad place?” Aaron wondered fighting the urge they all felt to turn and run from this place and Koda regaled, “outlanders this is an Ashers stronghold. One of the darkest places you can find in our realm possibly even all the realms.”
“Where’s that droid beast thing?” Kai wondered and Koda stated, “it went up into that place.”
“Well we can’t let this thing escape. I know there’s some really bad feelings coming from this place and I think we’re all in agreement we’d probably just want to turn and run but we have to deal with that thing. We can’t let an uncontrollable monster run loose around here,” Clay proclaimed after a moment’s hesitation fighting the fear and uncomfortable feelings this place was giving. It took a moment for most of them to agree to continue, Lance was opting to hang back but they forced him to follow as they all headed up the stairs of the structure.
“Why would this thing come here?” Axl wondered and Koda responded, “Not sure. Metal skins in this region often serve dark entities. Just look at all those following the Black Stag. Never heard of any serving or in association with the Ashers but if they’re fine being near the Stag than this place probably doesn’t bother them much.”
“Are you sure about that? I’m pretty sure this place is bothering Zane, right buddy?” Kai stated and Zane expressed feeling just as uneasy as the others, “indeed it is. I am getting several very unpleasant feelings from this place including one that feels like we should not be here.”
“That likely means then that the darkness in this realm has not influenced you yet,” Koda expressed and Kai proclaimed, “that’s a good thing then. Right?”
“It could be,” Koda noted as they reached the top of the structure. The building atop the platform was split in two with an L shaped two story structure towards the back right and a large single structure to the left. There were no windows on any of the buildings and the larger structures entrance doors were collapsed in while those on the large outbuilding were smashed into the structure but still passable to the buildings interior.
“Guess that’s where we should look unless you think it jumped off the other side,” Aaron commented and after a quick sniff of the air by Aela and Koda Aela stated, “in building it is.” They slowly made their way into the outbuilding which by its large open interior and strange dark symbols etched and painted on surfaces gave them the feeling it was once used for dark rituals. A hole in the ceiling let in the only light for the place letting them make out some things. The place was pretty clean. Despite its ruined state there were no piles of debris and no flora had taken root in the structure. They couldn’t see the creature they were looking for but there were still dark areas to the room. Clay noticed some braziers by the entrance which held a strange substance. Curious he asked Kai to see if he could light them to maybe give them some more light. Kai hit one with a small blast of fire and not only did the brazier light up but the one on the other side lit up plus what appeared to be two troughs one lining either side of the walls lit up as well. The fire that lit them had a strange dark quality to it.
“That’s kind of disturbing,” Kai expressed as the fires started up and Koda stated, “I bet leftover dark Ashers magic is responsible for that.” The fires helped light up the dark areas. Their light reflecting off its metal skin and the glow of its eyes as it turned its head to look at them revealed the droid-beast crouching in the one dark back corner. It bared its teeth at them with ears back looking ready to attack.
“Alright it has no other way to escape, this should make things easier. We should surround it to cut off any means of escape. Kai Zane keep behind the rest of us so you don’t risk getting bit. We’ll use our shields to try and hold it back while Koda and Aela you try and pin it down. Once it’s restrained you Kai can try and give it that shot,” Clay formulated as the knights pulled out their shields and held them out towards the beast. It took a few swipes at the knights who were able to block its attacks with their shields as they ushered it into the one back corner Kai and Zane sticking close behind them while Koda and Aela stalked around to try and ambush the creature from behind. While it remained focussed on the knights Koda and Aela jumped it and made a quick struggle to pin it down.
“Hurry red one this thing is trying to get loose. I do not know how long we can hold it,” Koda expressed him and his sister struggling to hold the construct down. Kai quickly rushed over to stab the shot into the beasts neck Clay coming with him to put himself between the creatures head and Kai keeping his shield up to prevent it from possibly biting them. Despite aiming for an area with flesh and not metal skin he couldn’t get the shot to pierce its skin despite trying in several places.
“It can’t pierce its skin!” Kai exclaimed and Clay stated, “there must be metal under the flesh parts.”
“Then we’ll have to do this the hard way and destroy it as it is,” Koda expressed before the beast managed to escape his grip to grab him and throw him into the far wall before managing to do the same to his sister dazing both of them. Kai, Zane and the knights took a few steps back worried for its attacks. The droid-beast let out a loud roaring noise at them. The noises volume hurt their ears and caused a bit of disorientation to them. As they recovered from the sound the creature took their moment of disorientation to launch an attack to grab and toss the knights and Kai to the far wall before turning to Zane. Zane tried to freeze the creature as it stalked towards him but shortly after starting his attack he stopped when his eyes met the creatures and he got that strange feeling again. He felt like it was wanting to communicate with him but something, likely this curse was preventing it from being able to do this. He went to attack the creature but couldn’t bring himself to. While he was hesitating Koda and Aela again tried to attack the beast but it got the better of them and tossed them into the knights and Kai who were coming to aid in the fight knocking everyone into a pile.
“This things quite powerful,” Lance noted and Koda guessed, “probably because it comes from a droid.”
“You don’t say,” Kai expressed as they all worked to untangle themselves and get back up while Aaron stated, “We better do something quick or we’re going to have two beast crazed droids to deal with, including one that likely will have a rather chilling bite.” The creature was stalking towards Zane who had fallen backwards from Koda and Aelas attack and just sat staring at the creature almost like he was shocked or in some sort of trance.
“We can’t let him get infected,” Clay stated throwing a blast of electrical energy at the creature as they all got up to distract the creature and hopefully buy them some time. The creature jumped back a bit from the energy of the blast growling at them but was undeterred.
“Do any of the cures for this condition even work on droids?” Macy wondered and Koda regaled, “they do but people here will never give them to him no matter what you do.”
“I won’t let him get cursed. Besides I’m pretty sure Zane could control the curse if he did get it; if not I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t hurt us; well at least not me I’m his brother,” Kai proclaimed hitting the creature with some fire driving it back a bit and angering it.
“Dude I’m pretty sure he’d just go as crazy as that monster and just end up eating you. Boy I’d hate to be the one to tell your sister the news of that?” Aaron noted giving Kai an idea as he looked at the shot he had then back to the beast which looked to be prepping to lunge at Zane who still seemed mesmerized by this beast.
“Hey you rusted fur ball,” Kai called shooting a blast of fire at the creatures head to catch its attention. It turned to look over at them angered while Aaron inquired confused while the other knights were worried, “uh dude what are you doing?”
“You know I’m pretty sure a droid wouldn’t taste very good, probably isn’t healthy for you either. No real meat there. Why don’t you go for something meatier like a fiery hot ninja,” Kai called out to the beast before he again threw a fireball at the creatures head hitting it straight in the face and Axl worried as the creature turned its attention to them, “why are you trying to drag that thing over to us?”
“Trust me I got an idea,” Kai proclaimed before quietly muttering to himself, “hopefully this works.” The creature came charging at them angered. Everyone backed away while Kai held his ground. As the creature jumped at him mouth open to bite at him he quickly through the shot in its mouth as hard as he could proclaiming, “now take your medicine.” It slammed its mouth shut on the shot as it crashed into him knocking both to the ground. After landing on him the droid-beast took a second to come to its senses before getting up and backing away a bit while giving off a coughing noise. The knights came over to help Kai who was shaken and a bit dazed to his feet while Koda and Aela put themselves between Zane and the creature to keep it away from him. Zane seemed lost in thought, almost confused, as he looked at the creature which was backing up into the back wall.
“What did you just do?” Clay wondered as he helped Kai up. Kai responded with, “the only way I could think of getting the potion into it.” The droid-beast finally coughed up the shot which was broken having been split in half with its contents missing. It then backed itself into the corner shaking its head a few times before collapsing onto its knees where it transformed out of its beast form into a hyenoid. It didn’t look like the hyenoids however they had trained with in the city. Instead it looked more like the type that was known to serve the Stag and was dressed like a commoner though a serious patch of damage on its one shoulder letting wires poke out indicated where he had been bitten to receive its’ curse. The droid put its hands on the side of its head keeping its eyes closed as it looked to be fighting something in its head. With the droid out of its beast form Koda and Aela changed out of their beast forms back into their normal forms revealing Aela to be of the hyena folk type.
“Dude I thought you said she was your sister, she looks nothing like you?” Aaron wondered confused as the knights came over to help trap the droid while Kai helped up Zane who no longer seemed to be in whatever state he had been in during the fight.
“Yha that’s a strange quirk in this realm. We came from the same parents both of the ungulate folk but for some reason I grew to be of the hyena folk. No one’s still quite sure why that happens. Don’t worry it’s just as confusing to us as it likely is to you,” Aela expressed before Clay cut in to declare, “we can talk later guys lets deal with this thing first.” The droid had opened its eyes to see what was going on around it but was clearly being driven crazy by its curse and was mumbling to itself something about its curse.
“This isn’t a usual droid. It looks a lot like the ones known to serve the Stag; that makes this even more dangerous. These ones are known to be highly calculating and unpredictable and usually don’t travel alone,” Koda commented and Axl wondered, “then where are its pals?”
“I think it’s alone, we haven’t smelt any other droids than yours out here. I’m betting because he’s cursed they abandoned him to his fate to protect themselves. Many would say it is because those things are cold hearted but people do the same thing when they find you have this curse. No one wishes to understand the condition,” Aela speculated and Macy wondered, “how long does that potion last?”
“For a normal folk that amount about a day, not sure about a droid possibly the same maybe more or less. I’m not sure; couldn’t find much research done on beast cursed droids. Few wish to study them because of how dangerous and uncontrollable they are,” Koda explained before the droid muttered, “watch dragons in city… ash warped mind cursed beast attack… I only survive… manage escape… cursed… beast within wants out… needs out… cannot get out… need to hunt…need meat… need feed… fang cub help… mercy…”
“What’s our metal skin bro here muttering about?” Aaron wondered and Macy noted, “don’t know, I think this beast curse is driving it crazy.”
“We need to destroy it before it attacks one of you and curses you guys, especially the metal skin,” Koda stated and Aela stated, “one of you with a weapon preferably a long pointy one like a sword stab it in its power source.”
“We’re sorry about this. It’s not personal. It’s just you’re a danger to others and it clearly looks like this might be good for you, bring you some peace,” Clay stated preparing to stab at the droids chest feeling a bit torn about just finishing this thing. It didn’t look very menacing and dangerous and was clearly having difficulties with what it was going through. It looked pretty down trodden and the knights code told him to protect the down trodden even if they weren’t necessarily human. The droid didn’t deserve such a punishment, it wasn’t purposely out to get anyone it was a victim of its curse, but they had little choice. Before Clay could move in to finish the droid Zane intervened putting himself protectively in front of the droid proclaiming, “Don’t. We do not have to destroy him.”
“Then what do we do with him?” Clay inquired and Macy stated, “if we take it back to town they’re not going to be nice to him and they likely won’t give it a cure. You should know most of all how they’ll likely treat him. This is the best thing for it. There is nothing else we can do for it.” Zane was torn. While it had looked like the being had been trying to hurt or curse Zane he had become aware it just wanted his help. Even though it was having extreme difficulty connecting with him because of the curse driving it mad Zane could still sense what it wanted. It didn’t wish to hurt anyone it just wanted help but it couldn’t control the curse so was unable to effectively seek help and was instead causing harm to all those it tried to seek help from. Zane had a feeling the reason he felt he knew what it wanted was thanks to the Scimitar programming he had gotten which he shared with this droid. He felt despite its curse it was still able to use this programming in some ways to try and find help. Zane wanted to help the droid but he knew the others were right. The people here would not help it and he didn’t know enough from this realm to help it himself. He also didn’t want to risk himself catching this curse which would just endanger others and make the people of the town hate him more. Not to mention cause problems for their current quest.
“I’m guessing because it’s a droid you might be feeling some kinship for it and want to help it but there’s nothing we can do for it. We don’t have very many options and this will be best for everyone even this droid he clearly looks to be suffering in some way. How’s this we’ll make it quick so it doesn’t have to suffer, sound good?” Kai urged coming to comfort Zane and try to get him to see reason. Zane had to agree but still felt it was wrong to simply terminate the construct. Realising Kai was right Zane reluctantly stepped aside to let Clay do what had to be done.
“Please mercy… spare this one… do not want harm others… other side want… hunt Kirin… gift Stag Prince Kirin… beg for freedom…” the construct mumbled seeming to try and beg from them making Clay hesitate in finishing it.
“Stag Prince? Hunt Kirin?” Clay wondered and Aela expressed, “The Stag Prince is Storabek and hunting a Kirin… is it talking of a Great Hunt? That might explain why it’s been causing havoc near here. The Ghost Fence and a passage for wildlife through the fence isn’t far from here. It’s probably trying to get to the other side of the fence to perform the hunt but can’t find a way. The guards at the gate would never let him through no matter what form he takes.”
“Great hunt?” Kai inquired and Koda explained, “part of the beliefs of Storabek told of an act known as the Great Hunt that one could accomplish in order to seek a boon or make a bargain with Storabek. It involves an individual tracking down and hunting a beast of Storabeks make known as a Kirin. It is said he uses the beasts to test the skills of his followers, as targets for those wishing to prove their prowess as warriors and as guardians for sacred sites in the wilderness.”
“What do these Kirins look like?” Clay wondered and Aela stated, “take a deer, give it the tail of a cat, tusks of a boar, the fangs of a wolf, get rid of the antlers and stick a single spiralled slightly curved horn on its forehead with a small bump of a horn slightly in front of that one then cross the whole thing with a dragon and you get the Kirin. They are very powerful, said to be magically gifted in some ways, very agile, fast and aggressive and have great regenerative properties. It is said only specially crafted weapons like those that can harm a Fear, magical weapons or a man-beast can harm or destroy the beasts. I’ve also heard them be referred to as dragon unicorns by some folk as some of the more superstitious people believe the word Kirin is cursed or will get you targeted for Storabeks hunts which are often not pretty.”
A Kirin: 
“Does this hunt work? Can an individual get a cure for the curse through this hunt?” Zane wondered and Aela stated, “don’t know. According to historical tales it can but Storabek is known to be very temperamental.”
“According to the tales if you can fell the monstrous beast and bring its heart and horn to a shrine to Storabek than he will grant whatever you ask of him usually… you’re not thinking of doing this hunt are you?” Koda wondered clearly not liking Zanes question and Zane responded, “is there one of these creatures and a shrine nearby?”
“Wastes… other side…” the droid mumbled looking to have calmed down a bit and Koda added, “Kirin are rare though one has been spotted in the wastes recently, some say Storabek is setting up for one of his Great Hunts and has brought the beast here for that hunt. Many have come to try and fell the beast over the recent while. So far no one’s been able to fell it. We also know of a few shrines over there too, some of them are eerily still in use by who though I don’t know and would rather not know.”
“You can’t be thinking of helping this thing hunt this beast are you?” Kai wondered not liking what Zane could be thinking and Zane responded, “since the people will not help him this could be his only chance for a cure and a chance to live.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea. For one thing I don’t think we should be venturing into the wastes not unless it is for the quest we came here for. It’s too dangerous. Secondly we have no guarantee this will work. Thirdly this droid is a minion for this Black Stag; I don’t think we want to let one of them go wandering around freely,” Clay explained and Zane was quick to point out, “so what if he is one of the Stags allies. You ever consider maybe they do not have a choice in serving him. That he is just as much a victim to the Stags cruelty as the people are. If his allies have abandoned him than maybe the Stag has to and this is his chance for freedom so he does not have to serve evil. He is just as much a living being as you or I does he not deserve a chance to live despite what he is?” The others were unsure what to do or say. Clay noticed Kai was clearly worried and muttered mainly to himself, “this isn’t good.”
“True he does deserve a chance but even if he has been abandoned aiding him is still too dangerous a risk for us to take,” Clay stated then Aela noted, “you outlanders defiantly wouldn’t stand a chance over there and you’d be risking getting the beast curse when the potion wears off on the thing. Also I don’t think any of you are a match for a Kirin. It would fell you before you fell it metal-skin.” They stood around for about a minute going over the idea. Zane still insisted on helping it but none of the others were in agreement. Koda and Aela remained largely quite just listening.
“You guys do not have to come I will take him to find this Kirin and ask this Storabek for aid on my own,” Zane declared when he noticed it seemed no one was willing to help and Kai stated worried, “no that’s not a wise idea.”
“Indeed it isn’t. I doubt you would make it back and as a metal skin the moment you step foot on the other side of the fence the Stag will come for you,” Aela expressed to Zane who was clearly disturbed by the thought of the Stag coming for him and Koda offered, “You know if the hunt doesn’t work I don’t see much harm in letting him run loose on the wastes side. Sure he could still cause problems over there but for those who deserve it like the Ashers… how’s this you all head back to town, tell them the creature has been slain. We already have the curse so he can’t do much harm to us. We’ll take him to the other side of the fence where he can perform this hunt if he wants. If anything we might be able to teach him some control and he could help in taking down some of the enemies numbers.”
“You’d be willing to do that?” Clay wondered and Aela stated, “sure. We’re in a lot better a position to aid him than you are besides given the current climate it might be best if we remain on the other side as well. People won’t have to fear us and we can help keep those who venture over there safe.” After a quick think they all felt this was their best option. The knights with Kai and Zane helped Koda and Aela get the hyenoid to calm down and follow as they took him to a tunnel made by some Boernix beetles which led under the fence into the wastes. A beetle was hanging around gaurding the entrance and became defensive at their sight but quickly calmed down when it saw they offered no threat. It even let Koda, Aela and the hyenoid pass into its tunnel so they could get to the other side.
Before they left Koda stopped to mention to Zane trying to remain quiet so only Zane would hear though Clay overheard as he had been keeping a close eye on Zane to make sure the hyenoid didn’t do anything to him, “you did the right thing metal-skin. Do not listen to the people here. The metal skins are not the monsters not even those following the dark Stag; the real monsters are hiding in plain sight among the people here hiding under many illusions. You know the hyenoid and us share more than our curse in common. In ways we share the same master, a stag master. Indeed he is a cruel dark master but sometimes you need the darkness in order to see the light.” Once they were headed off the knights with Kai and Zane headed back to town. Once back Clay made sure they all got checked over by Merlok first thing to make sure they had not become infected by this curse of man-beasts in any way. They were free though Jay was still not too sure being on the verge of paranoid. Clay could hear him chastising to Zane and Kai while Clay talked to Lloyd in the hall before he went to tell the council what they wanted to hear promising to keep the truth and about Aela and Koda a secret.
“If you turn into one of these man-beast things and you try to or even do eat me and I’m stuck in your stomach being digested I will give you such a shock not only will you feel it the rest of your nindroid life but every droid from here to this forbidden city will feel it you got me! And don’t you laugh the same goes for you Kai,” Jay was proclaiming loudly to Zane who was startled and a bit unerved by Jays accusations and attitude to him. Kai didn’t seem bothered and instead stated just to mess with Jay who was put on edge by the statement, “we’re clean. We all made sure to keep some distance from these things. Well most of us. I would be a little careful around Aaron though. You know how he is with no fear. He was getting a little too close to them and I could swear he’s looking a bit hairier now.”
“Why do they insist on making him paranoid?” Clay wondered and Lloyd explained, “they’re just messing around. I get this isn’t the time for this though. I’ll make sure to have a word with them. Did anything odd happen out there?”
“Odd? Well other than dealing with some really strange man-beast things and coming across one of these Ashers ruins…there was a few things… is it normal for Zane to side with other droids even if they’re your enemies?” Clay wondered and after a moment’s pause Lloyd responded quietly making sure the other ninja couldn’t hear him and clearly worried, “no he usually doesn’t do that, he’s normally indifferent or on our side… something here is making him over trusting to the cybernetic entities here including ones with dark ties. It’s worrying. We’ve all noticed it, it’s gotten us all worried; I want to think maybe because they’re like him he is just feeling for them especially seeing how cruelly they’re treated here but… I’m worried its worse. He’s had contact with a servant to the Stag and no one was around to see what went on. Who knows what that thing could have been doing to him, what it could have been doing or saying to sway his mind.”
“That brings up the other thing. I don’t know if they were just trying to be nice to him or if they were trying to mess with him but the two we dealt with they were saying some things to him. Sounded like they were trying to sway him into trusting not only the constructs but this Black Stag as well,” Clay noted which he could see clearly got Lloyd even more worried, “that’s not good. I hope he will ignore what they said or at least be skeptical if not… I don’t even want to think of it but the outcome likely won’t be good.”
Zaaron This one occurs prior to the Chapter Merchants Tale.
Since meeting them the ninjas relation with the knights had gotten pretty good and they got along rather well. It had taken a little while for them to get used to each other and develop a good relation. There were still some kinks in their relation but they were largely nothing they couldn’t work through. Lance had been made uneasy with Zane after Zane had roughed him up and froze him in ice for a while after Lance had mistakenly treated Zane like a Squirebot for a few days angering Zane who didn’t like being ordered around or treated like a servant and Jay was still a little uncomfortable with Aaron unnerved by how he could be so fearless causing Jay to think either something was wrong with Aaron or he wasn’t truly human. These were minor issues however and didn’t interfere with their relations or ability to work together. There was however one notable problem that was occasionally causing issues. The young knight in training Robin was super fascinated by Zane who was not used to the attention nor liked being the center of attention preferring to let others take the center stage and instead being in the background. Often during down times Robin was trying to hang around and watch Zane making him uncomfortable. To make it worse Robin was often asking him questions while observing him that made Zane uncomfortable often revolving about his internal workings, his being and thoughts. This had made Zane rather uncomfortable around Robin and had led to a few incidents. On one of their early days in the city Hassiri had taken the knights and ninja to the hanger the ship they were to be using was being worked on so they could see what they were going to be using and to try a hand in fixing it to give them experience in case they needed to make repairs in the wastes. The ship was in a really bad shape. While helping to work on it Robin had been hanging around Zane asking him questions while helping out. Nervous of Robin hanging around him and the kids questions Zane had accidently touched the screwdriver he was working with to the wrong piece of machinery and got a serious shock from it knocking him out for over an hour. Robin, who had been worried over what happened, had at least gone and gotten the other ninja to help him after he got shocked. While checking him over when he came too to make sure he was okay Jay had stated “I could see Kai doing this to himself not you, what happened?” Zane was hesitant to say anything about Robin not wanting to get him in trouble just proclaiming it was an accident. Zane knew Robin wasn’t trying to do anything bad to him, the young knight was just over curious. Once while the two groups practiced in the arena together against some hyenoids Robin joining the others to get some practise with the other knights Robin had asked Zane if he ever felt like joining these evil droids in enslaving and destroying people. Zane had been surprised and a little shocked someone would think he would do that and in his surprise he had miss aimed his ice attack on the hyenoids he had originally been aiming for and instead hit Clay, Macy and Kai freezing them in Ice. The hyenoids and some of the spectators watching them were amused by the mistake. Zane had felt too embarrassed by what he had done to help get the three out of the ice and tried to keep his distance from them for a few hours afterwards even though they understood it was an accident and didn’t hold it against him. Another time Zane had been meditating in the common room of the scholars center trying to relax when he noted Robin and Ava coming into the room. Thinking quickly for some way to keep Robin from asking him questions he picked up a bowl of candies someone had placed on a nearby shelf and started eating them. People tended to talk less to someone when they were eating so he was hoping it would work. To his surprise the two had just come to let him know they had a training session soon and Lloyd had sent them to retrieve him and were not there for chatting. As they left Ava noted startling Zane who had eaten almost the whole bowl, “you do realise those are magnets for the whiteboards not candies you’re eating right? I don’t know much about your internal workings but I don’t think those are good for you.” Zane tried to get through the training session as if nothing was wrong but the magnets he had swallowed not only made him feel unwell but also began messing with some of his systems both physically and mentally including messing with his ability to navigate and aim. This caused him to frequently miss aim, make navigational errors causing him to walk into objects and walls, to have trouble balancing and when he performed Spinjitsu he would get extremely dizzy and often ran into objects or the others. The others were confused over why he was performing so poorly and acting strange till Ava explained about the magnets to them since Zane wasn’t wanting to talk about it too embarrassed about what he had done to tell the others. It took Nya and Jay over an hour after the training session to remove as much of the pieces of the magnets from inside Zanes synthetic digestive system as possible. They were both a little irritated that he hadn’t shut down this system when he had realised his mistake causing parts of the magnets to be scattered throughout his synthetic digestive system making their task harder and longer than they would have liked. To add on to his embarrassment while they worked on him Robin was hanging around and trying to help out making him even more uncomfortable. While they worked on him Nya had commented, “You know I could see Cole making this kind of mistake not you; what were you thinking?” All Zane could think of as a reply was that it was an accident.
The one day Zane was headed for the room they were staying in to retrieve his shurikans for a training session. Before he could enter the hall from the main room however he could hear Robin talking to someone in the Knights room in the hall. Wanting to avoid Robins attention thinking quickly Zane activated his cloaking ability disguising himself as Aaron. Robin didn’t seem to take note of him till he went to go into the ninjas room.
“Whatcha doing?” Robin wondered and thinking quickly Zane responded in disguise using Aarons voice, “oh hey little dude Jay just wanted me to retrieve Zanes shurikans for him for their training session. He forgot them in their room and you know how the people here dislike him so Jay felt I should get them for them.”
“You can tell Jay he can retrieve them himself, we have some training of our own to work on,” Clay declared coming out of the knights room to hand Zane Aarons crossbow and shield.
“But aren’t we I mean the ninja using the training ring?” Zane commented confused still in disguise. Even though he felt he should let the cloak down to show Clay he wasn’t really Aaron he didn’t not wanting to reveal himself to Robin.
“Yes they are. I have some special training planned for us though in the Fortrexs holo-decks. Everyone else is already there we’ve just been waiting on you. Now that you’re here we can head over and get started,” Clay declared. Still hesitant to let down the cloak while Robin was there Zane decided to just go with it seeing no other option to get out of this. He followed Clay Robin following behind them to the Fortrex trying to not reveal any hints of his true identity as they left. Shortly after they left Aaron came out of the bathrooms interested in what he had overheard. He had overheard talking in the hall while finishing washing his hands and had been a little confused to have heard his voice. He had a feeling it was Zane disguised as him. He had after all been helping Zane perfect a disguised persona based off him that the ninja had come up with to give him some peace from the people. Aaron wasn’t sure why Zane had at that point decided to go around disguised as him but wondered if he was maybe doing some sort of test on his skills. Seemed like something he might do.
“Oh hey Aaron have you seen Zane? We’re starting training soon and he’s going to be late if we don’t get going now,” Lloyd stated coming down the hall. Aaron quickly decided not to mention anything about what Zane was doing unsure if he maybe was doing this in secret or not. From Lloyds question he had reason to believe the others didn’t know what Zane was doing. To help Zane and not give the ninja any suspicions or reason to worry Aaron decided to play along with Zane. If Zane was going to try disguising as him than he could try disguising as Zane so no one would get suspicious and break Zanes cover.
“Why Lloyd do you not recognise me?” Aaron inquired trying to talk with a tone similar to Zanes. Lloyd looked at him a bit un-amused for a second before stating, “I’ll admit that’s pretty impressive Zane but now’s not the time to be playing around. We’ve got some training to do. Grab your shurikans and meet us in the ring.” While Aaron filled in for Zane, Zane entered the Fortrex and followed Clay into the Holo-training deck. Even though Robin hadn’t followed them into the deck Zane was still hesitant to let down his cloak worried of getting into trouble and unsure how the knights would react to him. He had good reason to believe they wouldn’t hurt him. Instead he worried they might think he was trying to trick them which he feared would cause problems for the ninjas relations with the knights. He didn’t wish to cause any problems.
“Alright knights. I thought today we might want to prepare for what we could face in this Forbidden City. We couldn’t find much on what the inside is supposed to look like so we’re going to pretend today for this session the inside of the city is like this Blackreach place. Both occur underground so there is a good chance they could be similar environments. Hopefully this works. Ava and Merlok went through a lot of research for this,” Clay explained working on a tablet as the Holo-deck changed into a dark cavern filled with strange often glowing flora and fungi with some scimitar ruins. Zane was surprised and impressed by the holo-deck.
“I wonder if the ninja would ever be interested in training in here?” Axl wondered as Zane inspected one of the fungi by him amazed by what he was seeing. Despite being a digital construct it not only looked but felt real!
“I’m pretty sure that worry wart Jay would wet himself,” Lance commented before Clay stated, “Maybe we could think of letting them have a go, not sure how good an idea that would be though. We could think about it later in the meantime we have training to do. Since it is our first time in this kind of environment our enemies are set to a low level.” Various beasts from the vale such as Gloambeasts, Vale Hyenas and Vale Slothdillos along with a bunch of hyenoids resembling the ones they usually trained with in the town materialised around them and began to attack. As the others started the fight Zane hesitated looking around for a door to get out thinking this might be a good chance to try and slip away unseen. He was unable to see a way out and Macy commenting why he was just standing looking around mesmerized drew him into the fight.
“Sorry this place is just so… rad, kind of lost focus,” Zane stated as Aaron hopping onto Aarons shield to copy how he fought. Zane had to exercise great control to not use his powers nor to perform Spinjitsu instead relying on the shield, crossbow and skills in combat to fight their enemies. While fighting Clay would give out commands for fighting formations or instructions for the others. Zane tried to follow along trying to use what the others were doing to help him figure out what to do since he didn’t know what any of these formations were. It worked to some extent but his multi tasking of trying to hide his identity, keep up the illusion he was Aaron and follow orders caused him to make a couple mistakes including accidently crashing into Axl knocking both over and causing the reared up Slothdillo he had been fighting to fall back and land on Lance who upon being landed on lost grip of his weapon and shield which bounced out of his hands. Macy ended up tripping over his shield and as she fell she lost grip of her mace accidently tossing it into Clays back knocking him forward and winding him.
“Okay that didn’t go so well,” Clay stated calling off the session as they all got back up.
“My bad, got a little… discombobulated by the environment,” Zane apologised as Aaron worried they would become suspicious of him. To his relief they accepted it all agreeing to be a little confused by the environment and didn’t show any suspicions. Aaron meanwhile had joined the ninja in their training which was against a bunch of hyenoids. So far they had bought the idea that he was practising his disguise. It took a while for Aaron to get used to fighting without his shield and using shurikans and his fists instead of a crossbow. He had managed to convince them the reason he wasn’t using his powers or Spinjitsu was because Aaron didn’t know those so to keep up the illusion he couldn’t use them. Some of the others clearly thought he was getting a little too into his disguise but bought it. He tried to copy some of the moves the others were doing to not seem out of place but quite a few of them he couldn’t do and when he tried he kept screwing up. They spent the afternoon training and it had not gone well. Aaron was thankful it wasn’t entirely his fault they failed. The hyenoids had been set to the toughest level and were told not to hold back. The ring had been set up with some ruins and foliage and the droids had been given not only weapons but things they could use to trap the ninja and even items made of this cursed stone to block their powers. The droids had gotten the better of them all. Aaron actually hadn’t done to bad; it was Jay and Kai who failed the most. Both kept falling into traps, sometimes together, that the droids kept setting up. At first the hyenoids were clearly into the fight but were soon simply trying to mess with the ninja to have a laugh amused by how Jay and Kai reacted when falling into their traps especially when stuck together. After the training they went back to the main hall and Aaron had the suspicion some of them notably Lloyd and Nya were onto him. By the way they talked to him while they hung out afterwards in the scholars center’s main room he had a feeling they were testing him. He tried to answer them like Zane would as best he could though he had a feeling he might have screwed up on a few answers. They didn’t know enough about each other for him to get everything right. At one point Nya gave him an iced tea made with this Scimitar Oil wanting him to drink it. He tried to think a way out of it but she stated they always made Zane have some at least twice a day to help ease some of his anxieties from the people of the town and the Black Stag. Worried what the ninja would do if they did start to get suspicious he didn’t want to give up the illusion so he drank the tea trying as hard as he could to hide the fact that he didn’t like the taste and it made him feel sick. A little later worried they were suspicious and might do something worse to him than making him drink a tea with a mechanical oil in it he decided to try and sneak out to the Fortrex to get Zane. He managed to sneak out into the foyer of the scholars center before he found himself ambushed with a sack put over his head and dragged off somewhere. When the sack had been removed he had been tied up to a chair in the ninjas room. The ninja were there and looked pretty mad, Aaron was sure now they had suspicions.
“What have you done with our friend monster?” Jay demanded giving Aaron a hefty shock.
“Jay ask questions first then use persuasion if it doesn’t answer we’ve been over this,” Lloyd stated as Aaron recovered from getting shocked quickly stating before anyone else could do anything drastic, “Okay you got me I’m not Zane. I would think I did a pretty good job at filling in for him though wouldn’t you say.”
“Who and what are you then and where’s our friend?” Kai demanded lighting his hands on fire to threaten him and Aaron stated nervous, “Dudes it’s just me, you know Aaron of the Nexo Knights.”
“Yha nice try I saw Aaron head off with Clay to their ship earlier before I found you,” Lloyd stated and Aaron explained, “that was Zane who left with Clay not me. He disguised himself as me. Not entirely sure why but I think he’s trying to test out that cloaking thing he does.” The ninja didn’t seem convinced. They couldn’t see why Zane would go around disguised as one of the knights especially without telling any of them especially with all the dangers to him in this place. It took a while of Aaron trying to convince the ninja he was who he said he was and not an Asher or servant to the Stag like they thought he was.
“Look I’m sorry if I’ve caused any trouble. I get you’re very protective of your brother I’d be too. Please just call Clay. Have a talk to him I’m pretty sure he’s noticed I’ve been a little strange all day,” Aaron vouched. The ninja were still a bit hesitant but decided to give his offer a try. When they contacted Clay he was at first confused but after some thought he believed Aarons story. Him and the other knights had noticed Aaron acting stranger than usual all afternoon but hadn’t thought much of it. They had trained most of the afternoon and Clay had noticed Aaron had not been doing his best while training. After training they had been hanging around in the Fortrex to have some down time and to work on repairing damages from the fall before they would be leaving for the Undercity for diner and the rest of the day. Since training had ended the knights had seen very little of Aaron. After the ninja had contacted him Clay went to the control center with Ava and Merlok to figure out what Aaron who Clay now had reason to believe was actually Zane had been doing during that time. He had told the two about what he and the ninja believed was going on but wasn’t going to tell the other knights just yet wanting to be sure it was just some misunderstandings going on and not something dangerous. They were after all in a place where there were terrible beings out to get them. Some of these they had heard were capable of disguising themselves as someone else. The three of them went over the ships security footage to see if they could see what Zane who was disguised as Aaron had been up to. After training while everyone had gone to hang out in the common room or worked in the control center or with the engines Zane who had remained disguised as Aaron had wandered around the ship. He didn’t appear aware of the security cameras. By the way he was looking around like he was lost or confused and entering every room and looking behind every door even random closets they believed he was trying to find a way out of the ship however it seemed his curiosity had quickly gotten the better of him and he began investigating things that caught his interest which along with various items from their world included things like technical devices, books and pictures. He had come across Clays copy of the Knights Code in the recreational room while he was alone and read it for over half an hour occasionally muttering things like ‘so that is what that formation is’, ‘oh that is what I was supposed to do’ and ‘okay that is why I messed up’ to himself as he read it looking to be studying it. He had come across some of the Squirebots they had onboard who were helping Robin with repairing the ship while wandering. He seemed both curious and confused by them as he quietly talked with some of them. While they had let the ninja know about them none of them had seen or met the Squirebots as the knights were keeping them hidden on the Fortrex to keep them safe. They knew in no way did the Squirebots have the fortitude to handle the conditions or people of this place so the Fortrex where no one but the knights were allowed in was the safest place for them. They were guessing because they were similar in being to him he was curious about them but was also confused because they were much simpler in build and programming than he was. They also noted he was keeping his distance from Robin who was working in the same room while he quietly talked to the Squirebots. It looked like he was trying to not reveal his presence to Robin. They found that a little curious as if he wandered somewhere where one of the others were he didn’t seem to care if they noticed him. He had wandered into the kitchens at one point where Axl was trying to figure out things they could make out of the items available to them in this realm that wasn’t going to have strange effects on them or make them sick. Zane didn’t seem to care that Axl noticed him and asked him to come try something. Zane tried what he had been making. He had first however tried the slop for Lances pet pig Hamletta that was on the counter thinking that was what Axl had been talking about till Axl a little surprised by who he saw as Aarons actions corrected him. ‘oh, well this is not too bad either’ Zane commented as Aaron appearing a bit embarrassed by his actions before trying what Axl had made. He had also wandered into the control center while Ava, Macy and Merlok were working in it trying to get some of the Fortrexs main systems working again. They clearly noted him and Zane didn’t seem to care that they did as he was looking around the room. They wondered what he was doing curious about his actions and when asked he replied that he had just misplaced his copy of the guide book they had been given and was searching for it. They accepted it and went back to work though Merlok admitted to them as they went over the footage that he had sensed something strange about Aaron at the time but wasn’t sure what it was. While in there noting what they were working on and how they were struggling with getting something’s to work he had gone to investigating the control center. While they were occupied talking with each other he went under the control board and was doing something but from the angle the camera was at they couldn’t see what it was. Those in the room had no clue what he was doing till he finished whatever he was doing and got up from under the board giving them some suggestions on what to do. They weren’t sure about his suggestions but tried it anyway. They were surprised to find it worked. When asked how he knew he simply replied ‘lucky guess’. Now that they had a feeling who he actually was they wondered if he had somehow hooked himself up to the ships computers and used his own systems to diagnose the problem. At one point he wandered into the storage section where he took note of some oil barrels and inspected them. He appeared to try some on his wrist at one point still not letting down his cloak. After that they were guessing out of curiosity he tasted some of the oil which surprised two of the Squirebots who just happened to enter the room at that time to get some supplies. The Squirebots were both surprised and stumped by who they believed was Aarons actions. Zane was surprised to note the Squirebots come in and looked to be embarrassed as he moved around them to leave the room. In his embarrassment they noted slight flickers to his cloak revealing their suspicions.
With his suspicions confirmed Clay deciding to confront Zane on his own feeling he probably would feel very uncomfortable for everyone else to confront him as well. With Avas help he found Zane who had found his way into the garage to the drawbridge and was trying to figure out the code for the lock on the door. He was still disguised as Aaron but by how quickly he was working on the control panel it was obvious he wasn’t human. Zane didn’t seem to note Clay coming into the garage as he was too busy working with the control panel.
“Forget the password Aaron? Not surprised as we never told any of the ninja,” Clay stated calmly strolling up to the Aaron disguised Zane with his hands behind his back.
“Ninja? Why would you mention them?” Aaron wondered clearly trying to hide he was on edge and Clay stated, “oh just engaging in some friendly chit chat. Heading out already?”
“Uh yha, feels a little stuffy in here so I thought I would go for a stroll,” Aaron expressed and Clay noted, “having some trouble with the door.”
“Oh… yha I got a knock to my noggin while training and it has made my head all funny. I think it has made me forget a few things. Part of the reason I am going for a walk so I can clear my head,” Aaron expressed.
“Sure Zane, would you like some help?” Clay proclaimed and Zane wondered clearly nervous by how his cloak started to glitch though trying to hide his anxieties, “Zane? Why do you mention the ninjas cyber bro? I am your knightly bro Aaron.”
“Uh-huh sure you are. Here why don’t I give you a hand,” Clay stated touching his hand to Aarons shoulder. Using his magic powers Clay gave Zane a minor shock when he touched him. The minor shock Zane got caused his cloak to fail and shut off revealing a rather surprised Zane who looked at himself a bit worried.
“I can explain! I didn’t mean to cause trouble I was just… just,” Zane quickly blurt out worried he was in trouble and Clay comforted, “it’s okay you’re not in trouble. Just next time you plan on practising you’re cloaking skill you should let others know. You’re friends are worried something had happened to you.”
“Practising? Yha that is what it was,” Zane mumbled mainly to himself sounding unsure of his words and Clay inquired, “is that not what you were doing?”
“Well actually, I was just trying to avoid Robin but then you thought I was Aaron and I was not sure what to do so just went along with it,” Zane explained after a short pause looking to be embarrassed to admit it.
“Are you scared of Robin?” Clay wondered confused and a little surprised a nindroid was scared by a kid.
“Not really… he just makes me uncomfortable with all his questions and how he watches me,” Zane regaled clearly nervous and Clay stated, “why don’t you tell him then. You don’t have to try and hide whenever he’s around.”
“I guess. I just don’t want to be rude or hurt his feelings,” Zane mumbled and Clay explained, “don’t worry he’ll understand. I think he’s just so fascinated by you that he might not realise he’s making you uncomfortable.”
“I guess… how long have the others noted I was gone?” Zane inquired.
“Surprisingly not long, Aaron has been filling in pretending to be you all afternoon. It worked for a while but they’ve clued in. Come why don’t we get you back to your friends. They’re worried for you plus I’ve got to rescue Aaron, he’s in a bit of trouble for tricking them,” Clay declared. Zane reactivated his cloak so he could wander around town without catching the peoples attentions while Clay unlocked the door. They headed to the Under-city. Once in the scholars’ center Zane let down his cloak before they entered the ninjas room. The ninja were pleased and relieved to see Zane, mostly. Jay was unsure if it was really Zane or one of their enemies so gave Zane a shock. When his appearance didn’t change and seeing he had just shocked his friend Jay gave up his paranoia and apologised to Zane.
“Why did you suddenly decide to go around as one of the knights?” Lloyd inquired confused and Nya added, “and why Aaron did you pretend to be Zane?”
“He was trying to avoid Robins attention and he was doing such a good job at his disguise that I mistook him for Aaron and got him involved in our training today,” Clay explained untying Aaron from the chair the ninja had tied him to and Kai asked Zane, “didn’t you think of letting them know there had been a mistake?”
“Kind of but I was worried I would get in trouble and I did not want to cause problems. Then I got a little distracted by their training deck and some other things,” Zane explained and Aaron noted, “the training decks pretty wicked isn’t it cyber bro.” Zane agreed; he had found the training deck quite fascinating.
“You still haven’t explained what you were doing?” Cole asked Aaron who replied, “I thought Zane was just testing out his skills and I didn’t think he had let any of you know about it. I thought I could help out my cyber bro and keep you guys from worrying or breaking his cover so I decided to fill in for him. Then though you started asking questions and that tea...”
“Oh yha sorry about that, at first we fell for it but then there were some things you would do or say that we felt were a bit odd,” Jay explained and Lloyd added, “When you weren’t able to answer the questions very well and were bothered by the Scimitar Oil we knew then you weren’t Zane and were worried you were an Asher. No harm done?”
“All’s good, I get it you were worried and I probably shouldn’t have fooled you like that,” Aaron stated.
“I’m sorry if there was any trouble,” Lloyd apologized to Clay who reassured, “no there was no trouble however I think some of the Squirebots are going to think Aaron has a taste for mechanical oils.”
“What?” Aaron wondered confused and a bit worried while Zane recalled, “You saw that? Sorry I was just curious.” Later the knights and ninja hung out in the scholars center’s main room going over the events of the day. When the knights had returned to the scholars center Clay explained what had happened. Lance was a bit uneasy that Zane was able to easily pretend to be one of them however the rest of knights were impressed that Zane had managed to pull off disguising himself as Aaron for so long. They had all been rather surprised that Aaron had been able to trick the ninja into thinking he was Zane. They didn’t think he had it in him to be more subdued and calm in personality. While they hung out Clay encouraged Zane to talk with Robin to clear some things up. Zane was hesitant to do so and guessing he was nervous of interacting with Robin Clay talked Robin into starting the conversation.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t realise I was making you so uncomfortable,” Robin apologized to Zane.
“It is okay; I understand you are just curious. I guess I would be too in the same circumstance. I do not see the harm in answering some of your questions but there is a time and place for that not while training or when relaxing or…” Zane stated still feeling nervous from Robin but acknowledging he was trying to make amends for the uneasiness he had been causing him.
“Okay. Maybe we could work out some times we could talk,” Robin offered and they both agreed to it.
Maze of Chaos While I had it the part didn't fit in the main story so I set it aside instead just mentioning it and not flushing it out in the main story but kept it as a side story. Its a fun little adventure of the knights and ninja trying to work together during a training session against the beasts and constructs of the wastes.
“Why are we having to join in this training?” Ava wondered as she and Robin held a shield and training swords standing back to back feeling anxious in a maze of stone walls far too tall to see over even when standing on someone else’s shoulders which Jay had tried to do at the start. The maze had been decorated and filled with natural elements like rocks, boulders, dead trees, some live trees and shrubs like Brightwood Cypress and Chokeweed along with debris like sticks, fungi including glowing and large ones like Swamp Beacon Pods and Fiery Glowstalks, and vines all of which they were allowed to use to try and protect themselves or hide behind. The knights and ninja had been dumped into the arena along with a bunch of creatures and constructs for a training session. To make it worse some of the panels on the arenas dome had been opened to let in a fog that was outside making visibility low in some spots and making it a little chilly and damp in the arena. They had all been paired up into groups of two or three and separated throughout the maze. Those that put them there had led them in blindfolded than left them randomly throughout the ring so they had no clue where they were. They had been given a map of the layout of the maze but the map had no indications of which way was what on the map added with the fact none of them had any way of knowing where they had been placed or where the exit to the maze was the map was of little help. Their objective was to try and work together without being able to see each other or their enemies. Tafari was testing them on their skills and ability to work as a team. They could communicate through their communicators’ things like warnings and directional aids but were not supposed to interact with anyone not placed in their grouping physically. They had to use stealth, their skills and senses to try and make it out of the maze which was proving more difficult than they expected. The arena was giving off a signal jamming all technological means of navigation leaving even Zane unable to navigate their way around the place.
“Because apparently even in this Ash Strider vehicle we won’t be safe,” Robin expressed as they looked around hoping something wasn’t nearby.
“What I’d like to know is why was I stuck with the kids?” Kai wondered sticking close to a wall to peak around a corner to see if anything was coming at them Ava and Robin sticking close to him.
“Great it’s too foggy to see anything,” Kai noted and on a hunch he threw a fireball into the fog to see if it would reveal any shadows. The kids didn’t think what he did was a good idea but Kai did it anyway. The fire let him make out the silhouette of something large in the fog before it rushed out at them, a Kwaliit.
“One of those beetle armoured lizards and it looks mad, run!” Kai exclaimed and the three took off running as the creature chased after them. Not too far away Clay and Lloyd who had been paired up and just managed to dodge the sights of some hyenoids who had been programmed to patrol an area were making their way through the maze. They came to sit with their backs against a wall by a corner.
“Fear-bricant, it seems unaware of us,” Clay noted taking a peak around the corner to see the creature with its back to them investigating some oil drums that had been placed in the area it was standing and Lloyd stated, “that’s not good. My weapon has no effect on it and they are extremely difficult to sneak around.”
“Not to mention very fierce in battle. Maybe there is some other way around it?” Clay wondered not wanting to get into a fight with this creature as he and Lloyd looked over their map.
“Not unless we want to turn back and take some alternate routes,” Lloyd noted. While they tried to figure out what they were going to do not far away Aaron was trying to lead Jay through the maze. He was upset he was not allowed to use his shield to see above the walls but wasn’t going to let it interfere with the task. It had been going well so far however Jay had slowly been getting more anxious as they travelled through the maze getting more talkative and jumpy as time went on. Jays jumpy and babbling nature was getting on Aarons nerves as he was trying to get the task done correctly and the more anxious Jay became the less effective and co-operative he was becoming. Aaron was also not a fan of Jays skittish behaviour and loud babbly nature.
“Dude I thought ninja were supposed to be masters of stealth how’d you ever become a ninja?” Aaron wondered as they tried to hide against a wall but some dirt dropping off the wall onto his shoulder had made Jay jump yet again and loudly state, “what was that?!”
“How is saying things like ‘sneaky’ and ‘sneak-itty sneak’ while sneaking stealthy?” Jay objected being loud and Aaron quietly countered peaking around the corner to note a Parrot-Cruncher munching on a bush that had been placed in the maze for it on the path ahead of them, “come on its fun besides I’m being super duper quiet about it; You man are being awfully loud and freaking out over the littlest least scary things.”
“Freaking out! I’m not freaking out, I’m being cautious. The things they trapped us in here with have deadly venoms, carry nasty diseases and can slice us in half in seconds. I think I have the right to be worried. What about you, how can you not be even a tiny bit scared of what we might run into? Is there something wrong with your brain or are you under some sort of curse? It’s like you have no fear! How is that possible?!” The Parrot Cruncher was quick to pick up Jays babbling and turned to look in their direction. It wasted no time in rushing over to confront them. Because he had been quite and observant Aaron noted the creature coming. Thinking quickly before it rounded the corner Aaron hopped onto his shield and hovered a few feet above the ground so he was out of the creatures way yet not high enough to disobey the rules of the training.
“Since this one’s your fault it’s all on you bro,” he stated as he got on his shield and Jay expressed, “wait what are you doing?!” When the creature rounded the corner it instantly saw Jay and began to chase him. Jay tried to deter the creatures charge as it chased him by shocking it but it was too fast and agile and dodged his attack instead causing his lightening to hit and shock Aaron who fell off his shield to land winded and stunned on the ground. He lay there dazed for a few minutes before getting back up while the creature continued to chase Jay who didn’t want to get in a direct fight with the creature scared of getting poisoned through the maze. Once up Aaron tried stealthily to find his partner who he could hear screaming and yelling at the creature as it chased him through the maze. While he searched Nya noted nearby where she was with Macy and Lance, “sounds like Jays gotten into trouble.” They had stopped by a cross roads trying to determine where they should go next.
“I thought ninja were supposed to be stealthy,” Lance noted as they could hear Jays faint panicking in the maze and Nya stated un-amused, “he can be stealthy; he’s just also high sprung with anxiety issues. Not a good combo in certain situations.”
“So how do we get out of here?” Lance asked keeping an eye on the fog that filled the path ahead of them on the four way intersection they had found themselves lost at while Nya and Macy looked over the map.
“Well I think if we take the road on the right it might take us in the right path,” Nya hypothesized and Macy added turning the map, “or is it the one on the left? Why’d they have to make this so confusing?”
“It would have been nice for them to at least let us have a compass,” Nya noted. While the two tried to get their bearings Lance noted something coming from the passage ahead of them through the dense misty fog headed towards them.
“Uh ladies I think we’re about to have some company,” Lance called. The girls looked up just in time to join Lance in dodging a stampede of four Kaguars as they ran through the maze away from what sounded like fighting in the fog.
“Who do you think set them off?” Macy wondered as the three got up. Seconds later Ava and Robin came running out of the fog followed shortly by Kai who tripped and fell before quickly getting up to follow the kids. The three looked roughed up, startled, Kai and Ava were missing their swords and Robins sword was broken in half.
“Should have guessed you’d get into trouble brother,” Nya expressed un-amused as the three came up to their group.
“Yha now’s not the time for chatting,” Kai blurted as the three stopped to catch their breaths and Macy asked, “what happened to you three and where’s your weapons?”
“Mine and Kais are stuck in the surprisingly thick hide of a Kwaliit which chased us into the Kaguars who then chased us into…” Ava began and Robin finished looking back at the fog terrified, “… that!” They turned to look to see a Mire-lion with the other half of Robins sword stuck in its left shoulder rush out of the fog behind them. It paused for a moment to assess their group before slowly stalking towards them.
“Oh come on why don’t you follow those tusked cow things the Kaguars? Aren’t they your prey?!” Kai moaned tired of being chased. Thinking quickly Nya grabbed a stick that lay on the ground and demanded to Kai to light it on fire.
“Why? You want it to have some ambiance while it eats us!” Lance argued before Macy noted, “those things can see heat, fire might confuse it.” Kai lit the stick on fire and quickly threw it at the creature where it bounced off its hide and landed on the ground next to it. The creature watched it land where the moist air quickly caused the fire to die and the creature to lose interest.
“You should have thrown it down one of the other halls so we could use the fog as a disguise not at it,” Nya argued and Kai defended himself, “excuse me but it’s a little hard to think when things have been chasing you trying to kill you for the past ten to twenty minutes!” The Mire-lion looked back at them seeming to laugh at them for a second before charging after them splitting them back up. Nya, Macy and Lance rushed off down the left passage while Kai, Ava and Robin headed up the right passage followed by the Mire-lion. Towards the opposite end of the maze to them Cole, Axl and Zane were sticking close to the walls trying to navigate their way out without getting seen.
“So he can talk to these other metal creatures through his mind?” Axl wondered intrigued. He along with the other knights had become quite impressed at some of Zanes skills and how human like he was while they had been working together. He was much more complex and special than the Squirebots they were used to.
“Yha, you’d be amazed at what he can do,” Cole noted before Zane stated, “I can only communicate with them if they let me. Those here have been commanded not to co-operate with me so will not commune. I can however still pick up their signatures and I can sense a few are nearby.” The three were stopped by a three way crossroads hugging close to the wall to stay hidden.
“When you say nearby how close are we talking?” Cole wondered.
“Around this corner, I think it is a Venom-fang fabricant. Odd I can only sense one,” Zane noted and Axl wondered, “why is that odd?”
"Venom-fangs are pack animals, true they will go on their own at times but during these training sessions they usually stick close to others of their kind even the fabricant versions share this trait. It gives them an advantage in both offense and defence and they know this. Despite several having been let into the ring this one is alone. It does not seem right,” Zane stated and Cole offered, “maybe it just wanted some time on its own. If any of its pack members are like Jay or Kai I could understand why it would want some time to itself.”
“True I could see that,” Zane stated in agreement before expressing getting anxious, “it is making its way towards us, we should act quickly.”
“Alright, it’s just one of them and three of us I think we can take it. We don’t need to hurt it just scare it. There is three of us and one of it that should be enough to scare it,” Cole planned and they agreed. The three wasted no time in rushing around the corner ready for a fight; Zane even threw one of his shurikans at the wall hoping to scare the fabricant. After their initial charge they paused confused. Zane was confused most of all. There was nothing in the passage in front of them.
“But I could sense it here?! What is with this place? It’s messing with my head!” Zane stated frustrated at how these wastes were messing with him and Cole offered, “maybe they have some sort of invisibility or camouflaging abilities?”
“No they are not built or programmed for such abilities…” Zane began frustrated before Axl drew their attention to the passage behind them, “Uh guys I think they tricked us.” Two Venom-fang fabricants and three regular Venom-fangs were stalking towards them from behind some debris in the passage behind them.
“I see them but I cannot sense them! Wait now I can sense them… they tricked me!” Zane expressed surprised as the creatures prepared for an attack. The lead fabricant lunged at Zane knocking him over and pinned him down attempting to bite him but Zane shoved his shurikan in the creatures mouth to keep it from biting as these creatures venoms could affect him. Cole and Axl went to aid him but were set upon by the others forcing them into combat. While they worked to fight themselves free Clay and Lloyd continued trying to find their way out nearby having decided not to risk attack from the Fear-bricant and headed the opposite way. As they made their way through the maze they bumped into Aaron who still hadn’t found Jay who he could no longer hear yelling making him wonder what had happened and confused on where to go and what to do. He was guessing he might as well continue the session on his own.
“Well it’s good to see others aren’t running around like headless chickens. You haven’t seen Mr. Jabber-mouth have you?” Aaron stated and Lloyd inquired annoyed, “what happened?”
“He kept talking and angered a Parrot cruncher who chased him. I tried to follow but he shocked me instead of the creature and just kept running,” Aaron explained and Lloyd stated, “yep sounds like Jay.”
“He has some serious anxiety issues,” Clay noted before they were surprised by Jay running past them yelling at them to run as he passed. They were confused until they looked to see what Jay was running from and it sent them running after him.
“What’d you do to tick off the Fear-bricant!” Lloyd exclaimed as they tried to keep ahead of the Fear-bricant as it charged after them angered.
“Despite their robotics they’re apparently not as easily shocked by electricity as robots, I think it’s because of the organic parts,” Jay fretted as they ran around a corner to try and get away from the creature. The Fear-bricant attempted to follow but was not as agile and smashed into the wall falling over and knocking down part of the wall with it. Despite the creatures fumble they continued to run not wanting to let the creature have a chance to catch up with them. They continued to run until Jay ran into Kai as Kai, Ava and Robin ran towards them trying to escape the hyenoids and a Scimitar Sphere who stopped some distance from them wondering if they should attack their groups or not.
“I see you guys haven’t been having a good time,” Aaron noted as Clay helped Kai to his feet while Lloyd helped Jay to his feet.
“So much running! “ Robin gasped and Kai muttered, “just one thing after the other! Hit them with fire and it just angers them more and when you stick your weapons in them your weapons get stuck in their skin leaving you without a means of defence. Trust me you don’t want to try hand to hand combat with a lot of these things even those droids. They like to bite!”
“You know what also likes to bite?” Aaron questioned nervously looking in the direction they had come from.
“What?” Jay asked and Aaron proclaimed pointing at what he was looking at, “that! Run!” The Fear-bricant was still following them determined to catch up to them. They wasted no time in rushing away from it. The hyenoids and sphere stepped aside letting them pass not caring to attack and let the Fear-bricant by as it rushed after them. In their hurry to get away they ran into Zane, Cole and Axl who had just managed to escape the Venom-fangs having been roughed up by the creatures. All three had been bitten and were starting to hallucinate from the venom; even Zane was affected by the venom. They all collapsed into a pile when Aaron, Kai, Lloyd, Clay, Robin and Ava ran into Cole, Axl and Zane who were just walking around sore and confused without their weapons.
“Who let chickens into the ring?” Cole wondered after they were run into and Zane pondered, “Chickens no they are skeevers.”
“What are you guys seeing? They’re goblins,” Axl expressed as they all slowly and stiffly got up.
“What are you guys talking about?” Jay babbled and Cole responded surprised, “that’s so weird this chicken sounds just like Jay!”
“Are you calling me a chicken!” Jay became defensive.
“I don’t think he is. Look at their eyes and the glowing bites on them. They’ve been bit by Venom-fangs,” Clay noted drawing attention to the yellowish green glow to their wide rarely blinking eyes and the various bite marks on their bodies. The three were clearly out of it hallucinating and not fully aware of their surroundings.
“This isn’t good,” Lloyd noted and Aaron stated, “don’t worry bro I’m pretty sure they have anti-venom shots waiting for us when this is over.”
“I have no doubt of that; it’s just we can’t leave them alone in this state though they’ll just wander into trouble getting more hurt,” Lloyd stated as Jay tried to get his attention panicking. The Fear-bricant was still stalking towards them.
“No wait you’re right there is a chicken, a really big one and it looks mad!” Axl expressed getting anxious drawing every ones attention to the Fear-bricant. All but Zane took off to escape the construct. Zane just stood confused muttering, “why is everyone running? It's just a pigeon?”
“No Zane my metal skin bro that’s a Fear-bricant not a pigeon!” Aaron stated rushing back on his hover shield to grab Zane and put him on the shield with him so they could catch up with the others. As they ran from the Fear-bricant they ended up trapped by the Fear-bricant in a dead end.
“Looks like we’ll have to fight this thing after all,” Clay proclaimed as the creature trapped them. Lloyd and Kai blasted the creature with their powers in an attempt to scare it off but the fire had no effect on it and it seemed to absorb Lloyds powers sending waves of green energy over its hide as it seemed pleased with the energy boost. It then thrust its head up from below at them. All but Axl, Cole and Zane dodged the attack. The three were caught off guard and sent up and over the wall out of the ring. When they landed on the other side Tafari came over the PA to state, “you three failed.” As the Fear-bricant began attacking the others Aaron took a couple shots at it from on his hover shield. His bolts stuck in its skin while bouncing off its metal parts making the others have to dodge his shots as well. The Fear-bricant seemed to not have much of a care for his attacks as it turned around to snap Aaron entirely up in its jaws before throwing him out of the ring. He landed near the other three who were being seen to by arena staff on his back dazed and winded proclaiming ‘wipe out’ as he landed before his shield bounced off him winding him. After Aaron got flung out Jay tried shocking the fabricant again drawing its attention to Jay. It wasted no time in clamping its jaws on Jay putting his top half in its mouth to pick him up and start shaking him. Terrified he was going to get eaten Jay in a hurry shocked the creature hitting it in its metal lower jaw with as much power as he could muster. Upon getting shocked the creature flung Jay out of the ring tossing him near the others already outside. The creature seemed a little stunned from the shocking giving those still in the ring a chance to escape. They quickly snuck around it and ran away from the creature. They continued to run until they ran into Nya, Macy and Lance who were running from the Kwaliit which stopped when it saw it was now greatly outnumbered. It hung back for a few seconds before rushing back the way it had come struggling to turn its large rigid armoured form around in the narrow passage.
“Finally we can stop running,” Lance expressed trying to catch his breath as they all got back up only for Lloyd to proclaim, “no we can’t!” The Fear-bricant was still following them forcing them to take off or risk getting attacked. They were all getting tired from running allowing the creature to catch up with them. Knowing they couldn’t keep running they stopped to face the construct.
“Maybe we can try driving it away,” Clay proclaimed as they turned to face the Fear-bricant. Nya, Kai and Lloyd hit the construct in its face with their powers. The fire and water created steam and when combined with Lloyds energy powers gave the creature a surprise causing it to forcefully jerk its head to one side where it impacted into the wall smashing through it creating an opening to the outside of the ring in the wall. Ava and Robin wasted no time in rushing out of the ring through the hole followed by Lance who was too scared of the creature to try and fight it. Tafari wasted no time in proclaiming the three had failed since they had not followed the rules to find their way out of the maze.
“I don’t care, as long as I’m alive!” Lance proclaimed while the others continued to battle the Fear-bricant. Kai attempted to use Spinjitsu to startle the creature and while it was confused at first it soon wasted no time in swinging its head sideways at Kai hitting him and flinging him into the wall knocking him out where Tafari then proclaimed, “fire ninja is out.” The creature continued after the others no longer interested in Kai now that he was out.
“Well one good thing it doesn’t look like it wants to hurt us just make us loose,” Lloyd noted as it left Kai, a now very easy target for it, alone and came at them. Clay went to swipe at its snout with his sword but the creature dodged him to then grab his weapon in its jaws. It ripped the sword from Clays hands and threw it behind itself. As it went to try and bite Macy she swung her mace to smack its head away while Clay rushed around it to retrieve his sword. In retaliation it grabbed Macys mace with its mouth and since she didn’t let go pulled her off the ground with it before she could react. It then swung her into Lloyd letting go of her and her mace as it did it sending the two flying some feet away knocking both out leading Tafari to proclaim both were out. This left Nya and Clay as the only ones left in the challenge. From behind Clay climbed onto the creatures back as Nya fought it keeping its attention. Clay managed to make it onto the creatures shoulders before it reacted to his presence and it began trying to grab him with its jaws turning in a circle as it snapped at him. In its attempts to catch Clay as it turned its tail whipped around smacking Nya into the wall winding her and leaving her sitting on the ground stunned where Tafari proclaimed she was out. Clay tried to cling on as much as he could but he lost his sword as the creature moved around before fully losing his grip and sent flying as the fabricant shoved itself into the wall to dislodge him breaking the wall and sending both Clay and debris flying out of the ring. He landed stunned and winded on the ground as Tafari declared, “and you’re out. That’s everyone.”
With the session over now that everyone was out the Fear-bricant wandered off having no interest in anyone as the arena staff came to tend to the knights and ninja.
“Well you all could clearly use more practice against the many creatures and the Scimitar Constructs of the wastes but I can tell you one thing. You work quite well together. You have no problems with co-operating. Teamwork is defiantly not a problem for you guys just the wastes inhabitants,” Hassiri proclaimed coming into the ring to check on them. The arena staff had dragged and placed all the knights and ninja together so others could dismantle the maze and take the combatants back to the holding pens. Before being taken back to the pens the hyenoids made a point to stop by them and laugh at their failure. They were all ruffed up and sore while Kai, Lloyd and Macy were still unconscious. Cole and Axl were given anti-venom shots and being kept an eye on while still hallucinating. None of them were paying attention to Zane so Robin and Ava came to keep an eye on him while he was under the venoms effects till Nya and Jay could help repair damages he had received from the scuffle and the venom wore off.
“Don’t take this beating too hard outlanders. Not many pass this test and by far your attempt has been the best we’ve seen in a long time. I think with a little more practise and some more experience with the denizens of the wastes I think you’ll stand a chance out there well maybe not against Ashers or the Stag but most denizens of the wastes I think so,” Hassiri proclaimed.
Knights Work The knights decide to do some work for the town.
“Did you have to agree to working here? Isn’t what we’re doing already enough?” Lance complained as Clay led him and the other knights into the police station of Balmora. Feeling they should help the town out more for putting them up in the town and giving them aid Clay offered the town guard his teams services to help deal with any issues they had to help out the town. The town could surely use it. Even without the plane melding that was beginning they had quite a bit of issues to deal with. When the knights got into the station the place was quite busy and it was only early morning. The station already had quite a few in their offices that morning including some tourists who had gotten into a fight with some locals, some teens who had been causing mischief on private property, a few thieves, one guy who had been disturbing the peace and upsetting people with his preaching on the end of the world and some woman who wanted the police to lock up and charge a Scleroboa that had gotten into her house and panicked breaking some things. When they entered the station a mixed old and modern build structure built into one of the exterior walls of the town they went rate up to the front desk where two officers were trying to keep up with paper work and dealing with those already there the one being yelled at by the woman trying to lock up the Scleroboa which she had brought in a cat carrier the creature huddled in the back of it terrified. The two officers were unsure what to do being overwhelmed by all they were dealing with. Outside Lance the rest of the knights were up to this task. They felt it was a good way to not only help out but repay the town for caring for them and to help deal with the mess they were all in.
Scleroboa:
“We’re here to offer our aid to your services,” Clay announced themselves and after a quick look over them the one officer, a cat folk whose hair was all over the place and by the dark rings around his eyes probably wasn’t getting much sleep, stated, “oh you’re the Nexo Knights, yes we we’re told you’d be helping out… give me a minute…” The officer began looking over the front desk which was covered in various files and papers. He grabbed a collection of folders that had a sticky note on them. He put them on the counter in front of his desk for them. There were a couple folders not really thick no more than a few papers in each. Clay picked them up and inspected the sticky note on it which were instructions for the two at the front desk that these tasks were for them.
“You will also need these in case citizens give you trouble… just take the thing to a cell and call animal control!” the cop began before yelling at its companion clearly getting worked up by the woman who wasn’t listening to his co-worker in that they didn’t deal with creatures and couldn’t charge it for anything making her get angrier and louder as the two argued. His words shut the two up. His co-worker took the crate in back and the woman finally left muttering unhappy with her experience and claiming to give them a bad review as she left.
“Rough day?” Aaron inquired as the cop put a couple officer badges, one for each of them, on the counter. He looked to be shaking a bit as he absently replied, “as if our normal work and all the mess from this breach thing aren’t enough to worry about it’s like everything’s drawn the crazies out in everyone… I think it’s time I took my break. Never mind that. While working for us you should wear these, when you’re done for the day you need to return them to us along with the completed paper work in the folders. You might also need these just in case.” Along with the badges which while resembling a typical badge of office bore an iconography of a racer the cities symbol on it the cop gave them each a set of handcuffs made from a strange material.
“What are these made of?” Macy inquired as she picked up her set of cups looking it over. The cop replied, “steel infused with shards of Stahlrim. The substance is said to be magically mineralised ice. It works well on hindering Ashers. We thought they might be useful for you in case you run into those monsters. Also in case we get a call you might be suited for you should take this.” The cop put a communicator on the counter. After Clay took it they headed out to get started. They’d been given tasks that were not really too important; they guessed the town had been pushing them off to deal with more serious issues. The tasks weren’t anything serious and didn’t seem like the kind of work that needed a knights attention but they weren’t going to brush them off and all but one weren’t going to complain. Their first task didn’t seem too thrilling; a local woman complaining of ‘monsters’ in her basement wanting someone to deal with them. They headed to her house and talked to her where she complained about the local officials brushing her task off to outlanders and how she wasn’t crazy. She’d seen and heard these monsters in her basement and was worried they’d chew up all her pillows; she seemed to have a strange fondness for the pillows which had them all confused. She was clearly a bit unhinged so they could see why the guard was brushing this task off; her monsters probably weren’t really monsters or might not even exists just figments of her imagination. They decided to just get the task done. She had the basement locked to keep the monsters trapped. She unlocked it and let them down to deal with said monsters. The basement was a simple old stone cellar used for storage. Upon getting down there they found she had a great deal of plain pillows, nothing fancy just plain common bed pillows, lying around and these said ‘monsters’. They were a bunch of skeevers who while trapped down there had gotten into the food storage tearing open cans, boxes and other containers to eat the food. They had apparently gotten into the room thanks to a hole dug into the wall which they guessed as one of the creatures bolted out of hiding back through the hole as they came down and distracted the skeevers was created by some Ekhindahogs. The skeevers had probably followed the other creatures to prey on them before finding better and easier meals in the room. Upon seeing the knights the Skeevers went on the defensive putting on intimidating displays and growling. Lance refused to get close to them considering them too filthy for him to deal with but the others weren’t bothered by them. Since they were just animals they scared the creatures and herded them out of the basement and outside startling the woman who was scared of the creatures. The creatures obviously weren’t up for the fight and just ran off to escape them. They did a quick sweep once the creatures were out to make sure none were left in the room. They found one that had managed to trap itself in a freezer which wasted no time to rush off once freed likely to go warm up. After the creatures were cleaned out they suggested to the woman to get someone in to repair the hole in her basement wall before leaving.
Skeever: Ekindahog: 
The next task was not much better. Destroying the un-dead, mainly some skeletons and mummified un-dead, in the catacombs under a local monastery so the monks who lived there who were all too terrified of the restless dead to go down there to place wards in the place to keep the dead from rising again. Apparently the energies being caused by the void breach and its plane melding were animating the dead and increasing un-dead activities. Things would have gone fine if Lance hadn’t chickened out and ran out knocking over Aaron and Axl in the process and shutting the lights off as he closed them in the catacombs. Clay had managed to give them some light with his powers while Aaron went to turn the lights back on. They managed to get the un-dead dealt with and help the monks set up the wards. After they were all mad at Lance for his actions. Next they checked in on a house whose owner hadn’t been seen in a few days. The door was locked and when knocking Clay heard calls for help. Waiting no time he broke down the door. There appeared to be a sign of a struggle but no one was there. The calls for help were from a parrot that was likely the individuals pet. Other than the parrot and a cat no one was in the home. The creatures were excited to see them and both began begging both having empty food bowls indicating the owner hadn’t been there in at least a day. The parrot had let itself out of its cage and torn into things in the kitchen for food including knocking out the cat food from a cupboard for the cat to eat. After giving the animals some food and fresh water making sure to contain them so they wouldn’t get out from the door Clay had broken down they did a quick search of the building. By the looks the owner had likely been kidnapped most likely by Ashers as they found strange burn marks in areas where a struggle had been and there was considerably more ash than usual in the building than should be expected; everyone there tried to keep indoor dwellings clean of the ash outside so this was defiantly abnormal. Its abnormality was further backed up by a dark energy Clay could sense coming from it and the odd fact the animals had clearly avoided it as much as possible while loose leaving not a single print in it. Surely the cat would have used it to relieve itself at least once but it hadn’t. They worked out with the neighbours to take in the animals till the owner could be found and would have to leave this issue for the proper officials to deal with. Before noon they were contacted by the emergency services to deal with some monsters in a warehouse. When getting there they found the workers outside and the foreman explained how thinking they could better protect the warehouse with monsters bought a few scrolls from a local mystic merchant to summon some lesser void monsters. The foreman clearly knew nothing about how to properly work with these monsters and how to keep them in control and they had started to make trouble in the warehouse breaking things, creating a mess, terrorizing workers some of which were still trapped inside hiding in the lunch room and the bathrooms and eating any food they could find. There were some Voidfears a group of which had broken and torn into a vending machine to eat its contents, some serpent flies who were tearing apart plumbing and chewing on electrical works, an Ice Wraith which had turned an office space into a frozen lair for itself complete with a snow drift for itself to hide in and some lava gremlickens which were melting holes into doors and walls and starting fires as they ran around the building. The monsters were not really too dangerous and it didn’t take the knights long to clear them out. They just seemed to be using the warehouse as a playhouse and more interested in causing mischief than fighting. The only one that really gave them trouble was the Ice Wraith who in its attack passed through Clay and Aarons bodies chilling the two to the core making it hard for them to move as they slowly warmed back up from the attack. Once the monsters were dealt with they confiscated the scrolls from the foreman to take them out of the public and had some cops to take him to the police offices; scrolls like this were illegal which also meant the seller was in trouble as well but that was for the cops to dig into.
Gremlicken: 
Wraith:
After this was done they went for lunch in the Under-city Clay taking the time to fill out the reports for the tasks they had already done as they had lunch. They decided to get lunch from a diner in the main strip of the Under-city. While there they ran into the ninja who had been helping with odd jobs in the Under-city all day. They too were stopping for a lunch break. They ran into the ninja ordering from the same diner as them. Lloyd, Nya, Jay and Kai were ordering while Cole and Zane were holding a table for them; Cole was apparently rather hangry so they had him reserving a seat to keep his mood in check. They were all dressed as commoners to appear less intimidating to the townsfolk while they worked. The knights decided to sit with them over lunch. After ordering they went over to sit with the ninja while both waited for their orders. The knights were quite surprised to see Zane using his cloak to look human with pale skin and white hair while dressed as a commoner. The only thing that could give away that he wasn’t human was a strange look to his eyes which hinted at their non human nature and the occasional glitching of his cloak caused by his unstable emotions. It was still pretty good enough though that at first they didn’t realise it was Zane.
“So what have you been up to today?” Jay questioned the knights as they got settled having pushed some tables together so they could all sit together. Macy replied, “not much just helping with some police stuff.” Lloyd wondered sounding interested in what they had been done, “anything interesting?”
“Depends on what you’d consider interesting. There was a basement full of skeevers we had to drive out, possibly someone was kidnapped by Ashers, someone thought it was a bright idea to use monsters as guard dogs and we had to clear a tomb of un-dead to which someone locked the rest of us in and in the dark cause he was too scared to face the monsters,” Aaron explained giving an angry glare at Lance for his actions. All the knights were not happy with that. As they sat Clay got started on the paper work for what they had already done.
“Serious you’re going to continue to work while on break?” Kai questioned him to which Clay responded not stopping his work, “better get it done now than push it off till later.”
“He’s always working on something; it’s like if he doesn’t it will kill him,” Lance commented before Aaron asked the ninja, “so what have you been up to today?”
“Lots of menial tasks,” Kai commented clearly unhappy with it and Lloyd elaborated, “lots of delivery work, delivering cargo, plus lots of janitorial work; sweeping and washing floors, cleaning carpets, cleaning bathrooms, cleaning windows, washing walls and railings… some of the stuff we cleaned up was pretty nasty… I hope it was from animals if not that’s really gross. Plus how then did it get up there.”
“Any trouble from anyone?” Macy wondered to which Nya reported, “not really. I think some seemed to be warming up to us, well most of us.” Nya glanced at Zane who was clearly distracted looking out for danger from the townsfolk.
“If anything some of us are defiantly an amusement to the people,” Kai chuckled looking at Jay who quickly blurted, “it was in my shirt! It was big, cold and so many legs.” Noting the knights confusion Lloyd explained, “we helped a shop above ground get an awning unstuck and a few insects fell out of it onto him including a large centipede.”
“It bit me and now I have a large itchy bump on the back of my neck!” Jay complained to which Cole stated, “you’ll be fine. Zane confirmed its poison is not dangerous enough to kill people.”
They hung out and had lunch for about an hour before going back to work some of the ninja getting to work in the diner. The first task they had to complete was to look into claims of strange activity from someone in town others worried they were up to something dark. Their employers noted the individual had been off sick for a while and neighbours noted they hadn’t seen them in days though by lights on in their dwelling during the night they know they are there. The person refused to answer the door when they went to interview them in their apartment telling them they wanted to be left alone. Lance just wanted to give up on it thinking the individual was just being paranoid one of those doomsday people because of recent events but Clay thought otherwise. While at the individuals door he was getting a dark unsettling feeling from inside the dwelling. The others trusted Clays feelings over Lances so had Axl break down the door. When they got inside it didn’t take much for them to tell something was defiantly off. The place was dark the individual even having gone so far as putting blankets over windows to keep light out. Things and furniture were thrown about and some rotting meat which was oddly drained of blood was lying about. The home owner was a male ungulate folk who when they found him cowering behind a barricade of overturned furniture in a closet they could tell was not in a good state. He kept yelling at them not to get close and was quite pale with sunken eyes, oddly large canines and his fur starting to fall out. They had a feeling he had some illness so called in some paramedics. They kept guard to keep curious neighbours out till the paramedics arrived. Turned out the individual had one of the dreaded curses of the realm Poryphic Hemophilia; the so called vampires disease. The individual was being driven nuts from the curse as they tried to fight its urges and while wanting help due to fears of the curse had been too scared to get help. The paramedics took the individual to get treatment for a cure while the landlord cleaned up the mess. After this the cops contacted them with a more pressing task. They had recently caught wind of a camp of necromancers who had set up in an old watchtower on the outskirts of the cities boundaries. They had kidnapped some farmers out there in order to experiment on though one had managed to escape and rushed over to the town guard to let them know of what was happening.
The knights wasted no time in heading out there getting a ride from some Kaguars to reach the area. Despite their looks the creatures were surprisingly fast and had far more stamina than horses getting them to their destination in decent time. Most of them had no problem with the creatures though Lance found them too smelly and primitive for his liking but rode it anyway just to get their job done. His Kaguar seemed to sense he was not comfortable with it and was a bit stubborn to him even knocking him off into some brush when they reached their destination. They tried to be stealthy in dealing with the necromancers who had enlisted several void monsters as guards but some Skinned Hounds picked up their presence and blew their cover. They got into a fight with the necromancers and monsters but managed to take them out clearing out the tower and rescuing those they had captured who hadn’t yet been turned to un-dead monstrosities. The leader of the group who was turning herself into an un-dead monster known as a lich gave them the most problems and drew them to the top of the tower to try and knock them off it. Corpse Birds circling the place prevented Aaron from easily reaching the top of the tower leaving traversing the stairs inside as the only option to reach her. She knocked Axl and Lance off the top Axl managing to grab hold of a ledge to keep from falling then catch Lance to keep him from falling. They managed to destroy the lich before any of them came to serious harm. While clearing the tower they also came upon some unique artefacts that were missing from museums, temples and other places in the town cached there. It looked like these necromancers had been stealing things that could prove useful for the town in their defence as well as stealing some people. Once the necromancers had been dealt with and the artefacts returned the knights decided to take some time with their tasks done to stroll through one of the parks of the city to settle down from their fight against the necromancers.
Corpse bird:
It was a domed region within the city to keep the ash at bay and keep the flora looking nice to uplift the feelings of the locals and tourists alike. There was a pond and a river running through it and some decorative structures including a pavilion individuals could get drinks or snacks at, bathrooms and some statues including a few made from decommissioned Scymer constructs. Native flora and decorative flora from elsewhere decorated the place. The park was quite busy with plenty of locals and tourists enjoying the place to get some reprieve from the dreary elements outside. Even Jay who had brought Zane were hanging out there. They had come in order to give Zane some reprieve from the people in the Under-city who had gotten quite cranky about his presence especially since due to his anxieties his cloaking had failed and he was having trouble reactivating it. Jay was with Zane to not only keep him company but to keep him safe. Likely scared of the ninjas powers and not wanting to aggravate them few were willing to do anything serious to Zane while any of the others were around. It was also possible that due to his powers which were seriously dangerous for Zane Jays presence near Zane was likely easing some of the towns folks unease to his presence as Jays powers could seriously hurt Zane if he was to cause trouble even though from what the knights had seen and experienced Jay would never hurt Zane unless he had no choice and even then he would be very hesitant to do anything serious. The two were taking a look of a Scymer Hoofivore that had been turned into a statue in the park. It was clear by looks they got that the locals were not happy with them hanging near it but Jays nervousness to it had them passive. It was well known by others from his reactions and some outbursts he’d made that Jay was uncomfortable with and untrusting to the Scymer constructs and didn’t like when Zane showed trusting or friendly behaviours towards them; that was probably why the other ninja had chosen Jay to accompany Zane. They probably felt the locals would feel Jay would keep Zane in control around the thing and keep him from messing with it. The knights stopped for a moment to chat with them before continuing on in patrolling the location. Axl and Aaron stopped by the concession stand for a drink while Lance took to getting some glamour shots of himself on his phone. Clay and Macy meanwhile stayed alert for trouble and it wasn’t long till that happened. A commotion caught their attention and heading over to see what was going on they were surprised to stumble upon a confrontation between Zane and Jay and some of the local villagers. Zane was on the ground looking like he had been shoved backwards while Jay was threatening the leader of the group that was confronting them, an ungulate folk with a color like a Saola with two short antelope like horns on his head.
“I dare you to try that again,” Jay stated holding lightening between his hands to scare the folk. The other knights came over as the commotion started drawing the attention of others in the park. When they came over Aaron and Axl helped Zane who looked dazed and confused to his feet while Clay and Macy got between Jay and the leader to prevent an altercation Jay stopping his threat display not wanting to hurt them.
“This monster attacked Zane for no reason. Shocked him in the back while we were minding our own business with one of those cruel animal shock rods,” Jay quickly blurted to which the leader countered, “he deserved the shock. Machines like him are not allowed here.”
“Actually according to the law they are allowed if accompanied by a caretaker to which they are following the rules,” Clay explained however neither were listening to him.
“What did you call him?” Jay stated getting mad to which the leader stated, “a machine. A collection of wires, metal and synthetics programmed like a simple animal to act and think like a human even though they’re not. Even if you were to give him human skin and organs he’d still be a machine; you can’t change what he is; his brain or how it thinks.”
“He isn’t just some machine. He’s a sentient living being just like anyone else,” Jay defended Zane who was quite while trying to hide that he was scared of the locals. The knights couldn’t blame him. The leader stated angry, “you and your pals act like the things human but he isn’t. It’s tricking you. Think all you want about him but he isn’t human. He’s no more than an animal made of metals, synthetics, wire and programming all mimics to the real stuff that makes a living thing. He’s a heartless emotionless monster like all other machines. He can wear that pale human hide that strange tech he has to change his looks give to try and be like us but we can tell. We can see what he really is; the way he moves, his behaviours and just look into his eyes there’s no mistaking their un-human look. He can change his skin but he can’t change his eyes… is that why the thing refuses to look others in the eye? He doesn’t want us to see his clearly empty non human eyes revealing what he truly is?”
“No. He’s not looking you in the eye because that makes him uncomfortable; droids have trouble reading facial cues which makes them nervous and sometimes feel threatened when looking in others eyes. Doesn’t help you all give him the same look like your disgusted he exists and you’re always so mean to him. I don’t like that monsters machines just like you but I could see why they do what they do to you with how you treat and view them. If their like Zane and can feel and are aware and not just machines they would feel hurt, un-loved and threatened by you. Not all droids are just machines or monsters. Just because he’s made with wires, synthetic organs and metal doesn’t mean he can’t be my brother besides I’ve seen more humanity from him than I’ve seen from most people including those like you, you cud chewing Kuuda,” Jay stated the last word he said making the people of the realm uneasy. The knights weren’t sure what that word Jay had said meant but they knew calling one of the ungulate folks a cud chewer was offensive as not only did they lack the anatomy to be a cud chewer like real hoofed animals but it implied you saw the individual it was directed to as an animal and nothing else something they had noticed the beast folk did not like. Despite their beastial looks they were still a form of human and these folk did not like being referred to as beasts. Unless you were a friend and playing around to say such things was rude.
“Are you calling me a dumb animal?” the leader threatened Jay with the shock rod he was holding. Clay and Macy tried to ease tensions and keep things from escalating. Zane was keeping quiet and starting to clearly look like he just wanted to get out of there to keep peace and more importantly get to somewhere he felt safe. If it wasn’t for Axl and Aarons who were bordering him to keep him safe he probably would have left already.
“Okay we’re all people here we can talk this out rationally. I’m not sure what Jay said meant but I’m pretty sure he didn’t mean it. He probably doesn’t even know what it means,” Clay tried de-escalating things to which Jay noted, “I heard two individuals who looked like serpentine in the Under-city use it. It sounded like a curse word.”
“Kuuda comes from the ancestral Varantine language. It means idiot. Varantine and Serpentine sometimes use it as a slur now a days. It’s normally not offensive but…,” one of the crowd noted to which Lance clarified cutting them off, “basically jabber mouth just called Mr. Showy horns here a dumb animal.” The leader was getting madder and trying to slowly get past Macy who was holding him back while Clay held back Jay who was equally ready to get into a fight.
“If you’re going to view my friend as just a machine than yha I’m going to see you as a dumb animal. You want to change my mind then you’ll need to change your mind and stop seeing my brother as some freak or monster. Respect and understanding go both ways cow,” Jay stated to which the leader commented, “I won’t. That thing was not born human so can never be human heck it wasn’t even born probably just scrapped together in some dirty factory from spare parts.”
“No he wasn’t!” Jay growled before the leader gave him a shock from the shock rod; because he was touching Jay Clay got shocked as well. Because he wasn’t the master of lightening like Jay who while affected was able to brush off the worst of the shock with little problem Clay fell collapsing onto his back dazed. Macy came over to see if he was okay letting the leader and Jay get into a fight Jay declaring, “you think shocking a master of lightening will bother me?! You want to feel a shock pal I’ll give you a shock!” The two got into a fight which the knights were afraid to break up not wanting to accidently get shocked which they were pretty sure would feel worse than usual due to their extensive metal attire. Aaron and Axl were also sticking close to Zane to keep him safe in case someone attempted to attack him during the commotion. Luckily no one was attempting to get involved in the fight; probably because they were too scared to accidently get shocked by Jay even though he wasn’t using his powers as he got in a tussle with the leader. Unfortunately though they were getting a bit vocal most of them even those not from the Lost Realm voicing their agreement with the leader and their dislike and distrust of droids. The knights tried to settle everyone down and break up the fighting but few seemed willing to listen to common sense and many were mad that the knights would side with what they saw as a monster machine. Axl and Aaron made sure to keep Zane close and between them to keep him safe. After coming to his senses Clay got up and with Macy tried to break up the fight cautious to not get shocked. While everyone was focussed on the fighting Zane who was scared over what was going on while nervous over what to do was looking at the knights for clues of what he should do. He wasn’t getting anything. While looking around at them something caught his attention. Nervous of saying anything aloud he caught Aarons attention tapping him on the shoulder and directed him to what he was seeing.
“What is it cyber dude?” Aaron asked him looking back at Zane before looking to where Zane was pointing. With all the commotion not too far away there were two figures in black robes trying to drag some kids, a group of three, who had been playing in a river minding their own business away. The figures had used some form of magic to silence the kids so no one could hear them as the kids struggled to get free.
“Hey what do you think you’re doing?” Aaron commented catching the attention of everyone else and startling the figures who thought they were getting away with their acts unseen thanks to the distraction of Jay and the leaders fight. His words caught some of the others attention. None of the people looked to try and save the kids. The knights however wasted no time to act leaving Jay and the leader to continue fighting. Clay and Macy wasted no time in rushing over to stop the figures who pushed the kids aside to engage them. Clay and Macy put themselves between the figures and kids to guard them as the figures starting using some very questionable magics; most notably a fire like blast from their hands which seemed to have hints of ash in it. Noting this Clay ordered to Zane to use his powers on one of them. Zane was nervous to use his powers around the people but obeyed shooting a quick blast at one of the figures. When it hit the figure it knocked them back off their feet. This figure quickly sat up in a panic patting at the spot they were hit which was oddly smoking. As they sat up their hood fell back revealing the burning skinned with black hair and burning eyed humanoid figure of an Asher startling everyone. Macy wasted no time in cuffing this one with the special cuffs they had been given earlier. With their cover blown and their companion captured the other Asher flashed Clay with a light spell to the face temporarily blinding him before rushing off to escape. Little had they known but upon seeing they were dealing with Ashers Aaron had rushed over on his shield to intercept the figure so they couldn’t get away. He wasted no time in shooting the figure with ice energy bolts from his crossbow which hit the fleeing Asher in the back knocking them foreword and off their feet. The cold had them shivering on the ground letting Clay get them restrained with the Stahlrim cuffs. With the Ashers contained the parents to the kids quickly came over to their kids to make sure they were okay while Clay and Macy forced the Ashers to their feet and started dragging them back to the scene of the original commotion. Jay and the leader had stopped fighting having their attentions caught by Clay and Macy fighting the Ashers. Both were bruised, had cuts and a black eye.
“Grab those two and bring them along,” Clay ordered of the two to Lance, Axl and Aaron. Jay was quick to defend, “what did I do?!”
“You’ve broken the law; disturbing the peace and assault for sure. Possibly some more as well. I’d recommend if you want to stay on the good side of the law and improve your and the other ninjas image you need to come to the station to address and repay your actions. Zane will have to come too,” Clay stated. Jay was not happy but knowing Clay was right he agreed. Lance got the leader to his feet and started taking him off following Clay and Macy as they left. Aaron got Jay to his feet and put his set of Stahlrim cuffs on Jay who exclaimed un-amused, “why are you cuffing me?!”
“Just having some fun besides it will probably make the villagers more relaxed to you,” Aaron commented picking up the shock rod the leader had dropped in the fight and playfully poked Jay with it stating, “now come on sparky boy.” Jay was not happy with Aarons actions or words but went along with it.
“Sorry about this metal man. We know you did nothing wrong. It’s just best for everyone if you come along,” Axl told Zane who let Axl herd him out without a hassle. When they got to the station the Ashers were immediately taken to intense restraining confinement by Tafari herself to be restrained for later interrogations. The two later revealed they had been kidnapping individuals in the town to either enslave or corrupt into followers for the Ashers. They were responsible for several missing individuals in the town including the missing individual the knights had reported on earlier. While the Ashers were booked and interrogated the knights helped some of the officers fill out paper work and deal with Jay and the leader. Instantly when they brought Zane in the officers thought he was the problem and wanted to get him caged up with the animals of the village. The knights were able to convince them he was largely uninvolved and was with them largely to be supervised while Jay was booked. While they trusted the knights observations it was still obvious to them that Zanes presence was making many nervous. For everyone’s peace of mind and Zanes safety they put him in one of the interrogation rooms. Aaron left a tablet for him to use to keep him occupied while Axl left a tea for him. Even though he claimed to not need it when they got him later when they were done Zane had drunk it making Axl happy that Zane had accepted his treat for him. Since no one was seriously hurt Jay was let off easy. He and the leader weren’t going to be charged with anything more serious than disturbing the peace but both had to do several hours of supervised community service over the next few days. Jay was not pleased with those prospects but agreed to it. When they were done the knights decided to call it a day. They returned the badges and cuffs to the station and escorted Jay and Zane back to the scholars center where the other ninja were waiting. Zane was trying to hide it but they could all tell the attack, all the people most being strangers and being detained had shaken Zane up a bit. The others wasted no time in comforting him; Jay instead got teased for getting arrested largely by Cole and Kai. Jay was just cranky mad that the knights embarrassed him like that and that he’d gotten in trouble with the law and now had to do community service. They already had him lined up for helping with repair work to a defensive wall of the city the next day and working on a Kaguar farm the day after that. An officer was coming to get him at 7 in the morning to start his work which Jay was not happy with that; he wanted to at least sleep in before getting unpleasant work done.
“Next time you should just ignore them and walk away. That’s what I would have done,” Kai claimed to which Cole countered, “yha right. With you something would have caught on fire and there would be more serious charges.”
“It’s okay Zane maybe one day they’ll change their minds about you,” Lloyd told Zane who had been rather quite since they had returned. Aaron noted, “as a human you should know bro that’s impossible. Because he’s not human and thinks and operates quite differently plus he’s not of flesh and blood you should know most aren’t going to change their mind about him. Monsters are more open minded and willing to change than people. Trust us we’ve dealt with monsters so we know. I guess then that would mean humans are more of the monsters than actual monsters. Man that’s deep when you think about it; we’re the real monsters.” Aaron got lost in thought for a couple seconds over his words as they continued to talk.
“Hard to admit but you may have a bit of a point there anyway that aside don’t let what the people here say or do bother you Zane none of what they say about you is true and you know that, we all know that. If they want to see you as a monster and not change their mind then that’s their loss. They’re missing out how great, special and unique you are. And even though he got in trouble Jay did the right thing in defending you; just because you’re not like us doesn’t give people the right to treat you like that,” Cole stated to which Jay agreed, “That’s right. No one matter what you’re not just some machine Zane and you’re defiantly not a monster…” Kai cut in to joke, “no that’s Cole when he hasn’t had anything to eat all day.” That got a chuckle from most of them and cheered Zane up a bit.
“I’m not that bad,” Cole countered to which Nya noted, “I don’t know you were pretty hangry earlier today and were talking about punching a hole in the dinner wall to help yourself to the kitchen.”
“I know you didn’t have to but thanks for keeping Zane safe earlier I know it probably risked your image with the people here to defend him. Also sorry Jay gave you a hassle; he’s prone to doing that with everyone,” Lloyd told the knights. Jay was not happy with Lloyds comment but the other ninja were amused by it. Clay didn’t hesitate to respond with, “you don’t need to thank us we’re glad to help and don’t worry about our image. We’d rather do what is right than what looks good even if it hurts our looks or makes us enemies.”
“Speak for yourself,” Lance cut in to comment drawing angry glares from the rest of the knights. Clay continued, “besides standing up for each other is what friends do and I for one am glad you’re our friends.” The other knights all agreed.
Droid Sitting The ninja task the knights to watch over Zane for them for a day to keep him safe.
“Wow there’s a lot in here,” Macy commented inspecting the book the ninja had lent them the day before for the task they had given them that day. To try and improve their image in the town the ninja were going to help some of the common folk; all of them except Zane that was. Worried someone might hurt him or put him in danger they felt Zane should sit this one out till they could improve the public’s view of him. They decided that for his safety for him to not get involved. The townsfolk were not very nice to him viewing him as no more than a monster and would often act on this thought and try to scare off or even hurt Zane just for him being around. They wanted to just leave him at the Scholars center but worried that he might disobey them and try to follow to get involved or someone or something might seek to take him being alone as a chance to attack or do worse to him while they weren’t close they wanted to have someone watch over him in a sense babysit him. There was a problem though they weren’t sure who they could trust to watch him. They didn’t really know anyone there and didn’t fully trust many. The knights and Hassiri were the only ones they really knew well and trusted there however they didn’t trust them enough yet to leave Zane alone with them. Even though the ninja had never said anything to them the knights knew they still had reservations with them. The knights were not like the townsfolk and saw Zane no different than any other person despite his make and different nature but they didn’t always get along with some like Jay and Aaron having rather tense relations at best. Knowing this and knowing for their quest it would be beneficial for them to improve the trust between the ninja and them Clay offered to watch over Zane for them. The ninja were a little unsure at first but agreed to their offer. To help them the ninja had let the knights borrow a copy of a book Nya and Jay had made about caring for Nindroids to look over and have in case problems arose. They gave it to them the day before to look over. The knights weren’t too surprised they had a book on their nindroid pal but hadn’t expected how much and how big the book was; it was like a large manual with a metal cover to as described in the book keep it protected from accidents largely caused by Kai. They had been seriously surprised with how much there was in the book. Clearly Zane meant a lot to them and needed special care; defiantly much more care than the squirebots they were used to. The knights were spending the afternoon on their ship doing repairs; they felt Zane would be more comfortable with that than helping out in the town and the ninja agreed.
“Well he is very special and unique and means a lot to them. Not only is he one of a kind but he is part of their family and his different make means he requires very different care from a person,” Clay commented and Macy added, “I guess that’s true, he’s defiantly no Squire-bot that’s for sure. He is way more complex.” Macy and Clay were heading down to the garage to let Zane in. When they got there they opened the drawbridge to let him in. Lloyd and Nya were with him and talking to him. Zane still wanted to take part with the others. Lloyd and Nya were trying to convince him to stay with the knights.
“You can join us next time when people are more open to trusting and being friendly to you,” Lloyd told Zane and Zane countered, “but I do not need others to watch over me. I am not a pet I can take care of myself.”
“They’re not caring for you we just thought you’d like something to do while we’re gone and the knights could use help from someone like you. You’ll be safe here from the people and get to help out so you’re not left with nothing to do,” Nya told Zane who still didn’t seem sure. Clay pitched in with, “we’d be more than happy to have your help and don’t worry we told Robin to give you your space and not bombard you with lots of personal questions.”
“See besides I’m pretty sure the work they have will be more to your liking than what the townsfolk would likely give you. The towns given us some pretty unpleasant tasks. Cleaning ash off roofs and walkways, moving manure onto a truck, some minor construction work, warehouse inventory… today is going to be a long day especially with Jay and Kai already complaining about it. If you were helping they probably would have given ones that could potentially hurt you,” Nya stated and Zane commented sounding like he didn’t want to admit it, “I guess you’re right there. I guess this is a better safer option.” To help them and encourage Zane Macy stated picking up a small crate with various mechanical components and handing it to Zane, “here why don’t you get started and bring these to the command center. We’ve had to scavenge components from our other vehicles to repair the Fortrex since we’re having trouble finding some compatible parts here.” Zane didn’t give them a hassle and took the crate into the ship. Once he was gone Lloyd stated, “thanks for looking after him for us; it’s so hard to find somewhere he’ll be safe here and those we can trust to watch him. Normally we wouldn’t have someone watch him he can take care of himself, usually; we just can’t trust he’ll be safe here when we’re not around.”
“Also we felt it might relax him to be in a friendlier environment doing something he’ll like. He’s trying to hide it but the way he’s being treated is making him anxious and when he’s trying to hide his anxiety he sometimes does some weird things. He accidently shocked himself while investigating one of those shock rods to scare off critters the other day, he also somehow managed to knock a whole bookshelf onto himself knocking himself out as well, he fell down the stairs a few days ago since he was distracted and didn’t watch his step luckily he only had some minor damages from that, he also accidently ate one of the fake fruits from one of those decorative displays on the tables in the Scholars center yesterday; can’t really blame him for that one though as he was just copying Cole who also thought they were real but if Zane hadn’t been distracted by his anxiety he would of realised the mistake before actually swallowing any,” Nya stated and Macy wondered, “didn’t Cole realise they were fake?”
“Not till he’d already had half of one, he was kind of nervous at the time to talking to some mages so didn’t pay full attention to what he had taken. Luckily he got sick and threw it up but we had to manually remove the stuff from Zane; sometimes I think Jays right in saying caring for a droid is like caring for a dog or a cat,” Lloyd commented and Nya added, “yha it wasn’t pleasant work for him or us not to mention we ended up pulling some half digested batteries we think originally had oil on them out of his system as well; I think my brother was behind that one. He still doesn’t quite grasp what droids can and can’t have and slips things he thinks Zane can have into things he gives him.He still doesn't grasp that batteries are bad and dangerous for droids to eat. I also think his anxieties are affecting his sleep. He’s been very restless lately.” Clay noted, “yha we’ve kind of noticed that. He tends to make things a little chilly when that happens; Lance often complains about it and when your brother makes things hot.”
“Yha Kai can’t help doing that when he gets restless in his sleep either and you should hear him complain about the cold Zane makes. I’m betting he’s worse than Lance,” Lloyd stated and Clay countered, “I don’t know about that. I don’t think anyone can complain as much as or as bad as Lance. Anyway you don’t need to worry he’ll be safe with us and maybe working with us might relax him a bit.”
“Maybe; we should be done around three in the afternoon, we’ll stop by to pick him up after then,” Nya explained and Macy commented, “alright and why don’t you stay after for dinner. We can get Axl and Chef Éclair to make something.”
“Can you make sure it has more familiar ingredients and no bugs? Jays getting a bit annoying with his complaining about it especially the bug stuff though I’d have to agree I’m not too big a fan of that either,” Lloyd commented feeling uneasy from the thought of eating bugs and they could all agree with his statement. Clay declared, “yha the bug thing is not the most pleasant. Don’t worry we’ll make something not so strange or buggy.”
“Sounds good, we’ll see you then and if you have any problems don’t hesitate to call us no matter how small it is,” Lloyd stated and Macy consoled, “don’t worry he’ll be safe with us.” The two then left. Once they were gone Clay closed up the drawbridge and he and Macy headed to the control room. They had various pieces of machinery and wires laying around. Merlok and Ava were working on the computer while Zane was helping Aaron and Robin as they worked on the round table and the device for combo nexo powers, the Nexo Power Triangulator, trying to get them both functioning properly. They wanted to get them functioning so they could create a mimic version of the Nexo Power Triangulator for the vehicle they would be using in the wastes so they could have access to combo nexo powers out there. They needed their version to be properly working however in order to start creating a mimic version using the technologies of the Lost Realm or at the least if they couldn’t make a mimic version find a way to hook theirs up to the technology of this realm. Zane seemed very intrigued with the device which Robin was more than happy to talk about as he and a squirebot worked on it.
“Wanna give it a try,” Robin asked Ava as he finished soldering some wires. Ava and Merlok started it up and the machine seemed to be going fine. After a few seconds though it started to falter and spark before Aaron who was working under the table got shocked for a few seconds then the power went out sending the room into darkness the only light coming from some emergency lighting built into parts of the room and the dim light Zanes eyes naturally gave off.
“Well that wasn’t good,” Robin noted as Ava contacted a Squirebot to check the circuit breaker. Zane and Clay helped a stunned Aaron out from under the table and to sit up checking him over for serious harm.
“It’s okay bros, a little dazed but fine. This wasn’t my first time being shocked and probably won’t be my last besides it wasn’t too strong. I’ve defiantly felt worse,” Aaron commented before the lights came back on and the computers started back up. The squirebot that reset the breakers came through to explain which ones tripped while Ava noted on her tablet which she had connected to the ships operating system to keep an eye on diagnostics while they did tests of an energy surge as they had started the machine up.
“Okay I guess we’re still not ready for some tests,” Robin noted and Aaron added still a bit stunned, “I think the issue may be with the connection to the main network through the round table cause that was one heck of a shock.” They spent the morning working on the device and repairing some vital systems for the ships operations Zane able to help diagnose problems with his systems. They stopped for a while for lunch which Axl had been working on with Chef Éclair while the others worked on the machinery. He had followed the advice in the care book for Zane to make him something so he wouldn’t be left out. Zane was thankful but told him he didn’t have to make anything special for him; he could have what the others could have. While they took a break Zane spent some time socializing with the Squirebots who were fascinated and intrigued by Zane and how complex and human like he was. Zane was intrigued by the Squirebots but also rather confused as not only were they built much simpler than him but were much simpler mentally than he was after all they were largely meant to be common workers, servants and personal aids not to truly mimic a human being like Zane was. They let Zane continue to interact with them as long as he wanted while they went back to work. They guessed having those similar to him in make that he could safely trust to talk to must be nice. Not only did he share similarities to them but despite their serious differences the Squirebots didn’t view or treat Zane any different from any other robotic being. Considering how rude the townsfolk were to him they were pretty sure it was a bit of a reprieve for Zane. They let him do his own thing the rest of the day wanting him to feel safe and comfortable. After socializing with the Squirebots Zane wandered off doing his own thing. While he was out from where everyone else was Clay had Ava keep an eye on him through security cameras. Usually they were only in the corridors or places like the garage and engine rooms however with the dangers in this place they had set up extra cameras in every room just to be safe. They weren’t sure if Zane was aware of the security cameras, he didn’t seem to but they were guessing he just didn’t care. Zane seemed highly curious to many things they had on their ship particularly books or technical devices like tablets. He’d investigate them and read through them a bit. At one point he wandered into the common room. Other than having fixed the seating and some lighting so they could relax in the room after some work they hadn’t done much else. The TV was still not fully hooked up, some lamps still had damaged light bulbs, the books for bookshelves were just stacked on the floor and not put away leaving a mess. Without being asked Zane straitened up the room putting the books on the shelves, he got a Squirebot to get him replacement bulbs so he could fix the light fixtures and he hooked up the TV unit. After he finished in the common room he helped clean up in the kitchen with Axl and Chef Éclair. After a while Zane returned to help them out. By two in the afternoon they had the Nexo Power Triangulator working. With the Triangulator fully functional again they decided to call it a day and get the place cleaned up a bit for when the ninja would stop by. Clay had Robin, Axl and Zane take the extra components they had harvested from their vehicles back into the garage for the time being. After a few minutes Robin came rushing into the command center where all the others were working. Robin was clearly in a panic telling them they were needed quickly. As they rushed down to the garage Robin explained how as they put the scraps out of the way in there they were ambushed by some thugs who summoned void monsters to attack them. Axl and Zane were trying to fight them off while he went to get their help as it seemed the crooks had disabled communications with the garage so they couldn’t call for help. When they got there the thugs were gone, the drawbridge was wide open, there were patches of ice everywhere, Axl was unconscious and Zane was nowhere to be found. Instantly they were worried.
“This is bad; we promised the ninja he’d be safe with us,” Macy exclaimed as they congregated in the command center Axl coming to and holding some ice to the spot on his head he had been knocked out from.
“Defiantly, I don’t think they’ll be happy to know we let him fall into trouble. This will especially be bad if he gets hurt or worse… that will most likely hurt their trust in us,” Clay noted not happy and worried over what had occurred.
“How could we plan though for some crazy dudes getting on board to kidnap him; obviously we need to focus on the security systems as our next major repairs,” Aaron commented and trying to quickly think of a plan Clay stated, “we’ll have to worry about that later for now we need to find where he has been taken and rescue him before anything bad can happen to him.”
“I’ve managed to track the signal from Zanes internal GPS to the Under-city. He was taken there to what appears to be some maintenance passages before it disappeared. This is probably because signal coverage is only given for public regions. Maintenance and storage corridors do not come with very good signal boosters to counter underground hindrance. Either that or wherever they took him has something to block signals to help keep the location hidden,” Ava explained pulling up some maps on the computers.
“We’ll go find him and rescue him,” Clay declared and nervous Robin wondered, “what if the ninja show up and you’re not back yet?” They took a moment to think it over and Macy declared, “just distract them. Say we took him for a walk or something that way they don’t worry.”
“Sounds like a plan, I don’t think it’s a good idea to let them know their cyber bro is in danger,” Aaron agreed. The knights then prepped themselves and wasted no time in heading out to rescue Zane while Robin, Ava and Merlok remained at the Fortrex and cleaned up any evidence of fighting in the garage so the ninja would not be suspicious. When the knights got to where Zanes signal last was they found just an empty hall. They stopped to look over some maps of the under-city Ava had got for them on a tablet.
“Where do you think they could have taken him?” Axl wondered and looking over the various maps Clay stated, “I’m not sure. There are a couple storage rooms and maintenance rooms down here… If we knew why they took him it could help narrow our search.”
“Wait go back,” Aaron commented as they flipped through various maps of the section. Clay went back to an older map and Aaron commented pointing to a rather large cistern with some extra sections that were not on most of the other maps. They looked it over and Macy wondered, “looks like an old section of the Under-city that’s been removed from the modern state of this region.”
“Is it just me or if that is still down here somewhere does that not look like a place for some illegal operations to take place like possibly doing bad things to an innocent droid,” Aaron commented and Lance added, “if I was writing a script yha I’d make that a thing; it always is. Kind of stereotypical if you think.”
“That’s because it’s often based off facts. These abandoned places often forgotten by most others as it seems this section is often draw in the underbellies of society as they often are not looked into during searches by authorities who often don’t realize they are there,” Clay noted before declaring, “I think finding this location is our best option.” They then quickly headed off to find a way into this lost section of the Under-city…
As Zane rebooted himself from his loss of consciousness he found himself in a strange and unwelcome place. He was caged in a small pen with what looked like cursed stone bracers on his wrists. He was sat with his back against the wall and he was very unsettled to see a strange device stuck to his chest over his heart. He was scared to try and mess with it feeling it would most likely hurt him if he tried. The last thing he remembered was him Robin and Axl getting ambushed in the Fortrexs garage by some unpleasant looking folks from the Lost Realm. They had sent Robin to get the others then shortly after one of the crooks managed to knock out Axl with a hit to the head before he felt what he believed was one of these shock rods used for herding and dissuading wildlife was shoved into his back shocking him and knocking him out. He was pretty sure he had been taken by those who had knocked him out to some sort of base of theirs. They hadn’t seemed to be Ashers nor could he see anything where he was that showed they could be or had ties to Ashers however looks could be deceiving. Three of the four walls of his pen were solid brick and plaster with the wall holding the door being made of metal bars. From what he could see out the bars was a row of pens like his across from him. Each held a creature. He could see a Mire-lion across from him with a Venom-fang on one side and a Slothdillo in the other. All looked pretty beaten up like they had been in quite a few fights and all three were anxious and unhappy. The Mire-lion was laying curled up like it was trying to get to sleep but couldn’t, the Slothdillo just sat on its haunches hunched over looking around while the Venom-fang was pacing in its pen. None of the creatures were bothered by his presence; Zane wasn’t surprised by that. Probably because he didn’t smell human and the advanced senses of animals could pick up other traits of his body that weren’t human they tended to treat him more like another animal than a person tending to make them more passive to him than they would be to a person. Zane could sense the door to his cell was connected to and operated by a main technical based operating system however he was too scared to try and hack it. In this place it could easily harm or mess with him. Zane could hear somewhere in what he was guessing was some form of kennel an individual talking. They sounded mad complaining about their work and having to put together a ‘monster machine’ without the proper training. They were trained to work on animals not machines so had no clue what they were doing but they didn’t have a choice as apparently they had made some bad decisions and this was the only place he could get work. After a few seconds it sounded like someone came into the room.
“Is that new specimen awake yet?” another individual spoke and the first person stated sounding very mad, “how should I know. This one was tasked to repair some of the previous ones when I know nothing about it. I have no time to keep an eye on that thing. You want to know go check him yourself.” Zane had a feeling they were talking about him. He could hear someone approaching. Thinking quickly Zane pretended to still be out. He was thinking if they thought he was unconscious they may reveal things to him that they wouldn’t if they knew he was up. Whoever it was stopped by his pen and opened the door.
“Is this thing still out? I hope we don’t have to reboot it,” a voice stated and another commented, “hey scrap heap you awake.” He felt himself get kicked but he kept up the rouse. A few seconds passed before he felt the device on his chest shock him. In defence he let down the rouse opening his eyes to see two individuals both of the ungulate race standing next to him and looking down at him one holding what he believed was the controller for the device on his chest.
“Trying to trick us are you scrap heap? Typical of you monsters,” the one folk chastised him. Seeing his rouse failed Zane inquired, “where am I? What are you going to do with me?” The one picked him up by his shirt holding him uncomfortably to their face.
“We’re going to have some fun with you metal skin. You’re in the Brigands Refuge an underground sector of Balmora where the regions less desirable individuals hang out, trade in illegal contraband and monsters like you and enjoy the less approved of entertainments of the common folk like the pitting of animals and demons upon each other for fun. The Ashers have a hefty bounty on your head demon and we plan to cash in after of course we have some fun with you. Technically they don’t care if you’re living or not as long as they can have your head and heart they’ll be happy,” the one explained. Though trying to hide his fear Zane was shaking a bit letting slip his fear causing the other individual to state, “oh what’s a matter you scared; I didn’t think metal skins could feel anything. Are you just trying to trick us into giving you sympathy cause it won’t work. The only sympathy we’ll give you is a last meal. What would you like huh a stew made of oil, screws and spark plugs?” The two laughed at him before the one holding him threw him to the floor.
“Why don’t you relax you filthy machine and we’ll be back shortly to get you for the first round. Hopefully you don’t get too badly torn up. I’d love to see what the insides of one like you look like when they haven’t been shredded to bits,” the first one declared before leaving the pen closing it back up as they left. Before they left the one commented to him, “just a warning if you try to remove the device on your chest or leave this pen you’re going to get a shock that will send you to whatever afterlife you machines think you have.” As they left the creatures across from him who had been watching looked at Zane then looked at the ground as if they believed he was doomed and were paying respects to him. After the folks left Zane sat contemplating his situation left feeling scared and hopeless…
It took them a while but the knights managed to find the entrance to this hidden cistern. They had been lost till Aaron noticed a barely visible and small repeating symbol scratched into various surfaces through passages. They believed these symbols were part of some secret language for the regions criminals to help find the likely hideout this cistern likely was. All the symbols had a small arrow below the symbol which pointed in specific directions. Following these arrows they came to a condemned section of tunnels hidden behind a wall that moved when a small indent of this symbol that was in the wall was pressed in. There was a passage behind this that led to the cistern. Once they were behind it Aaron made them pause confusing the rest of them.
“We’re heading into a potential den of crooks and criminals I don’t think it’s a good idea we go in dressed as knights. We’ll most likely be outnumbered and our attire will just draw attention to us,” Aaron noted when they asked why he halted them. After a moment’s thought they had to agree with him.
“True and that will likely give us problems and could potentially put Zane in danger,” Clay noted and Lance wondered, “so what should we do? You don’t want us to go in naked do you? I am not comfortable with that.”
“That too would probably just draw attention to us. We could put on disguises but I don’t know where we would get that plus it would probably take some time,” Macy noted and Aaron offered, “too bad we don’t have that cloak thing our cyber-bro has. It seems to work quite well and would only take seconds.” At Aarons words Clay got an idea and pulled out his shield to look at it.
“Maybe we do have something like that. There might be a Nexo power that could disguise us however I don’t really know of any,” Clay stated and Axl wondered, “then maybe Merlok does. Can we still contact them?” They checked back in with the Fortrex. Where they were still had signal though it was getting weak and from senses in their attire Ava could detect something was creating a block for signals within this cistern. They could get them the Nexo power they needed but once in the cistern they were going to be on their own and unable to offer much help unless they could find what was causing the blocker and shut it down.
“We’ll give you an illusion power. As long as you keep your shields close to your person and you’re not attacked it will work and remain active. You’ll have to be careful though as we can’t tell what you’ll face down there,” Ava came through their communicators and Clay stated, “that’s okay. As long as we aren’t found we shouldn’t have any problems.” After a few seconds they received a Nexo download which changed their appearance making it look like they were wearing a hooded leather and cloth masked armour making them resemble a group of thieves. Most of them were fine with the disguises though Lance was not happy to look like some petty criminal.
“That should help you blend in,” Ava commented and Clay stated, “thanks Ava.” They then continued into the cistern. The place was much bigger than they expected likely added onto and expanded by the criminal factions over the years. Just as Aaron had cautioned the place was a den of thieves, smugglers and crooks of all sorts. There were even Ashers and various cultists including necromancers there. Some were selling items of contraband such as Ashers artefacts, parts from denizens of the void and cursed items. There were a few crates and terrariums with small creatures or flora from various realms even the void on display or being sold. There were merchants for common goods, exotic items and contrabands and food though not even Axl wanted to try the food; they were pretty sure it was made from dangerous materials. There were even a few lesser or animal like monsters of the void like Gremlickens, Dread-rats, Deamon-cockrels, Serpent-flies, Watchers, Voidfears and Zkurocs that looked to be kept as pets or persuaders by some individuals strange muzzles, harnesses, collars and restraints put onto many of them to keep them under control. This was clearly a very bad place to be and not somewhere that would treat Zane fairly; they needed to find him and get him to safety. As they searched they were all on edge worried to be found out luckily though no one seemed to care about them their disguises clearly working. They slowly began to wander through the cistern keeping an eye out for Zane and taking note of everything and eavesdropping on merchants particularly those that had Scimitar items and Robotics like Beetles, Serpetons and Rattatons on display or for sale. They felt they were most likely the ones to deal with Zane.
Zkurocs:
“Where do you think we should begin?” Macy wondered while Aaron quietly noted, “would you look at this place; they clearly have a serious outlaw problem here.”
“We can tell the guard about it later. Our priority rate now is to find Zane and make sure he’s safe,” Clay quietly told the others. As they searched they eavesdropped over any conversations they heard. It wasn’t long till they picked up that somewhere down here they had a kennel to hold various creatures, monsters and robotics that were for sale and fighting in a large pit in the middle of the cistern which was used for entertainment and illegal gambling on combatants known as the Pit. Some merchants were selling creatures from this kennel and would take perspective buyers down to see their potential purchase. They weren’t sure which of the various doors in the outskirts of the cistern led to this kennel but had a feeling it was the one with the toughest looking guards sitting on guard outside it.
“If Zane’s been brought here then I’m betting that is where they took him,” Aaron noted and Macy agreed, “probably but how do we get down there then without causing a stir or make potential merchants suspicious.” Lance was quick to suggest, “I got an idea.” Without agreement from the others which most of them were not liking that Lance had an idea he went over to one of the merchants reportedly selling creatures. The others followed but hung back in case they had to intervene to stop Lance if he said or did anything to blow their cover or draw suspicion.
“I hear you’re the one to talk to about the acquisition of some questionable exotic beings,” Lance inquired pretending to be a slick laid back thief to the merchant, a cat folk with a missing eye. The merchant seemed to be questioning Lance and hesitated before stating, “possibly. What are you looking for?”
“I was thinking of a droid for use as a servant preferably one that doesn’t have traits of a scavenging animal… no offense to the hyena folk they just look rather scary,” Lance commented. The merchant paused looking Lance over and seeming to note the rest of them who were dressed like him. The merchant then pretended to check his log on the counter in front of him before stating, “I don’t currently have any constructs available… I could see about getting you something like a Vrimp if you want I have some of those. They’re small demon class critters; not as trainable or obedient and nowhere near as clean as a droid but it could serve your purpose and is probably much more aligned with your current financial standings.”
“Excuse me what is that supposed to mean?” Lance questioned getting mad at the merchant for what he was implying and the merchant responded further angering Lance, “let’s just say my prices are beyond the reaches of a common petty criminal who thinks he’s some high criminal lord. I doubt you’d be able to afford a dog let alone a droid especially one of unique make. Why don’t you go look for employment and comeback when you actually make some coin.”
“Petty! You think I’m some peasant class…” Lance began before Clay slapped his hand over Lances mouth to silence him before he said anything to blow their cover or draw attention to them.
“Sorry about my compatriot here. He recently got some coin and has let it get to his head,” Clay apologized as he and Macy pulled Lance away and back to the others. When back to the others Clay took his hand off Lances mouth and Lance who was not happy commented, “the nerve of that cat to think I’m just some peasant!” Macy quickly silenced him with, “Lance not now. We’re trying to not be noticed not announce our presence to the entire room.”
“If they have him I doubt they’ll let just anyone get Zane. If anything someone probably already wanted him. I doubt they would have gone through the trouble to get him without a buyer already in place. That makes things more dire. They could come to pick him up at anytime or worse already have him then who knows where he could end up,” Clay thought aloud and Lance wondered, “who would want him?”
“In this place take your pick,” Aaron noted and Axl wondered, “do you think some here might deal with this Stag being?” As they looked over some of the folk in the cistern Aaron regaled, “I doubt you’d see any of the Stags minions here, they’d probably be in danger or take offense to certain things here. If those legends hold true though and the Stag and this Storabek entity are the same being and cultists to this entity know that they could want him to give him to their master.”
“Let’s really hope that’s not the case,” Macy noted and Clay declared, “until we find him we can only hope. Let’s not waste time and continue searching. There has to be some way to get into this kennel.” While they tried to figure out something to do back at the Fortrex the ninja showed up earlier than the others expected leaving Ava, Robin and Merlok in a conundrum. They were pretty sure it was a bad idea to let the ninja know something had happened to Zane and the fact he and the knights weren’t there they would instantly notice. They had to think of some way to distract them.
“You’re here early,” Robin noted as he let the ninja in and Kai commented, “we decided to call it early.”
“Yha you and Jay were complaining and goofing around instead of helping. That wasn’t going to help our image,” Cole added not amused to which Jay countered, “depends who you ask. The kids enjoyed it.” Robin led them to the control centre as they talked.
“The kids are not the ones we need to improve our image with,” Nya noted before Lloyd asked as they entered the control room and couldn’t see Zane or the knights, “where’s everyone else?” Thinking quickly Robin replied using Macys advice, “oh they took Zane for a walk.”
“A walk?” Nya wondered confused. All the ninja didn’t seem convinced Jay commenting, “Why would they go for a walk? I’m pretty sure Zanes with me and would rather be in here than out in the town.” Thinking quickly Robin explained, “they felt it was stuffy and smelly in here.”
“It does smell pretty rank in here, when’s the last time this place got a cleaning?” Kai agreed and Robin explained, “well not since we got here and we’ve been doing quite a bit of mechanical work and the ventilation systems are down and we don’t really have windows to open and leaving the drawbridge open isn’t really a good idea here...” Thinking quickly Ava added, “we sent them to see if they could find some parts that may be suitable for repairing the ventilation system; they should be back soon.”
“Hey now that you’re here maybe you could help us try and fix it while we wait for them to return,” Robin offered. The ninja to their relief looked to buy it and agreed to help. Robin led them to the ships engine room to get to work. Once they were gone Ava commented, “hopefully the knights are back soon and nothing went wrong.”…
“Get in there,” a thug told him harshly pushing Zane into a small room, “before your new captures pick you up we’re going to have some fun. It will also likely give your new captors an easier time restraining you for their experiments.” Two thugs were escorting him one holding a shock rod to make sure he obeyed them and didn’t try anything while the other pushed him around. They had dirtied him up rubbing mud and oil on him to make him look wild and aggressive and given him a simple metal staff to defend himself. They were taking him to the pit, what he believed to be a fighting ring, to fight something they called Skaldclaw the droid crusher. Zane really didn’t like the sound of that. In the room opposite to the door they had come in from was another door. The thugs removed the curse stone bracers from his wrists and the device on his chest then opened this door before harshly shoving Zane through it causing him to trip and land face down on the ground. They didn’t bother helping him and closed the door. Zane took a moment to gather himself before getting up tightly holding the rod he had been given. He was scared and dreading what he was likely going to face. He was in a fighting pit with a bunch of thugs watching him. It made him even more scared and uncomfortable. He was even more unsettled by the sounds coming from behind a large solid wooden door across from him in the ring. There sounded to be something large on the other side. He was dreading to find out what it was. As someone came over a PA system announcing the fight Zane looked around for a way out of his situation. He could see no way to get out and he wasn’t sure if anyone was coming to rescue him leaving him scared…
Elsewhere in the cistern the knights were still trying to find a way into this kennel. They had ended splitting up. Clay and Macy hadn’t seen Aaron or Axl in a while and could only guess they’d found something while Lance had gone back to the merchant to chastise him for assuming he was a peasant. The merchant was very annoyed at him and kept telling him to get lost especially when Lance tried to look at his ledger to see what he had in stock and his income to try and pick at the merchants wealth. They were both annoyed at Lance and considering intervening with him till they noticed the door they assumed to be the one leading to the kennel which had been guarded earlier was now unguarded. They didn’t know where the guards were or why they had left but they felt that could be their chance to get into the area. They started to head over till someone coming onto a PA system caught their attention.
“For anyone interested some of our clients have decided to give us a bit of a show for helping them acquire something special; a metal born monster gifted unnatural powers. For anyone interested make your way over to the pit,” the voice proclaimed. Neither liked the sounds of that and something about it had them feeling they should investigate it. They headed over to see what was going on...
After the voice on the PA finished one of the crowd a rather hefty and tough looking individual who had two Ashers situated near him ordered the gate to be opened. The wooden door started to open and Zane prepped himself for whatever he was about to face. The door got a third of the way open before what was behind it smashed opened the door as the creature behind it burst out enraged. It was a Golden-capped Pryphon in its large near elephant sized battle morph. It reared up wings out roaring in display then focussed on Zane getting into a stalking mode. Zane prepped himself for an attack and tried to get through to the creature to pacify it talking in a quiet and friendly tone to it. He didn’t want to hurt this creature; it was not evil and they were normally passive creatures so deep down probably didn’t want to hurt him. It had either been trained to fight or the environment was agitating it and it was only going after him as a means to alleviate its stress through misplaced aggression and he was the first and easiest thing to attack that it saw. His attempt didn’t seem to be working; it wasn’t calming down. There was a crazed look to its eyes that wasn’t going away. Seeing that wasn’t working he decided to restrain it by trapping it in ice to easily prevent a fight but as he went to use his powers to build an ice coating to most of its body he was stumped when his powers didn’t work. Confused he looked around for what was hindering his powers. He couldn’t see anything. In his confusion and distraction the Pryphon took its chance and rushed at him using its wings to help push itself foreword with force to head butt Zane flinging him hard into the wall of the ring. Zane hit rather hard back first against the wall and came to sit dazed on the ground while the creature challenged him…
Coming over to see what was going on in this pit Clay and Macy were shocked at what they found. They had found Zane. He was being used for entertainment forced to fight against a rather enraged Pryphon in its battle morph form before being given to Ashers. The creature head butted him into the wall of the ring dazing him. While Zane regained his senses the Pryphon wasted no time to rush in and grasp him by his left arm and start pulling him around trying to rip off his arm while Zane tried to pry the Pryphons beak off his arm. After a quick squabble the Pryphon tossed Zane across the ring. He hit against the wall and bounced off to lay face down on the ground looking to be stunned. They could see the Pryphons beak had left damages to his left arm leaving a tear that was letting wires poke out in his arm. The Pryphon began stalking towards Zane who was dazed and slowly recovering from the hit. Knowing he was in danger and likely wouldn’t survive long Clay and Macy wasted no time in rushing to jump into the ring and draw the Pryphons attention to them their disguises breaking as they engaged the creature.
“Well what do we have here? It would seem some of the metal freaks knightly friends have snuck in to save him. Looks like we’ll be getting some extra entertainment and cash tonight,” the announcer proclaimed when he saw the two. Macy kept the Pryphon distracted while Clay went over to help Zane up. He was a bit stunned and unsteady and his arm was damaged enough he was struggling to use it but other than that he was fairly fine. Clay apologised as he helped Zane up for letting him get captured and Zane was rather understanding knowing it wasn’t their fault and was grateful that they had at least come to rescue him.
“You know three against one isn’t very fair odds. What do you say we even them up?” the announcer proclaimed followed shortly by two Mire-lions being let into the ring through the door Zane had been shoved through. The creatures instantly went for the three who backed themselves against a wall in defence Clay and Macy being the only ones able to put up a decent fight. Zane was only able to use his one arm and unable to muster his powers though he couldn’t figure out why. The Mire-lions wasted no time in attacking them. Clay tried to use his magic to give him and Macy a boost against the Pryphon however he was unable to confusing them. Despite their lack of a power they managed to knock out both Mire-lions but the Pryphon was still a problem. They were too occupied against the creature who not only had sharp talons and a strong hooked beak but surprised them with its abilities in wind elemental powers and a loud screech that temporarily had them stunned when it used it that they didn’t notice till the two joined them tackling the Pryphon to try and subdue it Aaron and Axl, both of their disguises gone, join them in the ring. The Pryphon easily shook the two off who joined alongside the others in the fight as seeming out of nowhere some monsters of the void were now joining in the fight.
“Great this thing can summon monsters too,” Macy stated and Aaron quickly countered, “uh that’s our fault not this birdy dudes.” Confused Clay asked, “what were you two doing?”
“We found a way into this kennel,” Axl stated. The two quickly explained how they managed to convince the guards to let them see what was in the kennel. Apparently if you stated you wanted to test your strength and fight hand to hand with one of the creatures they were pretty happy to take you in to see you get in a fight with an angry creature or monster. While in there they managed to take out the guards and started sneaking around searching the place. They hadn’t been able to find Zane but did overhear some of the workers talk about taking a newly acquired and special ‘metal skin’ as they called it to the ring. They had a feeling that was Zane. Since he wasn’t there and not too happy with how everything in there was being treated plus it could cover up their presence there offering a nice distraction, they damaged the systems locking everything in and freed everything even the monsters who wasted no time in attacking their captors and finding a way out of the kennel into the main area where they were now trashing the place looking for a way out and taking revenge on their captors while those in the cistern were trying to subdue them all to keep them from getting loose potentially drawing attention to their hidden hub. The Pryphon was a bit distracted by the monsters but still rather set on attacking Zane and them. It wasn’t long till Lance was tossed into the pit by the merchant he had been pestering who was finally fed up with Lances bothering of them.
“This is your answer for facing the truth, coward. Who’s the petty peasant now?” Lance chastised as he landed his disguise breaking when he hit the ground.
“So you finally decided to join the rest of us huh?” Aaron commented as Lance came over to join them. Lance stated, “yha it was getting boring chatting with peasant merchants anyway.” While they fought off various monsters and the Pryphon trying to find a way to escape Zane noticed something around the Pryphons neck hidden beneath its feathers. It looked to be some form of collar made of or at least embedded with cursed stone. That was what was hindering his powers and the knights magic’s. He told the others who quickly devised a plan to remove the collar so they could use their powers to help them. Macy, Axl and Zane distracted the creature while Aaron, Clay and Lance worked together to get a hold of the collar. They struggled a bit to find the clasp as the creature tried to shake them off bucking nipping and clawing. Lance was the first to get off but Aaron and Clay managed to undo the clasp before getting knocked off. When the collar fell off the Pryphon backed up and shook off. It paused for a moment looking to relax before looking them all over. They prepped for an attack but were confused as with a roar the Pryphon jumped out of the pit and attacked crooks and monsters in the cistern leaving them be.
“Okay what was that for?” Lance wondered nervous. After a moment’s thought and inspecting the cursed stone collar Clay speculated, “I think this collar was enchanted so they could make the creature obey them and attack those they wanted it to. With it removed the creature can do as it pleased.” Aaron added, “and I think it’s wanting to get back at its captors.” They began to relax Zane holding his damaged arm up to his body like someone would hold a broken arm.
“I think we should get out of here now. It will be easier while everyone’s distracted,” Macy suggested and the others agreed as Clay came over to check Zanes arm out. He was barely able to control it and had a few breaks in his skin with damaged wires sticking out. He was trying to hide that it was hurting him but some of his feelings were slipping out.
“I’m sorry Zane. We tried to get here before anything happened to you but we weren’t quick enough,” Clay apologised and Zane stated, “It’s okay. You could not account for the actions of others and you at least came to my rescue… they wanted to give me to some of those Ashers. They would have done worse to me than break my arm.”
“I think we’re going to have to let the ninja know about this,” Macy declared and they were in agreement. None of them could fix Zanes arm and the ninja would clearly notice it. They headed off to return to the Fortrex. The cistern was still in chaos but some of the town guard were now there and calling in reinforcements having been drawn in by some monsters that had managed to break free of the cistern into the Under-city. They stopped for a moment to wrap a cloth around Zanes arm to keep the damages clean and together and used another cloth to make a sling for him so he didn’t have to hold his arm. While they made their way back stopping by the Scholars center to pick up the supplies they would need to make repairs to Zane Clay contacted Ava to get her, Robin and Merlok to break the news of what happened to the ninja. The three were nervous of this task but got it done. Since they had arrived the ninja had been focussed on helping Robin and some squirebots get the ventilation system working. It had taken some work with some minor screw ups with the ninja which caused one of the squirebots to start following Kai around with a fire extinguisher to put him out anytime he tried to make fire but they had gotten it done and got the ventilation working again greatly improving the air quality and smell in the ship. Kai was not amused with the Squirebots actions to him though everyone else thought it was funny. Ava and Robin were very nervous to let the others know what happened. They expected the ninja to become angry but were relieved when the ninja didn’t get mad instead being very understanding. When the knights showed up with Zane bringing him to the command center the others wasted no time in comforting Zane before Jay and Nya took him to fix his arm Robin who was fascinated by Zane following to help out.
“I’m sorry we couldn’t keep him safe. Honestly we tried but we didn’t realise how badly our security systems are damaged and some crooks got on board to kidnap him; we do plan to get those fixed as soon as possible,” Clay apologised. The knights were worried the ninja would be mad so were relieved when Cole noted, “that’s okay it wasn’t your fault. No matter how good your security is I don’t think in this place anywhere is truly safe especially for those as special as Zane.”
“Yha, these monsters we’re facing seem to be skilled at getting at us no matter how much we try to prevent it. You at least rescued him and didn’t leave him to his fate and don’t worry my sis and Jay can fix him up with no problem. They’re used to it; unfortunately sometimes because of the rest of us,” Kai added and Lloyd added, “outside being kidnapped and getting hurt he still probably had a nicer day with you than he would have had with us. He wasn’t even around and some made rude comments about him to us.”
“He defiantly seemed calm and to enjoy the work we gave him plus our Squirebots are quite fascinated by him. They’ve never met someone like them that is as special as him before,” Macy noted and Cole commented, “he is special, very special. Too bad most here can’t get past what he is and how differently he thinks and sees the world. If they just learned to accept him and be a friend to him they’d realize just how special he is.”
Undercover mis-hap Occurs after Merchants Tale but before Trials of the Tribunal
“Alright to help the people getting trapped here the town council put together a little get together to help the people get accustomed here. They want us to work with the people getting stuck here to help them understand what is going on and help with any issues they have since unfortunately they are going to be stuck here till we can stop this Plane Meld. The Knights are dealing with those from Knighton we are to work with those from Ninjago,” Lloyd told the other ninja. They were all dressed in their commoners’ clothes as they headed to the center the town had designated for them to gather in. The gathering was taking place in a large recreation center in the Under-city that had closed early in the late evening for them to have this gathering.
“Do we really have to do this?” Jay wondered not too enthusiastic with this task and Kai agreed equally not in the mood, “yha I was starting to get the hang of that video game; I was hoping to set the new high score tonight.”
“Not if I beat you first,” Cole boasted before Lloyd proclaimed, “you can play video games later, I think it will look good on us to help these people. Not only can we assure them we are working to fix things and offer the people some hope but it might make the people of this realm have a better view of us.”
“I agree with Lloyd. Most people ending up here are probably thinking this is the end; we need to give them some hope that this isn’t the end,” Nya expressed and Lloyd added, “Zane is the only one who is allowed to get out of this. There is going to be locals there and given how the people treat him if at any time you don’t feel safe Zane you can head back to the Scholars center.” Zane was fine with that idea but wanted to help out the best he could; Jay and Kai were not so happy with it. They were jealous that they weren’t being given the same chance to get out of this and when they offered to go with Zane if he decided to leave they were not permitted to do so. Before they entered the place Zane activated his cloak to hide his robotic skin. When they entered they found Hassiri had organised it so the people were split up in groups in their own sections of the place. The knights were already dealing with those from Knighton. Clay had made a slide show on a tablet which he had hooked up to a projector and was showing to the people all of which looked very on edge. Lance was not being very helpful often voicing complaints on topics instead of offering advice and even though he was being helpful Aarons cheerful mood and enthusiasm to things many would consider scary or unnerving just scared the people more than help them. There were folks from the Lost Realm hanging around together mainly around an area the town had set up with refreshments. Most were working there to provide the refreshments or scholars who had likely come out of curiosity. There were a few others but why they were there the ninja had no clue. The people from Ninjago were sitting together where Hassiri had gathered them on edge nervously looking at the others and their surroundings. The sight of the ninja calmed most of them down a bit. There were people of all ages and some were lost missing friends and family who hadn’t gotten trapped in this place. The ninja were quick to get to work with the people. They too had created a slideshow for the people. Zane had put it together and they had put it on a tablet to hook it up to the projector Hassiri had gotten for them instead of hooking it up to Zane to help him avoid attention from the natives who most luckily didn’t seem aware of his disguise. Some of the scholars knew but they didn’t reveal anything or bother Zane. As they hooked up the tablet they were bombarded by questions which they tried to answer. Lloyd and Nya were trying to answer them as truthfully as they could while also taking care to word things in a way that they didn’t startle people. Cole tried to be sensitive when replying but occasionally would word things in a way while being truthful just scared people such as when one kid wondered if the beast people would bite them he assured they wouldn’t but then added that if startled or if you touched their tails without asking they might try to scratch and that they may bite if made too angry, when fighting, sometimes the children could get nippy and some of them when hangry may nip. When he realised what he had been saying just put people on edge he added that the people had their shots or at least he thought they did. That didn’t help. Jay most often uttered complaints on topics and would often exaggerate how scary or bad something was and his jokes on some things didn’t help. Kai was helping out despite not wanting to be taking part however he tended to brush things off as not as bad as they were trying to calm the people down which often led to Jay countering things he said and arguing with him often leading Lloyd or Nya to say something or give them a look to silence the two. Zane didn’t talk much wary of catching the attention of the beast folk and feeling more comfortable working in the back than being in the main focus. Zane had noted some of the folk from the lost realm were not the most pleasant looking of people and some of these were watching him. Their gaze was making him nervous. He hid this feeling though. Instead he mainly worked the tablet for the slide show keeping quiet and letting the others do most of the talking. They quickly got to work and after an hour of talking some of the people started wondering about the refreshments.
“Is what they made safe?” one person asked and another stated, “yha we heard they eat bugs and strange mushrooms and these weird reptile bird things here.”
“Yha and what’s worse is they think there’s nothing wrong with that!” Jay exclaimed till Lloyd elbowed him to silence him. His comment didn’t help ease the peoples anxieties, instead it made them more uneasy.
“Yha it was off putting at first but after a while you get used to it and it’s not as bad as you think,” Cole commented and Zane agreed, “it is perfectly safe and fine and provides you…”
“You don’t have a problem with it because you’re used to eating bugs; you often end up eating them because they have some obsession with your eyes and keep trying to get to them no matter what...” Jay cut Zane off to comment before Lloyd cut him off to proclaim giving Jay a look to say he wasn’t happy with his comment, “Hassiri assured me for tonight they wouldn’t be using anything you wouldn’t be used to.”
“Good cause I could use a drink,” Cole commented and most of the people were in agreement with him. They decided to take a break so people could get a drink. The people refused to go up to where they had refreshments without the ninja with them. They were still wary of the beast folk. Most of the ninja went with them to help the people out. To avoid possible issues with the natives and worried they might have caused the people to become wary of him due to the natives view on droids which they were quite vocal of Zane stayed behind and worked with the tablet to occupy his time. While he was occupied Zane felt something pull on his shirt. Curious he turned to look and saw a little girl from Ninjago standing there looking at him and holding a cup of some sort of tea by the looks of it.
“Since you didn’t come with us I brought you this so you wouldn’t be left out,” the little girl stated holding the cup out for him.
“Thank you but I…” Zane began before deciding to just take the drink not wanting to upset the little girl who was staring at him looking a little sad as well as being scared. Even after he had taken the cup she remained standing there staring at him. He guessed she wanted to see him drink it to know he fully accepted her gift so he drank it then thanked her for it. Once he had thanked her she ran off back to everyone else all happy. Everyone took about twenty minutes to get refreshments. The ninja and knights took the time to talk over how things were going with each other and if they had any ideas to make things go better; both were not having much luck easing peoples anxieties which wasn’t helped by the scholars from the Lost Realm who kept trying to talk with the people out of curiosity during the break not realising they were not helping the situation and making the people more scared. As they got started again Zane started to feel a bit weird but just brushed it off. He had come to get used to odd feelings in this place. He and the others got them every now and then; even the knights got them. They all had a feeling it had to do with this place which they all agreed likely had some curse on it thanks to the ash from the cursed volcano. At one point he was surprised when Nya came up to him pulling the hood of his shirt over his head and whispering to him, “Zane your cloak slipped, weren’t you aware.” Zane looked at his one hand in surprise. He hadn’t been aware it had slipped. Since he was at the back of their group with the projector none of the people they were working with had noticed. His friends had though and were a bit worried. He then looked at some of the folk from the Lost Realm that were there with them. They had clearly seen his cloak slip and some of them were clearly not happy. Zane tried to reactivate his cloak but was unable to do so. Not wanting to cause a complication or cause the people from the Lost Realm to do or say something to scare the people more Zane decided it best he leave and head back to the scholars center. Despite Nya suggesting he head back with someone else he decided to go on his own so the others could continue their work Nya taking over for him with the projector. He would let them know when he got to the center. Zane quietly slipped out of the room aware the folks from the Lost realm who were not too happy with him were watching him the whole time. He started heading back to the scholars center sticking close to the outer walls of the lower floor of the Under-city hoping to avoid attracting unwanted attention. He kept his hood up so the people couldn’t get a good view of what he was. Luckily from what he could tell no one seemed to care or notice him.
As he headed back he tried to determine why his cloak had slipped. He hadn’t been anxious so it should have remained stable. As he tried to determine why it had malfunctioned Zane was surprised to find several of his sensors were also not working right and his diagnostics systems were off line and no matter how hard he tried he couldn’t get them to work. This wasn’t good. As far as he could tell there didn’t seem to be anything hacking him. He didn’t like this. Something was wrong. He paused wondering if he should head back to get one of the others to help him figure out what was wrong.
“What the…” he expressed as he felt something drop onto and bounce off his head. Looking down he saw it was just a plain rock that had hit him. Looking around for who had thrown it his attention was drawn into the tree that overhung him from the planter he had stopped next to. A raven was perched there making noise at him.
“Did you throw this? Why would you do that?” he wondered looking up at the raven which stated in its bird voice ‘ello’. It then hopped down to land in front of him. It let down a cloak revealing it to be the raven that had brought them to this realm. Since arriving in town the raven generally did its own things most days often just surveying the area for dangers to help the town guard before returning to roost during the night in the scholars center. Seeing who it was Zane relaxed and encouraged the Raven to roost on his one arm. It hopped up reactivating its cloak.
“Hello, what are you doing here?” Zane inquired to the raven who started playing with his hood making Zane nervous, “please don’t do that. I’m trying not to be noticed.” The raven pulled his hood off worrying Zane before he felt something hack into his mind. The next thing he knew his cloak had been reactivated making him look like a pale blond hyena folk with some scaring on the face, short messy blond hair and a damaged right ear. The Raven then sent him a friendly and uplifting message to let him know that it was hacking him so he shouldn’t worry about that. Looking around to make sure no one had seen him before the Raven had activated his cloak Zane couldn’t see anyone taking note of him bringing him some relief.
“What did you…” Zane began looking at himself before being caught off guard by a voice in his head. It was the ravens and it told him, “shh just follow my orders and you will be fine.” It then motioned for him to look behind himself. Two folk, a cat folk and a short ungulate folk with prosthetic pronghorns and a red topped Mohawk between the horns were walking his way. They didn’t appear to notice him yet too busy talking to each other. Zane listened to them nervous of their approach.
“I gave it to him, you were right he couldn’t resist taking something given to him by what looks like a scared innocent little girl. The others told me it was working; some of his systems looked to be malfunctioning so he left on his own. That walking scrap heap should be out here somewhere, likely trying to avoid attention and putting himself in places we could easily catch him without anyone seeing,” the ungulate folk stated unnerving Zane. That was why his cloak had stopped working and he was having troubles with some of his systems. From what they were saying Zane had a strong suspicion the two were Ashers and they had given him something to mess with his systems. He wanted to go get the others and tell them what happened but the one noticed him before he could move.
“Hey you, what are you looking at?” the cat folk questioned. The raven sent commands to him straight into his mind so the Ashers couldn’t hear them telling him what to say and do.
“I was looking for someone like you. I am a sleeper one of many, I have been looking to be awoken,” Zane stated putting on an accent to hide his voice hoping the people wouldn’t recognise it. The cloak the raven had put on him clearly helped disguise his looks.
“Ah a fellow member; you haven’t seen a metal skin trying to pretend it’s human wandering around out here have you?” the ungulate folk asked.
“No, I just recently arrived in town,” Zane replied and the cat folk stated, “you probably don’t know what we’re talking about then. I haven’t seen you before so I’m guessing you’re not from here. What brought you here?”
“I heard this was where the good stuffs going down and decided to come see if I could get involved,” Zane declared and the Cat folk stated, “we could see about that. That metal skin likely got aid from that demons scrap heaps for shelter till his pals are done. I don’t think we’ll find him. It was a nice try but we’re going to need something more crafty to get him. So sleeper you have a name? Where are you from?”
“My names Varg Raven-eye. I’m from the Frozen Marsh,” Zane replied following the ravens suggestion.
“Wow that’s pretty far. That’s by the north western coasts… that would also explain why you’re so pale. It was pretty cold up there wasn’t it? Why don’t you come with us; we can help you get some color and warm up,” the cat folk proclaimed. The raven instructed him to follow the two folks as they led him away and snuck into an abandoned shop at the far end of the Under-city under the walkway for the second story. The place looked like it had been abandoned for some time. The window for the shop on the outside was blacked out so the interior could not be seen. The folk stopped to look around making sure no one was looking before opening the door and leading him in. Inside the place was dark. It was a single room set up as a shop with a counter at one side and some shelving on the other side. There was nothing special to the room. The folk went to the back wall and the one put their hand on the back wall. A dark red glowing symbol appeared on the wall then a doorway appeared in the wall.
“The guards have no clue about this, they’re all too stupid to figure out our disguise wards,” the ungulate folk proclaimed as they opened the door and led Zane to the other side. On the other side was what looked to have once been the shop keepers quarters however only the structural components were left to the area. In the back wall a large hole was broken through into a cave lit by dark lanterns of Asher design. They led him down the hall which led into a decent sized room of Asher construct. It was dark; Ashers of various stages mainly acolytes and sleepers were hanging about looking to be working on various things and their dark decorations decorated the place. Despite remaining calm Zane felt an unease from everything. The two took Zane up to one of the few full blooded Ashers in the room who was working at a table that had a strange rounded gem held in the jaws of a Venom-fangs skull placed on its center.
“Well that plan didn’t work their metal skin freak likely got help from that demons minions,” the ungulate folk stated to the full Asher who turned to look at them and proclaim, “I told you that would never work. As long as there are Cubs of the Fang as they call themselves in the city you won’t be able to catch him on his own. Who’s this?” The Asher looked at Zane deeply inspecting him. Zane was nervous of this Asher worried it might be able to see through his disguise.
“We found a sleeper whose looking to be awoken,” the cat folk stated and the Asher asked Zane, “really. What’s your name sleeper… and what’s with the bird?” The Asher pointed to the raven who was perched rather calmly on Zanes shoulder.
“Varg Raven-eye and this is my companion, my support Raven; where I go he goes,” Zane responded using the disguised voice and the Asher stated, “Varg huh, we’ve had a few folk bring companion beasts with them. Don’t worry we have a way of awakening them with you so you can keep your companion. So you want to be awoken well then you’ll need to prove yourself first. You’ll need a task and we need to get those knights and ninja or at least hinder them.”
“Any ideas on what we can do?” the cat folk inquired and the Asher stated, “not sure. Since a lot of you have been giving such useless ideas I think it’s time we turn to Dagon. He will know what to do.” At the mention of his name Zane became nervous. Dagon would likely be able to see through his cloak plus if he was there then they were in serious trouble. They were not ready to deal with him and he could cause serious complications in their mission. The Asher cast a spell at the gem in the skull and shortly after a hologram like image of Dagon in his true form came from the gem. He resembled a cross between a human and Oni with black skin baring lighter markings of Oni design and short horns on his head. By the looks of it they were lucky; Dagon wasn’t there. He was likely still back in Ninjago causing his chaos.
“Why do you summon me?” Dagon inquired sounding a bit annoyed and the Asher explained, “well my lord we are still working on getting those pests but so far we have not had any luck. We were wondering if you have any idea over what we could do?” Dagon looked at them clearly annoyed.
“Why do you insist on trying foolish tricks with them? How many times do I have to tell you the best option is to inflict them with the blessing of my brethren,” Dagon declared. Zane was pretty sure he was talking of the Blight.
“You might think that’s simple but it’s not. Do you know how hard that is when you’re not trying to get caught by the guards? Besides they tend to stick together and the people here don’t help. Their suspicions to outlanders have made those meddling scum’s all wary and on edge and that demon Stag doesn’t help either. His constant meddling with them especially to the metal skin has them all on alert most of the time. Have we also mentioned those knights brought a master wizard with them? We’re not sure where they’re hiding him but we know they have him. We’ve intercepted communications between them.”
“Then maybe instead of trying to directly infect them you go indirectly. Take the hidden sly methods, things they won’t expect. Now stop wasting time and get the job done. Those curs cannot be permitted to reach the Forbidden City let alone set foot in it. If they do so they could pose a serious threat to all our efforts now quite fooling around and get the job done!” Dagon declared clearly infuriated before his image vanished. The Asher thought something over.
“I think I know what we can do. We were saving them to try and inflict the town guard but they could work for this. We have some Shalk beetles inflicted with the Blight. They’re no bigger than a finch. We could place them in the Scholars center and they could go unnoticed for some time. We’ll hide them in the planters so they don’t know they’re there. They’ll crawl around at night and bite them while their sleeping and if others in the center get infected all the better. It could help lead to distrust and complications for them. You Varg will join us in this endeavour. This will be your test. Do well and we’ll see how quick you can move up in the ranks,” the Asher proclaimed. Zane didn’t like the sound of this. Within half an hour he was with the Asher, who was in disguise using their skin stealer magic, and the other two folk pretending to be service workers delivering supplies to the center. They all carried in some crates. The others actually had crates with supplies. Zane had been tasked with carrying the crate holding the beetles. No one was suspicious of them. One person did tease the raven which roosted on Zanes shoulder asking it if it was like a parrot and wanted a cracker holding out a biscuit for it. The raven was clearly not amused grabbing the biscuit to toss it and caw ‘no biscuit, want buggies crunchy juices buggies’ to which the person found the birds behaviour rude. They carried the crates into the storage room in the main room. Zane could see the others were still out helping the people. He was relieved. He didn’t know what he would do if he ran into them while in disguise. There wasn’t many in the hall. Most people were out in the town relaxing and enjoying themselves. Once in the storage room the Asher took jars each holding a few slightly smaller than palm sized shiny blue scarab beetles with yellow eyes, antenna and a stripe down their backs out of the crate and handed one to each of them. The beetles were just starting to show the markings of the Blight curse and most were trying to find a way out of the jars clearly scared but unable to get anywhere.
“Alright we’ll place some in the planters in the main room here and through other areas of the center. You Varg are going to place some of these in the planters by the bedrooms. They then split up to do their task. Zane made his way into the bedrooms hall. He was the only one in the hall and he was nervous. He stood staring at the beetles in the jar thinking over some things. Zane didn’t want to do this but he wasn’t sure what to do. The raven wasn’t giving him much advice as it wasn’t sure what to do either. Releasing these beetles would put a lot of innocent folk at risk of catching the Blight including them. Did he go to the town guard about this? Did he get the others? Would he be able to easily sneak away from these Ashers? What was he going to do with the beetles if he didn’t release them? They had the Blight and likely wouldn’t survive for long but in that short time they could infect other beings if he let them go. Apart from sticking them inside himself where they could cause internal damages or eating them which both methods would just infect him with the Blight where could he hide them where the Ashers would think he had done his job yet they couldn’t hurt others? He wondered if he should maybe talk to Merlok. He might know what to do. He was in the knights room reading some books they had gotten him to occupy his time while they were out. Voices coming into the hall caught his attention. He recognised the voices and it made him worried.
“This isn’t like him some things probably happened,” he heard Cole express then Jay exclaim sounding nervous, “you think some of those monsters from the Stag got him? They could be warping his mind to turn him into a monstrous savage like them!” It had been too long and they had heard nothing from Zane. Seeing how something looked to be wrong with him when he left they were deeply concerned for him so Lloyd had sent the two to check on Zane.
“I think you need to see someone about your paranoia’s of late. As for Zane in this place who knows what could have happened to him… hey who are you? I don’t recognise you as one of the people here… and what are you doing with those beetles?” Cole stated when the two entered the hall and saw Zane in his disguise. Zane tried to drop the cloak but was still unable to control it and the raven wasn’t co-operating in letting the cloak down.
“Those beetles don’t look right,” Jay noted and Cole stated, “they look like they have the Blight, what are you going to do with them?” Zane tried to block the raven from hacking him but Zane wasn’t able to fully control some of his systems making him unable to block the ravens control. Looking into it he came to realise if it wasn’t for the raven he would be having serious problems controlling some of his neural systems. Whatever the Ashers had given him had the ability to severely mess with him. He didn’t like that.
“Look we’re not wanting to get you in trouble. As long as you’re not meaning to cause trouble we have no problems. We just want to know what you’re doing with those things?” Cole inquired trying to keep things calm while Jay had pulled his weapon out. Zane could hear someone coming into the hall from the main hall. He had a feeling it was the Asher; it had been down there. Zane was torn over what to do. Did he try to reveal his disguise or continue to play along.
“I… I was looking for someone… I found these. They were…” Zane decided to continue in his disguise. As he talked to them he also became aware that the other two folk who were with the Ashers were coming into the hall and sneaking up on Cole and Jay who were unaware they were there.
“I found them…” Zane was torn. He was pretty sure if the Ashers got them they would do bad things to his friends but did he want to risk getting on the bad side of the Ashers at that moment. They still thought he was one of them and it would benefit everyone if they could find some way to thwart their plans and take out this group.
“Found them where?” Jay questioned before the two folk jumped Cole and Jay getting in a scuffle with them. The one used a spell on Jay that instantly paralyzed him. Cole managed to dodge the spell. Thinking quickly to prevent the Ashers from doing any notable harm to them Zane dropped the jar in the planter and quickly restrained Cole whispering to him, “I’m sorry, just play along and I’ll get you out of this” while the one folk hit Cole with the paralysis spell. Once he was paralyzed Zane lay him on the floor trying to hide any emotions to prevent the Ashers from getting any suspicions.
“Well this is a surprise, two of the Dragons wandered strait into our grasps,” the Asher proclaimed dumping the beetles out of the jar Zane had been holding in the planter where they instantly buried themselves in the dirt and the cat folk expressed looking down at Cole and Jay who couldn’t move or react, “what do you suppose we do with these two.”
“What else, we take them back with us. We’ll get one of the sorcerers to come by and turn them into drones for our service. Then we can set them on the others,” the Asher proclaimed and the ungulate folk wondered, “how are we going to sneak these two back to base?”
“I know a way, we can take advantage of one of the Stags minions secret tunnels in here just follow me,” the Asher proclaimed picking Cole up and the cat folk picked up Jay. They headed off towards the centers main room Zane bringing up the rear. He paused for a second to look into the knights room. He could see the hologram of Merok coming from the mini Fortrex which was half hidden behind a divider looking into the hall worried. He was remaining quite knowing it best not to draw attention to himself. Taking a glance to make sure the others weren’t watching Zane snuck into the knights room and went straight to Merlok who quietly stated to him, “try anything and you will regret it.”
“I don’t have much time but it’s me Merlok, Zane the master of ice…” Zane began trying to muster a display of his powers in his one hand but getting stumped when he couldn’t properly control them only able to create a cold icy mist in his hand, “that stuffs messing with my powers! This isn’t good… I don’t have time to worry about that though. I need you to contact the others. Tell them what’s happened. I’ll send the co-ordinates in order to find us. Tell them to hurry; I don’t know how long we’ll have.” Zane felt rushed as he regaled to Merlok who seemed to get he was who he said he was.
“I have to go before they get suspicious,” Zane stated starting to head out. Merlok paused him before he left the room to proclaim, “Zane be very careful. If they find out who you really are things are not going to go well for the three of you.”
“I know,” Zane stated before leaving to catch up with the others. They were waiting beneath the stairs for him.
“What took you so long?” the ungulate folk inquired and Zane replied in disguise, “I thought I saw something in the knights room.”
“You did? Anything of interest?” the cat folk inquired and Zane quickly replied, “just this mini version of their vehicle. It is holding some of their personal items.”
“Really, anything we might find of interest?” the ungulate folk inquired and he responded, “not unless you find a bunch of hair gel interesting.”
“What is with that knight and his hair? He’s always messing with it,” the cat folk stated and the Asher proclaimed opening the secret door in the alcove under the stairs, “don’t know but I believe you did a rather good job Varg. I think we can arrange for you to move up in the ranks.” They headed into the passage the Ashers using dark crystals they had in their pockets to light the way. Before he went into the passage Zane relayed to Merlok where they were headed. The Asher took them through the tunnels opening up a passage at one point that led into tunnels of Asher make which took them into the Ashers base in the abandoned shop. Once there the Ashers handed Cole and Jay to two of the others who took them off to a side room. Zane watched for a second to know where they were being taken before having his attention drawn back to the lead Asher who proclaimed, “looks like we got lucky today. Two of those fools wandered straight into us. I will send word to one of the sorcerers to stop by. Hopefully they can make it before the end of the day then we can have two of the false dragons on our side and if we’re real lucky maybe more. As for you Varg, you did well. I’ll send word to our superiors and see what kind of reward they wish to bestow upon you.” The Ashers went about their day continuing planning and working on things. Zane remained nervous as he tried to find time to break away from them to sneak into the room they had taken Cole and Jay into. He kept getting roped into helping some of them with what they were working on. Quite a bit of it was magical work in nature which he didn’t understand very well and had trouble working out. He took that as an advantage in helping to thwart some of their plans. Some of the Ashers questioned his failings to which he responded honestly, “I’m more of one for technology than magic.” They accepted his comment and didn’t show any signs of suspicion though one of them stated in a rather creepy way, “oh don’t worry you’ll come to understand our magic soon enough.” Zane didn’t like that folks tone. He eventually managed to break away and sneak into the side room. The place had been built like a little jail with cell bars made of cursed stone and was dark lit only by a few torches. It was a small room built into a little cave and was rather dirty and damp. The paralysis spell the Ashers had used was starting to wear off on the two though it hadn’t fully gone.
“I can’t feel my legs… what if I never get feeling in them again or even worse what if I’m paralyzed from the waist down! What will I do?” Jay was complaining sitting down and staring at his legs all worried and panicking. Cole was standing up clinging to the front bars of the cage his one leg numb and partially paralyzed but still trying to get up.
“You’ll be fine; at least I’m pretty sure you will. It was just a spell, I don’t think it did any actual harm now will you quit whining and try to get up. We have to find a way out of here before it’s too late… what do you want?” Cole stated as he approached the cell still in disguise and Jay chastised, “if it wasn’t for you we probably wouldn’t be in this mess!”
“I don’t know. Those two snuck up on us from behind. They could have still gotten us, just not so easily,” Cole reasoned as the raven who was still perched on his shoulder and controlling some of his systems let Zanes cloak down. The two were shocked.
“Zane! What… why are you working with these monsters?! I could see you betraying us for that demon deer but these things!” Jay rambled his words hurting Zanes feelings that one of his friends thought he would betray them and Zane regaled, “I did not intend to get involved. The raven got me into this then again if he hadn’t I probably would have ended up in the cell with you.”
“What happened?” Cole inquired trying to stand up normally but having to keep hold of the cell wall in order to stay balanced.
“One of these Ashers tricked me into drinking something that’s messing with some of my systems and my powers,” Zane regaled trying to muster some of his power having trouble mustering them causing frost to develop on his skin and the ground in the room, “the raven has to control some of my systems to keep them from knowing. I was making my way back to the center when the raven found me. It disguised me. I thought it was trying to help me evade their attention but instead it got me involved. I don’t know why. I would say we shouldn’t worry too much since I alerted Merlok to the situation and let him know where we are so he could tell the others but they aren’t here yet and these Ashers plan to bring a sorcerer here; we need to stop them and get out of here before it is too late.”
“Yha I defiantly don’t want to try and deal with one of those things. I don’t think we’d fare very well. Do you happen to know where the keys for this cage are?” Cole inquired and Zane replied looking around, “I think one of the guards might have them.”
“Hurry and go steal them then before we have to face one of those monsters!” Jay exclaimed before they heard someone opening the rooms door. The raven reactivated Zanes cloak before the door opened.
“What are you doing in here?” the lead Asher inquired as some of them came in. Thinking quickly Zane stated in disguise, “I was seeing if I could get them to tell me the location of this metal skin you were looking for earlier.”
“And we’ll never tell you. We’d rather him join that monster deer than you demons,” Jay proclaimed hoping to help Zanes disguise. The Ashers were clearly not amused with Jay.
“Oh don’t worry we’ll find it, sooner than it thinks too especially now that we have these two,” the leader proclaimed as two Ashers unlocked the cell and put cuffs of cursed stone on Cole and Jay. They then forced the two to come with them.
“Oh you want me to get up and walk, don’t you remember you paralysed me! I can’t move my legs let alone feel them!” Jay exclaimed and the lead Asher stated annoyed, “the spell would have worn off by now. Get him up.” The one Asher gave Jay a kick to the legs then forced him to his feet Jay proclaiming, “okay I felt that… oh hey I can move my legs. Guess I’m not paralyzed after all. Guess I just needed to move my legs. That’s a relief.”
“Is one of the sorcerers here?” Zane inquired confused over why they were taking the two out of the cell.
“No, sadly none of them could make it till tomorrow but they did tell us of something we could do in the meantime to keep them under control so they cannot escape us,” the leader stated leading them all out of the room. It took them to another side room of their center where inside was some rather worrying things. A large altar sat in the center of the room which was dark, decorated with dark braziers on the walls, decorations of the Ashers and the tile work on the floor displayed a reddish design of dark symbols circling round this alter. Against the far wall of the room was a table holding a few strange items. A dark dagger, a strange dark purplish gem and some strange piece of plant matter which kind of resembled a large heart sized strange rounded pine cone though clearly wasn’t. In between the matters woody scales were faintly glowing blood red seams that revealed something was inside the hard exterior. At the head of the altar was a large statue of Dagon in his true form looking menacing. Zane looked at Cole and Jay who just like him were unnerved and worried. It didn’t look like anything good was going to happen.
“What are you going to do to us?” Jay began to panic and the leader explained heading over to grab the dagger and strange plant matter off the table, “we’re going to make you drones for our service. As part of your initiation Varg Raven-eye you are going to do this. Now who should we do first…”
“Cole do Cole! He’ll work better for you than I will!” Jay exclaimed trying to back away but unable to get anywhere thanks to the two Ashers holding him in place.
“We’ll do the earth one first then,” the leader proclaimed and Cole expressed, “thanks a lot Jay!” Two Ashers dragged Cole over to the Altar and laid him down on his back on it tying chained cuffs to his ankles and chains to the cuffs on his wrists to prevent him from escaping restraining him to the table. Another forced Zane to stand by the leader.
“What am I going to be doing?” Zane inquired hiding his nerves and the leader proclaimed, “you are going to cut out his heart then we’ll sow this in its place. It is a Heart seed, a very special seed that grows from the rare Elken Redwood. When imbued with the right magic it can take the place of someone’s heart turning them into powerful warriors that will serve those who imbued them with its great powers. Then once that is done you are going to eat his heart, if you’re lucky it will give you his powers.” Zane couldn’t help but show emotions in shock of what they wanted him to do as the lead Asher shoved the dark dagger into his hands.
“What?! Can we talk this over first?” Cole exclaimed startled struggling to break free and Zane stated trying to hide his emotions, “won’t removing his heart kill him?”
“Oh don’t worry we have a way to prevent that now why don’t you begin,” the leader proclaimed directing Zane to the Altar. Zane looked at the dagger in his hand then to Cole who was terrified looking back at him then back to the dagger.
“Come on guys we could talk this over right? We don’t need to do anything drastic, I’m sure we could come to some sort of agreement,” Jay pleaded but none of the Ashers listened.
“No, I won’t do it,” Zane declared. He didn’t care if it broke his disguise; he wasn’t going to hurt his family.
“I knew it, it’s not that you won’t it’s because you can’t. You’d never harm your friends out of free will would you,” the lead Asher proclaimed confusing some of them including Cole, Jay and Zane.
“I can’t believe you so easily fell for his tricks. I thought we taught most of you how to recognise the curs like him. He’s the metal skin s’wit,” the leader proclaimed and stunned by his accusations Zane questioned, “how…”
“I could sense a strange energy to you the moment I saw you. You and that bird…” the leader proclaimed hitting Zane with a magical blast that knocked him back into the altar. The blast disrupted the ravens connection causing him to lose his disguise. The raven took off his shoulder to perch on the statue of Dagon cawing at everyone.
“If you knew what he really is then why didn’t you interfere earlier?” Jay inquired and the leader proclaimed, “I knew there was something suspicious but I wasn’t sure entirely what it was. The way you reacted to your pals when cornered and the fact you objected to this told me who you were. If you were really a sleeper you wouldn’t have objected plus you would know this ritual is total bogus. This isn’t an Ashers ritual, this barbaric ritual is performed by followers of Storabek to create his powerful Blood-elk warriors for their tribes. I’m actually surprised a monster like you didn’t recognise that. That demons left his mark on you and you’re so chummy with his metal skin spawn I thought you’d recognise the ritual of your master.”
“Zanes not a monster and he doesn’t serve that demon,” Cole defended Zane who was struggling to control his powers which were reacting oddly to his emotions causing ice to build up on his hands and forearms along with the part of the altar he was touching.
“If that’s what you think then he’s got you fooled, you watch. You take him to his masters dwelling and he’ll side with that demon over you and tear out your hearts for that things spawn to feed on,” the Asher decreed. A sudden laughing caught them all off guard and caught their attentions.
“Oh that’s rich coming from the likes of you,” the raven cawed through laughter. The ravens voice was off. The voice wasn’t its but, and to their relief, it wasn’t the Stags. It was upbeat and a bit electronic sounding.
“What’s gotten into the bird?” one of the low tier Ashers in the room inquired and the leader grumbled, “I recognise that voice, DJ the Stags tech expert; a real nuisance that one.”
“Nuisance, you’re the ones to talk. Skulking about worse than vermin to cause chaos and harm for your pleasures. I can tell you I have never once eaten a person’s heart; I tried some chicken hearts once. I was just curious how they taste. They were not the best, kind of rubbery and bland no matter how much oil you soak them in. Anyway my master has never made us eat someone’s heart; I have no clue where you heard that. As for this ritual you are mocking you clearly have no understanding of it. There is nothing barbaric about it. Individuals must willingly give their hearts for the great strength, endurance and resilience to pain along with heightened senses and very long life that comes with being a Blood-elk warrior but it costs them their living state giving them a half life, a cursed life. For the rest of their existence they are plagued by nightmares and deep emotional pains along with becoming numb to feelings both physical and emotional. Only those worthy and pure of heart can benefit from the transformation. It is a self sacrifice individuals make to protect their lands and people at the cost of their own lives. A self sacrifice is far more meaningful and powerful than sacrificing someone else. Our master prefers that. Once given the heart my master fuses it into the seed. The heart seed is then placed in the warriors chest to replace their heart. They then become Blood-elk warriors. We don’t eat their hearts and no one is forced to have the ritual done. You are the savage ones forcibly mutating the innocent into your monsters, sacrificing others against their will for your dark pleasures and can I mention when’s the last time you had a bath cause man even through the raven I can smell your charred volcanic hides; I’ve smelt compost piles filled with some of the nastiest decaying matter that smelt better than you do. You must be either using some serious perfumes or some powerful magic to keep the towns people from smelling your stench…” The raven shook its head.
“I only agreed to let you listen in and give advice. You were not permitted to take control,” the Raven cawed in its usual voice before this DJ’s voice came through to state, “Oh come on if you had a chance to mock these burnt corpses would you not.” Everyone seemed distracted by the raven and DJ’s interactions. Taking advantage of their distraction Zane freed Cole and the two tried working on a plan. They were outnumbered and Zane was unsure how useful he was going to be as his powers were malfunctioning and he was having troubles with some of his systems.
“For this violation my price has now doubled. You now owe me twice the amount of oil coated worms and meats. Continue like this and it will be tripled,” the raven cawed then DJ came through to express, “fine. Worm eater.”
“Worm Eater! I will have you know Bone Picker that you should have more respect to me. Not only am I older than you I am a superior model. I was made by the last of the great Scymer beings not scrapped together by a dark spirit besides I have seen you eat worms too,” the raven cawed while this DJ responded, “as the humans say whatever. At least when I tried the worms I was not eating them out of dung piles or the mud. They were harvested, cleaned and decently coated in Scymer oil not foul substances.”
“Oh you think you are so much more refined than me, are you not the one who ate a bunch of Shalk beetles you found in a compost bin thinking it would give you an energy boost?” the Raven declared and DJ responded sounding to be embarrassed, “yha.”
“And how did that work for you.”
“I blew a few circuits. I was not saying all my ideas were well thought out. I was just stating I have more refined tastes than you. Besides you probably could agree we both have better tastes than these Ashers. Dirty burn stained bones, ash, dark awful smelling candles, dull and dirty rugs and tapestries, creepy crystals and statues, darkness… uhg even primitive styles with their cleaned bones, animal hides and rock paintings are way more appealing than this like come on just look at this statue. You could cover it in pigeon and racer droppings and they would be more aesthetically pleasing than this statue. It would foul the droppings,” DJ proclaimed making the raven peck at the statue and the raven cawed an agreement, “I will not disagree with that. I say it is about time someone does something to maybe dismantle this unpleasant décor and maybe take out the Blighters who made it.” By the fact the raven looked at Cole and Zane as it spoke they had a feeling it was encouraging them to make a move. They had no evidence anyone was coming to their aid so they would have to do things themselves. They could at least take advantage of Zanes malfunctioning powers. His hands and arms were coated in ice and anything he touched was getting frozen. With the ravens last words they jumped the two holding Jay setting him free. Cole and Jay took their weapons to defend themselves as the Ashers retaliated to attack them. The three put their backs to the wall to prevent being attacked from behind while the raven joined them in their attacks cawing, pecking and clawing at individuals to distract them. Zane was having trouble navigating and aiming constantly heading or attacking in the opposite direction he intended to and slipping up but with Cole and Jays help he was able to effectively take on the enemies despite his malfunctions. Within no time they were able to take out most of those in the room with little problem. They were doing pretty good till the leader started throwing spells of paralysis at them. It hit Jay first who complained as he sat against the wall unable to move, “great not again!” The Asher then hit Zane knocking him into the wall where he landed to sit at its base unable to move. It then hit the raven which landed stunned next to Zane. Cole tried to take out the leader but it got him blasting him into the wall to land with the others.
“This isn’t good,” Cole moaned unable to move and Jay commented, “to make it worse I had to pee earlier… now I don’t have to.” The Asher just laughed at them as they became worried over what was going to happen to them.
“Nice try dragon scum but you don’t stand a chance against us. Now we’ll lock these three up, we’ll restrain them so they can’t move. As for the raven; we can take it apart and see what we can find from this thing. It clearly has ties to the Stags spawn,” the leader proclaimed before the sound of fighting outside the room caught it’s attention. The next thing they knew the door to the room was kicked open and Nya rushed in to proclaim, “stay back from them you scum.” She soaked them with water then Clay who followed her into the room hit them with a Nexo power to freeze them. They took out all but the leader who slowly started to back away not taking its eyes off them. While they had their weapons and Clay had his shield both were still in their commoners gear.
“Leave this one for me,” Tafari proclaimed coming in behind the two fully decked out in her guard attire. She strolled up to the Asher who attempted to run away from her but she caught it dragging him back to herself then grabbing it by the front of its shirt lifted it with one hand off the ground.
“We’ll spare this one for now. We can see what this monster knows before we cull it,” she proclaimed another guard coming in to cuff strange cuffs made of Stahlrim, a material said to be ice turned to stone, onto the being.
“Nya I knew you’d come to my aid,” Jay proclaimed unable to move as Clay and Nya came to check on them Hassiri coming into the room to aid them.
“Are you guys okay?” Clay inquired and Cole stated, “well we can’t move, Zanes having problems controlling his powers and Jays going to need a new pair of underwear but yha we’re still in decent shape.”
“From the looks they were hit with a paralysis spell. It will wear off in a while and leave no lasting effects. As for you, are you also experiencing troubles with senses, navigation and various systems?” Hassiri inquired checking over Zane who replied, “yha, why?”
“I know what they used. Don’t worry it won’t leave any lasting effects. For organic beings it’s a paralysis poison, in droids it works a bit differently largely causing system malfunctions. Like the spell you’re just going to have to wait for its effects to wear off. We could have flushed your systems shortly after it was given to you but it’s too late for that now. You’ll just have to put up with it for now. Should only take between 12 hours to a day or two depending on how fast your system operates for it to fully wear off,” Hassiri explained.
“Looks like we got here just in time,” Clay declared as Tafari ushered the Asher out of the room. After Zane had talked to him Merlok had wasted no time in contacting the knights who quickly talked to the ninja. They had still been dealing with the people. They had hurriedly pardoned themselves leaving both groups with Robin and Ava to deal with. The two were rather overwhelmed and a bit unsure what to do but took up the task anyway. Before leaving they had told Hassiri who had gone and gotten some of the guard. Fearing they had little time they hadn’t bothered getting prepared and just grabbed their weapons and shields before rushing off to the co-ordinates they had been given. It took Clay with Merloks help sometime to work out the spell the Ashers were using to hide the entrance to their base but once they had figured it out they had wasted no time in rushing in to take out the Ashers. With them dealt with the rest of the ninja and the knights helped get Cole, Zane, Jay and the raven out of the base so the guards could search the place and clear it out of any remaining Ashers, secret passages and their dark contraband. To avoid curious spectators they took them back to the Scholars center. The paralysis was starting to wear off though Zane was still having problems. To help prevent his lack of control with his powers from causing problems Nya got the idea to put oven mitts on Zanes hands to keep him from freezing anything he touched till he regained control of his powers. While a frost had developed on the gloves, he still had ice building on his arms and he was making the area rather chilly the gloves did prevent him from freezing things he touched. They had placed the raven on the table where it was slowly regaining control flailing its limbs to try and stand Aaron rolling it back over whenever it put itself on its back. Other than them it was just some town guards and scholars in the center all of which were searching out and collecting all the Blighted beetles the Ashers had placed to keep everyone safe.
“I think from now on Zane if something’s wrong you stay with us no matter what,” Lloyd proclaimed and Zane had to agree.
“I don’t think anyone should wander around on their own especially if something’s wrong,” Clay declared and Cole stated, “yha cause those things are clearly determined to get us.” Cole was trying to move his one arm to pick up a cupcake he had gotten that had been put on the table in front of him. He was only able to get his arm on the table but unable to properly move his hand to grab anything frustrating him that he couldn’t get the cupcake.
“At least we got rid of some more of those monsters and the worst done was Jay wetting his pants,” Kai remarked and Jay was quick to snap, “sure joke about it but you weren’t there being played with by those things! They were playing a cruel joke trying to make Zane cut out our hearts and eat them so he would get our powers and they could stick these creepy looking seeds in place of our hearts to make us into monsters!”
“But they didn’t and now that group has been thwarted making us and the town safer,” Macy declared and Jay moaned, “still, it was not pleasant.”
“Yha and you were of little help. You could have put up a little more of a fight instead of so quickly offering me up as the sacrifice,” Cole commented and Jay quickly defended himself, “well I knew Zane would never hurt us right pal?”
“If I had a choice yes but you had no way of knowing I would remain in control nor if the Ashers would have taken matters into their own hands when I denied,” Zane replied and Cole agreed, “yha leaving me in a very bad position.”
“Well we got lucky this time,” Lloyd stated and Clay declared, “indeed but we shouldn’t take this lightly. We probably won’t get off so lucky in the future.”
Void Emperor During a test in the arena Zane goes a little overboard but is he really the one at fault or is something controlling him?
“You can relax metal skin I will not harm you,” Tafari expressed as she talked to Zane in the holding cell for the animals and constructs being used in the ring. The knights and ninja were going to have another training session. In this one they were going to test how they would do if Zane fell to dark forces and was fighting against them with the Stags allies. They had some hyenoids, Venom-fang fabricants, Robo-bills, Skeevers and some Pryphons to be his allies. While he could communicate with the cybernetic beings he couldn’t communicate with the creatures. Luckily for him the fabricants were able to communicate to them for him so none of them would have communication issues while working together. They were all hanging around waiting to be let into the ring. Zane had been listening to Tafari who was explaining the task he was going to play for this session but he was distracted. Though he was hoping to hide it he was scared.
“I know that,” Zane stated and Tafari who was in her gear all but the helmet wondered, “through my mechanics I can sense your fear. If it is not me then what has you worried? You’re allies will not hurt you and you do not have to hurt your friends just rough them up a bit; give them a test to hone their skills.”
“I don’t know if I can do this, I do not know if I could bring myself to willingly threaten the others plus if I do threaten them I worry I may get carried away and cause them serious harm,” Zane mumbled and Tafari encouraged, “I think you can you’re just thinking too much about this. Here’s some advice why don’t you use this to take out some frustrations you have about your pals. Maybe something they said or done that hurt your feelings once, maybe something about them that annoys you things like that. Now don’t worry they will not hold anything against you for this besides you’re no monster I don’t think you’ll get carried away and cause anyone serious harm.” Zane thought about it and decided to follow her advice. He had quite a bit he could think of to use for that which got him angry and worked up. It made him feel he could do this. He still worried he might get carried away but he was sure the others would be able to help him maintain control if he did.
“Now don’t worry things will go fine just remember though you’re just training no need to obliterate your friends over minor issues,” Tafari expressed handing Zane a mock up of a Scimitar Samurai helmet to wear for the training. She then left the room as the door for the passage leading to the ring opened so they could enter and get set up before the others were let in. Zane remained back for a second to build himself up for what he was going to do. He could think of quite a few things to use to prep himself; having to clean up after the others because they didn’t do their chores properly or at all, Jay constantly pushing his chores off on him, Lloyd turning his suit pink once, the others lack of understanding him at times, Jay messing with his voice, some of the pranks others would play on him or jokes they used about him, having to explain himself to some of the others repeatedly because they couldn’t understand his wording… as he prepped himself he suddenly felt as if he had gotten chills making him pause and look around in confusion. The feeling was strange to him; while he considered them chills they weren’t really that not even the simulated chills feeling he could have. The feeling didn’t come from temperatures but felt as if something unsettling was crawling up his back under his skin. Chills was the only feeling he could compare the feeling to. He looked around worried something was in the room with him. He couldn’t sense or see anything. He was alone. He was about to head off to enter the ring when he noticed the hatch in his skin over his heart was open a bit. He was confused, he had full control over the hatch and it would only open if he let it and he hadn’t let it open. He couldn’t sense anything wrong with himself so closed the hatch back up thinking those strange chills had caused him to accidently open it. Brushing that aside he put on the helmet he had been given and headed into the ring.
In the other holding pen the ninja and knights were waiting to be let in. They didn’t feel comfortable with what they were doing. They didn’t want to hurt Zane and didn’t like that he was being singled out as the enemy but they didn’t have much of a choice. When they were let into the arena a small makeshift fort had been made in the ring. It consisted of stone walls surrounding a central stone tower. It was early evening with the sun just having gone down so it was dark with the only light in the ring itself coming from fires that were in braziers around and on this fort and attached to the walls of the ring. They could see a few hyenoids and venom-fang fabricants waiting on the wall for them but couldn’t see Zane. They were pretty sure he was probably in the fort not wanting to be seen as one of the enemies in this fight by the spectators watching which included locals with people from Knighton and Ninjago who had ended up in the realm. They wasted no time getting into the fight Clay taking over as lead and instructing the others what to do. Aaron, Jay and Kai were to focus on distracting those set up atop the walls while Macy, Nya, Clay, Lance and Lloyd focussed on the enemy that dropped down or over the walls to meet them. Axl and Cole were to focus on the gate to the fort to try and open it so they could get inside. Their task for this trial was simple to get into the central tower and douse the magical void green fire that was burning in the brazier atop it. Their plan started working rather well till Axl and Cole got to the gate and tried to open it. The gate refused to move and Cole was surprised to find he couldn’t use his lava arms around the gate. Looking he noticed they had stuck cursed stone shards around the doorway between the bricks of the fort. They were unable to get the door open and inspecting it Cole noticed the mechanism for the door was highly tech orientated thinking quickly he inquired if anyone had a tablet or something that could be used to hack things. Aaron quickly came over with a tablet he had been using to play some games on while they had been waiting. He was storing it in his attire for the fight. It didn’t take him long to hack into the mechanism and open the gate. Once open they all headed into the inner section of the fort. They stuck together as they worked. The enemies were quick to fill around them and try to cut them off from getting close to the tower. Inside the fort it seemed oddly chillier than outside and there were dark looking dark icy blue crystal like structures with glowing greenish cores in their centers that were scattered randomly through the yard. They were a bit larger than a person and were clumped together in clusters. An icy mist clung close to the ground. So far things were going fine. They couldn’t see Zane but there was evidence he was there somewhere, he’d blocked off the door to the tower with ice and had coated the steps with large shards of ice that they needed to melt just to get up to the door. They had Kai work on this as the rest held back the enemies.
“Wow Zane went all out with this ice. It’s some pretty tough stuff,” Kai commented as he worked noting this ice seemed tougher than normal ice. He was suddenly surprised and froze in confusion and a bit of fear as a strange and creepy looking small creature seeming to be made of a dark ice with a glowing icy green core landed on his hand.
“Uh Clay what is this?” Kai wondered feeling worried by the sight of the unnerving creature and taking a quick look Clay commented, “that looks like a Vesparilion made of some form of dark ice.” Noting the creature Lloyd wondered, “where did that come from?” The thing inspected Kais hand before stabbing its beak into his hand starting to suck his blood like a mosquito the creatures bite sending icy feelings through Kais hand and arm. In quick reaction Kai blasted the creature with fire destroying it. As he dealt with the creature Axl was surprised to have a similar dark icy made creature this time in the form of a Serpent-fly land on and entwine itself around his axe. He grabbed it and pulled it off before throwing the creature to the ground declaring to the others that they had another of these strange creatures at them.
“Another? I thought they weren’t going to use any void monsters in this,” Jay commented getting anxious before getting hit by an icy blast that knocked him off his feet and pinned him to the ground ice growing over his chest and chilling him. Looking to where the ice came from Jay commented, “there you are Zane. We were wondering where you were… what’s with the scary get up?” Zane was wearing a mask resembling that of a Scimitar Samurai and had also been decked out in some dark ice tainted padded armour over his normal attire. He had an ice made staff that he was using as a weapon instead of his usual weapons which they couldn’t see anywhere on or near him. They had no clue where he had come from.
“Who is Zane, I am one with those of the void,” Zane commented his voice sounding off and Jay commented, “wow you’ve really gone all out in getting into this role huh. Let me guess you’re using the Ice Emperor for your inspiration for this role.”
“Jay remember what we’ve said about mentioning that title around him,” Lloyd whispered hoping Zane couldn’t hear him as he helped Jay get free and get up. Jay commented as Zane got into the fight with them, “oh yha he’s very sensitive about it. I’ll be careful in the future.” Zane was putting up a pretty convincing act as he got into the fight at being on the enemies side, a little too good of an act some thought. He wasn’t holding back in attacks and seemed to be getting a little aggressive. The ice he was making was dark making them realise these crystal structures they were seeing in the fort were in fact dark ice he had created. He was also strangely starting to create minor void beasts out of his ice. That was something they all knew he couldn’t normally do stumping the ninja. How was he suddenly doing this? The only thing they could think of was the attire he had been given might have had enchantments on them that were letting him perform these abilities. That didn’t explain though why his ice was dark. Some of them guessed it might be just from him expressing some buried angers towards them and not something too serious; they all knew some of them particularly Kai and Jay sometimes did things that really annoyed or bothered Zane. While he would sometimes show his displeasure to them they were pretty sure he was often holding back in what he wanted to do considering from what they had seen of him as the Ice Emperor they were pretty sure he could get quite dark and bad. He was defiantly showing that side now. Things were quickly getting tough now that Zane was involved in the fight especially with his sudden strange additions to his powers and by the looks his lack of restraint in his attacks. He was single handily making things incredibly tough for them.
“Okay I think you can lighten up now Zane this is just a friendly training session now. We’re not trying to hurt each other remember,” Nya commented as things started to turn bad.
“I do not know who you are speaking of there is no Zane I am the Ice Emperor,” Zane declared and Kai commented having to focus on melting the icy monsters Zane was creating instead of finishing on the stairs and doorway for the tower, “I think Zanes gotten a little carried away.” By his words they were all worried. If Zane was thinking himself the Ice Emperor things were going to go bad. The ninja had seen just a glimpse of what he was like and it scared them. The knights had only heard about it and it had them nervous. They knew even the goodest at heart could turn to the darkest of beings with the right circumstances or motivation.
“I think so, Jay knock him out,” Lloyd ordered and charging up Jay stated, “sorry about this Zane but you’ve gone a little overboard and crazy here.” He hit Zane with a shock. It clearly hurt Zane as he was shocked but strangely instead of being knocked out Zane just absorbed the shock and recovered turning the shock into an icy blast that he sent out from himself knocking them all over. While everyone recovered Zane wasted no time in heading over to Jay. He picked him up and dragged him to the tower to toss him against the stairs then hit him with ice slowly freezing him to it. Jay was terrified and in a panic as Zane froze him to the stairs but he was unable to escape and feeling very cold was struggling to fight for freedom. Before he became fully encased Zane stopped his attack getting distracted as Aaron used his crossbow to wrap a nexo energy rope around Zane to stop him.
“I think you’ve taken chill a little too literal cyber-bro,” Aaron commented as Zane broke free of the rope before directing his attack to Aaron who defended himself with his shield. The others quickly came to help him Lloyd proclaiming, “sorry Zane but you’ve gotten a little out of hand with this. I think we need to knock some sense back into that thick nindroid skull of yours.” Strangely as they engaged him those who were supposed to be Zanes allies stopped their attacks and started to flee. Most of them didn’t notice this as they re-engaged Zane too occupied on him though some like Cole, Clay, Aaron and Jay who was stuck to the stairs as Kai worked on unfreezing him noticed them fleeing. They thought it a bit strange but didn’t think much of it too focussed on combating Zane till Clay got a communication through his communicator from Merlok who was watching in from Robins Mini-trex which he had brought with him to the arena to watch the fight hanging back by the door to not unease any of the locals with their technology.
“You have to stop engaging him, something is wrong,” Merlok stated and confused Clay wondered, “what do you mean?” Merlok explained, “there is something inside him influencing his behaviour some form of dark energy.”
“We need to retreat and rethink something’s wrong with Zane,” Clay told the others to which Kai who had managed to free Jay stated, “yha it’s called he’s gotten carried away with his role.”
“No this is something else,” Clay declared and Lloyd wondered, “what do you mean?”
“Merlok senses something wrong with him,” Clay quickly explained and Nya stated, “yha I think he’s accidently made himself think he’s the Ice Emperor again.” Zane had started to make the area colder and was besting each of them even having managed to freeze a few of them. He had managed to encase already Lance, Jay, Axl and Aaron in ice. Kai was trying to unfreeze them but was being pestered by the icy monsters Zane had created.
“If he has then things are going to get real bad if we can’t fix him soon,” Cole commented before Zane ended up freezing him in ice and Lloyd declared worried, “I think Clays right we should fall back and think some things out before anyone else gets frozen.” Kai quickly questioned as Zane came at him to stop him from freeing anyone, “and how are we going to fall back without him following?”
“I can fix that,” Clay stated using his magic skill to hit Zane in the face with a blast of light to stun him. The light left him temporarily blinded allowing the others to escape the fort interior and hide against the wall outside. In reaction to the blast Zane took off the helmet to rub at his eyes before looking around in confusion over where everyone had gone.
“What do we do? He’s frozen about half of us,” Macy noted and Clay worried, “they are just frozen right and he hasn’t… destroyed them?” Lloyd stated worried and unsure, “I’m pretty sure it’s just frozen. At least I hope it is… he got pretty dark as the Ice Emperor; very dark.”
“Shouldn’t we try to find somewhere better to hide? He could detect us here with some sort of nindroid ability couldn’t he?” Kai worried and Nya explained, “that is possible but as the Ice Emperor he had forgotten he was a nindroid so didn’t use many of his natural abilities because he didn’t realise he had them or had control over them. If he’s thinking he’s the Ice Emperor again he might also be forgetting what he actually is so might not know what he can do.”
“What are we going to do? He’s too powerful and unpredictable when he is like this… how did he even end up like this?” Lloyd commented and Nya hypothesized, “it is possible when getting into this role he might have accidently somehow got some programming mixed up and in a sense glitched himself into think he’s the Ice Emperor.” Clay stated as Merlok contacted him to explain some things, “according to Merlok he senses some dark entity is inside him. It’s altering his brain and controlling some of his behaviours and actions turning him into this monster.”
“So he’s got a parasite that’s glitched him?” Kai stated and Clay agreed, “in a way yha. This thing though is not really a parasite nor a natural entity. Merlok thinks it might be some dark monster doing this to him.” Kai then wondered, “so we get rid of it and he’ll be back to normal?”
“Merlok thinks so,” Clay stated and Nya wondered, “okay then how are we going to do that?”
“Merlok thinks if we can get him trapped in the holding cell he will meet us there and we can try and remove this thing from Zane. He knows a spell that he thinks will work,” Clay explained and Macy wondered, “how are we going to do that? I don’t think he’ll calmly follow us and they aren’t going to open the doors until either us or him win…” Lloyd cut in to add, “and considering how he’s behaving and thinking we don’t want him to win. Trust us we’ve seen what he can become when he’s like this. If he gets out of here and we’re not around to stop him things are going to go real bad for this place.” Lloyd was peaking around the corner through the gate to see what Zane was doing. He looked around confused over where everyone had gone before going over to start to build more fortifying walls around the tower out of dark ice. There was defiantly something wrong with him. Patches of dark ice had built on his skin and his one eye was a void green color with dark markings around it and on that side of his face. By the looks some dark influence was starting to take him over.
“We’re going to have to win then,” Clay declared and Kai wondered starting to panic, “and how are we going to do that? It’s not going to be easy to get passed him. He’ll freeze us if we fight him and I don’t think he’ll be easily distracted.”
“No it won’t be… if only we had Pixal here. Zane would likely get distracted by her, if anything he wouldn’t hurt her and she could get past him and win for us or she could possibly pacify him,” Nya commented and Macy noted, “that’s cute he has someone like him that means so much for him. It’s got to be quite lonely for him being so different it must mean a lot for him to have someone like him to bond with.”
“You know we often forget about that. We just see him and Pix like the rest of us and forget they are so different. I guess it is really nice they have each other,” Lloyd commented and Clay wondered, “even if she isn’t actually here do you think if he just heard her this could distract him maybe even lure him away?”
“Maybe but how would we do that?” Lloyd wondered and Nya hypothesized, “if he’s like he was as the Ice Emperor then we might be able to hack Zane and copy some audio from his memories of Pix to use to distract him without him even knowing; because of thinking he was human for a while he has a bit of a problem recognising when he’s hacked. If we’re lucky he won’t recognise what we’re doing.”
“Okay we could do that but how are we going to hack him? We don’t have anything to do that with,” Kai commented and Lloyd commented, “we could always use your phone.” Kai was not too pleased with that suggestion.
“A phones not going to have the processing power to do what we have to,” Nya noted and Clay remembered, “Aaron has his tablet.” Nya stated, “that could work.”
“Okay but how are we going to get the tablet? Aarons frozen and Zane has gone well crazy and will attack us if we go back in there!” Kai commented and thinking quickly Clay came up with a plan. He, Macy and Lloyd would distract Zane and keep him focussed on them while Kai and Nya freed Aaron and got the tablet. Once they had it they would get what they need then try to distract Zane and lure him away from the area so they could break the others free; they were going to need them to help restrain Zane till Merlok could get there. Kai was then tasked to put out the fire to end the session while the others lured Zane into the holding cell and restrained him. They put the plan into action. Zane didn’t hesitate to react and engage them while Kai and Nya snuck around to Aaron. They worked as quietly as they could Kai weakening the ice with his fire and Nya using her trident to help break it open. When they got him free Aaron was dazed and cold collapsing into their arms unable to stand on his own. They dragged him off outside the fort and sat him against the wall before hitting him with some warm steam by mixing their powers to warm him up and help him regain some focus. It took a few seconds for them to get through to him because of the dazing left by being frozen but he gave them his tablet. As they had suspected Zane wasn’t fully aware of his being and didn’t hinder their hacking allowing them to get what they needed mainly memories of Pixal talking to him or calling him over. Just to give it a test once they had the audio Nya played an audio of Pixal calling Zanes name. By this time Zane had nearly taken out the other three. Macy and Clay were half frozen having managed to protect themselves with their shields and were fighting the cold as they tried to chip away at the ice on them to free themselves. Lloyd was trying to avoid getting hit but not having much luck. By the time they played the audio Zane had trapped Lloyd cornering him against the ice barrier he had been working on and coated a third of Lloyds body in ice pinning him in place. He was threatening Lloyd wondering where the other two were hiding clearly aware Nya and Kai were hiding from him. It was clear Zane heard the audio by how he paused and momentarily glanced to the source of the sound but it didn’t look to distract him. Nya played the audio a few times again and after a few times Zane became distracted and left Lloyd alone looking confused. He wandered off to investigate the sound seeming to be pacified a bit by it. To help the others Nya lured Zane out of the fort making sure to put herself out of his field of view as he came to investigate the sound. While he was out and distracted Kai snuck into the fort to help free Macy, Clay and Lloyd before they quickly worked to free everyone else. Once they were free Kai and Clay worked on breaking into the tower to get the session ended. Macy and Lloyd kept an eye to make sure Zane wasn’t returning while they helped get the others back on their feet. Meanwhile Nya took Zane in a circle around the fort staying up on the top of the wall to keep out of his view. He luckily seemed to be having trouble figuring where the sound was coming from and wasn’t looking up onto the wall for the source of the sound. She managed to get him nearly a full circle around the fort before he disappeared; he had stopped following her and because he had disappeared while she checked back into the fort to see how everyone was doing she had no clue where he had gone. They had gotten everyone free and Kai was getting into the tower. When she looked back to where Zane had been she couldn’t see him.
“Uh oh this isn’t good,” she commented. She started to look around before getting knocked off the wall to outside the fort from behind. Knowing what had likely happened she wasted no time in grabbing the tablet to play audio as Zane dropped down behind her and charged up his staff to hit her proclaiming, “that was an interesting trick you played neriad but it will not save you or your kin.” The moment the audio played Zane paused the eye that was discoloured flickering back to its normal color a few times. He shook his head and the flickering stopped. Noticing this reaction Nya played the audio again causing the flickering to happen again and Zane stopped charging his weapon to stare confused at the tablet. It had him distracted enough that he didn’t notice he had lost the trial as Kai and Clay put out the fire Tafari declaring their side the winners. She played several audio clips to keep him distracted. Not only was it distracting him but Nya noticed by the flickering to the color in his tainted eye that hearing Pixals voice was having some effect on him possibly allowing him to fight the control of whatever had hold over him. This kept Zane distracted enough that he wasn’t aware till after they had grabbed him of the others approaching them. Cole quickly wrapped his arms around him from behind making sure to pin his arms against his body in the process in order to restrain him using his lava arms to keep Zane from having any chance at breaking his hold while Axl put a hand over his mouth to keep him fairly quiet and from biting. While under the hold of beings of the void Zane tended to become prone to biting. They wasted no time in dragging him back into the holding room for the arena. Once they had him in and they were all in they closed the doors before they let Zane go. The hold the audio had on him was gone and instantly Zane wasted no time in attacking them once freed. The knights used their shields to block his attacks to keep anyone from getting frozen again. It didn’t take long for Merlok to get there joined by Ava, Robin and Misako. Once there he wasted no time in hitting Zane with a powerful spell. The spell flung Zane into the one wall where he landed to sit unconscious at its base.
“Did it work?” Jay wondered as they slowly approached Zane. The frozen patches to his skin disappeared and the armour he had been wearing disappeared as well telling them he had created them through some form of spell. The panel over his heart was open a bit from the spell and after a couple seconds they became startled as some dark shadowy tick looking thing crawled out of his chest and started crawling away from him.
“What is that?!” Jay panicked at seeing the creature which seemed to be attracted to Lloyd and started coming towards him scaring him. Clay suggested someone catch the creature so they could study it but before anyone could try that in a panic Jay hit the creature with a heavy bolt causing it to burst into and disappear with a black puff of smoke. The others looked at Jay a bit annoyed.
“Sorry,” Jay cracked while Zane slowly woke up confused.
“Are you okay buddy?” Lloyd wondered as he and Aaron helped Zane to his feet. Zane was back to himself and having trouble remembering what had occurred. He wasn’t even aware the panel over his heart was open till Aaron closed it for him. Without thinking still freaked out from everything Jay blabbered, “you were going nuts thinking you were the Ice Emperor again and trying to freeze all of us because you were infested by this dark tick thing that was warping your brain.”
“I was what?” Zane wondered and Lloyd inquired, “did someone do something to you?”
“I don’t think so. I was coming to the arena and felt what you would call chills. I was alone when it happened. I remember inspecting what was in the arena then everything became fuzzy and felt like I was not really there,” Zane responded. Merlok suspected, “whatever that bug was it is not of this realm matching these monsters of the void we have witnessed both the Stag and these Ashers use. Either could have been behind this.”
“Why would either do this?” Cole wondered and Lloyd commented, “why else; either to get Zane removed or to torture him. Probably to also cause problems for the rest of us.”
“Well we at least stopped this before any problems arose so we stopped whatever they had planned,” Clay noted and Kai commented, “still it’s not very comforting that any of them would do that.”
“I think for our safety we don’t try anything like this trial again; no more of this separating us,” Lloyd stated before noting Zane was still a little dazed and confused from what happened Cole wondered, “you okay buddy? You look a little rough. Sorry if we were a little rough on you but you weren’t giving us much of a choice. You were all dark and crazy.”
“I am relatively fine just what you call fuzzy… I could have sworn I heard Pixals voice when I was out there,” Zane noted.
“Sorry about that Zane. That was just us. It was the only thing we could think of at the time to distract you from destroying us. We copied some audio from your memories to use,” Nya apologised playing some audio from the tablet. For a moment the sound looked to cheer him up before he realised it was just audio and she wasn’t actually there and his mood lowered. Seeing the sound sadden him Jay comforted, “Sorry about playing with you like that pal, we know you miss her. We didn’t mean to hurt or upset you in any way.”
“That is okay. It was nice to hear her voice even if she is not actually here,” Zane noted and Cole commented, “don’t worry buddy we’ll make sure you get to see her soon enough.”
Notes:
The Short Beasts of the Stag I was inspired to write from the one time I played Elder Scrolls Online. While playing Elder Scrolls Online for the winter holiday event I got the one where you throw balls of mud at people in the town of Skywatch on the summerset isle of Auridon but in going there someone who was a were-wolf was going on a crazy murder spree trying to see how high a bounty they could get by killing all killable and non essential npcs. You just came to the town and dead bodies were everywhere. It had me thinking of were-wolves and sparked the idea of a little short dealing with were-wolves. This short flushes out more on part of the Stags life history as the demon spirit Storabek.
In the short Beasts of the Stag an interesting fact that makes Kais wondering of who Jestro is kind of funny is that the voice actor for Kai is the same person who voiced Jestro.
For the short Beasts of the Stag I imagined Koda and Aela would successfully help the hyenoid track down and hunt the Kirin. It would take a while and over that time the three come to be good friends and the hyenoid starts to learn some control over the beast form. When he goes to ask Storabek, who does recognise the droid but isn’t mad at him instead more of surprised to find he is still alive and managed to fell the Kirin, instead of asking for a cure he asks that he and Koda and Aela can be a family. The Stag as Storabek is intrigued and surprised by the request. To their surprise he agrees. The three had wondered about this request but didn’t think it was possible. To make them all siblings and to be fare to all of them he makes them like the fabricants half organic and half machine. With their new states and now a family they stick together and help keep those on the wastes side safe. They are also able to call Holamaya their home whenever they want, the constructs and beasts accept them. They still have their curse but they see it as a blessing as it gave them family and a place to call home.
The merchant in Droid Rescue is inspired by Belethor, the one merchant in Whiterun in the game Skyrim. I always found him annoying so enjoy stealing from his shop when he goes to bed and if I get inflicted with vampirism (which is not often as I'm not one for vampires and prefer the skills of were-wolves) I use him to feed on while he sleeps.
A few of the stories help explain or fill in for things going on in the story. Clan of Fangs helps explain why when they reach the Forbidden City Zane leaves the others to go see Juib. He feels Juib is the only one who can help him with the Blight he has recently found out he has been cursed by. Forest of the Stag fills in why when they encounter the Stag during the chapter Ambush Cole, Nya and Zane are not as terrified of the Stag as you would expect, are willing to co-operate with him and are not left as traumatized by the experience as you would expect.
The short Droid Sitting I came up with after doing some additions to the short Anatomy of a droid I came up with.
If have any questions go ahead and ask I do not bite. I will try to answer them, I will however not give away spoilers.
Chapter 36: Part 1 Bonus Short Stories continued
Summary:
Due to posting issues either from my computer or internet not letting me post it in part 1's shorts I had to split it into two parts; this is part 2.
Part 1 of the story is complete before we start part 2 here's some bonus short stories that offer a different point of view and flush out side characters or concepts of the story.
Notes:
Parts of this section are subject to change as the prequel story is written to improve story continuity.
Trials of a knight- The knights take the Tribunals Trials.
Troubles for Knighton- those the knights left behind learn about what is going on.
Droid Rescue- Zane can't stand how those like him are being treated in this place so when he finds a not very pleasant merchant is selling one he keeps locked in a dog cage he decides to rescue it on his own.
A Days Work- the ninja and knights have an interesting day.
Dark Storm- The Ashers have unleashed a storm of dark magic on a small town and the knights and ninja need to shut it down before it ravages the area.
Forest of the Stag- An attempt to take a day to relax has the knights and Ninja run into an entity of the Stags make.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Trials of a Knight Takes place prior to the chapter Melodic Mine. This is some of what the knights went through for their trials for the tribunal.
“Anyone else have some seriously wacked out and far unpleasant dreams last night?” Aaron inquired as the knights roamed around outside the city looking for ingredients for Mystaras part of the trial.
“You had them too?” Axl noted and Macy stated, “yha according to Chodala that sometimes happens after Sheoths trial so we shouldn’t be too worried about it despite how unnerving it could be.”
“That whip-orella has nothing on this Sheoth when it comes to striking fear,” Aaron commented and Clay stated, “hopefully the next trials aren’t so unnerving.” While they were not receiving as much hatred from the towns people as the ninja the knights had noted they were not well liked either and some of them worried this hatred could cause trouble for them on their mission. Feeling he could trust him Clay had talked to Hassiri about it. Hassiri had both offered and strongly warned against a set of trials they could perform to improve the towns relation to them. After some deliberating they had all agreed to partaking in the trials. They had not expected much from it and thought it would be easy; after facing their fears and so called inner madness in Sheoths trial the day before they had a feeling they might have gotten themselves into something more complicated than what they had been ready for. The knights had gotten quite roughed up, disturbed and shaken by Sheoths trial facing a strange twisted version of themselves that wielded their own fears, doubts and worries against them. It could even morph itself into forms of others who would have an impact on their mental states or morph their form into corrupted versions of themselves to mess with their minds and it could affect their environment to terrorize them. It had attacked Clays fears of failing as a knight, his fear of snakes and it revealed to him a fear he hadn’t realised was there of succumbing to darkness and bringing harm to others. It plagued Macy with her fears of being seen as nothing but a princess and brought to the surface her fears of the damage these monsters could do to her home and family. Nearly fearless Aaron was forced to face his fears of nothing as in having nothing to do and the related fear of the unknown. It had also surfaced a fear he hadn’t realised he had that he could end up going crazy losing his mind possibly by succumbing to the effects of this realm or his fearless actions causing him to catch some curse from these lands making him dangerous to others which could also lead him to be turned into a monster. Axls fears to hunger and fear of being eaten by a monster which he had received from their fight with the stone colossus were joined by a fear of not being strong enough to protect and save others especially his friends. Along with his fear of not being recognized or popular, being seen as a nobody, Lance found this thing showed him a fear he didn’t realise he had of failing at being a team mate and letting the others fall to harm. The ordeal had shaken all of them up even largely fearless Aaron had been terribly shaken by the trial; as a testimony to how shaken it had made him after getting out of the room incredibly pale Aaron did as he usually did when super scared and passed out. Even though the first trial had shaken them leaving them with quite a few nicks and bruises and leaving some of them notably Lance questioning if they should continue they were going to continue not willing to give up and feeling this could prove their intent to aid the people of this realm. The knights were on the second trial. They had already collected a few items and were looking for a cave to find some of the bone spiders. They were following a dirt road through a semi open woodland that a local farmer had told them lead to a mine. They were hoping to find some of these spiders in the mine. While they had dressed like civilians to try and avoid unwanted attention and appear friendlier to the locals while they wandered they had brought along their shields and weapons not wanting to be left unarmed in this strange place. Even though they were not partaking in the trial Robin and Ava came along for support and brought along Merlok on Robins mini-trex for aid. They also didn’t wish to leave him alone in the town. They had seen how the townspeople had some strange fears towards technology and how badly they treated Zane, a being made of technology, so didn’t want to risk anyone finding Merlok worried what they might do to him. The Mini-trex was also proving useful for carrying the items they collected.
“You know I’m pretty sure I’ve seen the stuff we need for this potion for purchase in town so why do we have to wander around out here?” Lance expressed displeased with the smell and coolness of the air. While there was a warm breeze to the air it was still chilly and while overcast the clouds were light and not too dense preventing it from getting too dark. Some of the glowing fungi native to the region that grew here and there also helped light things up. There luckily didn’t seem to be much wind keeping the ash from blowing and no ash was falling from the sky.
“The rules say we have to collect them ourselves and we are going to follow the rules not cut corners. I will have to agree though that it seems odd you have to wander out into dangerous territory when things are available in the safety of town,” Clay noted.
“That is a bit odd,” Macy agreed and Aaron speculated, “maybe it’s to get you out and see the landscape?”
“Maybe, at least we don’t have to collect the venom from those Venom-fang creatures,” Axl said and Macy added, “thank goodness Hassiri has a friend that can get us that stuff. I’d hate to have to milk one of those things for its venom.” As they approached where the mine was they noted one folk, an ungulate folk with what they guessed was a painted on marking of a skull on his face and in worn leather armour, leaning with their arms crossed against a crude lamppost that sat at the intersection of the road and the path that led off it to the mine through a wooded area. They guessed he was a guard even though he looked a little unpleasant to be a part of any law enforcement. He looked more like a ruffian than an officer.
“Where do you fetchers think you’re going?” the folk inquired as they approached.
“We were just going to take a look into the mine to see if we can find some bone spiders,” Clay stated and Macy added noting that might seem a strange request, “it’s for a task we’re working on.”
“Oh really, well the mine is not seeing visitors at this time,” the folk stated and Clay offered, “we won’t take long. If we could just speak with someone in charge maybe we could come to some sort of arrangement?”
“hmm… I guess I could see if the supervisor has time to chat. Wait here while I go talk to him,” the folk stated a hint of a growl to his last few words. He then turned round and headed down the path to the mine. They obeyed and stood waiting for the folk to return.
“Anyone else getting a strange feeling that something’s not right?” Axl wondered after a few minutes of waiting.
“Kind of; my minds felt weirdly foggy the past hour though so it’s a little hard to tell if something is wrong or if I’m just feeling things. I think the fogginess is from a real bad sleep last night,” Aaron noted and Lance added, “don’t know but after this I’m taking a shower with that special soap. I think this ash is starting to give me a rash, I’ve been feeling itchy all day.”
“There does seem to be a strange and unpleasant energy here. I would have to pin it as a dark magic yet I do not see anything that could be giving off the energy unless it is something in the mine itself,” Merlok stated from the Mini-trex.
“Why would miners be using dark magic?” Robin wondered and Clay suggested feeling uneasy though unsure why, “maybe we shouldn’t wait for that folk to return. Maybe we should scout out this mine instead and see what is going on.” The others were in agreement. All were getting an uneasy feeling. They hid themselves in the woods and shortly after the folk returned with several others who were all well armed looking ready for a fight.
“I left those fetchers here; look around they couldn’t have gotten far,” the folk declared as they began to look around.
“Yha I don’t think they’re going to invite us in for a little chat,” Aaron quietly commented before they headed off. They snuck through the woods following the road but making sure they couldn’t be easily seen. When they reached the mine they remained hidden to observe the situation and quickly got the feeling these weren’t the miners they could see working here. The folk were all dressed with crude and worn leather and steel armours. There were a few folks in commoners gear who had strange bracers on their wrists which were working the mine and moving supplies. If these commoners paused in their work they were whipped at by the armoured folks. They guessed those were the actual miners.
“Looks like some bandits have overtaken the mine,” Axl stated as they looked at the scene.
“What should we do?” Macy wondered and Lance offered, “we could move on and let the town guard know of the situation.”
“Or we could deal with them ourselves,” Clay offered looking over what they had to work with. There were a few buildings most of which were likely the lodgings for the workers, a possible storage structure and a few old stone watchtowers around the edges to the clearing for the mine. Everyone appeared to be outside and only a few were on the watchtowers. Most were making sure the workers were working. The amount of these bandits looked awfully small to have taken over the mine.
“Really we have no armour and we’re supposed to be collecting strange plants,” Lance countered and Macy noted, “these are just thugs not monsters it shouldn’t take much to take them out. Besides we still have our weapons and shields.”
“That’s good enough for me. Also they didn’t say we couldn’t get into a fight if we have to,” Aaron agreed and Clay added, “besides it would be going against the knights code for us to do nothing.” After a moment’s thought they all came to an agreement and prepped for an attack.
“Hey you thugs why don’t you work the mines yourself,” Clay called out as he, Macy, Axl, Aaron and Lance came out of hiding to confront the bandits. Upon hearing those words the bandits stopped what they were doing and turned to look at them. The bandits wasted no time in attacking them while the workers hung back and cowered. Just as they suspected the bandits were no match for them and they quickly took them out. They didn’t even need any Nexo Powers or special moves to take them out. It seemed too easy a fight. Once the bandits were beaten Aaron, Axl and Lance tied up the bandits so law enforcers could come and take them away while Clay, Macy, Ava and Robin used some keys they found to remove the bracers from the people.
“They shouldn’t be bothering you anymore,” Clay declared and Macy added as they freed people, “you should maybe think of getting some guards for this place.”
“We did have guards,” one of the folk declared and Lance pointed out coming over to the others, “they must have been some pretty terrible guards if bandits got the better of them.”
“You have to get out of here while you still can,” one of the miners fretted as the knights congregated together near the miners. For a reason they could not understand the miners still seemed terrified despite the bandits being taken care of and getting freed.
“We’ll be on our way soon we’ll clear out any bandits still in the mine then we just have to get some spiders for a task we’re working on then we’ll be on our way,” Macy explained while Ava noted looking over the mining camp, “for a mine there is an awfully large number of bones here.” They hadn’t really taken note of it before but there did seem to be a great deal of bones lying about and tucked away next to buildings or partially hidden by barrels, crates, baskets and sacks.
“That is odd,” Clay stated and Lance offered, “maybe this mine has a tomb hidden inside and they had to move the bones out here for some dashing movie inspiring archaeologist to study.”
“I wish it was that, I’d even wish for a cursed tomb but it’s worse than that,” the one miner moaned and Aaron wondered, “what would be worse for miners than finding a cursed tomb?” As the knights talked the bones began to move!
“What’s going on?!” Robin worried as they noted the bones moving as they came together to form skeletons and a few of the Shambles creatures. The knights stood on guard prepping for an attack as the skeletons took shape.
“I don’t know but this stinks of necromancy and I don’t like it,” Clay declared before a voice declared, “well, well, well what do we have here. You’re not the false dragons but my friends in the Ashers would love to see you taken out too.” Looking to where the voice came from they saw an un-dead looking cat folk coming out of the mine dressed in black with a sickly rot brown green iridescent to it robes. By the looks they were guessing this was a necromancer.
“I see those worthless mercenaries I hired were no match for you. Let’s then see how you do against my armies of the un-dead,” the necromancer proclaimed sending its minions after them as it summoned zombie like beings of both human, serpentine and bestial origins. The knights were quick to take up the defensive while Ava, Robin and Merlok on the Mini-trex took the miners into the storage building for safety. While the skeletons were easy to take out collapsing with only a few hits they became a nuisance as the necromancer kept rising them making the task of destroying the Zombie like beings and shambles tougher than it should have been. To aid them in battle they tried to call up a Nexo Power but no matter how hard Ava and Merlok tried they couldn’t get the powers to work.
“What’s going on… it’s like something’s blocking the signal,” Ava noted trying to work out the problem on her tablet while Robin helped keep back the un-dead with some of the miners using tools like shovels, pickaxes and hammers to beat them back.
“Keep trying to work it out and we’ll keep going the best we can with what we’ve got,” Macy stated as they fought the un-dead. With their Nexo Powers not working they decided to try out the Spinjitsu they had been learning from the ninja. This was going to be their first try of the skill in actual combat. Clay and Macy had no problem successfully performing the move and found it very useful to clear away some of the crowd of un-dead around them. While he performed it successfully Aaron got a bit dizzy using Spinjitsu but it worked quite well for him and he didn’t mind the mild dizziness. Axl ended up taking a piece out of one of the watchtowers when he accidently hit it while performing the move but it worked out as the broken pieces landed atop a few of the zombie beings taking them out. Lance lost a bit of control when he performed Spinjitsu and smacked into two of the skeletons knocking both them and himself into some crates obliterating the skeletons. While they fought the un-dead back Ava and Merlok continued trying to figure out what was blocking the Nexo powers.
“Let me try something,” Clay stated using his magic powers to blast away some of the un-dead. He was able to use the powers with no problems further confusing everyone.
“How come the powers work out there and not in here?” Ava wondered from their place in the storage shack and one of the miners proposed, “maybe it’s this stuff.” The folk pulled out a shard of a strange metallic stone material from one of the crates the bandits had been making them move.
“What is that stuff?” Robin wondered and another miner replied, “Cursed stone. It’s why the necromancer came here. We knew the stuff was here but had no care for it. We’re here for the Blood-iron and obsidian not that stuff. The necromancer and its friends the Ashers want that stuff.”
“Why do they want this cursed stone?” Merlok inquired and Robin remembered, “Isn’t that the stuff that blocks the ninja’s powers?”
“It can also block good magics like our Nexo powers and enhance dark magics like necromancy. That’s why the Nexo downloads aren’t working. We need to get away from that stuff,” Ava noted. Now with the problem figured out they knew what to do. Robin and Ava worked on getting Merlok some distance from the shed away from this cursed stone while the others continued to fight.
“So we got a magician here let’s see then how you do with this,” the necromancer declared after seeing Clay use magic. It muttered an incantation summoning a strange and large, nearly nine foot tall, harpy like being. It had an un-dead appearance with the skull of a raven for a head icy violet glowing orbs in its eye sockets, sickly looking grey skin covering most of its body, its fingers and lower foot of its birdlike hind legs were bony and ragged black feathers coating its neck and sparse patches on the rest of its body. It wore a black hooded tattered robe decorated with shiny metal bits and bobs, the skulls of small animals and its own feathers. It had large rough ragged feathered crow wings coming out of its back and wielded a hand scythe. They had seen this creature in the guide book; a Noctern Crow a monster from the void. The creature roared at them before launching an attack the necromancer giving off a dark laugh as the creature with little effort bested the Knights. It swiped its scythe and hit Macy and Lance knocking them into some barrels, it picked up Clay and tossed him into the wall of one of the watchtowers where he bounced off it and landed on the ground below winded before Axl landed on him getting the same treatment by the creature. Aaron thought he could out move the creature on his hover shield but the creature was quick to outthink him and tackled him off his shield smashing both through one of the lodges’ roofs to crash into the lodges floor. As the creature got off Aaron and prepared to take off Aaron noted while winded and a bit dazed the Noctern Crow paused for a few seconds seeming to be stumped by a large floor mirror in the room. It tilted its head as it looked at its reflection. It looked to be confused by this reflection. It gave the reflection a few pecks and once seeing it couldn’t get to this other Noctern Crow it appeared to get mad at its reflection. It yelled at the mirror and launched an attack at it smashing the reflective surface into pieces. Once the mirror was destroyed it got back up and flew to perch on the peak of the lodges’ roof giving off a deep gruff unnerving laugh like cawing in display.
“We’re defiantly going to need a Nexo Power for this thing,” Clay declared as they all got up to continue the fight. Now with the Noctern Crow at its side the necromancer didn’t seem to care much about its other un-dead minions and didn’t re raise many of them when the knights took them out.
“We’re working on it,” Ava stated as she, Merlok and Robin took shelter by the one lodge while the others continued the fight.
“Uh, uh, uh let’s not have the little ones help out shall we,” the Necromancer proclaimed sending some of the skeletons and zombies at Ava, Robin and Merlok forcing them to defend themselves with whatever they could find. Clay wasted no time in coming over to aid them so Ava and Merlok could focus on getting them a power while the others continued to fight the Noctern Crow. Now that they were away from the Cursed stone they were able to get a Nexo Power. With their power they were able to take out the remaining skeletons, shambles and zombies with little effort. It did give them a boost in combating the Noctern Crow but the creature was much tougher and it seemed to understand their intent and was making it very difficult for them to hit it. It was keeping to the air swooping down at them for its attacks. Not even Aaron could hit it as it brought out a ward anytime he tried to shoot it blocking all his attacks.
“Can this thing sit still!” Macy growled as the Noctern Crow thwarted their attacks yet again. While they were occupied on the Noctern Crow the necromancer collected as many crates of the cursed stone it could onto a cart which it summoned two zombie Kaguars to pull. Clay was quick to take note of the necromancers’ attempts to escape and rushed over to stop it. The necromancer pulled out a staff and entered combat with Clay using its weapon and a variety of spells.
A living Kaguar:
“It would sure be cool to have elemental powers, I’m betting it would make this so much easier,” Lance complained and Macy stated, “it would be cool but we don’t. We have to work with what we’ve got.”
“I got an idea keep it busy,” Aaron declared noting Clay fighting the necromancer. He rushed back into the lodge coming back out shortly with a large broken piece of a mirror. Getting on his hover shield he positioned himself between the Noctern Crow and the necromancer.
“Hey big birdy look what I got, the mystery shiny that steals your looks,” Aaron called out to the creature. It looked back at him and hesitated looking at the mirror piece as Aaron fidgeted with it hoping to catch the creatures reflection in a way it could see it. When the creature roared at him he knew he had caught its attention and didn’t hesitate to rush over to the necromancer the creature giving chase.
“Clay look out,” Macy called alerting Clay to the approaching Noctern Crow. He dove out of the way as Aaron rushed past tossing the piece of mirror at the necromancer who caught it and looked at it confused to mutter, “what is this for?” Before it could react the Noctern Crow ploughed rate into it knocking both into and smashing through the cart. The impact knocked the necromancer unconscious while the Noctern Crow lay dazed atop it. Before it could get up Aaron hit the Noctern Crow with a few bolts from his crossbow banishing it back to wherever it had been summoned from. With the miners aid they tied up the necromancer with the mercenaries and contacted the guard to come get them as soon as possible. They hung around till the guards arrived to take the criminals away seeing to that the mine was safe and free of necromancers and mercenaries and that the ones they had captured were unable to escape. The miners were thankful for their help. Once the guards arrived they collected the spiders and headed on their way to complete the trial.
For the final part of the trial the knights had to make a potion to destroy un-dead beings. They spent the afternoon doing this even though Lance was not happy with having to make it himself. He wanted to have a shower to get rid of the smell of ash they had picked up from wandering outside. Axl, Clay and Macy made the potion well and so did Aaron even though he had been tempted to mess around with it to make one that would cause the Shambles they were testing them on to explode when he hit it. Lances was okay but it only killed half the Shambles knocking its top part off and leaving the legs and hips to walk around aimlessly. Even though he had failed at the potion Lance still managed to pass with the rest of them. After the trial it was explained to them that the potion part was not that important. The important part had been the adventuring where you were to aid those that needed it. This fact had both surprised and confused them. Had the confrontation they faced been set up? It had felt too real to be fake. How would they know they would encounter those needing aid? When they voiced their confusions to the ones overseeing the trials they were simply told that the universe works in mysterious ways and little else.
After they had completed Mystaras trial the knights met the ninja in the scholars’ center’s main room for dinner. The ninja had been in training with Tafari all day and gotten roughed up from their training. They were all sitting around the large table in the center of the room. It was just them there with the people who lived and worked there spending time elsewhere in the city. Nya and Macy were sitting across from each other at the one end of the table where they were going over which moves were best to take out a winged enemy. Jay sat next to Nya with Kai next to him and Lance who was in a robe and his hair in a towel as he had just got out of the shower sat across from them. Kai was inquiring to Lance if the special soap Hassiri had told them about to get rid of some of the effects and the smell of the ash actually worked. He was planning on using it later and wanted to know if it was worth using it. Lance believed it worked. At the one end of the table Merlok on the Mini-trex was parked where the Robo-bill Mzark took great interest in inspecting him with his organic counterpart Ghidorah. Clay sat next to Lance with Lloyd across from him next to Kai. Zane sat across from Aaron who was helping him perfect the disguised persona the ninja had come up with for Zane to use with his commoners clothes and cloaking ability to help hide him from the highly judging people of the town. Robin sat next to Zane wedged between him and Lloyd eager to observe and learn more about him which was making Zane who was trying to ignore Robin who was making him uncomfortable. Ava sat between Clay and Aaron and though she was equally curious in Zane as Robin she was being more reserved in her curiosity so she didn’t make Zane uncomfortable. Cole sat next to Zane at the end of the table with Axl across from him. The two were having an arm wrestling competition trying to see who was stronger. To keep them focussed and efficient Lloyd was keeping the ninja on a schedule which their mentor Wu had them on. This included chores including who made dinner. It was Cole and Jays night to make dinner. Clay was impressed that the ninja kept to a schedule and even though they had a tendency to goof off quite a bit could take their responsibilities seriously. What the two made looked pretty decent even though it was made from materials found in these cursed wastes including meat from Kaguars and a strange breed of poultry farmed in the wastes, some of the strange fungi and some of the weird fruits and veg farmed in the area. The two had not been to keen on working with the stuff but it was all they could find in this place.
One of the various poultry native to and farmed in the region:
“If anyone gets sick its Coles fault,” Jay had been quick to blurt out when they put things out making them all a little hesitant to try things.
“Hey I was trying to do my best,” Cole defended himself and Macy stated, “I’m pretty sure it will be fine.”
“Though if it can make even Zane sick then you know it’s bad,” Kai debated to which Cole defended, “like some of your cooking? I’ve been trying to get better besides half the blame should go to Jay. He was afraid to touch half the stuff in the kitchen.”
“They had a cabinet filled with live bugs, bugs! Not for decoration or study either but for eating! Not to mention who wants something grown in the ashy soil of a cursed volcano?” Jay exclaimed and Aaron noted, “well I guess they have adventurist tastes here.”
“We’ll be fine,” Clay stated trying to stop the bickering. Most of them started eating though Jay was a little hesitant throwing a few scraps on the floor for the Tree-bill Ghidorah who was hanging with his pal Mzark under the table looking for scraps to see if anything happened to the creature before starting when the creature appeared to be fine. While they were eating they continued talking with each other.
“What were you guys doing all day? We didn’t see you for any of the training,” Lloyd who sat across from Clay wondered.
“Oh, Hassiri wanted us to help him with something… hey this Astara lady what is she supposed to be exactly?” Clay inquired. The knights were hesitant to let the ninja know of the trials wary of what they might do with these trials. Given some of their attitudes they were sure it might not be a wise idea for the ninja to partake in the trials. The ninja were not the most level headed people and even though the knights knew they weren’t entirely level headed either with their powers the ninja were more dangerous if something went wrong. They had no doubts the ninja would do good with Mystaras trial but it would probably be Sheoth and Astara who was also known as Whetu trials that would be the problem. They had a feeling Jay would snap from Sheoths trial, the same trial might enrage Kai and Nya along with having a bad effect on Lloyd and Cole and they had a fear the Stag might take Astaras trial which involved spending a night alone in the woods to capture Zane causing problems for their quest. Since they had the trial for this Whetu the next day and Lloyds mother was an archaeologist so likely knew something about the mythology surrounding this being who was known through each of the realms as the same kind of entity despite having slightly different names Clay wanted to know more about this entity thinking it could help them better understand what to expect. They had already been surprised by Sheoths and Mystaras trials so he wanted to be better prepared for this one.
“Not much other than she is said to be a powerful spirit. She has associations with the sky and is said to be a guardian spirit of sorts. My mother could tell you more,” Lloyd stated sounding a bit preoccupied looking at an empty plate setting he had next to him that Clay guessed was meant for his mother but she was not there.
“Where is she?” Clay inquired and Lloyd replied, “she’s not joining us. She wanted to stay at the library here looking up more on this Forbidden City and the realms mythology.”
“Is something wrong?” Clay wondered noting Lloyd appeared to be and sounded upset. After a moment’s pause Lloyd responded, “I don’t like it when she goes off on her own here. It’s clear the people don’t really like us. So far no one’s tried to directly hurt us; I think a fear of our powers is keeping us safe but my mother…”
“You’re worried about her aren’t you,” Macy noted and Lloyd regaled, “there’s nothing to stop someone from hurting her when we’re not around. It’s hard to trust the people here with the way they react to us.”
“Why don’t you tell her about your worries maybe suggest she doesn’t go anywhere without someone to protect her; if it can’t be one of you guys I’m pretty sure Hassiri would be willing to offer his aid. We could even help you out if you want,” Clay suggested and Lloyd noted, “but she’s my mother; it would be wrong for me to tell her what to do.”
“It would be for her safety though,” Macy noted and Lloyd admitted, “I know but still it would feel wrong to do so.”
“One of us could talk to her for you if you want,” Nya offered and Clay opted, “if you want I could talk to her for you.”
“You could do that for me, that’d be great…” Lloyd began before they noted Robin whose talking was starting to get louder as he got more passionate in his questioning of Zane.
“Can you eat whatever you want and it doesn’t hurt you or do something’s mess with your systems? Does that Scimitar oil work? What does it do for you? Does it taste the way it smells? Does it work better than normal oil for you? How do you use oils and keep your clothes from getting stained?” Robin was questioning Zane who was getting more and more uncomfortable with the kids questioning and trying to figure out some way to politely tell him he didn’t wish to answer the kids questions at that time.
“Do you think you could also have a word with Robin; he’s been making Zane uncomfortable. Zane already has enough problems from the people here and from this Stag being he doesn’t need more things making him feel worse,” Lloyd proposed and Clay agreed, “yha I’ll have a word with him. He’s just very fascinated by your friend.”
“That reminds me Hassiri has us doing some… survival practice; tomorrow night in the woods outside town. We’ll be gone all night. Do you think you could take care of Robin and Ava and keep Merlok safe till we’re back. We’re not getting the same hatred as you but the towns people don’t like us much either so we can’t trust them. Luckily it doesn’t appear anyone’s discovered Merlok yet but it’s only a matter of time before they do and we don’t know what they’ll do,” Macy inquired.
“Sure we can do that,” Lloyd agreed and Kai wondered, “do you think Hassiri will make us do the same survival practice as you cause if he does I’m pretty sure Jay will go into a panic attack.”
“Possibly, you’ll just have to see,” Clay responded him and Macy looking warily at each other.
The knights had set out early in the day for Astaras trial choosing to stay not too far from each other in the woods north of town not far from a sizable lake. Even though some of them were not too pleased with the rules, largely Lance, Clay made sure everyone was following the rules before they left. They couldn’t bring any technology not even their shields nor could they bring any weapons. They couldn’t even wear their armour as it went against the defenceless state they were supposed to be in so had to go in civilian clothes. They had chosen the areas they were going to try and make for before leaving deciding they should stick close to each other in case something happened out there. They had their sites set up by sundown and were enjoying their evening. Clay had chosen a site in the woods that was closely packed with trees to give him some defence, Aaron had chosen a spot by what looked to have once been a scimitar folk outpost but was now a small ruin by the lake, Macy had chosen a location not far from the lake by the ruins of an old farmstead that had become overgrown, Axl had chosen a site at the base of a cliff while Lance who was entirely against this rugged activity chose a high spot under some cedars and redwoods where there was not too much undergrowth hoping it would keep him clean and keep the bugs away.
“Okay knights with the sun now set this will be our last communication for the night. Only if it is a dire emergency can we contact each other,” Clay expressed to the others through the communicators they had brought with them in case they ran into trouble.
“Loud and clear,” Macy stated and Aaron agreed, “Gotcha Clay man.”
“Alright,” Axl confirmed and Lance added, “I guess.” With their last confirmation Clay put another log on his campfire before going to check on some early alert traps he had set up in the brush around his site using some string with a few cans and bones. He had the traps strung between some of the trees around his site. For a reason he couldn’t understand ever since entering the woods he got an unnerving feeling that something dark was in these woods but he couldn’t pinpoint what it was. The feeling had gotten even worse as the sunlight had disappeared and he almost felt like he was being watched putting him on edge. Even though they had to be unarmed Clay felt wrong to be defenceless and the unnerving feelings just strengthened this feeling so he had set up early warnings and had put aside a few sticks he could use in place of an actual weapon. Seeing his warning traps were secure he headed back to his site and picked up a stick to practice some fighting moves to try and relax. As he practiced he thought he heard one of his traps go off. He wasted no time heading over to inspect it. There appeared to be nothing there and the trap hadn’t been triggered or broken. There was some footprints coming up to then heading back into the woods in the dirt by the traps but they were clearly animal and not humanoid. He didn’t know enough about the inhabitants of these woods so decided to look up the footprints in the guide book they had been given which he had brought along to see what creature likely made them. By the size of the prints it looked to be a rather large beast. As he turned to head to his tent where the book was located a faint noise somewhere in the woods caught his attention. It sounded like talking. Curious he slowly snuck through the brush following the sound. As he approached the voices he crouched down behind a bush to see a small group of Ashers prepping some weapons for an attack.
“Why are we bothering to do this?” one of them complained.
“Because these foolish knights put themselves in the prime opportunity for us to catch them; none of those false dragons nearby, all alone with no weapons or shields this will be easy. We catch them not only will that be one less threat for us but one of the sorcerers can corrupt them so they will serve us and lead the false dragons straight to us. Then nothing will stand in our way,” another of the Ashers declared worrying Clay. They were in danger! He wanted to succeed in these trials. Like the others he wanted to prove to the people they were there to help them. He also secretly wanted to see if these entities the trial was for would accept them as protectors for their realm. If they were in danger however the trials would not be worth it especially if it caused problems for their mission or caused one of them to get hurt or worse. He prepared to head back to his site to warn the others before seeing a creature rush out of the woods at the Ashers. Curious to what the creature was doing he hesitated on leaving to watch. Clay recognised the creature as a Kaiju a strange clawed member of the hoofed mammal family. It stopped its charge a short distance from the Ashers its head low and swaying back and forth to show off its horns to the Ashers. It was clearly mad at their presence.
“You think you scare us? We’ll turn you into a barbequed Kaiju before you could even reach us,” one of the Ashers boasted before one of its pals was hit by something that froze it solid crumbling it to a frosted pile of Ash. Turning to see what was attacking them the Ashers looked to see a group of Scimitar Samurai come out of the brush to confront them. The samurai spoke something in what Clay guessed was the Scimitar tongue before stating, “you scum know you are not supposed to be here. These woods belong to our master.”
Kaiju:
“Ah the spawn of that daemon deer; we got here first! These pathetic knights and those lowly false dragons are ours and there’s nothing you can do about it,” one of the Ashers proclaimed and one of the Samurai growled, “we will just have to see about that.” The two groups then started an attack on each other just as Clay felt something grab his ankle and half carried half drag him back through the woods towards his site.
“Whoever you are I will not go quietly!” Clay proclaimed trying to break free before looking at what had caught him only to be surprised to find the Kaiju which he had not noticed head off into the woods once the Samurai had showed up. It was holding onto his one foot with its mouth as it dragged him back to his site. Once back it dropped him by his campfire.
“Well I guess I could thank you for getting me back here but I must be on my way. We are in danger out here and I must warn the others,” Clay declared getting up and trying to contact someone through the communicators. He couldn’t reach anyone, there was nothing but static.
“This isn’t good. The Stags minions must be blocking signals. I’ll have to reach the others on foot then hopefully before any of them get attacked,” he proclaimed lighting a lantern he had and putting out his fire with some dirt. He went to rush off into the woods to get the others but felt something grab the back of his shirt and pull him back making him stumble in the opposite direction. Turning to see what had pulled him confused he saw the Kaiju blocking his way.
“Excuse me but I must be on my way,” he told the creature trying to get around the creature which kept blocking him every time he tried to get around it confusing him. Why was it blocking his way? Was this some sort of game for it or was it doing this for a purpose? If it was on purpose than why? Was it trying to keep him in his site? If so why?
“Look if this is some sort of game I don’t have time for this. I need to reach my friends before one of us gets hurt or worse now please stand aside to let me pass,” he told the creature trying to get past it but it refused to let him pass. Thinking quickly he went to use his magic to temporarily stun the creature with a bright flash of light but he was stumped when he failed in using the power.
“What? Why didn’t that work?” he wondered before the creature knocked him over onto his back. The creatures’ actions stunned and confused him but what it did next was even more confusing. It plopped itself down on top of him pinning him down and preventing him from being able to move. He struggled to get out from under the creature. It was heavy and refused to get off him.
“Okay is this some sort of joke? If so it’s not funny? I don’t have time to play I need to warn the others of the dangers out here,” he commented during his struggles before noting something around the creatures neck. It was hidden by the thick neck fur. He was able to move enough to reach out and get a hold of the object around the creatures neck to look at what it was. It looked like a collar with some sort of rock or mineral pieces studding it. The material looked like Cursed Stone. Why was the creature wearing a collar studded with a material that could block elemental powers and good magic’s? There was no way that was normal. That stood to reason then that this was no normal creature.
“The Cursed stone around your neck blocks magic; who put this on you? Is this some sort of trap!? Who are you working for?” Clay thought aloud as the creature pawed his hand off the collar and pinned him down so he could barely move.
“This isn’t funny! Whoever your working for I won’t let them take me without a fight now let me up!” Clay demanded struggling to get out from under the creature which refused to let him up…
“Take this and that, you won’t get the best of me,” Macy proclaimed practicing some fighting skills on a tree with a stick. After setting up her site she was taking some time for practise before bed. So far everything seemed quite. Since setting up her site she had been getting feelings like she was being watched putting her on edge. She had heard what sounded like something moving through the woods nearby a few times but since she couldn’t see anything and nothing had tried attacking her she guessed it along with the feelings she was getting were possibly from wild animals. She had placed her site somewhat hidden inside the ruins of what looked to have been a farmhouse long ago but was now just a collection of crumbling walls hoping it could help hide her presence in the area. After a bit of practise she began to head back to check on her campfire. It was getting low. She put a few sticks on the fire and adjusted it to keep it going. As she worked with the fire she noticed something next to the one crumbling wall nearby partially hidden by foliage. It was something shiny and highly reflective like metal. Though it could just be an old stove or heater she wanted to make sure it wasn’t something living like a Scimitar Construct. She didn’t recall seeing something there earlier further making her believe it wasn’t just some random item. The only reason she had suddenly noticed it was the light from her fire was reflecting off it. Taking the stick she had been practising with she slowly approached the object and gave it a good whack.
“What is this?” she wondered as she hit it. It was solid not hollow and didn’t move. When she hit it whatever it was made a noise and began to rise. Startled she fell back and watched as a Slothdillo reared up onto two legs its back to her before it turned around to face her its arms spread to the side showing off its large scythe like clawed forearms in display.
Slothdillo:
“Oh I’m sorry I didn’t realise you were a creature. I saw something that looked like metal… like your claws? That’s not normal is it?” Macy mentioned getting up and noting the creatures claws looked to be made of some sort of polished bronzed metal. It roared at her before getting back down on all fours to just look at her. With it on all fours she could see not just the claws but the back armour and the armoured pads on the hands also appeared to be made of metal. She was confused. Why did a wild animal have metal built into its body? Despite her surprise the creature seemed rather relaxed and unfazed by her actions. It looked her over then at her site before it lumbered off towards her fire stopping to look it over.
“Well you don’t seem too bothered by my hit… are you going to hang with me for a while?” she wondered as the creature plopped down by her fire. It lay in a loaf like position like a cat and closed its eyes while keeping its head up. It seemed relaxed enjoying the fires warmth and smell.
“Hmm… you seem oddly tame for a wild animal,” Macy noted as she approached the fire keeping an eye on the creature. She came to stand across from it at the fire. The creature was unbothered by her prescence and eerily relaxed.
“Metal built into your body, very tame… you’re not a wild animal are you?” Macy thought aloud looking over the creature, “maybe your from some sort of wildlife rescue… something looks oddly familiar about that metal though.” She slowly approached the Slothdillo so she didn’t startle it to get a better look at the metal. Along with its polished bronzish color there were distinctive decorative markings on the plates and claw bases. They looked awfully familiar. On a hunch she retrieved the guide book they had been given which she had brought with her. She checked a few of the pages to confirm her thoughts.
“You’re not just some animal… you’re a minion to the Stag!” she gasped the creature opening one eye to peak at her. She dropped the book and picked up the stick she had been playing with to hold it offensivly at the creature.
“Why are you here? You’re a minion to the Stag what are you doing here what do you want from me?” she questioned the creature but it simply closed its eyes and ignored her.
“Not talking eh. Hmm… we’re not droids so what would the Stag want from us? Or is it just me your after? One of you hacked the Fortrex shortly after we got here; what had you been looking for? Were you looking for information? If so then what were you looking for? What if you found out that I am the heir to the kingdom of Knightonia… does that daemon that leads you want me as a puppet? A pawn to claim my fathers kingdom? If that’s the case than let me tell you now I won’t let that happen. I won’t go easily. You’re probably waiting for me to fall asleep so you can take me unaware and drag me to your master well I won’t let that happen! You watch, I’ll stay up all night if I have to so you can’t win and if more of your pals show up I’ll teach them not too mess with a Nexo Knight!” Macy thought aloud challenging the creature who was unbothered by her words continuing to relax by the fire, “I should let the others know of this. Maybe we shouldn’t be alone tonight.” She attempted to contact the others through her communicator but for some reason she couldn’t reach anyone. There was nothing but static putting her on edge.
“I can’t reach anyone… is this the doing of your pals. There’s more of them here aren’t there? You’re not the only one here are you. There’s probably more of your pals hiding around here. They can probably hear me can’t they” she noted before proclaiming aloud, “you hear that you metal monsters I know you’re there and I ain’t going to let you take me without a fight so if you’re going to do something do it now I dare you!” She paused and listened for a few minutes expecting something to come out of the woods at her but to her surprise and worry nothing came. She looked around but couldn’t see or hear anything. It was all quite and calm.
“I’m not going to let my guard down as for you,” she stated looking at the Slothdillo who was completely relaxed and unfazed not caring to listen to her, “I’ve got my eyes on you.”…
“This place looks so rad. I wonder what cool things are in here?” Aaron wondered pushing open the door to the Scymer ruin he was camping by to explore inside it carrying a lantern to help him see in its dim interior. Despite looking abandoned the place was relatively clean and up kept though there were some notable damages. There were some sounds which sounded like machinery working deeper in the ruins and steam passing through pipes on the walls. It sounded like the place was still active despite the ruin appearing abandoned.
“Odd seems like this place is still active but it doesn’t look like anyone is here,” he noted looking around. The door entered into a foyer with a hall that led in and down through the structure. Not much was in the foyer. A few cracks in the ceiling let in some light and debris from outside with some fungi growing on these debris piles. Following the hall Aaron was surprised to note this place was bigger than it appeared outside. The hall had a gradual incline downwards as it curved down to a large room beneath it. Just as he took a step into the rooms entrance Aaron heard a click noise. He started to look around confused at what had made the noise before something slammed into him from behind bowling him towards the center of the room. Confused and a bit stunned he looked back at where he had been standing to see three large metal blades swing down from the ceiling through where he had been standing before pulling back up to rest against the wall above the entrance. In the entrance way there were a few stone tiles on the ground that were sliding back up into place having sunk a few centimetres into the floor and were edged with a bronze metal. Pressure plates, he must have stepped on them without realising they were there.
“Whoa I nearly got sliced up like a loaf of bread! What saved me?” he noted. He could feel whatever had hit him was still sitting on his back. Looking on his back he could see a Skeever with glowing green eyes, a decorative polished bronze like metal plate on its forehead and polished bronze metal claws. It was crouched on his back looking at him. Despite having a bold aggressive reputation the creature was actually rather calm and seemed quite chill as it just looked at him.
Skeever:
“Hello, I guess I’m to thank you for saving me from being sliced up,” he commented to the creature as it hopped off him and he got up, “guess I should be more careful here huh. Seems this place is not as abandoned as it appears.” The Skeever walked over to his lantern which he had dropped to pick it up while he looked around at the room around him. It brought the item back to him.
“Why thank you my little scavenging bro. Are you some ones escaped pet or something? A release from some high tech wildlife rescue or something? It’s not usually normal to see creatures wearing metal… I wonder what this place was and who’s still using it? An owner of yours perhaps?” Aaron wondered looking around while the skeever came to sit beside him. There were tables with random items around the room along with some shelves holding some books, some chests and trunks and some barrels and crates of Scimitar make. At the opposite end of the room from the entrance was another hall which looked to head deeper but it was closed off by some metal barred gates. He went over and investigated the gates trying to push them open but they didn’t budge. He looked around to see if there was a switch, lever or other device to operate the doors but there was nothing on either side of the gate. The gate itself didn’t budge an inch when he pushed on it making him feel it might be immovable possibly permanently sealing off the pass but he couldn’t say for sure.
“Hmm… I wonder where that goes?” he wondered looking through the bars trying to get a glimpse of what was down the hall. It was dark and he couldn’t see too far down the hall. For a few seconds he thought he could see possible figures moving in the dark unnerving him. He hoped it was just the light playing tricks on him but he could not be entirely sure. He took a few steps back from the gate nervously muttering, “maybe it’s a good thing the gate can’t be opened. Don’t want whatever’s down there to make its way out here. That could lead down to this Blackreach place. The place sounds cool but I’d rather explore it when I have my shield and bow. A lot of things said to be down there I don’t think I’d fare too well with if I got into trouble with one and had to combat them with bare hands.” The skeever just listened and followed him around as he looked around the room. He put his lantern on one of the tables and checked out some of the items on it. There was one of the Scimitar desk lamps sitting on the table which he tried to get working but it wouldn’t turn on. Other than the table he stood at he could see not much else in the room. Mainly the table, a metal chair which was tipped over not far from the desk, a few worn and ragged Scimitar rugs, some barrels and crates of Scimitar make and some books and other scholarly items on the table. Other than the books there was not much else of note in the room. Curious he inspected the books. They were all written in this Scimitars tongue so he had no clue what any of them said. Oddly for an abandoned place the books and scrolls showed no signs of decay, the room was also surprisingly clean and up kept. As he looked the books over he noted their paper didn’t seem to be true paper. There was a strange sheen to it and it had slight hints of a metallic smell.
“This is so weird. It looks like paper; it moves like paper, it doesn’t rip though and it smells a bit like metal… is this paper or metal? Maybe some weird paper metal hybrid perhaps or is it something else. I’ve never seen anything like it,” he noted fiddling with one of the books, “I wonder what these things say? I bet my cyber bro Zane could read it.” As he inspected the items on the table he noted a strange one with a metal frame holding a slightly blue tinted glass like material in it. There were holders for ones hands on the sides and what he guessed was the top a strange decorative piece with a circular lens like piece on the top.
“Hmm, I wonder what this is?” he pondered looking it over. He was suddenly surprised as the lens looking piece emitted a light as it seemed to scan his eyes and face for a few seconds surprising him. He tossed it onto the table and jumped back in surprise the device landing on a book. After a minute to recompose himself and his eyes recovered from the devices light he noted in the glass piece words written in a language he could understand. The skeever hopped onto the table and watched as he slowly picked it up and moved it over a few of the books. Anytime he placed the glass over the foreign writing words he could understand appeared on the glass.
“What is this thing? It’s like some sort of translator device… this is so wicked,” he noted checking out the books around him. One caught his attention. It was called “On the Ancestor Scrolls”. He opened it up and checked it out. It was a thesis on theses artefacts’ they had heard of. A lot of it he didn’t fully understand as it got pretty deep and metaphysical much of which just confused him but one thing caught his attention. Several prophecies said to have come from these items were included in the book along with studies into what they could mean. Two of these so called prophecies caught his attention. He read them aloud as he looked over them trying to understand what they could mean. One read: When serpents rise and make the realm quake; When realms of souls fall to slayers of oni and stone giants wake and walk to end the nights; When dragons and knights of masters fail scions of Ash and chaos shall awake; As walls of realms begin to crumble allowing realms to mix and mingle; Realms must turn to knight of powers and dragons of whirlwinds for escape; But all must fall for darkness to awake and the dawns of light to re-awake. The other read: His defeat was merely a delay; after the oni would fall the dragons would fail. When their wings are clipped and they have fallen to shadow the border between realms shall weaken and fall and darkness shall come. Realms once light and familiar shall be covered in shadows, shadows that are in plain view yet hidden consuming the world in darkness. There is only one this darkness fears; one of its own. But to gain this darkness and for the realms to be saved knights must fall to ash and shadow and dragons must enter the tower of first light and fall to its darkness in order for realms to see the light.
He was not sure what these prophecies meant or if there was any truth to them but he didn’t like the sounds of them. Their words sent shivers up his spine and he had a nagging feeling that they and the ninja were somehow involved in these and possibly not in a good way. Despite listing them the book gave very little into the meaning of the prophecies and whoever wrote this book had no clue what they could mean. The skeever didn’t seem to care about the book or what it said just sitting there staring at him as he looked it over.
“I don’t like the sounds of these…” he began to speak before hearing something on the other side of the gate. He looked but couldn’t see anything. He started to get a very unnerving and uneasy feeling that something dark was nearby and watching him. He looked around hesitant to move but couldn’t see anything.
“Do you think places like this could be haunted?” Aaron wondered getting anxious, the skeever looked around with him appearing to be nervous as well. There were a few more noises which sounded like someone was moving around somewhere down in the dark of the gated hall drawing him back to it. He got close to it and positioned his lantern to try and light up as much of the hall as he could. There didn’t seem to be much in the hall. From what he could see it was pretty empty with just a few worn and tattered rugs and tapestries placed in it. At one point he thought he could see the shadowy moving figures again and possibly a faint glow somewhere deep in the tunnels darkness but he wasn’t sure. Were his eyes just playing tricks on him or was there something down there. If so what? He had a feeling he probably didn’t want to find out. He was starting to get the feeling he wasn’t alone in this place and it put him on edge.
“You know it’s getting late and I think I’ve seen enough of this place I should probably retire for the night; grab a snack, light the fire and chill in my tent you know,” Aaron mumbled. He picked up the strange device and the book with the prophecy thinking the others should see it and that Merlok might better understand the texts and could offer some insight for them. He cautiously made his way out of the room making sure to not step on the pressure plates again. He kept taking glimpses back behind him as he left worried something might be following him. As he left the skeever followed him sticking close to him as he made his way back to his site looking to be equally nervous. He didn’t mind the skeever tagging along. From the feelings he was getting and the fact this place might not be entirely abandoned he didn’t want to be alone so felt comforted by the creatures presence…
Ever since getting his site set up Axl had noted something seemed odd. He had thought he had heard something roaming about in the woods but could never find what it was. He sat by his fire playing his lute trying to copy some of the songs he had heard being played in Balmora to pass the time. He was finding it hard to relax getting the uneasy feeling he was being watched and feeling pretty sure something was nearby. Over the past few minutes he had picked up on something odd. Whenever he stopped playing his lute something in the bushes would make a noise. It was quite and not aggressive but strange. It sounded like a bear but there were hints of raccoon to it. Trying to figure out where the noise was coming from to possibly see what was making it he got up and continuing to play searched around the brush near his site. He would pause every few seconds to listen for the sound. He soon pinned it down to some bushes at the edge of the site he had chosen. He paused playing while looking into the bush to see if he could see what had been making the noise. Whatever it was made the noise again and he could see something was in the bush but couldn’t get a clear view of it. He went to move some of the bushes branches to get a better look at this creature. The moment his hand touched the bush he was surprised by something large that jumped from the bush to knock him over and pin him down. It was a large bear like creature, the Bearcoon. It looked him in the eyes growling for a second before relaxing and backing off him letting him get up. The creature sat back across from him just watching him. Axl was unsure what to do. The creature was looking at him like it was expecting something. Thinking it over he picked up his lute and played it a bit. The creature made a move like it was pleased and mimicked clapping of its forepaws.
“You like music huh… sorry if I startled you. I didn’t expect an animal would hang this close to camp,” Axl stated to the creature before noting something strange to the creature. Its claws and part of its lower jaw were made of a polished bronze like metal. Everything else though seemed normal confusing him.
“You have metal built into you. That’s strange, are you one of these half metal creatures, what were they called fabricants right. But then that would mean you’re probably in league with this Stag entity. Why are you here? Are you out on duty for your master or just wandering around?” Axl wondered. The creature just looked at him seeming to be upset that he had stopped playing his instrument. It made some noises to voice its displeasure and to keep it from attacking he continued to play while talking to it. If this thing was one of the Stags minions it didn’t fit the descriptions they had heard of for these entities that they would attack anyone on site and seeked to tear them apart no matter what. It also didn’t have the appearance of one under the influence of the Stag which they had seen before in the ring in Balmora.
“Like music huh… you know you don’t seem too bad,” Axl noted observing the creature, “from what the people say they make you sound like monsters. You seem just like a normal animal even though you have metal built into you.” A noise off in the distance caught their attentions and startled them. It was not the nicest of sounds sounding like something unpleasant possibly unnatural screaming or calling in the distance.
“What do you think that was?” Axl wondered startled as spooked the Bearcoon got up and came to sit against him looking nervously into the woods in the direction of the sound.
“Hmm for a minion to a monster you’re not very monstrous you just seem like a normal animal… a very timid normal animal,” he noted…
“A night without technology how primitive! Why do we have to do this in such a primitive way? Honestly what’s to do out here without technology; get bit by bugs? Good thing I brought this along,” Lance noted pulling out his phone which he had snuck out with himself and fiddling with it to take a few selfies, “dang it no signal out here. How do people live like this?” Seeing he couldn’t access any social media he decided to play a game on his phone. He sat on a log by the campfire he had made to play with his phone. As he played every now and then he heard strange noises coming from the brush around him. Sounded like something moving around in the bushes near him.
“Whatever you are I’ll let you know I’m a Richman and you don’t mess with a Richman,” he called out to whatever was making the noise starting to get unnerved by it but trying to hide his nerves in his voice. With his words whatever was making the noise went quiet. He looked around but couldn’t see anything so went back to playing on his phone. After a short time he got the odd sensation of something watching him putting him on edge. He looked up to where he felt the glare was coming from to be startled by seeing a strange creature, a Parrot-cruncher, sitting rate next to him looking directly at him. He fell off the log he had been sitting on in surprise but the creature was un-phased. It just continued to stare strait at him with its parrot like face giving off a noise that sounded like it was amused.
Parrot-cruncher: 
“Whoa when did you get there? What are you? Wait your one of those parrot reptile creatures aren’t you. What are you doing here?” he fumbled getting up and cleaning himself off the creature just watching him.
“Wow your oddly friendly for a wild animal… mind if I take a few selfies. The others won’t believe this,” he questioned before taking a few selfies with the creature which seemed oddly chill with what he was doing. After he was done he looked at the photos he had took and became aware of something strange. He looked from the images he took to the creature to confirm what he was seeing. The creature had a bronze colored metal plate forming a sort of armoured breast plate built into its chest and the horns and spikes of its head were made from a similar metal.
“Weird why would a wild animal have metal built into it? Maybe you’re not so wild after all…” he noted looking at the images of the creature before his phone was suddenly knocked from his hand by the creatures one paw.
“Hey what was that for?” he wondered going to pick up his phone. Before he could reach it however the creature put itself over the phone and lay atop it.
“Is this some sort of game for you cause I’m not interested in playing now give me my phone back,” he expressed attempting to put his hand under the creature to move it or at least be able to pull his phone out from under it. As his hand touched the creature he felt a strange tingling in it that moved up his arm a bit before his hand and two thirds of his arm went numb and limp.
“What the… oh wait you have some sort of venom don’t you? Where’s that book?” Lance commented nervous and worried about what had happened to his arm taking a few steps back from the creature. Using his non paralyzed arm he pulled the guide book they had been given out of his pack and sat on the log to set it on his lap so he could look through it. He knew these things were poisonous he just wasn’t sure how bad an effect it was. It would not be good for him to be poisoned by a strange creature out here.
“Has the venom on its pelt… touching it will cause paralysis and numbing to contact area… only lasts a few hours thank goodness. It would be rather hard to do knight stuff if I can’t move my one arm,” Lance noted looking at his paralyzed arm before looking back to the creature, “guess I can’t touch you. Maybe if I ask nicely would you let me have my phone back? I’ll let you watch while I’m playing.” The creature didn’t seem to be listening to anything he was saying. It just looked at him seeming to be amused.
“Guess you’re not going to give it back are you? Would I even be able to get it back? Would the venom on you get on the phone? Maybe I could use my blanket to pick it up oh but then I might not be able to use my blanket and its rather chilly out here, probably going to get colder too,” Lance babbled, “if I can’t use my phone what am I to do… read this book like some sort of scholar?” The creature just lay watching him. He sat in silence for a while wondering what to do.
“This is so boring… so do you have a name? You look like a girl, can I say that, and with those almost golden pieces it makes you look very pretty,” he stated to the creature disliking the silence and unable to do much especially since he couldn’t move his one arm. The creature looked pleased by his comment.
“Can I call you Polly you know cause you look like a parrot,” he stated and the creature didn’t seem bothered by his comment. He continued to talk to the creature which seemed to be enjoying his company…
Throughout the night the knights strange visitors continued to hang with them. The Kaiju refused to get up and let Clay up despite his struggling. He continued to try and break free getting nowhere but tired from the ordeal. He was not sure when but eventually his tired struggling led him to fall asleep with the creature still on him. Macy refused to go to sleep with the Slothdillo in her site worried its allies, minions to the Stag, where probably somewhere nearby. She sat at her fire staring it down intending to stay up and on guard all night no matter how tired she got. Without knowing it she eventually fell asleep still sitting up by her fire. The Skeever had followed Aaron back to his site and continued to hang with him. He had a strong suspicion with its metal adornments it was likely an ally to the Stag but for a reason he could not fully understand Aaron felt the creature was just there to hang with him and offered no threats. Why it was with him he couldn’t quite figure out but he was pleased to have its company. Aaron couldn’t exactly pinpoint why but he a bad feeling he wasn’t entirely alone and it was not just from the creepy state of the ruins he got the feeling. It came from the entire woodland around his site. He had a feeling whatever was out there might be out to get him and not in a good way. The Skeever brought him some comfort and made him feel a bit safer. He hung out and played with the creature till he went to bed where the creature followed to curl up like a cat next to him in his tent. Worried something might try and take it from him Aaron held the book and strange device close to himself as he slept. He had a strong and unnerving feeling something was in the ruins near his site and it might want the item and book back but he didn’t want to give it back. He wanted the others to see what he had found from so he kept them close and hopefully safe. The Bearcoon continued to hang with Axl and sat with him at his campfire. He continued to entertain it with some music and found that the creature really enjoyed roasted marshmallows. The two were made nervous a few times through the night as they could hear strange sounds emanating from the woods around them. They didn’t like the options of what could be making the sounds, either droids in service to the Stag or Ashers though given the Bearcoons metal additions linking it as an ally to the Stag he had a feeling it was more likely the Ashers they were hearing. When he went to bed the Bearcoon followed and slept outside the entrance. Lance continued chatting with the creature for some time before deciding to retire for the night. By the time he went to bed he was starting to get some feeling back in his arm and could move it a bit more. The creature remained in his site laying on his phone the whole time to sleep by the dying fire.
In the morning when they awoke they each had a token for Astara in their one hand and their critter pals were gone. Clay was shocked and confused to find himself having been crudely tucked in bed in his tent. He was confused and worried how he had gotten there; he was pretty sure the creature had been the one to tuck him in. He searched his site but found no evidence that anything other than the creature had been there during the night. No footprints and his traps had not been set off. Not liking the possibilities and worried something might have done something to him he quickly packed up his site wanting to get out of there and have Merlok check him over to make sure he hadn’t gotten corrupted by anything. Macy was also shocked and surprised to find herself in bed in her tent. She was worried about what had occurred while she slept but found no evidence anything other than this creature had been in her site. She packed up and left as quickly as she could not wanting to hang around the place for much longer. Aaron was a little upset his creature pal was gone but didn’t let it get to him too much. To his surprise he still had the book and device clutched close to himself in the morning. Curious he tried to enter the Scymer ruin again but found the door was now oddly locked. Axl was also a little upset to find the creature gone but didn’t let it get to him either. When Lance got up the venoms effects had worn off and he quickly went to retrieve his phone. He was surprised to find it had been put back in his pack and was clean. He was confused how it got there and how it had gotten cleaned but he was pleased to still have his photos. They all packed up and headed back as soon as they could.
“Once we get back I think we should all be checked over by Merlok first thing,” Clay declared as they gathered with each other and Macy agreed, “Sounds like a good idea. Something strange was going on last night and I don’t like the possibilities.”
“What about these things Aaron found they seem very creepy,” Axl wondered and Clay stated, “I’m not sure. We’ll let Merlok know about them and see what he thinks. Other than that there is not much else we can do about them.”
“What about the ninja, should we tell them about it?” Aaron wondered and Macy suggested, “I don’t think it would be wise to mention any of it to them…”
“Yha especially that Jay, he gets overly paranoid by the simplest things,” Lance noted and Clay declared, “Even though these so called prophecies could involve them I think you’re right. It might not be a good idea to let them know of this. I don’t think they would take it too well. They’re stressed enough as is and I don’t think any of them would take to well to these.”
“Yha some of them didn’t take to well to that one the people in town mentioned,” Aaron noted and Clay agreed, “indeed; I think I’m with them on this though. If that prophecy holds even a bit of truth to it then it doesn’t bode well for this place and possibly us as well.”
“Yha and these ones don’t sound like they mean well for us either,” Aaron agreed looking at the book he had found feeling unnerved.
Troubles for Knighton
“There still has been no sign of the Nexo Knights sire and these strangers invading the lands who we have determined are calling themselves necromancers are encroaching the capital every day. We are also getting reports of strange monsters and flora springing up everywhere alongside many disappearances,” the royal squirebot Fancypants explained to the king of Knighton and some of the relatives of the Nexo Knights. Along with the King and queen, Macys parents, there was Axls parents and younger sister, Lances parents and younger sister, Aarons parents and two of his brothers along with a few others including some kids including Fletcher Clays younger brother from the academy who had fled to the castle after strange occurrences on the academy grounds had strange flora and fauna starting to appear along with strange beasts and monsters all of which had led to people disappearing on the grounds. Along with them were some squirebots. They had all been brought together after receiving a summons from the king by some of the royal squirebots.
“Oh my this is in no way good,” King Halbert stated to Fancypants who replied, “Indeed sire. We have also heard reports of strange bestial knights leading some of these monsters but nothing yet of the Nexo Knights. It is if they have vanished into thin air.”
“Where could they have gone?” Axls mother inquired and Lances father stated, “I thought you summoned us because they had been found.”
“I didn’t summon you, did you summon them Fancypants,” Halbert inquired to the squirebot who responded confused, “I didn’t, I had been told you did the summons sire.” Before anyone could say anything more they could hear fighting outside the room they had gathered in setting everyone on edge. Shortly after the fighting stopped the doors to the room flung open revealing the hall outside to be filled with a dark fog making everyone take a couple steps back in fear.
“Ah I like the aesthetics, a mix of rustic and high tech not too bad a design,” a strange folk with the head and tail of a hyena cheerily expressed as he calmly strolled out of the fog. Along with his bestial features he boasted claws instead of nails and had a coating of fur on his body. He had short slicked back white hair, small white moustache and beard with one gold eye and one purple eye. He wore strange gold and purple attire and carried a wooden staff. Despite seeming upbeat and friendly they were unnerved by this stranger.
“So what do we have here? Relatives to the knights of Nexo I presume. Seems my girls had no problems getting their job done… where are my loyal lasses anyway?” the folk inquired looking at everyone gathered before two of the royal squirebots walked up to him letting down some sort of illusion to reveal two strange humanoid figures with the same bestial hyena traits as the stranger. The figures were feminine, and wore armour that covered very little of their bodies. One was golden skinned with golden eyes while the other had bluish grey skin and violet eyes.
“The Cryptols would never let you down my lord,” the dark colored individual expressed bowing to the stranger with a voice that had the hint of being un-human to it.
“Ha you Cryptols couldn’t find a tree in a forest it is us of the Aurorals who are to take the praise,” the golden one stated with an equally un-human voice to the dark colored one angering it.
“You Aurorals think you’re so much better than us. You think your golden doves well let me tell you you’re no more than lowly street pigeons,” the dark individual proclaimed angering the golden one. Before the two could continue arguing the stranger intervened stating as he put an arm over each of their shoulders, “ladies you know I love you both equally now why don’t we save this fighting for the battlefields shall we. There’s plenty of fighting to be won back home with plenty of monsters for you girls to stick your fangs into so let’s get this done then you can take your fighting fire out on those necromancers and their foul allies alright?” The two figures agreed before the stranger addressed everyone else.
“Now I’m betting you all have lots of questions. What’s going on? Who are all these strangers? Where are your beloved knights? Do clouds taste like cotton candy? Well that last one I can tell you is no not really, they do taste a bit like tears though,” the stranger declared.
“Who are you and what do you know of our Nexo Knights?” King Halbert demanded and the stranger proclaimed, “Aye I am a friend and I’m here to help. Me names Sheoth lord of madness from the Lost Realm and ruler to the isles of madness. No need to fear about our bestial and strange looks they’re purely cosmetic; at least I think it’s just that anyway we won’t hurt you. I wouldn’t worry about your knights they’re in good hands. They are in my realm helping dragons combat the evil monsters now invading your realm and working to stop all this chaos. Oh did I mention it’s not literal dragons they’re helping… well they can wield the elements like dragons hence the title but they’re not big elemental spitting reptiles who’d try and eat your knights they’re people… well mostly people and I’m pretty sure they won’t try to eat your knights.”
“What is going on?” the queen demanded and Sheoth regaled, “well my royal lass your world along with others you probably didn’t even know of are now becoming one as part of an event known as the Void Breech. Think of it as the realms are fruits and someone is chopping them up and throwing them together in a single pie… great now I could go for some pie. However this pie is then slurried into smelter destroying everything to then be forged as something new… I guess ending of the world is a simpler term for what is going on.”
“Who’s behind all this? It isn’t that jester again is it?” Lances father inquired and Sheoth responded, “no the harlequin like you has found himself a victim to the monster driving all this, Lord Dagon one of the most stuck up destructive narcissistic and cranky Oni you will ever meet.”
“Oni? What’s an Oni?” Aarons one brother who wore Nexo glasses inquired and Sheoth paused looking at them for a second before getting engulf in a dark fog which when it cleared terrified them all with the figure of an oni.
“This me boy is what an Oni is. We are beings of destruction born of the darkness of the void. Many of my kind take our born powers of destruction at heart to destroy and conquer what we see to make it our own. We are monsters so terrifying to you mortals that you deem us demons. Do not worry though despite my appearance not all of us are evil or will cause you harm. I am not on the side of my monstrous brother but on the side of you mortals,” Sheoth proclaimed. With seeing his monster form some of them passed out. Lances mother, Axls father even some of the squirebots short circuited and were knocked off line by fear of his appearance.
“Well not as many as I thought passed out,” Sheoth proclaimed as he returned to his beast folk form and hiding his fear of the figure King Halbert inquired, “what is a monster like you here for then?”
“Well as I said I am on your side and wish to help out. Have no fear your beloved knights haven’t abandoned you. They are working hard in my home realm of the Lost Realm to bring an end to this meld and to stop Dagon. While they do this the monsters they face who serve Dagon who I am pretty aware you already know of but do not know about which I will reveal to you as Ashers and Necromancers wreak havoc for their dark master. Ashers are an ancient evil spawned from the doings of my kind. They can tap into the darkest of energies and use it to do great terrible things while the necromancers are people with an over obsession with bones and rotting remains if you ask me who have sided and work alongside with these entities of darkness. Both seek to stop your knights in their doings. They wish to harm you and use you to hinder and corrupt your knights so they will no longer be a problem. I have come to ensure they will have no worries and take you to safety for them. Do not worry I have it all planned out, you’ll be staying with the son of an old friend of mine. He’s got a lovely old temple in the mountains and he’s got some lovely friends staying with him for a while who can help you adjust to your stay there. Just keep in mind please refrain from animal jokes around them and ask before you pet someone; it’s considered rude otherwise.”
“What are you talking about; I am the king I cannot leave while my kingdom is in peril. The people need their king to help them get through this,” King Halbert declared while the queen stated, “if what you say is true and our knights are occupied elsewhere than we are needed here to help stem the tides of these monsters till they get back.” Many of the others were in agreement.
“I get it I’m a ruler too so trust me when I say fighting back against these monsters at this time will be of no use. It will help your subjects best if you hold off for now. Save your fighting strengths and prowess for when it is needed most. Your knights are working to retrieve an ancient weapon to defeat the source of this evil. Once it is had they and the dragons will need your aids to take the fight back to these monsters to save your realms from this darkness. You will be more important and better serve your kingdoms in this fight than to stay and fight now.” While they felt there was truth to his words they still didn’t feel like abandoning the people. Noting this Sheoth proclaimed, “it may sound cruel but the best thing you can do for your citizens is let them fall to these monsters. While what they will go through will be unpleasant they will be safe till this is all over. Because your realm has not faced monsters like these unlike those in the Lost Realm not many are likely to stand up to them here. By not standing up these monsters will be more lenient to the people and not show them extreme cruelty and do not worry I can make sure they will not feel as if you have abandoned them. I can place a Doppelganger in your steads; spiritual energy of the void given form to take your places. These Doppelgangers will fill in for you doing as you would do to protect your kingdom and serve its people till you can return. Consider them extensions to your being. They will retain a connection to you so you can impart your decisions through them that way it is as if you are still here.” They all thought over his words. While they still didn’t desire to abandon the kingdom if what he said was true it would be best to head his advice and take up his offer. Somehow they felt this stranger was being truthful. After some thought they agreed; they would follow this folk to this place he deemed safe while he placed these Doppelgangers in their place and await for when they would be needed most to fight. With their agreement Sheoth encouraged them to follow him and he would take them to this place of safety. While he took them to his safe location his loyal lasses remained to sniff out any more possible relations to the knights that they could use to protect and aid before they would rejoin their master in his lands.
Droid Rescue Happens around the later chapters of part 1
The ninja had some free time and had decided to take a stroll through the Undercity. They were wearing their civilian clothes to ease tensions with the beast folk and Zane was in disguise to keep his true identity hidden. Despite what was going on in the world the Undercity was relatively calm and most people were going about as if nothing was going on. The only ones who weren’t going about as business as usual were a few crazy people who thought the world was coming to an end and were preaching about it to which most people just ignored them though some of what they would say caused Jay to get anxious and disturbed the people from Ninjago and Knighton who had found themselves lost in this new realm. Many had taken to finding work in the town often filling in for people from Balmora who had gone missing likely having fallen into the Plane Meld and now stranded in Ninjago, Knighton or Dagons melded realm. While the people generally got along some of the people from Ninjago and Knighton were scared or at the least nervous of the beast folks bestial looks. This was especially true for the kids. On their walk the ninja had to help a few kids from both Ninjago and Knighton get the courage to play ball with a group of kids from the Lost realm. They were spooked by the other kids bestial appearances worried the beast folk kids would bite and scratch them. After helping the kids they came across one of the shops which was selling something odd. Zane had been the first to notice it and came over to inspect it. The others followed curious to what he had seen. It was outside what appeared to be a small thrift store on the ground level. Something about the shop seemed unpleasant. It was a bit on the dirtier side and the fact it was sort of tucked back out of sight from the main area didn’t help much either. There was a table out front holding various wares and next to this table sandwiched between it and some cargo crates was a large dog crate with a strange hyenoid in it. The hyenoid sat cross armed in the middle of the cage wearing pale ragged clothes and foot wraps watching as they came up to it. It didn’t resemble those the ninja had seen before and practised with in the ring.
“That is because it is the model used by the Stag,” Zane quietly explained to the others who were curious about its different appearance. The hyenoid was just looking at them with a dark sinister look that unnerved all but Zane.
“What’s a monster like this doing here?” Jay expressed and Zane was quick to state, “they are not monsters…”
“They serve that demon deer and do evil things therefore they’re monsters,” Jay cut in and Lloyd added, “he has a point. Sure maybe this one has not personally done anything bad but given what it is and who it serves by definition it is a monster.” As they talked the store proprietor came up to them. He was a bit overweight ungulate folk grey in color with red eyes, a small pointed beard on his chin and wearing a sleeveless shirt showing off his tattooed arms. He had a scar on his face on the bridge of his nose and was missing part of his right ear.
“Interested in this scrap heap? They make great slaves when programmed right or you can have some fun with it use it for target practice. They are rather easy to care for and very easy to train. Yes you can feed them if you want. They have a synthetic digestive system that can convert most consumed matter into electricity; the batteries charge lasts longer if you do that and means less charging. From what I’ve heard they love the taste of magnets; makes for a good laugh too. They also like when you shock them the more powerful the shock the better. Don’t worry they don’t feel anything so it won’t hurt them. It is capable of speech however it currently only knows the Scimitar tongue, someone who specializes in robotics could fix that for yha. There is a few in the scholars guild who could do that if you need some pointers. It’s powered by a high capacity animo core; it may be ancient Scimitar technology but it works better than most modern batteries. It can keep this thing going for several days. I got a couple extra cores and the charger for it too if you’d like,” the shop keep stated.
“Isn’t it illegal to sell most of these Scymer folk items especially their constructs that come from the Stag not to mention I thought it was illegal for anyone but the arena to have these things in the city?” Cole noted and Kai added, “yha and I’m pretty sure you shouldn’t be selling it like it’s some household item.”
“Not if you know the right people and take the right precautions. Everyone knows those brainless tin cans that serve the Stag are mindless drones; they can’t do nothing unless given orders by a superior and it’s easy to program them to a new master. It’s kept locked up and you see that device hooked up to its power source,” the shop keeper stated pointing out the strange device attached to its chest hooked up to its heart, “using my little remote all I have to do is hit the right button and that device will overload its systems and kill it in an instant. I’ve also had its internal trackers and communications destroyed so it can’t try and call for help from its demonic pals.” He showed off the remote he had for the device.
“That man is not cool. This metal-skin bro is a living thing not animated scrap. What you are doing is cruel dude,” Zane expressed in his disguised voice starting to get angry. The others had noticed over there time there Zane had started showing a worrying trusting and willing to aid the robotic denizens of this realm even if they were on the enemies side. It wasn’t evident when they were training and he rarely showed it around the townsfolk but it was there and the knights had started to notice it as well. He would often defend them and side with them even over his friends sometimes. The others didn’t talk about it while he was around or near not wanting to make Zane uncomfortable or alert him to the fact they worried the Stag or his minions might be messing with his mind without Zane realising it though Jay had a few more outlandish theories about the cause of his behaviour. Lloyd noticed that when Zane had spoken the hyenoid looked at him, hints of curiosity appearing on its aggressive looking face. It quietly muttered ‘Naas –Zeymah’ sounding almost like he was questioning something. Lloyd had no clue what it had said meant but he knew Zane understood the Scymer language and he saw Zane glance momentarily at the droid when it spoke this before being drawn back to the shopkeeper.
“Really living thing, if you mean like a common worthless unintelligent mutt I could see that,” the keeper stated and they could see his comment was angering Zane. To prevent him from doing something he might regret Nya butt in to inquire, “these droids are supposed to be very difficult to capture; how did you get it?” While they were talking Zane noticed the droid was looking at him like it was curious of something. Zane tried to see if he could commune secretly with it but true to what the shop keep said any method for it to secretly commune with other droids were non functional. Zane wasn’t the only one to notice the droid looking at him. All but Jay took note of this at one point during the conversation but didn’t make it evident.
“I know someone; they can get me things that are rather hard to come by. He found this thing trying to steal from his property and caught it off guard with his truck?” the keeper stated and Jay pondered, “with his truck?”
“Yha he ran his truck rate into the stupid thing and knocked it out cold. If these things are supposed to be so smart you’d think it would know not to stand in the way of a vehicle. Luckily it wasn’t too badly damaged so I didn’t have to do much to get it ready for selling,” the shop keeper bragged with a laugh which the others could see was making Zane angrier.
“Dude that is not funny, this thing as you call it is just as much a living being as you and deserves fair treatment,” Zane proclaimed and the shop keep laughed at him, “fair treatment for a metal-skin, what’s next you want me to give fair treatment to the demon bird-bugs Vesparilions next or let skeevers make themselves at home in my house.”
Vesparilions: 
“I am just asking that you show more compassion to those who are not human; would you treat your own family like this?” Zane questioned clearly trying to control his anger at the keeper to prevent an altercation but starting to struggle with it.
“Let me think, yha I would. If I had a sister I’d sell her in a second,” the keeper proclaimed and the ninja were getting the sense this person was not the most pleasant or respectable of people.
“You’re a very disgusting person do you know that,” Kai expressed and noting Zane looked like he was going to punch the keeper Lloyd stated pulling Zane back, “Boon don’t, scum like him is not worth your time.”
“Yha metal-skin loving s’wit I’m not worth your time so why don’t you and your pals run along so I can get some actual business,” the shopkeeper stated. Knowing it best to leave things there the ninja started to head off however Zane didn’t want to follow as he didn’t want to leave the hyenoid with that person.
“There is nothing we can do. By their laws that droid is his and he can do what he wants with it. I know it’s not fair but we don’t have much of a choice. We don’t want to get in trouble with the law and make the people hate us more,” Lloyd explained to Zane as they dragged him away from the place. He agreed with Lloyds logic but they didn’t entirely feel he had dropped the issue. They went about their day and Zane seemed to drop the issue but some of them weren’t entirely convinced. Around them he seemed fine but worried he hadn’t dropped the issue Lloyd kept an eye on him when he was alone making sure to keep an eye on him from a distance so Zane would not be aware he was watching. At one point in the afternoon Lloyd watched as Zane watered the planters in the main room of the scholars center. It wasn’t odd for him to do this as both the ninja and the knights had taken to aiding the scholars center and its inhabitants as a sort of thank you for letting them stay there. The folk there were rather thankful for their help however due to some accidents Jay, Kai and Lance were not permitted in certain areas of the center or to help out with certain tasks. Zane often helped out with caring for the planters, Lloyd guessed it was relaxing for him. What he usually didn’t do however which Lloyd took as a sign that he was distracted and still thinking about the issue was giving water to the stuffed fauna that decorated the large planter against the back wall. Zane didn’t seem aware he was doing it till Aaron commented as he and Macy came up to Zane as they went to put back some books they had been reading, “Dude I’m pretty sure those creatures don’t need a drink anymore.”
“A little lost in thought?” Macy wondered as Zane realised what he had been doing and felt a bit embarrassed.
“I guess… just thinking about… back home… guess I got a little distracted,” Zane stated though he didn’t seem to into his words making Lloyd feel that wasn’t what was on his mind.
“I hear yha, I sometimes find myself getting lost in thought about home too,” Aaron agreed and Macy added, “yha, without us I don’t think there is many back home who stand a chance against the monsters from this place. Are there some back in your realm that could stand a chance holding back these things till you guys return?” The three talked for a short while before going their separate ways. Nothing stranger happened till after everyone had gone to bed. Zane waited till everyone had gone to sleep pretending to be asleep himself till they were. Then he quietly snuck out of their room dressed in his ninja attire. As he left Zane was unaware he wasn’t alone. Lloyd had worried Zane would wait till nightfall to do something so had been pretending to sleep waiting for Zane to do something. He followed Zane at a bit of a distance so he wouldn’t alert Zane to his presence. As he had worried Zane headed out into the Under-city and snuck his way back to that shop making sure none of the guards patrolling the Under-city were aware of him and shutting down any security cameras he came near. The lighting in the Under-city had been set to a night mode with only a faint moonlight and the occasional wall lamp providing any light to the place providing plenty of dark areas for them to hide in while sneaking about. Other than guards and a few nocturnal critters mainly of the insect variety there was no one around in the Under-city. Sure enough Zane went to the hyenoids cage. The droid appeared to be asleep curled up in the middle of the cage but it woke up and looked at Zane getting up to kneel on its hands and knees in the cage. The two talked quietly for a short while, Lloyd was too far away to hear what they were saying, before Zane went to fiddle with the cage door. The moment he touched the door however he received a serious shock as it gave off a small explosion and was sent flying backwards smacking into a support pillar for the walkway to the second story above nearby. He landed on the ground either unconscious or dazed from what Lloyd could see. Quickly looking around Lloyd noted one of the guards took note of the noise from the explosion and was coming over to see what was wrong. Worried Lloyd rushed over to Zane to find him dazed and thinking quickly to prevent the guard from seeing the both of them he helped Zane to his feet and to hide behind the crates next to the hyenoids cage. The droid just remained quite watching and looking to be curious. Zane began to come to his senses as the guard came up to the cage and Lloyd put his hand over Zanes mouth motioning for him to be quite as the guard approached the cage.
“What are you up to?” the guard questioned the droid shining his flashlight in its face and the construct muttered something in the Scimitar tongue to the guard before laying down as if going back to sleep.
“Fine whatever,” the guard stated before quietly stating as he walked away, “I hope that thing is taken out of here soon. I don’t care if it’s bought or escapes as long as I don’t have to deal with it; it gives me the creeps. Why can’t he keep it in his shop with some of those other creepy things he has for sale.”
“What are you doing?” Lloyd quietly inquired to Zane as he recovered from the shock once the guard was gone. Zane quietly responded, “I am going to set him free. He doesn’t deserve to be caged up and sold off like livestock. I know you and the others will not approve but he deserves to go back to his brethren. The people here are wrong. Those that serve the Stag are not monsters or mindless machines. They are just as much of thinking and feeling beings as you or I.” Zane didn’t wait for Lloyd to respond and went back to looking at the cage. To Lloyds surprise the construct spoke in the common tongue to Zane explaining how the cage had an enchantment on it to prevent fellow droids from touching the cage; a precaution to keep the Stags minions from releasing him. They had been told it only knew the scimitar tongue. Was the shopkeeper lying about it or was the construct hiding truths about itself? Lloyd didn’t like either answer for those questions. Zane was at a loss of what to do looking around for some way to open the cage without directly touching it.
“Okay say you do free him what are you going to do with him? He can’t stay with us and I don’t think the knights will let him stay on their ship,” Lloyd expressed coming up to Zane who replied, “Mzark knows how to contact some of those in service to the Stag and has agreed to contact them. I know a place he can go to be safe till they come, I will take him there.”
“Really, what else does Mzark know that his keepers don’t know about?” Lloyd wondered surprised and a little disturbed to know the little bestial construct that slept in the room next to them and often liked to hang around with the ninja and knights who often let it see what they were doing even listening to personal talks and to play with their phones had some dark secrets. It was not a comforting thought.
“I can see only one option to free him… you are the only one who can let him go free,” Zane explained looking to Lloyd who was not wanting to co-operate.
“What? No I won’t. I know it’s cruel but he’s a servant to a demon. We release him and he’ll just go straight back to that monster and it doesn’t need more servants,” Lloyd proclaimed and he could see his words upset Zane who had been hoping he would help.
“Why do you and that flesh-skin talk as if you are kin?” the hyenoid inquired and Zane responded, “Lloyd is like a brother to me, we are family.”
“He calls you family yet sees me as a monster?” the hyenoid inquired and Lloyd responded, “well maybe you’re not inherently evil but you’ve fallen into service under a monster who is evil.”
“And so that makes me evil? If I am evil because I serve a being considered a monster than I could say you are evil for having blood of an Oni,” the hyenoid remarked startling Lloyd who took a few steps back in shock. How did it know that?
“Our master told us, he told us about all of you. He knows things, many things even secret things; things you might not have ever even told each other or realise you have,” the hyenoid explained when Lloyd questioned how it knew this fact about him then even more startled by its reply he inquired, “how does he know about us?”
“It is part of his being, what he is. He walks where others cannot and can see what others cannot; he can gaze through the fogs of time and space like few others can. He would make a farseer jealous with what he can do,” the hyenoid explained before stating to Lloyd, “tell me flesh-skin if you think I am a monster than reach into one of these crates next to my cage, do not worry the lids are just placed on and can be easily moved. I promise nothing in there will harm you. Do it and pull out the first thing your hand touches.” Lloyd thought it a very strange request but did as the droid said. He couldn’t see what was inside the crate but when he reached into it the first thing his hand touched was something surprisingly warm, felt to be made of stone and shocked him with a dark feeling. He quickly pulled his hand out scared of whatever he had touched taking a few steps back from the crates. Curious Zane went over to investigate and pulled out a small statuette with the resemblance to an Oni, faintly glowing dark red markings covering its volcanic rock surface. Zane had seen one of these before and greatly disliked its sight.
“An Asher statuette,” Zane stated before putting it back and closing the crate disturbed by the items presence.
“Those things are more illegal than the hyenoid. What’s it doing here? How does no one know it’s here?” Lloyd wondered feeling disturbed to have touched the item and the hyenoid explained, “How do you think, that scum of a so called human who runs this shop. He is one of those Asher monsters. He put an enchantment on those crates to hide them from the suspicions of townsfolk. It even prevents the sniffer dogs and Mire-lions of the towns guard from sniffing them out.”
“Wait how did you know these are here?” Lloyd wondered and the hyenoid responded, “they are why I am in this cage. You flesh-skin might like what I do. Yes I serve the Stag but my task for my master falls in a category you would agree with. I work as an eradicator of Asher and necromantic influences a Deyra-Ah or as you would say in your tongue a demon hunter. I and my team search out small Asher operations often revolving around the smuggling of their illegal contraband and destroy their operations. It is why I ended up in this cage. I got caught trying to destroy those. We burnt down their barn and destroyed most of their contraband but they managed to save those crates and that what you flesh-skins would say a jerk hit me with his vehicle while I tried to escape. That is not the only contraband he has. There is more in his shop and house.”
“We should tell the guards about this,” Lloyd noted and Zane countered, “and tell them what? How do we tell them about this without seeming suspicious?” Zane was right. They couldn’t just tell the guards they had been tipped off by a droid that served a highly feared demon to the area about an evil forbidden item. It would spark the wrong ideas.
“Flesh-skin might not like it but freeing me is the best option. If I go missing the town guard will be drawn into looking into it as it poses a serious risk to town safety. All you have to do to draw the guards suspicion to the crate and its items is leave one of those statuettes outside the crates. Hide it behind them so the keeper cannot see it but where an inspecting guard could find it. The energies and smell of it will draw the guard and their hounds to it,” the hyenoid offered. Lloyd thought it over. Even though he didn’t want to the hyenoid was right. Freeing the droid was the best option. Even though he was not pleased with it Lloyd went and fiddled with the cages lock and opened the cage. The hyenoid slowly crawled out of the cage and stood up. Lloyd had expected the hyenoid to bolt off once freed but instead it stood waiting for them to make a move. Zane helped the construct remove the instant kill device from his heart and drop it on the floor by the cage. They made sure to hide one of the Asher statuettes behind the crates so it would draw people’s attention before leaving the area. They then snuck back to the scholars center where Zane took them to the alcove under the stairs in the main room. He opened the passage under the stairwell so the hyenoid could enter the passage to his home.
“Thank you Fang-brother, I wish I could give you something for your troubles but I have nothing to give,” the hyenoid stated and Zane expressed, “you do not have to give me anything. Seeing you are free and safe from that cruel person is all I need.”
“I know you do not approve of this flesh-skin but I promise you did the right thing I hope you will see that one day,” the hyenoid expressed before leaving to Lloyd who though wasn’t saying anything was clearly mad at letting the construct go free. Once it had left Zane closed the passage and put everything back the way it was so it looked like nothing had happened.
“I know you and the others think I am too trusting of those under the Stags service; that is why you followed me,” Zane stated and Lloyd explained, “I get you feel for them. They share a lot in common with you and I think that’s blinding you to the dangers these things pose. A lot of them here serve this monster stag…”
“That does not mean they are like him though,” Zane proclaimed and Lloyd countered, “it doesn’t mean they’re like you either. We know very little about them. They could be trying to trick you, take advantage of you to sway you to their side or for their own purposes.”
“I will not align myself with the Stag if that is what you are worrying about,” Zane expressed and Lloyd noted, “I know you wouldn’t but these droids you are so willing to trust could mess with you without your knowing and make you align with him without you realising it. Your trust of them is dangerous.”
“Is that what you are all worried about? I have heard some of your talking when you thought I was not around or listening,” Zane stated and Lloyd felt embarrassed and ashamed. He and the others had talked a few times over the issue when they thought Zane wasn’t near enough to hear them. They were all concerned over Zanes willingness to trust these foreign droids who served this demon and what they might have to do if he did get swayed by them to the Stags side. Most of their resolutions revolved around having to cause serious harm to Zane which he was pretty sure was not something Zane wanted to hear come from his own family.
“I’m sorry if we said anything that upset you it’s just you’re worrying us. We know nothing about these constructs and you’re so willing to trust them without questioning their motives or intentions. Surely you can see that doesn’t look well,” Lloyd confided.
“I guess it does look suspicious,” Zane noted and Lloyd continued, “you see. I know you don’t mean any harm with it but maybe you should tone it down in your trusting of these things especially when we’re not around. We don’t want to lose you. That monster has clearly shown he wants you and won’t hesitate to enslave you when he catches you. So far you’ve been lucky we were around to rescue you from him but in the future we might not be. I’m not saying you have to be like the people and be mean to the constructs or ignore them just treat them as strangers and don’t be so trusting of them. We’re your family you should trust us and not these droids you know nothing about. We just want to keep you safe but that’s hard to do when you’re so willing to trust the Stags minions especially when we’re not around. How can we keep you safe if something happens when we’re not around?” Lloyd could see Zane understood what he was talking about and agreed with him but it was also upsetting Zane a bit so Lloyd stated giving Zane a hug, “I know it’s not pleasant to hear but it’s true. Come why don’t we go to bed and we can talk with the others tomorrow; they’re all worried about you. If you want we can also make a stop at that guys shop early tomorrow to see what will happen.” Zane still looked troubled but agreed to go to bed.
“I don’t know how much of Jays ideas you have heard but if it’s any consolation none of us agree with any of Jays ideas,” Lloyd expressed as they headed to bed.
The next day Lloyd and Zane who was in disguise stopped by the area of the shop to see the results of their actions. Several guards including Tafari were there. They had handcuffed the shop keeps hands behind his back and sat him on the ground while the guard had a trained Mire-lion going through his stuff. They had pulled out several forbidden items already mainly Ashers in make or relation. A crowd had gathered to watch but were hanging back often sheltering behind objects scared by the items. Clay, Macy and Aaron were also there curious about what was going on. The three had been on a morning walk when they caught sight of the commotion.
Mire-lion:
“Looks like they found an Asher with some dark contraband,” Clay explained when Lloyd asked what was going on.
“You two, you had something to do with this. You told that metal skin s’wit of yours and he did this with the help from that demons spawn didn’t he,” the shop keep growled the moment he saw Lloyd and Zane clearly very angry with them and calmly with a hint of pleasure to his voice Zane responded, “how could he? As you folks wanted our cyber bro is kept locked up like an animal when my pals aren’t training. Maybe some of your so called monster droid hostages pals came to help him and reveal just what kind of monster you are.”
“That’s called a burn bro,” Aaron expressed to Zane impressed by Zanes comment.
“Why you…” the shop keep expressed looking to try to free himself and get up but Tafari sprayed him with a freezing liquid causing him to seize up in pain shaking from the cold and some frost building up on the spot she had sprayed; further proof that he was an Asher. As she sprayed him Tafari expressed, “I don’t care how it got out. It’s gone and nowhere to be found so it is no longer a major concern. As for you however there’s going to be some dire consequences for you in the near future and we’ll make sure none of your pals can help you. Now while I take him away why don’t some of you clear out some of these spectators.” As Tafari dragged the guy to his feet and dragged him away while some of the other guards ushered the people away while they continued searching the guys supplies. Macy, Aaron and Zane headed off while Clay hung back for a moment with Lloyd to inquire curious, “did you guys have a hand in this like he says?”
“Well a little bit,” Lloyd confided and Clay wondered a bit worried, “Zane wasn’t involved was he?” The knights generally weren’t aware of Zanes over trusting of the constructs. They knew he felt for them and they understood why but they had not seen the full extent of his over trusting behaviour. Feeling he needed more to talk to than the other ninja and not having his uncle who he wanted to speak to most of all around he had confided with Clay and Merlok about it feeling he could trust them and that they could offer some insight for him. Both agreed Zanes over trusting could prove dangerous and were wary of it but felt it best for the ninja to deal with the problem knowing it best if those closest to him dealt with the issue. They would only intervene if the ninja felt there was something wrong or a serious danger was present.
“Let’s just say be careful what you say around that Robo-bill Mzark. I just recently found out he apparently has some questionable ties outside the city,” was all Lloyd was willing to say and Clay acknowledged, “really, that’s a little concerning.”
“Yha I know,” Lloyd agreed and Clay noted, “Thanks for the tip. You know I guess one of those monsters droids running loose is better than having one of those Ashers roaming free and under cover in the city. Other than being the occasional nuisance unlike that monster of a master of theirs those constructs really haven’t been a serious problem like these Ashers.”
“True but that could just be an illusion, let’s hope for everyone’s sake that isn’t entirely the case,” Lloyd proclaimed.
A Days Work The ninja and knights have an interesting day.
The knights and ninja started the day early, 7 in the morning, to the dislike of some. To no one’s surprise Clay had been the first up at 5 in the morning. He’d gotten some training in before breakfast before getting the others up. Some of the others weren’t too happy with getting up that early even with the promise of breakfast. Clay had ordered in breakfast for them and they all joined some of the others from the scholars center in the main room for breakfast some of the scholars joining them at the main tables. Hassiri had told them he had something special planned for them that day so Clay wanted to make sure everyone was ready. Macy, Robin and Ava were quick to get up and going and with the promise of breakfast Axl was up with little hassle. Aaron was not pleased to be woken up so early but didn’t give him much hassle and with the aid of some iced tea made from black tea the highest in caffeine of teas was fully up and ready to get the day started by the end of breakfast. Lance gave him the most hassle complaining about it and taking extra long in the bathroom cleaning up and removing the moisturizing cream from his face. Clay had to help Lloyd get some of the ninja up. Even though she wanted some extra sleep Nya got up without a hassle ready for the day and helped get Kai and Jay out of bed. The two had both been up late playing video games despite the others telling them they should go to bed early to be ready to get up early the next day. Both were refusing to get up. Cole also was not happy with waking up early. He did get out of bed but kept his blanket on wearing it like a hooded robe still half asleep and didn’t wish to talk to anyone till he’d had breakfast and some coffee. Zane was usually up between 7 and 9 normally with little hassle but after having a restless sleep having woken up a few times in the night from bad dreams he was not wanting to get out of bed yet wanting some more rest. He had put himself under a blanket with it covering his head to feel sheltered from the dreams which despite unsettling him he couldn’t remember anything about them just that they left him with bad feelings. To help him wake up and feel better they gave him some iced tea, he preferred his drinks cold not warm, with some Scimitar oil mixed into it. Their breakfast was largely a mix of meats largely bacon patties made from Rhea-gaurs along with a handful of roasted and seasoned beetles and pancakes which the cooks had added apples into them. They had a syrup made from tree sap to use on the food. Zane added a little Scymer oil on his. There was also some fruits in a bowl on the table to which only an orange was all Jay was willing to take as it was the only one likely not grown in the Ash wastes therefore not grown in the ashy soils of this as he considered cursed place. The rest were varieties of fruits grown in the local area. Red apples known as Lava rind apples for their bright reddish skins and sweet yet smoky hinted flavour, Glacial Peaches a cold tolerant peach, Shroom Peppers which were actually a pepper looking fruit from a mushroom that tasted like a mix between a grape with the texture of a peach and not an actual pepper along with Lunar Grapes a form of sweet flavoured grape that gave off an icy blue glow. Almost everyone was fine with breakfast. They had gotten used in their time there to the strange makes of them even the insects Lance however found it too gross and peasenty, Kai was not too keen on them but didn’t complain just giving his to Cole who didn’t mind and Jay was still highly grossed out and uncomfortable with them. He made sure first thing to push them aside to which as he did this he noticed one seemed to be twitching a bit causing him to start to freak out.
“Come on Jay man no need to wet your pants over it. You know given your name you’d think you’d be fine with it Jay birds eat these things all the time and they aren’t cooked and are squirmy and you don’t see them panicking,” Aaron joked amused by Jays panicking which instantly drew Jays annoyance causing him to snap at Aaron, “I’m not a bird! It’s just my name besides look at this thing it’s still twitching!”
“That does not mean it is still alive if that is what you are worried over. It could just be a result of the cooking process not fully cooking most of its tissues causing them to flex and relax from tensions caused by heat differences,” Zane hypothesized which instantly sparked Jays wrath, “I don’t care the reason it’s gross and unsettling!” Zane was startled and confused over why Jay was chastising him. Aaron was quick to tease, “quit complaining and just eat it Jay bird. It’s fine.”
“Fine Aaron! If you think it’s fine then you eat it I dare you!” Jay proclaimed putting the beetle on Aarons plate. Aaron hesitated a little surprised how quickly Jay had thrown him in a tough spot from just a little joking. Seeing the twitching a bit put him off from the beetle. He had been dared though and he wasn’t one to easily back down from a dare plus he wanted to see how far he could make Jay freak out so after a hesitation ate it before commenting back to Jay, “see totally fine.”
“Fine! That’s just more proof something’s wrong with you! You’re not truly human are you?” Jay quickly blurt out to which Macy stated, “no that’s just Aaron.” Noting Jays over reacting one of the scholars sitting with them whispered to Lloyd who they sat next to confused, “what is the blue ones problem?”
“Lots, how much time do you have?” Kai joked before Lloyd stated un-amused by Jay making a scene, “let’s just say he’s high sprung with problems and leave it at that.” Most of them were un-amused by Jays behaviour which just drew attention. Clay was not happy for Aaron messing with Jay plus was grossed out that he’d eat the bug having been unsettled to see it twitching. He had to side with Jay on that but he would have been quite about it and just gave the insect to one of the pets in the center knowing they wouldn’t mind it not freak out like Jay. Lloyd, Nya, Macy and Lance were also grossed out by Aarons actions while Kai, Cole and Axl were amused at Aaron for freaking Jay out. Zane was just confused unable to understand Jays reluctance to eating the insects which were perfectly safe and healthy to eat and his strange paranoia to Aaron. Zane took Jays insects to keep him from freaking out more and feeling like he might need the extra energy for his power source his body could make from them that day. If Jay was already worked up this early then there was a good chance they were going to have a long day with him around and after the restless night Zane was not eager for a long day dealing with Jays moods. Breakfast went for over an hour to which they also took time to socialise. After helping to clean up Clay, Macy, Lance, Lloyd and Nya giving the insects from their meal to some of the centers pets a bit unsettled by seeing the whole scene with the twitching one to eat theirs at that time they then met Hassiri back in that room. Quite a few of the scholars were there. They moved the tables and benches normally in the middle of the room to sit on their sides to block off the staircase before sitting around the room on couches, chairs, planters and tables to watch what was going to go on. Misako and Merlok from on the mini-trex watched from the top of the staircase where they sat. The ninja and knights stood in the middle of the room confused and a little on edge especially from the two large strange metal crates they couldn’t see into that were making some bestial and scratching noises. They had no clue what was going to go on. They hadn’t been allowed to bring their weapons for this exercise that Hassiri had set up and had just been given a bunch of pillow cases, cloth sacks, brooms and ropes for them to use. Robin and Ava who were normally not a part of these exercises were joining them this time adding more confusion.
“I thought just in case it might be a good idea to get you some practise with possible stowaway troubles while in the ash wastes aboard the Ash Strider. Say you stop for bad weather or to make unexpected repairs and somehow some opportunistic furry critters find their way on board. What are you going to do? For today I want you to round up these Skeevers and put them all back in the crates using just what we gave you. Don’t worry these ones have had all their shots and are clean,” Hassiri explained before opening the crates letting the creatures loose. Ten skeevers burst out of the two crates and rushed off around the room. It took the knights and ninja a minute to come to terms with what they were tasked with before rushing off to try and wrangle the creatures. Instantly once freed the creatures tried to get under things or atop things to get out of their reach. No one was helping them and just watched as the skeevers bit, scratched, ran over them, purposely shoved them over, and stumped them all with where these creatures could get into and hide with such as one that had scaled a vertical pillar in the wall up to a decorative rope hung between it and another pillar to chill on it and look down at them from it to prevent getting caught. Clay tried to keep everyone in order but things quickly became hectic and no one was listening to him. The one that had climbed up the pillar Nya knocked down with a splash of water knocking it off balance causing to fall where then she and Jay tried wrangling it into a sack getting scratched and bit in the process. Cole and Axl kept trying to corner one of the creatures to catch it but the creatures kept slipping out between their legs or skirting around them. The two were not quick enough to snatch the creatures up and frequently were hitting into each other as they tried to catch these creatures. Working together Macy and Lloyd managed to catch one but as they brought it back to the crates the creature squirming like crazy it managed to claw its way out of the sack and took off before they could catch it again. Aaron managed to wrestle one into submission using the sacks and pillow cases like rope and tying up the creatures limbs and mouth to restrain it and get it into the crate with little problem untying it once it was encased. He closed the crate to keep it contained however when Ava and Robin brought over one they had caught to put in the cage the moment they opened the door the one Aaron had placed in it bolted out rushing off over them and setting theirs free. This kept happening for a while whenever they caught these creatures and tried to put them away. One or two of them would go to put the one they caught in one of the crates and if they weren’t quick or careful any put in the crates would break out rushing off. Lance refused to directly touch the creatures worried they’d give him some disease despite Hassiri claiming they were clean plus he didn’t want to get any scratches or bite marks which could ruin his complexion so he was using a broom to try and push the creatures towards the crates. The Skeevers were not co-operating and just kept chewing the broom. Kai tried to scare them into the crates showing off his fire powers. The Skeevers weren’t scared and just attacked him and Kai in no way wanted to get into bare handed combat with these creatures. Their bites could break bones and their claws were quite strong. Clay spent a great deal of time trying to get one off one of the pillars but it clung on tightly and every time he tried to pull one of its paws off the pillar it would bite him and go back to clinging on. The only one not having serious trouble was Zane. While he did have some trouble getting a hold of the creature once he did have it he wisely tied up its jaws and covered its eyes to calm it before holding it close to his body like a cat to restrain and carry it to the crate giving it some pets and talking calmly to it to keep it relaxed as he brought it back. The creature was calm and he didn’t have much hassle putting it in the crate by holding it by the scruff and using the animal to block the way out of the crate for others as he put it in. He couldn’t understand why everyone else was having so much trouble till he tried helping catch the creatures with some of the others. Then he ended up having trouble and getting roughed up like the others as the struggles most of them were giving trying to deal with the creatures was just working the animals up. To make things worse the ninja would use their powers to try and stun or hinder the creatures but this led to further problems as they ended up hitting each other more often with the powers. While most kept their powers low to prevent hurting others or causing damages afraid of getting mauled by the creatures Jay was using his full powers and ended up hitting Macy, Cole, Axl, Kai, Aaron, Zane, Lloyd and Lance during the struggle stunning them for a few minutes when they were hit.
As the two groups kept getting roughed up together the scholars in the center just watched amused and having a good laugh at them and their struggles with the creatures. After a while Misako went over to ask Hassiri, “was this really a training session or did you just want to mess with them?”
“Honestly a bit of both. Chances are they will end up with a few animal stowaways out there hopefully it’s just some bugs or small critters but you never know and better to be safe than sorry out there plus everyone around here could use for some cheering up. Your Knights and ninja have really had a positive mood to a lot of folks here. They find watching them amusing and uplifting especially when they’re messing up,” Hassiri explained to Misako and Merlok who couldn’t help but agree with his statement. It took them over an hour to finally get the creatures all locked back up and this was largely thanks to the creatures getting tired of struggling against them and giving in to being contained. Both the Knights and Ninja were roughed up and tired from the struggles. Everyone else had been thoroughly entertained. Hassiri decided to give them the rest of the day to work as they pleased afterwards while he brought the skeevers back to the arenas holding cells. They cleaned up after their ordeal having all received quite a few scratches and bites from the creatures. Afterwards they headed to the Fortrex for some secret training away from the prying eyes of any of the locals. They were pretty sure none of them would like it. The ninja had been teaching the knights a bit about being ninja and how to perform Spinjitsu while the knights taught the ninja a bit about being a knight and how to use Nexo powers. They were using the Holo-deck on the Fortrex to give them all sorts of training environments to hone their skills. Most of the ninja had taken to it quite well with Nya and Lloyd loving the Holo-deck the most. Jay found it a bit unsettling and Kai didn’t fully trust it feeling uneasy with the technology. Even though some of them mainly Lance wanted to take it easy after the earlier events Clay insisted they should train. The two got into an argument embarrassing and annoying the other knights. Aaron broke the fighting up by suggesting that they train but use a more relaxed environment like training grounds instead of holographic monsters in a random possibly hazardous environment. This they were able to agree to. For training with Nexo powers they created a replica of the knights academy training grounds while for Spinjitsu training they created a replica of the monasteries grounds including all the training devices getting help from Zanes memory data to properly render it.
Even though they had trained this way a few times already some of them were still uneasy with the Holo-deck. Kai wasn’t fully trusting the knights words in that the Holo-deck wouldn’t truly hurt them confused and not fully understanding the technology. He was wary of letting the holo monsters get close to him and while finding the Holo-deck cool liking it to like being in a video game it still really scared him especially since real world physics were present so he could fall and be dropped from high heights plus they would feel when hit or attacked in anyway and could still get hurt especially from each other. He was especially scared by the monsters the knights had chosen for them to practise some Nexo powers on some stormy rock monsters which the knights had faced before. The knights were showing them how to use combo nexo powers. Since the ninja didn’t have shields they had to use their weapons which Robin outfitted to acquire the powers in place of shields. Cole, Zane and Nya were the first to get a hang of it putting their weapons together for the power and taking on the monsters and didn’t have much trouble though Zane had to be careful to not get shocked by them. Luckily if they did shock him they weren’t using too strong a shock so it only left him dazed for a minute or so but it wasn’t pleasant for him. Lloyd tried getting Kai and Jay to co-operate but Jay kept freaking out when they tried to get a combo nexo power worried in the time it took them to get the power that he would get hit by enemies so kept pulling his weapon away to attack or put up a defensive to anything that came close to him even one of the others. He ended up shocking Clay, Aaron, Macy, Axl, Cole, Nya and Zane at various times during the practise because of how worked up the monsters, fighting and strange environment made him. Jay getting worked up caused Kai to get more on edge. He was already worked up from his nervousness to the technology and Jay freaking out wasn’t helping him as he was scared to get shocked or hit by Jays panicking. Since the two weren’t being helpful the knights let Lloyd borrow a practise shield and paired him with Robin and Lance for a combo power so he could get some practise. Not feeling up to dealing with the other two they just let them be as they messed up and kept getting into fights with each other. After a little over half an hour of practise with Nexo powers they switched over to practising the knights with Spinjitsu. While eager to master the skill Clay and Macy were getting ahead of themselves in their practise leading them to mess up and get dizzy when they used their tornado, Axl was confused over some aspects and didn’t have the greatest of balance. Lance was worried of getting dizzy and not wanting to get dizzy wasn’t practising much. Aaron had the best luck though while able to enter a Spinjitsu tornado and maintain it with no problem he had little control once in it and ended up getting hit by Coles warhammer and flung into the one wall where he landed on the ground bruised and dazed. While most of the ninja were worried he’d been hurt Jay was highly unnerved as not only was Aaron not bothered about getting hit but was slightly thrilled over the whole ordeal stating, “I’m fine. They’re just bruises man no biggy.”
“Just bruises! You could have been seriously hurt how is that fine!” Jay critiqued and Macy commented, “yha bruises are nothing to Aaron he’s had much worse. Did we ever mention he was once run over by a horse cart?”
“You were what! And you’re still alive and in one piece! How! What are you?!” Jay began to rant. They just ignored Jays ranting though for the rest of the training Aaron, Axl, Kai, Cole and even Zane began teasing and messing with Jays paranoia and working him up just for amusement. They even went as far to have Zane use his cloaking ability to mess with Jay. Aaron got Merlok to agree in giving him a nexo power that disguised his appearance as Zane while Zane used his cloaking ability to disguise his appearance to that of a were-wolf cursed Aaron. The form was much more humanoid than true were-wolves as it was fit to match Zanes form, his cloaking ability wasn’t really designed to display non human forms. He gave the form the head and tail of a were-wolf with the claws and fur of an animal and gave the body ripped and damaged attire matching Aarons clothes. The two disguised themselves without Jay seeing them activate the disguises then gave him a good scare. Zane snuck up behind him when he least expected it tapping him on the shoulder to catch his attention then chased him a bit as Jay lost it bolting and yelling in a panic from Zane claiming some of his thoughts on Aaron were true and not paranoia. He went to hide behind what he thought was Zane who unable to hold in his amusement started to laugh at him further startling him that Zane would take such amusement over such a serious and what he believed dangerous situation. The others who were in on the joke started laughing as well as Aaron let down the illusion and Zane shut off the cloak shocking Jay. Jay was a mix of emotions shocked by their trick and that Zane went along with what he saw as such a dirty trick, betrayed that Zane of all of them would betray him like that and unsure who was actually who and worried others were using some form of disguise and not actually who they appeared to be. Almost everyone was amused. Nya was not happy with their messing knowing it would just get Jay worked up for the rest of the day, Lloyd was annoyed at their lack of professionalism not pleased with them goofing around and Clay and Macy were feeling the same as him. They tried to get some more training in but Jay was too worked up and just kept ranting and panicking so they decided to stop for the day.
After training they had a lunch on the Fortrex some of them mainly Jay pleased that the knights had on their ship what he considered real food and not the strange foods of this place. They made sure to keep Jay away from Aaron and keep the others from riling him up anymore. After some time to rest and relax they headed back to the Scholars center where after getting into their commoners gear they offered their help around the place on tasks that needed doing. Zane and Aaron helped some tend to the various creatures kept by the center including not only pets but those for study and used for creating anti-venoms in the center. They even got to help with milking some of the venomous ones. The two weren’t afraid of the creatures; while some could affect him the venoms weren’t lethal to Zane and Aaron wasn’t bothered by the danger instead finding it thrilling causing Jay to get more worked up over him. With their strength Cole and Axl helped with heavy lifting moving supplies the center had received into the proper places for storage and moving heavy equipment. Lloyd was helping and keeping Lance and Kai working on the task of cleaning the bedrooms washing bedding, vacuuming floors and making sure everyone’s attire was put in proper places like laundry or dressers and not lying around. Clay, Macy and Nya headed out to organize shipments of supplies to be delivered to the center and do some shopping for things the others wanted to get. Nya brought Jay to get him away from anywhere Aaron could be not wanting to get him worked up anymore about Aaron. He was already worked up from the earlier events and had become hyper focused since getting back to the center on trying to think of something’s to try to find out what he actually was and for everyone’s sanity they needed to get him off his paranoid trail of thoughts; he was already thinking of some ideas like slipping motor oil into his drinks to see if Aaron liked it possibly proving he was a droid or to slip a silver necklace around his neck to see if it hurt him possibly indicating he was some mythical creature. He was even starting to wonder if he got some hair or blood samples if someone could do some sort of DNA test to identify what he was. Their task had them heading out to various areas including above ground and in the Under-city. Things went about fairly well. Along the way they checked on some folk from Ninjago and Knighton who had ended up trapped in the Lost Realm due to the meld. The town had given them places to stay and jobs within the town many filling in for citizens from the Lost Realm who had disappeared what the town guessed as having fallen through a tear into another realm. The people were obviously and clearly scared by the strange place they were in, what was going on back home, the monsters they had to worry about that could be hiding in plain sight along with other minor issues. Other than that they were fine and starting to fit in. For a bit of a break they took a stroll through a residential section of town above ground. Despite the ash and the worn state of the town things weren’t too bad. It was warm and sunny out. Those with spare time were out relaxing enjoying the day while others were working some making deliveries, others sweeping ash off surfaces or cleaning structures. As they passed one building Macy bumped into a cat folk who was carrying a box of food from a vehicle to a house causing her to drop the box spilling its contents on the ground.
“I’m sorry would you like a hand,” Macy stated helping the cat folk pick up her groceries and put them in the box she had been carrying. Clay, Nya and Jay joined her in helping out.
“You don’t have to say sorry muthsera it was my fault, I should have been watching where I was going,” the cat folk expressed and Clay stated, “it was an accident no one was really at fault.” As they helped Jay noted something off on the cat folks arm. The skin was missing its hair and looked grey and cracked.
“What’s wrong with your arm?” Jay wondered and the cat folk clearly became nervous from his comment. After a glance and moving her arm to hide it behind the box she commented, “it’s nothing… just, just serpentus. I’m getting it treated.”
“It looks painful, would you like us to give you a hand carrying this stuff to your home?” Clay asked. The question seemed to make her more nervous and she hesitated to respond.
“Are these outlanders bothering you?” asked a male ungulate folk as he came up to them and stood by the cat folk. He looked to be a miner from the region and had a strange somewhat cryptic looking tattoo on his face. The cat folk quickly responded not looking at the folk, “no they were just helping me.”
“Okay now why don’t you head inside and we can get those put away,” the ungulate folk stated to the cat folk. Noting she seemed oddly nervous of the other folk Clay inquired, “may I ask who you are?” The ungulate folk replied with, “I’m her uncle, I’ve been helper her while she’s infected.” The cat folk carried the box into the house and once she was inside the ungulate folk stated before following her into the structure, “now be on your way outlanders we have no use for your kind here.”
“That was kind of rude; we were just helping,” Clay commented. They let it go and went about their day. They returned in the late afternoon to the Scholars center with a small box of stuff for everyone. They met up in the main room to hand everything out. They had gotten Cole and Axl some baked goods, they had gotten Lloyd some candy and a comic book he had heard about, for Zane they had gotten him some more of this Scimitar oil and some Scymer oddities like a book and what the one they had bought it from believed was a paperweight but could also just make a nice decorative statuette for on a desk or dresser which was shaped like a skeever made of Scymer metal. They had gotten a humorous book with jokes, funny facts and other comedic things for Aaron, some cosmetics Lance requested to try to combat the effects he felt the ash was giving him which they also got for Kai as well. Curious Lloyd inquired what the others got. Nya had gotten a book on Scymer Constructs, while Jay had gotten some candy and a Scymer puzzle cube; Clay had gotten a book on heroic tales of the realm and one on spells for adventurers for things like providing light, navigation aid, minor healing and protection. Macy had gotten a book with comic additions of mythologies of the realm, they had gotten a copy of the book Nya got for Robin and a tablet for Ava. They had even got something for Merlok an enchanted amulet that had an enchantment they wondered could offer some aid against the monsters of this realm to study. Macy had put it in her pocket. As she pulled it out to show the others she was surprised to find a multi folded note fall out of her pocket. Curious she picked it up opening it up to look it over. As she read it she became confused and a little worried Cole wondered, “what is it?”
“Hassiri how do you tell apart Serpentus from another condition?” Macy wondered as Clay took the note from her to read it over. As they talked the note got passed around to everyone who gave it a look over.
“What exactly do you mean? Some skin conditions may look like it but Serpentus is rather unique so it usually isn’t mis-diagnosed,” Hassiri explained and inspecting the note Clay noted, “could someone forced into service by Ashers develop a similar condition?”
“No but to someone who has not seen firsthand Serpentus like you all you could mis-identify the beginnings of the curse to turn one into an Ash Slave as Serpentus. Was the infected area greyish, lacking hair with cracking to the skin?” Hassiri wondered and Jay who had gotten a good look at it as he had been worried to catch the condition stated, “yha it looked painful and she was very unsettled by us noticing it… we can’t catch that can we?”
“No an Asher has to directly curse you with it and yes it is painful. Sounds like you found an unfortunate victim to those monsters. Were there anyone around her baring rather unpleasant tattoos’ or piercings?” Hassiri stated and Nya noted, “yha. Thinking back the tattoo the one guy had on his face kind of resembled an Oni.”
“He’s probably either an undercover agent or a skin stealer,” Hassiri stated and Clay wondered, “is there anything we can do to rescue this poor citizen?” After a moment’s thought Hassiri explained, “unless we can attain physical proof they are Ashers like contraband in their house which they will probably hide rather well since you passed by today or they attack others or their victims come to tell us which they will likely be too scared to tattle on their enslavers then we legally cannot do anything.” They were all not too pleased with that. The paper Macy had found was from the cat folk they had bumped into who had written the note and been carrying it in hopes to find a way to get it to them pleading for aid for her and a few others who had been taken by Asher operatives and were being converted to slaves for them within the city.
“We have this note though can’t we do something with it?” Lloyd wondered and Hassiri stated, “a note can’t prove much. If we could get some direct proof especially those they have caught who could testify against them then we could do something… you know now you didn’t hear this from me but the guard might not be able to do much and legally none of you are permitted to interfere with police matters unless authorized and I don’t think this little note will get you authorization to look into it but if say some certain monsters from the Stag interfered and attacked those monsters might show their colors. The guard will also investigate any location they attacked plus if those under the rule of the Stag took the enslaved the Ashers would likely give them up and not try to retrieve them. If we could get them back here some of the scholars know how to reverse and cure the process of creating an Ash Slave before it fully claims individuals and they could give us the proof needed to take actions.”
“Yha I don’t think getting those monsters under the Stags hold involved would be a good idea, the town needs less monsters not more,” Lloyd commented and looking at Zane who was confused about why Clay was staring at him Clay noted, “true but what if they think it was monsters who did it even though it wasn’t.”
“What are you thinking?” Cole wondered and noting they were coming up with a plan Hassiri stated, “well as part of the guard I have duties to attend to and should probably not overhear any conspiring from you lot on this should I? Now you all stay out of trouble.” Hassiri then left and Clay explained his idea to them. Within an hour Clay went with Jay, Lance and Lloyd in their commoners gear along with some members from the Scholars guild to the location and just wandered around pretending to enjoy the evening while in truth they were scouting the area. They could see the burly ungulate folk that had been rude to them before standing leaned against the house they were to target watching them. He clearly recognised them but they made sure not to make it evident that they noticed him. He and the others pretended to just go about their day. After nearly a minute the street which had been calm with several people just going about their evening on the street was in chaos as a group of ten skeevers rushed out from an alley way and began terrorizing individuals. Most tried to defend themselves against the creatures using anything they could find including brooms, rakes and sticks to push the creatures back. No one seemed too bothered by the creatures assuming them to just be a feral gang of the creatures trying to establish a territory and be a nuisance. Clay, Lloyd, Jay and Lance who hadn’t brought their weapons with them picked up some sticks and joined into helping push back the creatures. Making sure not to be too rough; they were just animals being animals no need to go overboard on them. While they did this one everyone was then shocked sending them into a panic as some Scimitar Samurai appeared most appearing out of the shadows to threaten individuals and aid the beasts.
“Rumz chal thuangz btharumz kemelzul arkhanch mer amakai,” one which seemed to be the leader and was wielding a bladed staff declared to the others in the Scymer tongue as they started the attack. The samurai wasted no time in attacking the people driving them to take shelter wherever they could. In various buildings, on sheds, in waste bins one even shoved himself under a porch pleading for mercy to the samurai. The samurais attack didn’t last long and as quickly as they had appeared they disappeared in a burst of black smoke that the one used which enveloped the area for a couple seconds before leaving the place in a mess and taking the skeevers with them. When it cleared they were gone and everyone was terrified. Clay declared they’d get the town guard as he, Lloyd, Jay and Lance rushed off to get some help. While it looked like they were getting help once out of the view of the street they hurried to an abandoned house that was largely overgrown by local flora next to a small gardened park area. As they left nearby guards drawn by the commotion were already rushing to the area. Making sure not to be seen the four slipped into the house where instantly they were met by a group of Scimitar Samurai which had Jay panicking and yelling in fear. After the one noted ‘Jay chill you know it’s just us’ the illusion of the samurai disappeared revealing the other ninja and knights with a few of the scholars who had decided to join them in the endeavour. The Samurai attack had all been part of Clays plan. Clays plan was inspired by Zane and Aarons trick on Jay earlier that day to use some of their technologies and Nexo magic to disguise some of them with the appearance of the Stags Scimitar Samurai so no one would know it was them. They had even been able to convince some others to let them use the skeevers from the arena who were well trained for causing chaos to aid in the illusion. When Clay and those with him had gotten to the area Clay had secretly given them the go ahead through his communicator to start the attack to the area to make a distraction and grab those imprisoned. Some of the individuals in the Scholars Center at the time who overheard them were even willing to offer them some aid. Their whole goal was to cause chaos to distract everyone while some of them broke into the house and rescued those trapped there. The ninja had been very careful not to use any major show of their powers to avoid suspicion and all had been careful to not cause too much harm to anyone instead just scaring, causing minor damages and pushing individuals around to keep them distracted and from interfering. Because he knew the Scimitar tongue best they had chosen Zane to play the role of a leader to make orders given sound convincing. Once they had gotten everyone one of the scholars had created the mist to disguise them as they retreated back to this house which Mzark who Zane had asked for possible passages between the Scholars center and the area they needed to be without being seen had told Zane of. There was a connecting passage used by the true Scimitar Samurai when infiltrating the town in the basement of this house which would let those disguised easily sneak through the town and safely get individuals to and from the location. Mzark had been very co-operative to give them a map that would take them directly from the Scholars center to this house and back again. It had been Cole who had talked. Remembering their plan Jay relaxed feeling embarrassed to have over reacted. In his defence he proclaimed their disguises were very convincing.
Their plan had been a success and they had managed to rescue a few individuals including a few kids and the cat girl they had met earlier from the secret Ashers house. They had eight of them most being people from Ninjago and Knighton who had likely been unfortunate in having been caught by Ashers before anyone else could find them. All were terrified unsure what was going on though individuals from Ninjago were pleased to see the ninja while those from Knighton were relieved to see the knights feeling safe by the presence of their heroes.
“Geeze Jay-man try not to wet yourself,” Aaron chuckled annoying Jay before the cat folk muttered shaken and ashamed, “I’m sorry I didn’t mean to hurt your metal skin.” Before they let down their illusions revealing who they were in defence and terrified by what she presumed was one of the monstrous samurai that was holding her but was actually Zane she stabbed with as much force as she could a metal fork she had managed to grab when they grabbed her and the others into his right arm. It didn’t go very deep but did manage to break Zanes skin. Though it did hurt him Zane was more shocked that someone as frail looking and ill as this individual had managed to stab a simple fork through his tough metallic skin.
“It’s okay it’s not too bad. We can fix it,” Nya stated as she came over to inspect the damages and carefully work the fork out of Zanes arm Zane still rather stunned and Aaron commented, “don’t worry I think he’s more stunned you could stab through his titanium skin than anything else. I know I am.”
“What is going on?” one of the individuals asked terrified and Kai proclaimed, “we’re rescuing you.” All those they had rescued were all still rather scared. All the individuals they had grabbed had been locked in the basement of the house they had been held in. Most hadn’t seen the outside since arriving having been caught by the Ashers and kept working in the basement of that house to serve the Ashers who were hiding there and working on some experiments on them. Jay was more than pleased to babble about how this had been their plan to rescue them. Seeing as they had everyone and to avoid possibly being caught by guards who were likely searching the area to find those behind the attack thinking it was a real attack by the Scimitar Samurai they headed back to the Scholars center closing the passages behind them as they went to keep the passage secret. Once there those they rescued were immediately taken to be cared for while Nya and Jay fixed up Zanes arm. A little later Hassiri came to talk to them while they all relaxed after dinner in the common room watching the TV with some of the scholars.
“Well it would seem there was a rather suspicious attack by the Stag today. Strangely they didn’t take anything and were only around for a couple minutes before vanishing. Attacks by them are usually considerably longer. None of you would have any knowledge about this incident would you?” Hassiri inquired with a rather serious tone making them all worried they might be in trouble. Hassiri then stated in a more cheerful tone, “don’t worry none of you are in trouble we have no reason to believe this was some trick or people messing around. As far as everyone knows this was just another of the strange attacks by the Stag’s spawn. It did however prove rather insightful. During investigations for the Stags influence we came upon some questionable items in this house you spoke of earlier. We have those who had been living there in custody and if these individuals who mysteriously have shown up here and claim to have been freed by the attack from the hold of those from this house can testify we can make sure to see these undercover Ashers are properly dealt with.” They were all relieved. They had worried of getting in trouble with the law as they technically had to break it in order to help those that needed it.
“You know even if you had been involved and got caught I don’t think you would be in too much trouble. I think many here would make sure you got off easy say community service and no real punishment. Sometimes to do what is right you have to break the law,” Hassiri stated as the cat folk they had rescued came into the room. She had been cleaned up and wore bandages to cover up the skin damage caused by the curse than some of the scholars were treating. She paused to look around when she came in the room before coming over to them.
“I would like to thank you personally seras. If it wasn’t for you I and those you rescued would all still be held captive by those monsters and destined for a terrible fate. I tried getting help before but out of fear that I was carrying a dangerous illness and superstition they preferred to shun and ignore me. They didn’t interfere when those monsters took me and tricked them into thinking we were related so they could get away with their control on me. I thought there was no hope till I heard about you all. Ever since I heard that there were fighters willing to go against these monsters and save us from their cruelty I waited for so long for a chance for at least one of you to cross my path so I could get a message my note to you. I was starting to lose hope then luck was on my side and you showed up. It was like a blessing from the Dragon Master himself. I do not care what others here think or say no matter what none of you are monsters, I know real monsters and none of you are that not even you metal skin. I hope you can forgive me for stabbing you with a fork,” the cat lady expressed before giving Zane a hug in apology stunning Zane. It wasn’t often especially in this place for others to hug or show much physical affection to Zane so he wasn’t used to it nor expected it. He didn’t know how to react but they could tell he liked it. They were betting it was probably nice to have someone here show liking and trusting to him and not hatred or fear like usual.
“You don’t have to thank us. We were doing what was right. If anything we should be thanking you for getting a message to us to let us know of your circumstance and those monsters. Without it we would never have known,” Clay explained and Lloyd added, “don’t worry Zane doesn’t hold what you did against you he’s had far worse. If anything we’re actually kind of surprised you were able to pierce his skin so easily. Besides he’s faced worst since we got here. Most here think he’s some type of monster.”
“Really? That is unfair. I know what real monsters are and you metal skin nor any of your friends are monsters. Those Ashers and their friends are the monsters. So were all those who turned a blind eye to I and the others plight because of our conditions. They would rather have left us to our fates than spare the time or effort to aid us. No matter what others say you’re no monster to me not even you metal skin. If they wish to see you as a monster than I would rather have monsters like you around who wish to do the right thing no matter what it takes than those like everyone else who would just have left me for those demons,” the cat lady stated. Hassiri then led her out of the room to go and get a statement against the Asher allies in order to make sure they were properly dealt with. Her words to them had them all feeling rather upbeat especially Zane. Despite starting off rather rough they felt the day had turned out rather well.
Dark Storm A flushed out telling of an event mentioned in the chapter Shadow over Life.
“Alright what are we dealing with?” Clay asked as the knights and ninja got off the vehicles the knights had with them. They had stopped on a ridge overlooking a town that had found itself in the midst of what looked to be a clearly unnatural and dark weather phenomenon. Red tinged clouds filled the sky and spiralled around a central part of the town and a blood red fog filled the town and surrounding area. The guard led by Tafari stood on the ridge overlooking the scene. They had several people and animals including wild ones lying about being treated. All had been rescued from the vicinity of the storm and all didn’t look to well. By the looks of it all were starting to fall victim to some sort of disease.
“A storm manifested by Ashers magic. We’ve confirmed there are Ashers present along with several types of monsters. Noctern Crows, Vulcaroths and a pack of Feardrakes at the very least; possibly more plus there is a problem,” Tafari explained not looking away from the settlement as she perched on a cliff top staring down at it not wearing her helmet.
Feardrake:
“Problem?” Kai inquired and Tafari explained, “This storm creates a magical field much like the fogs Ashers use to hide their doings and hinder their enemies. None of the guard can get too close to it. I can, I believe that is due to the Dragons Blood stone I bear within my breast. While I can enter I will not. It would not be wise to venture down there alone and I cannot leave those hear defenceless. The Ashers could strike and if they bring that storm with them I will be this groups only hope at keeping them safe.”
“Well if we can’t enter the storm than why are we here? Why don’t we just strike it as a loss and head home,” Jay proclaimed to which Aaron made a few cluck noises at him making some of the others quietly laugh, Jay not amused at the reference to events in the mine.
“Because some of us are wondering if you might be able to enter the storm unhindered and un harmed. All those both man and beast who enter that storm if not felled by it are stricken with illnesses like Poryphic haemophilia and poisonings of dark energies. If this storm spreads it could devastate not only the area but the realm, even your realms. We need to find a way to stop it. We need to figure out what is going on and if there are some ways to combat it. Because of your powers some of my men are wondering if you may be immune to its effects,” Tafari explained and Jay was quick to state, “enter a storm that could turn us into vampires or other dark monsters?! No way.” After a quick chat they all came up with the conclusion that they would give it a try. They would see if they could enter this storm and shut it down. If they couldn’t then the guard would have to look into something else. Despite Jays protests they headed down into the valley. At first they felt nothing but once they started to get close to the fog Axl, Macy and Lance quickly backed up starting to feel sick and getting affected by the fog. The ninja along with Clay and oddly Aaron were unaffected sparking confusion.
“Our powers must make us immune to this storms magic,” Lloyd noted and Clay agreed, “the same for my magic; Aaron why aren’t you being affected like the others?” Aaron had no clue but he felt and looked fine.
“Maybe because I’m right and he’s not truly human… did you think I didn’t see those weird glowing markings on your skin with your armour on?” Jay proclaimed taking Aarons helmet off surprising the others. He had glowing blue markings on his skin and his eyes had a weird blue iridescence to them. Aaron explained that he had been trying to hide it since getting together with the others knowing it would freak Jay out and wanting to remain professional so not to hurt their image. Before being called to the mission while out for a walk in town Aaron had been helping some folk from Knighton who were nervous of drinking a drink one of the natives had given them to lighten their mood. It was a drink known as Balmora Blue. The drink was like someone had mixed a milkshake with an energy drink. It was made from local ingredients like Kaguar milk, ice cream and Buttercake Shrooms with extracts from Lunar Pods, Brightwood Cypress fungal symbiotes and Lunar Reeds and often flavoured with either vanilla, chocolate, or various fruit flavours; there were even meat and fish flavoured ones. No matter the flavor it was colored blue thanks to the Lunar Pods and Reeds and had a faint glow to it. The drink was harmless with the main effect being to give an individual energy and improve an individual’s mood much like a sugar or caffeine rush however it had the odd effect of creating glowing blue markings and blue iridescent eyes for several hours after drunk. To help the people out and show them there was no harm Aaron had some of the drink with them.
“Dude why are you so paranoid?” Aaron questioned taking his helmet back and putting it back on to which Jay chastised, “I am not paranoid! There’s something off about you. How come no one else sees it?”
“Probably because the rest of us are not crazy,” Kai stated and Clay declared, “we can argue later. We need to disrupt this storm before it gets out of hand.”
“We can’t follow you; we’ll head back and wait with the others. You and Aaron are going to have to work with the ninja alone this time,” Macy proclaimed before she Axl and Lance headed back. Clay was not too thrilled with that idea as while he respected the ninja they sometimes got on his nerve, some more than others, as they didn’t always listen to orders. He likened it to working with cats or wild dogs. They often did their thing and sometimes didn’t even listen to each other lending them to screw up or make a bigger mess. Out of all of them he didn’t have much trouble with Zane, Cole or Lloyd. All three could follow orders well and could get the task done while taking things serious and generally Zane and Cole were rather level headed and took their task serious unlike the others. Add Aaron with them and things tended to not go so well. Aaron wasn’t the problem. He would listen to orders and could get the task done even if things went wrong and for the most part knew when to take things seriously, something some of the ninja didn’t seem to grasp very well. Aaron was also able to work well and got along well with Cole and Zane and to a good extent Lloyd and Nya. The problem with Aaron was Jay and Kai didn’t have the best relations with him, Jay especially, leading to complications if paired to work together.
They snuck into the settlement keeping low to avoid getting detected. Some Noctern Crows and Vulcaroths were hanging around the edges of the town which consisted of only a few buildings which were damaged and one of which on the second story the Noctern Crows had made a nest in decorating the structure with shiny objects and dead animals. At the town center was a portal made of arched stone frames with a dark blood red glowing portal in the center where the monsters had likely entered the realm from and positioned by the edges of the settlement were three stone totems which were emitting the blood red fog. The totems had eerie glowing red carvings coating them. They hid in some shrubs just outside town to survey the goings on. There were three Noctern Crows. Two of which were looking through debris piles likely looking for shiny objects while a third was perched on a rooftop feeding on some fish it had dragged up there holding them down with one foot while tearing at them with its beak. The crows looked like they had been brought as back up if needed and were not there to actively get engaged or for scouting. The same could be seen for the Vulcaroths where there were two who looked like they were more happy eating everything edible from a merchants stall than actually helping out and the pack of five Feardrakes were sleeping together on an old mattress by the ruins of a house. The only ones actually doing anything was a group of about eight full blooded Ashers who were at the center of town with the portal. They were talking loudly clearly believing no one could get through their storm.
Vulcaroth:
“It worked excellent and those pathetic guards can’t get in and there’s nothing they can do about it. Who can stop us now?!” one Asher proclaimed while another stated working on a clipboard taking notes, “yes but you shouldn’t get cocky. In time they could find a way past the dark magic of the storm plus this is a small town and not too big an area. We do not know yet how effective these storms will be on larger areas. We would need to do more tests with larger sizes to determine the effectiveness verses scale ratio to determine the ideal size for these storms.”
“I’ll leave that boring stuff to you nerds, just give me the thrills. Did you see how the storm ripped that farmers soul from his body, it was glorious and now his spirit serves us even better. I say we go bigger. Lets maybe hit a place with more too it. How about a coastal village, I could go for some rays on the beach with the smell of rotting fish filling the air,” the one Asher boasted while another declared, “these storms are not for fun. They are to be used to enslave mortal beings for our use and to ravage landscapes hindering the survival of all who oppose us. They are weapons not toys.” None of them liked what they were hearing. While they hid Clay worked out a plan. He had reason to believe the totems were what was powering the storm. They destroy those and the storm would end. The problem was getting near them. They wouldn’t stand a chance against the monsters and the Ashers at the same time.
Zane had an idea for the Noctern Crows. He was sure his time as one of them had left codes in his programming from the creatures nature that no matter how hard he tried he couldn’t get rid of. The codes at least didn’t cause problems but they did help him understand these creatures. He was pretty sure he knew how to keep them distracted. He headed off to collect anything the creatures deemed shiny. Lloyd didn’t think it a good idea they split up but Zane didn’t listen. Shortly later Zane went up to the two crows on the ground holding out some jewelry he found in the one ruined house. As he approached the crows instantly turned to him. To their surprise the crows didn’t call out an alarm.
“I bring shinnies as an offering of peace between the crows of the hunters court and my allies and me,” Zane stated to the creatures mimicking how the beasts spoke.
“A shiny skin brings us a gift,” the one crow which sounded to possibly be a female stated as she and the other looked over the jewelry. The crow on the roof just watched not wanting to give up its fish.
“It recognises our court, a rarity for mortals interesting,” the other crow squawked. The crows talked with Zane a bit before the one picked him up and put him in their nest. The crows gathered around him to chat. Zane seemed rather relaxed with it all and talked to the creatures who seemed rather friendly towards him the one even sharing some of its fish with him to which though not up to having some of the rotting fish Zane took some anyway not wanting to offend the crows. When the Ashers took note of their behaviour and unable to see that they were talking to Zane the Ashers inquired over what was going on to which the one crow cawed angrily ‘none of your business Ash heart’ while another cawed ‘this doesn’t involve you so flock off’. While the crows chastised the Ashers Zane told the others through his communicator that he had the crows dealt with, they could move on and deal with the rest. With the crows taken care of Clay tried to devise a plan. While he was trying to work it out noting the Vulcaroths which they had read could use fire Kai and Nya decided to try something so snuck off towards them. Cole followed wanting to take the cake they had in their pile of food preferring that he had it and not the monsters getting it. When they got there Kai hit the one creature with some fire while taunting, ‘hey flamey gator bet you’re not as hot as me, I’m the master of fire! You’re just a heated overgrown lizard.’ The Vulcaroths instantly turned to face him clearly annoyed. While Kai taunted them Nya hid out of the creatures sight waiting for the right moment to make her move while Cole snuck around to try and grab the cake while the creatures were distracted.
“Puny mortal think it a challenge?” the one Vulcaroth growled putting its face in Kais baring its teeth.
“I don’t think I am, I know,” Kai boasted causing fire to cover his arms, shoulders and part of his back.
“We’ll see; can you do this,” the Vulcaroth boasted heating up its lava like skin and creating fire across its shoulders and back. Kai made the fire on him grow bigger some spreading onto his hair and made his eyes start to glow with a fiery glow. The Vulcaroth made itself hotter increasing its flames so they grew onto the top of its head and down across the top of its tail with its eyes not only growing a fiery glow but having flames burst up from the outer corners of its eyes.
“Oh-ho impressive, let me think for a minute about what I could do,” Kai proclaimed with a chuckle. Apart from setting his whole self on fire making himself entirely of flame which he was pretty sure he couldn’t do he was pretty sure this creature had beat him. He wasn’t going to let the creature know that though and waited for his sister to make her move. Once his words were done she wasted no time in soaking the beast in water startling it. It quickly cooled down its fire dying and its skin losing its glow coming to look like cooled lava and smoking.
“That’s cheating! No help from a sea witch!” the Vulcaroth declared looking at Nya who was offended by its words, “Sea witch! I’m no witch; I’m the elemental master of water.”
“Same thing to us,” the other Vulcaroth declared before noting Cole secretly trying to grab the cake off the cart of food they had. It grabbed his arm and put its snout in his face to growl, “hands off that is mine!”
“Wouldn’t you rather bugs and rotting meat?” Cole offered unsettled by the creatures snout being so close to his head. It then surprised him by decreeing, “those are nice and all but a lady deserves to enjoy the sweetness of cake when she wants.”
“You’re… you’re a girl!” Cole exclaimed surprise and the Vulcaroth growled, “why does that surprise you?”
“Well you don’t sound or even look feminine… then again you monsters all look alike,” Cole commented and the Vulcaroth snorted in his face, “typical humans. Unless we look like you humans you can’t tell the difference. Let me guess you thought we were nothing but dumb reptiles too huh.”
“Well kind of…” Kai stumbled and the male Vulcaroth expressed, “simple mortals with your simple minds. We Vulcaroths are not simple uniform beasts like you.” The five got to talking Cole, Nya and Kai trying to defend their actions and come up with a way to negotiate with the creatures who wanted to eat them or at the least turn them into toys to chew and beat up. They were keeping the creatures at least distracted but Clay was starting to get irritated. The ninja weren’t listening to him and Aaron was being rather unhelpful. He was fidgeting and distracted; Clay had a feeling that Balmora Blue stuff had given him a sort of caffeine buzz like affect agitating him and making restless. Without warning Aaron proclaimed he would deal with the Feardrakes. Getting on his hover shield he tossed a rock at the sleeping reptiles waking them up and catching their attention.
“Hey you bird-lizards who wants to go for a run? Come on which one of you can catch the shiny knight,” Aaron proclaimed to the creatures before rushing off to the outskirts on the opposite side of the town taking a path that skirted around the town on his hover shield. The Feardrakes were instantly drawn to him and chased off after him trying to catch him.
“See something’s not right with him, why would you risk having those monsters attention and he looks to be enjoying himself too much to have them chasing after him! That’s not right!” Jay exclaimed about Aaron as he took off. Clay was left with Lloyd and Jay. He was fine with Lloyd not so much Jay who was beginning to babble about Aaron claiming he made Zanes strangeness seem normal and complaining that Aaron must be some unnatural being to have so little fear.
“Will you be quite we don’t want to drag attention to us,” Clay reprimanded holding his hand over Jays mouth to silence him.
“What do you think we should do,” Lloyd wondered waiting for Clay to give the orders. Looking around at what they had to work with Clay quickly formulated a plan. The monsters were distracted leaving just the Ashers to deal with. All of them were congregated together in the center of the town going over their work. They looked to have gotten cocky thinking none could challenge them and were letting their guard down. The totems were unguarded. He came up with a plan. They snuck around to one of the totems. They hit it a few times with their weapons and while it did leave some damages it was taking too long for Clays liking to take it down. Wanting to avoid being caught he wanted something quick to take it out so they weren’t in view for long. Thinking quickly Clay tried his magic using a light based spell. It began damaging the totem quicker and when Lloyd added a blast from his powers it was sped up and took no time to damage it. Once destroyed the storm made some noise and looked to weaken a bit. Once the totem was destroyed they wasted no time in rushing off to hide. The Ashers were quickly drawn over to the totem baffled over what had happened unsure how it could have been destroyed. The monsters did have their attentions drawn to the commotion but they clearly didn’t care over what was going on. With the Ashers distracted at the one totem Clay, Lloyd and Jay snuck up to the second one and using Clays magic and Lloyds powers destroyed it while Jay who was terrified they’d get caught kept watch. Once this one was destroyed they quickly hid again.
“I think we have intruders, I sense magic of the light here,” one of the Ashers stated as they investigated the damaged totem. They turned to get the monsters to search the area and were angered to see Kai, Nya and Cole talking with the Vulcaroths. The three were starting to get somewhere apologising for their behaviour to the creatures and working on coming up with an agreement to get them to abandon the service of the Ashers.
“You overgrown lava lizards why are you just talking with the enemy! Destroy those filthy dragons,” the one Asher ordered. His words offended the Vulcaroth to which the female growled, “overgrown lava lizards! How dare those scum call us such lowly names. We are Vulcaroths superior monsters to their dusty hides born of lava, flame, stone and darkness not lowly lizards!”
“Are you going to let them show you such disrespect,” Nya stated and Kai added, “you know if they have such disrespect to you then why are you aiding them?”
“They offered us rewards. Tasties, lava pools and a chance to destroy whatever we want,” the male Vulcaroth responded and Cole proposed, “obviously they’re just using you. If they’re just using you how can you trust they’ll give you what they promised? Besides we share more in common than they do. We know and understand the powers of lava, flame and stone.” Cole showed off his lava arms and Kai showed off his fire. The creatures looked at them intrigued that they shared powers and Kai offered, “How’s this we’ll let you take all the food even the cake…” Cole cut in to proclaim, “you know if you love cake then you can’t be all bad” Kai then continued, “you can take the cart as well. We’ll let you go free to head back to where you came from and you can destroy whatever you want on the way home. How’s that sound? All you have to do is take out some of those dusty skins. I’ll even offer some of my powers to restore yours to combat my sea witch sisters cooling on you.” Nya was not pleased by Kais description of her but the creatures looked pleased. Even without a conformation Kai hit the Vulcaroth they had cooled with his fire Cole helping by touching his lava arms to the creature. It clearly enjoyed the warmth from their powers and heated back up.
“You share your powers with us even without our agreement. The burning skins would never be so kind. We will agree to your terms,” the male Vulcaroth declared before the two went after the Ashers. The Ashers were mad and tried to summon the Feardrakes but they couldn’t find them.
“Where’d those lizards go?” the one Asher inquired and Aaron proclaimed as he rushed over on his hover board to hover above them and drop a bunch of meats on them from a crate he held, “looking for these?” The Feardrakes were close behind Aaron rushing over to get some of the meat not caring if they bit, scratched or bowled over the Ashers in their attempts to get the food. The Ashers were angered and annoyed at some of their allies turning on them and the Feardrakes clambering over them so they attempted to call the Noctern Crows to their aid.
“Why should we listen to you? We are of the Hunters court aligning with the Stag Prince not your foul master. We are free to choose who we obey and we told you when you summoned us this but you ignored it. While your offerings are agreeable they are not as pleasing as the shiny skins. He understands what it is to be of our flock. You are not our allies, the shiny skin and his allies are our allies,” the one crow declared as they came out of their nest the one carrying Zane down to place him on the ground.
“I knew those crows were a bad idea. We should have gone for ones from the Court of Shadows not the Hunters Court,” the one Asher proclaimed as the Crows joined the attack on the Ashers. With their allies turning on them the ninja rushed in to aid them taking out several of the Ashers. With the Ashers occupied Clay and Lloyd took out the last totem. With it destroyed the storm died and seeing their plans had been thwarted the Ashers that remained fled cursing the ninja, knights and monsters; their monsters staying behind.
“Well that didn’t go as planned but we got it done,” Clay stated as they gathered back together, “now what do we do about the monsters?”
“Nothing, I know I’ve had enough of these Ash skins,” the male Vulcaroth growled as he and his pal packed up their goodies onto the cart and the female agreed, “yha screw those charred hides. I think it’s time we have a vacation.”
“Where would a creature like you go for a vacation?” Aaron wondered and the male Vulcaroth regaled while the female breathed fire on the gem in the portal frame causing the glow to the portal to change to a fiery red orange, “volcanic zones are always a good spot, I hear there some nice lava pools and hot springs not far from the Red Mountain. I think we’ll enjoy some time there.”
“Here for your respect to us you can have some of this,” the female Vulcaroth proclaimed giving Cole a quarter of her cake using her claws to cut it out.
“Thanks,” Cole stated pleased to have a piece of cake. The two then went through the portal taking their cart of goodies with them and cursing about the Ashers planning on having some fun attacking the foul beings while on vacation.
“Okay what do we do about the others?” Clay wondered before the one Noctern Crow walked close to the portal and used a spell on the gem powering it causing the portal to turn a mix of black and void green. It then ordered the Feardrakes through the portal. The creatures willingly obeyed and rushed through the portal. The crow then used another spell to destroy the portals gem subsequently destroying the portal.
“Wait what about you?” Lloyd wondered looking to the crows who came to group together.
“The small bird reptiles are back in the void where they belong, we are staying in this place,” the one cawed and Clay countered, “I don’t think so. You’re a danger to the people…”
“We are not a danger, we serve the Stag Prince not the burning skins. We are going to aid those who follow our master mortals like you and protect them from the burning skins. We pose no danger to those who don’t deserve it shiny wearer,” the one crow cawed while the one of its companions stated to Zane, “if you ever need aid from the court you know how to call for it.” The crows then took off heading for a shrine to Storabek nearby that could use their aid.
“I don’t like letting those things go free,” Clay noted and Zane explained, “they won’t cause trouble. They are more like crows than true demons. Also the court those three are a part of align with mortals like us more than other monsters.”
“How can you trust such monsters? It’s because you were one of them for a while isn’t it? It messed with your brain,” Jay complained as they started to head back to the others and Aaron stated, “why don’t you chill bro. Those semi-bony bird dudes are kind of rad.”
“I’d say more of creepy,” Clay noted before Jay complained, “you only think they’re rad because you’re crazy!” When they got to the others they wondered how it all went. They had seen the storm get destroyed but had been hesitant to get close as the mist was still present though it was slowly dissipating. After they regaled how it went Lloyd having to constantly silence Jay who was trying to complain over everything Tafari wondered, “interesting… your powers must have kept you safe like we thought. What about that one the archer. How come he wasn’t affected? If what you say is true that he has no special powers then how could he enter the storm? If we could figure that out then our troops might stand a chance against them.”
“Because he’s crazy and thinks that Balmora blue stuff is fine!” Jay complained taking Aarons helmet off revealing to the others that Aaron still had the glowing markings and eye iridescence from the drink. To Jays dislike the others weren’t shocked or scared by the markings many instead being interested. Tafari wondered if something used to make the drink counteracted the magic used by the Ashers to make the storm. One of the mages among Tafaris troops inspected Aaron and proclaimed, “the Ashers used dark magic to create that storm, it radiated dark energies. Some of the ingredients used to make Balmora Blue not only glow from light but radiate energy of lightness. That energy must have counteracted the dark energies the Ashers were using keeping this one safe.”
“We’ll have to get some looking into this back in Balmora. If we can counteract their dark magics then they won’t be able to get an advantage over us and we can keep them at bay. They already have too many advantages over us we don’t want them getting anymore,” Tafari declared.
Forest of the Stag This one happens late in the first part shortly before they leave for the city.
It was a warm sunny day and given how hard they had been working and all the rough times they had been having the ninja and knights had decided to take some time to relax on such a nice day. It would probably be the one of the last chances they would have to relax before heading off through the wastes to the home of a demon. They headed out to a small lake to have a picnic and relax by its shores. All but Misako, Merlok, Robin and Ava headed out. They used the knights 5 vehicles to reach the site and had all gone in their commoners outfits. It was a nice reprieve as they relaxed by the lake shore despite how unpleasant the local environment was. They were in what looked to have been a lakeside park outside a very small tourist town though it and the town were currently abandoned. The area had recently been hit by an Ashers Ravage Storm, a new attack Ashers had started. Ravage Storms were cyclonic storms created of dark magic that would taint the areas they hit with darkness, corrupt beings caught in it into monsters and tear the souls from the living to trap in special gems they were using to power portals to dark realms or to use as ghostly soldiers to slave for them. Though the city guard had destroyed this storm the area had been left tainted by the Ashers magic. The area was forested and surrounded by large hills with the lake filling the lowest portions of the makeshift valley the town sat in. The flora of the region was all greyed and dulled with many looking close to death or burnt. Even the very ground appeared like it had been burned. Much of the fauna and all the people had fled from the storm and hadn’t returned to the area leaving it quiet and barren. Those that had been lucky enough to escape the storm before it fully claimed them had been cursed with Porphyric Hemophilia, what many including Jay called the Vampire disease. Luckily all of them including beasts and people had all been captured and were being given treatment for the condition back in Balmora. Sadly there was nothing they could do to save those who had been caught and claimed by the storm. Despite this they had chosen the location as it was close to town and since the Ashers had already attacked they felt they wouldn’t likely return to the area so should be pretty safe from Asher attacks. Plus with no animals around they were not very likely to encounter any possible allies to the Stag.
“You know I heard the ship we are going to be using will be repaired and ready for us in a few days,” Clay expressed as they relaxed he, Lloyd, Nya, and Macy playing a strategy board game and Kai who was relaxing enjoying the warmth of the sun stated, “do we have to talk about that now?”
“Yha can we not talk about such unpleasant things like travelling through that cursed place or to that demons monstrous home and just relax,” Jay complained and Lloyd noted, “we can relax now but we cannot forget we have work to do here.” They continued to relax sitting on two picnic blankets they had laid out next to each other by the lakeshore. Along with just relaxing Jay was playing a handheld video game he had brought with him, Aaron lay on his back asleep using a book to block the sun from his eyes, Lance was trying to tan himself, Zane was reading a book while occasionally looking over their surroundings, Axl was cooking their lunch on a little barbeque they had brought and Cole was helping him. While Zane read the book, the guide book they had been given he occasionally got a weird sensation. Whatever it was felt dark and un-natural and a bit like the Stag putting him a bit on edge. Whatever he was feeling he quickly surmised wasn’t the Stag as it was weak, more sporadic and he couldn’t pinpoint where it was coming from. After a while he brushed it off as an effect from the ash or residual energy from the Ashers storm.
“I bet this place looked a lot nicer before those Ashers got a hold of it,” Macy expressed and Zane regaled from his book, “this was once known as one of the most beautiful places in the area even after the eruptions. Many believed that was thanks to the locals worship of a powerful forest spirit they called Skogursha who roams the forest around here in the form of a large creature known as a Morinosei (mori-no-say). He is said to be very protective of his lands and would routinely attack those that didn’t respect his forests or him.” While they talked Cole went to get some more burger patties for Axl to cook up from a cooler in their vehicles which were parked a bit out of sight in some trees a few meters away.
Morinosei: 
“Obviously this Skogursha must be a myth cause if he isn’t then he’s doing a very terrible job at keeping this place nice, just look at it. Calling it rustic would be too kind a word,” Lance expressed to which Macy explained, “and rustic is your code word for run down and dirty.”
“Many scholars believe Skogursha is a myth created by locals to explain why this area has been less effected by the Red Mountain than other areas nearby which recent studies have proven is thanks to the large hills of the area helping block some of the ash falls and storms protecting the region and not really due to any magical interference,” Zane noted.
“What are these Morinosei?” Jay wondered and Zane explained, “large relatives to the Venom-fang which are largely herbivorous though will routinely eat smaller animals, insects and on the rare occasion people. They are most well known for their large scythe like hand claws and very strange appearances. Despite that they’re supposedly rather peaceful and docile creatures.”
“Peaceful and docile yet they will still eat people; let’s hope we don’t ever come across any,” Jay expressed before Cole called them over to check something out sounding nervous. All but Aaron who was still asleep got up and went over to see what he wanted. When they got there they were all stunned. Something had attacked the vehicles leaving large deep scratch marks on them, one was stuck in a tree and one of the vehicles was gone. They could see the marks of where it had been dragged off into the forest.
“Luckily none of the food or drinks were touched but it makes no sense. This looks like an animal attack,” Cole noted and Axl wondered, “what kind of animal could do this?!”
“And what kind of animal attacks and doesn’t take the food?” Nya wondered Jay hiding nervously behind her to proclaim, “maybe it wasn’t animal but this Skog thing.”
“I don’t think this is mystical in any way…” Clay expressed before a noise back at their picnic caught their attention. Rushing back they found everything had been tossed about, the food was eaten and Aaron was missing. While the others looked around on edge trying to figure out what happened Jay began to panic which started causing Lance to panic.
“I bet it was this Skogursha being. We’re on his territory so he ate the food and took Aaron as a sacrifice!” Jay babbled before he was shocked by hearing Aarons voice proclaim, “I haven’t been taken.” Aaron was stuck in a clump of Chokeweed bushes at the edge of the cleared area they had been sitting. Clay and Lloyd helped him out of the bush while Kai inquired what had happened and if he had seen the culprit.
“Don’t know who did it. First I’m sleeping then the next thing I know I’m flung through the air and landing in some bushes. Not a cool or pleasant way to be woken up,” Aaron expressed before stating noting Zane pick up a strange object off the ground, “hey whatcha got there cyber-bro.” The object looked like a greenish colored feather but not like an average bird’s feather. For one it was large, much bigger than any birds plus it was simpler in design.
“It’s a Pycno-fiber, a basal form of feather commonly seen on flightless ground birds and the Repto-birds of this region,” Zane noted and Cole expressed, “that’s one big feather. There’s no chance that came from something small is there?”
“No and giving some of the footprints around here and the scratch marks to the vehicles I would have to say it is a large species we are dealing with,” Zane noted and Lloyd opted, “maybe we should think of relaxing somewhere else. I think we might have upset something here.”
“It’s Skoggy, we’ve angered him by being in his forest and not giving him any tributes,” Jay proclaimed annoying the other ninja while the knights were a bit confused Aaron even asking, “dude what’s his problem?”
“We often ask that… it’s not some spirit we’re dealing with probably just an animal looking for an easy meal or in a really bad mood,” Kai expressed and Macy stated, “whatever it is we should clean up then find the missing vehicle and figure out how we’re going to get the other out of that tree. Then we should probably find somewhere else to relax, preferably somewhere we are not likely to anger something.” They were in agreement and collected their stuff to take it back to the vehicles. As they brought things back to the vehicles they were shocked to find another vehicle now suspended in a tree by strange vines that looked to be a hybrid of plant and shrooms which were oddly healthy and vibrant compared to the state of the area.
“Okay, maybe there is something strange going on,” Clay noted as they looked at the vine wrapped vehicle and Nya noted, “What could do this?” Not wanting to hang around to find out they split up to work on getting the vehicles down and find the missing one. Nya, Macy and Lloyd went to find the missing vehicle while the others worked on getting the two down. Cole and Axl managed to slowly work the one out of the tree breaking a few branches in the process while Clay and Kai worked on cutting the vines off the other Lance working as a spotter for them. Aaron, Jay and Zane meanwhile checked over the other two vehicles to assess what kind of damages the scratches had done. It didn’t appear too bad, they were mainly cosmetic damages and the important components of the vehicles were unharmed. While they worked Zane kept getting distracted. He could swear from time to time he was seeing movement out of the corner of his eye or hear movement in the brush nearby and he got a strange feeling that something was nearby watching them. He couldn’t see anything nor pick up anything with his sensors though so brushed it off as tricks of the cursed environment.
“Well we found it but you’d never guess where it is,” Macy expressed as they came back from their search and Nya elaborated, “it’s somehow been pulled up onto a tall cliff by an un-naturally large and aggressive trauma root.”
“Well we’re almost done here. Once this one is down we’ll figure out how to get it,” Clay stated as he and Kai worked on the last of the vines and Kai wondered, “what do you think did all this?”
“It was Skoggy!” Jay quickly blurt out the others quick to chastise his idea. While the others talked cautiously working the vehicle free and checking over the one they had gotten out of the tree Zane got distracted by the slight sounds of movement in the brush nearby. The forest of the area was made of largely redwoods, Brightwood Cypresses, Eucalid Locusts, Maple and Pine. All were not currently in the best of shapes. He noted something odd about the trunk of one of the redwoods. There were some greener patches of something on it and there was an odd shape to some of the bark areas. Intrigued he went closer for a better look. What had looked like some sort of plant or moss from a distance looked more like the Pycno-fibers up close and looking over the shape of the abnormal patch of the plant he noted some slight movements that looked a bit like breathing to a few parts. As he looked at it he became aware of a low quiet growling. Following the sounds source looking up he was surprised to see a set of eyes looking down at him from what he had thought was a really strange lichen coated branch at first but he was now just realising was the head and long neck of a large creature that had positioned itself against the trunk wrapping most of its body into it so it blended in with the tree. Zane was unsettled and wary. Given the scratches they were able to put on the vehicles this creatures claws would defiantly do serious damage to his body if it attacked him. While he looked up at it slowly moving back from it not wanting to make the creature feel threatened causing it to attack two others like it seeing one of them had been spotted moved out from the woods where like this one they had been blending in as part of the foliage. They stalked out of the woods on two legs showing off the large scythe claws that tipped their arms as they began to attack the knights and ninja who were surprised by the creatures sudden appearance and shocked by how they looked and how well they had blended into the surroundings. The creatures were rather reptilian looking to be part of the Repto-bird group standing on two legs and a bit more upright than the usual bi-pedal Repto-birds. They were a bit on the chunky side with pot bellies and thick legs whose feet and upper leg were made to look like they were made of bark with even spikes that resembled the stumps of tree branches coming off the sides. Similar strange growths grew as short branch like structures from its spine on its back and on the shoulders with three plates of this stuff growing on each forearm and coating the head which faded into a dark beak at the front of the snout with several short and thick branch like structures growing off the back of the head plate as a frill. Large parts of the body including its core, the lower legs, most of the arms, part of the long tail and its long cassowary like neck were coated in the strange greenish pycno-fibers like the one they had found before with some standing up as a mane on the back of its neck. The creatures didn’t hold back in their attacks slashing with their claws, trying to bite and stomp on them. Zane rushed back to help the others the third creature following him to join in the attack.
“What are these things? They’re like living trees except they’re harder to burn than a tree!” Kai expressed finding his element wasn’t doing as much damage as he thought it would and Zane explained, “these are those Morinosei I told you of earlier.” They were no match for the creatures. They were surprisingly resistant to the ninjas elemental powers and Clays magic, too large for Spinjitsu to have an effect on and they had come to find themselves weapon less. When they had gone to retrieve their weapons and the knights shields from the vehicles they were shocked to find the strange fungal vines had grown onto the vehicles and encased their items. Even more shocking was the sudden arrival of one of the creatures who was notably bigger than the others as they all found themselves forced by the creatures into a cluster of bamboo at the forests edge blocking any backward movement and trapping them. The new arrivals size was not the only thing different about him. He was dark in color and also had small fungal growths and patches of moss coming out of parts of his hide along his back, a few bits of moss hanging from the frill on his head and algae clinging to parts of his hide. It also bore strange black and glowing aquamarine markings on its face, parts of its body and limbs and its eyes glowed with the same greenish color. He joined in the attack with the other three. Not only was this large one using the same attacks as the others but it seemed to have some knowledge in elemental magic mainly based around nature as it could control vines and even summoned vines up from the ground to try and encase them.
“Well I think we know who made the strange vines and has been messing with our stuff,” Cole noted.
“That must be Skoggy!” Jay exclaimed and Aaron inquired, “what’s with it’s strange tattoos?”
“The colors are like those the Stag uses; I wonder if it is a minion to the Stag,” Lloyd pondered to which Zane commented, “maybe. It is giving off hints of the energy possessed by the Stag but I do not sense the Stags presence here and none of the others show signs of the Stags hold.”
“That still doesn’t mean they’re not working for him… what are you doing?” Kai stated noting Jay who had stopped fighting and was bowing on his hands and knees to the largest of the Morinosei proclaiming, “oh great Scoggy we didn’t mean to trespass in your sacred forest. We beg that you will forgive us and let us go in peace and we will give you whatever you want. You can even have Coles cake that he snuck out here for himself just please don’t hurt us or eat us.”
“How’d you know I brought it? If you thought I was going to share some with you I wasn’t. I’ll share with Zane cause he won’t tattle like you,” Cole expressed and Lloyd declared forcing Jay to stand up and stop worshipping the creature, “will you stop it’s not some great spirit it’s an animal in service to a demon. No matter what you plea it’s not going to listen.” Lloyd then quickly shot a blast towards the big one as it went to take a swipe at him. The creature blocked his first attack and dodged the second attack he tossed at it. The creature watched the blast shoot past him and hit into one of the Brightwood Cypresses at the forests edge. When the energy from Lloyds attack hit the tree Skogursha noticed something. Everyone else was occupied with fighting so didn’t notice but when the blast hit the tree where it hit began to gain some color and the tree started bouncing back to life a bit of the symbiotic fungi housed in crevices of the bark which had been dulled from the Ashers magic lighting up and gaining not just their color but some of their glow back. Skoggy was intrigued. He called to the others to hold off their attacks and summoned vines to hold all but Lloyd preventing them from moving or fighting.
“Oh great Skoggy please have mercy on us!” Jay pleaded as Lloyd tried to fend off Skogursha as he moved close to him. Skogursha without hesitation swung his head down biting onto Lloyd.
“It’s going to eat him!” Kai exclaimed as Skoggy raised his head Lloyds top half encased in its mouth. Skoggy then turned and walked off into the forest the other three following him while the rest were left trapped by the vines.
“They’re going to eat us! We have to get out of here before they come back!” Jay exclaimed panicking and struggling to break free of the vines.
“What about Lloyd…” Axl wondered before Jay cut him off panicking, “it’s too late for him he’s Skoggys food now!”
“It might not be too late, we could still try to rescue him,” Clay declared trying to think of a spell to deal with the vines while Kai managed to free himself by burning the vines.
“I say we kick their butts and get Lloyd back and this time they won’t catch us off guard or un-armed,” Kai declared using the knife he had been using earlier to cut the vehicle free to cut the others free. While they got free and grabbed their weapons Skogursha carried Lloyd off through the woods. Lloyd was trying to get free terrified he was going to get eaten. He was suddenly dropped on the ground landing on his rear to look up at Skogursha and his three allies as they looked down at him. They had him backed against a stone wall that was coated in oddly healthy vines. Lloyd was terrified they were going to eat him tearing pieces off so each of them could have a bite. He wondered as he crawled backwards not taking his eyes off the beasts if the creatures thought that if they ate him if they would acquire his powers possibly to try and restore their home and that was why they had picked him. When he hit the wall he got even more scared then became startled and confused as Skogursha made a move with his forearms causing the vines on the wall to die back revealing a gateway in the wall that looked to lead into the courtyard of a small temples. The place while clearly ancient looked to have still been in use till quite recently. Strangely the foliage inside the temple grounds was still pretty healthy and didn’t look to be as affected by the Ashers storm as the rest of the area. There also appeared to have been fighting there recently, by the looks probably from when the Ashers storm had hit the area. Evidence of Ashers mainly weapons and scatterings of ash piles lay scattered about with a few monks, a few of what looked to be hunters or woodsmen in leather armour, two wolves and oddly a few of these were-wolf creatures. A noise drew Lloyds attention back to the creatures. Skoggy was now hunched over so he could put his head near Lloyds level. Skoggy looked at him then made a motion with his head at Lloyd as if saying he wanted Lloyd to enter the place. Lloyd looked back into the ruins confused. As he looked into the yard he was getting a dark feeling and he could see evidence of Ashers tainting around the yard. Primarily painted markings of their design, dark totems, a dark blood red fog that clung close to the ground and dark vines that reminded Lloyd of those used by the Oni when they had invaded. There was also a large tall distinct and dark carved stone totem of Asher make in the center of the courtyard which was emanating strong dark energies that looked to be fuelling the other tainting of the Ashers. Red glowing markings with heavily Oni related iconography were etched into the stone. For a reason he couldn’t determine Lloyd felt Skogursha wanted him to do something with this temple and though he was not entirely sure exactly what it was he felt it had to do with removing the Ashers influence.
“You monsters back off from our friend,” he heard Kai exclaim as the others rushed out of the woods towards the beasts ready for a fight. The creatures turned towards them defensively. Lloyd quickly thought over the circumstances.
“Wait I don’t think they intend to hurt us,” Lloyd proclaimed getting up and putting himself between the creatures and the others to prevent any fighting to which Kai wondered, “then what do they want?”
“To eat us!” Jay suggested before Lloyd explained, “I think they want our help. Come look.” Lloyd took the others into the temple grounds. Jay and Lance were scared of the creatures as they passed them while Kai, Nya, Macy and Clay were not willing to let their guards down to the beasts remaining on guard for a fight. The others were wary but relaxed not seeing any need to be threatening to the creatures. By the looks the creatures gave some of them it looked like their feelings were mutual, they were wary of them, but Skoggy and his allies let them pass in peace. The Ashers influence to the area unnerved them all and had them on edge.
“These poor individuals looked to have been caught off guard by the Ashers,” Lloyd noted as they entered the temple grounds and slowly made their way to the temple whose doors were wide open inspecting the few people and man-beasts that lay about the yard as they went. None showed signs of life. Interestingly none showed signs they had been affected by the Ashers storm though it was clear the Ashers had gotten to them. Interestingly none of the people showed evidence the were-wolves or wolves had attacked them and the were-wolves and wolves showed no evidence of being harmed by the people. Both however had clearly been hurt by the Ashers.
“By the looks they didn’t stand a chance,” Clay expressed and Nya noted, “strange this place looks to have been spared the worst of the storm that tainted the area.”
“Maybe they had some sort of magical ward to protect the area. They probably then were seeking shelter here from the storm when the Ashers attacked them,” Macy noted and Axl wondered, “why did the Ashers attack them?’
“Probably so they couldn’t escape the effects of their storm. They probably saw these folks had found a loophole in their plans and were not too happy with it,” Aaron hypothesized.
“Is it just me but does anyone else think it’s odd that they look dead but few show wounds that would have been fatal?” Cole wondered as they inspected the people Zane offering, “it is indeed odd. It is possible though their demise was not brought about physically but from the dark forces of the Ashers.” The others agreed with his statement.
“What do you think this place was?” Clay wondered.
“Maybe it’s a shrine to Skoggy,” Jay offered while Cole wondered, “do these were-beasts associate with Skoggy?”
“I did not see any mention of it in those texts but possibly,” Zane responded while Macy noted, “you know I don’t recall the map for the area mentioning any temples here.”
“I think that’s because the public isn’t supposed to know of this place,” Lloyd noted as they entered the temple startled by what they found. While the outside was made of stone the walls inside were made of plaster with wooden columns and accents. The building was medium sized and only one room which was spacious and open. The place was not in too bad a shape with only minor damages though there was serious tainting by the Ashers dark magic. A few ash piles, a wolf and two people an ungulate folk who lay sprawled out on his front on the ground in the middle of the structure and a cat folk who sat with her back against an altar at the far wall were in the place. A skylight was built into the wooden roof by the far side of the building which let light in over a life sized statue that sat behind the altar at the far wall. They didn’t need anyone to explain to them who the statue was of. By its form they knew exactly who it was depicting and it sent shivers down their spines. It was depicting Storabek the demon lord of the hunt who they had come to learn was an aspect of the Black Stag! The statue was of his man form with the head of an elk stag. He held two spears one in each hand and looked to be in the midst of a fight going to stab something below him with the one spear the other held back but in position to be used at a moments notice. Both the statue and altar had been defiled by the Ashers paintings and totems. This was a temple to Storabek which also meant a temple to the Black Stag!
“It’s a trap! Those monsters have led us here to give us to their demon master!” Jay exclaimed and Lloyd agreed, “I think this time Jay’s right. I think they intend to give us to that monster.”
“We should maybe get out of here then before he arrives. I’d rather not face him any more than we have to,” Clay expressed and the others were in agreement. They were about to head off till they noticed Zane was missing. Looking around they were relieved to find he had just gone over to inspect the one wall which was decorated by various drawings and a large plaque at its base.
“What’s with the drawings?” Lance wondered as they all came to join Zane to inspect the decorations and Zane replied, “it would appear they depict some local tale. Whether it is historically accurate or simply a myth I cannot tell.”
“Long ago when the region was still wild in the time of the second era a tribe lived in peace here under the reign of the Stag prince. It was a tough but peaceful existence but they lived in peace with the land and its beasts. Then one day the demons of the Tower attacked seeking the slaving of our masters children for their dark purposes and the riches of our great lands to satisfy their greed. The tribe were no match for the demons. All warriors took to arms but soon were no more. In their final hours as the monsters closed in on those who could not fight the last warrior who remained made a great sacrifice. To protect these lands and their kin that remained from the stains of the ash bloods they shed their own blood to call upon the Prince of the Hunt. Storabek listened to their pleas and accepted their offer. The Prince of Beasts bestowed upon the region a guardian of his choosing. Upon the beast who had not fled and fought till its last breath against the demons he bestowed new life and great power from the reaches of the void. With the warriors last breaths Skogursha came to the tribes salvation bringing the fury of the Stags blood upon the demons. From the beetles in the earth to the ravens of the skies and the beasts of mans fear that stalked the woods Skogursha brought them with him bestowing upon them the powers to drag the demons to their demise. Only with the last of the demons slain was his fury satiated, our kin avenged and the tribe saved. The Stags wrath was done and Skogursha remained; an eternal guardian for these lands born of flesh given the heart of a warrior and a soul born in the void he stands as our protector since his creation and shall remain so till the Prince of Wilds and Beasts feels his need is done. Since then we have worshipped our lords son of the woods. May his reign be long and that he spares us the cruelty of the towers hold,” Clay read from the plaque. The first one to speak when Clay was done was Jay who muttered, “that is not a very happy story.”
“No it isn’t, a lot of it sounds like they witnessed one of the Stags attacks,” Lloyd agreed and Aaron noted, “if the Stags so monstrous why did he save the people?”
“The answers in the tale, they worshipped him it’s as simple as that. He saved them because they’re his pawns not because he cared,” Kai explained while something glinting in the light on the altar of the shrine caught Coles attention. He went over to investigate it while Jay pleaded, “okay creepy history lesson over let’s get out of here.”
“I don’t know if this is 100 percent accurate history. It could be but it could also be a tale passed through generations about a historical event. Things could have gotten lost in translation over the years or even purposely changed to make the story more appealing or less frightful at the cost of the truth,” Zane noted while Cole picked up the object to look it over. It was a dagger with a blade made of obsidian. He found it odd this item had just been placed there.
“I don’t care about the semantics, I just want to get away from here,” Jay expressed before Cole caught all their attentions when he accidently cut his hand on the blade dropping it and some blood on the altar as he held the cut in pain. The others came over to see what he had done. The cut wasn’t too bad but it was bleeding a bit and he would need a bandage for it but wouldn’t need any stitches.
“Why would you pick up something in an evil temple and cut yourself with it!” Jay chastised Cole who responded with, “I just wanted to see what was shining; I didn’t mean to cut myself it was an accident.”
“We have a first aid kit back at the vehicles. We can get you a bandage there,” Clay proclaimed and Jay expressed, “yes let’s get out of here.” Before they could make a move a voice caught them all off guard. It was a voice they all recognised which scared them and had three of them paralyzed with fear by just its sound.
“Interesting I would not have expected any of you at one of my shrines let alone to shed your blood upon it,” the Stags voice declared echoing through the room around them. Zane, Nya and Cole were frozen by fear shaking as they looked around for where the voice came from. A ghostly projection of the Stags elk headed man form formed in front of the altar as a cold dark mist materialized and slowly swirled around them cutting off any chance to escape.
“Cole look what you did you brought that demon here now we’re doomed!” Jay chastised Cole on the verge of panic but Cole couldn’t hear him too terrified by the Stags presence to move or speak going pale at the shock of being in this demons presence. Zane and Nya were in the same states as the three stared at the ghostly Stag his presence bringing them terrible feelings and memories. The others noted the way the three were reacting and were disturbed and worried. They tried to get the three to move to get them away from the Stags apparition but the three were stiffened by fear and immovable. All they could do was stand close to them to offer them comfort trying to snap them out of their state.
“We saw what you did with our friends’ demon and we will not let you touch them again,” Lloyd declared holding his sword threateningly at the Stags aspect which eerily didn’t react.
“So you recognise that I Storabek am but one face of the one many know as the Black Stag good for you. If you seek something for my actions I promise you will get none nor will I apologise for them. What I did was necessary to get done what had to be done your feelings of the matter are of no importance whelps,” the Stag coldly stated his voice coming from the form though it’s mouth didn’t fully match his words while he simply stood idling by the altar looking over them. They could all swear in the dark mists surrounding them were shadowy figures of predatory beasts like wolves, hyenas, Scimitar Cats and Venom-fangs stalking around them appearing and disappearing randomly through the mist.
“Go ahead and make your move we’re not going to let you take us without a fight,” Kai growled standing protectively in front of his sister to shield her from this demon. With a calmness that only unnerved them the Stag proclaimed, “stay your tongue fire born I am not here for unproven pups such as yourselves.”
“Then what are you here for?” Jay questioned trying to act brave and the Stag declared, “I come not as the Stag but as Storabek. I am here for I was summoned…”
“Cole didn’t mean to summon you, it was an accident,” Aaron noted and the Stag declared, “it was not he who summoned me. While one of my wardens the beast you know as Skogursha tried to hold back the demons those that bow to me requested my presence. As the ashen heathens came bringing their un-natural storm those that dwelled here followers of my teachings begged for the aid to spare them from those monsters…”
“Clearly you just let them perish like the cold hearted monster you are,” Clay declared readying himself to challenge the Stag if it attempted to make a move at them. The Stag stated calmly, “perish it may seem as if that is what happened but the heathens are the only ones to have truly perished here... for now. As I had made him Skogursha came to their aid. The storm those monsters brought would have torn at their souls cursing them with the Ashers corruptions and torments. As those monsters attacked Skogursha did what he thought could save them. He brought their souls into himself for as one of the gifts I bestowed upon him in his creation makes him immune to the Ashers magic’s. He consumed their souls to keep them safe so the demons could not get them for their dark use. Those of this temple lie not in death but in a state between. They can be returned to life and their souls returned but Skogursha will not return their souls until he feels the area is safe for them. With the Ashers tainting he does not feel it is safe however he lacks the power and knowledge to cleanse the temple. He is of leaf and beast not of light. Time however is running out for those here. Soon it will be too late to save them. Soon Skogursha will have to let them go and with these grounds tainted and their souls having been separated from their physical being for so long they will not be able to return to their bodies. Instead the tainting left by the Ashers will doom their souls lost to the empty grip of the void. Skogursha knows this and has been searching for those who can do what he cannot for he thinks I have given up on those here. He does not understand my intentions to wait, to have let this place fall to darkness, for as like a moth to a flame this tainting shall draw in the right challengers. Interesting then that he should find you and bring you here, exactly the ones I seek to challenge.”
“We’re not going to do anything for you, we drove you off before and we can do it again; we still have Whetu’s Star,” Lloyd growled at the Stag who just laughed at him startling them. Cole’s fear became too much causing him to faint while Zanes emotions became too much for him causing him to short circuit and pass out off line. Nya managed to remain conscious but she covered her ears and tightly closed her eyes looking close to passing out as well worrying Jay who came to hold her trying to keep her safe.
“What did you just do to them?!” Lloyd panicked going over to check Cole while Aaron checked Zane.
“Nothing it is their own minds that has done that to them. They have let fear get the better of them as for that Star and what happened the last we met; you only broke my hold on your friend because I was only using but a fraction of my powers on him and chose to give him back. You did not hurt or even scare me and if I had been truly using my powers it would not have been so easy to break my hold. I let you pathetic fragile mortals have that pitiful victory. I saw little use in further challenging you then, I had seen what I wanted. I was not very amused by your struggles. You were like blind cubs flailing for their mother in the darkness. I will admit however that I am intrigued that you could turn the hunt on end standing your ground and turning my predator to prey instead of cowering and remaining the hunted. Not many would have done that,” the Stag proclaimed and Clay declared, “What do you want from us demon?” Clay had picked up Whetu’s Star from Zane after he had passed out and held it threateningly at the Stag who was clearly unbothered.
“I was going to cleanse my temple but now with you here… maybe you would be willing to do it for me,” the Stag stated to which Kai chastised, “if you’re so powerful why don’t you cleanse your own temple.”
“I could indeed; such a task is easy for the likes of me however this could also be a chance for you to prove yourselves. You think you have what it takes to challenge the darkness that grows in the realms then show me. Using what you have on your own now show me that you can bring light to the darkness and I may spare you,” the Stag proclaimed.
“Never, we’ll never do anything for you; why should we do anything for a demon of darkness?” Lloyd proclaimed.
“So you think I am only a demon of darkness. Even those born in the light can become demons, you should all know that. You have all seen it firsthand have you not. You have seen friends and family members turned to monsters even if it was not their choice. Corruptions by poisons, curses and objects… the darkness always seems to have a way of turning the pure of heart wicked does it not,” the Stag proclaimed his words unnerving them all. It clearly knew things about their past; what else did this monster know of them?
“Stop it with your cryptic words and go away, we didn’t summon you and we’ll never help you,” Jay yelled at the figure who proclaimed, “fine if that is what you wish I will take my leave now but I will leave you with this ultimatum. You will be free to walk away from here I will not bother or hinder you this day but I will leave these peoples fates in your hands. Walk away from here, do nothing and leave my temple tainted by darkness and my followers that while look up to a demon and one you oppose were innocent and struck down out of hatred and in cruelty to their fates. Or will you shine your light in this darkness and free my temple and its people from darkness. The choice is yours; let us see how pure your hearts are and how strong your light really is,” the Stag proclaimed before his ghostly form and the dark mist dissipated.
“Let’s get out of here,” Jay didn’t wait to proclaim. Most of them were in agreement but the Stag had left them with a dilemma that had some of them hesitating.
“What about the people?” Aaron wondered and Lance proclaimed, “they follow the teachings of a demon so they’re probably evil. I say we leave them.”
“I don’t know I’m not really getting any evil vibes from this place; yha sure I’m getting some from what those Ashers left but this temple and it’s people all look pretty chill, even the beasts and the beast men look chill,” Aaron expressed.
“True the people here might not truly be evil just misguided,” Lloyd noted and Kai expressed, “that doesn’t mean they’re innocent though despite what that demon says. They could still be monsters.”
“True but if the Ashers were attacking them then they might not be as evil as they seem. They were probably innocent of any wrong doing and attacked by the Ashers out of pure hate,” Clay hypothesized.
“Not to mention if what the Stag said is true if we leave them and this place tainted then they’re going to die and be lost to this void,” Lloyd noted and Macy added, “and from what we’ve heard that’s one of the worst fates possible.”
“They worship that demon of the void though they probably wouldn’t mind being lost to the void,” Jay countered and Axl stated, “we don’t know that though. We only know they follow that things teachings not who they truly are nor how their relation to that thing works.” They were torn. Clay, Aaron and Lloyd wished to help the people while Jay, Lance and Kai preferred to leave them to their fate. Macy and Axl were unsure what to choose. While they had been pondering what to do Cole and Zane had regained consciousness but like Nya were in too scared a state still to be responsive and both had to be helped to their feet by the others. The three could only stand there blankly staring at the ground by them, Cole and Zane needing the support of others to stand as they were too shaken to stand on their own.
“How’s this if you don’t wish to help them you can leave but I will stay and try to cleanse this place of those monsters influence. Anyone willing to help can stay we’ll meet you back at the vehicles,” Clay proposed, they were all fine with that. Clay, Lloyd and Aaron headed out into the courtyard while the others tried to get Cole, Zane and Nya moving. They could see Skogursha and his pals looking over the walls of the temple grounds watching them eager to see what they would do. Even though they were not entirely sure what to do both Lloyd and Clay had a feeling the totems the Ashers left were responsible for the corruption. The two inspected the main one working out what to do with it sending Aaron to destroy the smaller wooden totems scattered around the place giving him Lloyds sword for the task. Aaron got help from Axl to take out the smaller totems. From some of his lessons with Merlok on curses Clay believed this totem was the central focal point for the corruption of the temple and any smaller ones in the area were likely either for boosting the effects of the central totem or were for defining the barriers of the tainting. If they wanted to cleanse the area they likely needed to destroy the totems. The smaller ones were rather easy and Axl and Aaron had little problems taking them out though were a bit disturbed how when destroyed they collapsed into a dark mist that slowly vanished. This large central totem would be much harder to get rid of. Clay believed that if he and Lloyd did the same thing they had done to knock the Stag out of Zane in the mine it would work to destroy the totem and its curse. Clay and Lloyd did as they had done in the mine focusing their powers through the red diamond shurikan at the main totem. To their shock and surprise it didn’t work. Instead a dark mist started emanating from it and the darkness it emanated felt to be getting stronger.
“I think they put an enchantment on this thing to keep anyone from interfering with it either that or it is too powerful for us to affect,” Clay noted and Lloyd expressed, “do you have any clue what we could do?” They were all at a loss as the others came out of the temple guiding out Cole, Nya and Zane who they had managed to calm down enough to get them moving though it was clear they were still very unsettled.
“Well did you do anything?” Kai inquired as they congregated by the totem.
“No, it has an enchantment to prevent anyone from messing with it,” Aaron explained and Jay was quick to state, “well you tried now let’s get out of here.” Some of them weren’t willing to leave just yet.
“Maybe if we had Merlok…” Clay began and Macy noted, “we might not have time to retrieve him. We have no clue how long these people have left.”
“True,” Clay noted and Lloyd stated, “we tried what we did in the mine and it didn’t work. Our powers are not strong enough.” With his words Aaron looked at the totem then at all of them. Slowly he got an idea.
“No you’re not strong enough,” Aaron noted to which Clay expressed not amused by Aarons words, “thanks for rubbing it in Aaron.”
“You and our green ninja bro are not strong enough but you’re not alone. You have the rest of us. Maybe there’s some way we could all offer a hand to break this spell. The ninja all have powers and we may not but there’s probably something we could do to offer help. Obviously the shurikan is not big enough for us all to touch it at the same time maybe we could use a rope or something and maybe those of us who don’t have powers could give this thing some serious whacks while you hit it with light…” Aaron began to go on. Some of them thought over his words.
“He’s right, we can’t do this on our own but if we work together… together we might be able to produce enough power and light to destroy this thing,” Clay declared. Doing a quick search he and Lloyd found some rope on the temple grounds. They wound some around the totem then connected this rope to the Red-diamond Shurikan which was tied into another rope they had laid in a circle around the totem on the ground.
“Alright we can try to use this rope like a conduit. We focus our powers into it and hopefully they will go through the weapon which will enhance them and hopefully be enough to break this totem and its enchantment,” Clay hypothesized as they finished setting it up and Lance wondered, “and what are those without powers supposed to do?” Clay wasn’t sure but Lloyd had an idea.
“You might not have powers but maybe just your energy will be enough. You’re strong with good hearts and fight for the light. If we send our powers through the rope then maybe they can pick up on your energy and it can help make them stronger,” Lloyd offered and Aaron was quick to state, “sure bro. I’m willing to give it a try.” He knelt down and put his hands on the rope on the ground. Clay, Lloyd, Macy and Axl did the same. To their surprise even Cole, Nya and Zane did it as well.
“I’m surprised you guys are willing to help. These are after all followers to that monster whose hurt you,” Macy commented and Cole responded a bit quite and hints of fear still in his voice, “even so that doesn’t mean they’re evil or like that monster.”
“Plus we’ve felt what this void is like. To be lost to it would be a fate worse than death; I don’t think anyone would ever want that and I wouldn’t want to wish that fate on anyone,” Nya stated her voice in the same way as Coles. Kai, Jay and Lance were hesitating not entirely feeling up to doing this. Kai shortly followed suit with the others feeling it was the right thing to do, then Lance. Jay was last dead set on not doing anything to help the Stag or anyone associated with that monster. After some heartfelt and convincing words from the others he finally broke down and joined them. Once all of them were touching the rope Clay cast a Nexo spell of light as he touched the rope his arms lighting up and covering the rope in a warm white light. The light went up onto everyone’s arms and they could feel it not only warming them but taking energy from them. With the light activated the ninja each sparked up their own powers the color of the light on their arms changing color and developing hints of their powers. Coles lava arms got activated, a frost developed on the skin of Zanes arms, Kais arms lit on fire while electricity sparked from Jays arms. Even their eyes changed to match the glow of their arms and the eyes of the knights developed the same white glow as the light on the rope. At first it seemed like nothing was happening but slowly they could see cracks appearing on the totem and a warm golden light started to emit from the cracks and take over the glowing red markings etched into the totem. Seeing they were having an effect on it they could all feel a surge of energy which they put into their focus on destroying the totem. Before long the totem was covered in cracks of light before it exploded falling into a dark mist that slowly faded away. Once it was destroyed all signs of the Ashers tainting slowly left the area. The vines slowly died dissipating into a dark mist which slowly vanished, the paintings vanished and the fog cleared. As the tainting dissipated Skogursha let out a roar as if to say he was pleased with their actions and they could see a faint light emanate from his chest for a few seconds before appearing on those in the courtyard.
“Does that mean we did it?” Aaron wondered before they heard a voice talking to them. They turned to look where the voice came from some of them spooked by the sudden voice.
“Who are you? Are you hunters? Warriors of light? Dragons? We’re you sent by the Stag Prince? The Queen of Spirits Whetu? No mere mortals can break the cursing of the Burning Tower so you must not be mere mortals,” one of the monks that sat close to where they were leaning against a low wall holding his waist clearly injured and in pain inquired.
“We are the Nexo Knights from Knighton and the Ninja from Ninjago and no we weren’t brought by anyone. Are you okay?” Clay stated coming over to help the folk up. Seeing all those around them were starting to come to and get up. They decided to go around and see if they could help in anyway. Most were in decent shape, a few needed some extra help. Despite the monster they worshipped they were surprised that these people were nothing like the Stag. They weren’t dark or sinister, though some clearly didn’t have very happy views on life clearly gothic in personality, instead they were kind and friendly; much kinder and friendlier than most of the people in Balmora. They didn’t even show any dislike to Zane instead viewing him as one of Storabeks cherished cubs. They guessed because of their beliefs these people likely had good relations with the droids in service to the Stag so didn’t have the same fears and hatreds as other people in the area to those of their kind. They spent the afternoon helping the people settle and regain themselves while cleaning up their temple. Late in the afternoon they decided they should get going to get back into town before it was too late and for dinner. Even though the inhabitants of the temple offered for them to stay for the evening meal they politely declined feeling it best they return to the safety of Balmora before it got too late. They were prepping to leave when they realised three of them were missing; Cole, Nya and Zane. Looking back they hadn’t seen the three for much of the afternoon worrying the others. They asked around but only a few had seen them all remembering the three had largely stuck to themselves near the outskirts of the yard not looking the greatest. Their temples wolves had been trying to cheer them up but it didn’t seem to work. That had been earlier in the day but no one had seen them since. Eventually they found the three hanging outside a small wooden hut at the side of the courtyard. They looked better than they had been the last time they had seen them; less shaken and disturbed and more grounded and relaxed.
“There you three are, we’re heading back now,” Lloyd stated as they came up to them and Jay questioned, “where have you guys been?”
“Their wise woman wanted to talk to us,” Cole explained. The others hadn’t been aware but shortly after they started helping out in the place one of the temples inhabitants, their wise woman, had brought the three to her hut. She had recognised that they had been touched by the Stag and could sense it had left them troubled. She called them in to talk with them and give them some help. Upon hearing his words one of the monks nearby questioned, “Wise woman? We don’t have a wise woman.”
“Then who was that we were speaking with?” Cole wondered and when the monk asked for a description of the person Nya regaled, “she was an ungulate folk on the older side in age, had mid length grey hair which she had a small braid with a few beads in it on the back in the center of. She wore a mask around her eyes that resembled an owl’s face, wore tan and green long sleeved robes that only went down to her shins and was parted on the legs on the front.” Cole added, “she was also very good at making tea and made some pretty good scones.” The monk mumbled over her description thinking something over before coming to a realisation.
“That was no mere wise woman you spoke to. That was Mystara the lady of wisdom. You were in the presence of a member of the Tribunal. You should feel honoured, outside Sheoth it is not common for the members of the Tribunal to actively seek out mortals to commune with. She must see something special in you,” the Monk regaled. Cole, Nya and Zane were a bit taken back confused and a little stunned who they had actually been talking with.
“So that was actually an Oni we were speaking with?” Cole wondered a bit unnerved and the monk regaled, “yes but she is one of the good ones. She is departed so for her to show herself to you must mean she had something very important to tell you. What did she want to talk about?”
“Just some things we’ve dealt with largely revolving around that demon the Stag,” Nya expressed a little shaken by the revelation and the Monk wondered, “you’ve had dealings with our lord of the hunt! You must feel honoured.”
“Honoured is not the word I would use,” Zane stated a bit shaken and Cole elaborated, “yha I wouldn’t call being possessed or turned into monsters by that thing honourable.”
“I guess yha that wouldn’t be very pleasant but still you got to meet him, to feel his presence… as followers to his teachings it is viewed as an honour to be in his true presence and not just an apparition of his aspects,” the monk regaled.
“May I ask why do you follow the teachings of that demon Storabek? You do realise he is also the Black Stag right,” Lloyd inquired confused by the monks enthusiasm and liking to such a demon.
“Yes we do know that he and the Stag are one and we do not deny that he is a demon and can and has done great evil. To deny that is to deny who he is. He came to existence in that way we cannot change that fact but that does not necessarily mean he is pure evil. Yes he can and does do things that are evil sometimes greatly so but we also see that he also does good. He teaches us on the fragility and complexities of life. He urges us to live in the now, to respect all things whether living or not even if they mean nothing to you for they may mean something to someone else. A weed may appear worthless to you but to the hungry deer it could mean everything. Yes even through all his teachings he is still quite cruel and harsh but he reflects the realities of life. Life is harsh, in life you are either the one giving chase or the one that flees; whether chasing a beast for diner or your goals in life you must always be chasing even if you are not getting anywhere fast you are still in the chase as for only in death are things truly still. You might find it surprising but even with his cruelties he is quite fair for a demon. He demands the prey have equal rights and equal chances as the hunter. He takes great disgust for cheating out the hare at a chance to come out on top. For him he is just as pleased by the hare that overcomes its challenges as the wolf catching the hare. He holds neither higher than the other. Many claim he is of Oni relations like the Tribunal but he can do something they cannot proving he is not one of them. He can create not just change things. He created the condition of skin-changers that creates man-beasts. Despite what you may have heard it was not done for evil intentions. Our worlds a harsh and cruel place; it was even more so long ago when he created the condition. Back then our world was filled with the monsters born of the Oni, Ashers and Voids darkness. Our realm may seem like any other on its surface but when you look deep it is still a primal and harsh realm ruled and inhabited by Gods and Demons and ill suited for mortal inhabitants. Even if not in physical form they still hold sway here. Many of those sided with the darkness have no qualms with harming mortals and some even enjoy turning mortals on others. It is said our realm is an arena, a testing ground for mortals and the Gods and Demons are our testers and challengers. While all realms share some of this trait our realm is said to most heavily be hit by this. While defiantly not the nicest or friendliest Storabek is one of those willing to accept and aid mortals in our struggles even if his ways are cruel and harsh. Not only does he teach us but he gave some mortals mainly people and metal-skins a gift to help protect us and give us traits to help survive from and fell the monsters of darkness and survive in this cruel harsh world. Skin changers were meant to be guardians not monsters. Not many know it either but Storabek is also the creator of Gloam beasts. He taught the fungal community of the world beneath how to bring new life to the fallen. Despite what many think they are not evil nor desire harm to surface dwellers. They are no more dangerous or evil than creatures of the surface world. Storabek did not create them for evil. He created them to be and as they exist as guardians for their sunless home protecting it and its inhabitants from tainting by dark forces. Similarly he created Skogursha to protect this place and these woods creating a sanctuary in these tainted lands for all forms of life,” the monk explained showing them to the temples main gate where one of the monks was giving Skogursha who was lying relaxed a brushing, “to many Storabek is a demon for they fear his darkness and the monster they see but if you are willing to look past that to see him as the whole of what he is and the lighter side of his being then you will see he is not as monstrous as he appears. Not everything is so clearly black and white. Many things sit between these extremes and sometimes those of darkness are not as dark as they may seem.” Now that he was calm some of them including Zane, Aaron, Cole, Axl and Lloyd went and gave Skoggy a few pets. Skogursha remained relaxed enjoying the affection.
“I don’t know about that. If you’d had to deal with him like we have you might not think that way,” Lloyd stated and the monk inquired, “and how have you had to deal with him?”
“Well for one he keeps taking over Zane and forcing him to attack us. He even turned him into one of those bird monsters against his will the one time and he keeps pestering us trying to get us to either surrender to him or to just wipe us out,” Kai explained and after a moment of pause the monk questioned, “is he really trying to wipe you out or is he testing you?”
“Testing us?” Aaron pondered. He and the others were confused and the monk regaled, “the Stag Prince often tests us to keep us alert, strong and cunning in order to avoid the harms of the demons of the void and to stay alive in this harsh world. One who becomes complacent in all things is destined to fall. Threats are always looming and you must be prepared for them even if you do not wish to be. Even in sleep the fawn should always be ready to react to danger or it shall fall to the fangs and claws of its hunters. Maybe he has not been trying to wipe you out but test you.”
“Why would he test us?” Lloyd wondered and the monk explained, “who knows, he is a great and powerful spirit. It is difficult for us mortals to understand his nature and thinking. Only he knows why he tests you.” With that they said their goodbyes and the knights and ninja headed back to their vehicles. While they had worked in the afternoon Skogursha had retrieved the vehicle he had put on the cliff and brought it back to the others. Other than some scratching to the paint and thorns stuck in it the vehicle was still in good shape. They didn’t waste time heading back to town not wanting to be caught in the wilderness at night where they had a great risk of falling victim to an attack by the Ashers or the Stag. They stuck close to each other as they drove, those not in the driver’s seat keeping an eye out for danger.
“So you guys met this Mystara thing… what did you talk about with her?” Kai inquired as they headed home.
“She just wanted to talk… about the Stag and what happened with him… she also gave us some advice on how to better deal with the after effects of the Stags hold in case we have a run in with him again,” Nya explained and Jay stated, “that was nice.” The three were rather quite about what went on in the wise woman’s hut much like they had been about the Stags attack. They had a feeling in time they would tell them more so didn’t pry too much into it.
“She also said something similar to that monk that the Stag isn’t entirely what he seems,” Cole regaled and Lloyd wondered confused by their talk, “interesting… why do those with ties to that monster like to tell us he isn’t what he seems?”
“Probably to try and trick us,” Jay proposed and Clay stated, “who knows maybe there is some truths to what they say or they could be tricking us. I think only time will be able to tell us if there is any truths to their words.”
Bonus: In the chapter Fabricant and the Mage I mention about Jay talk with Robin to fill in some of his curiosity about Zane. I actually have written out some of what Jay says it helped me write out that paragraph and some other parts of the story. Along with describing about some of his internal workings there is a few little parts with character interactions. What follows below is the fully written out work I made of this. Following this work I was inspired to make a fun enjoyable short story called 'Anatomy of a Droid' where Zane gets infected by robotic worms which are trying to destroy him from the inside so the others must shrink themselves and enter his body in order to destroy the worms and save him along the way they learn about Zanes anatomy and some of his personality and quirks. You can read this short story here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/44691181
We always knew something was different about him but we didn’t find out how special he was till we found out he was a nindroid. Zane didn’t even realise the oddities to himself weren’t normal. He was aware of them but just thought they were normal. Finding out what he really was really helped explain some things like why he never seemed to get bruises and things that made the rest of us sick didn’t seem to make him sick along with some of his strange behaviours and quirks. Despite being a nindroid he’s built to be as human like as possible. He has synthetic replicas of several important organs even though he doesn’t consider them true organs as they are synthetic replicas and not made of flesh like a normal persons but the rest of us consider them true organs. Most of them like those that make up his digestive tract work much like the real thing with only slight differences. Systems like his digestive tract serve functions in his body while others like his lungs only help make him look and behave human and don’t really serve much of a function as he doesn’t need oxygen. Others like his digestive system do more. It functions much like a normal persons but has some differences, it is much more resilient and is more dangerous as the fluids, enzymes and bacteria in it are more corrosive and break apart harder materials again probably because of the whole fact he’s a nindroid and not a soft flesh and blood person instead having jaws and teeth made with metal and synthetic organs made from a material that can not only repair themselves but are tougher than most plastics or metals plus not knowing instinctively what is safe as food and what isn’t like a person. In case they need repairs or maintenance all his synthetic organs can be removed so they can be worked on if something’s wrong with those of his digestive system split into four major sections his throat, stomach, small intestine then large intestines that way parts can be worked on separately without having to remove the whole system in case he needs repairs in it. As a safety precaution to prevent internal damages the acid in his stomach and his stomachs nature can break down even some of the toughest organic matter like bones with only teeth, things made of keratin and most inorganic matter like plastics and metals being too tough for him to process in order to prevent cuts or blockages to his system. Like normal living things he has bacteria in his digestive system that help break things down but those in his system are strong enough they are capable of breaking down motor oils. Those facts helped explain something’s we always found odd when we thought he was just human like why he was never hurt or made sick from eating bits of bones or the pits of peaches plus his strange attraction to tasting motor oils and never getting sick from it. He has a bad habit of just eating bits of bone or even the whole bone if there still in his food and not taking them out like a person normally would and eating everything of a peach including the pit sometimes swallowing the pit or even the whole peach whole. Not even Cole does that or can handle that but it never hurts Zane. He also has a strange habit of tasting and occasionally drinking oils; I think some of his internal sensors can tell him how useful they’ll be for him that’s why he does it. He also likes the taste of a lot of them too and sometimes can have too much of it which causes imbalances to the organisms and chemicals in his systems. Pixal gets mad at him when he does that but he often can’t help himself; like Cole with cake. Anyway he has a metabolism to determine how fast things are processed and how quickly he can acquire energy and he can change its rate if he needs to or even shut it down if he has to; in order to shut it down for long periods though like more than a day or two he has to empty everything in his digestive system to prevent things from rotting causing damages to parts. His metabolisms normal base level is set to low high so it only takes a few hours for his stomach to break down most items and things usually finish passing through his system within a day or two. Once broken down things are moved into his intestines where after the acid is quickly neutralized and after the chemicals that make it and the enzymes in it are reabsorbed to be use again the synthetic organ absorbs a lot of the broken down matter pushing what’s absorbed into these special devices that line the outside of his small intestines and some of his large intestines. These devices are like half machine half synthetic organ things that convert the absorbed matter into electrical energy; I call them intestinal electrical power converters. These little devices can convert up to 80% of what he eats and drinks into electrical energy, that’s more than a person can process and much more efficient than his old body. Of course what doesn’t get absorbed continues on like in us; you probably aren’t interested that part. I can say he is capable of reabsorbing most of the chemicals and components his system uses so he can reuse them and he can make use of up to 80% of the material he consumes into energy so that’s probably why he doesn’t need to use the bathroom as frequently as a person; usually he can go a few days to a week before having to use the bathroom. He doesn’t need to drink water like humans do but he does need to drink water based fluids a few times a week to maintain the balances and supplies of certain chemicals and moisture levels in his body. It also helps maintain the health of the symbiotic organisms in his synthetic systems. He does have to eat at least once a day though twice is better to help keep the energy output levels from his heart stable but he can go a while without food, it really starts to mess with the power outputs from his heart though causing problems. As a rule we don’t let him go more than four days without eating; he gets moody when his energy outputs are low and he can be quite scary and short tempered when he’s moody. Anyway the energy produced by those intestinal electrical power converters is sent to his power source to be stored for later use or put into use instantly. It’s a very useful system as his power source does have a limited output and it can really hurt him if it’s pushed past this limit even proving fatal if he pushes it too far. When that happens as long as it doesn’t kill him it can take a while for his power source to recover to its normal output levels; sometimes days if he pushes it too far. His digestive process can help him recover faster by providing him new and easily replenished energy to take the stress off his power source so it can recover faster. It also helps prolong the health of his power source as it means his body doesn’t have to take all its powers for its functioning from his heart taking stress off it. We still don’t know what his power source is exactly. Me and Nya have looked into it but can only determine it’s really special and doesn’t work much like a battery. The only thing it shares with a battery is it powers his body, uses electricity as its energy output and can store a great deal of electrical energy for later use that’s it. We also know if he pushes it too far or it gets seriously overloaded it will explode and kill him so we have to be careful to keep his heart from exploding especially me. I have to be careful not to accidently hit him with my powers while we’re fighting especially if I have a serious charge. It’s also not good for him to get struck by lightning; he really risks overloading not just his heart but many of his circuits and it can prove fatal not to mention it really hurts him. He also has to take it easy and not push himself if he’s experiencing problems with energy output or stressed out his power source while engaging in activities. It’s easy for him to over work his heart especially now that he has only half of his original heart. He never regrets giving up half his heart though as he gave it up for his Yang, a female droid named Pixal. She stayed behind to help protect our realm while we’re away. He deeply cares for her and she does the same. I think because we’re so focussed on our tasks here plus all the problems here it keeps him from fully thinking of her so he doesn’t show it much but I think he’s really missing her.
Anyway back to the topic he has some special features to his digestive tract, lungs and senses that simpler bots don’t have that helps him be more human like. He has special sensors in them that pick up various things like chemicals that can put one to sleep and make him react accordingly unless of course he feels threatened or those around him are in danger then he can override the effects if he wants. Though he has to be aware of what’s affecting him. Before he found out what he was he really didn’t have control over this ability because he didn’t know he could do that so he always fell to their effects and was unable to fight them. Even now though we have found he can’t resist the effects to everything. Some things he can’t over ride and others not only can he not over ride but affect him in odd ways compared to the rest of us causing things like disrupting his systems, messing with his ability to move and or navigate, preventing him from being able to properly control his body and even paralyse him or knock him offline for several hours. Some of these too have no effect on other beings like us but affect droids like him. This feature can prove helpful making him like a canary in a coal mine for dangers like toxic gasses or if we think something’s poisonous. If something is toxic it won’t kill him but can irritate and disrupt his systems. It’ll hurt him but he’ll recover without major harm. This trait can prove real useful especially with some of Cole or Kais cooking; if it makes Zane sick or causes problems for him then you shouldn’t eat it. Of course all the workings in his body produce quite a bit of heat which can be quite dangerous; if he gets too hot it can fry his systems which could be lethal. He usually keeps his body temperature around that of a persons. To keep his temperature stable he has a cooling system that pumps a fluid through his body that can help cool it and pull excess heat in his head and core out and put it into his limbs to be more easily lost and keep it away from vital systems. If he’s having troubles keeping cool he will shut down non vital functioning’s to help prevent the build up of extra heat and will even start using his powers to help keep cool. I’ve even caught him eating ice to try and cool his internal temperatures down when he’s having trouble keeping cool. When he’s doing that then you know the heat is bad. If the temperature gets too much despite his attempts to control it he will pass out till he’s cooled off. To keep his brain and heart healthy and functioning properly not to mention conserve energy he has to sleep regularly like everyone else, at least once a day for a few hours is best, that way they can rest so they don’t get bogged down or overworked and trust me when he’s tired you don’t want to make him mad. He can get rather moody like Cole when he’s hangry. I guess in ways since his energy output has ties to if he eats or not you could also consider this Zanes equivalent to getting hangry. While he sleeps he sometimes runs things like defrags, system updates, restores and reboots and memory backups. He doesn’t like to admit it and sometimes pretends it doesn’t happen but he does dream. I think they greatly unsettle, confuse and even sometimes scare him that’s why he doesn’t like to admit sometimes that he dreams.
Despite how resilient his systems are they’re not invincible. He knows that and so do me and Nya but the others sometimes don’t realise this and have caused some problems. On one of their missions together while undercover Kai created a firestorm to cut off some criminals escape and forgot to warn Zane who got caught off guard by the edges of the blast and accidently breathed in some of the fire in surprise. It did some damage to his lungs. Luckily since he doesn’t need oxygen it wasn’t serious and we were able to get parts to replace what was damaged but it took a few days to get them and in the meantime Zane was stuck breathing funny and coughing from irritation and pain from the damages to the sensors in his lungs. Kai felt so bad for what happened he helped me repair the damages even though he really didn’t know much about what he was doing and seeing Zanes internal makings both grosses and disturbs him quite a bit. Another time Cole made this meal I forget what it was called but it was real bad. It was shortly before we lost master Wu for a year in this time related incident. Pixal had warned him not to try it as it seemed dangerous but he didn’t listen not wanting to hurt Coles feelings and had it with the rest of us. Most of us spent the night throwing up but Zane had a bigger problem it made him more than just feel sick and disrupt his system. His body processed it in a weird way. His digestive fluids along with the internal heat of his body turned most of it into this thick stringy sticky stuff that clogged up like the first twenty centimetres of his intestines with what looked like really thick, tough and gross cobwebs. He didn’t want Cole to know not wanting him to feel bad as he was already feeling bad for making everyone sick plus some of Coles cooking in the past had caused him problems or hurt him making Cole really upset for what he did to Zane but since we put Zane offline while we worked on him Nya told Cole and got him involved in removing the stuff. I think it was as a sort of punishment for making us all sick. It was not easy to remove the stuff thanks to it being thick, a bit elastic and sticky like a real nasty bread dough. It took us over four hours to get all the stuff out and clear out any still in his stomach to prevent further problems. Along with our normal tools we use when working on him we had to use some non conventional tools like a bottle cleaner from the kitchen, if you’re wondering yha we got a new one after that as no one wanted to use it for the dishes afterwards plus Zanes digestive fluids did some serious damage to it. Nya also made Cole use his bare hands to reach in there to remove some of it. I think she did it as a sort of punishment to him. Yha it grossed him out quite a bit and nearly made him sick a few times. I think that incident helped push him into taking cooking classes. He’d been contemplating it before but not long after that did he actually start taking them. He also never made whatever that was again, we’re all grateful for that.
Notes:
Both the knights and ninja mention during their trials that Hassiri has a friend that can get them the venom for their trial. If you are wondering yes Raynor from the chapter The Fabricant and the Mage is this friend. That's also why Raynor sought the ninja out for help, he knew and trusted them through Hassiri.
A little info for the knights trials there is actually one of the Nexo Knights episode that reveals some of their deepest fears. Clays is his failure to rescue others and be a knight; there is also a short that suggests he has a deep fear of snakes. Macys is to be seen as nothing but a girly princess. Aarons is a fear of nothing as in having nothing to do; this fear could also lead into a fear of the unknown. Evidence of this can be seen in season 4 where when faced with a serious issue that he doesn't know how to deal with he admits that it has him freaked out causing him to pass out asleep which he does when overly on edge. Axls in the episode a fear of seeing food but unable to get any therefore going hungry however after events in season 4 where he gets eaten by a stone colossus he develops a fear of food. Lances is to not being recognized or popular; being seen as a nobody. When facing the Grove of Reflection they would also experience new fears driven and uncovered by being in and working in this new place that tests its inhabitants. Clays is not only failing in his duties but succumbing to darkness and bringing harm to others. Macys is of the damage these monsters will do to her home and family. Aarons is to succumb to the effects of this realm and either lose his mind or be turned into a monster possibly from loosing his mind or his fearless actions causing him to catch some curse from these lands making him dangerous to others. Axls is not being strong enough to protect and save his friends and others. Lances is failing at being a team mate letting the others fall to harm.A few of the stories help explain or fill in for things going on in the story. Clan of Fangs helps explain why when they reach the Forbidden City Zane leaves the others to go see Juib. He feels Juib is the only one who can help him with the Blight he has recently found out he has been cursed by. Forest of the Stag fills in why when they encounter the Stag during the chapter Ambush Cole, Nya and Zane are not as terrified of the Stag as you would expect, are willing to co-operate with him and are not left as traumatized by the experience as you would expect.
Chapter 37: The Curse
Summary:
Start of part 2 Land of Stone and Shadow: What is the curse of the wastes?
Notes:
Pictures relating to story can be found here: https://www.deviantart.com/nerdy-hyena/gallery/72478681/story-project
They are really good and help to visually flush out several aspects of the story including environments, characters, outfits, locations, creatures and other aspects often important ones in the story. All images I post in my work can be found there if you want a better look at them. Defiantly make sure to check them out.Also if you need a refresher on creatures, flora or aspects of the environment you can check out the second chapter in this work titled 'Keikiarys Guide to the Ash Wastes'. It includes short descriptions and pictures of these things.
Parts of this section are subject to change as the prequel story is written to improve story continuity.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
After having dragged them to the south end of the cavern the hyenoids put the ninja to work cutting back some of the Trauma root vines which had gotten out of hand and some ground maintenance on what looked to have once been a park but had been left to turn wild. Along with cutting back the vine which was starting to grow up onto the walkways they were having to repair the ramp that led from the walkway to the ground which had collapsed and lay partially buried by rubble from what looked to have once been some sort of decorative stone archway which looked to have once sat at the base of the ramp. They were just off the main walkway next to a small two story tall rounded stone watchtower which had a metal roof and whose stone was decorated by scimitar and simple designs. There was also likely a nest of Burning Hornets nearby since they frequently had a few coming around to either buzz them or sit on something as if watching them. The nearly thrush sized insects luckily seemed to have no interest in hurting them and didn’t bother them too much even though Jay was not fond of them hanging around.
The hyenoids had been nice enough to give them tools for the job including knives which were very sharp to cut the vines which was a much harder task than it sounded. If they just got close to them the vines would lash out and try to grab them. To make it worse the vines were covered in small very sharp thorns and once they grabbed something the root became a constrictor and tightened around whatever it was holding. The hyenoids had also given them a radio to listen to and a cooler with drinks both of which were on the lookout platform of the watchtower next to the hyenoid DJ who was supposed to be watching them but was laying on his back occasionally singing with the radio in his weird slightly electronic voice and playing with a dagger which he was trying to balance on his finger tips. DJ didn’t seem to care how hard they worked as long as they were getting the job done. He was the only one watching over them which they thought weird. Surely the Stag would have wanted more than one droid, especially one who didn’t seem to care about if they were following orders or not, watching over them to make sure they did their job and didn’t try to escape. Cole, Nya and Lloyd were digging up the ramp while Kai and Jay were cutting back some of the roots.
“You know this would be a lot easier with our powers,” Kai called at one point getting tired of being nicked and cut by the vines to DJ who seemed to not be listening.
“From what I saw that Jules fellow lived on the north part of this place and his pet was a robotic version of those strange Tree-bills, he called it Juib,” Cole explained taking a break from digging up the arch. He had mentioned his vision of Jules and this place falling to the Stag to the others. He had found it rather disturbing to have dreamt of this place which he had never seen before and had told the others about it to try and ease the uneasiness and disturbed feelings it gave him. He left out the part of his dream about the Stag trying to ensnare him not wanting the others to think he might be falling to the Stags influence. Jay was already convinced the Stag had swayed Zane to his side and the others were unsure if Zane was betraying them or if there was something else going on. Did he have some secret plan he was not telling them or was something wrong? If there was something wrong why didn’t he tell them, why’d he go to these strange droids over his family?
“I wonder if that Juib and this one are linked somehow?” Lloyd wondered and from the top of the tower DJ stated without looking at them or stopping what he was doing, “he is. When the Stag stole a copy of the blueprints of the original hyenoid from the Dragon Guard he gave some of the Robo-bills a new body before making the rest of us. He put a symbol on all our foreheads so he could identify each of us. Those who were converted from older creations have a symbol that is half a gear that way he knew which was which. Juib was the first one he converted.”
“Then if it is the same and you saw where that guy lived do you think that is where he took Zane?” Nya wondered and again DJ responded without acknowledging them, “indeed he lives in his old masters home. Do not worry about your friend. Juib wishes no harm.”
“Will you stop listening in!” Jay yelled at DJ who responded with a simple, “Nope.”
“Just ignore him,” Lloyd stated and Kai countered, “With him listening though how can we plan a way to escape?”
“Brother I don’t think that would be a wise idea,” Nya responded and Cole added, “yha did you feel just what that things presence brought and trust me you do not want to feel what it is like for that thing to possess you.” Cole got a shiver just thinking about the Stags possession.
“Trust us you don’t want it,” Nya agreed shaking at just the thought of what that being had done with her.
“Besides that things probably watching us waiting to possess us and turn us into his mindless savage drones!” Jay croaked and DJ chimed in stopping what he was doing to look at them propping himself up on one arm, “Yha he is not here rate now or I would not be so lax on you. He spends a lot of time patrolling his territory and the wastes. I am not entirely sure what he does out there but I would have to guess it is largely to chase off and attack Ashers who are foolish enough to get close to his territory along with collecting creatures harmed by non-natural means and rogue cubs of the fang to add to our ranks. You know he really has something against those Ashers. I get most of it; I do not get his deep hatred for them though, it is like he has some sort of personal vendetta against them. He has become more serious about it ever since those necromancers arose.”
“You know maybe this thing can prove useful,” Lloyd whispered to the others motioning towards DJ.
“He serves the Stag why would you think he would tell us anything,” Jay argued and DJ now laying on his front watching them proclaimed, “We serve him but we do not agree with a lot of what he thinks or desires. He created us but he can also destroy us, he has done this to some of us; mostly those who disobey him odd cause he gave us the free will and unique personalities that can lead to disobedience. Anyway we serve him to keep ourselves safe. Besides did you not see how we are treated in Balmora; outside here we have no place we are safe. The Ashers would rather torture us while the common folk hate us and would scrap and study us.”
“Maybe that’s because you serve evil and do terrible things and you spare no one, not even babies,” Jay commented.
“Spare no one? We spare people all the time. We have operatives in Balmora and you would never know it…” DJ began and Cole noted, “You mean like Divayth.”
“Precisely; we do not wish harm; in the wastes we simply scare folk to keep them away from the Stag but more importantly the Ashers. The more who fall victim to the wastes the more soldiers the Ashers have. Keep folk out and the Ashers will not get them. Ashers do not care much for animals or robots they see us both as simple minded emotionless animated matter worth only for their cruel entertainment. They hunt and torture us both for fun. As for Babies? We always…” DJ paused as he was thinking over something before continuing, “okay now that I think of it… maybe those were the wrong families and towns we left them with. Ashers sometimes kidnap the babies; they raise them to join their ranks as warriors and sorcerers. We rescue them and return them; I guess we have been putting them in the wrong places. In our defence we rarely know where they came from and babies all look the same to us. Maybe we should invest in some sort of DNA test or something for the future.”
“So then…” Nya began before DJ cut her off, “I guess you probably do not know what you are doing. You earth dragon said you saw this place in, you called it a dream not sure I understand fully what that is exactly, but do you recognise this area of the city.” DJ pointed at Cole who looked around unsure of what DJ was expecting. Nothing looked familiar except the walkway and some of the towers but those were all over in here.
“Sorry but no, should I?” Cole inquired and DJ responded, “I would not expect you too, what you saw was over 50 years ago. When the Stag took over he kept most of the city as clean and running as it had been before but he let this section fall into disrepair and get claimed by nature, abandoning it. Not even Juib knows why and him and Celaena are some of the few still alive who have been here the longest and know the Stag best.”
“What was this section?” Lloyd wondered looking around. It looked like a path led through the dense undergrowth of the section but to where he was unsure. There looked to be some sort of large structure built into the cavern wall nearby but it was barely visible over the over growth that now covered it. Various vines, mosses, fungi, shrubs and even a small tree now covered its walls, roofs and floors. Parts of it also looked to be broken and crumbling. He could make out some possible terraces and balconies but the damages and undergrowth made it hard to determine exactly what this structure had once been.
“This led up to the halls of knowledge. All texts, scrolls and other pieces of knowledge were removed and placed elsewhere here leaving the structure and area to ruin. I am guessing you do not know what is still in there?” DJ asked.
“No clue?” Kai stated and DJ replied, “deep in a hidden passage in there is the forbidden vaults you seek, The Vaults of Turmoil where the item you quest for is located.” They all paused for a moment thinking it over confusing them all.
“So in a way you’re actually helping us?” Lloyd pried not fully believing what he was hearing.
“The Stag might not want to help you but the rest of us do. The Stag is immortal he cannot be hurt or killed but we all can. We are living too despite what you fleshies think and we can be killed again despite what you might think. We share that with you, and what Dagon does will not affect the Stag but it will affect us. We want a chance to live too. We are happy with our little world and do not wish to see it destroyed,” DJ stated, “I warn you though it will take you a while just to clear the way to the entrance of the building and who knows what it is like inside. Decades of abandonment and geological activity from the Red Tower could have done a number in there. Just look at out here to see what you could face. That archway you are digging up for example was collapsed by an earthquake not the Stags takeover.”
“So the quicker we get all this cleared away the quicker we can get what we need and get out of here?! Then what are we waiting for let’s get all this cleaned up!” Kai declared finding a new gusto in attacking a Trauma root with a knife. As he attacked it as if the plant was aware they intended to remove it the plant lashed out fighting with Kai and Jay who were closest to it. Lloyd, Nya and Cole wanted to help but the plants thorny vines and their lack of powers left them clueless on how to help without getting hurt or caught themselves. As Kai and Jay fought the plant managed to grab the knives out of their hands and when Kai went to grab back the knife it got stabbed and stuck in his left hand during the struggle. Seeing the trouble they were in DJ got up and hopped down from the tower to slowly approach the plant holding his dagger ready to attack. As he got close he swung the dagger at any close branches cutting them off. He cut Jay and Kai free before pulling them away from the plant.
“Note Trauma Roots sense vibrations. The quicker and more aggressive you are to them the nastier they will fight back,” DJ commented as he dragged the two back to the others.
“Thanks a lot hot head you almost made a plant kill us!” Jay screamed starting to pull thorns out of himself as the others came over to help them.
“I guess we should thank you,” Lloyd admitted to DJ who simply commented, “just remember most things from the Wastes and Blackwoods developed under harsh conditions so they tend to be very aggressive and very dangerous, even the seemingly harmless ones.”
“Are you okay?” Nya asked Kai as she came to her brothers aid, he was hesitating on removing the knife from his hand.
“I think so, I just have to remove this,” Kai hesitated before quickly yanking it out sending a searing pain up his arm and letting out a shocked scream.
“I don’t think that was a smart idea!” Lloyd commented while Cole added noting the blood starting to pour out of the wound, “That knife was pretty sharp it probably did more damage than it looked.”
“You think! What do I do I can’t stop it,” Kai panicked starting to shake as he was losing blood and going into shock. The wound was bleeding badly and showed no sign of stopping. The ninja started to panic wondering what they could do seeing nothing around them they could use for aid.
“Maybe we could use one of our hoods to try and bandage it up?” Nya babbled while Cole chimed in, “I think it’s going to take more than that!” DJ was the only one remaining calm. Knowing what needed to be done he grabbed the nearest Burning Hornet he could find and strolled up to them.
“Please don’t hurt us? We just need a first aid kit or a doctor you don’t have to do anything drastic! What are going to do with that bug?!” Jay panicked as DJ came up to them. DJ grabbed Kais bleeding hand and held it out straight not saying a word and held the hornet to the wound. The hornet seemed oddly calm as it began licking in and around the wound leaving some sort of secretion as it went.
“What are you doing? That burns! Like hotter than fire burn!” Kai exclaimed as the hornet licked the wound and DJ held his arm still with a surprising strength for something that did not look very muscular. After a few seconds DJ flipped Kais hand and held the hornet to the other side of the wound where it proceeded to do the same thing. The others tried to get DJ to explain what he was doing but DJ did not respond focused on his task. They were all worried and panicking but DJ was quite calm. When DJ finally let Kais arm go the wound was burned shut and had stopped bleeding though it was covered with some sort of slimy smoking substance.
“How… why…” was all Kai was able to state still shaking and in shock.
“Did you just… save him? I guess we need to thank you again but what did you just do?” Lloyd was grateful for the hyenoids aid and starting to warm up to these beings. They didn’t seem like the dark corrupted savage and bestial droids he thought they would be like what everyone in the town had told them these things were like.
“Burning Hornets can excrete a saliva that burns. They normally use it for protection and building their nests but it can be used for cleaning and burning shut wounds. That should stop the bleeding for now but you will need medical treatment, try not to use that hand for now. Might want to stay away from those roots for a while too,” DJ explained letting go of the hornet which did not seem bothered or angry as it flew away.
“You know you can all take a break. I will get someone to take care of your hand. It would be best to do it when the Stags not around, he would not let us help you if he was here,” DJ stated as another one of the hyenoids came over to them on the walkway. Cole was surprised to recognise it as Divayth.
“Juib sent me to retrieve the other one I met in Balmora, Cole right,” Divayth inquired to DJ who responded, “sure we had a bit of an accident anyway so they will be taking a break till things are fixed.”
“Don’t go those things might try to brainwash you like they’ve done to Zane!” Jay panicked pulling on Coles arm.
“Juib just wants to ask you some questions nothing else. Zane is fine, there has been no brainwashing,” Divayth stated and feeling he could trust Divayth after how Divayth had helped them Cole got up onto the walkway and followed Divayth to the north end of the cavern despite Jays protests. When they were out of earshot of the others Cole asked Divayth something he and Zane had been wondering.
“Hey that stuff you gave us that made people glow. What would someone who is part Oni and part Dragon look like?” Cole asked and Divayth seemed a little confused.
“I do not know. I know dragons are golden not sure about Oni, never met one,” Divayth replied.
“The Stags part Oni isn’t he, what does he look like?” Cole wondered and the question made Divayth look worried.
“He is nothing. There is no aura to him like he almost does not exist. Maybe that is how spirits show up, never seen one while using the potion so I would not know, but if it is not then it scares me to think of what that could mean,” Divayth replied leading Cole up to the house he had seen in his dream. The house of Jules, it looked almost like it did in his dream just a bit weathered and decorated with a few paper lanterns.
“They are upstairs,” Divayth stated opening the door to the house. Cole entered the building and headed upstairs. The place was still a study like how Jules had left it though there was more things to it now. There were pieces of modern technology such as computers and a tablet for example. Against the one wall were three dog cages holding a strange little relative of the Kaguar known as an Ekhindahog. It was clear by the markings on the legs and around the eyes they had Blight. One was laying on the floor of the cage as if dead and if it wasn’t for its breathing and the occasional flick of its tail or movement of a limb it could have been mistaken as so. Another was anxiously pacing its cage while the last was biting on the bars of the cage and looked like it was trying to pull the bars off but was stuck in a paused condition just holding on and baring its teeth. On the one table laid out in front of a statue of Whetu were the Star Stone and the Red Diamond Shurikan. Either Zane had given them the artefacts or they had taken them during the night Cole assumed. Juib was at a table looking over the piece of Dragons Blood stone they had given Zane and he had hooked it up to the computer through some special clamps. Zane stood next to him looking over some pages with some sort of doodles on them. Cole was at first relieved to see Zane but then he was shocked. Zane had the Blight! Even through his clothes the glow from the markings was starting to become visible. Not only did he have the Blight but it was quite far along. It was halfway up his forearms and lower legs already!
“Are you sure this is how they look? There was nothing else with them?” Zane asked Juib unaware that Cole was there.
“Yes just like that and no there does not appear to be anything else with them,” Juib commented taking a quick glance at Cole as if acknowledging his presence but not making it evident that he was there. Knowing one of them knew he was there Cole decided to announce his presence.
“Zane you…” Cole began not sure how to describe that he could see Zane had Blight. Zane jumped as he looked at Cole having been too occupied trying to figure out what the drawings meant to notice anyone had come in.
“Cole…I…I,” Zane tried to cloak the Blight but his anxiety and embarrassment of the condition caused the cloaking to fail, “I didn’t want any of you to know!” Zane was clearly upset and just looked at the floor, “the mission was more important… I didn’t want anyone to worry…”
“You have the Blight, but how? For how long?” Cole inquired coming to comfort his friend, trying to keep his emotions stable. He was greatly upset to have learned of Zanes condition, it was a death sentence and a horrid one, but he knew he had to keep it together for his friend, for all of them.
“I first noticed it two days ago, I don’t know how I got it,” Zane replied pulling up a sleeve to show Cole the markings on his skin embarrassed by his current state.
“You and your friends went to the Wobbly Kaguar in Balmora. The proprietor does not know it but some of her staff are Ashers. Whatever they gave your friend they likely put pieces from something like a bug or plant that was infected in his food or drink. They were probably hoping he would show signs before you left that way he would have been removed making it easier to remove the rest of you while you were in the wastes,” Juib explained.
“Why did they just target Zane and not the rest of us?” Cole demanded confused and getting angry.
“If you all were to get it at once it would have looked suspicious; it could have drawn attention from the town to the Ashers. They know no human in Balmora would care if one like us gets the Blight so they would not look into it nor would it draw suspicions to the Ashers if he got it. To the people there we are no different than animals; we are viewed as unintelligent simple lesser beings. The people would have no qualms with destroying him should he show traits of the Blight despite anything you guys could say or do. Besides his powers are a serious threat to them. While you could all stand a chance fighting an Asher Zanes powers are the only ones that can truly destroy them. Also they deeply despise any type of android or animal, likely because we are the favourite tools for the Stag who they deeply despise. They probably also wanted to make sure the Stag could not get him,” Juib explained.
“The Blights fatal, you won’t make it back to Ninjago will you?” Cole inquired trying to hide his feelings of sorrow and fear as he could feel them building. He was going to lose one of best friends, someone he had come to see as a brother and there was nothing any of them could do to fix it.
“I don’t think so,” Zane faltered upset but trying to hide it and Juib added, “Being bitten by, ingesting the infected and mental or physical trauma speeds up the condition but by just being here in the wastes, in our world… none of you will make it. The Blight has already claimed you all.”
“What are you talking about? The rest of us aren’t infected,” Cole demanded though deep down he felt that was not entirely true, there was something not right…
“Tell me what is that on your arm?” Juib asked pointing at the arm Zane had wounded in the arena which had been re-damaged by the Stags possession of him; he still had the bandage on it.
“It’s a cut thanks to your…” Cole began before trailing off as he looked at his arm and realised for the first time that stretching up from his wrist beneath the cuff was the unmistakable markings of Blight! He had not noticed it before; then again he had not been looking for it or acknowledging the irritation it was bringing thinking that was just a reaction to the ash. Had he had it for some time and not noticed? Did any of the others notice it and were just not saying anything?
“Just touching the ash and breathing the air you have all been infected. Everyone is infected. Do not worry, you are not alone,” Juib grabbed the Star stone Tafari had given them making it give off a low pale light and brought it close to his one arm slowly running it up the arm. Even through his clothes the stones light revealed he had the Blight and it was much further along than Zanes. For some reason the Blights markings that Juib had could only be seen with the light from the Star Stone, as if some spell was masking them.
“I do not know why but the Stag has been hiding it from the others. They all know I have it. I have had it for two years,” Juib explained putting the Star Stone back on the table its light going out as he did this.
“Two years…but doesn’t…” Cole began and Zane finished, “the full condition lasts only a few weeks. The Stag is keeping him safe, stalling its progress.”
“It makes no sense. The Stag has never helped anyone who has gotten it before. He just terminates them but he is sparing me and he wants me to find a cure for it. He gave me all I need to find one but the answer just eludes me. I do not know why but I feel the Stag is the key to the answer. He can stall and even temporarily reverse the condition. He is the only being that can but I do not know why or how. It does not match his powers or energies,” Juib expressed showing hints that he was upset but trying to hide it. Zane gave Juib a pat on the shoulder to comfort him. Cole did the same. Ever since he and Zane had met Divayth Cole had started to question how the folk here viewed those the Stag controlled. From what he had seen Zane was right they were just as much victims as the people, even worse than the people. Hated by people, used by the Stag and treated cruelly by Ashers they had no safety but to serve what they likely saw as the lesser of their threats. At least under the Stag they were kept safe from the other groups and had a place they could call home and a chance at life. Juib was clearly trying his hardest with little success and it was starting to take its toll.
“You wanted to ask me a few questions?” Cole asked.
“I want some outsiders opinions on what these could mean,” Juib expressed showing Cole the drawings Zane had been looking over. There were three set up in a triangle with a fourth in the middle. One looked to resemble an Oni which was dripping something from its chest, was that blood? Another looked like a dragon being slain by an Asher folk who seemed eerily happy with what it was doing. These Ashers were cruel and evil enough to take pleasure in killing such noble creatures. The last looked like one of the beast folk, did it have little fangs? Was it a Scimitar folk? Or were those just mishaps in the drawing? The person looked to be kneeling. Was it worshipping something or was it enslaved? Other than the depiction of fangs there were no other facial features to it. The last resembled those horrid Asher sorcerers, it looked to be doing some sort of ritual or spell. Just above the sorcerers head looked to be a stag surrounded by what looked like clouds but it was not clear enough to get a decent description of it, it just vaguely looked like a stag, it could have been something else though. Was that suppose to resemble some sort of speech, did it mean the figure was dreaming, was it representing a spell or was it supposed to resemble something they did not know or understand? The Oni was at the top, the dragon on the bottom left and the person on the bottom right. The sorcerer was in the middle. None of it made any sense. Were the images related or was Juib just thinking he was seeing something there when there really wasn’t?
“I have no clue, what do they mean to you?” Cole admitted.
“I am not entirely sure; I have reason to believe it is linked to the Stag but I do not know how. I found these painted on a wall in the halls of knowledge before the place was abandoned. They had not been there before and this is not the doing of the Scimitar folk. It is too vague and simple for them and does not match their design or art styles. They prided their knowledge and logic and made sure to record every important detail in a clear well understood format. I have no clue who put them there,” Juib explained, “I do not know what but something tells me the Stag and these drawings are the key to solving the Blight.” Juib disconnected the Dragon Blood stone and brought it back to Zane.
“I thought this might hold a clue, in a way it does. Like the Stag it can slow the spread of the condition. This has likely been slowing your Blight and giving you more time. That is why the Blights symptoms seemed to disappear till you got closer to the Red Mountain. How well it will work now that you are closer to the Red Mountain I cannot say at this point. Maybe dragons are a key... anyway I think it best if you keep it, it could still help slow the condition to give you more time,” Juib explained bringing the stone over to Zane. Juib opened up Zanes chest to hook the stone back up where Jay and Nya had placed it next to his heart and Cole was shocked. All throughout Zanes insides on every part even his heart bore markings of the Blight!
“Zane! Your… your heart!” Cole exclaimed worried.
“I know it hurts, I could not even describe how it hurts,” Zane mumbled clearly ashamed and in pain.
“It is okay. The pain will come and go. While it hurts it is not bad for the condition to touch the heart. The insides of all of you will have the markings too so do not be ashamed of them Fang-brother. It is once the condition reaches the brain that things take a turn for the worse. Once it reaches the brain there is little hope,” Juib expressed closing Zane back up, “once it reaches the brain you become like these creatures. The Blight affects the mind in three ways, all occur in the same individual they just come and go like phases every now and then. There is depression, anxieties and feelings of being lost and finally aggression.” Juib motioned to the Ekhindahogs in the cages.
“Once the markings start appearing around your eyes it is not long till it is too late. Whether of organic or in-organic in make the Blight in simplest terms fries the brain and nothing can be done to fix or save the individual I know cause I have tried,” Juib sounded emotionless but they could pick up hints in his voice that he was upset as he looked at the Ekhindahog and it almost looked like he might have a tear in his one eye, “poor things… For you and your friends however, I am afraid the condition will do much worse to you. Death will not be the end of the condition for you.”
“What do you mean?” Zane inquired.
“You have probably heard that for a select few the Blight will bring them back as an Ash Ghoul an entity that serves the Ashers as a form of soldier. While they can speak they cannot be reasoned with by non Ashers. Their behaviour becomes bestial and highly aggressive; they will tear apart their own families if given the chance. They are also morphed by the energy that consumes them. There is barely anything left of the entity they once were. They could have been the purest of souls but after being consumed by the Blight they become like the Ashers, one of the darkest of evils. They will largely look like themselves however their skin becomes sickly in color and look, strange glowing markings may appear on their skin, their eyes blacken and appear empty and for non beast folk their nails become claw like and they develop fangs. From what we could identify those that become Ash Ghouls are those that Ashers deem are useful for their cause. Great warriors and adventurers, thinkers, those with a gift for magic and even folk such as yourselves, elemental masters. In my studies I have only ever come across three cases of an elemental master succumbing to the curse. For folk like you your fate will be worse than an Ash Ghoul. For an elemental master after they succumbed to the condition the curse turns them into what could only be described as a daemon; a violent aggressive mindless destructive monster in service to the Ashers,” Juib explained shocking Cole and Zane.
“What!?” Cole expressed.
“The Ashers would never waste the chance to have individuals with powers like yours so their curse has an added effect on elemental masters mutating them into monsters; it also does the same to dragons. The Blight will turn you into the exact thing you are trying to fight. You will no longer have any control of yourselves. All of what you had once been will be gone. You will become a mindless husk filled with darkness obeying every command the Ashers give you. Over time you will not even look like yourselves anymore as the darkness consumes and mutates you into a monster fitting to your element or of the Ashers choosing,” Juib explained, “I would say do not give up hope for I am working my hardest to try and find the cure but I have stalled. I am having trouble finding the answers I need and I am unsure if I will be able to find them in time.” Juib stated looked over his notes.
“We’ll offer any help we can. Maybe the others might have a clue. We could ask them. Lloyd is part dragon and part Oni maybe he has some sort of strange extra sense or something that could better understand these things,” Cole comforted Juib putting his hand on Juibs shoulder.
Notes:
A note on DJ if he was human he would be diagnosed with ADHD. He is also the most willing of the Stags Hyenoids to display human like behaviors and attitudes.
The Blights involvement in the Story takes inspiration from TES 3 Morrowind which has a blight known as Corprus that is spreading through the isle and plays a major role in the games main story. The Blight in my story itself takes most of its inspiration for symptoms from Lyme disease with the final stages taking some inspiration from rabies.
If have any questions go ahead and ask I do not bite. I will try to answer them, I will however not give away spoilers.
Chapter 38: The Tale of Whetu
Summary:
who is this entity they keep hearing of?
Notes:
Pictures relating to story can be found here: https://www.deviantart.com/nerdy-hyena/gallery/72478681/story-project
They are really good and help to visually flush out several aspects of the story including environments, characters, outfits, locations, creatures and other aspects often important ones in the story. All images I post in my work can be found there if you want a better look at them. Defiantly make sure to check them out.Also if you need a refresher on creatures, flora or aspects of the environment you can check out the second chapter in this work titled 'Keikiarys Guide to the Ash Wastes'. It includes short descriptions and pictures of these things.
Parts of this section are subject to change as the prequel story is written to improve story continuity.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
After their talk with Juib Cole and Zane decided to head back to the others; Zane was rather upset and nervous of facing the others because of his condition. Cole felt the same but he knew they had to talk to them. They had to let the others know. It took a little coaxing from Cole to get Zane to co-operate. Zane was afraid of what the others would think of his condition but he eventually agreed.
“We have a pro… Zane!” Nya began looking worried as she came up to them outside the house where she had been waiting for them, “you’ve got it too!”
“He’s not the only one,” Cole stated showing her his arms.
“So we’re all infected then,” Nya responded showing them her one arm which had markings just like Coles, “when the droid that fixed Kais hand worked on him she found the condition then she found it on the rest of us. It makes no sense though we were not bit by anything that had it so how did we get it?” Nya led them to a large structure built into the wall not far from where Juib lived. Inside was where they were going to be “kept” as DJ had called it. The structure looked to have been some sort of apartment like dwelling and had a couple balconies a few of which were crumbling or had fallen off that were attached to some areas on the outside. The place looked to have been largely abandoned with only a few sections mainly the first two floors of what looked to be a five stories structure having been kept in a descent condition.
Before they entered while looking over the structures architecture which was a fascinating mixture of carved into the mountain, golden bronze metal and stone additions Cole thought he saw on one of the highest half crumbled balconies four to five stories up a figure of a person, or what looked like a person and not one of the beast folk persons either staring down at them. The figure looked feminine but was dark and having only caught a glimpse of them he could not tell any details of them other than she appeared to be looking at them. When he went to get another look the figure was gone but he was sure he had seen someone.
“Did anyone see that?” he asked looking and pointing where he had seen the figure feeling unsettled by the possible apparition. When Nya and Zane looked they saw nothing.
“See what?” Nya wondered.
“There was someone up there, a person like a dark non beast person watching us,” he replied.
“Maybe you’re Blight is just making you see things,” Nya responded and Zane countered with, “Hallucinations are not a symptom of the Blight.” They headed in and Cole brushed what he saw out of his mind not wanting to think of what that could have been if he was not hallucinating.
The room in which they would be staying was two stories up and rather large. They were sharing it with the leader of the Scimitar Samurai’s, Kozac. He had been the one to rescue Zane, Nya and Cole in the Under-city and he was going to be staying with them to make sure they did not try anything. While they all weren’t too happy about that not feeling the need to have a ‘sitter’ Jay was very unnerved by it highly unsettled by Kozac. The room was a mix of stone with wood paneling to give it a more warm homely feeling. Some hanging cloths, lanterns, lighting, pictures, paintings and metal decorations were hung for decoration and worn rugs were on the cracked stone tile floor. The beds were a thin mattress placed atop a simple wooden bed frame with nothing but simple worn blankets and worn pillows on them. There was a wooden shelf with books on it though a few of the books only the hyenoids and Zane could read since they were in the scimitars tongue. The books while interesting and entertaining offered them little advice on the Blight curse or the Stag. By the shelf on the wall was a TV for entertainment. Near these shelves there was also a wooden desk which had a little lamp and a potted plant on it and a chair was tucked under the desk making a little study area. The one wall of the room had a large opening to one of the balconies whose railing was falling off in it. There looked to have been a sliding door there made of decorative Scymer metal but it was long gone leaving only the framing for the doorway left. A shrine to Whetu was set up in one corner of the room on a little stone pedestal. Next to this shrine was a doorway that led into what looked to be a large bathroom with cream tiles lining the floor and wall which was clean and though old looking at least it looked kept up. Compared to the crumbling exterior and worn look of the building’s exterior the interior rooms looked fairly clean and up kept showing just a bit of ware. In the one corner by the entrance of the room was a little training area with a training dummy which Kozac was fiercely attacking with his sickle. The others were standing around looking at the markings on their arms while Divayth was fixing the gate that was going to cover the door to lock them in the room. They all had about the same progress of the condition as Cole and Nya did and none looked happy, Jay and Kai looked sad though Lloyd looked a little mad.
“Zane! You’re much further along than the rest of us! What happened?!” Lloyd inquired shocked his expression changing from being mad to being worried and upset.
“You can blame the Ashers. They enjoy torturing those like us that is why the Stag made me and the other samurai. To keep the others safe,” Kozac growled pausing to talk with them before going back to butchering the dummy with his fists, the dummy was nearly obliterated.
“Then how did we get it?” Jay worried trying to keep it together.
“According to Juib everyone in this realm is infected. Just when the condition decides to reveal itself and how quickly it progresses differs but the closer you are to the Red Tower the quicker it appears. Some people go their entire lives and never show anything. Some things however speed up its reveal and progress like being bit by those in later stages that is why the people are confused in thinking you have to be bit to get it. He is unsure what causes it to simply appear without provocation,” Zane explained to the others.
“How long do you think we’ve had it? And why is Zane further along than the rest of us?” Nya pondered looking at her arms.
“Probably since you arrived in Balmora maybe even when you set foot in our world or when the necromancers entered your world but it was likely dormant till the Ashers likely incited it. Zane is further along because the Ashers did something to make it proceed faster in him when you first entered Balmora. They likely were hoping he would be removed before entering the wastes. Just so you know brother of the fang your dazed wanderings and dreams were not from the Stag. He was trying to gain control of you and mess with you though. He does not see what he does as torture to those he does it to. The dazed wanderings and dreams those are from the Blight Zane and do not worry you are not the only one who has been having those. You have all been wandering around dazed whether you are aware of it or not,” Divayth commented finishing up on the door before addressing them.
“What do you mean; none of us have been doing that, it’s just been Zane” Kai stated.
“Indeed you have. It was you who stacked the furniture in the ship two nights ago and the one in blue let the Kagaurs out. If the knights had just searched the security footage of the ship they would have seen it, maybe they did but did not want to tell you. In their defence it is very difficult to tell someone they have such a horrid condition especially when they’re your friends,” Divayth told Kai and Jay before addressing the rest of them, “I am betting you all have times where time had passed but you cannot recall anything from that time and maybe you don’t remember it but also dreams that left you shaken and disturbed often using your own fears, doubts, bad memories and worries on you. There probably have also been times you felt that something was wrong but you did not know what or how to fix it.” They had never really thought of it but they did all recall at least one instance of missing time, terrible dreams or those feelings.
“Like that night in Balmora, Clay saw us doing things we have no memory of,” Nya added and Lloyd chimed in, “I don’t remember what it was but I remember that night something I dreamt made me wake up in the middle of the night with a terrible feeling, I almost didn’t go back to sleep it was that bad. I think it had something to do with those Ashers throwing me into the volcano.”
“I know what you mean. The one night I had one of the worst dreams in a long time. We were on a mission on some floating islands fighting these sky pirates and things went bad and there was nothing I could do to save you sis and you died rate before me!” Kai chimed in looking shocked and worried almost like he was going to cry while quietly to each other Nya and Jay looked at each other a little worried and surprised.
“Last night not only do I think I saw how the Stag took over this place but I also dreamt of having the Blight and the Stag was offering to save me. And you were there Zane but along with having Blight you were serving the Stag and were threatening to kill me if I didn’t take his offer,” Cole confessed feeling relieved to finally tell someone else of what he had dreamt.
“Do the dreams mean anything?” Jay wondered while after hearing of Coles dream putting some distance and both Nya and Kai, who were both not amused by his actions, between him and Zane who was confused by what Jay was doing.
“I do not know you would have to ask Juib that. He is our expert on the condition. All I know is the symptoms will just get worse as the condition progresses till insanity sets in. By that time you will not remember who you are, what you came here for or even your own name. Eventually the condition attacks the brain to the point the brain in basic terms fries causing death though Juib recently found it will be worse for you guys,” Divayth explained.
“Worse? How could it get any worse?” Jay fretted.
“When an elemental master succumbs to the curse they become the evil they fight against. You will become a daemon in service to the Ashers and can only be destroyed by your fellow elemental masters or a master wizard,” Kozac explained having obliterated the dummy and looking over its remains seaming to be unhappy that it hadn’t lasted as long as he pleased. While Cole and Zane had already heard this from Juib the others had not and were in shock to hear of it.
“Is there a way to not become a daemon!” Jay panicked.
“You will only become a daemon if you succumb to the condition. If you are vanquished by other means before you succumb you will be spared becoming a daemon. I would recommend once your eyes turn red and you start to go crazy is the time to strike,” Kozac explained.
“So is this the end, we failed? How long do we have?” Lloyd wondered trying to hold back tears thinking of his mother and if he would ever see her again and that they would be unable to complete their task making him feel as if they had failed.
“I cannot say. Juib is working to cure it but he has stalled,” a deep metallic female voice spoke startling them. They looked to where the voice had come from to see the fabricant Celaena perched on the rail of the balcony like a vulture hunched over and her tail just drooping down as she stared at them.
“Please don’t hurt us!” Jay yelled as they all stepped back having seen what she could do and afraid she might attack them.
“I am sorry about what happened in the arena. I was not myself. I have a much nicer personality when the Stag is not using me as a puppet, as long as you are not on my bad side that is,” Celaena proclaimed her mouth not moving as her voice came from the implants in her chest, “I am sorry for your current condition. I understand what it is like.” Celaena showed them her one under wing and on the skin and metal of the extended finger, wing, hand and part of the fore arm bore the Blights markings on both flesh and metal. There was a faint glow to the markings but they were clearly there.
“Does everyone here have it?!” Jay exclaimed.
“No, as far as I know it is only Juib and I that have the full blown condition. Everyone else’s is dormant. Juib is unsure what sparked his to show but I know where I got mine. An Asher Sorcerer cursed me with it when I helped the Stag attack one of their strongholds a few months ago,” Celaena explained, “Juib has had it for two years. We are lucky because the Stag is protecting us but for you folk. If you are lucky a few months, if not… well you do not want to hear of it.” Her words were not pleasant to hear upsetting them all.
“Try not to worry. Juib is trying to find the cure. Maybe you folk can help. An outlanders opinion might be what he needs to figure it out,” Celaena stated.
“Why don’t you guys get some rest, come to terms with your condition. Try not to think of the negatives and you can help Juib tomorrow maybe you are what he needs to find the cure. I will bring you some food and drink later. You could also take a shower I hear it relieves some of the irritation even for us metal skins; something about the water has a soothing effect on the curses markings. Try to keep your emotions at positive levels, you have each other and you are safe from Ashers here. We will take good care of you. If you need anything Kozac can help you. He will be staying in here with you, Stags orders, and part of the Stags orders is that you will be locked in here at night and I am aware the enchantment the Stag put on the samurais armour disturbs you so I put an enchantment on your room to block that enchantments effects so their armour will not bother you while you are in this room,” Divayth stated.
“Are we the only ones in this building?” Cole asked as Divayth started to leave.
“No most of the Scimitar Samurai rest here, this level and the one below. There is no one in the upper levels; access to the upper levels was cut off when an earthquake collapsed the stairs a few decades ago. Do not worry none of those here will hurt you. Many of the hyenoids are rather simple minded and have no interest in hurting others; none of us here wish any ill harm to you not even the Samurai. Kozac may come off as mean and aggressive but he cares and has a gentle side. If you need anything you can ask him he does not bite and will not judge,” Divayth explained.
“Are you sure there is no access to the upper floors?” Cole inquired and Divayth, Kozac and Celaena looked to be both confused and intrigued.
“Why are you worried about getting to the upper floors?” Lloyd inquired confused.
“I thought I saw someone on a balcony up there before we came in,” Cole responded and Divayth offered, “was it feminine, dark kinda like a shadow of a person.”
“Yes… how’d you…” Cole stated confused, how did Divayth know what he saw unless…
“Some of us here have seen her, she watches us sometimes,” Kozac confessed.
“Who? Who is this person?” Lloyd wondered. The constructs looked at each other before any answered.
“What you saw was not a person. It was Astara or who those of the wastes call Whetu,” Divayth revealed surprising them all. Kai questioned, “isn’t this Whetu a spirit or something of myth?”
“She is a spirit now, but she did not start that way. She was once an Oni,” Celaena divulged.
“An Oni!” Jay exclaimed to which Celaena comforted, “do not fear her she will not harm you. She is a benevolent Oni, well spirit now. She wanders the halls of the Forbidden City though why none of us know.”
“Most here have never fully seen her, usually just glimpses, but for us members of the Black Hand she shows herself, sometimes she even talks to us now and then often when we need guidance. Juib even said once that he dreamt of her back when the Stag took over. He said she told him everything would be okay, he has never figured out what she meant,” Divayth commented.
“Black Hand?” Nya pondered and Celaena explained, “we are special among the constructs here. We are the Black Stags most trusted advisors and allies and we keep things in the city running smoothly; we are also the only ones that can create a Dragon Aspect something only members of the Dragon Guard or those who train for many years can do. No one else here knows how to do this. The Black Hand consists of Juib, I, Divayth, DJ and Kozac; five of us like the digits on a hand and we serve the Black Stag hence the name of Black Hand.”
“This Whetu what is her story here. You said she was an Oni but how can she be a spirit as well?” Lloyd wondered wanting to know more about this being, “I’ve been worried to admit it but something here has been making me feel welcomed and comforted. I’ve been worried it was the Stag giving me those feelings and what it meant for me if it was the Stag. Maybe it is Whetu who is making me feel this way. Was she good or evil?”
“She would be the one making you feel that way. Like the others who came to harm the Dragon Master when he left the first realm she started as foul and evil but along with the other two of the Tribunal, she saw the joys and beauty of what the Dragon Master had created and turned good coming to help protect not just him but his realm as well. Even today she still protects it. She is Astara the missing Oni, the one who vanished from history. She is why the barrier exists on the vaults keeping the Oni and Ashers from touching the items within,” Celaena began, “the Dragon Master knew when he started filling the vaults that it would attract darkness. Those items are very powerful and can cause terrible devastation in the wrong hands. He knew he had to do something to keep the worst of the darkness from getting into the vault to protect all the realms. He decided to put an enchantment to the vaults, a magical barrier preventing them from entering, but to do this required a price, a deep price. A pure blooded Oni had to agree to be sacrificed. Astara offered herself as payment. Her sacrifice now protects the vaults and the realms from the darkness within them. In a sense the people around here are not wrong Astara who is also know as Whetu is protecting them just not in the way they think. Only us, the other two Oni, the Dragon Master and a select few, even your First Spinjitsu Master, know the truth. I do not think the Dragon Guard know this, not even the Dragon Masters two sons knew it as far as I know.”
“According to some old Scymer legends her spirit never left this place though no one knows why. Some say she is protecting the city but I doubt that. She has never revealed herself to the Stag and did not stop him or interfere when he attacked,” Divayth added. Kozac chimed in with, “her sacrifice not only keeps the Ashers and Oni from entering the vaults but from knowing it is there. They can sense the power within it but cannot find it no matter how hard they search. That is one of the reasons why the Ashers took over the Red Tower creating portals for the Oni and to the underworld within it. They can sense the vaults nearby but cannot find its source.”
“What about the Black Stag does he know of the vault? Does the barrier prevent him from entering?” Lloyd inquired.
“He knows the vaults are there but he has never taken an interest in them which is odd. He has never been interested in what is within them which contradicts his dark nature, he should be drawn to what they hold but he is not. Juib and I originally thought the vaults were the reason he came here and took over the city but now we do not think so. He wants nothing to do with the vaults. We do not know why he came here. Of all the places in the world, in all the realms, he chose here for some reason which we cannot explain to make his home,” Celaena divulged.
“That doesn’t seem right. If the Stags part Oni like they say then shouldn’t he be drawn to the vaults?” Cole pondered and Kai chimed in, “hey Lloyd your part Oni are you attracted to those vaults?”
“I will admit I feel a slight pull to something over there but I can resist it. It’s not a very strong or noticeable feeling,” Lloyd replied looking at the ruins to the hall of knowledge out the doorway to the balcony while Jay quietly whispered to the others, “maybe we should keep him from entering the vaults.”
“Green one maybe you should see Juib, maybe you could help him. You share the blood of the Oni with the Stag maybe you could see something Juib is missing,” Celaena proposed.
Notes:
If have any questions go ahead and ask I do not bite. I will try to answer them, I will however not give away spoilers.
Chapter 39: Balmora Blues
Summary:
The ninja are now trapped in the Forbidden city but what of the knights? What are they to do and what will they face?
Notes:
Pictures relating to story can be found here: https://www.deviantart.com/nerdy-hyena/gallery/72478681/story-project
They are really good and help to visually flush out several aspects of the story including environments, characters, outfits, locations, creatures and other aspects often important ones in the story. All images I post in my work can be found there if you want a better look at them. Defiantly make sure to check them out.Also if you need a refresher on creatures, flora or aspects of the environment you can check out the second chapter in this work titled 'Keikiarys Guide to the Ash Wastes'. It includes short descriptions and pictures of these things.
Parts of this section are subject to change as the prequel story is written to improve story continuity.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
"When we got there the research team was gone. For some reason Ashers dared to enter deep into the Stags territory. We think the only reason they would do that is they were after us. They must have took out the researchers' there and were waiting for us," Clay explained to Tafari, Fae, Hassiri and Misako in Tafari's Dojo. The knights had just got back and while the others unpacked Clay had come to report what had happened on their journey.
"We'd had a run in with Ashers earlier. They used one of those horrid Crawlers to try and turn us into slaves. If it wasn't for the Stag possessing Nya and Zane we likely wouldn't have made it," Clay continued before getting interrupted by Hassiri.
"He took control of them again! A droid and a non droid person! He really must have some sort of attachment to those ninja!" he exclaimed shocked.
"The night we were there we slept in the Strider for safety. During the night Zane left and went with a group of hyenoids into the city. We can't tell if he was possessed or not. We also do not know why he would do that if he wasn't possessed. The ninja went to find him and were kidnapped by the Stag, taken into the city. We tried to find a way in but all access points were blocked by gates we couldn't open. They at least have the Star Stone and the Red-diamond shurikan but I don't know how or if that will keep them safe. We were contacted by someone claiming to be called Juib. They claimed the ninja were alive and the Stag wished to keep them that way though it would not explain why he wanted them. I don't know any more than that," Clay finished.
"Hopefully they can complete the mission, if not then we're doomed we are getting reports of more tears between the realms. Everyday people from here are going missing and we find people from Ninjago and Knighton wandering the wilds. Luckily most have not run into any serious attacks from wildlife but we cannot tell if any have encountered Ashers and it is only a matter of time before someone gets seriously hurt out there. Reports also indicate the necromancers are gaining more ground and power and Ashers are being reported in regions they have not been seen in since the early days of the Reptilian Wars. The two are quickly taking over. It is only a matter of time before they turn their attentions here," Tafari expressed.
"Things don't look good," Clay confirmed pausing for a second before continuing, "I should get back to help the others; Misako could I talk to you in private for a second?" Misako was worried after hearing what happened to them and with Clays request she was getting a sinking feeling that he did not have any better news. She agreed and followed him into the hall. When they were out of ear shot from those in the room Clay spoke to her with an upset and worried tone.
"I can't say for certain but I'm afraid they might be in more serious trouble than the others realise and I'm hesitant to let anyone else know. It does not bode well for them or their mission but I think you should at least know," Clay began.
"What are you talking about?" Misako inquired not liking where this could be going.
"I frequently got up and checked the ship during the night. I was so worried something bad was going to happen. The first night, I looked into all the rooms checked all the doors to make sure we were safe and I saw... I know he's trying to hide it and I don't blame him can't be pleasant to find out you have it but the first night when I checked their room to make sure everything was okay I saw Zane... on his arm... he has the Blight. He wouldn't let others check him over even after we got attacked by Ashers so we had to get Merlok to check him in secret and he confirmed it. We don't know how long he has had it but he is clearly hiding it when he's awake so the others do not see it. Sadly he is not the only one I can confirm who has it. The last time we saw them I'm pretty sure I could see on Coles wrists the starts of the Blights signature markings, they were faint but they were there. Also on the first night we caught on surveillance Kai wandering the ship and stacking furniture in an odd manor and Jay let the Kagaurs out of their pens, why we do not know. Both seemed to be dazed and mumbling some sort of gibberish about something being wrong while they were doing it. It is the same behaviours Zane was showing while we were here. Considering we know Zanes infected and since we don't know how long he's had it we think what he was doing was not a result of the Stag but this Blight. It would then mean that since Kai and Jay were showing those signs they too are likely infected. We might have survived the Ashers attacks but I fear it was false hope. I think the Ashers have cursed the ninja," Clay explained looking worried. Misako was saddened and worried by the news. From what she had heard and seen the Blight was a death sentence and a horrid one. It had no cure and did terrible things to those who got it. It was a curse of insanity, pain and torture.
"I'm so sorry. We could be mistaken at what we saw but I don't think so," Clay consoled her giving her a hug after seeing how his news affected her.
"What about my son, Lloyd, did he..." Misako began trying to stay strong.
"We didn't notice any odd behaviour from him nor could I see any evidence of the Blight from him. He could be safe but you never know. Best to prepare for both the worst and the best conditions just in case," Clay replied.
"Did you tell them what you saw?" she asked.
"No, they already have enough to worry about and we didn't feel right telling them what we saw and found. We felt it was up to them to come to terms with it. Not to mention we weren’t sure how to break it to them," Clay answered. He then checked his phone as he received a text and he seemed stunned and confused.
"What is it?" Misako asked trying to stay strong.
"I have to go, something's come up," he replied starting to head off.
"Can you show me the surveillance you spoke of; I know the ninja best maybe I could offer some insight on their behaviours?" Misako pleaded and Clay accepted.
"Sure, I'm heading to the Fortrex. We have a copy of the surveillance there," he agreed. A couple minutes later they entered the control room of the knights ship the Fortrex. The other knights were there. Macy and Axl were trying to hold Aaron down onto an examination table they had put out so Merlok could scan him. Aaron who looked confused and a little ruffed up was trying to resist them claiming nothing was wrong with him and that the others were overreacting. Ava stood next to the table on her tablet while Robin stood next to her holding a decommissioned Robo-bill in his arms. Lance stood nearby. They all looked worried.
"What happened?" Clay wondered confused by what was going on as Misako came over to stand next to Lance to watch the scene.
"I'm fine guys really. It was just an accident, I've had worse you know this," Aaron stated trying to get up but the others were not letting him up.
"You were acting stranger than usual, mindlessly wandering around talking about how 'she' knows the truth before falling down the stairs," Lance noted and Macy added, "Don't you remember?"
"I think I remember falling down the stairs part, it was all a bit of a blur," Aaron admitted.
"Well you've fallen down stairs before, that's nothing to really be worried about..." Clay began and Aaron proclaimed, "yha see and I was fine those times, I'm fine now."
"Those times you weren't acting so odd before," Axl noted and Clay inquired, "when you say acting odd what do you mean?"
"Honestly I'm fine, probably just low blood sugars that's all," Aaron stated and Macy explained, "He disappeared while we were unpacking and when we went to find him he had placed some of the items we were unpacking by the Shrines in the main room of the temple. He kind of stacked them in weird ways. We told him to bring the items back to the warehouse but he wasn't listening just talking a bunch of gibberish and saying something about honour turning foul and that she knows the truth. We had to lead him to take the items back and as he was doing this he fell down some stairs. I'm not sure exactly what happened."
"He was acting a lot like Zane was that night when he was wandering around the bedrooms in that weird state," Lance noted. Even though they all knew what that was a sign of none of them felt like voicing it. "Just hold still so Merlok can scan you. We want to be sure," Macy stated and Aaron argued, "I'm fine, just a little shaken from falling down the stairs that's all." While he was struggling against the others Misako thought she saw something on Aarons left arm. She came over and inquired to take a look. Aaron was a little hesitant but eventually gave in not wanting to be rude to her. When she pulled back his sleeve everyone was shocked.
"Okay maybe I'm not that fine," Aaron finally admitted. He had the defining markings of the Blight spreading up from his wrists, "I guess that Moss Runner must have been infected."
"Aaron, how long have you had these markings?" Clay questioned coming to get a closer look at them.
“Truthfully I’m not sure. I noticed my fingers were a little red last night, the past few days I’ve felt a little weird but I didn’t think much of it. Just thought it was from being in the wastes,” Aaron stated starting to feel down while Clay and Macy checked his arms where the Moss Runner he had squabbled with during the Ashers attack had bit him. Around each of the wounds marks from the Blight were emanating indicating it was the Runner who had given him the condition. Now that the markings had been revealed he gave in and let Merlok scan him.
“How long would you say he’s got?” Clay inquired worried.
"This is not good, the condition has progressed very rapidly in a short period of time," Merlok noted and Ava stated looking at her tablet before replying, "it would be hard to say. It could be anywhere from a week or two if it keeps up this progress or it could slow down and he might have longer. It could also speed up though and...it's not good..." The knights were all upset and worried.
"I can tell that it appears it was progressing faster on the other side of the fence and appears to have slowed down now that we are back in the town," Merlok noted and Misako wondered, "I wonder why that is?"
"Don't know, could be something to do with the Ghost Fence. Might be something to look into," Ava expressed.
"I'm sorry Aaron. You were like a brother to me..." Clay began feeling down.
"A wild, crazy brother," Macy added and Axl and Lance agreed.
"I'll relieve you from your duties so you can enjoy what little time you have left. Sadly I don't think we'll be able find a way back to our realm so you'll have to make do with this place," Clay proposed and Aaron stated, "That's okay and that's a nice gesture and all but I'll stay. I'll keep fighting till the very end; the realms need all the heroes they can get now. Just when the time comes and I start to lose it promise me you'll make it quick."
"We promise," Macy accepted.
"Things just seem to be going from bad to worse around here. Maybe this place is cursed," Clay expressed.
A dense fog covered the area making it hard to see anything more than a few feet away.
“Pix can you sense anything?” Skylor inquired as their group looked around. They were trying to find their way to the Caves of Disappear hoping to use them as a makeshift shelter and fort thinking they could use the many tunnels to their advantage in case the necromancers tried showing up. It was however taking longer than it should have to get there and their problem had nothing to do with the people. Despite their conditions everyone was able to keep up even those with Blight, since leaving the ash the curses symptoms seemed to happen less frequently and severely. Fewer people also seemed to becoming infected by the curse. They had taken some delivery vehicles and trucks from a town that had become abandoned to carry both people and supplies much of which they had managed to scavenge from any towns they came across, many of which were abandoned or overrun by Ashers and necromancers or corrupted and monstrous creatures. Most of the people in these towns were either enslaved or had been put into monstrous or zombie like states by the Ashers and the curses they spread. Their group kept on the move not wanting to fall to the same fate these folk had. It seemed however they had gotten lost. Compasses were starting to falter and once familiar geography was now unfamiliar. The plane meld was definitely taking its toll on the world around them. They had stopped to try and get their bearings hoping to find where they were. Wu, Pixal, Seliel, Skylor, Nero, Dareth and Sir Swordmore Brickland stood together just a bit ahead of the group trying to figure a way through the mist. It was clear they were in a forested area but they could not make out anything else. No roads, buildings, landmarks or even ruins.
"No this fog is too thick," Pixal noted and Wu expressed waving his staff through the fog, "something about this fog does not seem right." The fog itself was rather normal but Wu was getting the sense that there was something dark in this fog. He was unsure if it was something about the fog itself or something hiding in it.
"I would say. The weathers all wacked, you can go from a warm spot to a cold spot in only a few feet," Brickland expressed.
"The fog and uneven spots of temperature are signs the environment is trying to stabilize itself where two contrasting environmental conditions meet; one of cold and the other of heat. This fog could be an indication of a nearby tear between realms," Pixal noted.
"That can't be good. We should be on guard then," Seliel commented and Wu concurred, "We should get back to the others. We might want to sit and wait to see if this fog will ease instead of wandering aimlessly through it. We have no way of determining what could be hiding in it."
"What if it doesn't ease up?" Dareth worried.
"Then we'll have to find some way through it or maybe the better option around it," Skylor noted and Wu agreed, "We will wait a few hours no more. Until we find a place secure enough to offer shelter and defensive qualities we should not linger too long anywhere. Not with Dagons allies wandering around."
"Did anyone hear that?" Nero wondered looking into the fog. The others paused to listen. Through the fog they could hear faint muffled noises. They sounded animal like possibly of something large moving through the area.
"Keep on guard those noises could be from anything. From a harmless creature to one of those Asher beings," Wu commanded as they all moved closer to each other and began to head back. As they headed back to the others they kept a look out for danger. They could clearly hear something moving through the fog but it was hard to tell if whatever was making the noises was getting closer or somewhere off in the distance. They paused for a minute to listen thinking some of the sounds sounded to be rather close.
"That sounds awfully close," Skylor noted as they stopped to look around. There definitely seemed to be something nearby.
"Keep on guard, we do not want to risk getting ambushed," Wu stated.
"You don't suppose it's just some harmless creature lost out here?" Dareth expressed not looking where he was going and bumping into something in the fog. When he hit into it he panicked running to hide behind Sir Brickland who drew his sword in defence while what he had bumped into screamed covering its eyes with its hands just as scared and surprised. It was a serpentine of the venomari tribe. With the commotion several more serpentine from various tribes rushed from the fog ready to attack. The moment they saw who they were facing they stopped their attack surprised yet relieved.
"Well aren't you a sight for sore eyes!" a familiar voice proclaimed. It was Skales, leader of the serpentine. There was a couple of the serpentine from various tribes. Skales and the leader of the constructi were the only tribe leaders present. Skales son, Skales jr, stood next to his father scared. A few of the serpentine including Skales jr showed the starts of the Blight curse and all of the serpentine looked to have had a rough time.
"We thought most of your kind was going to try to sit it out hidden beneath Ninjago City?" Skylor questioned.
"It has worked before but not this time. Whatever that thing that has proclaimed himself ruler of the realms has done it has caused terrible things to happen, not even the underground is safe anymore. Nowhere is safe," Skales replied.
"So you are fleeing the city then?" Pixal inquired.
“You do not want to see what it has become there. A strange giant tower of near impenetrable white stone surrounded by walls in rings of this stone around it dominate the city then everything beneath it even our home has been fused with strange stone and metal structures dominated by crazed droids and metal contraptions that attack everything they see. Strange creatures born of darkness, these monstrous beings with burning skin and a massive dragon of nightmares patrol what remains of the city and the surrounding areas. Those monsters unleashed some horrid storm over the place turning things into monsters and tainting the place in darkness. The place has come to look like something from a nightmare; everything torn apart, tainted, dripping in foulness we barely escaped. Your ninja were there. They’re working for that thing. They tried to tear us apart acting like beasts and using their powers for dark purposes! They were even starting to look like monsters! We barely made it out of the city. Sadly most of us were not very fortunate. Some were caught by those dark storms the rest were caught by those monstrous beings including your ninja to be turned into their slaves and worse,” Skales explained and Skales jr cried before his father comforted him, “they got mother.” They were all surprised and worried. Apart from the folk of the Lost Realm they had heard very little of the ninja. The most recent that they had heard of was that three of them, Cole Nya and Zane, had a very bad encounter with an Asher Sorcerer. The Sorcerer had been obliterated and they lived but the three had been in a bad way for a while. They recovered but many of the folk believed it had left them scarred and afraid to continue on their quest. Many of them worried about the fate of their realms if the ninja failed in their quest. The loved ones especially the parents of the ninja were worried about what was happening to the ninja in this foreign realm.
"The ninja, what do you mean. They left our realm to find something to stop Dagon..." Wu inquired worried the ninja had gotten caught and fallen to the darkness of this foreign realm and were now aiding this dark force. This worry had been on his mind since they had left.
"Those were not the ninja you saw. I can see your memories, they had the same powers as the ninja and showed some similarities but their skin was furred and they had tails like the folk from this Lost Realm," Nero noted looking into the minds of some of the serpentine.
"If they were not the ninja then what were those things we saw?" one of the serpentine asked.
"They must have been this Dragon Guard the folk from this Lost Realm talk about. They have powers just like the ninja and we do know they were caught and corrupted by the enemy," Seliel noted.
"Then that is good news. The ninja are likely safe and still working to find a way to stop Dagon. We just need to hold on till they return and stand our ground against these threats. Why do you not join us? We could use more to help in the defence?" Wu expressed relieved to still have hope that the ninja hadn't failed. They were all relieved to hear the ninja had not fallen to darkness.
“So the ninja were not those things? I guess that is some good news, we will have to consider aiding you. We have many who need to be taken somewhere safe. We are headed to Oroborus. Maybe when they are safe we will aid you,” Skales noted as they led the serpentine back to the others. Most were sheltering in the trucks but Ray, Maya, Lou, Ed, Edna, and a couple others were waiting by the front of the vehicles for them. They were looking at a strange winged avian looking creature one they had seen in the guide book from these Ash Wastes called a Pryphon, a small parrot type of gryphon. They had seen one before but it was a different species from this one. They had seen a Murk-wing type before; this one was of the Green-cheeked variety. The creature was attempting to play with them. Most were feeling too down to play with the creature however Edna was playing with it using a feather to try and tickle the creature. Upon seeing their group approach the creature stopped playing to look at them as if studying them before taking off with a chatter flying into the fog.
"Were you able to find anything?" Ray inquired seeing the group return.
"Just some more seeking refuge from Dagon and his lackeys," Skylor noted.
"That thing attacked us and has turned many of us into his slaves. We seek to rescue them from that monster but first we must get our young, injured and elderly to safety," Skales regaled.
"Indeed we will take the fight to Dagon once the ninja return with what we need to stand up to him," Wu explained and one of the serpentine asked, "What is this Dagon?" Before anyone could respond a voice came from the fog.
"We could tell you but we ain't gonna," the voice which was feminine proclaimed. Slowly the fog around them backed off as figures moved towards them. They recognised some of them as prisoners from Kryptarium prison including Ultra-Violet, Killow and the mechanic along with some of the Sky Pirates that had been caught on the Dark Isle. Even some nindroids were among them however unlike the others the nindroids seemed to have been warped by some sort of spell and had strange dark vines coming out of their skin and wrapping around their limbs. It looked like the nindroids had their free will removed and were being controlled like puppets likely by the necromancers or Ashers. The prisoners were joined by necromancers and full blooded Ashers luckily there didn't seem to be any sorcerers among them.
"How did you escape Kryptarium?" Skylor inquired as the group surrounded them.
"It came under new management and they gave us an offer we couldn't refuse," Ultra-Violet replied, something about her voice sounded off. As she spoke a large mass rose out of the fog behind them; an Ash Crawler! It was no bigger than an elephant as it stood on its muscled forelimbs and flicked its tongue out as it surveyed them. The sight of the Ash Crawler sent many of the serpentine to hide behind the trucks terrified. Several of the necromancers bone constructs, the Shambles, were also there hanging round the back of the group and by the Crawler.
"They serve us and help capture you and the foreign dragons and they shall have freedom, they shall be spared Dagons curses and receive whatever they desire," the one Asher growled. Looking at the former prisoners Pixal noted something. They all bore markings resembling the burning ash skin of the Ashers and the areas around their eyes was darkened and the eyes themselves looked blood shot.
"Something about them does not look right," Pixal quietly commented to the others.
"They seem normal to me," Dareth objected and Nero noted trying to read some of the prisoners minds, "their minds seem to have been addled with like they are under some spell. It's blinding them from something but the spell is preventing me from seeing what it is."
"Their skin, it's starting to look like that of those Ashers, do you think they agreed to become one of those things?" Seliel noted and Wu commented, "those Ashers likely have done something to them without them knowing. Even though they are criminals I doubt many of them would willingly side with such dark beings. They have been cursed and are being controlled but cannot see it." The crawler harshly shoved aside some of the prisoners including Ultra-violet and Killow as it came to crouch close to the front of the group as if waiting for a command. Instead of objecting to the harsh treatment the two seemed oblivious to the act and simply got up as if nothing had happened seemingly unaware of what the crawler had done. Surely they should have cared or at least reacted to being pushed around like that? Something made Wu think they had not been given a choice and the Ashers had tricked them, enslaving them to serve them and likely would eventually be turned into an Ash Slave.
"So will you come quietly or do we have to do this the hard way? Truly we would prefer the hard way," the Asher who seemed to be the leader proclaimed.
"That creature, one like it turned some of us into these dark ash creatures which turned on us as we tried to flee the city," Skales explained trying to shield his son pointing at the crawler. All the serpentine were scared of this monster.
"They have a bony spur in their tongue used for turning enemies into slaves for their Asher masters and if you are unlucky it could turn you into one of those Ash Spawn," Pixal explained. They were outnumbered and had a feeling they had no way to combat this thing. Some of them noted there were still some sounds in the fog and they sounded like they were getting closer. Could it be more dark forces waiting to ambush them out there?
"What do you say? I will ask you once more, will you come quietly or do we have to do this the hard way?" the Asher growled.
"No, we will not go without a fight," Wu proclaimed, as they readied to fight even though many of them felt they had no chance to make it.
"So be it, this will not take long," the Asher proclaimed as the Crawler reared up preparing to strike. Before it could strike it paused and looked into the fog having been distracted by something. The Pryphon they had seen before dove at the Crawlers head from out of the fog making it duck as it watched the smaller creature swoop past back into the fog.
"Ignore the puny flying thing, you're a monster of darkness that thing shouldn't bother you. Do what you were created to do," an Asher commanded to the Crawler trying to get it to focus before one of the other Ashers was grabbed by something out of the mist. What had looked like an ethereal chain whipped out from in the fog and wrapped around an Ashers leg to suck it into the mist where it sounded like it got caught up in a fight. They couldn't see however what had grabbed it or what it was fighting. Something then shot out of the mist to hit the Crawler in the side. It was a ball of something that exploded on the creatures side releasing a freezing liquid onto the creature burning its skin causing it to recoil in pain. Everyone was confused unsure what was happening and what to do as they looked into the fog where the orb had come from, they could hear something moving there. Something big and very close. From the directions of the sound a massive creature charged out of the fog through the Ashers, necromancers and criminals swinging its head and flinging any close to it before charging at the Crawler trying to stomp on it with its forepaws rearing up on its hind legs to slam its front end down at the Crawler. Pixal recognised the creature as an Ash Walker however there was something odd about this one. It looked like someone had strapped armour plating on its head, shoulders, forelimbs and back. Another chain grabbed another of the folk before what looked like a monk who was part of the cat folk of this foreign realm rushed out of the mist with a great sword at the leader of the Ashers group and began to fight them. Most of their garb such as their robes and hood looked like a monk however they wore pieces of leather armour along with gloves and steel plated boots.
"Why are you not fighting," another of these strange monk folks, one who resembled an ungulate folk expressed rushing up to their group out of the fog. He used the weird chain spell to grab one of the necromancers and pull them towards him where he carefully hit them in the head with a wooden club to knock them out. What then appeared like a bear rushed out of the mist to attack Killow knocking him down and attacking him. The creature was as big as a large bear and overall looked like one but it had a slightly longer tail and something about it, possibly its markings or some of the sounds it made, spoke raccoon. As it attacked another folk came out of the fog to stand by the Bearcoon and shoot with a modified crossbow the strange orbs at the Crawler helping the walker in its attacks. The person was a dark skinned cat folk with pale ginger short hair and markings. The Pryphon was hanging around her pestering and attacking anyone who got too close to her. UV went to stop this folk but the ungulate folk used his chain spell to grab her and drag her to himself to knock her out the same way he had done to the necromancer.
"Come on let us give them a hand," Wu proclaimed as they proceeded to aid these folk who seemed to be on their side. It didn't take long for the Ashers and their group to retreat, even the Crawler backed off fearful of the walker rushing away to disappear in the mist. The Ash Walker stopped a charge it was in headed towards the Crawler and bellowed at the mist where it had left. The Ashers left those who had been knocked out, mainly some of the criminals and necromancers, behind clearly having no care about them. With the threat gone the one cat folk dispelled her bear creature and the Pryphon came to land then sit by her.
"Whoever you are we would like to thank you for your aid," Wu expressed to the monks and the cat folk, the walker remained behind them just watching. Those that had been hiding in the vehicles came out to see if everything was okay.
"We are Vigilantes' of Dawn, warriors who have sworn to fight against those who wish harm to the innocent. I am Caius and my companion is Crassious. Our associate is Keikiary author, scholar, ranger who can summon the spirits of beasts to aid in battle and follower of Sheoth. The Walker who is called Numidium is ours; he has been trained to aid us in battle against these criminal scums. We could hear you for some distance in the mist, with Ashers out there you should be more quite; whisper when you talk and tread lightly," the ungulate folk expressed not sounding pleased that their companion was a liker of the prince of insanity.
"You should be lucky we were nearby. We have been tracking those vile beings since we fell into this realm," the other monk stated. The monks didn't seem very happy or pleasant.
"Lighten up; you were wandering around just as blind as they were. Do not mind them, a lot of the vigilantes are cranky when the forces of darkness get the upper hand," Keikiary explained petting the Pryphon as it came to roost on one of her arms one of which was entirely robotic, "This one was doing research in the Glacial Woods when I stumbled through a tear then I found the vigilantes lost in some woods."
“If you like we would be glad if you could join us. You seem to have experience with these beings and could offer assistance in times to come. We have some who have gone to your world to retrieve items needed to take out this menace and stop the meld. When they return we hope to take the fight back to Dagon and fix all this,” Wu explained and the strange folk all seemed to think something over before Crassious mentioned, “You’re speaking of the Foreign Dragons are you not? What is it they called themselves, ninja wasn’t it,”
"You've heard of them, what do you know of them?" Lou asked as those closest to the ninja came closer desperate to hear any possible news. It had been a while since their loved ones had left for the Lost Realm and all they had heard from everyone did not sound good.
“Just rumours coming from Balmora. I hear some knights who also came from another realm, what were they called nexo knights or something like that are aiding them. Both are the first to come from outside our realm and take the Dragons Pilgrimage. I hear they got the Tribunal and the Dragon Masters blessing. No one from outside our realm has taken it before and passed. Pretty impressive that they managed that especially since ones a filthy metal skin,” Caius stated sounding disgusted at this metal skin. Pixal was not pleased with how they seemed to view Zane.
"So they’re continuing on their mission, we heard three of them might not be continuing because this Stag being had done something to them," Seliel noted and Crassious explained, "yha, don't know how they could get the courage to continue. They are either very brave or very stupid. Nor do I know how they lived after being used as the Stags puppets. No one has ever been possessed by the Stag before, he normally just kills people. Maybe it's because of their powers they survived but I would think that would make him want to claim them not let them go. Maybe it is because they are friends with a metal skin but if you ask me I think something fishy is going on there."
"I'm betting the only reason he let them go is so he can enslave them when they reach him then corrupt them and turn them on everybody else or they're in league with him. Your ninja ally with metal skins too easily if you ask me; I'm betting theirs is already in league with that monster. I could see them aligning with the Stag, he likes metal skins to. And those knights are suspicious too. Just appeared out of the blue and were suspiciously friendly to the treacherous metal-skins. They all might have most folk tricked into liking them but us of the order will not trust any of them," Caius imputed worrying and irritating those closest to the ninja and angering Pixal. What did they have against those like she and Zane? She was going to say something before Keikiary stopped her coming to whisper in her ear to hold her tongue.
"You don't know the ninja; they would never side with such a dark entity as this Stag not even the metal man. You would be foolish not to trust them," Skylor defended the ninja to which Crassious stated, "whatever, you're entitled to your own opinion it doesn't matter to us."
"While we do not seem to have the same views you clearly have experience fighting these corrupted beings and we could use your aid to keep many who need it safe. We ask again will you help us?" Wu inquired trying to prevent any possible confrontations and keep everyone calm.
"I guess it wouldn't hurt to stick with you folk, you clearly have no understanding of how to handle Ashers. We could offer you some help. First thing you should remember is never let them get a word out always attack first and attack hard," Crassious explained before him and his pal went over to their Walker to check its armour. Once the two had left Pixal inquired to Keikiary why she had stopped her from chastising the vigilantes views of droids.
"This one does not think it wise you challenge the vigilantes. How does that saying go, best not beat a dead rat repeatedly or something like that? Their orders intentions are just to fight evil and while they are good at fighting criminals and cultists they are no good at anything else. They just make a muck of things. Many vigilantes are brash, foolish, uneducated and narrow-minded. They see only the monsters they want to see, not the reality of things. They fear everything they do not understand and take too many shortcuts. Vigilantes are unable to grasp the complexity of situations or beings. To them there is only light and dark they forget that there is a between. Mystara, Sheoth and even the Dragon Master himself disproved of their order seeing them as too narrow-minded, stubborn and foolish to follow the true ways of the light. Luckily they are just a small order, too bad the same could not be said for the Ashers or Necromancers. You argue with them and you will get nowhere but make an enemy of them. They dislike beings of advanced technology like robots seeing them as the spawn or puppets of the darkness. This is often because they have poor understandings of technology and do not realise these beings are just as much victims to the darkness as people," Keikiary explained, "for the record I do not believe your ninja even the droid would willingly side with the Stag, I think only the darkest of beings would want to willingly side with him."
"Why would you say that?" Skylor inquired.
“I know cause I have felt his presence and even seen him. I know firsthand not many would willingly side with that thing no matter what they are made of,” Keikiary expressed sparking Wu to inquire in confusion, “You have seen this Stag? But many of the folk from your realm claim only this Tafari has seen him and lived?”
"She is the only one who openly states it. True few have seen him and lived. I and a few others including the last of the Ash-pyres a serpentine tribe from our world are some of the lucky or better described as unlucky few but we would never dare speak of it. Too many people think the wrong things of you if they hear you saw the Stag and lived like thinking you are in league with him. I do not even think those who do side with him do so willingly or are happy about their predicament. It is not a pleasant thing just to look upon the Stag I would hate to imagine what it is like to live with him. It was while writing my book on the wastes this one got a glimpse of him. Me and my aid, an ungulate folk with a very nervous disposition who I guess he was right to stay back at the cabin this time. I have been studying the Glacial Woods when I stumbled through what I could only assume was a tear between realms. Anyway as I was saying we had to take shelter from an Ash Storm while in the wastes. We were near the Mountain of Dawn where the Stags home the Forbidden City sits. We were headed for the Scholars base that was installed there but the storm was getting too much so we were forced to take shelter in a cave. We hid in a small alcove behind some stalagmites to keep us hidden from the rest of the cave in case Ashers came looking for anyone, you can never know if they are hiding in a storm to kidnap unsuspecting folk caught in the open during one. It does happen. Anyway as we sheltered we came to realise we were not alone. We could feel a darkness come over the cave before we saw the Stags militant droids the Scimitar Samurai come to stand by the caves entrance from deeper in the cave. A few were looking at the storm outside and some were checking the cave. They appeared to be looking for intruders. We must have entered a cave that led into the Forbidden City. We do not know why they came looking in the cave maybe we set off some sort of sensors or caught their attention in some way but we remained quiet and still hoping to not reveal ourselves to them. As we waited for them to leave we began to feel an even darker emptiness I could barely describe, like the void, a great emptiness of all things was consuming the cave. That is when we saw him, he came from deeper within to look outside with his minions. He had the body of a man with the head of a Stag; blacker than the night with eyes glowing with an unerving color. It felt longer than it actually was as we remained still watching them. I would rather look an Oni in the eye than look upon that thing again. He made a comment disgusted at the Ashers before one of his Samurai found us. We thought we were doomed that he would tell his master but to our surprise he just looked at us remaining quite. I could tell from my cybernetics he was not letting any of the others know about us. When his master asked what had caught his attention to our surprise the droid did not reveal us. He picked up my Pryphon Chewy and claimed it was just him taking shelter there. The Stag paused; I could swear he looked straight at us. That gaze of his is terrifying to feel. I could pick up his droids appeared to be scared of him possibly to the point of what I could only describe as terror. The one by us seemed anxious as the Stag looked in our direction. The Stag didn't seem to care about Chewy being in the cave stating he could shelter there till the storm was over before he left headed back deeper into the cave. A short time passed before most of the Samurai followed him. The one who had found us remained for a few minutes I could pick up he was still nervous watching where the Stag had left. He put Chewy back down and looked at us whispering to us that when it was clear to get out as soon as we could and not linger there in order to avoid the Stags wrath before leaving. From the readings I got his minions are not happy about his presence; the Stag makes them anxious and scared. Some of the toughest and most feared beings in our world were as scared as a child by that things presence. I believe their service to him is not as willing as most folks claim it is; it is probably one of necessity not willingness. As for the Stag I am no expert on such entities but I am pretty sure the Stag was aware we were there. Why he spared us I do not know and I do not care I just know I would never want to see him again," Keikiary regaled.
"What do you think then? What do you think the Stag wants with the ninja?" Seliel inquired.
“This one would have to say the Stags wanting of them likely revolves around their powers. What he wants them for and what might do to them I would hate to find out but it will likely not be pleasant,” Keikiary expressed.
"Have you heard anything on the ninja?" Lou inquired.
"Indeed, I have some contacts in Balmora, a few scholars this one works with. When I heard of the foreign knights and Dragons I was intrigued. It is not often visitors come from outside our realm so they kept me up to date," Keikiary explained.
"What did they tell you?" Ray inquired and Maya added, "Are they okay after the possession?"
"Did they continue in their quest or have they given up?" Lou worried.
"The last I heard they made it to the city. They were still determined to continue their quest but... you probably won't like it... the ninja were kidnapped by the Stag and dragged into his city. The knights tried to follow but could not and had to return to Balmora for safety; they both at least escaped the grasps of the Ashers. That was a few days ago, nothing has been heard or seen of them since. We are unsure if they are okay or if the Stag has done something to them but no trace or evidence of them has been found since they were taken and the knights have been trying to find a way to get to them. Many worry the ninja are... how to put this term lightly... would terminated be it," Keikiary explained. The others were horrified worried over the news and what it could mean. It was not something they wanted to hear. From all they had heard nothing good would come to the ninja if this Stag caught them and the fact many believed they were dead was not very uplifting.
"So they've failed?" Dareth finally voiced what everyone was thinking after a silent moment. No one wanted to admit they had a feeling he was right. Of all of them Wu was the most shaken by the news even though he was doing his best to hide it. It was what he least wanted to hear and what he had feared the most about letting the ninja into this realm. They had been kidnapped by the darkness and likely would become corrupted by it or worse. As if sensing how he felt the Pryphon Chewy hopped off Keikiarys arm and wandered over to Wu to look up at him. When he looked into the creatures eyes it gave off a chatter before climbing up onto him. It came to perch on his shoulder and went to lick his ear. As it went to lick him Wu thought he heard a voice, a slightly feminine one, whisper into his ear, "they will be the light in the darkness". Chewy then proceeded to wedge himself under Wus hat and look down at him giving off a sound that sounded like a cross between a purr and a pigeons cooing.
“Interesting he likes you; it is not easy to win the affections of Pryphons. Being a type of Gryphon they are very proud and noble creatures who are not easily tamed and will not show liking to just anyone. He only came to like me because this one raised him since he was a fledgling. I rescued him from the clutches of some Ash Spawn. You know they say the spirit Whetu made the Pryphon. The tale goes a flock of parrots were jealous of the gryphons so asked her to become like them in return they promised they would do anything for her. She agreed to their terms turning them into a type of Gryphon and in return whenever she needed them they were to come and fight alongside her for the powers of light. They say she not only gave them special powers but in honour for her giving them what they wanted they let her communicate through them. I am not sure how much of this is true though, I’ve seen some of their powers and while they can mimic human speech I’ve never seen proof of mystical beings talking through them or supposed mystical connections. I think most are tall tales told to make them seem more mystical than they actually are,” Keikiary explained. As the creature looked at him Wu somehow got a feeling that not everything was lost. He thought he heard the voice whisper to him again, “you trained them well; have faith in them.” He could see no one else was hearing the words. Whatever was communicating to him wanted only him to hear it. The voice was right; they had to have faith in the ninja. Just because they had been caught by this Stag being didn’t mean they would just give into it. They would fight it till the end; they had to remain hopeful if they had any chance of making it.
"This news is not good. The ninja have been caught by an entity of great darkness but that does not mean they have given up or are gone. I know they will try till the very end to fight the darkness, to stay alive and go on, they will not give up easily," Wu expressed.
"Yha they're very stubborn in that way and frankly in many other ways," Ronin noted and Skylor added, "They're stubbornness is a good thing."
"It keeps them going even when all seems lost or when others give up," Pixal noted.
"It is a good thing except when I have to keep reminding Jay to put his underwear away," Edna expressed and Lou commented, "what does that have to do with this?"
"Their stubbornness," Edna mentioned.
"We cannot give up, yes things are grim but we should have faith that the ninja will pull through. This isn't the end," Wu expressed to everyone.
It had been a few days since the knights had gotten back to Balmora. Things had been quite since returning however the knights had noticed townsfolk seemed highly on edge as if expecting to be attacked. They had a feeling it was because of their prophecy that they were on edge. Luckily they hadn’t seemed to develop any hatred to the knights. Since learning of the ninjas condition Misako had started researching this Blight and if there was anything they could do to help cure it. She was often collaborating with Merlok on finding the cure. The two would also involve Aaron who also had the curse in their research often leading him to becoming their reluctant test subject.
The knights had tried to find a possible passage between Balmora and Holamaya through a possible hidden tunnel from the scimitar constructs a few times. They were unable to locate any hidden entrances and knew of only one. The one Zane had shown them in the scholars’ center. They tried searching the tunnel but had gotten lost for a few hours due to the complexity of the tunnels and lack of directional markings. They tried to get some of the Scimitar constructs of the town to help but most knew nothing about navigating the tunnels and the only one who did know was Mzark who refused to co-operate with them because he had sworn secrecy to the Stags forces to keep it a secret from all non cubs. After getting lost in the tunnels for several hours which had only been made worse when Aaron entered the Blights trance and kept wandering off down random tunnels at one point they decided to give that idea a break till they could find some way to convince Mzark to co-operate with them. Robin and Ava had come up with an idea, they were also thinking it could allow Merlok to have greater freedom in this place and let him stay close with them without the townsfolk knowing of his presence. They were converting a Robo-bill they had gotten from the Holamaya research station for Merlok to inhabit while they were in this realm.
Since returning they decided to aid the town in its defence while they searched for some way to sneak into the Forbidden City to aid the ninja. The town council had put them on the job of looking into reports of strange sightings or happenings in the town, aiding in eliminating problems and keeping the peace. Generally most accounts were nothing to bother over, a few were bandits or criminals which they had apprehended but there was little signs of Ashers. Just a few of their Ravage Storms which with the aid of a special potion that combated the effects of the storms magic the Knights took down before they caused too much damage.
“Do you think with what happened in the wastes they’ve been scared back into the wastes?” Axl speculated as the knights entered the control center of the Fortrex. Ava had called them in. They had been able to repair the Fortrex enough to use the sensors along with several other features but were unable to get it moving yet. Even though they were still being permitted to stay with the scholars’ center in town they had decided to stay on the Fortrex feeling safer there than in the strange town. Since the ninja were gone and she was not comfortable around the townsfolk, after all they had been rather hostile to her son for quite some time, Misako was staying with them. Ava was at the computer while Misako was looking over various texts and scrolls she had found on this Blight at the round table with Merlok.
"That would be nice then we could take a break for a while. After that whole trip through those wastes I could use it," Lance expressed.
“No we have to stay focussed the longer this goes on the worse things are going to get. We haven’t been able to find a way back home. You’ve heard it from the people who’ve ended up trapped here with us these monsters are invading our realm and spreading chaos as well. If the ninja fail to find what we need then it will be up to us to find a way to stop all this,” Macy proclaimed and Clay agreed, “We can’t let our guard down, there’s too much at stake here. Ava what did you call us here for?”
"We managed to get the Fortrexs sensors working and subterranean scanners are picking up some unusual activity to the northwest of the city. It could be nothing but seeing as it stems from an area with a scimitar ruin and people from the nearby town have noted strange sights and sounds coming from the ruins the past few days along with several disappearances having been recorded in the area it might be worthy to check it out," Ava explained and Merlok inputted, "these ruins have been noted to be an outpost for the Stags forces in the past but it has been abandoned for at least eight years now. It is possible some have come to re-inhabit the ruins."
"If so maybe we can convince them to aid us in getting into the Forbidden City," Aaron proposed and Clay speculated, "possibly, or it could be a trap. Either way we should check it out. Couldn't hurt to see what it is we'll head there now."
“Alright time for some action,” Aaron expressed attempting to get on his hover shield only to instantly fall off and land face first on the ground worrying everyone else.
"I'm okay, just lost my balance that's all," Aaron proclaimed as Macy and Clay came to help him up. Aaron tried to stand on his own but was having trouble balancing and they had to help him stand. They had gotten a little lucky, the progress of his Blight had slowed down but it was still progressing and he was starting to show more signs of it. The markings were even starting to show through his clothes and armour now. Despite the hardships the Blight was giving him Aaron was trying his best to stay positive. He'd been doing pretty well so far but the others wondered how long that would last. He was only starting to get some of the more unpleasant symptoms. So far it seemed townsfolk had not noticed he was infected yet and they hoped it would stay that way at least for a little while. They were unsure how the townsfolk would react to seeing he was infected and what they might do to him.
"Disorientation and loss of balance just another symptom of the Blight. Sadly it will just get worse as the condition progresses and there are worse symptoms to come both physical and mental," Misako explained.
"Maybe you should sit this one out. Wait here and take a break," Clay suggested and Aaron expressed, "no I'm good. By the time we get there I should be back to normal."
"You mean almost normal, you’ll still have the curse," Axl noted.
“At these early stages the symptoms are going to be short lived and easier to manage and work around however as the condition progresses they will steadily last longer getting worse and harder to work with,” Misako noted.
“See, I’m not giving up yet,” Aaron stated and Clay suggested, “okay, maybe just take it easy till we get there then.” They started to head out Axl and Lance helping Aaron out of the room. Clay and Macy hung back for a few seconds to talk with the others.
"Have you found anything yet?" Clay inquired to Merlok and Misako.
"Not much largely symptoms and some things that can alleviate suffering from symptoms during the early stages but not much else," Misako stated and Merlok added, "there also seems to be a strange attraction to this Red Mountain in many of the sufferers but no one has been able to determine why."
“The rest of us are not likely to contact it from him are we?” Macy wondered worried. Even though they weren’t showing it not wanting to make Aaron feel uncomfortable all the others were worried they’d end up catching the Blight as well.
"Not unless he bites you or you drink his blood. This thing does not work like a cold," Merlok confirmed and Clay expressed, "that's good. The rest of us are safe for now."
"For now?" Ava pondered, the others were confused.
“It’s only a matter of time till something causes the rest of us to get inflicted by this curse. We have no clue how Zane got infected and if our reasoning is right the Ashers cursed the rest of them somehow when we were in the wastes. Now with the ninja prisoner of the Stag it is only a matter of time before the Ashers turn their attention to the rest of us and curse us,” Clay explained. The others were not thrilled with his idea but they felt he was right.
"We better get going," Macy stated before Misako stopped them to talk.
"If you do find minions to the Stag can you find out what they have done to the ninja? Why does he want them and are they all infected?" she inquired.
"Worried for your son aren't you?" Macy stated and Clay said, "we'll see what we can do. Don't get your hopes up though. It might not be good."
“I understand, it would still be comforting to know something instead of being left to wonder,” she expressed. It took them longer than they expected to reach their location. They had vehicles on the Fortrex they usually used for rapid transport however Robin had to salvage parts from their vehicles to get some of the functioning back in the Fortrex. Even though it was a setback they preferred having the Fortrex back in working order than their personal vehicles. They sought transportation from a place in the city but the proprietor they went to refused to lend them vehicles. They claimed vehicles would do them no good where they were headed though the knights were pretty sure this folks real reason was he didn't like them. He had made some rude comments about outlanders when he thought the knights weren't listening, talked rudely to them and was giving them mean looks. Instead of vehicles he had given them some of these Kagaur creatures to ride. They were not too pleased with it but took it not wanting to stir up trouble with the people here. The creatures were a little stubborn, smelled and not super fast but at least they got them to where they were heading. The location they sought was built into the side of a large hill outside a small farming town near the Great Lake of Lost Souls a large inland freshwater sea. On the Kaguars it took around two hours to get there. It was cool and overcast outside. They stopped to inquire a bit about the ruin so they would know what to expect there in the town.
"See told you I would be fine," Aaron expressed getting off the Kagaur he had been riding and able to stand and balance on his own.
"Alright, let's get some intel on this place before entering. These types of ruins are apparently notorious for being dangerous, best to know what to expect before we enter," Clay stated. They found three villagers loading up an old farm truck with produce likely to be sold in the city to talk to. One was a hyena folk the other two were ungulate folks.
"Pardon us but we were wondering if you could tell us anything about your local Scymer ruin?" Clay inquired.
"Local scimitar ruin? How local you talking cause in and near the Ash wastes there are a few. There is of course the famous and dreaded Holamaya, then there's Bthardamz, Mzulft, Nchuleft, Alftand, Mudan..." the one folk, the hyena one, began and Aaron noted, "these Scymer folk gave some weird names to their dwellings."
"Not to mention the ones in Blackreach, most of those are still undiscovered," the one ungulate folk who was the only female stated and the other ungulate folk expressed, "yha there's a reason they're undiscovered. Who in their right mind would want to explore that cursed place."
"Adventurers and scholars who don't care for their or others safety or for setting off terrible things to the surface world," the hyena folk expressed and the villagers started talking about tales of nightmares they had heard of these places.
"I think we should be more specific," Macy stated before addressing the folk, "we're talking about that one." She pointed at the one on the hill that they were headed to. The folk looked at it. Other than smoke and steam coming from a few pipes and some lights on the structure there was little evidence of habitation to the place. The ruin consisted of a large stone and metal façade built into the side of the hill along with some towers and a few small outbuildings built on a few artificially built platforms. Some of the structures showed signs of wear, neglect and damage and various plants and fungi were colonizing the structures.
"Oh you're talking of Nchardak," the female stated and Clay stated relieved to finally get an answer, "yes that one what can you tell us of it."
"Well until last week it seemed to be abandoned then for some reason the ruins came back to life and figures have been seen conspiring around the ruins. The Stags forces were the last ones to inhabit the place about seven or eight years ago," the male ungulate folk stated.
"What had they been doing there?" Aaron inquired and the female expressed, "who knows. No one ever dared get close to that place while they were there and there are many who have vanished in it while exploring it while it was abandoned. Only the foolish would dare enter that place."
"Why would you say that?" Axl wondered and the hyena folk responded, "that ruin became a defensive outpost during the reptilian wars. Before that it was well not sure, hard to tell with those places. It's said they had passages that went straight down into Blackreach in there. The constructs were claimed by the Stag not long after the Scimitar folk disappeared. They used to attack anyone who got close to the place and you never dared go wandering outside town after dark cause they tended to wander the countryside. Why no one knows but if they found you no one would ever hear of you again."
"Okay but what's inside? Any traps or hidden passages?" Clay wondered and the male ungulate stated, "Again since the scimitar folk disappeared no one knows. It likely boasts the same hazards as all Scimitar ruins. Whirling blades that burst up from the floor to chop up your knees taking you down a few feet if it doesn't kill you first, steam vents hot enough to burn your skin, flame, frost and shock traps, poison darts that shoot from hidden crossbows, machines that create sounds that can enslave or drive one mad. Oh and of course their constructs and feral hyenoids who'll tear you apart on sight. I've even heard tales of constructs especially hyenoids who've turned into man eaters making them turn savage like beasts."
"Really? Man eating droids, where did you hear that?" the female inquired and the male responded, "an adventurer who was passing through once. He said he and his pal got caught by some of those constructs and the droids ate his friends. They weren't even man-beast cursed droids either just regular droids. He said they would have eaten him to if he hadn't managed to escape."
"I don't think that's true," the hyena folk expressed and the male ungulate folk defended himself saying, "by the look on his face I'm betting it was true. He was horrified."
"Even if they did do that I doubt they would turn into man eaters. They will bite and I have heard they often experiment with things and attempt to mimic human behaviours and traits. I could see them eating someone to experiment with their dark programming but I don't think they'd become man-eaters," the female expressed. The knights were not amused by the folks arguing and wanted to get on with their quest.
"Rumours aside is that all we should expect?" Clay asked not pleased with the peoples not so helpful arguments and the hyena folk replied, "pretty much, truly what you could face in there is not worth any treasures that could be found there."
"We're not here for treasures; we're here to investigate rumours of strange occurrences and missing people. Now you said figures have been seen around these ruins, what kind of figures? Constructs, droids?" Macy inquired and the female stated," don't know. No one wants to get a close look. The figures are dark and humanlike that's all we know. You're not thinking of entering that place are you?"
"Yha why?" Lance stated. The villagers looked at each other before the hyena folk expressed, "It'll be your funerals." The folks then went back to working.
"Well that didn't sound pleasant," Lance expressed before they started heading up to the ruins.
"Hey are you sure we want to go in there?" Lance inquired as they approached the ruin and Axl added, "Yha from what they said this doesn't sound like the place to just poke around in." The two were a little hesitant to get close to the ruins but followed the others not wanting to be left alone in this strange place.
"We need to check out what the possible disturbances are," Clay proclaimed and Aaron expressed, "besides if it is constructs then we might be able to persuade them to help us get into the Forbidden City." When they got to the ruins apart from the lights and some steam coming from a few broken pipes the place looked abandoned. The decorative scimitar steel door that led into the ruin was unlocked. Seeing the place had been abandoned that didn’t seem too strange to them. Inside the place was relatively intact. Only the rugs and tapestries that decorated the place showed any wear. The place opened to a large foyer like area with what looked to be a few dwellings built into the walls of the entrance. The structure then continued into the hill and down. Every now and then there were doors that led to dwellings and possibly other structures like workshops, warehouses and stores off the main path as it slowly wound down into the earth. The place just seemed to keep heading down. The place appeared to be active, they could hear and occasionally saw machinery at work but oddly there were no signs of constructs. There were traps like those they had been told of but all had been destroyed or decommissioned. Eventually the passage led to a large foyer with a large doorway at the far end. When they opened the doors they found themselves entering what they could only assume was a part of Blackreach, the massive collection of caverns that ran beneath parts of the continent. They recognised the flora, fauna and formations from the exhibit in the museum of Balmora.
“Whoa look at this crazy place,” Aaron expressed as they paused by the entrance they had come in from to look around at the place. It was a massive cavern the full size of which was difficult to assess due to the poorly lit conditions and a cool damp haziness from moisture in the air making the furthest reaches unable to be seen. While cool the cavern was not cold despite the lack of sunlight. The lack of sunlight also didn’t seem to be hindering the life in this place. A strange mix of flora mainly of fungi dominated the cavern. Various lichens some of which were glowing with icy or warm glows coated the ground, rocks and spread onto the walls and roofs of the cavern. Shrooms of various sizes some as big as trees dominated the cavern growing up from the ground, out of the walls and even a few growing down from the ceiling. Some of these shrooms were giving off glows primarily of a bluish hue though warm amber, turquoise, warm green, reddish and cool violet colored ones were also in the mix. Typical cavern stones like stalactites and stalagmites were joined by strange rock, crystal and mineral deposits some of which were glowing with icy blue, amber or faint green or violet glows. A mist seemed to hang by the ceiling of the cavern and even turned into fluid clouds in the tallest sections; the clouds slowly streamed across its surface and even rolling a bit down the walls in some places. Rocks and foliage stuck out of the clouds from where they were anchored to the rock above. The moisture from these clouds were making the air damp and a bit hazy. While not obstructing the immediate view this haziness could be seen obscuring the distant view. Mosses with glowing parts draped off some of the fungi and the cavern walls and ceiling while plants some with glowing parts were scattered around the cavern. Roots from plants above ground or possibly from the fungi of the cavern wound and twisted their way from the ceiling to the floor in some places and ran across the walls, ceilings and floor. Mosses, fungi, flora and lichens grew on these roots along with the ceiling, walls and floor of the cavern. A strange glowing amber stone could be found embedded in, growing on and near these roots. Some of the roots bore scraggly branches with darkened de-saturated leaves from the plant they came from on some parts of the root. There were rivers and creeks running through in a few spots with lakes, ponds and swampy regions in low lying areas. There were even various sized waterfalls scattered throughout in some areas feeding some of the lakes and streams. Water loving plants grew around and a few in these wet areas some of which like a small reed, some water lilies and even some fungi like Swamp Beacon Pods bore glowing parts. They could see a few of the native fauna of the cavern largely the bioluminescent insects like torchbugs, glowbugs and beetles. A small group of the small fanged Vale deer had been grazing on the strange flora of the cavern by where they entered. The creatures bounded some distance away from them their markings giving off a faint greenish glow in defence. Some Vale Jellies, relatives to the strange Retch creatures above ground, were floating nearby in a swampy section seeming unbothered by their presence while a couple of a vale variety of a small burrowing relative of the Kaguar known as an Ekhindahog made some noise at them before rushing into their burrows. There were even strange often eerie looking and a few glowing species of fish in the waters. Every now and then the sounds of insects and frogs and even what could be some strange birds could be heard echoing through the cavern. Along with the natural elements there were old artificial structures of Scimitar folk make. Scattered around the cavern were structures like a few dwellings many of which looked abandoned and were being taken over by flora, lifts leading to structures likely above ground or in the ground above the caverns ceiling which looked to be surprisingly well kept, pavilions some of which were still in decent shape and low often crumbling walls were scattered around along with scimitar lampposts and lighting on the structures which helped light the place. Paths of scimitar stone led into the cavern with parts buried under soil, lichens and rubble. Over some of the water ways bridges of Scymer make crossed them many of which were still in decent shape. Despite being underground the many bioluminescent flora and old lampposts of scimitar make allowed them to see quite well in the place. The place had the knights stunned as they wandered a bit into it looking all around.
“Okay this place may be captivating but we need to remain focussed. Let’s be on guard we don’t know what we will find down here,” Clay stated before a noise caught their attention. Following the sound they came across a hyenoid who was dressed to resemble a civilian. It was sitting half hidden behind some boulders from the path. This one did not look like the ones for training back in the city. It was the type that served the Stag. By the looks of it the thing was in bad shape. They cautiously approached it not knowing what to expect from it.
"You are outlanders, outlanders like the dragons..." the droid commented when it saw them.
"In ways yha, sadly we don't have any cool elemental powers," Lance expressed and Clay inquired, "You're one of those hyenoids who serve the Stag? Are you and others like you responsible for the strange activity in the ruins and the area nearby?"
"Stag yes he... master, no... fang cubs... not responsible... they are," the hyenoid explained pointing to deeper in the cave. The construct sounded to be heavily damaged and possibly low in power.
"Who are they?" Macy asked and it responded, "ash ones."
"I think the metal bro is talking of Ashers," Aaron speculated and Clay inquired, "Ashers here? Where are they what are they doing?"
"Follow path... in ruin... Fal'Zhardum Din... they bad stuff," the droid spoke before shutting off.
"I don't think this things in good shape. He looks like he was in a pretty wicked fight, probably low on batteries too, we probably won't be able to get anything else out of it," Aaron noted inspecting the construct.
"It said Ashers were down here, don't know about you but I think we should turn around and just bury the entrance to this place," Lance proposed but Clay objected, "no we should find out what they're up to."
"Dude, don't you remember our fight with them in the wastes?" Aaron noted and Axl added, "yha we had the ninja with us then and we barely made it out."
"Not to mention we have no access to Nexo Powers down here so if we run into trouble..." Lance began and Macy noted, "true but they could be up to something very bad. We might be able to do something to stop them or at least hinder them till we're better prepared to deal with them."
"Macys right. If anything we could try and see if we can capture one of them to see what they are up to," Clay proposed. Even though they were not keen on it they decided to go with that plan. They followed a path made of scimitar path stones to a Scymer ruin deeper in the cavern. There were some Ashers hanging around a large scimitar settlement along with some of their monsters mainly Gloam Harpies and Vulcaroths. They guessed this was the location the hyenoid was talking of. There were cages and vehicles of Asher make around the outside. It looked like they had taken over the place. The knights came to hide behind some rocks to survey the place looking for a possible individual to capture. The knights came to hide behind some rocks on a ledge overlooking the ruin to survey the place looking for a possible individual to capture.
Gloam Harpies: 
Vulcaroth:
"This doesn't look good, they appear to be making a fortification," Macy noted and Clay added, "probably in preparation for attacking Balmora."
“They’re all sticking close to the ruins, gonna be hard to catch one,” Aaron noted. The next thing they all knew they were blinded by a bright light and had ringing in their ears as they were flung foreword as a ball of dark energy hit where they were. It took them a couple seconds after landing on the ground below the ledge for their senses to settle enough to let them make out there surroundings. They looked around for what had happened as they lay scattered on the ground to see some of the Ashers and their monsters come up to them laughing and one of them stated, “yha it will be especially since we’ve caught all of you.” The knights tried to get up but felt weak and disorientated before they collapsed into unconsciousness.
“Hey guys, guys wake up. Guys?” a familiar voice called to them as they slowly regained consciousness and looked around trying to figure out what had happened and where they were. The knights found themselves in a large room which looked to be in the Scimitar ruin which these Ashers had decorated with their dark décor; their statuettes, lanterns, wall paintings, rugs, furniture, etc. The room was lit by candles and braziers instead of the light fixtures of the Scimitar folk which the Ashers had defiled with their decorations. In the room with them just hanging out were some Ashers who didn’t seem to care about the knights being there. The knights had been placed next to the one wall in the room. Looking around the knights could see that they all had their armour removed and had been put in pale worn and ragged clothes and foot wraps which Lance hoped were clean though they didn’t really look it. They sat on the ground in pairs with their hands tied behind their backs and bound to wooden posts. Strange dark cuffs of this cursed stone were on their wrists. Axl and Lance had been paired together while Macy and Clay were stuck to another post. Aaron was stuck to a post with someone they had not expected yet were not entirely surprised to see Jestro. Even though he looked like his normal self, not corrupted to evil like he tended to get when dark beings were around, he had been dressed in a dark version of his normal jesters clothes. The outfit matched the designs of the Ashers. He was tied up just like the knights however he was not wearing the cuffs.
“Hey are you guys okay? I don’t know what they hit you with but it must have been intense cause you’ve been out for a few hours,” Jestro expressed upon seeing them up.
“Jestro, should have guessed you would end up working with these Asher beings,” Macy stated not happy to see him.
“No you have it all wrong. I’m not with them I swear,” Jestro pleaded and Lance expressed, “yha sure and that outfit you’re wearing is just for some tacky cosplay right.”
“No, no they put me in these and force me to entertain them, honestly I didn’t want to be a part of this,” Jestro pleaded before an unpleasant voice spoke to them.
“Ah they’re finally up,” an Asher proclaimed from where it sat in what looked to be a makeshift throne. A Vulcaroth laying next to its throne like it was his pet.
“Thought you could sneak up on us did yha, you know it’s hard to do that when we know your coming. We knew you would be drawn by that signal foolish knights. We just had to wait for you to show up and sure enough you did,” the Asher boasted and Clay expressed not very surprised, “so that signal was a trap!”
“What? Did you think it would be that easy to find us? We know you’ve been trying to clear and keep us from the city so we decided to take care of you, less problems for us later on with you knights out of the picture,” the Asher expressed getting up and coming over to inspect them.
“What are you planning on doing with us?” Macy inquired trying to break free of the binds.
“Eventually we’ll convert you to our side but for now we can have some fun with you. Tell me how well do you think you’ll last in an arena outlanders?” the Asher inquired.
“We’ll never co-operate,” Clay proclaimed trying to break free. He thought of trying to use his magic ability but couldn’t muster any powers confusing him as to why his magic wasn’t working. The Ashers just laughed at them clearly aware of what he was trying to do.
“Nice try but the cursed stone we’ve cuffed all you with not only stops the ninjas elemental powers but any magic abilities as well. You were the only ones to possibly stand against us. The ninja have already been taken care of and now that we have you knights there is no one to stand in our way. Face it knights, there is no one who can come save you. The Stag would never bother with your kind and those filthy false dragons the ninja are now his prisoners and will soon fall to the Blight,” the Asher proclaimed and Clay stated growing angrier at the Ashers the more they talked, “So we were right you cursed them? How many of them did you curse and how long do they have?”
“Cursed I’d say gifted is more like it. We gifted all of them as for how long they have hard to say but they won’t last more than a few months that’s for sure. That metal freak should have fallen already, not sure why the curse is taking so long in him but oh well we can wait for our special servants,” the Asher proclaimed and Aaron wondered, “What do you mean wait for your special servants? The Stag has them besides the Blight will destroy them will it not? They can’t serve you if they’re dead right or are you going to turn them into those Ghoul monsters of yours.”
“Oh that’s right you don’t know do you. Not many do know cause few dragons have ever fallen to the Blight so it is not well recorded. Death will not be the end for them once it has consumed them our gift will corrupt them bringing them back for our side and slowly turn them into something far nastier than an Ash Ghoul. They’ll become elemental wielding monsters, daemons to fight on our side. They will become the darkness they seek to destroy and no one will be able to save or stop them,” the Asher regaled stunning the knights, “fight all they want they won’t be able to win. Eventually we will have the last laugh as for you knights maybe we might be lenient on you. Do as we say and we might let you join your new pals the ninja in our service. We’ll give you some time to mull things over before we begin our fun. Might as well give in, no help will be coming for you and your quest will be futile.” The knights didn’t know what to say. The news was grim and morally draining. The Asher than began to walk away from them stopping to inspect Aaron and laugh at him, “went and got yourself cursed huh, I think we’ll hang on to you. You’ll make a fine Ash Ghoul.” The knights sat quietly for a while feeling broken by the news they had been given. Jestro was just confused by it all.
“What’s he talking about? Who are these ninja? What is this curse? Guys? Anyone want to fill me in?” Jestro asked but the others didn’t respond, “you know everyone back home has been wondering where you all went. You just disappeared then shortly after strange things started happening. People started to go missing and strange creatures began to appear. Then came these folk calling themselves necromancers followed by these Ashers. You either joined them or suffer the consequences, trust me you don’t want to know what those are. Some of them were talking about realms of light being turned into a realm of dark and the end of the world. Do you know what that means?”
“Some monster known as Dagon is fusing realms together to create a very un-rad world of cruelty and darkness,” Aaron explained feeling down and Macy added equally unhappy, “we don’t know how we ended up here but we did. There is something here that can stop this monster but it seems we failed.”
“The ninja were foreigners to this realm like we are. They were stealth warriors gifted with elemental powers from a realm known as Ninjago. They were helping us stop all this but they’ve been cursed and kidnapped by a daemon. They have failed like us,” Clay explained feeling lost and hopeless.
“Curse, they said you have the curse? Is that why you’re arms have those strange markings and feel like they’re burning? I’m not going to get it just by being next to you am I!” Jestro worried looking at Aaron. Not feeling like talking anymore they went quite. The Ashers were ignoring them doing their own thing and talking to each other in their dark language.
“Hey Jestro how’d you get here?” Clay wondered after a while of silence.
“I was just minding my business doing community service when some of these necromancers showed up and started attacking the place. I thought no way not again, I’m not going to be caught and turned evil again not this time so I tried to flee but I guess the portals that lead to this place can’t really be seen very well and I stumbled through it. I ended up in those ash coated grounds above here. I was faced with heading back or finding somewhere safe to hide. Those things were chasing me so I decided to just run. Big mistake these Ashers were not too far away waiting to catch anyone who wandered through the portal. One of them was this horrid nightmare looking thing with holes and tentacles on its faceless face and its voice was so unpleasant and dark. It was going to turn me into one of their followers claiming I would make a good one since darkness has touched me in the past. I pleaded with them to spare me, I’ll admit it was pathetic but I was desperate. When I said I knew you guys they were intrigued. They promised me a deal, I told them everything I knew of you and entertained them and they wouldn’t turn me evil. Considering what they consider entertainment it might have been better for them to just turn me,” Jestro explained.
“Would have been typical for you,” Lance expressed as a few of the Ashers came over and released Jestro. They thrust fist sized scarab beetles which kept shocking him into his hands and forced him to juggle them. While he attempted to juggle them the Ashers kept using Jestro as a target and would throw debris and random objects at him; some even used spells to throw fireballs and dark energy at him forcing him to dodge the blasts so he would not get hurt by the blasts. The whole time the Ashers laughed at him as he was getting hurt by the beetles and the items being thrown at him. After a few minutes they let loose a Cobra-Chicken which came after him and wouldn’t stop attacking him drawing blood with its serrated bill while they forced him to keep juggling. Eventually he had to stop juggling as he kept trying to run away from the goose which kept chasing and attacking him to the Ashers amusement.
“Dude these things have a sick sense of humour,” Aaron noted starting to feel strange.
“Haven’t these things ever heard of video games?” Axl wondered before the knights noted something wrong with Aaron. He was staring into space seeming to be dazed and became unresponsive to them. Some of the Ashers took note of him pointing and laughing. One of the Ashers then came over and let him loose and removing the cuffs. It took a second before Aaron seemed to realise he was free and he got up to begin mindlessly wandering around grabbing random items to start trying to stack them around the room.
“What’s going on?” Jestro fretted getting spooked by Aarons sudden strange behaviour the Cobra-chicken finally leaving him alone as it bolted off scared by Aarons state.
“Blights Trance part of this curse,” Axl noted and Macy explained, “there’s nothing that can be done. Just have to wait for it to pass.” The Ashers were just laughing at Aaron. If he wandered near them the Ashers would push him around laughing at him while Aaron was oblivious to everything around him as he was pushed around, knocked over, tripped and faced other mean acts by the Ashers. The knights were not pleased with how the Ashers were treating their friend. Other than making comments they couldn’t do much else for Aaron despite both Macy and Clay both trying to secretly slip their hands free of the binds that held them and the cuffs with little success. The Ashers kept forcing Jestro to entertain them occasionally shoving him into Aaron knocking both to the floor for their amusement. Jestro was clearly scared of Aarons strange behaviour knowing very little about this Blight and not wanting to contact it. He kept trying to put some distance between him and Aaron but the Ashers kept forcing him close to Aaron as he mindlessly wandered around. Jestros reactions to the Blight amused the Ashers even more.
Eventually another Asher came into the room to speak with the others. Aaron just kept going in the trance oblivious to everything.
“What are you guys doing?” the Asher asked and one of those in the room responded, “just having a bit of fun with the prisoners.”
“The knights are to remain tied up unless being used in the ring or working till we convert them,” the one at the door proclaimed and another in the room stated, “that ones in the blessed walk he ain’t going anywhere and is harmless rate now besides its hilarious how the Joke boy reacts to him.”
“Now’s not the time for relaxing, we have work to do. We need to keep on guard Dagoth Odros senses something,” the Asher at the door proclaimed and Macy quietly expressed to her fellow knights, “great they have one of those sorcerers here.”
“That’s not good, it took the Stag possessing Nya, Cole and Zane to destroy one before,” Lance muttered and Axl added, “we don’t stand a chance then.”
“Sense something, those sorcerers and their senses. Maybe he just needs to get some fresh air, go for a walk instead of mulling around his lair like a hermit,” one of the Ashers in the room who was not yet a full Asher still having hair and not entirely burning skin expressed.
“I don’t know; I just don’t want to get on his bad side so can you be more productive for a few hours at least or should I get him to turn you into a dung beetle for a day,” the Asher at the door expressed.
“Fine, we’ll get to it when the blighted ones done his trance,” one of the Ashers in the room stated. Something Aaron then muttered caught their attention. He mumbled in his trance state, “the dragons are in the tower, the tower holds the hand and the hand guards the dragons. The dragons are the key, the key to the void, the void that guards the hidden.” The knights didn’t think much of it having come to expect random gibberish from the Blight trance but did think it sounded odd and less vague than the usual Blights speak. The Ashers were intrigued.
“I’ve never heard that from a blighted one before,” the Asher at the door noted before leaving.
“Those sorcerers have no sense of fun; they need to learn to unwind. Is it just me or does it feel a little chilly in here?” one of the Ashers in the room expressed. The knights felt the coolness as well and thought it a little odd. With the Ashers present their burning skin kept the place feeling fairly warm so they brushed the coolness off as just a draft.
“What do you expect from a place made largely of stone in an underground cavern,” another Asher proclaimed. While they talked they were unaware of Aaron. Something other than the Blights trance seemed to have come over him. He had his hands on the sides of his head and his eyes closed as he appeared to be fighting something in his mind. His sudden change in posture was noted only by Jestro and the knights. The knights recognised the way he looked. It was awfully similar to how Zane had been before he had become possessed by the Stag confusing and worrying them.
“What’s going on?” Jestro began to worry backing up to try and hide behind Clay and Macy as Aaron began to develop the unmistakable void black form and aquamarine markings of the Stags possession on his body and his eyes turning black with an aquamarine iridescence.
“How many times do I have to drive you scum from my lands,” Aaron declared his voice sounding off.
“The Stag!” the Ashers proclaimed as they could hear fighting beginning elsewhere in the structure.
“The what?” Jestro panicked and Clay expressed startled and worried, “why is the Stag here?”
“He’s willing to take control of more than just the ninja!” Axl exclaimed and Lance anxiously stated, “better Aaron than me. That things possession can’t be good for your complexion or your health!” The knights were terrified and disturbed by the Stags presence and his possession of Aaron. The Vulcaroth got up and started to attack Aaron trying to breath fire at him but Aaron pulled up a dark ward to block the blast then created a naginata out of a dark ice like material to attack the creature with. He then blocked the doorway off with the same dark ice like material to prevent the Ashers from escaping. The material blocking the door erupted with aquamarine flames which chilled everything it touched hurting the Ashers if they attempted to touch it. With no way out the Ashers were forced into fighting the Stag possessed Aaron who was fighting fiercely and savagely the Ashers not holding back. The Ashers were a mix of emotions. Most of the full blooded members were up for the fight with only a few appearing to be scared. Most of those who were not full Ashers were unsure what to do and even though they fought back they were clearly terrified of the Stag.
“What do we do?” Macy worried and Axl worried, “he’s not going to attack us is he?”
“What is going on!?” Jestro freaked out cowering behind Clay and Macy while Clay guessed feeling very anxious, “don’t know but if we’re lucky and don’t do anything to attract his attention he might leave us alone.”
“And if he doesn’t ignore us?” Lance fretted.
“I don’t want to think of it but it probably won’t be good,” Clay stammered as they watched the scene. They had seen what this Stag could do and feared what he could do to them. It didn’t take long for the Stag to wipe out the Vulcaroth and Ashers using Aaron as his puppet. He luckily didn’t seem to notice or at least care that the knights were in the room as he left them alone in his fighting. After the Ashers had been obliterated into piles of ash Aaron just stood still possessed staring at the ash piles dis-summoning his weapon. The room was getting unnervingly cold from the Stags presence.
“What’s he doing? Do you think we should try to get his attention?” Macy wondered worried. They were confused and nervous. The Stag appeared to have ignored them but why? Did he not care about them or was he going to take them prisoner like the ninja? After a few seconds something began hitting into the barricade on the doorway before smashing through it sending pieces of the strange ice creation flying into the room. The figure that came through wore dark attire; a black with aquamarine accented leather armoured mage like attire, cloth footwraps, a black metal rice farmers hat and black cloth mask which covered most of its head leaving only the glowing red eyes of the figure visible. It spoke in the scimitars language at Aaron before saying in words they could understand, “Dagoth Odros has been eliminated. The samurai are dealing with the remaining Ashers and should soon be finished the assault.” The figures voice sounded familiar.
“Good once they are gone collect all you can from here and the ruins above. We will be putting a hiatus on the habitation of this outpost for the near future. Set the settlements defences to max and put runes and other magical based traps within the structures and cavern to make it hard for those filth to get back here,” the voice Aaron spoke to the figure with was not his, it was that of the Stag! To hear him again after their contact with him in the wastes sent shivers down their spines.
“I will see it done,” the figure stated putting his one hand on his chest before bowing with respect to the Stag. Using Aaron the Stag looked at the knights who were frozen with fear worried over what the Stag was going to do with them. The Stag made a gesture with Aarons hand at them as a spell broke the binds and cuffs off them. Once the restraints were gone and the knights were free the Stag dropped his possession the markings disappearing from Aarons body and his eyes returning to normal. With the possession gone Aaron swayed a bit on his feet before falling backwards to lay on the ground unconscious. The figure calmly came over to kneel next to Aaron and inspect him.
“Don’t you dare do anything to him whatever you are?” Macy proclaimed as they got up causing the figure to look up at them. It stood up and took off its headgear revealing one of the Stags hyenoids.
“Divayth I believe, the mark on your forehead resembles the one Zane saw,” Clay noted. Even though they had reason to believe Divayth wouldn’t harm them they hung back unsure what he was doing there.
“Indeed, you do not need fear me. I am on your side. I will not harm you,” Divayth proclaimed bowing to them in respect. To show respect and that they were trusting him Clay and Macy bowed back; the others were hesitant to bow back nervous and wary of Divayth.
“What were you and the Stag doing here?” Macy inquired as they slowly got closer to him.
“The fang siblings posted here were attacked by Ashers who took over our outpost. A small force attempted to reclaim it before but ran into trouble. A sorcerer had taken up residence here. When the Stag learned of that he got involved to eliminate that thing. The less of those things the better,” Divayth explained going back to looking over Aaron who appeared disturbingly still, “I am sorry about your friend.”
“Why? What did the Stag do to him?” Clay wondered worried as he joined Divayth inspecting over Aaron. Aaron was shockingly cold, his breathing was very shallow and his heart rate was very weak, he almost appeared dead traits they had noted to be common with those who got possessed by the Stag.
“Nothing just give him a few hours and he will recover; he is just going to have a rough time when he wakes up. The Stag tends to get carried away when fighting Ashers and being an ethereal immortal he forgets even the most resilient mortal bodies have their limits. Plus you have seen the effects the Stags hold has on mortals; the ninja had to experience it a few times. He is going to be feeling the same thing for a while. Not to mention I see he was unfortunate to have activated the Blight, very unpleasant that is. Do not worry we can just leave him lying here to recover; he will be fine there till we are done. Before we send you on your way I will get you a potion you should give him when he wakes up to help alleviate the Blights symptoms. He will have a rough time from the Stags energy best not make it worse by adding the Blights symptoms on top of that,” Divayth elaborated.
“That’s nice of you, should we do something for him till he wakes up?” Macy wondered and Divayth responded, “no he will be fine, just let him lay here. The sleep will be good for him. When he wakes up then he will need some care but we will deal with that later.”
“Were you even aware we were here?” Clay inquired.
“Interesting,” Divayth noted holding up and inspecting Aarons one arm. The Blight appeared duller in glow and color.
“What’s interesting?” Clay wondered looking at Aarons arms but not too sure what Divayth was seeing. Divayth quickly responded putting Aarons arm back down, “oh nothing. No we were not aware you were here till we were preparing to attack. Some of our Scimitar Scarab scouts found you so we decided to include your rescue in our operation. Just so you know the Stag has no quarrels with you and the Cubs of Fang wish to co-operate with you. We will check you over to make sure the Ashers did not curse the rest of you and we will give you back your possessions, we found them in another room. Once all that is done you are free to go; I would recommend you head back to Balmora.” Divayth got up and looked at some papers strewn about on a table in the room after speaking.
“Balmora, what about Holamaya? We promised to help the ninja in our quest. We would have followed them but your kind locked us out of your city so we couldn’t follow,” Clay expressed and Macy added, “yes, we intend to continue our quest. Our worlds in danger too and we will not stand by when we could be doing something. Will you take us to the city so we can help save our home?” Divayth turned to look at them for a second leaning with his back against the table.
“I get it you want to help but no I will not take you to Holomaya. None of us will. For one thing travel through the wastes has increased in hazardousness since the Stag captured the ninja. It is not wise even for capable fighters such as yourselves to attempt the journey at this point. Even our powerful and more than capable Scimitar Samurai are not making frequent trips between the cities for the foreseeable future. You do not take unnecessary risks around Ashers. Secondly humans no matter the race or realm of origin are not permitted in the city, not while the Stag makes it his home,” Divayth stated and Lance noted, “what about the ninja? They’re human, well most of them are.”
“They are exceptions. I do not know why exactly. I know the Stag wants them. I think a lot of it has to do with their powers. That does not mean they are given special treatment however. The Stag is being cruel trying to break them to his will while they suffer from the Blight,” Divayth explained and Clay wondered, “the Blight. We know Zane has it, that’s why he was acting strange in town. It wasn’t from your master was it? Also we think Cole has it and possibly a few others. How many are infected and how bad is it?”
“You are right and sadly all of them are infected. We believe the curse is progressing slowly for now. As long as it stays at current rates they should have at the very least a few weeks possibly a few months,” Divayth concurred and Macy inquired, “is what they were saying here true about what happens to elemental masters when they succumb to the Blight?”
“I am afraid so. We just found that out recently ourselves. Do not worry though; us cubs of the fang will not let that happen. Our fang brother Juib is working for a possible cure. He is ancient, wise and very knowledgeable. If there is anyone who can find the cure it is him. I do believe you have some of your own that are looking into it as well. Maybe we can find a way to remotely communicate. The Stag of course will not like that…” Divayth began and Axl expressed, “how do you know that? Are you spying on us?”
“In ways, there are several constructs who observe what is going on in Balmora. Do not worry we mean no harm; these constructs are simply there to keep our brethren in town safe. They have just been interested in you outlanders since you showed up. Most of them are simple constructs such as Serpetons, Scimitar Scarabs and Rattatons. They are not the brightest and have very few defences so I think their attraction to you is because you make them feel safe,” Divayth explained.
“Really, nice to hear we do have some fans here,” Lance proclaimed and Divayth stated noting some of the notes on the table, “Hmm, it appears it was Dagoth Endus who ordered the attack on you and the ninja in the wastes.”
“Is that one of their sorcerers?” Macy inquired and Divayth explained, “indeed. Not only is he one of their sorcerers but he is one of the most ancient and powerful Ashers in existence. It is said he was right hand to the Oni when they inhabited the tower. They say he only ever leaves the Red Tower for very important tasks. They must really consider the ninja a threat for him to have shown himself after all these years. They must see you as a threat as well since he ordered you guys to be trapped and corrupted.”
“I don’t know whether we should be disturbed or flattered by that,” Clay noted and Divayth stated, “this is just another reason you should stay in Balmora. If Endus considers you a threat than so does Dagon and they will not hesitate in eliminating you. They likely will not do so in a populated area, too many variables leading to too many risks.”
“If we can’t join the ninja than what are we supposed to do? Just wait around till something happens? We’re knights we need to be in the fight not sitting back while others do the hard work?” Clay expressed feeling frustrated that they would not be able to get to Holomaya.
“I did not say you had to sit around, I just said you had to stay on Balmoras side of the fence, preferably not venturing much into unsettled areas. There is lots you can do there. You can help the city. Its people and the people finding themselves trapped here are going to need help. They will need heroes to help protect them from the horrors to come. The Ashers are creeping in prepping for an attack on the city. The Clan of Fangs can disrupt their activities but we cannot stop them only delay them. Balmora is one of the few safe havens left in the realm, in any of the realms. The Stags presence has helped keep the Ashers at bay but now that he has the ninja he is holding back to increase defences of the Forbidden City and most of the Clan of Fangs have fallen back to aid him. This will let those monsters go unchecked here putting everyone at risk. You knights are likely the cities only hope in holding back the monsters of the wastes. Do not worry about the ninja or completing your quest. We will make sure what needs to be done is done. Focus on the here and now. Help protect the city and those who need it. Be the light in this storm for those who need it that is the best thing you can do,” Divayth explained.
“What if something happens to the ninja? They get consumed by the Blight or fail in retrieving what we need what then?” Clay inquired and Divayth noted, “If something like that is to happen then we will send word to you and work something out. For now focus on the tasks at hand. Worrying about the future will just ruin your present. It solves nothing but leads to worries, doubts and lost time.” Though they wanted to contradict him and try to join the ninja in Holamaya the knights had a feeling he was right. Divayth and his allies checked them over. They were lucky, only Aarons Blight was active; the others were safe for now. Just to be sure though they were going to get Merlok to check them over when they got back just incase. The knights were given back their armour and weapons and Divayth gave them the potion for Aaron with recommendations such as it worked best when he had food in his stomach and that he shouldn’t be given more than two litres of it a day plus a recipe so they could make more of it. Once they were all set they were sent on their way. Even though some of them were not pleased with it Jestro was sent with them. The hyenoids escorted them out of Blackreach and the ruins to make sure they weren’t ambushed by any possibly remaining Ashers. Once out they were on their own. Aaron remained unconscious till they were almost back to town so they had to carry him back to the Kaguars where Clay tied him onto his Kaguar to carry him back. Taking Divayths advice they wasted no time in hurrying back to town not wanting to risk getting caught by Ashers again. When they returned to Balmora they headed straight back to the Fortrex. The others were still in the command center. The knights stopped before entering to talk quietly to each other.
“What are we going to tell Misako?” Macy inquired and Axl noted, “I don’t think it’s the news she wants. I don’t think she’ll take it well.”
“I wouldn’t blame her. I think for now we don’t say anything, not until we can learn more. Let her have hope instead of worry and dread,” Clay stated and they were all in agreement. When they entered the room they found Ava, Robin and Misako around the round table where a bronze and silver Robo-bill wearing a wizards hat with orange glowing eyes was playing around on the table.
“It worked now Merlok 2.0 can hang around and aid us where ever we go here. I even worked it out so he can still give us Nexo powers without being connected to the Fortrex. Neat isn’t it. These Robo-bills are surprisingly agile, versatile and dexterous creations,” Robin expressed to them as they entered.
“I will admit it does feel good to have a physical form again,” Merlok spoke through the construct.
“Did you find anything? What’s Jestro doing here?” Ava inquired.
“Long story but Ashers were responsible for the commotion and sadly we fell into their trap,” Macy began and Clay quickly stated before anyone could say or ask anything, “we managed to escape because the Stag showed up with some of his minions and attacked them. Aaron unfortunately got caught in the Stags possession.” Aaron was in a state of shock having come too and feeling the terror of the Stags hold.
“Why’d he go for me?! This is the worst thing I’ve ever felt, why is it so cold in here? He didn’t follow us did he? That was so terrifying and cold and…and…” Aaron panicked tightly clutching the potion Divayth had given them to help him relieve some of the Blights symptoms shaking and his eyes wide. After he had awoken being terribly shaken shortly before they reached town they had given him the potion. Even though he had drunk some of it they were unsure if it was working wondering if it was the potion or the Stags effects numbing some of his Blights symptoms. He hadn’t showed any symptoms from the Blight other than the markings since waking up.
“Could you get anything from them about the ninja or my son?” Misako inquired clearly worried and Clay responded, “no, they spoke in a language we didn’t understand and when they were done with the Ashers they left without saying a word. We tried to get them to talk but they would not commune with us. Luckily it seems the Stag has no quarrels with us since he ignored us. Well largely ignored us… Misako do you think you can help Jestro take Aaron to his room; I think he should lie down for a while maybe even have a nap to help get over what the Stag did with him. The Stag was pretty rough on him.” Misako was clearly upset to not have any news but she seemed fine with their answer.
“So this is what terror feels like? This is so uncool. You don’t think that thing will come after me again do you?” Aaron expressed clearly out of focus with everything happening around himself.
“Sure,” she expressed gently leading Aaron who remained tightly gripping the potion, wide eyed and shaking out of the room Clay sending Jestro to follow them and make sure Aaron didn’t accidently say something they didn’t want Misako to hear. When the three were gone the others turned to Merlok.
“It’s not good Merlok,” Clay expressed and Merlok inquired, “what is not good? Once the Stags energies are gone from him Aaron will largely be back to himself, I am pretty sure of it. It will just take a few days.”
“No we have no doubts of that, it’s the ninja,” Macy stated and Merlok expressed, “oh.”
“We had to lie to protect Misako. We did manage to talk with one of stags minions, Divayth,” Clay explained and Axl added, “all of them are cursed by this Blight.”
“Oh my, that is not good,” Merlok expressed and Macy stated, “that’s not the worst of it.”
“Being cursed by the Blight isn’t the worst?” Robin wondered and Ava inquired, “how is it worse?”
“When an elemental master like the ninja falls to the Blight it does something terrible to them,” Clay began and Lance stated, “they become monsters, daemons in service to these horrid Ashers.”
“This is bad. This makes things more dire than we originally thought. You were right not to tell her, I will see what I can dig up. Hopefully we find an answer before it is too late. If not then we will prepare for the worst and we will have to let her know,” Merlok expressed and Macy explained, “we did find one good thing. Divayth and his brethren of the fang as they call themselves are going to help and protect the ninja. They even agreed to doing the right thing if it comes to it. They won’t let them become daemons.”
“Let us hope it does not come to that. Let us stay focussed on our tasks here in the meantime. All is not lost, we must stay strong and persevere if things are to get any better,” Merlok stated.
Notes:
The Blight curse followed the necromancers to Ninjago. Over their time in Balmora there are slight hints that both the ninja and knights are infected by the Blight; it just lies dormant until activated by the Ashers or other external forces ie the runner for Aaron. Things they have been associating with the environment like pains, irritations, mood swings are actually from the Blight. In ways it partially is the result of the environment as the Blight is apart of the environment but it is the Blight that they have been affected by. The Dragons Blood stone given to Zane interferes with the Ashers magic helping to slow the Blights progress but it cannot stop it. The energy from Ghost fence also helps interfere with the Blights progress but cannot stop it.
Yes it was intended from the start for all the ninja to get infected by the Blight and for Zane to be infected first; part of the characters suffering to propel the story tactic. With the knights only one of them was to get infected. When it came to choosing who would get it the choice seemed clear. With his daredevil personality Aaron would be the most likely to put himself in a position to get the full out curse.I imagine the prisoners who were nocked out and left behind when the Ashers attacked were set free from their control and joined the Wu's group. Also don't worry Skales jr mom isn't dead, she's just enslaved.
I always wanted Jestro to appear with the knights but there wasn't really a place for him in the first half of the story, luckily I found a place for him in the second half and it helped with the knights subplot in the story.
If have any questions go ahead and ask I do not bite. I will try to answer them, I will however not give away spoilers.
Chapter 40: Time in the Forbidden city
Summary:
Trapped in the cursed city what are the ninja to do with their time in this place?
Notes:
Pictures relating to story can be found here: https://www.deviantart.com/nerdy-hyena/gallery/72478681/story-project
They are really good and help to visually flush out several aspects of the story including environments, characters, outfits, locations, creatures and other aspects often important ones in the story. All images I post in my work can be found there if you want a better look at them. Defiantly make sure to check them out.Also if you need a refresher on creatures, flora or aspects of the environment you can check out the second chapter in this work titled 'Keikiarys Guide to the Ash Wastes'. It includes short descriptions and pictures of these things.
Parts of this section are subject to change as the prequel story is written to improve story continuity.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
The tunnel Kozac and Divayth led the ninja down was dark and unpleasant. The tunnel looked like an old mining tunnel but by the looks of it the place hadn’t been used in at least a decade probably longer. Carved stone support beams held up the rocky tunnels, old Scymer lanterns sat on some of these support pillars but all were damaged with their lights having gone out long ago and every now and then there was glowing lichens and algae’s from Blackreach or scatterings of fungi through the tunnels. Some spots of the ground or walls were wet giving the place a swampy smell and there was something else. Something dark and unnerving but none of them could pinpoint what it was or where it came from. They each held a lantern and were on guard for anything dangerous.
"What are we doing down here?" Kai questioned. The ninja huddled close together wary and nervous of this strange place and unsure if they could trust the two hyenoids.
"We have to check something. Now with you dragons here we have to make sure those foul Ashers are not trying to do something," Kozac replied as he led them down the tunnel.
"What are you planning on doing?!" Jay snapped at Zane when he got too close to him before moving away and putting some of the others between him and Zane making sure not to get close to Divayth and Kozac as well. Zane was left confused and a little hurt by his friends reaction.
"It's okay Zane, he's just being paranoid. Fear and the Blight have gotten to his head," Lloyd consoled Zane coming over to comfort him. While most of the others were still not fully trusting of the scimitar constructs who served the Stag Zane was fully trusting of them and would sometimes side with them over his friends. This had led Jay to get the idea that Zane had sided with the Stag and was betraying them. The others were not too sure what to think but they didn't think Zane was betraying them and would help the Stag corrupt them. The others didn't believe Jays paranoia. They felt Zanes trusting of the constructs came from the fact that unlike in Balmora where almost everyone hated him Zane was feeling comforted and welcomed by the fact the constructs and beasts here trusted and liked him and treated him fairly unlike the people had not some sort of betrayal. Zane had become confused unable to understand Jays paranoia and the others had noted seeing one of his friends thought he was an enemy had upset and lowered Zanes mood. The others just tried to ignore Jay not pleased with his paranoia.
"What is with that one?" Kozac quietly inquired to Divayth about Jays behaviour as they came up to a solid dark gate which blocked off the rest of the tunnel.
“That one believes our Fang Brother Zane is betraying him and the others. I do not understand why, illogical fleshy thinking is all I can think of,” Divayth quietly explained to Kozac as the others looked at the door unnerved at its appearance. The gate bore symbols and imagery of the Oni on it with the large face of one facing them at its centre. The gate was made of some sort of blackish stone with a reddish iridescence and faint purplish veins in it. Unknown black vines which seemed to be emitting some sort of dark fog or mist which dissipated the further it got from the plant came off it grew by the door but did not reach far from the gate. The vines resembled those the ninja had seen the Oni bring to Ninjago. Both the gate and vines gave off a dark, cold and unnatural feeling that disturbed them all, even the hyenoids looked like they wanted to get away from there. Some distance from these structures was a little control centre made of Scimitar tech which was connected to the evil gates. It was largely just a slanted table like structure with various buttons, a lever, a screen in the center and at the one side a port for scimitar cubes. They stopped by this control centre and Divayth went to the controls while the rest looked at the gates.
"What is this?" Lloyd wondered not realising he was slowly walking closer to the gate almost appearing mesmerized by it.
"Someone keep a hold of the green one, we do not want him near this thing," Kozac growled harshly grabbing Lloyds arm and throwing him into the others. They were a little put off by Kozacs aggressive demeanour but they understood his intent. Kai held onto Lloyds arm to keep him from getting close to that gate, they did not want to see what would happen if Lloyd or any of them touched that thing.
“Let’s also make sure the betrayer doesn’t touch it either or is that what you want, make him touch it so he gets turned into a corrupted being like you two are or turned into a savage monster that will tear us apart and eat us?” Jay accused the hyenoids confusing them more and upsetting Zane to which Nya came over to comfort him. Kozac looked at Divayth for an explanation but Divayth just shrugged equally stumped by Jay’s paranoia.
“No one is to touch it. We brought you here so you can see the handy work of those daedric spawn not create monsters,” Kozac grumbled at Jay.
“This is a gateway into the horrid world of the Ashers. These gates were created by Ashers. Behind it is a tunnel leading strait to their stronghold at the base of the Red Tower plus a few others. A year after the Stag took over the city it was uncovered. The gates are much older than that however and the tunnel leading here was originally blocked off; sealed by a tunnel collapse and a thick metal wall then a thick stone wall behind that. According to Juib the Scimitar folk did that centuries ago to keep the Ashers from entering through here. Some of our hyenoids were able to infiltrate the Ashers and learned the Ashers made this as a secret way to ambush the city. They do not know the vaults they are looking for are here but they knew the city was important. They hoped by capturing it they could find out why it was important,” Divayth divulged as he went over some security camera footage of what looked to be on the other side of the gate, Zane and Nya were looking over his shoulder.
"We're not going over there are we?" Cole worried.
"No, we are just checking the security footage to make sure nothing has been hanging around or tampering with the doors, making sure the Ashers are not trying to break into the city to try and get you guys. The Stag put an enchantment on the doors that prevents Ashers from operating them but if the Ashers wanted to they will find a way to break it and get through. They almost always find a way to get what they want," Divayth regaled. As Nya and Zane looked at the footage; they could barely make out anything. There was static to the film and it was very dark, it was hard to make out any features or structures in the footage but every now and then it did look like there might have been something shadowy moving on the film.
"Can you identify anything in the footage?" Zane wondered having trouble making anything out on the screen.
"Not really it is often filled with too much static, a result of their dark powers messing with the technology but apparently the Stag can make things out. Do not ask me how for I do not know the answer to that. We upload the information to one of the cubes and give it to him. He can somehow see what we cannot," Divayth explained as he put one of the Scimitar Cubes, which they had come to realise was like an old form of external hard drive, into the port for it that was next to the control centre so he could download the footage. As it downloaded the footage the cube displayed glowing blue markings and lines on the edges of the holder started glowing with the same color.
"That I do not like about him. Makes it hard to trust him; seeing and knowing things neither we nor anyone else can," Kozac grumbled drawing all the ninja's interests.
"What does he know that others do not?" Cole asked to which Kozac after a pause mumbled, "he knows secret and lost knowledge and things that can or will occur, things that should not be known or revealed."
"Like what?" Lloyd inquired.
"We might look like we are made of titanium but it is actually an alloy with titanium. Our metal is largely Scimitar Steel. Knowledge on how to make or even work with Scimitar Steel was lost over fifty years ago, not even Juib or Celaena know how it was made or how to work with it but the Stag does. He has never entered the vaults and as far as we know he has never sought knowledge from any other Scimitar Ruins so how he could have learned knowledge of these I do not know. Scimitar Folk would never have revealed their secrets to such a dark being. He also knows of all the other realms and how to reach each with ease. Secret ways no other being knows of. He knew you guys were coming weeks before the necromancers even took out the Dragon Guard like he can see through time and space itself," Divayth explained nervously staring at the gate.
"All entities fear him. Magic even from a djin has no effect on him and it is said Dragons and Oni cannot harm him or even touch him," Kozac added.
"Do you guys have any clue what the Stag is? We heard he could be..." Lloyd paused and looked over the others who were all unnerved before continuing, "be part Oni?"
"Possibly but if you ask me he is something worse, far worse, than an Oni," Kozac growled.
"What could be worse than an Oni?" Nya questioned and the hyenoids looked like they did not want to answer. There was a moment of silence before they decided to reply.
"He could be a living embodiment of... the Void," Kozac replied.
“We’ve heard about him having a tie to the void before,” Cole noted as they all got worried by that concept and Divayth explained, “so I am guessing then you know a bit about the Void how it is said to be the emptiness between realms, the outside of known existence. What came before all things and what comes at the end of all things; the ultimate emptiness. It has and always will exist. It surrounds the realms and separates them from each other wrapping around each like a constrictor to its prey. It is the primal force, the first chaos and change that all things came from. Many believe one day it will also destroy all things. That it is believed it can sometimes seep into the realms creating chaos or beings of darkness. It is also believed that if care is not taken when trying to traverse between realms travellers can fall into the void where it will consume them turning them into beings of the void. Shadowed husks that seek to eliminate all aspects of creation in order to bring everything back to the void. Some Scholars in our realm even believe the Oni are the direct children of this Void however that is still debated. What is not debated however is that Ashers are able to tap into the energies of the void and do terrible things with it.”
“You have seen and felt him. That cold and dark that comes from the Stag, they are not true cold or dark. It is like they are the absence of all things; light and dark, cold and warmth; an emptiness of everything. On all sensors he registers as an empty void as if there is really nothing there. Sometimes you can get a feeling of the Oni from him, Juib believes they had a hand in creating the Stag that is why sometimes some folk get the feeling he is an Oni but he is not one of them. He is something darker and more primal. If you ask any of us here we would have to say he is a piece of this void, everything about him adds up to that being the case,” Kozac added.
"If he is this Void then what does that mean?" Lloyd asked worried and afraid that they might not want to know the answer.
"Who knows? According to some Scimitar documents if the Void had a consciousness and a physical form such as the Stag then it would want to destroy all things, bring everything to the void creating never ending emptiness, chaos and nothingness like at the beginning of existence itself," Divayth explained, "something though about the Stag makes no sense. If he is the Void given consciousness then why has he not tried to complete his desires? Juib has studied him the longest and dealt with him the most and he thinks either the Stag somehow lacks the power to fulfill his purpose or maybe he is not what we think he is though what else he could be is beyond our comprehension."
"How much do either of you know about the Stag?" Kai wondered.
"We do not often interact with him, Juib and Celaena do that then they relay orders to the rest of us. He rarely interacts with anyone else. He is very reclusive. He also refers to anything that is not a plant or fungi as an animal, even those of mechanical make. I asked him once why he does that and all he said was that is all we are to him. What we are made of does not matter to him he sees us all as the same and does not distinguish between us even though we have different needs which oddly he recognises these needs and properly sees that they are met. It is very puzzling his views. According to Juib that is a view similar to what the Scimitar folk had though theirs was a view of caring and compassion they saw living things both natural and artificial in make as equal, the Stags comes from a darker crueller view," Divayth began.
"He said to me once 'Do you know what the difference between an animal and a robot is?' I thought he was trying to make a joke. I was wrong he answered with: 'What they are made of nothing more. You are both flawed mortal machines with simple needs and desires and both running off programming, instinct is nothing but natures programming. Whether natural or artificial it is basically the same thing which is easy to hack and mess with in the both of you. Whether you are of flesh and blood or metal and wires you are both the same worthless scrap to me'," Kozac mimicked the Stag sounding just like him as he talked spooking the others.
"Juib also claims he has seen what appears to be emotions other than the aggressive ones he only shows to the rest of us. Emotions such as sorrow, regret and grief which Juib thought the Stag was incapable of having, they are not part of his being or at least they do not seem to be. After he told me what he thinks of us I do not believe he could have such compassionate and gentle emotions. If you ask me he is only capable of feeling anger and hate," Kozac growled.
“I do not know about his emotions but I have to agree with Juib that something about the Stag just does not seem right. The Stag is definitely an entity of chaos and destruction yet he can stall and even temporarily reverse the effects of the Blight; traits more aligned with the powers of restoration and creation. He created us, gave us life. As Storabek he created the curse of man-beasts and if legends are true as Storabek the Stag taught the fungal community of Blackreach how to give life and create the Gloambeasts that protect its reaches from the influences of darkness. Those could be seen as concepts of change but they are also of creation. While most would not necessarily align creation with the void it is a part of it encompassing the lighter half of its being but rarely do those who use its energies tap into it for this purpose. Most use it for its darker side, the side of destruction and chaos. The Stag falls into this latter half much like the Oni, rarely have I seen him using his void energies from the voids lighter side,” Divayth explained as he looked at the gate as if studying it.
"Something is not right over there," Divayth commented out of the blue.
"How do you know, you said you couldn't see anything in the film," Kai questioned.
"I cannot explain it I just know," Divayth stated not looking away from the gate.
"Why do we not open the door and take a look, let these dragons see into the lands of the Ashers see what awaits their world if they fail," Kozac suggested though none of the ninja, especially Jay, wanted them to do that.
"We should be safe for just a peak," Divayth stated pushing some buttons then pulling the lever in the control center. Some sort of machinery behind the walls could be heard then a few seconds later, with a jolt and some of the dust that had settled on them falling off, the doors slowly swung open away from them. All the ninja took a couple steps back, Kozac and Divayth remained still looking at the dark tunnel ahead of them as if surveying it. The tunnel had a black fog filling it and this fog seemed to be rolling across the floor and was thickest at the floor becoming thinner as it went up. As the doors opened this fog slowly spilt into their side of the tunnel. A faint reddish glow seemed to be at the far end of the tunnel. Occasionally the fog obscured this glow. Dark vines, or were they some sort of tentacles or tendrils, with faintly glowing purple grooves in them coated the walls and floors like veins. Some seemed to possibly be moving or could that just have been an illusion. The soil and rock that made up the tunnel seemed unnatural, rocky and dark. A few bones some of which were burned or what they were from largely unrecognizable seemed to be scattered here and there. A few were caught up in the vine like structures while others were stuck in the wall. Strange dark purple translucent crystal like structures seemed to grow out of some spots of the walls giving off a faint dark purple glow. Eerily at least one of these crystals seemed to encase a skull from what looked to be a humanoid being in it. Nothing else seemed to be on the other side, no life and no signs of anything having been there in a long time. A slight breeze seemed to come out of the tunnel blowing some of the fog towards them bringing terrible feelings of dread and terror and a dark and cold feeling like that the fog the Oni had brought to Ninjago city had given off. Kozac took one of their lanterns and held it up to the fog. It had no effect and the fog just seemed to swallow its light leaving no light visible on the fog or able to penetrate through it.
"You are right. The fog has never been this thick before and there seems to be much more vines now. There has been more activity here recently," Kozac told Divayth while the ninja were trying to keep from rushing away. Each could swear they could hear something almost like voices, faint siren like voices, coming from deep in the tunnel or could see something moving in the tunnel. It was unnerving to them and the hyenoids looked unnerved as well.
"How do you like it? That tunnel leads straight into the heart of the Ashers territory; the bowls of the Red Tower where their great and ancient stronghold sits. A center of pure evil in our world," Kozac taunted to the ninja baring his teeth as he looked back at them. He was suddenly drawn to look back into the tunnel as if looking for something.
“You are right something is not right here, we should…” Kozac began before something on the floor of the tunnel hidden in the fog grabbed and pulled him into the fog where he disappeared in its darkness, the lantern going out and smashing against the ground somewhere in the fog. Seconds later a horrid gaunt somewhat insect like entity lunged out of the fog towards the ninja. It landed in front of them and surveyed them for a second with its insect like eyes before choosing its first victim. Feeling defenceless without their weapons and powers the ninja prepared to flee not wanting to fight this thing. They had read about this creature in their guide book and had hoped not to encounter one. It was called a Hunger, an energy draining spawn of darkness one of the creatures deemed a demon in this realm. Having chosen a victim it launched at them. As the creature launched at them the ninja scattered. The Hunger launched at Lloyd who attempted to dodge it but the creature caught his one leg with its large sharp claws leaving a deep cut and throwing off his escape. He landed hard on the ground face down winding himself. It then pulled Lloyd towards itself and turned him over before flicking a long barb covered tongue out at him. It attempted to wrap its tongue around his neck while Lloyd tried to fight back and stop it. A lantern smashing on its head stopped its attack and the Hunger looked around mad at who had thrown the item. Quickly thinking to stop the creatures attack Kai had thrown his lantern to act as a distraction but had not been prepared to have the creatures’ attention drawn to him.
“I did not think this through,” Kai moaned as the creature launched at him springing an amazing distance in a single leap to knock him over and pin him down. Kai went to throw a punch at the Hunger but it wrapped its tongue around his arm and began to siphon energy from him while Kai struggled to break free of the creature growing weak and tired from its siphoning. Thinking quick Cole looked around and picked up the largest rock he could find before rushing over to slam it on the Hungers head. The creature was defiantly stunned and let go of Kai as it backed up shaking dirt and broken pieces of rock off its head but was unharmed. It looked at Cole who braced himself to fight this thing bare handed before whipping its tongue at him and wrapping it around his one arm and began energy siphoning. As Cole struggled to pry the creatures tongue off his arm with his free hand as it slowly dragged him towards itself with its tongue Nya dragged Kai who was weak from the Hungers siphoning over to the control center while Zane helped Lloyd get up and hobble over to the control center where Jay was hiding by the machinery trying to remain unseen. Divayth had abandoned the control center to help Kozac who was struggling against the vines and the effects of the fog they were spewing in the other part of the tunnel which were attempting to ensnare him.
"Guys I need some help," Cole stammered feeling weaker and weaker and struggling to fight back as the creature sucked energy from him. The creature without warning then let him go and threw Cole against the wall of the tunnel before turning its attention to the others. Cole just sat where he landed feeling tired and winded from the impact and the Hungers siphoning.
"How do we stop it, I don't recall the book mentioning a weakness to this thing," Jay fretted from where he was hiding.
"Well we can still use our Spinjitsu, let's see how it fares with that," Nya offered. She entered her Spinjitsu tornado and went for the creature but before she could reach it the Hunger launched at her stopping her as it lifted her by her one arm then whipped its tongue around her other arm.
"Let me go," she struggled against the creature trying to punch and kick it as it drew energy from her before throwing her against the wall next to Cole. The creature then began to stalk towards the others. Jay was too scared to move, Kai was too weak and Lloyd could barely stand on his one leg leaning against the control center to steady himself. The creature seemed to be drawn towards Lloyd, likely following orders from its Asher masters to eliminate him, so Zane put himself between the creature and Lloyd preparing to fight in hand to hand combat. He was the only one still able to use his powers. Even though these monsters were not affected by ice like their Asher masters he could at least try something. It rushed at him but before he could do anything the creature threw Zane aside where he landed face down on the ground a few feet away. It headed straight for Lloyd and pinned him against the center wrapping its tongue around his head and neck as it began siphoning energy from him.
"Jay do something!" Kai demanded at Jay trying to get up but feeling weakened from the creatures siphoning.
"What do you want me to do? It has no weaknesses, we're defenceless and without powers, you want me to offer myself up as a snack for it?" Jay panicked and Cole mentioned, "You have enough energy you could maybe fill it up."
"I heard that," Jay barked as Zane got up and turned to face the creature. Thinking quickly he shot some ice at the creature freezing its legs in place. As its legs froze the Hunger took its tongue off Lloyd stopping its energy siphoning and looked over at Zane. It then looked between Zane and Lloyd as if thinking something over. It then seemed to come to a conclusion. Dropping Lloyd it broke its legs free before lunging at Zane knocking him back and pinning him to the ground. It then wrapped its tongue around his one arm and began siphoning energy from him as Zane tried to struggle free. With all the energy it had been siphoning this being had become incredibly strong. Zane tried to fight back but the creature was immune to his powers, too strong to break free from and quickly draining his energy. Jay was refusing to help him and everyone else was too weak from the creatures' attacks to aid him. As Zane began to feel weak barely able to remain conscious let alone fight back something swung between him and the Hunger cutting its tongue off. The Hunger jumped back squealing in pain as Kozac took a few more swipes with the sickle he had as a main weapon at the Hunger to drive it back. His weapon was made of the same material the blade Divayth had given them and it could do harm to the creature. Zane just lay on the ground feeling too weak to even remove the cut off piece of tongue which was still wrapped around his arm as Kozac kept taking swipes at the creature and Divayth threw a few spells at it trying to drive the Hunger back into the Ashers side of the tunnel. When the hunger was in the right spot Kozac stepped aside and Divayth used a powerful spell to launch the creature some ways down the tunnel back into the fog it had come from.
"Close the doors?!" Jay panicked looking over the control center for how to close it unable to figure out the Scimitar symbols on it and Kai added trying to get up but instead stumbling back to laying on the floor, "yha before that thing comes back." Divayth rushed back to the control center to press a few buttons then pull the leaver to close the doors which closed slowly. Kozac stood on guard by the gate making sure the thing couldn't return till the doors were closed. Once they were closed and he was sure they were safe he collapsed onto one knee exhausted from fighting the vines and darkness of the tunnel. He had a few of the tendrils still on him which he didn't hesitate to pull off and throw to the ground in anger.
"What was that? Why did it attack us? What was it going to do to us? You were just going to let that thing destroy us, you only stepped in when your 'fang brother' got attacked," Jay fretted getting mad at the hyenoids who just ignored him. While the others just rested trying to gain the strength to get up Divayth looked over the wound on Lloyds leg. Lloyd had collapsed to sit against the control center. He was nervous about Divayth inspecting his wound unsure what the droid was planning to do but felt too weak to do anything. While Divayth looked over Lloyd Kozac got up then carried one by one with little effort Zane, then Nya, then Cole over to place them sitting up against the control center with Kai, Lloyd and Jay.
"While it could have killed you I do not believe it was going to. It could have easily done that instead I would have to believe it was attempting to drain you to the point you would be unable to fight back then it likely would have dragged you back to its masters at the Red Tower to suffer some crueller fate than death," Divayth explained performing some sort of spell over the wound on Lloyds leg slowly healing it up a bit. The spell didn’t fully heal up the wound but it no longer looked as serious as it had before nor felt as painful coming to look more like a generic scratch.
"Thank you, what did you do?" Lloyd thanked Divayth who replied with, "it is just something small I know. It does not fully repair the damages but heals them enough so you will not need stitches." Divayth then went over to help Zane take the Hungers tongue off his arm. All but Jay were feeling weak and tired from the Hungers siphoning.
"The tongues of these things have some good alchemical uses; I think I will keep it. As for you guys do not worry. The Hungers siphoning will not leave any long lasting effects, I can get something to help you recover faster if you like," Divayth explained looking over each of them while Jay quickly argued, "Like some dark potion to turn everyone else to your side?"
"No, he is talking of what your kind consider essential products for energy production, consumable organics and liquids," Kozac growled standing with his arms crossed before Divayth told him, "just ignore that one, I think we should let the Stag know about this. The Ashers are trying to find a way into the city. They have not tried to get through here since the Stag arrived. I believe the fact the Stag has you dragons it has made them either desperate or bold, maybe both."
"Indeed I would have to agree. That thing has likely been waiting to get past the gate to ambush the dragons since they arrived. That is not a good sign. When the Dragons have been taken care of I will let the Stag know of this," Kozac expressed.
"Okay I mixed the formula into this," Juib stated handing Cole and Zane each a cup with a strange thick dark liquid which kinda looked like a milkshake or smoothie. The two were in Juibs study helping him with his research while the others attempted to work outside. After a while to recover from the Hungers attack the hyenoids advised to avoid the Stags wrath they at least had to look like they were trying to work even though all but Jay were still tired. Juib had retrieved Zane and Cole to help him with his work for a short time. They were both sitting on a chair watching as Juib worked looking over some of the items and texts Juib had learning a bit more on this place, the Blight, this realms mythology and what the hyenoids had figured out about the Stag and Ashers. Both were hesitant to try what Juib gave them afraid of what it might do to them.
"Are you sure about this?" Cole asked voicing their opinions put off by the feel and smell of this drink; they both were put off by it.
"How else am I supposed to know if it works? Calculations and study can only get so far, I need to start trials on living beings to further my research," Juib explained.
"Why exactly have you chosen us?" Cole wondered not liking being a test subject.
"I require one who is organic in make and one who is droid in make, both with the condition, to get reliable and thorough data. Since you both helped Divayth in Balmora us of the Black Hand trust you two more than the others who from observations we feel would be unsuited for this task. You two are the more level headed of your friends are you not? I would prefer to work with those who are not going to overreact and possibly strike out or become uncooperative especially if something goes wrong," Juib explained, "the one in blue is too nervous and has some bizarre views that make him not willing to cooperate with us..."
"Yha I think the Blights made him go crazy, he's developed some weird paranoid views of late," Cole remarked and Juib continued, "I will take note of that. As for the others the one in red is most likely to over react without thinking I believe the term commonly used to describe one such as he is hot headed any way I would rather not have to deal with his temper, the girl is much like the one in red though she does think more before acting and appears to be more level headed but she does have her moments..."
"They are brother and sister, it is only natural that they should have similar temperaments," Zane explained before Juib finished, "So my observations are correct they are closely related. Finally the one in green is easily affected by his emotions and given what he is I will admit I do not feel comfortable working with him. I do not know what he is fully capable of and would prefer not to find out through anger and retaliation."
"I do see your point," Cole agreed though he still didn't feel up to trying Juibs potion. They both could understand Juibs reasoning and it took away some of the worries of trying this 'potion' Juib had given them but not all of them.
"What exactly is this made of?" Zane asked wanting to know what exactly they would be drinking still a bit apprehensive of it.
"My potion consists of sap from the Burning Vera, Blue lantern Pod also called Moon Pod, Thunder Hawk feathers, Mandrake Root and Ancestor Moth wings. All have healing properties and will not hurt you. The major ingredient is something the Stag gave me. He said it is the only physical material he can make of himself; I would have to liken it to some sort of plasm. It is a surprisingly low temperature substance that even those with high tolerances to the cold struggle to fight. To combat this cold feeling I added the chemicals from the saliva of Burning Hornets that produce the substances heat and to make it more palatable I added peaches, watermelon, Alocasi fruit and Cocoa. Some of the sweetest plant materials most people enjoy," Juib stated showing them a jar of some sort of dark slightly gel like substance which they guessed was this material from the Stag. The energy coming off the material reminded the two of them of Dark Matter which made them more nervous of this 'potion' Juib gave them.
"That looks a bit like dark matter!" Cole hesitated to which Juib responded with, "Dark Matter? Never heard of this substance is it from your world?"
"Yes, just being touched by a little bit or being near it can turn anything evil even us droids," Zane explained and Juib seemed to understand.
"I see. Do not worry I am at the least 72 percent sure this will not hurt you or turn you evil. I have handled it a few times and it has not had any effect on me other than its extreme cold," Juib explained pulling some of this material out of the jar, holding it in his one hand before dripping it back into the jar, "I will admit it is terribly cold and one does get an unnerving empty feeling from its presence but seeing who it is from that is understandable. Here do you feel anything from it?" Juib held the jar close to them. Other than the unnatural cold and emptiness feeling it gave off the material seemed fine. They couldn't feel any dark evil energy from it despite who it was from nor did they get the same feeling from it that they got from Dark Matter.
"Just that very uncomfortable cold emptiness," Cole confirmed. That still didn't encourage them much. That cold empty feeling reminded them of being under the Stags control, a feeling they dreaded to experience.
"See you are safe and if anything goes wrong we have Whetu's Star. It can break any corruption that befalls you. My old master taught me a few spells that work with it to break many spells or corruption that befalls someone. If something goes wrong I will fix it I promise," Juib encouraged clearly wanting to see if his potion worked.
"I guess it couldn't hurt to try," Cole remarked not sounding very enthusiastic with drinking this stuff.
"You are right we might not have much time. Even if this does not work it could help progress," Zane commented looking at the markings on his arm. They were now clearly visible through his clothes now. Even though they all had the condition Zane was still upset by the markings. His markings were more prominent and larger than the others since his Blight was further along than theirs.
"Well it can't be worse than dying and turning into a daemon," Cole acknowledged looking at his markings. Even though they still had worries they decided to give it a go. They both downed the potion as quickly as possible to get it out of the way and were both discussed by the taste. It was a little sweet but tasted a lot like something they could not figure out, something very unpleasant. They gave the cups back to Juib when they were done.
"Now it might take a few minutes before anything happens so just hang around here. I have plenty of books you can look over to occupy your time," Juib expressed putting the cups on a table before writing in his study journal. It wasn't long till Cole found himself uncontrollably shaking and feeling incredibly cold and numb. The cold struck to his very core, like there was no warmth to his body anywhere. He could see from his terrible shaking and behaviour that Zane was feeling it too.
"I think something is wrong, the cold is too much for me! Why can I not get warm? I think my internal temperature managing systems are shutting down! I can move my extremities but I cannot feel them!" Zane explained worried about what was happening to him and what could happen next.
"Is this how it feels to be a reptile during the winter," Cole remarked trying to stay positive starting to feel odd...
“The sudden cooling to your bodies likely comes from the material the Stag gave me. It should not last too long, the chemicals from the Burning Hornets should kick in at most within an hour and stabilize your core temperatures. I know the cold the Stag gives can be very upsetting. It is such a cold empty feeling… a feeling just like when he has control of you. That feeling…it never really leaves you…” Juib began looking at Whetu’s Star remembering the feeling of having the Stag controlling him, turning him on others against his will. Such a horrid feeling it had been. A sudden commotion caught Juibs attention. Turning around he found Zane and Cole fighting each other. They looked to be trying to strangle each other! Their eyes and the blights markings were glowing an aquamarine color and their skin and attire was starting to blacken like those that got possessed by the Stag developed. Something else about them also seemed off and dark, very dark. Juib was getting a feeling from them that he only ever felt from one other being, the Stag! He could sense they were being affected by the Stags energy, something that deeply disturbed him. Even though it scared him Juib remained calm and thought quickly to stop the two from hurting each other. He grabbed Whetu’s Star and hit the both of them across the head with it knocking them both out. He then held one of both their hands on the weapon repeating one of the spells, the strongest he knew of to banish evil in hopes it would reverse whatever had happened to them…
A while later Cole and Zane came to. Neither knew what happened. They had been sitting feeling terrible and were now finding themselves laying on their stomachs on the ground with one of their hands tightly bound to Whetus Star with leather straps. They were still feeling terrible; they did not feel as cold as they had before but they still felt a chill. They were tired, confused and had a sore spot on the back of their heads where it felt like something had hit them.
"What hit us?" Cole wondered as they both started to come to their senses.
"Why are we tied to the weapon?" Zane inquired as they looked around. Juib stood looking at a self standing relief which sat on a small low table in the one corner. The relief depicted what they had guessed when they first saw it as this Jules the Wise, Juibs old master. They guessed this was a little shrine Juib had made to remember and in honour of his old master. Juib was just looking at it appearing to be in thought.
"I am so sorry. It did not work. I should have done more testing with that stuff from the Stag before using it. I can touch it and it has no effect on me but you two... you were right it had a negative effect on you both. Was it my potion or was it just the stuff from the Stag? Why did it affect you two so harshly? Did it have to do with your powers? What did I do wrong? You can free yourselves from the binds... the corruption should be gone now," Juib expressed sounding largely emotionless though there was a hint of something else to his voice but it was hard to tell what. Whatever it was it sounded like Juib was trying to hide it.
"Corruption?" Cole repeated as Zane unbound their hands from the shurikan getting a bad feeling of what that could mean.
"You two were trying to strangle each other, as if you were under the Stags control and he was using you for his 'entertainment'... his entertainment is very unpleasant... it was like you were affected by his dark energies, his corruption and hate. I will understand if you are angry and do not wish to help me anymore," Juib explained. They began to get vague memories of what had happened and though it disturbed them they were not angry. They had agreed to taking Juibs potion. They wanted to help find this cure too. They could see at least the Blight had not progressed any further from the potion, if anything the glow from the markings seemed a little duller. Had it maybe reversed its progress a bit? Stalled it? Or were they just seeing things? Though a little ruffed up they were not hurt in any serious way; Cole had a few bruises and scrapes and Zane had a few loose screws and wires but it was all easily fixed and not serious. Juib had also kept his promise and fixed his mistake. They both felt sorry for Juib. By all the notes and work he had in his study it was clear he had been doing much work with little progress all on his own for some time and it was starting to take its toll. Despite what he was Cole had started to get the sense that Juib was more than he seemed. He was not just some machine but more. It was clear he had feelings and cared for others and was in many ways rather human even though he tended to hide these traits. Juib reminded him a lot of Zane.
"Well I guess things could have gone worse and you kept your promise and fixed things. You know the markings seem duller than before maybe you're onto something," Cole remarked trying to cheer Juib up but Juib seemed unaffected by his words.
"I am tired. I miss my master, my friend. I enjoyed being his pet. I have been working for so long on this Blight and what the Stag is with little rest. I thought my new body would have helped and in many ways it does but the answers still elude me and this Blight... the Stag is stalling it but it is still progressing, very slowly... I can feel it starting to mess with my mind..." Juib expressed as they got up and came over to him. Juib remained looking at his relief. Though he appeared to be largely emotionless Cole noted his face looked almost as if he had been crying though neither was sure if he was capable of doing so and they didn't feel right prying into it. There were stains from some unknown liquid on the artificial skin by his eyes.
"Maybe you should take a break," Zane comforted as they came over to console Juib.
"I cannot. If I do not continue my work then the Blight will never get cured," Juib stated not looking at them.
"A break could be good for you. Maybe you've been working on this for so long you've started going in circles with your research," Cole added and both Juib and Zane were confused by his statement, neither understood what it meant.
"Going in circles?" Zane wondered while Juib looked at Cole confused to state, "I may have features that make me resemble a beast but I assure you I do not behave like one so I do not chase my tail like one while working."
"I don't mean literally, it's a figure of speech. It basically means you've been going at this for so long with the same view of the same problem you're getting stuck. Maybe you should get out more and take a break. It could give you a new perspective to solve your problems," Cole suggested, "besides we'll help you. Since you gave him those drawings Lloyd spends a lot of time going over what they could mean every night."
"Has he found anything?" Juib inquired.
"No, it's stumped all of us but we're not going to give up," Cole comforted Juib who seemed to get cheered up a little.
After their time in the tunnel the hyenoids had given the ninja some time to rest and recover from the Hungers attack before putting them back to work clearing a path to the halls of knowledge. Juib had dragged Cole and Zane away for a few hours and when they got back they looked a little ruffed up. Juib had made them take something that caused them to try and kill each other but Juib had fixed it and they believed the effects were wearing off by the time they returned. Jay though kept his distance from them. Since Cole was willing to help and trust the hyenoids he seemed to think that Zane and the other denizens of the city were now trying to turn Cole to their side. The others were pretty sure Jay had lost it and were getting annoyed by his paranoia. Sometimes the others particularly Kai and Cole liked to tease and make fun of Jays paranoia's often to Jays annoyance.
By evening they had gotten the ramp and archway dug up however it was badly damaged so Divayth had tasked two of the civilian hyenoids to reconstruct and connect a new ramp. They had placed the old damaged structure to the side of the path. Most of the constructs while showing no hatred towards the ninja seemed scared to interact with them. The ninja were unsure if the constructs were afraid the Stag would do something to them making them fearful of interacting with the ninja or the Blight that scared them. The ninja had cleared a considerable distance over the past few days, they were almost halfway to the building but there was still much to do. At least with Zane freezing any Trauma root they came across so it didn't hurt them their task was made easier and much safer now. It was a slow process as they tried to clear the over grown path especially with the Blight randomly giving one of them a terrible time. In their time stuck in the city, a few days, they had come to realise the massive light structures hung from the ceiling mimicked the natural light outside with day and night cycles allowing them to tell time despite there oddly being no evident way to tell time in the city; there were no clocks, sundials or any other way to tell them the time other than those lights. As the light faded to sundown Kozac came to relieve them of their task and return them to where they were staying. As Kozac lead them to the building they came across Divayth and DJ who were cooking something in a large pot over a fire pit for the two Venom-fangs and the Birch Runner they had met earlier by an area where a few hot springs sat near the river that went through the place. The area looked to have once been a gathering place with a large fire pit and some seating set in a little stone clad pit next to the hot springs. Ruins of what might have been some small buildings or wooden furniture sat near the pools. The seating around the fire pit was stone and old and the hyenoids seemed to not use them very often. Some were overgrown or broken while others were being used as tables with random items placed onto them. The Ash-Walker was laying in the nearest pool relaxing, the Cyber Birch Runner Bruma was waiting patiently nearby while the Venom-Fangs were trying to get the bowls the two hyenoids were filling up for them; jumping up like impatient puppies at DJ who held the bowls. Upon seeing the ninja DJ called out cheerfully in his weird voice, "hey why do you not come join us!"
With DJ occupied the one Venom-Fang took the advantage to jump up onto DJ and knocked him over sending the food bowls to the ground where the contents, some sort of meat and vegetables like some sort of stew, spilled on the ground where the Venom-fangs wasted no time in rushing over to help themselves to which Divayth looking un-amused and possibly tired mumbled, "why do we bother with the bowls. You are clearly happy to eat off the floor."
"That would be against the Stags wishes. When not working the dragons are to be locked up in their cell," Kozac growled to which DJ growled back with, "yes but I do not see the harm in letting them as the folk in Balmora call it hang out. They might not have much time left why not let them have some free time." Divayth meanwhile gave a bowl of the food to the runner Bruma who was patiently waiting looking like he did not want to get involved with the other twos squabbling.
"I am following my orders, besides I do not see why they would be interested in hanging out. They have their room, they have each other, you will bring them food and drink they do not need to hang out," Kozac growled.
“You really need to get out more often, maybe do some updating and modification of your programming. There is more to life than following orders and just staying alive,” DJ countered baring his teeth to which Kozac who countered with while also baring his teeth, “or maybe you and some of the others around here should stay out of Balmora and stay here more often. Why do you try to be like them, you have seen how they treat us those foul people.” The two looked ready to attack each other. The ninja were tired and not in the mood for fighting or 'hanging out' with these beings. They just wanted to get cleaned up and spend the night alone, in peace and quiet possibly soaking themselves or even sleeping in the showers to relieve the burning and sore sensations the Blight brought to them. The Blight was starting to take its toll on them. Every now and then each of them separately would have a tough time from the Blight. Skin irritation, pains, a foggy mind, sore joints, feelings of paranoia or depression, aggressive outbursts, drowsiness or the markings would feel like they were burning and nothing seemed to sooth it were just some of the symptoms they would get from the condition. Zane had tried on himself and the others putting ice on and even freezing the markings but the ice would quickly melt and provide only minor and temporary relief. The markings defied logic and were slowly spreading. Every now and then one of them would end up in that strange trance and wander around stacking items and mumbling what often seemed like gibberish and things being wrong for ten to twenty minutes. They had to keep an eye on whoever entered this trance to make sure they didn't wander into any Trauma roots or animals. Most of the animals would just avoid them but a few would act hostile when they saw someone in this trance, it was like the animals knew they were infected and didn't want to be infected either. Even most of the hyenoids and constructs tried to avoid them. Even more strange the Trauma roots seemed to move their vines away from them if they got close as if even plants wanted nothing to do with the curse, they just had the misfortune of being unable to move to get away from them. It was disheartening to see how everything reacted to them. They were all dreading what would come next from the condition and how long they had left.
"It's okay we're fine with just staying in our room," Lloyd wearily commented as DJ and Kozac began to fight each other ignoring the ninja who just watched the two not wanting to get involved. As they fought both activated what the ninja could only assume was this so called Dragon Aspect intriguing the ninja. Glowing ethereal horns and spikes developed on their bodies, particularly on their heads, spine and forearms. Along with these ethereal adornments their skin and eyes even seemed affected appearing to have an elemental energy infusing and dancing across them. These ethereal decorations gave them a dragon like appearance and they seemed to be unique to the individual possibly revealing which element the individuals' personality seemed to best match with. DJ seemed to be linked to electricity while Kozac was linked to fire. Their fighting spooked the Venom-Fangs who ran to shelter beneath the runner who stood protectively over them. Once the two started fighting Divayth seemed to get annoyed but did nothing until they entered this Dragon Aspect state. Divayth wasted no time in creating his own Dragon Aspect which revealed he was most closely associated with ice and broke up the fight grabbing one of the others ears and pulling their heads to the ground forcing them onto their hands and knees. As the fight ended they all lost their Dragon Aspect and DJ and Kozac had burn marks to their apparel and dented and scratched skin.
"Enough the two of you before someone gets hurt," Divayth scolded, "I outrank you both so I will decide; I say they can do as they please. Juib will talk with the Stag if he has any problems with it."
"Fine," Kozac and DJ relented as their faces were being pushed into the dirt.
"Good. Now I think it wise if the ninja hang with us tonight. In their state I think they could use the company and maybe we could answer any questions they have," Divayth proposed before letting the other two go. Kozac and DJ were not happy, likely embarrassed about being disciplined like that in front of the ninja but obeyed. Kozac and DJ then cleared off a few benches by the fire for them to sit on before leading the ninja over to sit down. The ninja were at first a little reluctant but then decided to just go with it. They sat quietly while Divayth calmed the runner and fangs down. DJ pulled over a bench for him and Kozac to sit on across from the ninja. Kozac sat with his arms crossed looking like he was ready to rip someone's head off while DJ looked pleased and eager to converse.
"You know very few non constructs or beasts have ever been here since the Stag took over. Tafari was the first and the last ones were a group we rescued from an Ashers stronghold where they were being used as slaves. Sadly we were only able to save seven of them. One was the last Ash-Pyre a peaceful serpentine tribe that used to live in the Ash Wastes till the Ashers obliterated them. Poor fellow, I forget his name I think it was Pale-snake anyway he had served them for so long he had become blind and his scales paled. The Stag made us do the rescue as a test to see what we could do without his aid against those monsters the Ashers. Anyway we rescued the group and brought them back here to fix them up before dropping them off in safe locations on the other side of the fence; that was some experience. We had a decent sized group about 12 of us; we infiltrated one of the Ashers strongholds and took it down, literally it is just a pile of rubble now. Kozac took on two of their warriors at once, tore them to shreds with his hand scythe and fists. Divayth obliterated at least 10 full blooded Ashers at once with a single spell and Juib single handed with just a staff, some spells and his bare hands took on a sorcerer and three of its trainees and won. He tore out the sorcerers' heart, or whatever counts as their heart that thing only vaguely looked like a heart, with his bare hands. Once the slaves were safely away Juib and Divayth crumbled their fortress along with some dynamite of course. Anyway that makes only eight people, normal or serpentine, to have set foot here in over 60 years. Now with you six that makes 14. That is not a lot of visitors. That outpost outside normally had more people in it than that until of course those Ashers got them," DJ regaled before looking at the ninja as if expecting them to say something. The ninja remained quite not sure what to say or do. Other than Jay they had all come to accept and trust that the constructs meant no harm and wished to help them but they did not feel up to being social with them.
"So... do any of you know why there's, like, no clocks anywhere here not even a sundial?" Kai finally stated to break the awkward silence as Divayth came back to sit with his fellow hyenoids. Divayth and DJ both seemed confused at first before realising what he was talking about.
“We never really noticed before. Being droids we have built in systems to tell time but you are right that is odd. The folk who built this city would have had something to tell time how else would they have calibrated the environmental light settings here,” DJ responded and Divayth added, “I think the Stag has something to do with that.”
"Why would you think that?" Zane wondered.
"Once when I was in the palace I saw a room filled with damaged clocks and bits of clockwork in it. The Stag and members of the Black Hand are the only ones allowed in the palace and none of the Black Hand would have done that nor would the Scimitar folk. Why the Stag would hate those objects I do not know," Divayth explained.
"Palace?" Cole wondered interested in seeing what these strange folk deemed was a palace and he was not alone in that desire.
"Yes it is that large building," Divayth continued pointing to the building at the end of the cavern behind the terrace they had first met the Stag at. It was defiantly the largest and most decorative structure in the place and like where they were staying was built into the wall. Like other buildings in the cavern there were damages to its outside with some flora growing on its exterior but unlike other structures there were dark vines like those they saw in the Ashers tunnel growing on it and coming out of some windows or cracks in the structure. They were not emitting the unnerving fog but were no less unnerving. Most of the flora and fungi that grew on it looked corrupted by the Stags energies. They were dark, sickly looking with sparse off color foliage and twisted trunks, vines and roots. Only the darkened blood tipped grass they had come to know as Blood Grass looked normal. Paper lanterns that hung off some parts added decoration and light though the light they gave off was a dark aquamarine glow. Hanging from a few spots looked to have once been the cities banners but they were badly worn almost shredded and terribly faded. Whatever symbol had once been on them was now unrecognisable. Interestingly animals and even the hyenoids seemed to avoid the structure wanting nothing to do with the darkness within. Everything indicated that was where the Stag had made his home. The ninja had mixed feelings of the place. Most of them were unnerved by just the look of it though both Cole and Zane admitted to having a strong feeling that something important was inside that structure. They couldn't tell what gave them this feeling or why they had the feelings they just knew they had them. The others were worried what that could mean for the two of them and if maybe the Blight was messing with their brains or if it was a residual effect from whatever Juib had given them.
“It used to be where the rulers of the Scimitar Empire lived long ago now it is where the Stag dwells when he is not out defending his territory. Unless you have business with him you cannot enter and do not get any ideas, you dragons are forbidden to enter his sanctuary,” Kozac growled sparking Nya to inquire, “Why do you and some others here keep calling us dragons?”
"Is that not what you are called? You have powers just like the Dragon Guard and the Stag said those of the Dragon were coming. We just assumed that is what you were called," DJ replied, "are we supposed to be calling you something else?"
"Technically we're called ninja though being called a dragon sounds kinda cool," Kai stated.
"Hey what was that you did when you were fighting was that this Dragon Aspect we've heard of? How does it work?" Lloyd inquired interested in this fighting style.
"Yha that was a Dragon Aspect. It works by pulling most of your energy into what I guess could best be described as an enhancer to your strength, senses and speed while creating an elemental based aura to act as an ethereal shield. It can only be sustained for a short time as it can really drain your energy," DJ explained and Divayth added, "prolonged use of it without rest will kill the user so it is not to be used lightly despite what some here think." Divayth glared at DJ and Kozac as he spoke clearly unhappy with their foolish using of this power.
"You don't have elemental powers right so how then does the elemental shield work for you? Do you get to choose it?" Jay wondered.
"No we do not have elemental powers nor do you get to choose your Dragon Aspects element. I believe it is chosen by your energy... personality. The element you best align with is what appears," Divayth confided.
"We saw what yours are. What are Juib's and Celaena's," Lloyd inquired.
"Even though she can wield almost every element Celaena's Dragon Aspect is focused on wind. I guess for an aerial creature that would make a lot of sense as for Juib his is of earth," DJ confirmed.
"No we are not going to show you how to do it if that is what you are getting at," Kozac growled before Divayth countered with, "me and Juib have agreed already to teach them about it. It could prove useful for them. We outrank you so our word trumps yours Kozac."
"Whatever I am going to train; Make sure they are put back in the room," Kozac growled before getting up and angrily leaving.
"What's his problem?" Kai absently questioned and thinking he was legitimately looking for an answer DJ explained, "Do not take it personally. You were in Balmora. You saw how the people treat non-humans there. The beasts and droids, we are treated terribly. Kozac has seen this first hand."
“That’s right he was the one the museum got the armour from,” Jay noted and Lloyd acknowledged, “The knights told us what happened.”
"So you know what they did to him. Terrible things; you could basically call it torture just so they could try to learn the Stags secrets. When we retrieved him he was barely alive and it took several days to fix him. He has had a hatred for people ever since," DJ expressed.
"Why did he attack people? They said he went nuts attacking people," Nya inquired.
"Those were not people he was attacking. He was trying to protect some of us who were undercover while we were in town from Ashers. Those 'people' were undercover Asher agents, skin changers. Their illusions were keeping the truth from the towns folk. Kozac sacrificed himself so our siblings of the fang could escape the Ashers watch. If those Ashers had not compromised the electrical systems he would not have gotten caught," Divayth explained sounding rather angry.
"Are you mad at the people for what they did to him?" Cole inquired noting Divayths tone.
"In ways yes but they are simply stupid and acted out of fear. It is the Ashers I am mad at. It was their fault. They are a plague that has long cursed this realm," Divayth expressed. As he talked the Venom-Fangs came over to investigate them all. The ninja tried to ignore them worried the creatures were going to bite them.
"Do not fear them dragons... I mean ninja. They will not hurt you," Divayth commented noting the ninjas apprehension to the Venom-fangs attention as the Birch Runner came to join them. The creatures seemed to take a special interest in Zane who was intrigued by them.
"I recognize the runner, Bruma right. He came to stay with me when we were in the woods," Zane noted stroking Bruma who loved the affection.
“Yes that is Bruma. We sent him along with several others to watch over you and those knights while you were in the woods,” DJ explained and Divayth added, “That was dangerous of you folk to do that. I get why you did the trials but it was not a smart move. Ever since you arrived in Balmora the Ashers have been attracted to you specially you ninja. While they view the knights as a threat as well they believe you ninja are the only serious threat to them and their master Dagons plans so have been trying to find ways to stop you. Since you arrived in the town the Stag made us keep an eye on you to keep you out of danger…”
"You mean you were spying on us!" Jay exclaimed. They were all uncomfortable with this fact.
"Only to keep you safe," Divayth opted and Nya asked unnerved, "even when we were having... personal times? Like while we were sleeping, in the bathroom or other private times?" They were all uncomfortable thinking that when they thought they were alone someone had been watching them.
"No it was not like that. Those that hung around town just reported in on you if they saw you and the samurai and others only observed you if you left the safety of public areas like the tunnels of the under-city or outside the cities walls where the Ashers were most likely to strike. Many of the other constructs in town helped us like Juniper the Venom-fang fabricant, Brassy the Serpeton the young knight has, the Raven and Mzark the Robo-bill for example. In most places it was small simple minded constructs like Scimitar Scarabs, Rattatons and Serpetons who watched you. They have rather simple animal like minds if that helps alleviate the sting of being observed. Do not worry we let you have your space and personal times," Divayth explained. His explanation didn't take away the sting that they had been spied on.
"That's how Brassy got that key to let us go free and the samurai showed up just in time to save us from that Asher sorcerer," Cole noted.
"Indeed and if it had not been for us the Ashers would have gotten you when you went into the woods that night," DJ explained and Zane agreed feeling a little shaken remembering the ordeal, "the Ashers had sent an assassin after me. If it had not been for Bruma they would have gotten me." As they talked the creatures investigated each of them and began to demand attention from the ninja who were at first hesitant but soon started to pet them when they realised the creatures were not intending any harm. Jay however was scared of them and though he nervously stroked Bruma he refused to touch the Venom-fangs worried they would bite him.
"The Ashers did not dare challenge any of you face to face and for you Lloyd they only wished to face you when you were weakened and powerless," Divayth explained.
"That's why those traps were there..." Lloyd began and the others started asking questions.
"I swear I saw red eyes in the woods, were those Ashers or your samurai?" Cole wondered and Nya asked, "Why did you send the creatures to watch us?"
"That four eyed croc thing tried to kill me, was it under the Ashers control?" Kai inquired and Jay demanded, "Who sent those Skeever things after me?"
"Yes you likely saw one of the samurais' eyes; if it had been an Asher it would have attacked you. We needed a way to closely monitor you in case Ashers attempted to get close so we sent the creatures. We understood the people of Balmora would have likely made you untrusting of us constructs plus it seemed less suspicious for a native animal to appear in your site. Each of those we chose has various extents of cybernetics within their beings so they could communicate back with us. We tried to pare you with the creatures we felt you would get along with best. The Mire-lion and Skeevers were not under anyone's control. They were just acting naturally. You were just unfortunate to catch their attention. We took out the Ashers who were waiting for you all and kept watch to make sure more did not attempt to get close. They were waiting for you to fall asleep before making a move. Once they were removed we kept an eye out for more of them," Divath expressed addressing each of their questions in order.
"So you were protecting us? Then why did you prevent our communicators from working?" Lloyd inquired and the hyenoids seemed confused.
"We did not mess with them. We kept our communications on a different signal so you did not end up picking up ours but we did not interfere with yours," Divayth explained and Lloyd objected, "but I heard DJ's voice come through on mine. He gave a code name for each of the creatures and which of us they were with."
"How did you pick that up? We were on a different circuit and you would have had to hack into our signal to pick it up something you were unable to do at the time," DJ was confused and Lloyd was even more confused, "if you didn't do it then who did."
"Bruma told me it was mountain but he would not say any more. I am guessing he meant the Red Tower," Zane offered.
"True sometimes the geologic activity of the area can cause problems for simpler technology but it still should not have let you pick up our signals and it was not giving us problems that night so yours should have worked. I do not see a logical way that would be possible. Maybe it was what Juib says as the universe working in strange ways that made that happen," Divayth thought aloud.
"These three what is their story?" Zane asked as he was able to pet the one Venom-fang which moved into his pets enjoying the attention to the jealousy of its companion who moved in for some pets of its own nipping at its comrade.
"The Venom-Fangs we call Yin and Yang. They are brother and sister. We rescued them from an Ashers stronghold where their clan was being used for the cruel entertainment of the Ashers. Sadly they were the only two we could save. They will never be able to have families of their own and no clan wanted to accept them. If it was not for us they would not have even been able to walk. We had to replace most of their skeletons and musculature with cybernetics," Divayth explained, "the Birch Runner Bruma he is like a big brother to Yin and Yang. He had his legs, hip and parts of his spine crushed and damages to his skull and arms by debris blown from the volcano. It had also burned some of his skin. The Stag gave him an entirely new skeleton and musculature and implemented the armour plates in his skin to armour him. Bruma came here before the other two, before the Stag made us hyenoids. Even older is the Ash Walker Ocheeva. She was one of the first the Stag created for his 'army'. She is like a mother to the other three. Her entire herd was wiped out by Ashers at their nesting site; she was the only one to make it. Many are scared of her because she is big, she looks scary and many see Ash Walkers as dangerous temperamental reptiles. In truth she is a gentle giant like all of her kind; of course until you threaten her or her family."
"Used to be the Stag would only help those he could use but then something changed, it was before we came to be. Juib is not sure but he thinks something he said might have changed the Stags mind. Now he has let this place become a sanctuary for creatures who needed a safe home from the wastes or were harmed by the Ashers. It is odd that such an entity would do this. If he is some sort of Oni or is the Void given life then it is even more perplexing. He would have wanted to turn this place into some dark fortress like what the Ashers have not a wildlife sanctuary," DJ explained.
"How long have you two been here?" Nya wondered.
"A while, not very long though. Us hyenoids are the youngest of the constructs here. Mostof the others are over 80 years in age. The Fearbricant is in his 60s, Juib... he is even older than that. He is hundreds of years. They are all beat by Celaena though. She is ancient," Divayth answered.
“When you say she is ancient how old are you talking? Are you being literal or is that a joke?” Jay wondered and the hyenoids were a little confused.
"Joke? No joke, she has been here the longest. She met the Dragon Master himself when he was young, they say he even commissioned the creation of the special racer fabricants to protect the vaults though we have only ever found a few documented proofs of that," Divayth replied.
"If she has been here the longest then does she possibly know more on the Stag than anyone else?" Lloyd asked and the hyenoids seemed to think it over.
"She has admitted her older memories are often gone or damaged but she does remember having never heard of him before. There are reports and tales though from all around the wastes and surrounding areas of the Stag, many going back to ancient times. One even claimed the Dragon Master himself knew of the Stags existence but for some reason, despite his evil and corrupt nature, the Dragon Master did not see him as a true threat but something else; something he admitted to not really knowing or understanding. He also felt somehow that the Stag was not for him to deal with, that duty was for others to deal with but he did not know who or when," Divayth expressed.
Notes:
Despite butting heads a lot DJ and Kozac are close friends/brothers. Their contrasting personalities just sometimes get in the way.
I imagined throughout the story in each scene where the knights and ninja are in the city somewhere slightly hidden in the background there would be a small scimitar construct or two like a serpeton, rattaton or scarab resting watching them. They never take note of them and even Zane is unaware of their presence as they disguise themselves from him after all they’re used to decades of hiding from the Ashers and people so it isn’t hard for them to hide even from a fellow droid who isn’t interested in actively looking for them.
If have any questions go ahead and ask I do not bite. I will try to answer them, I will however not give away spoilers.
Chapter 41: Riddle of the Stag
Summary:
What is the Stag and who knows about him?
Notes:
Pictures relating to story can be found here: https://www.deviantart.com/nerdy-hyena/gallery/72478681/story-project
They are really good and help to visually flush out several aspects of the story including environments, characters, outfits, locations, creatures and other aspects often important ones in the story. All images I post in my work can be found there if you want a better look at them. Defiantly make sure to check them out.Also if you need a refresher on creatures, flora or aspects of the environment you can check out the second chapter in this work titled 'Keikiarys Guide to the Ash Wastes'. It includes short descriptions and pictures of these things.
Parts of this section are subject to change as the prequel story is written to improve story continuity.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
It was night in Holamayas cavern. The lights gave off a light similar to moonlight allowing everything in the cavern to be seen. Neither any of the animals nor any of the hyenoids could be found. Strange lights, almost like fireflies, seemed to dance in the air every now and then in random places before disappearing. Some sort of ethereal energy manifestation he thought though of what kind of energy he could not tell. The sounds from the river and waterfall were oddly muffled. Zane was alone wandering by the fire pit they had been at earlier. He was not sure how he had gotten there. He remembered going to bed with the others but did not recall waking up or walking out here. Something about everything seemed a little off and he had a feeling he might not actually be awake. Was he dreaming?
A sound, a wordless sirens like call was beckoning him drawing him towards the palace every now and then. The voice giving the sound was feminine, deep yet soft and hypnotic. When he registered where the sound was coming from he saw standing outside the palace beckoning him closer without a word was a woman though she was not making this sound it just seemed to be emanating from her area. When he saw her the sound slowly faded away. The woman's skin was dark, she had dark hair, reddish eyes and small rounded horns on her forehead. She wore the same style robes the figure of Whetu wore on the shrines he had seen though she lacked the hood and she was not a beast folk. She looked more like a regular person, or like an Oni crossed with a person Zane thought. The palace she stood in front of seemed different. It was not ruined like how Zane remembered seeing it. It was repaired and a warm inviting glow was coming from the windows and the pale red lanterns which decorated it were giving off a light warm glow compared to the dark aura they had been giving off earlier. There were no dark vines and the plants were kept in the planters and gardens not overgrowing the structure. The banners which had been tattered and worn earlier were clean and new looking though for a reason he could not comprehend he could not recognise what symbol was on them. It was all blurred and smudged making a blotchy unrecognisable mess of icy blue on a dark green almost black background. Bordering the top of the stairs by the entrance were statues of Racer-fabricants sitting like cats their wings folded up. He didn't remember statues or evidence that statues had once sat there. Maybe they had and just never left any evidence or were they just figments of this dream. He couldn't tell; he was confused about what was going on. Dreams often confused and sometimes unnerved him.
Zane slowly and cautiously made his way towards the figure who stood waiting for him feeling drawn to her and this palace. He was getting a safe warm comforting feeling from her even though he was nervous of who this figure was and confused about what was going on.
"I have been waiting for you. Do not fear me I mean no harm, come I have some things to show you. I have been waiting a long time for those who could help; for dragons to return to the Mountain of Dawn," the figure stated as he got close. He recognised her voice. It was the one that had spoken to him in a dream before.
"I have heard your voice before, in a vision. Did you give me the visions?" Zane noted.
"I do not have powers for that, you should know by now nindroid that the world works in mysterious ways," she stated.
"Who are you?" Zane asked though he had a strong feeling he already knew.
"I think you already know that," she replied.
“You are called by many names but in these lands they call you Whetu or Astara,” Zane described feeling stunned yet intrigued to be talking, even just seeing, an entity often believed to be a figure of mythology.
"Indeed, now come there are things you must know. Things lost that must be found to set things right," Astara expressed holding out her hand to him. Zane without thinking feeling it was the right move reached out and slowly took her hand before she led him into the palace...
He was not sure how he had gotten there or how he had woken up but Cole found himself wandering around the little town like area of the cavern outside the structure they were being kept in. He was not sure how but he no longer wore the cuffs. Apart from him there were no other beings around. No animals or droids were around and though there was every now and then strange firefly like lights that danced around he felt they were not really living things; probably some sort of weird energy things. Zane would probably know what they were, he thought. The place seemed oddly quite. He was wandering around looking for anyone else confused. Was he dreaming or awake. Somehow he got the sense he was not awake. As he got closer to the area they had been sitting at earlier he thought he could hear what sounded like someone humming a tune. It was faint but it sounded pleasant whatever was being sung, sounded like some sort of lullaby or bardic tale. As he approached the fire pit area the humming got louder and more discernable; it sounded like the song he had heard that bard in Balmora singing about this Dragon-bloods pact.
When he got to the area something about it seemed different. The fire pit was gone instead being a flat sunken terrace. Instead of the pools behind it there was a garden where two statues that resembled Racer Fabricants sat. In the centre of this terrace a blanket was laid down with a small low table in the middle. On the table were some tea cups and a tea pot. A few pillows lay on the blanket as well. Behind the table sat a woman. She looked a lot like his mother though she wore the same robes the Shrines of Whetu had though she was not wearing any hood. She sat in Lotus pose and a silvery hyena with icy blue eyes lay next to her resting its head on her lap. She was stroking the hyena on the top of the head as she seemed to be singing to it. The hyena looked relaxed and almost as if going to sleep.
Cole felt like he should go talk to her but he was nervous of getting closer. He was scared and in disbelief. His mother was dead how could she be here?! Was that really his mother or was it something else using her form. Was he dreaming? Was it some sort of vision? Was this an after effect of Juibs potion? Was he dead?! Was this a trick possibly by the Stag or these Ashers?
"I know you are there, please come closer. I offer no harm I wish only to talk with you and you are fine. No harm has befallen you. You will wake up safe and sound. I have chosen a voice and form that I hope will not scare you, I understand my true form can be quite unnerving to some. She told me I could use her form so I would not scare you," she stated as if she could read his mind still petting the hyena and not looking up from it. Her voice was that of his mother and he felt comforted by it though he was still unnerved. What did she mean she chose this form? Who was this entity taking his mothers form and voice? He slowly approached her and when she beckoned him to sit across from her he did.
“Who are you?” Cole wondered and the figure stated looking briefly at him, “Each realm has a different name for me. In many they see me as a creator and protector that is grander than what I really was, what I am. You already know my name even if you do not realise it. My true name has been lost to time but many have given me a new name. Here in this realm I am commonly called Whetu or Astara the lady of twilight and mystery.”
"Astara?" though he knew who that was Cole was baffled by what he was seeing. Was he really talking to the spirit Astara? Why was she wanting to talk to him? Surely there were more important people she would want to talk to.
"You are no less important than anyone else now why do we not begin," she stated again as if she could read his mind. Cole found it unnerving that she somehow knew what he was thinking.
"Begin? Begin what?" Cole wondered a little worried about what might happen.
"Sometimes you just need to listen," she stated as she stopped petting the hyena as it got up and looked at him its head held low as it stared at him. Without moving its mouth a voice emanated from it, a very familiar one.
"It speaks to us. Things are not right; it knows this but cannot see this. He began in brightness and honour but ended in foul and evil..." the voice came from the hyena and it took a few seconds before Cole realised who it was.
"Hey that's Zanes voice, he was muttering those things!" Cole stated surprised to hear Zanes voice coming from this creature.
"Indeed. What do you think it means?" she asked.
"He was not really in the right state of mind when he was muttering that I'm pretty sure he was just mumbling gibberish. The Blights making everyone do that," Cole responded.
"Was he just mumbling gibberish? Or was he maybe onto something? The Ashers and my fellow Oni created the Blight curse but I was able to implant the knowledge in the infected that something is wrong and try and point them in the right direction in hopes someone someday would find the answers, sadly it is all I can do to help," she explained.
"What direction is that?" Cole wondered though he had a feeling he might already know since he had felt it before.
"All I can tell you is the Red Tower and the Stag," Astara imparted.
"So Juib is right in his research, can't you just show him what needs to be done?" Cole questioned.
"No I cannot for when the Blight was created the answers for its undoing were removed from all knowledge, hidden from all existence so none could fix it. I do not know what it could be. The Ashers and Oni are to blame for the curses creation this is all I know, find out what they did, fix it and the Blight will be cured," she stated as the hyena came to lay next to him placing its head on his lap. Absent mindedly he began to pet it like it was a cat sitting on his lap.
"What did they do?" Cole asked and she responded, "I do not know. I was not there and part of the curse prevents any knowledge of what occurred from being known even to those outside this realm and beyond mortality."
"Is there any way to find out this information?" Cole inquired and as he spoke unknown to him the fabricant statues moved! Their eyes developed an icy green color as they stalked on all fours to creep from behind Astara and stand next to her, one on either side with their tails curled up over their backs like scorpions. Astara was unfazed by the creatures as they came to stand next to her low slung on all fours their wings folded up with stone skin which bore icy green glowing cracks to go with their icy green eyes. They looked about ready to attack and were much bigger than normal racers; they were as big as a small dragon. When Cole saw them he was stricken with terror but found he was unable to move. All he could do was stare at them and tightly clutch the hyena around its chest. The hyena was cowering on him defensively growling at the stone fabricants who did nothing but stare at them.
"To find the answers you need you must look in the only place an Oni's magic cannot touch in this realm, where the only thing Dagon fears, his destruction, is held. To reach it however will not be easy for you and your friends. You will have to prove yourselves to its guardians," she explained motioning to the stone fabricants, "you know the folk in Balmora know only half their prophecy. It may help you to know the rest: when outlanders of other worldly origin enter the halls of Holamaya an ancient shadow shall awaken and curse Balmora. The dead shall rise and the ash will rise, bleed and burn. Dragons shall return to the mountain of dawn as the prince of horrors tightens his grip and the truth shall be revealed and the Blight will be set right."...
Something licking his face woke him up. Lloyd had fallen asleep at the desk in their cell going over the drawings Juib had given them. No matter how hard he tried and no matter how he arranged them he could not figure out what the images could mean. The only light in the room came from the structures in the cavern outside which were mimicking moon light and the lamp on the desk. Everyone else was asleep and did not look to be having a good night's rest. They were all very restless, the Blights markings on their bodies giving off faint glows. Two seemed to be having a rougher night than the others; Cole and Zane. He wondered if it had to do with what Juib had given them.
It was disturbing to him to see everyone like this and he was hoping his mother wasn't suffering this condition. Oddly Kozac who normally slept standing up leaning against the doorway was nowhere to be found and the gate locking them in was wide open. Looking to see what had been licking him he found a Tree-Bill sitting on the desk in front of him like a cat looking curiously at him. It was different looking from the Tree-Bills they normally saw around here which were a whitish color fading to black on the underbelly and legs with black tail banding. This one was a dark greyish color with darker almost black areas on its tail, upper arm and forearm and head. White markings were above and below its red eyes and on its cheeks. Starting on the underside of its neck running down its chest to its belly was a light orange and white brindled patch. The crest on its head was orange not icy blue. He guessed it was a different species than the one in this area. The book they had been given on the local wildlife did say there were several species of this creature which varied in appearance.
"Hello... are you lost? What are you doing here?" Lloyd quietly talked to the creature which let him give it a few pets.
"You don't happen to know what these mean do you?" he asked the creature as it took an interest in the pictures. It then took an interest in a picture he had put on the desk to help motivate him. It was of him with his mom and dad after he had rescued his father from his evil corruption.
"Please don't touch that it's special to me," he told the creature when it attempted to paw at the picture. It looked at him for a seconds then before he could react the creature grabbed the picture in its beak and took off into the hall stopping to look back to see if he was following.
"Hey give that back!" he yelled at the creature giving chase. It led him outside and through the little town area towards the fire pit they had been sitting at earlier. None of the hyenoids seemed to be active and most of the creatures were sleeping. The creature was pretty fast but seemed more like it was playing a game with him than trying to run away with something. It would run ahead a few feet and wait for Lloyd to catch up, watching him, before running off again to repeat the process.
"Please that's not yours. I'm not in the mood to play," he called to the Tree-Bill growing angry at the creature but more worried something would happen to the picture as it led him towards the palace. It went into the Palace and Lloyd stopped out front. They had been told not to go in there, it was the Stags sort of home and he did not want to face that thing. He tried to act brave in front of it and his friends but deep down the Stag terrified him. The thing that terrified him the most about the Stag was not what it could do or the feelings it gave but what was it? What it was could change everything in their quest. This thing could be a bigger threat than Dagon to their world. It could be the greatest threat in existence.
"Please I can't follow you in there," he called to the creature standing by the entry into the palace. There looked to have once been decorative wooden doors covering the entrance but they had been smashed to pieces into the palace and the metal hinges were all bent out of shape. He hesitated in the open doorway. He wanted to get his picture back but he didn't want to risk encountering the Stag. Maybe the Stag was out or he could quickly get in, get his picture and get out before the Stag was even aware he was there he thought. He slowly made his way into the structure looking around to find the Tree-Bill and making sure there was no sign of the Stag. Inside the place was dark, very dark. He could barely see a thing though he could hear the creature calling to him with its metallic birdlike calls.
"Where did you go? I can barely see a thing!" Lloyd expressed before tripping over something. He was about to get up when he heard a small metallic noise, like something being dropped and rolled around. Worried what that could be he remained quiet and still. His heart skipped a beat when something bumped into his hand. It was small and metal. He slowly reached out and touched the item. He felt it over. It felt like a flashlight! As he got up he turned it on. He was both confused and stunned. How was a flashlight conveniently here? Had the creature dropped it for him but then how did this creature know or understand what a flashlight was or that he could use one? Turning it on he looked around the inside of the structure. The place was trashed. Like most of the other structures in this place the inside was a mix of wood, metal and stone. Many of the wooden features such as panelling, decorative architectural pieces, some structural columns and beams, and wooden furniture were broken, molding and collapsed. The place was dusty and webs hung from many places. Some bones of what looked to have been Scimitar folk lay around with a few trashed Robo-Bills and a few humanoid like ones which looked to be able to collapse into a ball like structure that replaced their feet, Scimitar Spheres. Any colors that had once been on things were faded. A few dark vines like what they had seen in the tunnel grew across the floor and up the walls with a few hanging from the ceiling. They gave off an unnerving feeling and the air around them felt dark, cold and empty like a miniature affect of what the Stags presence felt like. They were not however giving off any fog like those in the tunnels. He found he had tripped over a broken low table. It took a while for him to find the Tree-Bill all the while feeling anxious and scared; the dark tendrils that stretched about the place kept making the feelings worse. The Tree-bill stood halfway up a staircase looking at him, the picture still in its beak.
"This isn't funny now will you give that back," he commented to the creature and at first he thought the creature was done as it let him get rather close but then it wasted no time in turning around and bolting up the stairs. Even though he wanted to flee his desire to get his photo back kept driving him onward. That photo meant a lot to him and if the Blight ended up taking him before they could escape it would be the last thing he would see of his mother. He followed as the creature kept leading him up a couple staircases and down a few corridors. The dark vines could be found here and there throughout the building and most areas were trashed. Lloyd even came across the room Divayth had mentioned with the destroyed clocks. The faces of them all were torn up and most were smashed. Spider webs were everywhere and he occasionally walked into a few having to swat them away. As he was wandering through the palace Lloyd was starting to feel like the creature was not playing with him but leading him somewhere but where and why?
"Where are you taking me?" Lloyd quietly asked hoping the Stag was nowhere nearby, "where am I." Lloyd eventually ended up being led to a hallway which seemed to lead outside. It led out to a large platform built into the side of the mountain that jutted out from its side for several feet. It was night and the moons were full. It was cool and slightly windy. The platform looked over the ash wastes towards Balmora and stood just above the tops of the trees in the mainly conifer forest below. When he got on the platform Lloyd looked around for the creature but was horrified to see the Stag in his deer form standing regally by the edge on the opposite side of the platform looking over the wastes. Lloyd quickly turned off the flashlight hoping the Stag hadn't noticed the light or was aware he was there. The Stag didn't seem to have noticed remaining unchanged. Lloyd was about to turn and leave when he heard the Tree-bill call. He was worried that would draw the Stags attention but the Stag was still unmoved. Looking for where the sound came from Lloyd couldn't see the creature but he did see his picture pinned down by a rock on a ledge bellow the platform. As quietly and quickly as he could he crawled down onto the ledge and picked up his photo crouching to remain hidden. The picture was unharmed and he wasted no time in putting it back in his outfit so he didn't lose it or have it taken again. He could see no sign of the creature and he thought that odd. Where could it have gone? There was nowhere for it to hide and he couldn't see it climbing down or up the mountain. He decided not to waste more time on it and get back to their cell before the Stag found him. He prepared to climb back up onto the platform when a voice suddenly startled him causing him to fumble then drop the flashlight which fell down the mountainside.
"Well are you going to address me or hide in the shadows, get out here," the Stags voice boomed. Lloyd remained still. The ledge was low enough the Stag could not see him if he remained crouched unless the Stag came closer in his direction so Lloyd remained still hoping maybe the Stag would think he was just seeing things and he could slip away in a short while. He heard footsteps on the ledge above him and began to worry. Was the Stag coming towards him! Those didn't sound like the footsteps of a four legged creature. Did the Stag even have footsteps?!
"I came to report sir," Lloyd was relieved to hear Juibs voice, maybe the Stag didn't know he was there. Wanting to see what was going on Lloyd took a peak up onto the ledge. The Stag was still looking over the wastes while Juib had wandered onto the middle of the platform and was looking at the Stag.
"Well Juib what is it?" the Stag asked with a rather even possibly even warm tone turning his head so he could see Juib over his shoulder. Juib appeared to be emotionless but there were hints that he was nervous as he talked with the Stag. It took a few seconds before Juib responded.
"I have gotten no further along in my research than before the ninja arrived. I tested something I thought would work but it appears it did not. It just made them... try to... kill each other as if it had corrupted them... currently I am unsure what went wrong. I am running low on ideas. We can confirm they all have the condition. I believe you are right the Ashers likely cursed them," Juib explained.
"Indeed. Keep at your work I have faith you will find the answer," the Stag expressed in a tone that sounded like he was trying to comfort and encourage Juib. Lloyd found that tone odd for the Stag.
"What if I cannot? What if it takes too long? The Dragon of Ice has a shorter time than the others and even they do not have very long. Even if you stall their Blight to prolong the time they have I believe you will have a slim chance in breaking them to your will and unless they become desperate I do not see them agreeing to your terms. They are too honourable to give in to one such as yourself and their fear of you is too great. If they do not give in what then? Will you agree to let them look into the vaults?" Juib wondered.
"No, I want no one near or in those cursed things. You were once companion to its guardians you should know just how dangerous those things in there can be. They touch the wrong item or read the wrong scroll and there can be terrible consequences," the Stag asserted, "the last thing we need is one of them getting corrupted or worse by what is in there. It is best if the things that lie in there are forgotten."
"I understand but I might not find the cure before it is too late," Juib expressed a hint of worry in his voice.
"Do not worry about that I will make sure it does not come to that. They are too important an asset to lose," the Stag claimed looking angrily to the south. Likely looking at the Red Tower, Lloyd thought. The active peak of the mountain was visible over the highlands to the south, its top glowing a bright red in the dark of night.
"Now if that is all you can leave. Go sleep or charge or whatever it is you animals do," the Stag grumbled to Juib before looking over the wastes again.
"As you wish sir," Juib uttered before turning to leave. Lloyd quickly ducked down hoping Juib was unaware he was there. Though he was pretty sure Juib would not tattle on him he didn't want to cause any trouble. After Juib left he waited a few minutes before deciding to leave. Looking onto the platform he could see the Stag was looking over the wastes not in his direction. He decided now was the best time to leave. He slowly and quietly got back up onto the platform keeping an eye on the Stag. Once on the platform he hesitated knowing he had to take his eyes off the Stag to get back into the hall that he had come out of. He slowly turned around his heart racing as he slowly made his way back to the hall. He was only three steps from the hall when a voice caught him off-guard and almost made his heart stop.
"You might be able to hide from a droid but you cannot fool me," the Stag boomed and Lloyd remained frozen with fear.
"I could sense you enter my palace," the Stag remarked sounding surprisingly calm. Even though he was dreading it Lloyd turned to look behind himself trying to not show any fear. To his horror the Stag had turned to face him with his head held low and eyes narrowed as if he was preparing to attack.
"Might I ask why you have come here? What inspired you to dare get this close to me? Were you thinking of agreeing to my terms or were you going to try to bargain for something else?" the Stag demanded baring his teeth his mouth not moving as he talked.
"One of those tree reptile things stole a picture that is special to me. I chased it and it brought me here that is all. We still will not agree to your terms and I did not have anything to say to you," Lloyd explained putting on a brave face hoping the Stag could not sense his fears. The Stag calmed down, closing his lips and relaxing his eyes though he kept in the same position. Lloyd remained quiet hoping the Stag would understand and let him go.
"Typical Tree-bills, often into no good..." the Stag began pausing for a few seconds before continuing his voice softening, "come here." Lloyd did not like the sound of that and remained still. Noting his hesitation the Stag raised his head a little and his voice mellowed almost sounding comforting.
"I promise I will not harm you. Come stand next to me and look," the Stag invited. Lloyd hesitated but not wanting to anger the Stag slowly approached and came to stand next to the Stag who turned to look over the wastes keeping his head low so it was the same height as Lloyds.
"What am I supposed to be looking at?" Lloyd pondered looking over the wastes. Below the mountains was forest which slowly faded into the Ash Wastes. The lake, strange plants and fungi some of which were giving off a faint glow could all be seen though they looked miniature from this vantage point. Far in the distance a very faint greenish glow spanned the horizon indicating where the Ghost Fence sat. Where Balmora was and his mother, all alone in this strange place not knowing what had become of them. Would he ever see her again? Would they get home? If they did how bad would things be? Was everyone they left behind okay? All the thoughts started to bring tears to his eyes but he brushed them away and tried to hide them not wanting to show weakness to the Stag.
"Left someone behind over there did you not?" the Stag calmly commented making Lloyd feel threatened. What was the Stag implying?!
"You leave my mother alone!" he snapped but the Stag was unfazed remaining calm.
"She is fine, for now. I will not hurt her but I cannot say the same about the Ashers. She worries about you I can see this. I can see many things," the Stag calmly claimed looking Lloyd in the eyes. Lloyd tried to look the Stag in the eyes but he was too scared. The Stags eyes brought feelings of emptiness, darkness and something else. Something Lloyd was having trouble identifying but was too unnerved to think of it.
"How..." Lloyd began to ask before the Stag cut him off.
“I know and can see a great many things. What has been, what can be, what will never be and all in between. I can gaze through time and space like none other and view mortals such as yourself in ways you could barely fathom. Not everything is to be known to me giving me only glimpses but I am still aware of their existence. To some that may seem a blessing to others a curse but to I it is who and what I am and with what I am I can sense some of your thoughts. If you wonder it is not only your dam I can see but others. They stayed behind; you thought they would be safe,” the Stag disclosed surprisingly calm as he looked at Lloyd who did not like what this being was saying and unable to meet his gaze. His words brought horrid feelings of worry, regret and uncertainty. What were his uncle and the others facing? What would they be returning to?
"Just like those that came here they are facing their own problems; I could tell you but sometimes it is best if you do not know," the Stag went on as if he had read Lloyds mind the Stags gaze shifting to looking over the wastes as he spoke. Though he wanted to ask and see how those in Ninjago were faring Lloyd had to agree with the Stag. Ignorance was most likely bliss in this case. They had enough to worry about already; he didn't need more piling onto his worries. They had to stay focused here; they needed to find this object to help them. They needed to find a cure for this Blight. Not to mention they currently had no way to get home even if they wanted to, the scroll that had brought them here was locked away in a vault somewhere in Balmora.
Just standing next to the Stag was unnerving with the entities very presence freezing the surrounding air and bringing a deep empty feeling but something came to his mind. What the hyenoids had told them in the tunnel that Oni could not touch the Stag. He was part Oni, could he touch the Stag and if he could what would it do to him? While the Stag was occupied looking over the wastes Lloyd slowly reached out and touched the Stags side. His hand went straight into the Stag revealing the fact that though he looked solid the Stag was really just an ethereal entity, like a ghost he had no physical body. With his hand touching the same space as the Stag he noted it felt as if there was nothing there yet there was an extreme cold that felt as if his hand was being burned causing him serious pain. He quickly pulled his hand away screaming in pain and as he did there seemed to be a black smoke enveloping his hand and arm coming out of the Stag. It slowly dissipated turning his hand and arm black and the Blights markings turned a dark aquamarine from their normal red. He was terrified wondering what was happening while the Stag just looked at him un-amused. His hand and arm slowly turned back to normal and the Blight returned to its normal color while the pain was slowly fading though it was still painfully cold. He held his hand and arm close to himself trying to warm them up shaking from fear, shock and pain all three bringing tears to his eyes.
"So the hyenoids have been telling you what they think I am. Those metal animals are always trying to figure things out. They have to put logic behind all things. If they logically cannot figure it out they go nuts. Their minds cannot stand the unknown it causes them to short circuit just thinking of it. Sometimes logic cannot solve everything you should know this," the Stag calmly expressed, "some things they think of are right, some are half right and others are wrong. Yes most magic does not affect me. Only the magic of the Oni and Ashers has an effect on me. Both Dragons and Oni can harm and touch me and not everything fears me. Sheoth dislikes and is wary of me but he does not truly fear me. Many mortals know of me and do not fear me. Until you entered my realm and I challenged you most of you did not truly fear me; Tafari does not truly fear me either."
"What are you?" Lloyd inquired fighting the pain his arm was still in hoping the Stag would reveal to him what he was. Maybe if he knew what the Stag was those pictures would make more sense.
"I am and am not an Oni and I am and am not the Void. Does that satisfy you," the Stag calmly claimed and Lloyd was stumped. Was the Stag being honest and if so what did it mean and how was that possible? Or was the Stag messing with him; some sort of cruel trick to mentally frustrate and torture him.
A rumbling from the volcano drew the Stags attention and he turned to look at it baring his teeth, head low and looking ready to attack.
"One day... one day I will get those Oni worshipping scum. I will tear out their hearts and burn them in that beloved volcano of theirs. They think they are untouchable but they will see," the Stag growled baring teeth like he was prepping to bite and the tone and words he used made Lloyd take a few steps back in fear.
"Why do you hate them so much? Wouldn't they worship you?" Lloyd inquired and the Stag looked angrily at him.
"Why would I want them to worship me, what they did to me you would never be able to comprehend. It is beyond your mortal understanding...," the Stag growled baring his teeth and hackles raised. The Stag paused for a second before turning to a calmer attitude and standing in a regal pose, head held high.
"I think you have had enough time out of your room. Why do you not head back," the Stag calmly proposed scowling down at Lloyd while keeping his head high, "and will you take that metal animal friend of yours out of my palace. He has been wandering around in there for some time now."
"You mean Zane," Lloyd stated and the Stag grunted, "Whatever you call yourselves. You are all the same to me." Knowing it was best not to bother the Stag and wanting to get away from him and the horrid feelings he brought Lloyd slowly walked away taking a few glances back worried what the Stag might do while his back was turned. Surprisingly the Stag went back to staring over the wastes and seemed to not care what he was doing.
When he got back to the tunnel entrance he stared at the dark hall. He had lost the flashlight and he was unable to use his powers. He was going to have to navigate his way back in the dark and from what the Stag said he would have to find Zane and take him out of the building too. He heard the Tree-Bill call and looking around he saw the creature sitting atop the archway that bordered the hallways entrance. It just looked at him, its tail drooped down and the tip slowly swaying back and forth.
"You're not getting my picture again," he whispered to the creature. He went to take a step to start heading into the hall but as he looked down he noticed something by his feet. It was the flashlight! It had fallen down the mountain but this one looked almost brand new. It made no sense! The Tree-Bill called again but when he looked up where it had been there was nothing there and he could not see it anywhere. Somehow he felt that Tree-bill really wasn't a Tree-bill but something else but what? For a second he thought of asking the Stag about this strange Tree-Bill and the flashlight but he thought it best not to bother the Stag. He could ask Juib or Divayth in the morning.
It took him a while of searching but he eventually found Zane. Zane was on a level beneath the main floor that looked to have once been a barracks for guards. At first he thought Zane was maybe looking for him but he quickly realised Zane was not really awake. The glow to his eyes was half as bright as normal and his eyes were only half open when they were not closed. It was like he was sleepwalking or in a trance. He would occasionally say something mainly a word or two which Lloyd could not figure out what they meant. It almost sounded like he was talking to someone or something Lloyd couldn't hear or see. Maybe it was something in his mind? Lloyd thought. When Lloyd talked to Zane it became clear to him that Zane was unresponsive and unaware to the world around him. Though it looked like he might be in the Blights trance the fact he was not mumbling gibberish, not randomly stacking things and did not respond to the Stag told Lloyd he was in some sort of other trance.
"Okay buddy we should get you back to the room before you get hurt. In your current state I'm surprised you even made it here... What's that you got?" Lloyd stated to Zane noting Zane was holding onto some sort of cloth. It was dark with something icy blue in color on it. The cloth looked tattered but not too bad, defiantly far from the state the ones on the outside of the building were in. When Lloyd went to try to see what the cloth was seeing if he could get it out of Zanes hands Zane pulled it away from him looking mad and for a second Lloyd thought Zane was going to attack him.
"This is not for you. She gave it to me. I must keep it safe and show it to the others. He cannot see it," Zane angrily muttered. Lloyd let go of the cloth and Zane relaxed going back to his sleep walking state.
"Okay you keep it lets just get out of here. Maybe when you're back to your normal self you'll show me," Lloyd commented putting a hand on Zanes back and gently pushing him to get him moving. Lloyd had to hold Zanes arm to lead him since it seemed whatever trance he had been in when Lloyd found him was over and he was now just sleepwalking. He was quite and his eyes remained largely closed. Zane was still tightly holding the cloth though. Lloyd had to help him get up the stairs and navigate the structure so he didn't trip or fall. It took a while to get out of the palace. As they approached the area they had been sitting at earlier around the fire pit Lloyd noticed Cole was sitting on the ground near the pit facing it. There was no fire in the pit and no one was around. Cole looked like he was expecting to be attacked with his head turned away and his hands up to protect his face. He had a feeling Cole was in the same state as Zane since he didn't respond when Lloyd called out to him.
"You too! I wonder if whatever Juib gave you two had something to do with this?" Lloyd wondered leaving Zane on the path and walking over to try and drag Cole onto his feet. It was a bit of a struggle to pry his hands away from his face but as he did Cole seemed to relax still asleep. After a bit of a struggle to get him on his feet Lloyd realised he'd have to carry Cole back to the room. When he looked over at Zane he saw Zane was now lying on his back on the ground asleep. He'd have to carry both of them back to the room.
"I wonder if there's a cart around here, that would make this much easier," he sighed dreading having to try and drag the two back to their room on his own. The building was some distance away and he couldn't carry both at the same time. He sighed; it was going to be a long night for him. He was about to set off when the rustling of foliage caught his attention. He was surprised to see the cybernetic Ash Walker Ocheeva come up to him and look him in the eyes. For such a large creature she was surprisingly quite as she moved.
"Are you looking for something? I'm sorry but I don't have anything. Can your implants let you speak or is Celaena the only one that can do that," Lloyd talked to the creature nervous of it. He had seen what these things could do; the one in the ring had tried decimating them and had done some considerable damage. These creatures were also known to be temperamental and aggressive. Not to mention the hyenoids were right, she was scary looking, even more so than the normal Ash Walkers thanks to her implants. He couldn't tell what the creatures' intents were making him even more nervous. Had he accidently disturbed her? Was she just wandering around? Had the Stag sent her to keep an eye on him? Somehow he felt confident that she was not under the Stags control but that offered little comfort. He was unable to use his powers and both Cole and Zane were in a deep sleep and he could not wake them. If she decided to attack him it would not end pretty for him.
"I don't mean any harm I just have to drag my friends back to our cell," Lloyd explained unsure if the creature understood. Ocheeva seemed to be listening. She looked him over then at Cole then she looked over at Zane. She strolled over to Zane then gently picked him up in her mouth like he was her chick.
"Are you helping me?" Lloyd wondered. Ocheeva just looked at him as if waiting for a command. Testing his thought Lloyd began to head back to where they were staying carrying Cole with him. Sure enough Ocheeva followed carrying Zane. When they were outside the building she gently put Zane on the ground and stood watching Lloyd who put Cole down next to Zane so he could address the creature.
"Thank you for the help," he told Ocheeva who just looked at him for a few seconds. She gave a slow blink and a bow of her head. With her head bowed Lloyd slowly reached out and touched her muzzle giving it a stroke before she lifted her head and headed off leaving Lloyd to carry the two up to their room.
Notes:
If have any questions go ahead and ask I do not bite. I will try to answer them, I will however not give away spoilers.
Chapter 42: Dragons in the Mountain
Summary:
The Stag shows off some of his cruelty and the ninja become dragons; note not literally.
Notes:
Pictures relating to story can be found here: https://www.deviantart.com/nerdy-hyena/gallery/72478681/story-project
They are really good and help to visually flush out several aspects of the story including environments, characters, outfits, locations, creatures and other aspects often important ones in the story. All images I post in my work can be found there if you want a better look at them. Defiantly make sure to check them out.Also if you need a refresher on creatures, flora or aspects of the environment you can check out the second chapter in this work titled 'Keikiarys Guide to the Ash Wastes'. It includes short descriptions and pictures of these things.
Parts of this section are subject to change as the prequel story is written to improve story continuity.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Misako was sitting in the reading area of the main hall in the scholars’ center of Balmora. The knights had showed her the footage they had gotten and she had to agree with them. Something was wrong with the ninja. Though she wanted to think it was this Stag entity messing with them something made her feel that was not the case. Since the knights had returned she was collaborating with Merlok the knights mentor and an old and wise wizard for a possible cure along with helping them care for Aaron as he suffered from the Blight. She and Merlok had collected all they could find on this Blight condition hoping to maybe find something that could help save the ninja and Aaron. Despite existing in this realm for so long there was almost nothing known about the condition. All the resources they had found basically said the same things. That it was a curse not some disease, Ashers were to blame for its creation and that some believed it was tied to the Red Tower due to many sufferers being drawn to the volcano. It was not very uplifting research and didn’t give much hope. She was not going to give up though. She was going to keep trying to find something to solve it. She did not want to see her son consumed by this condition. If there was something she could do to stop this curse than she was going to find it.
She had been sitting with Robo-bill Merlok for the last couple minutes in the main room of the scholars’ center watching as Aaron in the Blights trance was stacking furniture, baskets and books on one of the main tables. He was mumbling about things being wrong and honour turning foul. The same things Lloyd had told her Zane had been saying while wandering in a similar trance. Oddly none of the records they had found mentioned victims saying these things. It made her wonder were these words important? Did researchers here think it was non-important gibberish? Did it have any meaning and if so what?
"There he is, it's a relief to finally find him," Macy stated coming into the room feeling relieved to have found her friend.
"He has been here for the past few minutes in the curses trance," Merlok stated and Macy spoke, "we weren't even aware he had left the Fortrex until we went to check on him. We were worried he might have wandered out of town or into danger." As Aarons Blight progressed it had become more noticeable and various symptoms began appearing. They had noticed the villagers were very unsettled by Aarons Blight and even though no one had yet said anything they had a feeling the villagers were not happy with his condition and would prefer to not see him. The knights were trying to keep Aaron out of the sights of the villagers as much as possible worried how his condition would affect their relation to the people and what the people might do to Aaron especially if they caught him while he was vulnerable like in the Blights trance. That was often easier said than done as when in the trance he tended to wander.
"We were picking up some texts when he wandered in here," Misako noted.
"Have you guys found anything that could help us cure this thing?" Macy wondered watching as Aaron was stacking items on the table.
"Sadly not much, what Aaron keeps saying though, the ninja told me Zane was saying much of the same things when he was in a trance. If he has the Blight then maybe it was this condition not the Stag making him do and say those things. If so what could it mean?" Misako replied as they watched Aaron and Merlok added, "It is interesting that no one records what the sufferers say, they just mention them mumbling what scholars consider gibberish however from my observations this mumbling does not sound as random or empty as mere gibberish."
"Indeed this part on honour turning foul seems to frequently come up along with mentions of things being wrong and being unable to put things right," Misako regaled.
"You think it could mean something?" Macy wondered and Merlok stated, "there is a great possibility but we are unsure what it could be alluding to. We are going to look into the history and bardic tales of this realm to see if that could offer any insight."
“It must not be an easy task to deal with him when he is like this,” Misako comforted Macy noting Aarons predicament was having a bad and emotional draining effect on her. It was starting to take an effect on all the knights as they tried to keep Aaron safe and care for him while he slowly succumbed to the Blights effects. Some of them like Clay and Macy were trying to remain strong about it but both Misako and Merlok could tell it was starting to get to them. They were all also pretty sure that even though he was remaining positive and upbeat most the time the Blight was starting to get to Aaron. He was just keeping his mood up to help keep everyone’s morals up.
"No... it hurts seeing him like this. You want to help but you know there is nothing that can be done," Macy stated sorrowfully watching Aaron. She paused for a second looking at the folk in the center. Most were clearly disturbed by Aarons presence and behaviour. Macy then stated, "We should get him out of here and back to the Fortrex, his condition is making a lot of folk nervous and we don't want to upset anyone. It's hard when he's in this state though. He doesn't respond to anything, not even his own name." Misako remembered what the ninja told her what they had to do to get Zane to follow them when he was in this trance. Zane had been unresponsive as well and only one thing had gotten him to listen. If this worked then it was more proof that Zane had been under the effects of the Blight not the Stag. It would also though bring more questions than answers.
"Let me try something," Misako suggested getting up and heading over to Aaron who seemed unaware of her approach.
"Aaron, the Stag would like to see you," she offered touching his arm and Aaron looked at her. He looked confused before he seemed to recognise her.
"She does not want you to worry. They are in her hands and she will protect them," Aaron stated giving Misako a big hug. She was at first surprised by this behaviour but with all her worries she felt she needed the hug.
"That was odd," Macy noted and Merlok noted, "that did not sound like gibberish. Who is this she he refers to and what does he mean by she will protect them?" Macy approached them to try and lead Aaron out of the room saying, "come on we should get back to the Fortrex where you can stack things however you want in there without disturbing anyone." Aaron just went back to stacking things and ignored Macy who was frustrated at trying to get him to listen.
"Macy here will take you to the Stag," Misako offered drawing Aarons attention to Macy. He came over to her as if expecting to be led somewhere.
"That's really odd and a little disturbing. Why is it he listens to seeing the Stag but nothing else, not even his own name?" Macy expressed and Misako noted, "I do not know. It worked on Zane too."
"Intriguing, I wonder if this Stag could have something to do with the Blight and if so what?" Merlok thought aloud.
"Don't know you can look into it some more back in the Fortrex. Aarons condition and talk of the Blight is scaring the people here," Macy expressed grabbing Aarons arm and leading him out of the main room.
"Indeed it might be best for us to continue our work in a more private setting. If you can grab the texts I will help Macy get Aaron back to the Fortrex," Merlok suggested and Misako agreed. Merlok headed off to help Macy while Misako headed over to where she and Merlok had been sitting to collect the tomes and scrolls they had collected which they had put on a low table when they had noted Aaron come in the room. As she headed over she thought over their recent revelation. None of the research they had found linked this Stag entity to the Blight. What did it mean when the infected could be manipulated by telling them they would get to see the Stag? When she got to where they had been sitting she noticed something new. Sitting atop the books they had collected was a scroll. It was unfurled so its contents were visible. It looked to be a map of the area around Balmora and the wastes leading to Holamaya. The writing on it looked like that of these scimitar folk so she could not understand what they said but the imagery gave away quite a bit. She looked over it a bit before she realised what this scroll was. This document was not from Balmora! A seal on the bottom right of the map was black and in the shape of a Stag! This was from Holamaya but it wasn't one of the documents the Knights had brought back! They had gone through those thoroughly and found nothing. Where had this come from? As she went over it she came to a shocking realisation. The map revealed tunnels under the wastes that passed under the fence! Ones none of the items Tafari had given them revealed. All the tunnels lead straight to the Ashers stronghold at the Red Tower! This was how they were getting in! She had to show this to the others!
She was about to head off when the map was suddenly ripped from her hands. Stunned she looked down to see Mzark and Ghidorah at her feet. Mzark rolled up the map and put it in his mouth before the two took off out of the main room.
"Hey we need that!" she exclaimed having to give chase to try and get it back. The two waited for her to catch up then continued keeping at a pace that kept them just out of her reach but enough to keep her motivated to follow them. Misako found their behaviour intriguing. It did not seem like they were playing, it was more like they wanted her to follow them.
"Alright I will see what you want me to see," she told the two and they slowed down to let her catch up and keep pace with them. They led her out of the Scholars outpost, through the main hall and into a hall that led to the area the beasts and robotics for the ring were kept. Everyone else was going about as usual with some prepping the Under-City for attacks and no one noticed her or Mzark and Ghidorah. When they got into the hall leading to the holding pens for the ring she quickly noted that something was wrong. No one was around but that was usual here. No one felt comfortable being near the denizens down there especially after what had happened in the ring with the ninja. Though it was well lit the hall seemed oddly dark as if the lights were fogged over though she could clearly see the lights were fine. As they got deeper in the hall they found the remains of one of the hyenoids often used in the rings. Its inner workings had been torn out and its limbs ripped off. Ghidorah and Mzark seemed disturbed by the sight and were afraid to get close to it.
"The people didn't do this did they," she speculated looking over the remains. She found a dagger stuck in its body. She pulled it out and looked it over. The dagger was in the style used by these Asher folks.
"Ashers," she commented before the two lead her deeper into the hall skirting nervously around the hyenoids remains. When they entered the holding area Misako was stunned. All the pens were open and the creatures nowhere to be found. All the hyenoids used for training were destroyed with parts of them everywhere. Strange dark vines were growing out of the ceiling and walls and climbed up from the floor on the walls and on some of the pens. A few of the vines held remains of the hyenoids in them. The vines were giving off a dreaded feeling and were emitting a dark disturbing fog that was coating the ground and making it hard for her to breath. The normal lights were all broken with the vines growing out of them. Braziers, red candles some held in creepy lanterns decorated the place and strange red glowing mutated shroom like organisms which grew randomly throughout the place making the only light in the building. While she was looking at the place in shock starting to be affected by the fog which was making it hard to breath or even think something grabbed her putting its hands over her eyes and dragged her off somewhere. She heard some sort of machinery moving and after what sounded like a stone door closing whatever was over her eyes was taken off. She now found herself in a small dark hall surrounded by hyenoids but not just any droids they were Scimitar Samurai! She could feel the dark empty feeling coming from their armour and she had to muster all her strength to not flee from their presence. She was unsure what their intent was but Mzark and Ghidorah, who were there with them, seemed rather calm. These Samurai had various weapons of unique make and a few had lanterns of Scimitar make to provide some light. Some wore their headgear while some didn't. One of the samurai who was not wearing headgear was looking through a small hole in the wall which could be closed off with a stone gate, it was a peep hole and Misako guessed they had pulled her into a secret passage behind the wall. This must have been the one Celaena used to enter the ring and attack the ninja she thought.
One of the samurai said something in a language Misako could not recognise to the one looking through the wall. She was wondering if this was possibly the Scimitar language she was hearing. The one looking out the wall said something before closing the peep hole. The samurai then began to talk to themselves ignoring her. Curious to see what he had been looking at Misako took a look through the peep hole. At first she couldn't see anything then some movement caught her eye. Something was moving in the fog. She was shocked to see a miniature version of an Ash Crawler, it was no bigger than a lion, come crawling into the room looking around and flicking its tongue. It was closely followed by an Asher Sorcerer. The two seemed to be surveying the area as if looking for trespassers. Even though she wasn't aware of it she must have made a noise which drew the attention of the samurai. One hurried over and closed the peep hole pulling her away from it saying something in this odd tongue, sounded like he said Jul, before addressing her in a language she could understand.
"Quiet, we do not want them to know we are here," it spoke with a deep commanding voice.
"You can speak the common tongue," Misako quietly stated.
"Most of us can. We are not simple machines like what you Jul, people, think," one of the samurai replied taking a peek through the peephole.
"They are leaving," the one that looked through the peep hole stated before closing the peephole. Seeing they could understand her and were not mindless drones Misako decided to see if they would tell her anything.
"What happened out there?" Misako wondered.
"Those things, Deyra, the Oni spawn they are, took advantage of the people almost abandoning this place. We were able to rescue most of the animals and fabricants but our fellow droids had already been decimated by those things. They have made a camp in here where they are preparing to attack the city. We are waiting for reinforcements before we wipe out these scum," the samurai who seemed to be the leader for the group explained.
"Have you come from Holamaya?" Misako pried trying to sound calm. Even though it seemed these entities were not going to hurt her she was unable to shake the fear their presence was making her feel.
"Geh, yes. We are the Scimitar Samurai. We serve the Stag and protect Holamaya and our brethren from those foul beings, bein-bruniikes. Our leader Kozac sent us to keep an eye on the city and deliver the map," the leader expressed.
"If you're from the Forbidden City... have you seen my son?" she inquired worried but also eager to hear any news. The samurai looked at each other and talked a bit in their language. They almost sounded as if they were confused.
"Which one is it?" the leader finally asked.
"Lloyd," she replied before adding seeing by their confused looks they didn't seem to know any of the ninja by name, "the one in green."
"That one is yours, okay. You probably do not want to hear it... he has the Blight. They all do. The Dragons were cursed by the monsters of the tower," the leader replied not showing any emotions and she was terrified. The knights were right, her worries were right! They had the Blight, all of them, even her son! They were doomed!
"How...," she began trying to hold back tears.
"Juib believes the Ashers cursed them when they were ambushed in the wastes," the leader explained as she started to tear up and tried to hide it. As if sensing how she felt Ghidorah and Mzark came to comfort her, rubbing against her, nuzzling and licking her like a pair of cats. The hyenoids were confused. Unlike some of the others of their kind, those that served as Scimitar Samurai had very little experience with people so had not learned how to react to or understand their emotions. They had a very basic understanding of emotions and rarely used theirs.
"Are you...why do you cry? Your cub is fine rate now. They are safe. Juib would not let them come to harm and we are taking good care of them. You should not worry the Stag will prevent the Blight from claiming them. He will keep them safe," the leader tried to console her trying to properly react.
"The Stag will prevent the Blight from spreading too far...what do you mean?" she inquired both confused and intrigued by these words.
"The Stag can stall the Blights progress. He cannot cure it but he can give them more tiid, time. He has been sparing Juib for two years now; if the dragons cooperate he will spare them as well. He considers them very valuable," the leader explained.
"Dragons?" Misako wondered confused. What were they meaning; did they see the ninja as dragons like this Dragon Guard?
"Your offspring and his friends they are dragons. They have powers like dragons and the Dragon Guard so they must be dragons," the leader responded confirming her suspicions.
"Technically where we are from we call them ninja but I can see why you think they are dragons. The Stag what does he want them for? What has he done with them?" Misako questioned. The samurai talked with each other in their language before the leader addressed her.
"What he wants them for is not for you to know. Besides we do not know what he wants them for either only he knows that. As for what he has done... he has not hurt them if that is what you worry about. We are taking good care of them. I think we should return you to the safety of the Under-city now," the leader asserted taking the map from Mzark then giving it to her, "this is for you. The Robo-bill was supposed to just deliver it to you not lead you here. I do not know why it did that. We are supposed to remain hidden. This map reveals all the tunnels the Ashers use. There are some tunnels not shown but you do not need worry about those. They are ours. We want them to remain secret and will keep the Ashers out of them. We are not a threat to the city. The Stag does not care what happens to the town but the rest of us do not feel the same. The Black Hand wants you to have this so you can better prepare and defend yourselves. They feel now that we have the dragons the Ashers might attack the city. Build up their armies, cut off our supplies and surround our hofkah, our home. Show it to the guard they will know what to do. We will clear out and secure this area. We have already destroyed any means of escape for them; there are just some stragglers we have left to deal with. Now follow us." The samurai then led her through the hidden passage, a passage she could not find on the map. The samurai were quiet not wanting to speak with her even when she tried to ask them questions. She tried to find out more on the Stag, what this Black Hand they mentioned was, how her son was doing and what they knew of the Blight. The only thing they responded to was when she asked if they would take her to Holamaya which they were quick to respond with "niid, no." None of them answered any of her other questions though they would talk to each other in their tongue. Ghidorah and Mzark followed beside Misako like loyal pets. The passages were winding and made of a mix of what looked to have once been sections to the Under-city, natural caverns which were reinforced by stonework that matched the works of Scimitar makes and plain stone tunnels likely made after the Under-city was made. The samurai took her to a hall that ended with a set of stairs that led to a dead end. On the right side wall by the end of the hall was a black stag shaped rock.
"When you exit here you will be in a hall not far from the main cavern of the Under-city, head to your left and you will find it. Once there you should be able to find your way around and will be safe. Do not come looking for us, do not try to find your way to the city and do not wander off alone again. Stick with the knights. Things are getting too dangerous for flesh kin to be wandering around on their own," the leader explained pressing the stag shaped rock into the wall. The wall at the top of the stairs moved out of the way and the samurai pushed her, Ghidorah and Mzark into the hall before closing the door behind them. The samurai clearly wanted nothing to do with her. The three were left alone in the hall. Ghidorah and Mzark just sat looking up at her as if waiting for a command.
"So the knights were right. The ninja, my son... they’re cursed, I might not see my son again," Misako worried tears coming to her eyes though she was trying to hold them back.
"You will see him again do not worry," a feminine voice comforted seeming to come from nowhere. Looking at the two next to her Misako noticed Mzark was reared up on his hind limbs and the normal blue eyes of the construct were red before fading back to a sky blue.
"Did you say that? You are not programmed to speak so what's possessing you?!" She uttered afraid it was the Stag and it was intending to harm her. She stared at the construct worried and confused before a couple seconds later Clay and Axl came running down the hall towards her.
"Are you okay? Merlok saw Mzark leading you somewhere. We worried he might be leading you into a trap," Clay expressed looking her over. He noticed she appeared to have been crying and inquired, "Is something wrong?"
"You were right they've been cursed. Even my son has been cursed by this Blight," she expressed trying to hold back tears. Clay and Axl looked at each other a little saddened and worried. They realised it was time for her to know what Divayth had told them.
"I'm so sorry. We have somethings to tell you but we can't do it here. Come we'll go to the Fortrex and we can tell you there," Clay stated leading her out of the hall.
"Maybe I could try a cream..." Juib thought aloud before Lloyd cut him off.
"Yha maybe you shouldn't be using them as test subjects. They were sleepwalking last night and I had to drag them back to the room... with some help from Ocheeva, by the way do you think you could thank her for me. I don't know if she could understand words," Lloyd explained. The ninja were all together along with all the members of the Black Hand in an area about two blocks from where they normally were working. The Black Hand was going to try and teach the ninja how to create a Dragon Aspect. The area they were in was just off the main path and looked to have once been a training yard. The stone paving that coated the ground were worn and plant matter was growing through the various seams and cracks of the stones. The foliage on the terrace was kept in check allowing it to be used however most of the area around it had been left to grow wild. Only the areas around paths and structures were kept in check. Two buildings sat side by side blocking most of the terrace from the river. The one was a dojo while the other looked to be a public bath. Both were worn but were up kept and still in use. The Dojo was being used by the Scimitar Samurai for training and teaching the other droids self defence while the baths was being used to clean and care for both animals and constructs. A small group of hyenoids, constructs and creatures were sitting on the walkway and looking out the windows and doors of the buildings to watch them. Many of them seemed to have an interest in the ninja and liked to watch what they were doing.
“I would have to agree with that. I had a really weird dream last night. I think I met Whetu but still it was weird and kind of creepy,” Cole agreed while he and Zane were comparing the markings on their arms with Nya, Kai and Jays.
"Mine and Coles markings are duller than theirs!" Zane remarked surprised. Juib and Lloyd came over to look. Sure enough the markings Cole and Zane had were duller in glow.
"Why would that be?" Jay wondered.
"Maybe you were onto something Juib," Nya encouraged.
"Hey how does your Blight compare Lloyd," Kai suggested and when Lloyd showed his arms they were all confused. The one arm was like Kai, Nyas and Jays but the other, the one he had touched the Stag with, was like Cole and Zanes. It was duller.
"Uhm...how?" Jay inquired.
"Last night I touched the Stag," Lloyd explained shocking everyone.
"Why would you want to touch him?!" DJ asked appalled by the idea.
"I was wondering if what you guys were saying about him was true. I'm part Oni so I wanted to see if I couldn't touch him. It was incredibly cold and hurt a lot but I could touch him," Lloyd explained. "You touched him with that hand?" Juib inquired pointing to his duller arm and Lloyd confirmed.
"Interesting," Juib noted before Lloyd added, "It was after that he told me Zane was wandering in the palace and I found him in this weird trance sleepwalking. He had that cloth but he wouldn't let me see it." Lloyd pointed to the cloth Zane had found which they had given to Juib earlier in hopes he knew what it was.
“I saw Whetu as well. She took me into the palace when it was in an up kept state before the Stag took over. I do not remember much of it. She explained the Stag destroyed the clocks because they remind him of mortality which he has something against and he has some strange fear and hatred towards time. I do not fully remember all of what she said. There was something about Storabek but I cannot fully recall what. She also gave me that and told me not to let the Stag see it. She said the Stag would destroy it,” Zane revealed pointing to the cloth he had given Juib earlier.
"Storabek was a spirit of the hunt and wilderness that was worshiped by tribes in our realm. I have looked into it and while I do see overlap with some aspects with the Stag it offers very little relevance other than a possible early chapter in his existence," Juib explained.
"Did she talk to you too Cole?" Jay inquired.
"Yha. Like Zane I don't remember much. Is there by any chance anything other than the spell guarding the vaults? Like something like Celaena?" Cole inquired. What he could remember from the dream was the terrifying sight of those stone racer fabricants looking like they were going to attack him. It made him shiver to think of them.
"Maybe. Two others like Celaena were supposed to be guarding the vaults during the reptilian wars. They just disappeared when the Stag attacked. No sign of them was ever found. My guess is during the attack either the Scimitars terminated them or they were crushed in one of the tunnels that were collapsed during the attack. If they somehow managed to survive they might still be obeying their programming and guarding the vault. I doubt it though. I do not see how they could have survived and still be living here without us being aware of their existence. We would have sensed them," Juib explained.
"If they were alive and still guarding the place would they let us pass or would we have to fight them?" Cole asked worried they might have to face these creatures. If they were anything like Celaena then they would not win, especially without their powers and he doubted that even if they saw Zane as an ally they would not listen to him and he would be unable to stop them from attacking the rest of them.
"They might let you pass but it is more likely they will see you as a threat. If that is the case you will be torn to shreds. Few realise the original intent for their design. The dragon imbued racer fabricants were built to destroy the Dragon Guard should they have gotten corrupted by dark forces like the Ashers or the items within the vaults. A single one could take all of you out even if you had your powers," Kozac explained as Juib laid out the cloth Zane had found in the night on the ground. Once it was laid out Juib, Celaena and two Robo-bills that were watching them recognized it and were surprised. None of the others watching them seemed to recognise the symbol, not even the other older constructs or fabricants.
"What is it?" Nya inquired as they looked at the cloth. The cloth looked to be a small flag or banner and it was a dark green to black with an icy blue symbol that resembled a deer, a stag rearing up, at its center.
“I thought all these were destroyed!” Celaena exclaimed and Kai asked, “What is it?”
"This was the symbol for Holamaya, the cities crest. It is a Chill-horned Stag. They are a species of deer found in the highlands and northern forests. They resemble elk. Both genders have antler like horns which have a coating of never melting ice instead of skin or keratin," Juib explained.
"Kind of interesting an entity who takes the form of a deer would take over a city whose symbol was a deer," Kai noted and Jay added, "Maybe that's why he came to this city. Maybe he thought it was made for him."
"That does not sound like a very logical idea," Divayth commented.
"If you folk are going to defy the Stag and teach them the Dragon Aspect we should get started before he returns," Kozac growled clearly not happy with the idea but being the lowest ranking member of the Black Hand his say was outranked by the others.
"You are right. First we should go over some things. First off never use the Dragon Aspect in front of the Stag. He does not want you six knowing this art and there will be very dire consequences if he was to know you can perform it. Now first thing you should know is using a Dragon Aspect is dangerous. This power is fuelled by your bodies energy both what you are currently using and any reserves you have. To lower the risk of harm or even death it should only be used as a last resort and preferably when you still have energy to burn. Do not use it if ill or injured and be wary of using it if tired or hungry. The Dragon Aspect should not be used for fun or because you feel like it," Juib began as the one Robo-bill rolled up the cloth and carried it off to the side lines, "This art is mainly to be used primarily in defence not so much as an offensive weapon."
“The Dragon Aspect enhances your senses, strength, endurance, speed and makes you more resistant to damage but as a way of balancing out these strengths it feeds off your energy not just your powers but your physical energy. If used too long you will pass out or worse…,” Divayth continued before DJ cut in to add, “Yha that happened to me on my first try, I short circuited and was knocked offline for a whole day. Trust me listen to your body. When you start to feel weak and tired stop the aspect. The longer you use it the weaker and more tired you become.”
"Improper use and prolonged use will result in death. Our records indicate the Dragon Guard only use the Dragon Aspect as a last resort in battle; such as to get the final blow on a powerful enemy or to create enough chaos to allow them to escape to safety. They mainly use their martial arts, a style known as Clawedjitzu, and weapons in combat. For folk not gifted with elemental powers it takes months of training to harden your body to the after effects of the power," Kozac growled.
"Okay will you now show us?" Kai interrupted eager to give this skill a try.
"Patience hot head, this is a useful but dangerous skill. I think it best we teach you how to dispel it first. That part may sound easy but once in the aspect you will find it is harder to accomplish than it sounds. To dispel the aspect you simply have to relax as if meditating. Close your eyes, breath deep and let go of all thoughts and feelings. You will know if you are doing it right because you will feel a shiver down your spine and your fluff, fur, hair whatever you wish to call it will raise up. Once done do not be afraid to lay on the ground or nap for a while if you have to. When dispelling the members of the Dragon Guard often put their hands together and bow their heads as if they are going to meditate. I just do this," Celaena explained stretching out her wings and bowing down on one foot like a bird stretching as if she was getting ready to relax displaying how she got out of her aspect.
"When dispelling it is imperative that you make sure you are somewhere safe, a sanctuary. After use of the Aspect it takes time to recover, sometimes a few hours other times a few days. The longer you use it the longer you will need to recover. It is not uncommon to fall asleep after its use so do not worry there is nothing wrong with that but if you are not somewhere safe enemies could find you and you will be vulnerable to harm. You will be too tired and week to defend yourselves," Juib explained.
"Yha okay we get it now are you going to show us?" Kai cut in again very eager to try this aspect thing.
"Do you even know what patience means?" Divayth inquired confused by Kais enthusiasm. The others were eager to try out this Aspect power too but they knew it was a good idea to learn some safety about it first. If it was as dangerous as the others said it was then the rest wanted to make sure they were going to do it properly and safely.
"Not really," Jay teased.
"Fine but first show me your dispelling. I have been programmed to recognise the state of ones being so I can tell if what you are doing will work," Kozac growled. The ninja took a second to think it over before just standing around confused unsure what to do.
"Uhm... how do we know what will work for us?" Nya inquired and Celaena offered, "do as the Dragon Guard do. Put your hands together and bow your head while your eyes are closed. Do as you would do when going to meditate. If you are doing it right it should only take a few seconds." They looked at each other before doing as Celaena suggested. When done they remained in the relaxed position but looked up at the others waiting to see if they had done it. Kozac came to inspect each of them.
"Good, calm and cool headed," he stated to Zane who was pleased at Kozacs comment.
"Good, solid as a rock," he stated to Cole who was relieved to have succeeded on his first try.
"Maybe it is what you are but I find you hard to read. You are rather calm but I sense you could do better. Try letting go of any worries at least for a few minutes. That might help," he stated to Lloyd who was upset to have failed.
"I sense you could do better. You are defiantly related to the one in red, you can be a bit of a hot head too are you not," he stated to Nya who was not too happy with Kozacs comment.
"You need to relax. Too tense you would keel over before you dispel," he stated to Jay who was unnerved by Kozac getting close to him. Over there time in the city Jay had slowly come to trust the constructs but was still scared by some like Kozac.
"You same thing, chill or you will burn up. You are supposed to relax not be prepping for a fight," he stated to Kai who was not happy with Kozacs statement. Kozac then made them do it several more times till he was confident they would all be able to dispel the aspect.
“Okay now in order to activate the Dragon Aspect you need to focus. Feel your energy within then feel it rush to your extremities. If it helps you can try to imagine it in your mind. Think of it like a river or lightning moving out from your centre to your fingers and toes. Each individual often has their own way, a motion they use when activating it. To finally activate it you must say Mul-Qah-Ahvard. This helps you focus on its creation; whether the words actually do anything is disputed but all those who create a Dragon Aspect use these words when creating one even if they do not openly say them. The words come from the old Scymer tongue which legend claims was given to the Scymer by the dragons. Whether this is true or not I cannot say nor can I say if the words actually do anything or simply just help you focus, I can tell you that translated these words are strength-armour-protection. Celaena will show you how it is done,” Juib explained. Celaena pulled her extremities in pulling them tight as if she had been hit in the chest then she flung her wings wide open stood up tall on her hind legs and curled her tail up a bit as she yanked her head up muttering the words as she did it. As she unfurled she seemed to emit a glowing energy that manifested into ethereal spikes on her forearms, spine, tail and neck and horns on her head. This ethereal armour represented what one might expect from a wind dragon. Her eyes were glowing an off white color and similarly colored markings developed on her forearms, around her eyes and on her chest. As she stood there beak open a bit while looking at the ninja who were in awe of her new power they noticed the wind in the cavern had picked up a little and seemed to be coming from her. To show them the strength this aspect could create she tucked herself up again then flung her wings out as she made a sound that sounded like thunder sending a blast of wind out from herself. It knocked everyone off their feet sending them flying several feet and did some damage to the two structures nearby. Even the large Fearbricant which was watching them was knocked off his feet by her blast. She then took to the air hovering where she had been standing and with her wings created hurricane force winds at them pinning them to the ground and blowing away any dirt or plant matter near them. She then landed and dispelled her ethereal armour and theglowing markings disappeared.
"You like now why do you not give it a go," Celaena boasted as they all got back up cleaning off. They stood thinking it over wondering what exactly they were to do. The first to try was Jay who thought about it then jumped around trying to get it to work only to have nothing happen and to fall flat on his face. The hyenoids watching them cackled like real hyenas amused at his failed attempt, even Celaena made a noise that seemed to indicate she was amused.
"Nice try Sparky, let me show you how it's done," Kai boasted making an attempt before asking, "Am I doing it?"
"No, do you think you could give us some pointers?" Lloyd inquired.
"Maybe the hot head should think of spontaneously combusting," Kozac grumbled.
"Are you making a joke?" Jay asked amused that Kozac might actually be showing a playful side.
"No he is not. Think of your powers, feel them within you. Think of what fuels you to fight, what you care about and what you love. Focus on these feelings let them build then tense your muscles for a few seconds before letting the feelings consume you. You want to make yourself feel like living, awaken your drive to live. Do not worry the first time is always the hardest. You get quicker and it gets easier with practice," Divayth explained. Zane was the first to try it next. He closed his eyes and held his hands together as if meditating following their instructions to feel his energy within and he thought of things he loved and cared deeply for like his home, his father and falcon and Pixal letting his feelings build. He tensed up before relaxing making a motion like he was aggressively pulling the air in front of him apart as he pulled his hands apart and opened his eyes muttering the words they had been told to. As he did this he developed the ethereal armour and glowing markings of a Dragon Aspect, even the Blights markings changed to an icy color as he entered this state. The others were amazed.
"It feels so... I do not know how to describe it but it feels good," Zane commented looking at the markings and the ethereal armour on his arms. The others then gave it a go. Cole was next. He followed what Zane did standing as if he was going to meditate. He focused on his energy as instructed and thought of what fuelled him. The first thing to his mind was the others, his parents and cake then he thought of Seliel. He copied the move Zane had done though he stomped his one foot as he did it while uttering the words. He too developed the armour though his was not the same color it was a more earthy tone and he could feel what Zane was feeling. He felt stronger and he had a deep strong drive to fight, to live. It was an exhilarating feeling and he somehow felt lighter and his senses were heightened. His vision was brighter and sharper, sounds seemed louder and clearer, he could feel the presence of other living things around him without seeing them and his sense of smell was sharper. With two of them succeeding the others decided to give it a go. Nya and Jay looked at each other before they each took a turn at it, each having their own moves for it. Both succeeded. Kai was next not wanting to be the last one to succeed. He took two tries before he succeeded. Lloyd was last hesitating. He was afraid of messing it up and when he tried to focus on something he cared about everything he thought of just made him worry preventing him from following the instructions and succeeding.
"Will it work for me even with what I am?" Lloyd questioned feeling embarrassed that he was failing.
"It will work, one of the Dragon Guard is part Oni and he can do it. So can the Stag even though no one knows what he is. Sheoth... well he has tried and he can enter a similar state but we do not know if it is a true Dragon Aspect or some sort of Oni mimicry of the state," DJ encouraged.
"Give it another go," Juib encouraged and Celaena advised, "You know memories can be used instead of thoughts. The whole part of the focusing is to make you feel like living to give you the strength and desire to keep going when all feels lost." With this advice Lloyd tried again this time focusing on memories that made him feel good and inspired. This time he succeeded and was thrilled with his success.
"Good now dispel," Juib instructed. They did as they were instructed and had practiced but they all found it hard to dispel, the energy and feelings from the aspect made it hard to relax. The aspect felt like an overpowered adrenaline rush that took some effort to overcome. As they dispelled not only did the armour disappear but the feelings dissipated and their senses went back to normal. They were not aware of any tired or weak feelings but they guessed that was because they had only activated the state for a short time and hadn't done anything while it was active. Once they dispelled Juib instructed them to activate it again making them repeat the processes to get a hang of creating and dispelling the aspect. He made them repeat the process several times.
"Good now to give you a taste of what it is like to actually use this power you will face us while using it," Kozac commanded and the ninja were all a little worried what he meant by us.
"We don't have to face her do we?" Jay worried pointing at Celaena. Zane was the only one able to use any powers and Celaena could use a bunch of powers. Not to mention she was half robotic made from one of the most resilient metals they had ever seen and was not limited to the ground for her attacks. They stood no chance against her even before her sharp talons, blade tipped tail and serrated metallic beak were added to the equation.
“She has agreed to not use her powers for this. She will fight like a regular racer and she has agreed to not take you off the ground and to go easy on you,” Divayth explained as Kozac gave himself, DJ, Juib and Divayth each a weapon. Kozac held a sickle, DJ got a Kusarigama, Divayth and Juib were both given a staff. All appeared to be made from the same material as the unique blade Divayth had given Cole and Zane.
"Are we getting weapons?" Cole wondered a little worried of facing the others empty handed especially since the weapons they had looked like they could deal a serious damage to them. Kozac looked at the side of their makeshift training ring as a Robo-bill came leading a Kagaur who had a metal beak and tusks towards them. Cole recognized it as the one who had stayed with him during their night in the woods. The Kagaur was carrying some wooden staves on its back. The Robo-bill took a simple wooden staff off the creatures back and handed one to each of them.
"You will get a weapon," Kozac stated as the Robo-bill handed them the staffs.
"These are just simple wooden staffs! They won't stand up to real weapons!" Kai objected when he was given a staff. Looking at it Cole had to agree, these staffs didn't look like they would stand against real weapons. Zane was the only one not objecting to the staffs. Something about its make was confusing him. It looked like wood but he could sense its make up was unlike any wood he had ever seen. There was something almost metallic about it.
"Those are not made of simple wood. They are made from a type of tree known as the Brasswood Tree, its wood is as tough as iron. Legend states the Scimitar folk taught the tree to create metal in its tissues," Kozac explained as the Kagaur and Robo-bill got up onto the walkway to watch.
"They will serve their purpose. You are going to be defending yourselves to practice how to use the aspect not fighting. Now we will activate our aspect then you yours and then we will begin," Juib explained. The members of the Black Hand then activated their Dragon Aspect states. The ninja were a little hesitant but quickly followed suit. They then got in a scuffle. Compared to nindroids and the hyenoids they had fought in Balmora the members of the Black Hand were far more skilled fighters and this power made them much stronger and faster. Juib and Divayth also seemed to have a great knowledge of magic and could wield a great variety of spells. Luckily they were using harmless spells that would trip them up or spook them but not seriously hurt them. Celaena was keeping her promise and didn't use her powers and she didn't try to lift any of them off the ground though she would take to the wing herself for some attacks. As they fought the ninja could see why the Black Hand was making them practice. The heightened senses added with the added speed and strength made it harder for them just to defend themselves. The heightened senses allowed them to pick up the slightest movement and they were aware of others around them before they saw them causing them to over-react and slip up. They even sometimes ended up hitting each other or knocking each other over amusing their spectators. They had to work out their new strengths and speed while learning to cope with their heightened senses. They also found that when they used their Spinjitsu with this aspect they could barely control themselves and would get dizzy. It wasn't long till the ninja were starting to tire as the Aspect fed off their energy.
Abruptly the members of the Black Hand stopped and dispelled. At first the ninja thought the members knew they were starting to get exhausted and felt relieved but as the ninja dispelled all feeling sore and tired they realised the members were staring towards the palace. Those that had been watching them also looked down towards the palace before they all rushed off headed in the opposite direction or hid spooked by whatever they were sensing.
"What's going on?" Lloyd inquired.
"He is back," DJ stated not looking away as Celaena took off towards the palace.
"We should get you all back to work..." Divayth stated before a loud commotion at the palace caught all their attentions. The Black Hand quickly rushed off towards the palace while the ninja hesitated before following. They could hear what sound like the sparking of electricity and they could feel static in the air. They were worried of encountering the Stag but were curious to see what was going on so shortly followed. When they got there they saw the Black Stag in his deer form standing aggressively over a cowering hyenoid who wore commoner clothes and was a little dirty with the symbol of what looked like the branch of a cedar tree on his forehead. The Stag looked enraged, what looked like dark aquamarine flames were erupting from his back from his tail to the top of his head, the tinges of his antlers and from his hooves. His eyes were glowing withan electrical energy. The hyenoid was curled up in what looked to be intense pain as he was being electrically shocked and his one ear had been ripped off and the skin on his one arm was torn with some wires sticking out. Part of the skin on his face was also torn and some wires were sticking out of his jaw joint whose covering was slightly ajar. The ground around the droid was electrified coming from beneath the Stag. The ninja were both shocked and confused. They were disturbed at seeing the Stag torturing the hyenoid. Every day they would see the results of the Stags anger on the innocent droids. Often he hurt them for bizarre or trivial reasons which seemed to make no sense such as making a simple comment about something like a plant yet the Stag seemed to take offense to it thinking the droid was commenting about him or a droid putting something in what the Stag considered to be the wrong spot. Sometimes he even did it simply for entertainment; it sometimes appeared the Stag took pleasure in the droids suffering. The droids would get damages ranging from minor to severe; missing or damaged parts, scratched and dented skin, and a few poor individuals were too badly damaged to be fixed. Sometimes the ninja helped patch up the poor things who clearly looked to be grateful but they were too afraid to show it, likely afraid the Stag would punish them they had all come to think.
They were also confused on how the Stag was doing it. How was the Stag shocking the hyenoid and what was with the fiery aspect? The Stag had no elemental powers, didn’t he? If he did then what could that mean for what he was. Their best guess was that he wasn’t using elemental powers. The aspect was likely an illusion to scare others while he was using the hyenoids own power source to harm it. Even though that was what they came up with they were not entirely convinced. Some things still didn’t add up. Was this maybe some form of Void magic? Could the void create elements? They had heard it did have a light side that encompassed creation maybe that was how the Stag was doing this.
Celaena was perched on the edge of the walkway and all the hyenoids and beasts nearby were cowering in the undergrowth or behind or under nearby structures and ruins. Only Juib, Divayth, DJ and Kozac stood with the ninja on the platform watching the scene.
"Enough! What did he do wrong?" Juib demanded coming to confront the Stag. Juib came to stand close to the Stag and surprisingly showed no fear. Instead he looked a little angry.
"How many times do I have to tell these metal animals they are not permitted in the palace?! This one was loitering around the planters out front like he was seeking to enter," the Stag growled teeth bared and stomping his one forefoot causing the hyenoid to get a heavier shock. They could see the one planter where the hyenoid had been working. There was gardening tools and some pulled plants outside the planter along with the hyenoids torn off ear. It looked like all this hyenoid had been doing was gardening. When Juib looked at the planter he almost seemed saddened despite appearing to show no emotions.
"Sir he was just doing what you programmed him to. You programmed Sitka to be a groundskeeper he was just trying to do what you made him to do. He was trying to clean up the gardens outside the palace," Juib explained sounding surprisingly calm and the Stag turned to look Juib straight in the eyes. Juib held his ground remaining emotionless to the Stag. After a few seconds the Stag looked back at the planter before looking back at Juib. The ninja were all afraid the Stag was going to snap and attack Juib but what he did surprised them. The Stag seemed to relax and they thought they could see what looked like affection or admiration cross his face for a few seconds as he looked at Juib. The flames on him slowly died, he stopped baring his teeth and the hyenoid stopped getting shocked though it remained cowering and shaking clearly terrified of being attacked again.
"I guess the palace grounds could use for some cleanup and maintenance. It is starting to show considerable wear. They can work outside but no one is to disturb me. They stay outside and can only work inside when I am out do I make myself clear," the Stag asserted to Juib as Kozac went and got the hyenoid which they guessed was called Sitka and dragged him to stand with the ninja before Kozac stood in front of them defensively. Sitka clung to Jay who was not sure what to do with the construct who was shaking terribly unable to take its green eyes off the Stag in fear.
"Yes sir," Juib agreed. The Stag then looked over at the ninja.
"Why are they not working? Get them back to work," the Stag demanded before he turned around and strolled into the palace vanishing into its dark interior. The ninja were left confused and stunned. Over there time in the city they had only ever seen two individuals stand up to the Stag. Juib and Celaena and oddly so far the Stag did not retaliate like he would with others. He was gentler to them and only ever used words, never was he physical with them. All times however were minor implications which the two were able to easily persuade the Stag with logic and reason to hold off punishment or resist his dark nature. The ninja wondered how deep the twos influence on the Stag was. Was whatever attachment the Stag had to them keeping his dark nature at bay preventing him from corrupting this place turning it into something like what they saw down in that one tunnel? Was it keeping his dark nature mild possibly preventing him from achieving his true dark potential? They also wondered how far could the two go in curbing the Stag? Could they save someone from being punished for something very drastic? They were not sure but hoped that they never would have to witness that.
The Blight had started to get to them but the ninja were trying to remain strong. Though the Blight was starting to takes its toll on them they continued the work the hyenoids had given them with no complaints. The constructs had them working from shortly after sunrise to just before sunset. They would give them breakfast, lunch and dinner and when the Stag was not in the city they would let them take a break if they needed it. Most of them had been quick to trust the constructs. Jay remained reluctant for some time before finally accepting they meant no harm though he still would enter times where he would become paranoid of them. They all believed this was a result of the Blight, even Jay believed it. The Blight was getting steadily worse for each of them and everyday they worried what new symptoms might appear or what the condition would make them do. The trances and terrible dreams were mentally draining and frustrating but the odd mood swings were upsetting and morally and emotionally draining. These mood swings would make them say or do things they didn’t mean to causing hurt feelings or fighting amongst each other which a few times had required one of the members of the Black Hand, usually Kozac or Divayth, to intervene or separate them till the Blight fuelled emotions and rationing ended. Interestingly Zane had attempted shutting off his emotional circuits to control his emotions and keep the Blight fuelled emotions at bay. This didn’t work shocking and scaring them all especially Zane as the Blight was somehow able to reactivate his emotions without his control or knowledge and as if to punish him for trying to bypass the Blights effects if he tried this the Blight would over stimulate his emotions in a negative way often making him anxious and on edge to the point he would short circuit from his over stimulated emotions.
For the first couple days in the city the ninja had been lucky to largely avoid the Stags direct attention. A few times he came to watch them making them very uncomfortable and disturbing Zane, Nya and Cole who even though they tried to hide it the others could tell they had a residual trauma from his possession of them. They had also seen over their time there how he treated the constructs. Overall it was not too bad he let them have their freedom to do as they pleased most of the time and from what they had seen the constructs were rather happy to do the tasks they were designed for and were fine with their little world not wanting much. There were times however this peace between the Stag and his minions was broken and the Stags cruel harsh nature was turned on the innocent beings. If he was angry or frustrated whether at the droids or from what the ninja could only assume was something in his personal life he would turn his emotions on the constructs often damaging and traumatizing them. The worst the Stag did to them was his entertainment. Over the days they had the misfortune to witness the Stags ‘entertainment’. His entertainment was often cruel and barbaric but he seemed to take an unnerving pleasure in it. He would sit in his Stag-headed man form in a dark twisted looking throne to overlook it all.
There were two main forms of entertainment he liked to use. One he would force the entities of his choosing to hunt each other down like animals through the cavern. He would sometimes even mutate one or a few of the hyenoids during the hunt into a savage half organic half robotic were-wolf creature that would have no control but to hunt down others with extreme savagery. The droid that got mutated was often left scarred for some time by this. The other entertainment he liked to use could best be described as pit fighting which took place in a large cave connected to the main cavern which had an arena built into it. This entertainment consisted mainly of one on one and group against group. He put combatants at odds that guaranteed one side was seriously outmatched and would fail sometimes in very bad ways. None of the constructs dared challenge his entertainment. Not even the most powerful like Celaena or the largest like the Fear-bricant dared challenge him or voice complaints over his entertainment. It seemed they were all afraid of what the Stag would do to them if they did.
Twice he had dragged the ninja to watch his entertainment and the Stag had forced them to sit by him. They were forced to watch or risk the Stags wrath. During his entertainment the ninja had noticed the Stags personality and presence got darker and nastier, like somehow something darker and more sinister was possessing him strengthening the darkness already there making it worse. It was very unnerving. The ninja quickly came to dread his entertainment and had even been unfortunate to twice be put into his entertainment. The one day it was against some of the samurai including one with his curse of man beasts who luckily held off biting any of them so they weren’t infected by his curse. That didn’t help Jays fear towards the individual. The Stag ensured they would get seriously roughed up giving them nothing but plain wooden staves to defend themselves with and making Zane wear one of the cuffs for the fight so he would be unable to use his powers. While not desiring to hurt the ninja the samurai reluctantly obeyed their master not holding back in their attacks leading to a nasty beating for the ninja which the Stag seemed to take great pleasure in. While it didn’t seem it the ninja could feel during the fight even while obeying their master the samurai weren’t fighting to the best of their abilities and were holding off on the best of their potential. Despite this they still gave the ninja quite beating leaving them bruised, cut up, with pulled muscles and Zane received quite a few damages and torn skin. They preferred that entertainment however to the second one he put them through. As if for some cruel joke he mutated Zane into a rather large and powerful version of his were-wolf creatures, a morph known as a Vilkalong were-wolf. These were larger in size than his normal were-wolves which were rather large to begin with, bulkier, had prominent lynx tufts of fur on their ears, bone crushing hyena like jaws and were a lot stronger; even stronger than Cole normally was. If he could use his lava arms he probably would have been stronger and stood an equal chance to this form but they had to keep their bracers on hindering them in the activity. As usual for droids when inflicted with the curse Zanes bestial form boasted large amounts of metal plating in its dark colored pelt and skin, his eyes glowed and he had a distinctive glowing marking on his chest over where his power source sat. The Stag took over Zane preventing him from having any control so he wouldn’t disobey and forced Zane to hunt down the others through a wooded area of the cavern. Zane developed strange void green markings on his body and his eyes were a void green indicating he was under the Stags control. Not only were the ninja no match for such a bestial creature which was made worse by the metal plating to the hide but Zane was still able to use his powers in this state. The Stag had at least given them weapons but Zane was rather resistant to them in this form. To prevent them from simply trying to run from the area for safety the Stag had set up magical barriers that shocked them if they tried to pass them. These barriers also prevented anyone else from entering the area to interfere with them so none could aid them. Despite not wanting to the Stag left them no choice but to hurt each other to save themselves. During the squabble the Stag made Zanes bestial form eat Jay swallowing him whole. Not long after that he made were-wolf cursed Zane eat Cole in the same way as Cole went to give him a gut punch to force him to cough up Jay. After a couple minutes Nya managed to get them coughed up by giving bestial Zane a hefty kick to the gut using Spinjitsu. She hit him with enough force to knock him off his feet and fling him into a large redwood dazing him for about a minute after which he coughed up Jay and Cole. Both were grossed out covered in a slimy substance but unharmed. While Cole brushed it off easily and continued to fight with the others they lost Jay who unsettled by what happened slipped into a Blight fuelled paranoid rant which outlasted the whole ordeal lasting for around five hours. It was a struggle but they managed to eventually survive the struggle and win by tricking Zane into a trap and getting him pinned under a large tree trunk restraining him with vines they cut off a trauma root. They were startled when the Stag called an end to the ordeal and unsettling to them didn’t seem to be mad that they had won. Instead he proclaimed while he changed Zane back to normal that he was intrigued how the prey had stood its ground and fought back to defeat the hunter. His praise of them was unsettling; they expected him to be mad, to seek vengeance for his loss like what they expected from such a dark being not to be pleased. He left them alone for the rest of the day and to let them relax from the ordeal the hyenoids gave them the day off. They weren’t able to calm down much though on edge and disturbed by the Stags ‘entertainment’ and his odd pleasure to their win. Some were in worse shape than others. Zane was disturbed by what the Stag had done to him and that it made him try to hurt them. Zane was not one who handled magical attacks or alterations to himself very well; they deeply confused and unsettled him. Most of them helped to calm him and make him feel better though they were all equally unsettled from what the Stag had done. Jay was pretty much lost to them for most of the day. He remained paranoid for sometime ranting how he felt Zane was in league with the Stag who wanted to torture them till they could no longer handle it then slowly kill them in torturous and cruel ways then would turn them into ghosts to torture them some more. They just ignored Jay as he went on his rant most of them thinking Jay had lost it. After those incidents they worried the Stag would use them again for his entertainment or worse and dreaded what he would do with them.
It had been over a week since being trapped in the Forbidden City. Apart from the Blight and the Stag things were not too bad. Most of the denizens of the city meant no harm to them and at times it was peaceful with the wildlife and no judging townsfolk. The hyenoids were taking good care of them and the members of the Black Hand were teaching them the Dragon Aspect when the Stag was not in the city; as the Blight progressed though they were getting slower in their work and having to fight more with its effects. That day they were working slowly feeling the effects of the Blight. Divayth was on one of the watchtowers pretending to watch them. He was reading a book and practicing some minor spells while looking back at them every few minutes. Divayth was not really interested in playing babysitter for them preferring to be studying and doing his researches instead but he didn't dare refuse orders from the Stag.
It was getting close to noon. They would soon be given a break to have lunch before being put back to work and Kozac was going to take over the watch from Divayth for the afternoon which made Jay nervous. Despite Kozac having never done anything to Jay he still found Kozac unnerving and was always put on edge by the droids presence. Lloyd was currently in the Blights weird trance. The others were keeping an eye on him as he was in the trance taking rocks and their tools and stacking them randomly on the ground. Jay was disturbed by the trance and kept trying to move away or even hide from those in it. The others had just come to accept it as a normal part of their days now. While they worked trying to keep each other’s moods up they noticed two hyenoids, one dressed as a civilian the other one of the Scimitar Samurais’, standing near the base of the watchtower which Divayth was on watching them having a few words to Divayth. It was not uncommon for denizens of Holomaya to watch them as they worked. Many seemed curious about them even though most appeared too scared to interact directly with them so they were not bothered by the hyenoids; they did find it however odd when they started to talk to them.
“We require the one in red and the one in blue to accompany us to a set location in order to commune with,” the one hyenoid who was dressed like a samurai commanded to them. The ninja were curious and nervous. Only the members of the Black Hand Divayth, DJ, Juib, Celaena and Kozac ever asked to see or interact with them and only hyenoids with close ties to members of the Black Hand, which these ones were not, interacted with them. The constructs appeared anxious. The fact these two wanted to speak with them given the general inhabitants of the city rarely wanting to interact with them and their anxious demeanour was weird and worrisome.
"Why? Can we not talk here?" Kai wondered hesitant to follow the two constructs.
"Well... really... do not be mad... we are not the ones who want to communicate with you," the civilian one nervously responded.
"Who then wants to speak with us?" Jay wondered as all but Lloyd stopped what they were doing to look at the two constructs. Lloyd just kept going in the Blights Trance unaware of what was going on.
"The Stag," the samurai nervously explained after a moment's pause spooking them all.
"Wh...why?" Jay began to panic. The last times the Stag had asked to directly speak to them were when he made them watch or be put in his entertainment. That gave them the feeling that him asking for two of them likely did not bode well.
"Do we have to? What if we disagree?" Kai inquired not wanting to see what the Stag wanted from them.
"You want to disagree to that thing?!" Jay panicked and Kai expressed, "do you want to see that thing? I don't think he's inviting us for tea. He probably has something cruel and nasty planned."
"But if we disagree he could do something terrible to us like twist us into some horrid tortured husks of ourselves or turn us inside out," Jay whined panicking and the two hyenoids gave the ninja a look that basically expressed 'pretty much'. Divayth was just watching them looking largely emotionless however there were hints of worry to his demeanour.
"What should we do?" Kai worried looking to the others for some help. None of them wanted the two to go see the Stag but they knew disobeying him was a very bad idea.
"Please we do not desire to get in trouble with him," the civilian one expressed.
"We've seen how he treats the droids who disobey him just imagine how nasty it would be for someone not made of very durable metals and easily fixed or replaceable artificial parts," Cole noted.
"I know it's not ideal but I don't think there is any other alternative brother, you have to go," Nya expressed.
"Maybe for your obedience he might be more lenient to you," Zane offered.
"I guess, come on Jay, let's not give that daemon a reason to do something terrible to us like rearrange our organs or worse," Kai expressed having to drag Jay with him as they nervously and reluctantly followed the hyenoids towards the palace. Cole, Zane and Nya tried to go back to work but were too worried over what the Stag wanted with the two of them to focus. A couple minutes after they left Lloyd came out of the trance. He was confused and worried to not see Kai or Jay. When the others told him what had occurred he was disturbed to hear the Stag had sent for them. Within half an hour some of the Stags samurai came up to the ninja. None of the droids looked happy or relaxed.
"You are required to come with us, Stags orders," the one expressed.
"Why? What has the Stag done with Kai and Jay?" Lloyd inquired.
“We are forbidden to say. The Stag will do terrible things to us if we say, please just come with us. Do not make this hard for us we do not desire to cause any harm to you,” the samurai stated. Though they were not keen on seeing what the Stag wanted they understood it was best just to obey than face the consequences. They followed the samurai who took them to a hall made of Scimitar stone by the palace. This led to a large room in a large cavern where an arena had been built and by the stone works, the dark aquamarine crystals that lit up the place and the sinister looking decorations of the place they had reason to believe this place had been built by the Stag after his concurring of the city and not the Scimitar Folk. It was one of the few places in the Forbidden City they had come to dread. Inside that cavern was where the Stag liked to have his entertainment. The entrance to the hall was bordered by lit braziers and the end came to a gate which led into the fighting pit. Stairs started on either side of the gate and led up to seating areas that overlooked the fighting pit. Various constructs including hyenoids, animals with cybernetic implants and fabricants like Venom-fang fabricants were in the seating area. None seemed happy with being there. Interestingly none of the Black Hand was there. During previous times at least one of them was present for these events even though they never looked happy about it. The fact they were nowhere to be seen in or near the arena was making them wonder if they were not privy to what was about to happen. Did the Stag not want them to possibly interfere with what he was about to do with the ninja. Even though they would never openly interfere with the Stags entertainment the members of the Black Hand had learned secret ways to affect happenings during the entertainments to try and protect others. The Black Hand were unsure if the Stag was aware of their interfering but when forced to sit with him the ninja had noticed he seemed suspicious of the hand during the events leading them to think he was aware of their doings.
"We are sorry about this but we do not have a choice besides better you than us," one of the samurai stated as the gate opened and they pushed the ninja into the fighting pit. Inside the pit a few denizens were waiting around nervously and at the far end suspended in cages with wooden slat floors above a pit of fire and large metal spikes were Jay and Kai! They were each in their own cage and looked terrified.
"What's going on?!" Lloyd demanded as they were pushed into the ring confused, angry and worried.
"A test, let us see how well you each can do on your own in a fight," the Stag proclaimed from the side of the ring where he stood in his deer headed man form in front his dark throne as the hyenoids pulled Zane, Cole and Lloyd to the side of the pit and sat them down with their backs to a post. They were positioned so all three could get a view into the ring. The three were then tied up together and to the post with strange dark red veined chains which the hyenoids made sure to tightly wrap the chain around their chests.
"First up the female," the Stag proclaimed as one of the hyenoids handed Nya who stood alone confused in the center of the ring a spear before all but three of the samurai left the ring closing the gate behind them. The ninja were all confused and worried about what was going to happen. They all had a sinking feeling that it was not going to be pretty.
“Let us see if you can save those you love while fending off the darkness,” the Stag proclaimed summoning monsters to appear in the ring. Two were the large bulky bipedal crocodile beasts known as Vulcaroths and another was one of the Noctern Crows this one having burning orange eyes. Like the Hunger they had faced before these were dark beings believed to have origins with the Oni in mythic times and were frequently encountered in this world around ruins of Oni or Asher origin. From their previous encounters with monsters like these they had a feeling they weren’t really a match for them. They had not yet faced a Vulcaroth and the Noctern Crow they had faced had turned out to have been Zane who had been cursed into the creature and who had been holding back what he was capable of to avoid hurting them. They were pretty sure this crow would not hold back. The Stag also summoned over a dozen humanoid shadow beings with unnerving voids for faces with just an eerie aquamarine glow in the void that should be their face, Void Wraiths. They appeared to be wearing tattered robes but it was hard to make anything out about them as they seemed to be made from some unknown pure dark shadowy substance. From the energy they gave off which felt eerily similar to the Stag and the fact that when Zane tried to sense what they were he couldn’t the ninja had a strong feeling these entities were some twisted energy of the void taking a humanlike shape. These void beings were either unarmed or wielded weapons that looked to be made of pure shadow energy.
Noctern Crow: Vulcaroth:
"I don't like the looks of this. Those are very dark beings he has summoned, two have ties to the Oni more proof the Stag is somehow tied to them," Lloyd commented.
"If they're anything like that hunger we faced I don't think Nya stands a chance," Cole commented.
"This doesn't look like a fair fight," Lloyd proclaimed as he Cole and Zane looked at the scene of the ring and at the chains around them wondering if there was some way to break free in order to help Nya.
“I would be careful if I were you three as for the fight life is not fair and the Ashers are far from fair so you should never expect a fair fight. I will however show you some compassion. So you are not down in the first few minutes you will have some aid in your struggle. They are not the best options but it is what you will get,” the Stag proclaimed as the three samurai remaining in the ring one of which transformed into a cyber were-wolf along with a venom-fang fabricant and the cyber Kaguar Cole recognised as the one who had visited him in the woods came to stand with Nya.
"Now fight," the Stag demanded sitting in his thrown a dark smile to his face. Nya looked at her friends who were just as disturbed and nervous as she was about this whole thing before looking at her aids. They were all waiting for her to lead them. None of them wanted to take part in this but none of them dared challenge the Stag.
“Fine let’s get this over with,” Nya proclaimed as some of the enemy came at them. The croc creatures kept using their fire breath attacks and trying to bite and claw them while the Nocturn Crow used earth based magic. It could shake the ground, summon burning rock spires from the ground, trap an opponent’s feet in stone to hinder their movements, pelt the area with burning rocks and even created a burning rocky hand scythe. Along with these elemental powers it used its natural abilities and its scream attack at them. The scream attack not only bothered those fighting but bothered all those watching except the Stag, he was eerily not only not bothered but looked to enjoy seeing all of the chaos he had created. The void beings were using dark magic along with their weapons and bare hands to fight. The Venom-fang fabricant and cyber were-wolf instigated a fight together with one of the Vulcaroths which looked to be immune to the fabricants venom while the Kagaur began charging at and trying to stomp on some of the shadowy figures. The two hyenoids were attempting to stop the Noctern Crow while trying to avoid some of the humanoids which were tougher than they looked. Nya was quickly forced into fighting the other croc creature while trying to defend against the void figures. It was clear from the start the fight was not going in Nyas favour. Unable to use her powers and weak from the Blight she was not fighting as best she could and her allies were clearly not ready for this fight. The entities she was fighting were very tough and definitely needed more than those she had on her side to take them down. Even the skilled and calculating hyenoids were having trouble particularly against the Nocturn Crow, they could handle the others pretty well but were clearly outnumbered. The challengers luckily took no interest in attacking the others letting them get a chance to think and observe.
"She needs our help," Lloyd commented trying to break free or at least slip out of the chains only causing the chains to tighten further around him Cole and Zane starting to make it hard for Cole and Lloyd to breathe.
"Stop before you choke us!" Cole gasped as the chains tightened and Zane noted, "I think these chains are designed to continually constrict us each time we try to escape and not loosen even if we remain still much like how a constrictor works. If they continue to tighten then those of us that require the inhaling of oxygen to live are going to be in for a great deal of trouble."
“You don’t say,” Cole sarcastically commented as Lloyd stopped struggling stopping the chains from tightening any further. They looked around for some way to aid in the fight but could not see any way of helping without causing the chains to tighten on them. Zane even found it hard to properly use his powers. The bracers from the other two interfered with them making it harder to muster them and when he was able to he was only able to freeze a patch of ground near them which proved to be a hazard for both sides as the Venom-fang fabricant, cyber were-wolf and Vulcaroth they were fighting slipped on the frozen patch as they fought. The three took a moment as they got back up to chastise the three for their involvement hissing and growling at them before going back to fighting each other. They were left only able to watch the fight. As they watched they did notice that Nya and her comrades were not really working as a team unlike their enemies meaning Nya and her allies were not being as efficient as they could be. Nya was clearly focussed on trying to get to the control panel at the back of the ring to save Kai and Jay however the others were focussing on trying to eliminate the enemies but they weren’t really working together focussing on different targets instead of one. This meant they were not efficiently taking out the opponents having their damage potential spread out instead of focussed on a single target increasing their damage output to efficiently take down their opponents. Meanwhile in the cages Kai and Jay were getting very anxious.
"We have to do something or she's not going to win," Kai expressed to Jay frantically checking his cage for any possible way to get out and help his sister. There was nothing.
"What will the Stag do to us though...what did you just do!" Jay screamed as a board in the floor of Kais cage fell out into the fiery pit below followed a few seconds later by a board in Jays cage.
"Better hurry little ninja, take too long and your loved ones might not make it," the Stag boasted using a spell to slowly rip the boards from the bottom of Jay and Kai's cages every few minutes as the fight went on giving the two less ground to stand on each time.
"What kind of cruelty is this! This isn't a test it's just another form of torture!" Lloyd proclaimed attempting once more to struggle free tightening the chains even more on them before having to stop as he and Cole could barely breathe as it got tighter. Even Zane was feeling discomfort and having problems from the chains tightening. Shortly after that Nya attempted to use Spinjitsu against the Vulcaroth to try and get past it to reach the cages. She managed to knock it off balance the first time but when she went to try it a second time to chase it away the creature held its ground and stopped her before throwing her against the wall by Lloyd, Cole and Zane where she landed winded.
“This is ridiculous. How is this a test? Their lives are in real danger and these droids and half beast things are not enough to stand against the enemies he’s given us,” Nya cursed as she got back up and caught her breath. While she caught her breath Zane inquired watching the fighting particularly drawn to the Noctern Crow looking a little upset, “was I that dangerous while my form was cursed into one of those things?”
“No you weren’t really that bad; just a bit nippy and loud plus a bit gross with coughing up that void plasm stuff and the barfing. I do love what you did with Jay though…” Cole assured before Nya cut him off angrily to proclaim, “can you two focus! We need to help Kai and Jay before it’s too late…I wonder if that dragon aspect would help.”
“No you remember what Juib and them told us. Never use it in front of the Stag. We do not want to see what he will do to us!” Cole warned and Lloyd suggested, “instead why don’t you try to unify your allies; if you work together you might win.”
"Will those things even listen to me? Three of them are largely beasts!" Nya expressed.
“Beasts understand more than they show. Besides those two are half robotic and their brains are artificial in make allowing them to understand things better than normal animals do. They still do not fully understand word for word but they do get the general meanings. The one who is cursed as a lycanthrope may appear bestial but he still has a droids mind and is fully capable of understanding and following commands. All are also Cubs of the Fang who have their own way of communicating that makes it easier for entities like them to understand each other, if you want since I have the programming to be one of these cubs I could commune to them the commands in a format they can better understand if that makes things easier,” Zane offered.
“Well I guess I could give it a try, Zane tell the fabricants and the droid beast what I tell the hyenoids,” Nya noted before rushing over to the hyenoids to aid them. The one had been pinned down and was getting parts of its skin torn off and parts of its inner makings pulled out by the Nocturn Crow while its friend was fighting several of the shadowy figures trying to reach him.
“Tell the creatures to watch our backs and we’ll take on these things together. We’ll rescue the one from the crow then we’ll work our way to the back to rescue Jay and Kai before it’s too late then we can try to wipe these things out,” she commanded to Zane and the hyenoid who seemed hesitant to co-operate nervous the Stag would punish him for obeying her commands. She helped him take out the shadowy figures and threw her spear into the chest of the Noctern Crow. It was defiantly stunned by the attack but seemed unharmed and simply moved back to pull out the spear before proceeding to threaten the Kagaur and cyber were-wolf who came at the Nocturn Crow to keep it distracted. This gave Nya and the hyenoid a chance to pull the other hyenoid to safety by Cole, Zane and Lloyd. It was in a bad shape but was still alive. The hyenoid gave Nya his pals weapon, a sword, as they got back into the fight. Checking the cages that held Kai and Jay she could see they were running out of time. Half the cages floors were gone forcing the two to press against one of the cages walls to keep from falling out of the cage.
“Not to sound desperate but we’re running out of floor here!” Jay exclaimed and Kai added, “I might be the master of fire but I doubt I’m immune to a burning pit filled with metal spikes!”
"We need to work together to rescue them from the cages before it is too late then we can focus on destroying these things," Nya commanded. Some of the shadow beings were out of the fight but a few were still in it and the two Vulcaroths and the Nocturn Crow were showing no signs of weakening. Their enemies formed a barricade between their group and the back of the wall where the cages and the controls for them sat. The entities clearly knew they intended to reach the cages.
“You are with me. We are going to try and get behind them and reach the cages before it is too late, the others are going to watch our backs and hold back our attackers,” Nya commanded to the hyenoid. They went to make their way towards the cages but the Nocturn Crow led the charge lunging in the way coming to slam down between them and the cages using the spear like a hammer and sword to try and hit them. The other entities were quick to follow the lead and encircle them preventing them from reaching the cage. The Vulcaroths, shadow beings and Nocturn Crow closed in trapping Nya and here allies together forcing them to face back to back trying to defend themselves while the floors in the cages steadily got smaller. They tried to break free but there was too many and three of the entities were too powerful for their little group to handle. They could see the Stag was clearly pleased with what he was doing a dark smile was on his face as he watched them struggle. Things were very dire. Those fighting couldn’t break free and were trapped; Cole, Zane and Lloyd were trapped on the post pretty sure if they made another attempt to struggle free the chains might suffocate them. The floor in the cages that Kai and Jay were in were nearing the end, both had only one board left forcing them to balance on one foot and hold the bars of the cage to keep from falling to their deaths. They were all feeling anxious, desperate and worried things were going to end badly. As the last board fell from his cage Kai managed to save himself by grabbing onto the bars of the cage as he fell gripping as tight as he could. They all knew he couldn’t hold on for long and they could clearly see he was struggling to keep his grip. His injured hand was in terrible pain as he fought to hold on but he was not going to let the pain make him give up. Torn stitches would not be as bad as falling into a burning spike filled pit.
"No!" Nya exclaimed seeing her brother almost fall starting to panic, she didn't want to lose her brother! She began to panic starting to fight in a blind fury to try and break free. In her panicked frenzied state her enemies were quickly able to get the upper hand and the Nocturn Crow swept its bony clawed hand up from below to knock her back onto the ground. She landed winded the sword being knocked from her hand. As she struggled to get up sore and winded she looked and could see Kai was now only clinging on by one hand no longer able to hold on with his injured hand and was struggling to keep his grip with the other hand. Tears started to come to her eyes as she realised there was no way she could reach him in time to save him. She was feeling overwhelmed and lost. Her allies were overwhelmed, her friends could do nothing to help and she was about to lose her brother. The Stag was thoroughly enjoying the pain and torment he was causing and had a dark smile on his face baring his teeth. When Lloyd looked at him he could swear the Stag somehow was darker and more evil than usual even looking to somehow be almost a different entity as if possessed by something truly nightmarish scaring and disturbing him.
Feeling desperate Nya felt she had no choice, she would have to resort to the Dragon Aspect in hopes that would work. She would rather face the Stags wrath than loose her brother. She slowly got up and prepared to enter this state. She tried to focus but just as she prepared to enter the aspect she felt herself distracted by something she could not take her focus off. There was a sudden feeling in the ring like there was someone there watching them and it was unusually unnerving. Nya felt her attention drawn to a wall at the back of the ring where she felt this feeling was coming from the strongest. The area was empty and sat in shadow yet in its darkness she swore she could see a figure staring at her. The figure was dark as if it was just the shadow of a person. All she could make out was that it appeared to be robed had glowing red eyes and appeared to have small Oni like horns on its head. It stared blankly at her and she felt mesmerized by its appearance. She wasn't the only one to notice this apparent being. Lloyd was overcome with a strange feeling sensing something non human in the ring with them, something he felt he somehow had a connection to. He quickly looked for what was giving him the feelings and noticed the figure in the shadows. No one else seemed to take note of this figure. The two stared at it a few seconds before being drawn back to the commotion in the ring.
The sound of a racers screech and a strong cold breeze swept through the ring catching everyone's attention stopping the fight. Just as her brother lost his grip and began to fall veins of ice which sprouted icy vines, trees and shrooms burst into the ring and sprouted everywhere. Their enemies became encased in ice ending the fight and the entire ring began to be coated in ice with even icicles growing down from the ceiling. This ice froze over the burning pits and a large ice made vine sprouted up to catch Kai and let him slide to safety. He landed on the icy vine and remained in a foetal position holding his eyes tightly closed as his slide came to an end feeling like it was the end for him. After a few seconds and noting he was feeling cold and not burning spikes piercing him he anxiously looked around before relaxing feeling relieved to no longer be in peril. Nya was overwhelmed with relief and looked back at Zane thinking he had a hand in creating these icy creations that saved her brother. When she looked back at Zane though she was surprised to see he seemed baffled at the icy creations indicating he had not done this. Looking to the rings entrance the ninja saw the members of the Black Hand come rushing in. DJ and Divayth went over to Cole, Zane and Lloyd to remove the chains while Kozac came to check on his fellow hyenoid. Juib went over to Kai to check him over helping him up and bringing him over to stand with Nya while he stood protectively in front of them holding Whetu’s Star. Celaena rushed in to put herself between them all and the Stag holding her wings out in challenge to the Stag. She was behind the icy creations.
"What is the meaning of this?" the Stag demanded infuriated, dark aquamarine flames rising up from the tinges of his antlers, on the top of his head and across his shoulders as he stood up.
"We could say the same to you. Do you have no care for the lives of others?" Celaena hissed.
“I was testing them,” the Stag declared his form dissipating then reappearing to stand in front of Celaena appearing even bigger than his usual large form to look down at her staring her in the eyes in intimidation. She did not back down and showed no signs of feeling threatened.
"Testing them for what? How they will feel from the loss of someone they love? How much pain and mental anguish they can endure? How much it takes to kill them?" Celaena growled and the Stag chastised, "a mortal like you would never understand."
“Try us we understand more than you think,” Celaena challenged. The Stag seemed to look like he was not going to say anything. After a moment of silence the Stag responded, “I want to know how well they fight without each other’s aid and under pressure.”
"There are better ways to do that than putting their lives at risk. What you were doing looks more like what the Ashers do. A cruel game meant to make their victims suffer purely for the entertainment of their dark souls," Celaena proclaimed holding her ground. At the mention of comparing him to Ashers they could see the Stag physically get enraged. The flames on him got bigger and he flexed his muscles but Celaena held her ground looking the Stag directly in the eye showing no fear. All those in the area held their breaths worried over what was going to happen. The ninja were unsure why but had noted the Stag had a severe hatred for the Ashers. If anyone was to mention anything about them he would be angered, the worst was to compare him to the Ashers. If anyone was to do this things never ended well for that individual. The ninja felt Celaena was either being very brave or very foolish to openly compare the Stag to the Ashers directly to his face.
"What did you just say?!" the Stag growled leaning over Celaena in intimidation but she did not back down or show any fear. The cavern started to get cold and darken as the Stags anger affected the environment around them. What even resembled a dark mist started spilling out from the shadows.
“You heard me. Pitting individuals at unfair odds and putting lives at risk simply to prove a point or purely for entertainment is something Ashers do. You always proclaim how you are nothing like them yet here you are doing exactly the same thing they do. Your entertainment is awfully similar to theirs. Are you really better than them?” Celaena proclaimed. All those watching were pretty sure Celaena had gone too far this time which from what they all knew would only result in something very bad happening to her. They could see the Stag tightening his fists prepping for a fight. Celaena though still held her ground ready to fight showing no fear. There was a tense moment as no one moved. Without moving his head or making it evident the Stag glanced around the room looking at the others in the ring. The ninja were terrified, the three hyenoids who had been in the fight even the were-wolf one and the fabricants were hiding scared behind Kozac who stood protectively in front of them and the Black Hand who were standing their ground protecting the others were remaining largely emotionless though DJ was clearly showing he was terrified. DJ had always been the most emotional of the Black Hand. He then looked directly into Celaena’s eyes. She was scared of him and what he might do he could see that but she was remaining strong and brave hiding her true feelings to stand up for and defend the others.
To everyone's surprise the Stag relaxed his fists and slowly killed the fiery visage. He was clearly still angry but his emotions mild from enraged to something less severe confusing and worrying all those that watched. What was he going to do?
"I am nothing like those daemons... I have seen all I need to. I am done with the dragons for now, do whatever you want with them. I am going to meditate on what I have observed. I want no one to bother me for the next couple hours, including you five now be gone all of you," the Stag proclaimed to the Black Hand before dissipating. They waited several seconds after the Stag had vanished before doing anything.
"We are sorry about this. If we had known we would have interfered earlier," Juib proclaimed to the ninja who were in minor shock from their ordeal.
"Why was he doing this to us?" Kai fretted sticking close to Nya and shaking terribly.
"We do not know, I had a feeling when you were pulled away from your working without an explanation and given how nervous our Fang-siblings were that something non favourable was going to occur," Divayth stated as Juib went over to quietly talk with Celaena. She had relaxed and was just crouching staring at where the Stag had stood. The others of the Black Hand tended to the ninja. Zane, Cole and Lloyd were largely physically unharmed. They were disturbed and shaken with some bruising and damages from the chains but nothing severe. Nya had some cuts and bruises while Kai had torn the stitches in his hand.
"Can someone please help get me down?" Jay pleaded tightly clinging to the bars of his cage as he balanced on one foot on the one slat of flooring left in his cage. DJ went to the controls to let the cages down but found the controls were frozen in place.
"Well you will have to wait for the controls to unfreeze or till we can get a ladder or you could just drop down from there," DJ expressed to Jay.
"Drop down?!" Jay fretted, "how long would it take to get a ladder? I'm feeling too weak to remain like this for much longer."
"Could take over an hour or we could let the Fear-bricant pull you down. You should be pretty fine, he has only rarely eaten people and it has been at least thirty years since there was any serious incidents with him and people," DJ expressed unnerving Jay who did not like his options.
"If I drop will you catch me? I don't want to risk breaking my legs or worse," Jay worried.
"I am not the best for that, Kozac can catch you though," DJ expressed calling Kozac over.
"Alright, just drop down and I will catch you," Kozac expressed leaving the other hyenoid which some from outside the ring came to the aid of. He came to stand below Jays cage waiting to catch him. Jay was hesitant.
"Do not worry deer minded one Kozac will catch you. He can catch an arrow shot at him while his back is turned he can catch you no problem," DJ called.
"Deer minded? What does that mean?" Jay wondered feeling a little offended by what the hyenoid had called him.
"Well you are timid and jump at almost everything like a deer does..." DJ began before Kozac cut him off, "just drop down or you can try and find your own way down."
"You promise you won't drop me?" Jay hesitated and Kozac called back, "I promise." Jay hesitated before closing his eyes and forcing himself to drop from the cage. Kozac was true to his words and caught Jay who came to rest on his back in Kozacs arms. Once he was caught Jay quickly wrapped his arms around Kozac afraid to fall anymore before opening his eyes to look around. Kozac then stood him on the ground but Jay refused to let go of him.
"For once I'm glad to see you," Jay expressed hugging Kozac who was unsure what to do and just glanced over at DJ for advice. DJ whispered to him, "I think he wants comfort."
"There, there?" Kozac stated stiffly and slowly giving two weak pats to Jays back mimicking what he had seen some people in Balmora do unsure if he was doing it right. He glanced at DJ who expressed, "I guess from you that is pretty good."
"Does Celaena have a death wish? We've seen she is special to him in ways but the things she said... how could she say those and at least not get smacked by him?" Kai expressed stunned.
"I have never seen the Stag not retaliate when spoken about like that and directly to his face!" Divayth noted.
"How can she and Juib so easily change the Stags mind like that? The Stag is super powerful more powerful than Celaena and Juib is not that powerful compared to him; how can they sway the Stags mind so easily? The Stag doesn't seem like someone who will listen to anyone let alone a mere droid, no offence," Lloyd noted.
"We do not know. It defies all we know about the Stag no one else can change his mind or stop him from torturing us but Juib and Celaena can. It is as if he admires or respects them like they are special to him. As far as we know they are the only two capable of doing that," Divayth explained.
"Why was he doing this to us? What did he want to prove?" Nya inquired as Juib and Celaena came over to them.
"I do not know. I do know he has had a strange fascination for you six. Even before we were aware you would be coming, before even Dagon retrieved his full powers he knew you were coming. We have all thought it weird his fascination for you six. Only the Ashers capture his attention as much as you guys," Divayth noted and Juib added, "he kept referring to you six as the prophesized dragons."
"Prophesized dragons, like the ones from Balmoras prophecy? The one about the city being..." Lloyd worried and Kozac stated, "Do not worry Balmora is currently safe. We are keeping an eye on the town. Ashers are getting bolder in the city but we have seen no immediate evidence they intend to attempt a full attack at least not yet and your knight friends are working diligently to keep the place safe."
"That could be the one he meant... there is also though... I wonder..." Juib wondered starting to think.
"What?" Lloyd inquired but Juib was not interested in going into it simply responding with, "it is not important. We should get you guys looked after." As they prepared to leave Nya looked back to where the figure had been. For a second she thought they were still there but she could see no sign of them.
"Did anyone see that?" she wondered and Kai asked, "see what?"
"During the fight, there was something watching us from in the ring some shadow person and not one of the ones the Stag had summoned. It was staring at us and I don't know why," Nya noted disturbing Jay who looked around scared of what it could be. Zane, Cole and Kai hadn't noticed anything.
"I thought I was the only one to see it," Lloyd noted and Kozac stated, "you probably were seeing things; a result of the stress and chaos of the fight."
"I don't think so," Lloyd countered.
"Maybe you saw something maybe you did not. Maybe it is not just the Stag who is interested in you. I think it best you try to put this whole ordeal behind you now. It will be bad for your mental health to focus on all this. Come let us get you taken care of. I think it will be safe to let you take the afternoon off, you could all probably use it," Juib stated.
"The others can take a break. I'll take a short one before continuing on working. If we want to reach those vaults we need to keep going," Lloyd proclaimed and the others agreed with him. They would take a short break but they were going to keep going. If they wanted to reach those vaults get what they needed and possibly find a cure for the Blight or at least a way to get away from the Stags cruel hold they needed to reach that vault as soon as they could.
"What's going on. By the looks of this map we should have been there by now," Brickland exclaimed. Wu, Pixal, Ray, Maya, Lou, Ed and Edna, Dareth, Swordmore Brickland, Skylor and Seliel stood looking at a map of Ninjago they had put on a portable table trying to determine where they were.
"You are right. It would seem this plane meld is having a serious effect on not just the plants and animals but likely the geography as well," Pixal noted.
"For one thing compasses are not working like they’re supposed too," Skylor noted trying to get a reading from a compass she held in her hand however the needle seemed unable to determine which direction was north simply spinning in circles. The fog had set them back a day in their travels as they had waited for it to clear not wanting to tempt another ambush by the enemy. They had travelled some distance and according to Pixal should have been at the Caves of Despair by now. It seemed the Plane Meld was making their plans more complicated. Where they stood now was a bit mountainous but looked to be a dry badlands with rolling hills and patches of brush land mixed among the grasslands. While there were places in Ninjago like this none of them recognised the place. Some of the flora and fauna they could not identify. Some of them were worried they might have passed through one of these tears without knowing it further complicating things.
They had stopped in a wooded area to get a sense of where they were and let people stretch their legs after having travelled a whole day nonstop. It was getting late and the sun would soon be setting.
"You there, could we talk to you for a moment," Wu called to Keikiary who stood nearby surveying the landscape with her Pryphon Chewy.
"Yes sera what would you like?" she inquired coming over to them.
"Do you recognise anything here? Any features or plants?" Wu asked and Keikiary looked around before responding.
“A little, I would have to deduce that the Grazelands a dry woody savannah like region in the temperate to sub-tropic zone of our world has been merged with a similar dry region of your world. The Grazelands is not bad, defiantly one of the better places to be lost in then places such as the Ash Wastes,” she replied.
"Is there anything here you think is vastly different from this environment you are used too. That could help us determine if we are in the right area or not," Wu asked and the folk looked around for a few moments before responding.
“Well some of these mountains. The Grazelands sit at the foothills of a mountain chain but are not this mountainous and the stone is the wrong color from that region. In the Grazelands they are a greyish color. I am guessing this worlds region had the more reddish stone. Also some of these peaks are too tall or the improper shape to be from that region… not to mention this sky,” Keikiary replied. Along with the geography they had all noticed the sky was being mutated. It was like an eternal night with thick cloud cover that while a dark grey to black color was tainted faintly by an unnerving dark greenish color and every now and then thinning a of the clouds let be seen a void of emptiness behind it. The clouds were eternally stormy but while they often struck lightening and rumbled there was no rain. Chunks of land and buildings could sometimes be seen floating in the sky. The unsettling sky had many on edge.
“The sky is just proof this area is heavily affected by the meld. If this area is being affected by the plane meld then it might not be a good idea to shelter in the caves. They could end up being filled or collapsed due to the meld,” Pixal noted.
"She's right it might not be safe to take shelter there," Skylor agreed.
"It would seem this meld thing is much more extensive and complicated than we originally thought," Brickland added.
“Now what should we do. We can’t just keep moving and how will the ninja find us. If we can’t find the caves how will they?” Seliel expressed and Ray added, “You’re right, seems things are more dire than we originally thought.”
"We've been travelling all day. We should stop for the night so the people can rest and we could go over what we could do. Maybe some of the folk from this other realm might have some advice we could use," Maya added. They agreed and helped set up temporary lodgings for the night. They met back up an hour later to go over what they could possibly do. They had a few folk from the Lost Realm with them in hopes they could offer some advice. There was the vigilantes Crassious and Caius, Mahei, Keikiary with her Pryphon Chewy and a few other folks including a guard from Balmora, a police officer from the realms capital city, a historian and a serpentine from the foreign realm.
"We have hit a problem. Due to this Plane Meld the Caves of Despair are no longer a viable option to shelter in," Wu explained while Seliel added, "one good thing since we got away from the ash it seems the Blight has stalled and no one else seems to have gotten it."
"Until the Red Tower ends up here, I'd hate to see where the necromancers plan on putting it," Mahei expressed.
"Let's try not to worry about that now and try and solve our current dilemma," Skylor noted.
"Do any of you know of anything from these Grazelands we could use as a place to shelter? Towns, ruins even?" Wu inquired. Though she was trying to focus Pixal was finding it hard to listen in to the conversation finding her focus drawn elsewhere though she was unable to determine where. An effect of the Blight she reasoned. While the rest talked she found herself wandering off. No one else took note of her leaving. Only Seliel noticed and she followed worried Pixal was entering one of the Blights strange trances. They had to keep an eye on anyone who entered one of these trances to make sure those in it were not hurt or wandered into trouble.
“Are you okay?” Seliel inquired gently tapping Pixal on the shoulder to see if she was in this weird trance and Pixal replied, “it is the Blight. It is bringing those feelings that something that cannot be identified is wrong and making it hard to focus.”
"I wish I could say I know how that feels but I seem to have been spared of this curse, at least for now," Seliel noted trying to comfort Pixal.
"You should feel lucky you do not have this curse. It is very unpleasant," Pixal noted pausing before stating, "since you do not have it and I do not know how long I have left do you think, if I do not make it by the time they get back do you think you could tell Zane how much he meant to me and that I love him."
“You shouldn’t think like that. You’ll make it and you can tell him yourself,” Seliel commented giving Pixal some comforting pats to the shoulder before Pixal explained, “it is hard; The things this condition does to ones body and mind and the fact it has no cure makes it very hard to remain positive.”
"As the scrolls foretold when outlanders of other worldly origin enter the halls of Holamaya an ancient shadow shall awaken and curse Balmora. The dead shall rise and the ash will rise, bleed and burn. Dragons shall return to the mountain of dawn as the prince of horrors tightens his grip and the truth shall be revealed and the blight will be set right," a deep slightly echoing feminine voice seemed to come from nowhere startling them as they thought they were possibly being ambushed. They looked for who could have said this. Everyone else was still going over ideas and had yet to notice they had wandered off. Though the Blight made it hard to properly use some of her programming Pixal was able to pick up an entity nearby. When she finally managed to locate the entity she pinpointed that it was in a tree above them. When they looked up to where it was located they noticed something dark perched in the tree. It was the robotic raven that had helped them before. It was perched on a low branch looking down at them its head tilted to one side as if curious.
"Isn't that the raven you said took them to this foreign realm? Could that mean they're back?!" Seliel exclaimed getting excited that they would finally be able to take the fight back to these necromancers instead of running and hiding. She was also eager to see Cole again. Deep down though she hid it well she was worried for him and wanted to know if he was alright. Even though she wanted to think the same eager to see Zane and make sure he was okay Pixal didn't think that was the case. She could not identify the ninja anywhere nearby and there was something off about the raven.
"I do not think so. That is the raven but I sense there is a foreign entity in it, using it like a puppet," Pixal noted dampening Seliels feelings and making them both worry.
"What is it?" Seliel inquired and Pixal answered with, "I do not know."
"Under sun and sky outlanders," the voice came from the raven as it fluttered down to land on a rock near them coming to perch so its red eyes were at the same level as their eyes. It spread out its wings and golden glowing shapes formed in front of its wings; one a crescent moon the other a sun. A glowing marking of a star appeared on its chest. The glowing shapes drew the attention of the beast folk who left the others and slowly approached to stand with Pixal and Seliel in amazement. As the beast folk left the others all had their attentions drawn to the raven but they were confused by the symbols and the beast folks reactions. Having caught everyone's attention the raven dispelled the glowing symbols and stood normally with its wings folded back up though the glowing star on its chest remained.
"Evil creeps in the shadows of the realms. The one once banished has returned and clipped the wings of dragons. The curse of darkness follows in his wake as he spreads his shadow of corruption but all is not lost. Dragons have returned to the Mountain of Dawn as I have foreseen. The Akulakhan shall be revealed and the curse set right," the voice came from the raven. The raven then turned its attention to the beast folk and spoke to them. What it spoke sounded like verses from a song or poem, one they recognised some of the beast folk would sing. It often encouraged and rallied those that heard it. The glowing mark on its chest then vanished and its eyes went dark as it fell off the rock and landed offline on the ground.
"What was that?" Skylor inquired as Pixal picked up and investigated the Raven.
"By the Three! The queen of twilight, protector of the wastes! She spoke through the metal bird!" the guard from Balmora proclaimed.
"Who?" Wu inquired. He'd heard of those titles before and knew who they referenced. Could that really have been her?
"Her common name in our realm is Whetu. An ancient spirit said to protect our realm from the evils of the Ashers. Some ancient texts claim she could be the missing Oni of our Tribunal Astara, one of the three Oni who sided with the Dragon Master while others believe she is an entirely different entity. It is also believed that all the realms have beliefs of her and worship her in some way but in each she has a different name. In all realms however she is often associated with the sky with a strong link to the night sky, storms, and the times of dawn and dusk and is seen as a protector. This one is not sure what you might call her but you probably know," Keikiary explained.
"You mean we were just talking to her!?" Ray exclaimed as they came to realise who the beast folk was talking about. They all began throwing out questions. If any knew of a possible answer they would offer their input but everyone was equally confused.
“What did it all mean?” Lou inquired while Skylor asked, “Clipped Dragons? Dragons returning to the Mountain of Dawn?”
"I'm betting the clipped dragons refers to our Dragon Guard who have been enslaved by the enemy," Mahei groaned feeling defeated.
"Not many dragons remain in or even near the wastes, too scared of the Ashers to stay and none would ever be brave enough to get near the Mountain of Dawn. Not while the Stag makes it his home, despite their power all dragons fear the Stag, so I do not know what she is referring to that dragons have returned to the mountain unless she is not talking about literal dragons," Keikiary noted.
"What is the curse of darkness? That doesn't sound very pleasant," Ed stammered.
"I believe the Blight is the curse of darkness," the beast folk historian expressed.
"What is this Akulakhan?" Brickland asked.
"According to Pelagius the Akulakhan is what the robotic denizens of this foreign realm call the Black Stag. To them it means the cursed one with no name. Taken that he enslaves droids and animals I think it means he is a curse to them and that he has no proper name. He is simply referred to the common form he takes a black stag," Pixal replied.
"What about that thing she said when we first saw her. Sounded like a prophecy," Seliel added.
"What did she say when you first saw her?" Wu inquired. Only Seliel and Pixal had heard her say the prophecy so Pixal regaled them on the prophecy Whetu had spoke of. The beast folk all knew of the first part about Balmora but had never heard the second part.
“What could it all mean?” Skylor wondered and Keikiary offered, “well the Stag is often deemed the Prince of horrors by many; especially in places like Balmora where he is frequently encountered.”
"You said that raven left with the ninja? Does it possibly know where they are and what has happened to them?" Lou worried. The parents of the ninja were all worried of what had become of their children. From what these beast folk had told them of this place they were going it was a land of living nightmares and this Stag was a horror worse than the Oni. They worried everyday about what was happening and feared the worst. They had faith that their children would remain strong but things seemed against them in this place and they were far away in a place they could not reach trapped by a daemon. They all worried it would be too much for them this time, that this monster they had heard of would do terrible things to them.
"I could try and reboot him or I could analyze his data and see what it knows," Pixal offered.
"Do it. It is both curious and odd that this thing somehow ended up here on its own," Wu stated as Pixal tried rebooting the raven. When it rebooted it hopped out of her hands and up onto the rock were it proceeded to broadcast a hologram from its golden eyes. Everyone had their attention drawn to the hologram. It was of a non beast person wearing chainmail and steel armour. The folk looked confused.
"How do I begin... never really done this before. I am Clay leader of the Nexo Knights from the realm of Knighton. I do not know who you are I just know your names, your relations to them and that they left you behind... sorry I'm talking about the ninja, should have mentioned that first. I thought I should update you on what has occurred here, you're probably worried. Hopefully the raven can find a way to you. He managed to find a way to and back from Knighton after delivering a message there he should be able to find you guys to. Anyway I and the other members of my team travelled with them to the Forbidden City, I'm pretty sure you already know what that is. Your realm is probably going through the same thing as back in Knighton, folk from this realm ending up there telling all sorts of tales. Back to what I was saying on our trip we had a bad run in with Ashers, don't worry they made it through along with us, I guess we have the Stag to thank for that; he possessed Zane and Nya to do it. That was so disturbing, scary and dark but I guess if he hadn't we wouldn't have made it out of the wastes, at least not alive. Trust me you do not want to see what happened, that was one of the most horrific things I've ever seen. Don't worry the Stag let them go they were pretty shaken up and disturbed afterwards I don't know who wouldn't be but fine. Anyway we got to the city but the Stag pulled the ninja into his city and trapped them there. I and my team tried to find a way in to help them but it was of no use. We couldn't get in to follow them. We have lost all contact with them since then; that was a few weeks ago. We have had contact with some of the Stags minions and they claim the ninja are still alive but I'm not entirely sure. Hopefully they can get what is needed and escape. Who knows what that thing will do to them," the hologram stated looking confused and worried as it talked, "I am sorry I wish it was better news. There's something else... no I shouldn't. Not now and not in this way. When the trouble here subsides and when we know more, if we learn more I'll come and tell you in person. It will mean more that way. For the mean time, try and stay positive. If we find anything else I'll try and get some sort of message to you. Oh almost forgot to mention Misako stayed behind under our protection. She is fine. She's helping us with a few things. With a knights honour I promise to keep her safe." Another person whose similar garbs to Clay told them he was likely one of his team mates then appeared next to him. This other knights armour was more leather and chainmail. He had the markings of the Blight and was holding a book and pillow.
"She says they will be fine. They will fix it... all is confusing I hear the words but cannot speak them. I take them, and arrange them, but still, it will not be quiet. This is not straight. This is too high. This is in my way. It must be put right," the other knight stated trying to place the book and pillow on Clays head as if trying to stack them. Clay looked disturbed by the other persons actions.
"Can someone please get Aaron, he's in that trance again," Clay called to someone they couldn't see and a second later who they guessed was Aaron disappeared and Clay mumbled, "The Blights really taking a toll on him. Things are not going well here. Please Raven don't show that last part." The hologram then stopped and the raven cawed at them seeming rather amused to have kept the last part in.
"So that's where those slackers ended up. Good to see though that one of my best students is not shirking his duties," Brickland expressed and Seliel noted, "Well that was nice of this fellow to send us that?"
"That isn't good, this daemon of the wastes we've heard has kidnapped them," Lou expressed and Ed wondered, "what kind of horrors do you think he'll do to them?"
"What else did he want to tell us that he wouldn't say through the raven?" Ray questioned. None of them liked the sound of that last part and worried what he was not telling them.
"Aaron was always out there. I'm not too surprised to see he's lost it talking gibberish like that," Brickland expressed and Maya stated, "I don't think he's lost it, you can clearly see the Blights markings on him. He's been cursed. I think he's probably just suffering from the condition. We've seen what it does to people; he's just talking in the Blights gibberish."
"This is defiantly not good but we have to have faith the ninja will pull through and escape this monster. This knight Clay is right we cannot give up hope just yet. We have to stay positive," Wu stated trying to stay positive. The fact no one had heard or seen anything from the ninja for some time was not a good sign.
"Easier said than done. We're in the open with nowhere to shelter..." Dareth began before the one beast folk the historian cut in, "that is not true. The last thing Whetu said. Those are lines from a bardic tale about the reptilian wars. During that time a few forts were built in these badlands. If we are lucky one might have ended up here and could be in good enough condition for us to shelter in."
"Couldn't some of these necromancers have taken up residence in these forts?" Skylor noted and the historian stated, "true."
"We could use the raven as a scout," Pixal offered and the raven cawed an agreement.
"I think for now that will be our best option. We will wait here while the raven scouts. While it scouts we will come up with something for if the raven does not find anything. If it does not find a suitable place then we will decide where to try next," Wu stated before quietly saying to himself "hopefully the ninja will be okay and make it back soon."
Notes:
The one of the Stags entertainment mentioned in this section is flushed out n the short 'The Hunt' in the chapter part 2 story shorts.
If have any questions go ahead and ask I do not bite. I will try to answer them, I will however not give away spoilers.
Chapter 43: A Day with Blight
Summary:
Trying to make it through the day when you have the Blight is not easy.
Notes:
Pictures relating to story can be found here: https://www.deviantart.com/nerdy-hyena/gallery/72478681/story-project
They are really good and help to visually flush out several aspects of the story including environments, characters, outfits, locations, creatures and other aspects often important ones in the story. All images I post in my work can be found there if you want a better look at them. Defiantly make sure to check them out.Also if you need a refresher on creatures, flora or aspects of the environment you can check out the second chapter in this work titled 'Keikiarys Guide to the Ash Wastes'. It includes short descriptions and pictures of these things.
Parts of this section are subject to change as the prequel story is written to improve story continuity.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
The ninja did not get a nice awakening. They awoke to the smell of something burning and Kai sounding like he was being attacked.
“What’s going on,” Lloyd moaned propping himself up on his forearms on his bed feeling stiff and sore. Kozac was hitting Kai with his blanket. Smoke was coming off a part of Kais bed which looked to have been burned and off parts of Kai.
“The red one set fire to his bed and himself again,” Kozac grumbled tossing the blanket aside as he finished putting Kai out. Seeing there was no danger everyone lay back down feeling tired.
“Ugh why couldn’t you set fire to things when we’re not trying to sleep, it’s too early for this,” Jay complained putting his pillow over his head to block the early morning light the light fixtures outside were emulating wanting to go back to sleep.
“It’s not like I intended to do it, it’s this cursed Blight. I can tell you it’s not fun waking up with your arms on fire,” Kai stated before Kozac declared heading over to Jay to take his pillow away, “it may be early but I think now that you are all up it is wise you get up and get to work. You do not want to anger the Stag.” Jay was not pleased by Kozacs actions.
“What about breakfast?” Cole moaned as he slowly got up. Kozac proclaimed forcing Jay who had pulled his blanket over his head after his pillow was taken away not wanting to get up yet out of his bed by flipping the bed on its side to drop Jay on the floor, “do not worry you will get what you need in order to produce the energy for your task.” Jay was not pleased by that action either but it worked.
“My limbs feel like they are made of lead,” Nya complained as she got up and Zane commented feeling tired and heavy making it hard for him to get out of bed, “but your limbs are not made of any form of metal.”
“It’s an idiom Zane. It means parts of you feel heavier than they actually are,” Nya explained sitting on the edge of her bed trying to work up the energy to get up Zane commenting, “Oh, if that is what it means then I would have to agree my limbs feel as if they are made from a very heavy material like lead.” The ninja had a slow time getting up and heading off to get to work. Shortly after getting down to the location they were working at DJ brought them their breakfast and took to the first watch of the day. Even though they knew they should be getting to work it took a little longer than they intended for them to have breakfast. They were still tired; Cole and Jay both fell asleep for a few minutes as they sat for breakfast making some of the others have to wake them up. To help them wake up the hyenoids had given them drinks high in caffeine, either coffee or Black Tea the choice was theirs. Since caffeine didn’t work as efficiently for Zane like the rest of them he was given a special tea Divayth had come up with to mimic the effects of caffeine for droids. Even with these to help them wake up it took them a little longer than they hoped to get to work.
They weren’t the only ones having a rough morning from the Blight. Back in Balmora the knights were starting their morning. They had gathered in the dining room on the Fortrex to start their morning. Axl had made breakfast and was setting it out on the table as Clay went over the plans for the day off his tablet. Most of them were there even Misako and Robo-bill Merlok who they had given a tea made with Scimitar oil. The only one missing was Aaron. Clay had sent Jestro to get him believing Aaron was probably just sleeping in. The Blight had started to make Aaron more tired than usual.
“Alright since the towns guard is stretched thin with all the troubles the town council has requested we provide our services in order to help deal with problems and keep the peace. They will be paying us for our services which we can use to buy supplies to restock our supplies. We’ve worked it out so the council has direct communications with us when they need it. Ava I want you to keep tabs on that and if anything comes up contact the rest of us so we can get to work. Also since the ninja are not here the town wants us to take over in helping anyone from Ninjago along with the people from Knighton that have gotten trapped here in adjusting to the realm. I’ve worked it out for them to be brought to the Fortrex this afternoon with the people from our realm that way they feel less on edge from the presence of any beast folk. We can also utilise the training decks to make an environment they feel more comfortable in. It should help them open up if they have any problems.…” Clay began and Macy added, “I think it best to seem less intimidating we also go dressed as commoners. Our armoured gear might seem a little intimidating for some.”
“Agreed, I think too you should be there Misako. You could offer some help if we need it,” Clay declared and Misako agreed as Jestro came into the room a bit nervous to state, “Uhm… there’s a problem. Aarons not in his room.”
“He must have wandered off in that trance during the night. Ava check the ships surveillance cameras and see if you can find where he wandered off to now,” Clay stated and Ava began working on her tablet while Clay inquired to Misako and Merlok, “Is it normal for sufferers of Blight to wander around in their sleep this much. He’s done it a couple times since getting the curse.”
“Occasionally individuals will enter the trance in their sleep and wander around while sleep walking. It should only happen a few times during the conditions run however some individuals are prone to more frequently enter the trance in their sleep. The cause is believed to have something to do with brain activity. Those with normally high brain activity are believed to be more prone to it than others,” Misako regaled and Merlok noted, “it would seem Aaron is one of those more susceptible to enter the trance in his sleep than others.”
“No need to look for him,” Robin proclaimed as one of the squire bots helped Aaron limp into the room and get him seated on a chair. He had a bandage on his right leg and could barely stand on it.
“Aaron where were you?” Clay inquired as Aaron sat down.
“I can’t feel my leg,” Aaron stated sounding a bit out of it and the squirebot stated, “we found him in the armoury this morning. He stacked some weapons which fell onto him. He had a pretty nasty cut on his leg. Since no one was up yet we took him into town to get him seen. The doctor gave us this for you.” The squirebot handed Clay a note and he read it aloud.
“For the archers companions while deep the cut wasn’t too bad. We stitched it up but had to numb his leg to do it. Your friend will not likely be able to stand on his own till the numbing wears off. We also gave him a pain killer made from the modified venom of a Parrot Cruncher so do not be alarmed if he is hallucinating for the next few hours…” Clay began to read before being interrupted as Aaron commented clearly not fully aware while looking at his hands, “when did my hands become so hairy and grow claws? It’s like I have paws.”
“If hallucinations persist for more than three hours bring him back to us. Don’t expect much from him today and we would advise you keep all dangerous items locked up for the near future… we did have the armoury locked after his first accident in there,” Clay noted and Robin commented, “I think we’ll need to change the password.”
“And I think for his safety we don’t let Aaron know it,” Ava commented and they were all in agreement. Now with them all there they started their day having breakfast Clay going over more things they had to do.
Back in the Forbidden City after they were done breakfast the ninja got to work not wanting to get into trouble with the Stag. Things were going pretty well for a while. The Blights symptoms were largely holding off as they worked. They tried to keep moods up but Jay ended up getting them on the subject of Blight induced dreams. While Juib had stated the dreams had very little meaning the ninja were all unsure of that. They sometimes seemed so real it was disturbing and they frequently found their dreams plagued by monsters and darkness. Knowing the subject wasn’t helping anyone’s moods Lloyd worked to change the subject. It took a while but he eventually succeeded. Oddly Zane had been very quite all morning and it had some of them worried. As it approached noon while they worked they slowly became aware that something was wrong with Zane. He had isolated himself from them all standing by himself by the woods edge staring at his hands the emotions on his face hard to read.
“Zane you okay buddy?” Jay inquired. They were all a bit worried. The Blight was getting to them all but they had noticed it was really getting to Zane mentally. He had mentally become very unwell with his mood often being very low. They would try to help him but the ninja had no clue what to do when he entered this state. They had learned to try and avoid certain topics or at the very least be very careful about what they said about these topics. The biggest and worst were events or anything to do with the Never Realm which tended to come up quite often. The Blight was another topic to avoid and strangely Pixal was another. Sometimes it helped his mood but other times it just worsened it as he felt the Blight would claim him before he could see her. One thing they did know was even though he often wanted to be alone when he was in that state they had a strong feeling he shouldn’t be left alone and tried to keep him close and if they could involved.
“What’s got you down pal?” Kai inquired starting to head over to give Zane a pat on the shoulder but Lloyd stopped him quietly commenting to the others, “wait I don’t think this is just a down mood… look at his arms.” Looking they all got a little worried. The Blights markings were burning brighter than usual and the area around them was darker than usual, almost black in color. There was also his eyes. Something about them didn’t look right; there was an odd color to them. Kai cautiously approached to tap Zane on the shoulder. When he did this he was shocked when Zane grabbed his arm and whipped him onto the floor where he landed on his back staring up at Zane in shock.
“You dragons shall fall,” Zane proclaimed his voice off and dark while creating a knife of dark ice before trying to stab Kai with it. Kai managed to dodge out of the way and Cole quickly rushed in to try and restrain Zane unsure what was going on but feeling something bad had gotten into Zane.
“Come on Zane whatever you’re going through buddy we can talk it over no need to hurt anyone… man you’re burning up! Are you okay?” Cole commented as he struggled with Zane trying to restrain him Nya coming to help. Zane bested both of them tossing them to the ground then freezing both their limbs to the ground with a burning dark corrupted ice. He went to stab Nya with the dagger he had made but Kai, Jay and Lloyd interviewed getting in a fight with him having to use the garden implements they had been working with so they didn’t get seriously hurt.
“Zane what’s gotten into you?!” Jay exclaimed as they fought him Zane managing to best each of them with ease. The way he was talking sounded strange; he was sounding like the Ashers and using words they used like s’witt and fetcher when talking to or of them. He was also burning up and the ice he was creating was dark, unnaturally strong and burned.
“It’s the Blights rage! Ninja don’t engage him; he’ll just destroy you!” DJ who was watching them on edge and anxious not daring getting caught up in the fighting proclaimed and Lloyd asked trying to avoid getting slashed by the weapon Zane had made Zane having not only cut the handle of the rake he had been using in half but ripping the pieces from his hands causing Lloyd to get a pull in his wrists from the force Zane used, “what’s the Blights rage?”
“It’s a small taste of what he’ll become if the Blight claims him. He currently can’t remember who you are nor who he is. He’s just a mindless savage monster rate now. He’ll destroy anything that moves,” DJ explained and Jay quickly questioned, “then what do we do? If only I could use my powers I could shock him out.”
“I’m not sure, I’ve called for help you just have to last till it arrives… maybe if you play dead he’ll leave you alone,” DJ offered to which Kai proclaimed after Zane caught Jay off guard giving him a slash across the chest leaving a large deep cut terrifying Jay, “play?! We won’t have to play dead cause he’ll soon make sure we’re actually dead.” Taking DJ’s advice Jay pretended to collapse on the ground and play dead trying to resist shaking from fear and pain from the wound Zane had given him trying to lay as still as possible but unable to do a good job.
“Coward; pathetic dragon. Enjoy eternity in the void s’witt,” Zane proclaimed hitting Jay with his powers to trap him on the ground before kneeling down and raising the dagger preparing to stab at Jays heart with it. Jay was terrified and tried to struggle free. Before Zane could harm Jay Kai interrupted Zane by tossing a large rock at his back. When it hit him Zane lost interest in Jay turning his attack to Kai. The two got into a quick tussle before Zane grabbed Kai by the front of his shirt and tossed him with considerable force into the trunk of a tree winding him. Zane went to stab Kai in the heart while Kai struggled to catch his breath trying to plea for Zane to snap out of whatever had gotten into him but it was clear nothing was getting through to him. As Zane brought the dagger down to stab Kai in the chest Lloyd quickly intervened blocking the blade with a hand rake catching Zane off guard allowing him to quickly tackle Zane to the ground before he could react.
“Foul child of Oni spawn I’ll paint the ash with your blood!” Zane proclaimed as Lloyd quickly got up and backed away from Zane as he got up worried over what he was going to do.
“Lloyd just run,” Nya ordered to him trying to free her limbs from the ice she was trapped in. Lloyd felt she was right. They couldn’t reason with him and there was no way he was going to stand a chance against Zane when he was like this; the Blights rage was making him much stronger and more powerful than usual. He ran down the path headed to the main pathway in the cavern and Zane gave chase trying to hit Lloyd with his powers. Halfway there the Fear-bricant came to Lloyds aid ramming its head into Zane to knock him off the path and into a tree. It stood bent low challenging Zane and keeping itself between Zane and Lloyd who had stopped to see what was going on to keep them separate. Zane went to attack it and in retaliation the Fear-bricant grabbed Zane in its jaws and held him down against the ground trying to restrain him. To break free Zane hit the Fear-bricant in its hip joint with his powers making dark ice build up in it and break many of its components before coating parts of the limb causing it to lose the use of its leg. It collapsed and let Zane go as it tried to break off the ice Zane had built on its leg. With the Fear-bricant occupied Zane returned to try and catch Lloyd who quickly started fleeing again heading towards the palace. He preferred not to go in that place nor anywhere even near it but he felt it might be his only safe option. He could try to hide in there till help arrived. Lloyd was halfway there when he slipped on a sheet of dark ice Zane created on the walkway to stop him and he fell hard on his back. He could only lay there sore and winded as Zane approached him.
“Please Zane I know you’re still in there somewhere, you have to fight this… it isn’t you,” Lloyd pleaded through gasps trying to catch his breath and Zane declared kneeling down while raising the dagger readying to stab Lloyd in the heart, “your plea falls on deaf ears dragon scum.” Lloyd was terrified. Before he could react a blast of dark energy hit Zane tossing him off the walkway and into the underbrush beside it. Lloyd slowly and stiffly sat up Juib coming to help him sit up telling him to take it slow. Lloyd thought at first Juib had been the one to save him but the feeling of something dark behind him giving him shivers caught his attention and he turned to look with dread at what it was. The Stag stood there in his elk headed man form holding a spear, a dark highly tattered cape draped over his shoulders and staring at where Zane had landed his one hand held out as if he had just cast a spell at Zane. The others were approaching with DJ, Divayth who had the Red-diamond Shurikan, two of Divayths daughter clones individuals Divayth had made from his own programming from studies into the nature of his kind and a few other hyenoids including some samurai. They all stopped at a distance when they saw the Stag hesitant to get close to him. The Stag didn’t take note of anyone slowly lowering his hand and putting the end of his spear to rest on the ground. They looked at where the Stag was looking worried. He was staring at Zane who lay in the undergrowth unconscious, a couple waves of dark electrical like energy crossing his body. The markings were still off and it looked like Zane had received some damages from the incident.
“What happened? What did you do to Zane? You killed him didn’t you!” Jay exclaimed holding onto the wound across his chest Nya standing next to him to help him keep steady on his feet and without looking at them his voice eerily calm and expression emotionless the Stag mentioned, “He will live. He is as you would call it sleeping and shall remain so till the darkness’s rage has left his body.” The Stag then turned and walked away headed for the palace. Everyone just watched worried to make a move. As the Stag walked past him Lloyd inquired, “you saved me… why?” His words made the Stag pause and he looked back over his shoulder at Lloyd to mutter his voice even and emotionless, “is that what you think it was, do not fool yourself with such thoughts. You are an asset I desire not to lose. I was guaranteeing to still have possession of you not saving you.” The Stag then walked away to vanish into the palace. The hyenoids helped them get fixed up and brought them back to where they were working. They even retrieved Zane fixing him up and setting him sitting against a tree. He was still showing signs he was under the Blights rage and unconscious. The others couldn’t help but feel scared of him.
“If that was just a taste of what the Blight will do I don’t want to see what he’ll be like if he fully falls to it!” Jay commented disturbed as Naryu, one of Divayths daughter-clones, bandaged up the cut on his chest after she had stitched it up while her sister Eboshi and father Divayth treated the strange frost burn marks Zanes dark ice had left on them.
“It was just like he snapped. The way he was acting and what he was saying… it was like those Ashers but somehow worse!” Kai noted and Divayth explained, “what would you expect from a curse made by those demons.”
“You know I think I had a dream last night or maybe it was the other night that Zane became a monster and tried to tear me apart… kind of unsettling to have it almost happen,” Jay noted as Naryu worked on him and Kai worried, “is it strange I think I’ve had a similar dream? That doesn’t mean anything right?”
“Not necessarily. The dreams often use your own fears against you; I have not found much proof that they can foretell future events. Your dreams likely mean even if you do not acknowledge it you have some fear of your brother likely stemming from events related to the Stag or the Blight or other events that have unnerved or unsettled you about him,” Juib explained and Cole noted, “you two don’t say anything about your dreams to Zane. He’s already in bad enough a state and you Jay didn’t help with your belief that he betrayed us for several days. He doesn’t need anything else to make it worse.”
“He won’t remember what happened will he?” Nya worried and Juib regaled, “it will seem like a dream but yes he will remember it. So will you when it happens to you.” None of them liked the sound of that especially Jay. After seeing what it could do none of them wanted to experience the Blights rage. Curious and worried for Zane Lloyd went over to check on him.
“He’s still burning up,” Lloyd noted and Juib explained, “that is from the Blights rage. His body should return to normal temperatures as the rage subsides. Now that you are starting to experience episodes of rage we are going to need to take some precautions.” Wondering how bad the Blight was affecting Zane Lloyd opened up a panel in his chest to check his heart. He was shocked and took a few steps back as a dark mist poured out of his chest as the panel was opened. The mist felt and looked a lot like the Stags energy and filled and surrounded everything in his body. All of them were shocked and worried by it but they were more shaken when they saw his heart. It was blackened almost charred looking like burning coal with cracks of burning red through it!
“Poor Zane,” Lloyd quietly muttered before closing Zane back up to keep the mist from spilling out scared by it and Kai wondered, “he must be in a lot of pain… at least that looks to be quite painful.”
“Yes even for those like us it is painful and pain is an understatement to what he is likely feeling,” Juib explained.
“That’s not good is it?” Cole wondered and Nya responded, “no it’s not. I’ve never seen it like that!”
“That’s not going to happen to us is it?!” Jay began to panic and Divayth explained, “what has happened to his heart is an effect of the Blights rage. When he is no longer in a raged state his heart should return to normal, well he will still have the Blights markings on it but it will not be as dark. A similar corruption will happen to your hearts during these episodes of Blights rage. The mist however, that is not from the Blight.”
“No it is not. I was afraid of this. That mist is from the Stag. He has not done it to the rest of you and I am unsure why he has done it but he has claimed Zane as his, one of his pups as he calls it; a servant for his use. A champion or knight as you may call it for his service. I do not know if it was on purpose or an accident through the Stags touch but he has become tainted with the voids energy; a piece of the void is now a part of him. Normally you would not be able to see it only certain spells could reveal its touch. I believe the Blights rage reacting with the voids energy inside him has likely caused the mist. The mist will dissipate in time but I believe he will forever be tainted and scarred by the Stags touch. That touch is forever going to leave him carrying pieces of the Stags energy, an energy of the void, inside him. The void tainting within him will make him stronger in more ways than you could imagine but at the same time will weaken him to its darkness. Unfortunately as far as I know the void and the Stags touch cannot be purged from him. He will just have to learn to live with it. I believe he can do it but it will take time and he will need the help of others to learn to control it and not be lost to it,” Juib regaled his words upsetting and worrying the others.
“That sounds so cruel, why has the Stag done that to him?” Cole wondered and Divayth regaled, “possibly as a means of claiming him, after all with his powers he is a very useful asset for those who oppose the Ashers, though it is also possible he might not have tainted him with the voids energies on purpose. It could be a side effect of what the Stag has done to him particularly the being turned into a Noctern Crow. It is one thing to change a being into another like an animal or plant it is an entirely different one to be turned into a demon of the void. It is rare for him to do that so the effects of which we have no understanding of but likely are not good.”
“Yha he would make crow noises from time to time and had crow like urges every now and then for a few days after that incident. He often wasn’t aware he was doing it too,” Nya noted and Jay added, “yha, it was kind of funny though. He made a nest out of blankets on his bed that he slept curled up in for a few nights, he also kept getting distracted by insects the one day having to chase down and eat any he saw not to mention he became possessive over shiny objects one day. It was both cute and funny how Mzark kept bringing him shiny things so he could decorate his blanket nest with them.”
“True but I think the after effects of his spell that turned you into a chicken were far more hilarious,” Kai commented, “if you got startled, scared or anxious for several days you would cluck like a chicken for a while. You were even clucking in your sleep. Then the one night you even pecked at your dinner like a chicken and had to spend two hours cleaning your hair afterwards because of it plus you were still plucking feathers for several days.” Jay was not pleased to be reminded of the incident though the others were a bit more amused.
“Those are minor after effects and to be expected, this voids tainting however is a much worse consequence. He already has it bad enough I believe it best you not mention anything about this to him. It will only worsen his state which with this Blight you have probably noticed like the rest of you is not in the best of shapes,” Juib deduced and they couldn’t help but agree. After what they had just been through the hyenoids decided to give them time to rest, relax and calm down.
While they tried to calm down and relax back in Balmora the Knights had gathered some people from Ninjago and Knighton that had gotten trapped in the Lost Realm. They had brought them into the Fortrexs holo-deck which they had made look like a restaurant with a mix of architectural designs, furniture and decorations from both Ninjago and Knighton to make people feel more comfortable. Axl had made some refreshments for them and because the Blights markings were now easily visible on him and the fact the Blight would come up in their talk and likely scare the people they all agreed Aaron should not be there. Instead Aaron was going to help Merlok with their research into the Blight. Things were going fine until halfway through their session Clay and Macy who were leading the talk noted Aaron come into the room while in the Blights trance and start stacking random items from the back of the room. Luckily the way they had set the room up the door was at the back of the room with everyone facing away from it so most people didn’t see him. A few in the back of the room however did see him notably because Aaron came and took random items from the tables to stack with and they were made even more nervous by his state. Clay and Macy just continued with their work pretending to not notice Aaron so they wouldn’t draw the people’s attention to him while Axl carried him out of the room. A few minutes went by before Aaron came in again this time carrying in a rather surprised Robo-bill Merlok to add to his tower which Axl was cleaning up. He put Merlok down and started putting things on him. Axl again took Aaron out of the room and Merlok apologised for the intrusion as Aarons behaviour had caught quite a few peoples attentions.
“Sorry about that. That spell really did not help, made him go… a little off,” Merlok apologised trying to not hint to Aarons true condition to ease the people before he headed out. The rest of the session went fairly well. The people were still rather nervous but they felt they had calmed them down a bit and offered them some hope that not all was lost. As they were setting things down afterwards Misako called them to come give them some help in the control room with Aaron. He was not in the best of moods. Misako was standing next to the table looking at him while Merlok was perched on the table next to him looking him over.
“Hey pal what’s going on?” Clay inquired as the knights entered the control room. Aaron was laying splayed out on the round table on his back. He looked quite down as he muttered clearly sounding very un-happy, “nothing.”
“You don’t sound your normal cheerful self is something wrong?” Macy inquired and after a few seconds Aaron relented, “What’s the point… it’s of no use. I’m doomed… we’re all doomed. If that monster doesn’t end us this Blight surely will. I’ve already got it and what’s to stop me from giving it to someone else! How do I prevent from giving one of you it when I lose control to this curse? What if during one of the trances I bite someone? It’s only a matter of time till I end up cursing someone else. I don’t want to be responsible for that. Maybe you should just put an end to me now before this thing claims me and I put others in danger.” They could all tell something was clearly not right with him.
“It’s one of the Blights mood swings. It’s put him in a rather low mood. We’re hoping you might be able to help him out; maybe cheer him up a bit,” Misako quietly told the others and thinking it would be helpful Lance commented, “I’m not sure that’s the best idea you heard what those monsters said. They’re going to turn you into one of their ghoul things when you…” Clay elbowed Lance to silence him knowing it was probably best not to talk of such a grim subject around Aaron especially at that time.
“Great thanks for reminding me. As if this curse wasn’t bad enough I’m going to end up a monster in service to demons,” Aaron moaned. After a moment of silence thinking over what they could do Clay stated, “you know you shouldn’t think like that. We’re going to find a way to save you. You just need to have some hope.”
“Yha come on why don’t we do something fun huh?” Macy suggested and Axl wondered, “when was the last time you had anything to eat?”
“This morning,” Aaron moaned and Axl stated, “its afternoon how could you go without lunch?”
“I wasn’t interested. I don’t feel interested in anything. I just want to lay here and veg,” Aaron expressed.
“I think it’s time you get up; this funk isn’t helping you,” Clay declared as he and Macy each grabbed one of Aarons arms and pulled him to sit up. As they did this both felt something strange on his arms.
“What is on you? Did he fall in something?” Clay wondered looking at the strange substance that was now on his hands and Macy added, “it’s slimy, gravelly and smells weird yet also kind of flowery.”
“Oh that was from us,” Merlok stated and Misako elaborated, “we were trying out the effects different alchemical ingredients have on the Blight and it’s markings.”
“We were attempting to find something to alleviate the burning feeling from the markings and possibly hide them so they do not disturb the people,” Merlok explained before Aaron commented scratching his arms which under the sleeves of his shirt were not only coated in the stuff but quite red, “it still burns and itches but now it hurts to scratch.”
“Yha, that is likely from the Ice Thistle. I believe we did not prepare it properly. Like all thistles the leaves have hard fibres’ sticking off them to irritate the flesh of potential consumers in order to keep itself safe. I think those are the problem. It is probably best he washes them off to prevent any further irritation or any harm,” Merlok explained.
“How’s this we’ll get you cleaned up and get some food into you; you’ll probably feel a lot better after that then we can spend the night relaxing how’s that sound?” Clay proposed and Aaron stated, “you’re not going to leave me alone till I agree are you?”
“Nope,” Macy declared and Aaron reluctantly agreed, “fine. It’s not like anything I do now matters.” They helped him get off the table before taking him to get washed up…
Around thirty minutes after their incident Zane had regained consciousness deeply confused and unsettled thinking what he had gone through was just a terrible dream. His feelings were worsened when the others told him it hadn’t been a dream. Jay didn’t help Zanes mood much with how he described things either.
“You were going psycho nuts trying to kill us and making this dark ice that burned. You slashed me with this dark icy blade you made before trying to rip out my heart then Kais before you tried to stab or maybe cut out Lloyds heart with the same dark blade proclaiming you would paint the ground with his blood! No one could stop you not even the Fear-bricant, you took that thing out on your own! You nearly got Lloyd too if it wasn’t for the Stag blasting you into the bushes and knocking you out with his dark powers. That was just part of the scariness. Afterwards we opened you up and a black mist like the Stags poured out of you and your heart was all charred looking like burning coal with creepy glowing red cracks all over it,” Jay had regaled with a rather dramatic tone which the others all agreed didn’t help. Zane was further disturbed by what they had found in him. They didn’t tell him what Juib had explained not wanting to worsen his mood instead chalking the mist up to an effect of the rage on him. Out of curiosity and to show him he was safe now they checked his heart again. This time there was no dark mist in him and though his heart bore the red markings of the blight it was back to its normal icy color. This didn’t look to improve Zanes mood much. Zane refused to talk about the whole ordeal. They understood and didn’t push him on the subject. They tried to keep him close but Zane refused to co-operate instead wanting to keep some distance between him and the others thinking he was a danger to them. Not wanting to alienate him they didn’t push any further and let him do his thing as they went back to work. Zane distanced himself from the rest of them and refused to talk or even look towards them. Worried they kept an eye on him as they worked. A little over an hour went by before they noticed Zane had stopped working to just look at his hands having put himself some distance from the others.
“Zane are you okay pal?” Kai inquired slowly approaching Zane trying to hide he was nervous. After what had happened earlier they were all nervous to get close to him especially when something seemed off.
“You should not get close to me; the people are right I’m a dangerous monster,” Zane stated taking a few steps away from Kai and Cole was quick to state, “no you’re not.” They stopped their working to console their friend.
“I nearly destroyed all of you…” Zane began and Kai proclaimed putting his arm around Zane to keep him from going anywhere, “it wasn’t your fault though…”
“Yha you were being controlled by this curse. Sure you were being scary and quite monstrous kinda like back in the Never Realm where yha you were being quite a monster, I’d even say you were as monstrous as the Stag then…” Jay babbled not realising what he was saying was just worsening Zanes mood causing Nya to punch him in the shoulder to silence him. After he was punched Jay realised how his words had affected Zane and tried to apologise, “oh I was just trying to…”
“Say I was a monster,” Zane concluded and Jay tried to counteract, “no… that was not what I was getting at.”
“When you’re not in control yha you can be a monster, so can anyone else, but when you’re in control your not a monster, far from it I’d say. Just look when the Stag turned you into one of those creepy bird monsters. You were in control and well despite being a monster you weren’t really a monster,” Kai noted and Cole added, “yha you could have done terrible things to us along with ripping our hearts out for that demon but you didn’t. Instead you turned Jay into a chicken; that was actually rather fun. Too bad we couldn’t have kept him as a chicken longer.” Jay was not amused by that or found the ordeal fun commenting several complaints over how it hadn’t been fun.
“It was a great struggle the whole time not to let the creatures monstrous nature take over; to destroy things and others simply for fun or to cause chaos. I spent over an hour cursed as that thing and even when I was back to normal I could still feel the creatures’ monstrous urges for some time. It was hard to control it,” Zane regaled and Nya noted, “those urges might not have been a result of being one of those monsters or your fault. They were probably from this curse; you heard what they said about this thing, we’ve likely had it since we showed up here and thanks to the Ashers yours was more active.”
“What about in the Never Realm, I was in control then and look what I did,” Zane noted and Lloyd assured, “true but you weren’t yourself. It wasn’t your fault.” No matter what they said they couldn’t improve Zanes mood and he seemed to be withdrawing from them the more they talked to him.
“No it was my fault. I was in control…” Zane began and Cole cut in with, “but you were being manipulated.”
“Even so I should have known better, had more control and self thought but I didn’t… I willingly went along and became a monster. It was entirely my fault. What I have done under the Stags hold and this Blight just proves how much of a monster I really am. You guys shouldn’t get close to me. I can’t keep myself from hurting you. I could snap again and do something serious to hurt you or worse,” Zane declared pushing Kai away from him and moving away from them.
“Zane wait…” Jay began but Lloyd stopped him whispering to the others, “Just let him be.”
“I don’t think we should leave him alone while he is in this state though,” Cole whispered and Nya noted, “true but I don’t know how we could help.” None of them had a clue over what to say or do to help Zane. They reluctantly went back to work but kept an eye on Zane who had moved back several meters to slowly sweep the path with a broom. Even though they didn’t wish to leave him alone they let him have his space while they worked not wanting to further worsen his mood. Kozac who had been tasked with watching them after Zanes rage episode had just watched them all hanging by the outskirts of their work area standing on guard with his arms crossed and helmet off. Kozac was confused over what was going on. He understood the emotions of the others a bit but had no understanding of what they were talking about or if he should react in some way to them. Kozac hadn’t been interested much in the ninja so hadn’t pried much into who they were or their pasts and he was not one for displaying human like behaviours so he didn’t know if he was supposed to do something to intervene with the emotions of them or not. He didn’t think stabilizing their emotions to a calm state went against the Stags orders after all their emotions interfered with their ability to work which could lend them in trouble with the Stag. He didn’t know though what he was to do if he did do anything. DJ would probably know but Kozac didn’t want to get DJ involved. DJ was often very willing to display human like emotions and behaviours which could lead him to get too stimulated and hyper which could really irritate Kozac and he was not in the mood to have to deal with that plus deal with the ninja. Instead he just watched as they continued on working all feeling down that they couldn’t help their brother who couldn’t shake the feeling and thoughts that he was a monster. While attempting to clear some underbrush away from the path the knife Jay was using hit something hard within a tangle of dead shrubs. Before he could react a cow sized Boernix burst out of the shrubs sending the debris everywhere catching all their attentions.
“No don’t eat me!” Jay exclaimed trying to rush away from the beetle only able to get a few feet before the beast knocked him over and grabbed onto his one leg with its mandibles. Before anyone could react it tossed Jay away into the pile of debris they had cleared off the path that lay nearby. It then went back to where it had been laying and plopped down so only its back and top of its head could be seen above the ground.
“What was that for?” Jay complained getting up and Cole noted, “well you did hit it in the back with a knife while it was sleeping… I’d be mad too if someone did that to me.”
“Just work around it,” Lloyd acknowledged as they continued to work. They were all in agreement. It wasn’t uncommon for them to encounter animals along the path while they worked. Creatures looked to like using the area as an easy way to get through the brush of the area. Generally all they had to do to avoid complications was give the animal its space. They all went back to work while Jay got up cleaning dirt and twigs off himself. He went to retrieve his knife which he had dropped when he fell. As he got close the beetle jumped up again and charged at him to fling Jay away with its head before heading to lay back at its spot. It stopped however halfway there to turn and face Jay who had gotten up to again try to retrieve his tool. It rushed at Jay who quickly bolted away to climb with a bit of a struggle into the lower branches of a nearby tree. It rammed it’s head into the tree before pulling back to look up at him.
“What did I do to deserve that? I wasn’t even close to you!” Jay exclaimed clinging to the tree.
“Cause it probably hates you,” Kai joked to Jays dislike before Nya noted inspecting where the beetle had been laying, “no it’s probably because she thinks you’re going to hurt her babies. She is sitting on a nest.” Where the beetle had been laying was a ditch in the ground filled with soft skinned greyish eggs. Seeing Jay was staying in the tree the beetle turned back to head to her nest. Not wanting to make her mad everyone gave her space and moved away from her nest. Once at her nest she hunkered back down over her eggs. Once she was back on her nest Jay tried to climb out of the tree but before he could get too far the beetle stood up looking at him. Worried of being attacked Jay remained in the tree and the beetle settled back down.
“What, am I supposed to stay up here then?” Jay yelled at the beetle who ignored him and Lloyd suggested, “maybe just give her time to calm down before getting down; you did after all hit her in the back with a sharp object while she’s protecting her babies. She probably feels threatened and just needs some time to calm down.”
“Then what am I supposed to do in the meantime? This tree isn’t very comfortable,” Jay complained and Kai suggested, “I don’t know count the leaves or something unless you want mommy beetle to bat you around like a beach ball.”
While Jay was stuck in the tree wondering what to do the others continued to work. Thinking he should still be strong enough to lift the large trunk of what looked to be some sort of pine that had fallen on the path Cole started to lift it up to move it off the path. He struggled a bit feeling weak and stiff from the Blight but managed to get it resting up on his one shoulder before realizing he was in trouble. He was too weak to hold it up and was struggling to not be crushed under it. He felt if it did fall on him it at least probably wouldn’t kill him but sure would cause some notable harm if it did.
“Guess these bracers block my super strength as well,” Cole commented before calling out starting to slip as he struggled holding up the trunk, “Uh guys… I need some help!” Kai came over to give him a hand and the two lifted up the trunk as best they could so Cole could try and get out from under it however they both quickly started to struggle with it. The trunk was heavier than it looked and damp making it a bit slippery. It started to slip from their grips with them still under it. Seeing they needed more help Nya went to offer help but feeling dizzy tripped on her way over. Lloyd went to help her up while Zane who had been watching all that was going on from where he had distanced himself couldn’t help but come to their aid trying to help Cole and Kai with the tree.
“See you’re no monster, if you were you wouldn’t come to our aid,” Cole commented as Zane came to help them and Kai commented starting to feel some rain, “uh didn’t they say they would hold off the rain systems while we worked? If so then why’s it raining?” The light drizzle soon turned into a deluge quickly soaking the area. The dirt covered ground became muddy and the moss coated log slippery making the three struggle before the log slipped from their hands to land atop them pinning them under it. Lloyd and Nya who still felt dizzy came to their aid but like the three were struggling in the mud and with the slippery log. Despite the aid the rain made the log and ground slippery making it hard to get a good enough grip or footing. Added on to this they all could feel the Blight giving them trouble weakening them or messing with their ability to move or their strength making it hard to help Cole, Zane and Kai out from under the log.
“hmm… who called up the storm?” Kozac who was watching the ninja commented confused over the rain and the clouds that had developed over the area. As far as he knew there was no wet weather planned for that day so he had no clue what was going on. Despite the ninjas struggles he wasn’t going to help them, it went against the Stags orders and he wasn’t going to disobey his master. They had to try and get out of this themselves.
Jay wanted to go help but was scared the beetle who had hunkered down from the rain putting some conifer branches over itself to shelter from the rain would attack him if he left the tree. He called out to Kozac to get him to help them pointing towards the others but before he could finish what he was saying he was shocked to realise he shot a lightning bolt towards the others where it struck a tree close to them braking it in half and lighting both parts on fire. The top half that got broken off collapsed onto the ground nearly hitting Nya and Lloyd as they struggled slipping in the mud to help the other three get out from under the log which now pinned them down in the mud. Zane tried to put out the fires as he lay trapped on his back in the mud under the tree but he couldn’t muster his powers confusing him.
“Zane that’s not helping,” Kai commented catching Zanes attention. To his surprise his powers had been working but he wasn’t in control of them. He was causing ice to build up on the log, the ground around them and was starting to cool the area. He tried to stop it but couldn’t. Ice continued to build up and the area continued to chill. The ice he made caused the five of them to get stuck to the log and the ground and kept building up despite them all trying to break themselves free of it. It even started building up on their skins. Willing to risk the beetles wrath Jay jumped down out of the tree and rushed over to help the others only to slip on the icy mud that was created around them. He crashed into Lloyd and Nya knocking all three into the mud where Zanes malfunctioning powers started freezing them to the ground.
Seeing things were just getting worse and the six were struggling clearly unable to deal with the situation they had gotten themselves into and knowing he wasn’t equipped to help them Kozac called in some aid. Aid was there within ten minutes. After twenty minutes with Divayths, Divayths four daughter clones, Juibs and several other hyenoids and constructs including a centurion and Scimitar Hoofivores help they managed to get the ninja unstuck from the icy mud, remove the large amounts of ice that had built up on all of them and take the tree off Cole, Zane and Kai. The three had some injuries from the incident which the constructs saw to once they were safe and all of them were covered in mud and bits of plant debris. While the constructs tended to them Juib inspected them highly intrigued by the malfunctioning powers. The area was still chilled causing a cold mist to develop in the surrounding area thanks to Zanes powers and as it turned out the rain was due to Nyas powers not only creating the rain but bursting pipes along the caverns ceiling that provided water for the caverns weather simulating systems causing the heavy down pour that was still going. To keep them dry and to tend to them the constructs had put up an open tent and put the ninja under it.
“See you’re no monster. A monster would have left us to be crushed but you didn’t. You came to help us. Sure it didn’t go so well and we still kinda got crushed but you came to help. If you’re a monster than so are the rest of us,” Kai proclaimed shivering from being wet and the cold Zane was uncontrollably creating. All even Zane were not feeling comfortable from the cold and wet trying to warm up. Even though he was still not in the best of moods and was disturbed by how his powers were malfunctioning and affecting him Zane was starting to feel comforted by his words.
“After our little screw up here I wouldn’t be surprised if some of those here think we’re monsters,” Cole commented trying to warm up before Kai began to panic as his hands started on fire without his doing causing him to remark, “oh great not again!” Taking advantage of Kais power screw up and thinking Zane might be amused by his actions cheering him up a bit Jay came over to warm himself from the fire on Kais hands which Kai was unable to put out.
“This screw up isn’t so bad. If we only had some marshmallows we could have a warm sweet snack while we warm up,” Jay remarked and Kai stated not fully amused, “ha ha very funny.” The rest of them even Zane were amused by Jays actions and took to trying to warm themselves off Kais fire while the constructs worked to clean up the mess they had made.
In Balmora Clay, Macy and Axl had helped Aaron take care of himself. Afterwards Clay helped Aaron who was dressed in his commoners’ clothes into the recreation room where most of the others were hanging out and sat him on the couch. Aaron was a bit unsteady on his feet and limping a bit from the wound on his leg. Lance was playing a video game with Jestro who though trying his best was not keeping up very well with him still just learning the controls.
“Sorry about passing out in the shower and the messes in the laundry room and bathroom; I probably shouldn’t have leaned on those cabinets. In my defence I thought they were sturdier. I’m also sorry for knocking over a bunch of things in the kitchen… I just feel so un-bowdaciously tired and dizzy today. Also sorry for getting blood on you and Macy… I didn’t realize I’d torn the stitches in my leg. Probably happened when I knocked the shelf over,” Aaron expressed a bit drowsy as he sat down next to Jestro.
“That’s okay. No harm was done and we can get things cleaned up and don’t worry your blood was just on Macy and I’s gloves so it won’t infect us with Blight and we can wash it out of the towels; Merlok confirmed a simple cleaning will prevent the towels from infecting anyone. Now I think you should take things easy for the rest of the day. I think a nap will do you some good,” Clay suggested and Aaron agreed, “yha that will probably help.”
“Now I’m going to help Axl put things back together in the kitchen while you should take it easy,” Clay stated starting to head out of the room before Robin contacted the knights.
“The town council has contacted us with some work. They’ve gotten some advice of a possible group of bandits working with the necromancers operating somewhere within town boarders. They want us to route them out and take them down,” Robin explained and the knights began to get ready. Feeling it was still his duty to work as a knight despite not being in the best condition to do so Aaron began to get up to get ready.
“I think you should sit this one out you’re not in any shape to be doing any work, just relax and take a nap. You can join us next time,” Clay proclaimed. Even though he wanted to help Aaron had to agree, “I guess you’re right. I’m not of any use rate now am I?”
“Hey if you want to help out you can always keep an eye on joke boy here for us and keep him out of trouble,” Lance joked before they left Jestro not happy with how others still thought he would cause trouble.
“Hey I’ve been doing pretty good at staying out of trouble haven’t I? Hey would you like to play with me? I think I’m starting to get the hang of this game,” Jestro commented and Aaron stated, “not now, I think I’m just going to veg.” Aaron put his one arm over his eyes trying to fall asleep. He couldn’t get to sleep though, the Blights markings were irritating him and making it hard to relax. Jestro kept playing the game trying to get better. After a while Misako and Merlok came into the room.
“We’d like if you boys could come with us. We need to get some supplies and Clay has asked us to pick up a few groceries. We could use some help,” Misako inquired as the two came in. Jestro was quick to agree to help and after a quick thought Aaron decided to join. Since he was finding it hard to relax he decided it might be good to go for a walk.
“Wait won’t they not be happy to see Merlok since he’s a machine version of one of those strange tree reptiles?” Jestro wondered and with a wave from a small staff Robin had made for his new form Merlok created an illusion making his robotic form resemble one of the normal Tree-bill creatures while still wearing his hat. With his disguise up they headed out. They brought along Robins Mini-trex to help with carrying some things giving Jestro the controls in the form of a wireless joystick for it. They went to several shops picking a few things up. People weren’t suspicious of Merloks disguise instead thinking he was their little pet. A few people had even given him treats mainly a piece of fruit or a bug which even though he was grossed out by the bugs Merlok would take them mimicking how the real Tree-bills acted to help keep up the illusion. To aid the illusion he also held off talking around people. If he was to say anything he would hop up on the others shoulder and whisper the words in their ear so the towns people couldn’t hear him. After a while Aaron pulled his hood up trying to cover his eyes as he was starting to feel light headed from his eyes becoming very sensitive to light. Most of the people in town were defiantly wary of Aarons condition but they luckily tolerated him and didn’t try to drive him off or say rude things to him. One of the last places they checked was a shop with a display cabinet and counter built into the outer wall of the shop. While Misako and Merlok who the vendor gently discouraged from touching anything thinking he was just an animal, looked over the wares a bunch of fruits and veg along with some meats mainly fish, poultry, meat pieces from Kaguars and live insects which were held in lidded tanks Jestro took note that Aaron wasn’t with them. Looking around he couldn’t see Aaron nearby.
“Uh guys Aarons missing,” Jestro commented catching the other twos attentions.
“This isn’t good; he might have entered the Blights trance. That will be very bad,” Misako noted and hopping onto the Mini-trex Merlok noted, “I sense he is not too far away. Give me a moment and I should be able to pinpoint his location…”
“Is this Aaron a person like you? You know non beast folk, wearing a green hooded shirt, clearly has the Blight and has a funny way of talking?” a cat folk who was helping the vendor stock his supplies from a crate he had brought over asked.
“Funny way of talking?” Misako was a bit confused by that statement and the folk elaborated, “when I asked him what he was doing he told me and these are the words he used ‘just leave me here to veg man till the world stops spinning or I become one with the ground.’ People around here don’t usually talk like that.”
“That sounds like him,” Jestro commented and Misako noted, “he must be going through a bout of dizziness. We should get him back to the ship. Do you know where he is?”
“Yha he’s laying in an alley way two buildings down that way. I get he’s not feeling the greatest but he shouldn’t just be laying on the ground like he is. He could get hurt. He could get stepped on, run over, animals could try to eat him you name it. You should really get him to where you’re staying and in bed. He’ll be in a better safer situation there.” Following the folks directions they headed to the alley where they found Aaron splayed out on his back on the ground in the middle of the alley. He looked to be sleeping with his one arm over his eyes.
“Dude just let me be,” Aaron moaned as they approached and Merlok stated, “I think we should get you back to the Fortrex so you can have a rest in safety.”
“Oh hey Merlok, give me a little while for the world to stop spinning and I’ll head back,” Aaron stated and Jestro commented, “you’re not really in a safe place.”
“I know just if I make any moves I get so dizzy I fall over; I’m pretty sure if I try to go anywhere I’ll pass out on the way,” Aaron stated and Misako suggested, “we could help you. You just keep your eyes closed and Jestro can support you and help you make your way back.” They could hear a commotion at the opposite end of the alley way before a rather ruff looking ungulate folk came rushing into the alleyway a strange sack in his one hand and focussing behind him as he ran knocking over some crates and barrels that sat in the alleyway as he ran in hopes to thwart anyone chasing them.
“Don’t let him get away!” they could hear Clay yell as the folk rushed into the alley then before any of them knew it the folk fell hard on the floor having tripped over Aaron winding him in the process the sack he carried coming to land by Jestros feet startling him as something in the sack was moving and giving off an insect like buzzing.
“Oh hey, didn’t expect to see you guys out here,” Macy expressed as she and Clay came running up to them chasing the bandit who Merlok went and sat on to keep them from getting up.
“We were just picking up a few things,” Misako stated before Clay and Macy noticed Aaron who looked like he had just got run over by a car and expressed he and Macy worried over his state, “Aaron are you okay?!”
“I’d rather be run over by a horse cart again than feel like this!” Aaron moaned without moving.
“Hey look at that you did manage to still help out despite your condition,” Jestro noted to which Clay commented as he cuffed the bandit, “I guess it was a good thing we ran into you but you should really be resting back in the Fortrex.”
“I tried to rest but this Blight is just too irritating, thought a walk could help… it clearly didn’t,” Aaron moaned still not moving and Merlok regaled, “we were just about to take him back before you rushed in. I see you found the bandits.”
“Yep, they were setting up colonies of those demon half bug critters the Vesparilions and Serpent-flies in parts of the city,” Macy explained hitting a Vesparilion that tore its way out of the sack with its beak and stinger with her mace so it couldn’t get away causing it to explode and dissipate into a dark void green tinted smoke and Clay added, “we’re going to get these bandits to the guards and then we have to help the guard eradicate the nests of these things they already got established then we’ll be headed back to the Fortrex. We probably won’t be back till late so you’ll be having dinner without us. Make sure Aaron gets to bed early and make sure the armoury is locked with the new code so Aaron can’t get in there during his trances again.”
“Don’t worry we will get it done. I think we will give him some of that potion Divayth gave us and put him in his room for a nap when we get back to the ship,” Misako stated and Merlok inquired, “if at all possible see if you can capture at least one of these Vesparilion and Serpent-fly creatures so we can study them. It could prove useful to the whole Void Breach and Blight to learn more about the dark magic being used here.” Clay and Macy agreed as they took the bandit away. Jestro helped Aaron who was roughed up along with being tired and dizzy to his feet. Merlok, Misako, Aaron and Jestro then headed back to the Fortrex bringing the supplies they had got back with them Merlok controlling the Mini-trex while perched atop it.
Back in the Forbidden City the hyenoids had brought the Ninja back to their room after their accident. They were all congregated in the bathroom with Kozac and Naryu, one of Divayths daughter clones, watching over them and helping them out. The bathroom was a rather large and spacious room with eight shower stalls along with a few toilet stalls and sinks. The rain was still falling in the cavern thanks to the broken system even though it had slowed down since Nya had regained control of her powers but the damp conditions and with them all dirty along with it getting late Juib had decided they could call it a day and let the ninja get cleaned up. Kozac had brought the ninja back to their room with Naryu who had brought them supplies for cleaning and some clean clothes for them. All of them were there getting ready to clean up the Blight giving them troubles. Nya was already in one of the stalls getting cleaned up. The others were getting their supplies from Naryu.
“My head feels… off,” Cole moaned rubbing his forehead and Zane who was holding his one hand to his head looking to be in pain while taking off his dirty clothes getting ready to get into his stall commented, “what do you mean by off? Do you mean like unusual surges of energy are pulsing through your neural networks sparking a pain that feels as if it is comparable to your brain having swelled too large for your skull? If so I know how you feel.”
“Geeze just hearing you describe it like that makes me feel the pain of it,” Jay commented and Cole replied, “no it’s more of like I’m light headed.”
“Probably just low blood sugar,” Kai suggested carrying the towel and soaps he had been given to clean up with to his stall his joints feeling sore and stiff. Cole had his supplies and had been prepping to start his shower but had paused because of the strange feelings in his head.
“Take off your dirty clothes and leave them outside your stall and we will take them to be cleaned. We have a change of clothes for you; they are your bed attires. Like your extra undergarments and commoners clothes we retrieved them from your land ship before the knights left for the safety of Balmora. Given your states we felt you might be wanting to be ready for bed earlier than usual,” Naryu explained handing a towel and cleaning supplies to Jay. She was standing by a cabinet in the room to get out supplies for the ninja while Kozac was standing in the doorway to the bathroom leaning with his back against the frame and arms crossed. The two were talking with each other and watching over the ninja in case one of them had a problem. Kozac added looking his usual un-amused self, “once you are cleaned up you will be fed and given time to do as you please before you are to enter sleep mode and this time if the red one starts himself on fire again we have extinguishers to put him out.”
“I guess that’s better than being beaten with a blanket to put it out,” Kai commented as he prepped his shower struggling to get his pants off as it hurt to bend his legs. Once given their supplies Kozac went around collecting their clothes bringing them to a basket Naryu had brought for their clothes while Naryu went around checking on those already in the shower. Nya was doing fine though felt embarrassed that she had damaged some of the caverns systems with her power screw up, Jay needed her to start his shower as every time he tried to touch the taps he was getting shocked a result of his powers malfunctioning because of his tired state, Lloyd was having trouble balancing and had fallen over giving himself a cut on his forehead and a mild concussion. Naryu was going to wait till he was done his shower before stitching up the cut on his forehead and fully dealing with his concussion though she was going to keep a close eye on him to make sure the concussion didn’t give him problems. To prevent him from falling and hurting himself more Naryu got him a seat to use so he could take it easy and didn’t fall over again. When checking on Zane she found he had collapsed curled up asleep on the floor in his shower.
“I don’t feel very good,” Zane moaned as Naryu woke him up and helped him to his feet to which she responded, “well you had a pretty rough day. Get cleaned up, use some Scymer oil on your joints and since you had a serious taxing to your power source today I would recommend you fill your digestive system as full as possible to help your heart recover by restoring the excess energy taken from it today before you enter sleep mode… where is your soap?” While helping Zane get stable on his feet Naryu looked around for the soap she had given him to help him get started in cleaning but she couldn’t see it confusing her. Zane looked around as well but couldn’t see it and wasn’t sure what had happened to it. Looking in the rest of the bathroom she saw it with some other soaps and shampoos along with some towels and a few other items lying in the center of the room on the floor.
“I was looking for this… how did it get here?” Kai wondered picking up his shampoo. He had been cleaning up when he found his shampoo missing. He came out of the shower a towel wrapped around himself to look for it thinking someone was playing a joke on him to find it placed in a pile of debris in the middle of the room.
“Cole what are you doing?! You have your own shampoo use that,” Nya yelled shoving Cole away from her shower stall surprised and angry to have found him taking her shampoo while her back was turned. Cole was oblivious to her actions and words and simply carried the bottle to the pile in the room and started fixing it and the other items into a tower shape taking the shampoo back from Kai for his tower muttering as he went, “dragons are in the tower, the tower of first light. The dragons must set things right.” The others all peaked out to see what was going on confused. Cole was still partially dressed and clearly hadn’t started his shower yet still muddy with plant debris in his hair. Cole had taken a few things from the others mainly their soaps along with various things he had pulled out of the cabinet to build his ‘tower’.
“Looks like someone’s entered the Blights trance; Kozac take over with the others while I deal with him,” Naryu ordered going over to usher Cole away from the tower he was making to his shower stall.
“The tower… the tower needs dragons…” Cole was mumbling as she dragged him away. He looked very agitated to be pulled away from his ‘tower’ but wasn’t putting up much of a fight and was oblivious to everything around him.
“Yes you are in a tower this mountain is sometimes called the Tower of Dawn now come you can build a tower later. I will get you something you can build with without taking things from your clan mates. Rate now it is time to get cleaned up. Just because you are the master of earth I do not think you want to be covered in it do you? Now let us get you cleaned up. You haven’t even combed out your hair or taken some of your clothes off yet,” Naryu stated as she took Cole to his shower stall to get him cleaned up. Kozac meanwhile cleaned up the ‘tower’ he had made putting the towels in the laundry basket, putting other items back in the cabinet and giving the items he took from the others back so they could continue their showers. Cole had taken Kais shampoo which Kai had recovered, Jays soap and shampoo which Kozac gave back to him to which Jay was nervous of having Kozac interact with him, Zanes soap, Lloyds towel and shampoo and Nyas shampoo. Most of them were fine with Kozacs help, Jay however refused to take the items directly from Kozac who had to leave them on the floor for Jay to take. Kozac was confused by Jays reaction to his help not understanding Jays fearful demeanour.
“Here malady, I believe this is yours,” Kozac stated as he held out Nya’s shampoo for her making sure to not to look at her even though she was covering herself with her showers curtain.
“Thank you… you can be quite chivalrous can’t you. You know if you showed a softer side like this to Jay he wouldn’t be so scared of you,” Nya noted having seen his reaction with Jay and having noted Kozacs confusion. It took them all around an hour to get cleaned up. To keep Cole from wandering off while in the trance Naryu gave him some rubber ducks which they usually used to calm animals so they could wash them to stack while she worked on cleaning him up. It kept him distracted and in his shower. He came out of the trance after half an hour and was embarrassed and uncomfortable with the hyenoid cleaning him and after their showers when he had heard what he had done quickly apologized for his actions feeling greatly embarrassed especially to Nya. They all understood. They all went through the Blights Trance at least once a day and knew what it was like. None of them enjoyed the trance. They had some time to relax after their showers before dinner which Jay spent most of the time searching the TV in their room to look for something to watch that wasn’t upsetting, unnerving or worrisome. They didn’t get much on the TV in their room as Holomaya didn’t get many channels and to help their mood knowing things were not going well outside the city and knowledge of this would only hurt the ninjas feelings the hyenoids had put further restrictions on channels. They could connect the TV to an online video app through the internet though and Jay found some videos DJ had made and put up of him playing some video games where he tended to love messing around in them and causing havoc just for fun. To keep it unknown that he was a droid DJ had altered his voice to sound human for the videos and when he showed himself he cloaked himself to resemble a pale greyish brown hyena folk so he didn’t look robotic though he kept his hair the same color. Of all the caverns inhabitants Jay was most comfortable with and relaxed around DJ and even enjoyed his company. The others guessed it was likely because of DJ’s friendly, fun loving and human like personality. While they waited for dinner most of them just lay about feeling sore and tired on some floor cushions that had been added to their room for the ninja to use. Naryu stitched and bandaged up the cut on Lloyds forehead while they waited. When they got dinner they were all slow to eat it not feeling much in the mood and tired. When they finally were finished with dinner, after nearly two hours, they decided to call it an early night feeling too tired and sore to do anything else that day. It took a while of tossing and turning all sore and feeling like their skin was burning before any of them were able to fall asleep. Before he could fall asleep Zane fell into the Blights Trance and to Lloyds shock as he tried to fall asleep dragged Lloyd out of his bed to use him in his ‘tower’. To help the others so they could get some sleep and keep Zane somewhat in control till the trance was over Kozac set out some building block toys on the floor around Zane to give him something to use in his tower that wouldn’t cause disturbances to others. The hyenoids had come up with the idea after a few nights having at least one of the ninja enter the trance and since they couldn’t leave their room would start taking anything they could find including the others pillows, blankets and even each other to build their towers with. All they had to do was scatter the blocks on the floor around the individual and it seemed to work. Once his trance was over Zane simply fell asleep on the floor leading Kozac to have to put him in his bed. After putting Zane in bed he cleaned up the building blocks. On his way back to his post by the door Kozac noticed a skeever teddy on the floor next to Jays bed. Even though Jay often tried to hide it they all knew after some of the hyenoids had given it to him as a gift during their early days in the city that Jay slept cuddled with it every night. After receiving it Jay kept thinking for several hours there was something hidden in it or it was cursed but he had warmed up to it. Guessing Jay had accidently dropped it in his sleep Kozac picked it up and gently put it back in Jays arms while he slept before heading back to the doorway to lean against it putting himself in a standby mode to rest but so he could be awoken by any possible disturbance. Unknown to Kozac Jay was still up. He had been having trouble getting to sleep unsettled that a dream he had became partially true and nervous of falling asleep where he might have more unsettling dreams. While trying to get comfortable and relax he had accidently dropped the teddy which he had come to feel comforted by and was afraid to make any move to retrieve it having noted Kozac still up. Jay didn’t want to do anything to catch Kozacs attention scared of him so was pretending to be asleep waiting for Kozac to go rest by the door. Jay had been surprised and a little shocked by Kozac giving him back the teddy and by him being rather gentle with it. He was used to Kozacs rather rough and hard demeanour. He felt a bit warmed by Kozacs actions which helped him relax enough to fall asleep.
In Balmora after getting Aaron back to the Fortrex they gave him some of the potion Divayth had given them. It worked a bit alleviating his dizziness but he was still sore and tired. While Misako made dinner aided by some of the Squirebots Ava and Merlok did some research on these creatures the others were dealing with to help them find and eliminate the colonies while Robin and Jestro got Aaron to play some video games with them to cheer him up and keep him occupied. It did help him out. The rest of the knights didn’t get back to the Fortrex till around 9:30. The others had already put Aaron to bed by this time and were just hanging out in the recreation room waiting for their return Ava and Robin playing with Jestro at some video games while Misako and Merlok watched them. The knights had managed to get a specimen of both a Vesparilion and a Serpent-fly to study bringing them back in strange magic imbued metal cages and placing them on the table in the room. They were all unsettled by the creatures which were attempting to find a way to break through the cage or at the least harm them through the cages bars.
“We saved you some dinner,” Misako told the knights as they entered the room all worn and dirty with some of them mainly Lance covered in a strange slimy reddish goo.
“Thanks, I think we’ll get cleaned up first then we’ll have some. Those things are real nasty when you get them in a swarm,” Macy declared and Clay added, “we found at least fifteen colonies they had set up in the town. We’re not sure if the bandits established all of them or if some came from outside the city but we at least got rid of them all. Sadly with the Ashers using these things as secretive living stealth weapons this probably won’t be the last time we have to deal with them.”
“Before anyone complains the smell is not from me, the bird-bugs like to vomit on you as a defence,” Lance stated when Ava commented about the unpleasant odour they brought into the room.
“Hopefully then we can learn a bit about these things to better prepare, identify and deal with them,” Merlok declared hopping on the table to get a look at the creatures making sure to keep some distance back from them.
“Hopefully, these things don’t bode well,” Clay noted and Macy added, “yha some of the guard told us the Ashers have started using these for early attacks and scouting before bigger attacks… how’s Aaron? Have you guys learned anymore on this Blight?”
“He’s doing better. We haven’t had much trouble since we got him back. To try combating some of the problems he’s having and hopefully keep him in bed for the night we turned the temperature down in his room. Something about the cold helps combat some of the Blights symptoms,” Misako noted and while inspecting the bug monsters Merlok noted, “it likely has to do with the cold being the opposite to the burning source this curse comes from… interesting the magic these monsters come from has hints to that which this Blight gives off. It is a dark energy that while lacking a true temperature burns seeking to devour and destroy the light of the world like a fire; the same dark nature given by those Ashers. Odd then that sufferers of the Blight reference and have an attraction to the Stag a being that while dark is the exact opposite in nature to the Ashers. His sphere is of a cold, calculating and patient nature. Logic would dictate if it came from the Ashers then sufferers of Blight should be attracted to the Ashers not the Stag.”
“That is strange. Well we’ll leave you to your research. We’re going to get cleaned up and try and rest for the rest of the evening. It’s only a matter of time before we’re going to have to deal with a true Ashers attack and we need to be in the best possible shape for when that happens,” Clay noted as the knights started to head off to get ready for the night.
While they went on with their night and the ninja were in bed in the Holomaya cavern Divayth and his daughter-clone Caska led Juib back to his dwelling. They had found him in the Blights trance wandering through some garden areas of the town section. Thanks to the Stags interference with Juibs Blight he didn’t usually say anything or perform the odd stacking when he entered the trance but he did end up mindlessly wandering for the time. None of the others ever gave him a hassle or teased him about it. Instead they kept an eye on him to make sure he didn’t get hurt. Juibs trances weren’t so bad unlike Celaenas which led her to often fly around aimlessly often causing her to crash into pillars, buildings, foliage even the ground. This had led them to often lock her in a cage when she was in the trance to keep her safe from crashing into things.
“I will be okay now. You did not need to come with me,” Juib stated to the other two droids as they followed him into his home.
“We just wanted to make sure you made it home safely besides we thought you might like to take the night off to relax and have some tea with company,” Divayth stated and Caska added, “it has been a while since you took time to relax and just hang out with the rest of us. You are always working…”
“I know it is just I have much work to do. The Blight will not cure itself and we are running out of time,” Juib regaled and Divayth noted, “that may be true but that is no reason to drag yourself out. You need time to relax and recharge just like the rest of us.”
“You know the dragons are right, maybe if you take a break, get out and see things, experience things it might help you in your research. You’ve been going at it for two years with little time away from your studies and when you are not studying you are working for the Stag and the rest of us. You are going to burn yourself out at this rate,” Caska stated and Divayth added, “it will not change any of our views on you if you took some time off my old friend.”
“I know it is just I cannot stop, I need to get this done…” Juib stated and Divayth questioned, “do you really or are you doing it because you are afraid of what he will say about it?” By Juibs silence both he and his daughter had a feeling that was the case and Divayth regaled, “you have loyally served him far longer than most here realise. I’m sure he would understand and not punish you for taking a break.”
“It is late you should head home for some rest,” Juib stated after a while of silence and knowing Juib was stubborn and not going to easily change his mind Divayth stated, “true but that does not mean you should work yourself to death. You should take time to rest. Promise me you will at least start taking time to rest and think about taking some time off. You are not alone in this endeavour. I and many others here are willing to aid you in your research. All you have to do is ask.”
“I promise I will consider your offer,” Juib stated and with that after a bow of respect to each other Divayth and Caska left headed for their home. After they left Juib headed up to his study to clean and organise some things before he was going to enter a sleep mode. He had left things in a bit of a mess when he entered the Blights trance. As he stacked some papers Juib became aware of a dark energy in the one corner of the room in his study.
“I have come for a report,” he heard the Stag inquire. Turning Juib saw the Stag in his elk headed man form standing there holding a spear in his one hand using it like a staff with a tattered cape over his shoulders. A dark mist emanated from around his feet and his presence chilled the room and darkened the corner.
“Well as you saw the ninja have started entering the stage of Blight when rage episodes begin to occur,” Juib regaled and the Stag noted, “I am aware, I do believe we have precautions set up.” The Stag was very calm, mono in tone and emotionless as he talked to Juib not moving from his location in the corner.
“We do,” Juib stated and the Stag inquired, “what about the other disturbances in the cavern.” He looked over to the dead body of a small burrowing relative of the Kaguar known as an Ekindahog that lay on Juibs worktable. A patrol in the cavern had found it and several other creatures in a secluded section of the cavern all of which had been drained of blood.
“We have located and are dealing with them. A nest of Vesparilions were responsible for this. This is the second nest we have found this week. It would appear the Ashers are looking for a way into the city. So far only Vesparilions and Serpent flies have made it in. We do know the Ashers placed several colonies of both in the forests around the outside of the mountain. We believe the creatures we are finding in the cavern are from those colonies. They got in through natural vents in the cavern and are scouting out possible ways into the city for the Ashers. We have removed all traces of them within the cavern. Currently we have several groups scouting out tunnels and mine shafts connected to the city to eradicate any they find and for the time being meshes are being placed over vents to hinder their access to the city. We tried to simply eradicate the colonies closest to the mountain but they recover quicker than we can remove them. We are working on possible wards to place around the mountain to hinder their approach but they are getting more powerful thanks to work by the Ashers,” Juib regaled and the Stag stated, “I see. I will personally aid in the eradication of all sites and entities of Asher alliance within a several yard parameter around the mountain. That will hinder their progress into the city and set them back in their work. What about the work I tasked you on, have you found anything new?”
“I am afraid to say not much… I have noticed though. Mutterings from the trance always reference a tower but there are some instances of where inflicted reference you my lord. If this curse was made by the Ashers I get the tower part as it likely references their mountain where the curse likely originates but the references to you I do not understand. Are you aware of why the Ashers seem to have tied you into their curse? Are you aware of any possible link between you and the Blight?” Juib wondered and after a moment’s thought the Stag stated his voice calm and even, “I am not aware of any link… if there is one then only the monsters who created it know the answer to that. Is there anything else to report?”
“Are you aware you have planted a piece of the void in the dragon of ice?” Juib inquired and the Stag calmly explained, “I am aware.” Juib was confused.
“Why did you do it? You do realise the risks of that? The harm it could do to him?” Juib noted and the Stag declared, “I do. Unless he wishes to use it the void is harmless, it will be no different than the air within him. You and the others would not understand why I have done it but it is required. Dagon has his dragon of the void and I shall have mine. I would not bother with it for now, one day you will all understand. Until that time it is of no importance.” Juib paused hesitant to ask but before he could the Stag spoke to him as if knowing what he was going to ask.
“If you wish to take time off from your duties you need not ask me. You have long served me well without question and I know you would never give up on your work. I just ask that you do not forget your researches into the curse and stay within the city. Outside the mountain has become too dangerous especially for one like you. I give you permission to take time to rest and rejuvenate. Now if that is all I will take my leave,” the Stag declared and with a bow of respect to the Stag Juib decreed, “that is all my lord.” With that the Stag strolled out of the room and out of Juibs house leaving Juib with a feeling of relief and comfort.
Notes:
Quick fact: while I mention in the story that the Fear-bricant in the Forbidden City is male I never mention it in the story but the Fear-bricant owned by the town is female.
I imagined DJ would be a gamer like CallMeKevin or RTGame, two gamers I like to watch. He would play simply to mess around and have fun not get serious or dramatic. He cares more about having fun and enjoying himself than winning.
I had a little fun with the format of this chapter. Usually when I switched between groups, characters or major scene changes I would put it as a new section but in this chapter I wrote it so that changes merged into each other making it as one fluid scene despite changes to characters, scenes and events.
While the involvement of blight in the story is inspired by the blight that features in the Elder Scrolls Morrowind and is a main component of the games main story. The Blights symptoms are largely based off those of Lyme disease with some aspect like the rage based off rabies.
If have any questions go ahead and ask I do not bite. I will try to answer them, I will however not give away spoilers.
Chapter 44: Knights and Dragons
Summary:
The Ashers are out to get the knights who try their hands at being ninja in order to thwart the enemies but something goes wrong.
Notes:
Pictures relating to story can be found here: https://www.deviantart.com/nerdy-hyena/gallery/72478681/story-project
They are really good and help to visually flush out several aspects of the story including environments, characters, outfits, locations, creatures and other aspects often important ones in the story. All images I post in my work can be found there if you want a better look at them. Defiantly make sure to check them out.Also if you need a refresher on creatures, flora or aspects of the environment you can check out the second chapter in this work titled 'Keikiarys Guide to the Ash Wastes'. It includes short descriptions and pictures of these things.
Parts of this section are subject to change as the prequel story is written to improve story continuity.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
"Why do we have to do this? None of us are fighters?" one of the folk, a cat folk who looked to be a miner expressed.
“Don’t you want to help protect your town? Your friends and families?” Clay inquired to the group they had gathered with them in Balmoras arena. The knights were training a group of villagers to defend themselves against Ashers to help the town prepare for any attacks. Ava and Robin had managed to fix up and reactivate a few hyenoids from the animal pens for the ring which Ashers had tried to take over only to be obliterated by the Stags forces before being reclaimed by the town. The young knights in training were helping in the training and working with the hyenoids. They had even put Jestro to work giving him some mild armour and a staff for a weapon. They had put him on the side of the hyenoids for the training who were playing the role of the Ashers for the training. With the threats at hand and the threat of something terrible happening to the town they had decided to try and prepare the villagers for defending themselves. They had a group of mainly farmers, miners, shop owners and various inhabitants of the town who had signed up for some training. They even had some folk from Ninjago and Knighton who had opted in for some training feeling it could help protect them. Despite originally desiring to do the training their students now no longer seemed eager to do the training.
"But none of us stand a chance against them. If seasoned warriors don't stand a chance then why would we?" an ungulate folk expressed and the others were in agreement with this person.
“I appreciate the knights enthusiasm for this but it’s easier to train cats than it is to teach people, especially around here,” Tafari expressed while watching from the seating with Misako and Robo-bill Merlok. Some other folk who had nothing else to do with their day including some people from Ninjago and Knighton were watching as well. All seemed down trodden. With everything that was going on with the ninjas capture by a daemon, the ever looming threat of an attack by Ashers and the knights failures to aid the ninja it seemed the general mood of the area had lowered and just seemed to creep lower with each passing day. Some were even swearing the songs of local wildlife like birds and insects seemed down as if they were feeling the same way as the people. The knights seemed like the only ones in this place not letting this dark cloud keep them down.
“You won’t beat them with that attitude. Come on, if us and the ninja could take them on with little training and being new here then you should be able to as well. Just pretend they’re like weeds or an ore vein or someone you hate you know something like that and go at them like you would those,” Aaron expressed before one of the villagers called out, “yha and how’d that go for you. You all had to be saved by that daemon and you got the curse of the wastes. It’s only a matter of time before it turns you into a monster and you end up cursing the rest of us you filthy fetcher.” The markings from Aarons Blight were now noticeable through his clothes and armour and many of the villagers had taken note of it. Most were clearly not pleased by it and several had made comments that they should put Aaron down before he infected someone else. It was disheartening for them to hear and they worried how his Blight would affect the villagers attitude towards them. The people from Ninjago and Knighton were wary of Aarons Blight but it didn’t seem to affect the knights relations to them but they were guessing that might be because they did not completely understand the condition nor did they have experience with it. After all the curse was native to the Lost Realm not Ninjago or Knighton. The folk from the Lost realm however were starting to distrust the knights not happy with their decision to accept and care for Aaron. Most of them wanted him put down like he was vermin proclaiming he would infect the rest of them if they didn’t. They were choosing to ignore what they were saying. It was not up to them what happened to Aaron. As far as they could tell Aaron still seemed to be taking his state pretty well most days however the others were wondering if it was starting to take a toll on him and he was just hiding how he felt to keep up appearances.
The symptoms were getting worse and new ones were starting to appear every few days. They were no longer getting surprised to find Aaron some mornings sleeping in random parts of the ship, sometimes in weird places. So far they had found him sleeping in the middle of the hall, on the round table, on the control board for the computers, on the dining table, on the back of the couch in the recreation room, lying upside down having fallen off Clays bed while apparently trying to climb it to stack items on its top cover and on a sink in the bathrooms. With most of these they had found random items he had stacked during the night near him. The first few times whoever found him would drag him back to his bed but as time went on they got tired of dragging him back to his bed and just took to throwing a blanket on him and leaving him where they had found him till he woke up. The one day he had gotten into the armoury and tried to stack some weapons. The tower he had made had fallen over onto him leaving cuts and bruises. After that they kept the armoury and any weapons locked up at all times to prevent that or something worse from happening. They had also taken to try and lock him up in the Fortrex when he entered the Blights trance to keep him from wandering off or getting hurt. Robin had even put traps by the drawbridges controls to keep him from getting outside. Aaron had ended up getting caught a few times in them. Even though Aaron tried to keep up with training exercises he was slowly starting to struggle more and more with keeping up with the others. He was even having trouble keeping up with Jestro who frequently joined them despite not being very good though slowly getting better and even Misako who sometimes joined in for some training to keep ready in case of an attack on the city some days. Recently his bad dreams from the condition had started turning into night terrors. Not only would the terrors wake Aaron up but he often ended up waking everyone else from the noises he would make while sleeping which were often screaming and yelling. He had even fallen out of bed the one morning and at least twice they had found him sleeping in the shower with it on to try and control some of the symptoms of the Blight. The poor sleep he was getting from the condition was causing him to pass out in random places when he got too tired; while training, in the halls, during dinner or breakfast and in the bathroom were just some of the places he had passed out in. Despite what the condition was doing to him Aaron was still trying to keep it together however and remain upbeat but the restless nights were making him tired adding onto the unpleasant conditions of the curse. He was not having a good or easy time with it all and while he tried to remain upbeat all the symptoms plus the Blights mood swings which tended to make him more down than anxious or angry was slowly taking its toll often making him less upbeat than usual.
"His condition is none of your concern. The safety of your home, your friends and family and yourselves should be your priorities and you're not as defenceless as you think," Clay expressed but none of those gathered seemed moved by his comment.
"Why should it matter everything's hopeless, those monsters have won this time. There's no one who stands a chance against Dagon or the Ashers," one of the native folk expressed.
"Well if that's how they feel might as well give up on this idea, we obviously aren't going to get anywhere with them," Lance proclaimed and those they were training abandoned their equipment and began to leave.
"Why are they giving up so easily? There is still a chance we can make it? We can't give up yet," Clay expressed as the knights gathered together.
"Have you seen it out there? The world we know is being fused to other worlds and turned into a dark depressing place ruled by these monsters that neither you guys nor these power gifted ninja stood a chance against. I think I'm with them, it's hopeless," Jestro proclaimed plopping down by them.
"Well that's helpful," Lance commented and Axl wondered noting Aaron seemed distracted, "Are you okay Aaron?"
"If it's from what they said don't listen to them. It wasn't your fault you got cursed and we're not going to treat you any different because of it," Macy stated but Aaron seemed to not hear it.
"What is wrong with them? Do they wish to lose everything? Do they want to fall victim to those monsters?" Aaron expressed looking angrily at the people as they were leaving. The others started to get nervous. His voice sounded a bit off and his eyes seemed weird almost like they had a fiery iridescence or glow to them.
“It’s okay Aaron. I think they’ve just lost hope. Maybe if they just get some good news it might raise their moods,” Clay suggested touching Aarons shoulder, “wow, you feel like your burning up! Maybe you should lay down for a while and get some ice or maybe take a cold shower.”
"Lay down, if they're so willing to give up maybe we should make them lay down in the dirt. You want to give up fine give up. If you want I'll even help them end your world for you since that's clearly what you want," Aaron proclaimed aiming his crossbow at one of the pedestrians shocking the others.
“Aaron don’t! What’s gotten into you!” Clay panicked pulling Aarons crossbow away so he missed hitting the person his bolt instead impacting into the ground by them. Clay tried to pull the crossbow away from Aaron but Aaron wasn’t letting go and had suddenly become shockingly strong. The people both in the ring and spectators wasted no time in rushing out of the arena terrified of Aarons sudden behaviour while the knights tried to restrain him. Even the hyenoids bolted from the ring terrified by his behaviour.
"What are you doing, this isn't like you?" Macy stated helping Clay take the crossbow from Aarons hands.
"Fine you want me to take you out too I can do that. You can take my weapon but I can still take you down with my fists," Aaron proclaimed and Lance proclaimed, "I think he's finally snapped." Aaron then began trying to beat them up. Whatever had come over him was definitely not natural as he had become surprisingly strong and he felt like he was burning up. His Blight markings had even changed with the skin and clothes around the markings coming to resemble burning ash like the skin of an Asher.
“No he hasn’t. It’s the Blights rage, an aggressive fit caused by the Blight. It will last only a few minutes but you need to restrain him before he hurts someone,” Misako proclaimed from the seating as Robo-bill Merlok climbed over the railing and jumped down into the ring to aid the knights stating, “careful knights make sure he does not bite you.” While the knights tried to restrain Aaron who was proving very difficult to restrain Jestro attempted to escape knowing he was of little help in this situation and not wanting to risk catching the Blight but Aaron caught him before he could get away.
"And you, always taking the bad guys side I'm surprised you didn't join these monsters. Maybe I should make you join them by joining you with their beloved ash!" Aaron proclaimed holding a terrified Jestro by the collar of his shirt preparing to punch him in the face. Before he could Axl grabbed his fist to try and stop him while Macy and Clay pried Jestro free of his hands.
"Stop trying to prevent the inevitable, if these fetchers won't fight than they might as well join the dust around them," Aaron stated as they struggled to pin him to the ground and Lance noted, "he's starting to sound like those Ashers."
"It's the Blight it's corrupting him. We're sorry about this pal but you're not yourself, now just hold still," Clay proposed as he and Axl pinned Aaron down so Merlok could use a Nexo power on him hitting Aaron with a freezing blast. When the cold hit him Aaron stopped fighting and relaxed seeming to be coming off the Blights rage; the Blights markings returning to normal.
"Whoa man, what just happened?" Aaron wondered confused his voice and eyes back to normal and the others noted he no longer felt like he was burning. They let him get up and he slowly got up very unsteady on his feet.
"That was just a taste of the final stages to the Blight. Episodes of this Blights rage will not be frequent but they are going to get very dangerous and harder to control and stop," Merlok explained.
"Blights rage?" Aaron wondered and Macy inquired, "Don't you remember?"
"Yha you were going crazy trying to obliterate us," Lance explained and Aaron stated, "kind of it felt more like this really wacked out dream than anything actually happening."
"Will he go into this state again?" Clay wondered worried and Merlok explained, "likely not today but sadly yes. Most mood swings from the Blight will not be this severe but outbursts of rage like this will occur randomly at least a couple more times before the final stages where he will enter this rage permanently."
"That was so unpleasant. Maybe it's a good thing the ninja aren't in town. I feel real sorry for those droids in the Forbidden City though. With their powers it can't be pretty when the ninja are put into a raged state," Aaron expressed and Lance noted, "even without powers you really scared the people. You were acting and speaking like an Asher; you even felt like you were burning up like one of them."
"I thought it felt oddly warm in here," Aaron noted and Clay expressed, "indeed you really scared the people. After what you did I think I understand why this curse is so feared, it turns the infected into a monster."
“Speaking of the people I think this incident might have damaged our reputation with many of the folk at least from the Lost realm. The people from Ninjago and Knighton are at the very least terrified and maybe confused,” Macy pointed out noting everyone but them and Misako had fled the arena. Tafari had followed the people to try and calm them down before they started a panic and got the city riled up.
"I think we should go help calm everyone down, we don't want anything ruining our standing with the people. We're trying to help them not scare them," Clay suggested. While they were all in agreement even Aaron the others were hesitant to have Aaron join in this endeavour.
"I'm sorry Aaron but I think you should sit this out. We don't want to make the situation worse. I think you should head back to the Fortrex, keep out of the sights of the people at least till they calm down. We'll try to patch things up. Hopefully they will understand," Clay proposed. Even though he wanted to help Aaron agreed it was probably best he hung low for a while. He was also starting to feel weak from the Blight.
"Why don't you take the clown with you, I doubt he'll be very helpful with this and I don't think we should just let him wander around town here," Lance expressed and Macy stated, "yha, with his record he'd probably get swayed by the Ashers and join them besides this really doesn't involve him anyway." The knights headed off to calm the people while Aaron headed back to the Fortrex with Jestro. Aaron was not entirely pleased with Jestro tagging along but was feeling too tired to care much. After what Aaron had nearly done to him Jestro was scared and wary of Aaron but he felt safer around him than being on his own in this strange place.
"Did we turn the lights off when we left? I'm pretty sure we left at least a few on," Aaron expressed as they entered the Fortrex to find it dark. They headed to the common recreational area where Aaron immediately headed to the one chair to sit down feeling oddly drained and starting to feel dizzy. He could only guess it was from the Blight.
“I should watch you to keep you out of trouble but I’m feeling so weak and tired I can’t care… just play a game or something,” Aaron expressed while Jestro turned on the lights nervously looking around.
"Is it just me or does something here feel oddly creepy?" Jestro wondered and Aaron stated, "dude I can't tell anymore... this place, the Blight... it all makes it so hard to tell. You know I thought I could remain strong and stay positive over this Blight thing but after that incident I don't know how long I'll be able to pull that off. If that was just a taste of what I'll end up facing I don't like it... yha something does feel wrong but I think that's just the Blight I'm feeling." They sat for a few minutes in relative silence. Every now and then there was the slight sound of something metal tapping somewhere in the room. Jestro remained on edge looking around for what was making that sound.
"Something doesn't feel right here. Maybe we should wait for the others outside or somewhere with more people?" Jestro suggested and when he didn't get a response he looked at Aaron to find him sleeping in the chair. He tried to wake Aaron up but he was entirely out. Hearing an unfamiliar metallic sound he looked to see a strange metal beetle the size of a thrush perched on the back of the couch in the room, a Scimitar Scarab. It appeared to be looking at him making him nervous. After being rescued by the knights they had warned him of the dangers of this realm making it clear to him who was evil and that he was to stay away from these folk. He had a feeling they worried he would side with these entities. Given his track record in the past of falling under Monstrux's influence and turned evil a few times he couldn't blame them. Oddly while they had spoken in length to him about the dangers of these Ashers they had not warned him against the Stag thinking he was safe from the Stags influence as he was not a droid or animal like what this entity favoured. He had heard however all the tales the knights had of this entity and what it had done to the ninja. He had seen how it had used Aaron and all he had heard of this thing had made him scared of this entity and the constructs and beasts of this realm. He was not entirely convinced this Stag would not be drawn to him. It had been made clear it would take humans even those without special powers; that meant there was a chance it could take him. Jestro was sick of falling under evils control and wanted to do everything to prevent falling to it this time.
"You're one of those things under this dark deers influence aren't you? What are you here for? What do you want?!" he questioned the construct before attempting to wake Aaron again. Aaron stirred for a second but didn't wake. The construct made a noise and looking to it Jestro saw it jump off the couch and begin to leave the room. Worried it was going to do some sabotaging of the Fortrexs systems and he'd get blamed for it he followed to try and catch the construct. It headed towards the command center where the uneasy feeling he had been feeling earlier seemed to be worse. The construct came to stop behind the door to the command center and as he approached Jestro could hear voices.
"Those don't sound like the knights who are those?" he wondered before listening in. He didn't dare open the door to see who it could be worried over who was in there.
"Are you sure we're not going to get caught?" one voice which sounded anxious inquired and another responded, "relax. Those dumb knights are out trying to train the people and they took the other meat bags with them. It's just us here."
"We should still get what we need and get out of here as quickly as we can. We don't want to run into them. The plan entails that they don't know we were here," the nervous voice expressed and a third voice stated, "relax its almost done. These knights luckily didn't think to protect their technology from this realms technology. Made it way too easy to hack into their ship to get what we wanted. Too bad those ninja didn't bring such useful technology with them."
"Yha that metal skin freak of theirs was too well defended even when influenced by the Blight. Bet that didn't hinder the Stags minions though, they never have a problem with technology no matter what," the second voice expressed and the third stated, "probably. There's evidence they've hacked the knights technology at least once, possibly more. I wonder if they are aware of that?"
"I'm betting it was that DJ, he can't help but plug himself in to the latest tech to show up just to play with it," the second stated before the third exclaimed, "it's done."
"Good now that we have all the information we can dig up on these knights we can set our plan into motion. They won't realise the truth till it's too late," the second proclaimed and the nervous one stated, "alright now can we get out of here." He could hear them approaching and thinking quickly he picked up the Scimitar Scarab and rushed back to hide in the common room hoping they wouldn't come in that direction. The Scarab was fidgety in his hand and other than the minuet sounds from its movements it didn't make any noise. Aaron was still asleep in the chair. Thinking quickly Jestro hid behind the couch hoping they wouldn't come in the room and if they did they at least didn't look around in the room.
"Hey all the lights were off when we entered weren't they?" the nervous ones voice came from the hall.
"yha," the second voice stated as they entered the room. Jestro took a quick peak over the couch to see who the intruders were before ducking back down again. The three were members of the Ashers. They lacked bestial features but were still rather humanoid with only their attire and burning skin revealing their affiliations. Their presence left an eerie warmth to the area and brought a burning smell with them. They didn't seem to notice Jestro but were clearly aware of Aaron.
"It's just the Blighted archer. They must have sent him back. I wonder if he was scaring the people or were they scared by him? Maybe he did something to get sent back here?" the third voice laughed as the three came over to gawk at Aaron.
"Hopefully he did something nasty to help drive a wedge between these meddling knights and the people. The more distrust the less aid those knights will have and the easier it will be to fell them," the second voice boasted.
"You know we should probably get out of here," the nervous one proclaimed and the second voice stated, "why he's asleep and the Blight will be disguising our presence from him. He won't know we're here."
"Yha but since they escaped us last time they've been sticking close to each other. One of the others likely could be here somewhere or at least not far behind," the nervous one proclaimed and the second voice stated, "fine, you're right. Too bad we couldn't curse the rest of these knights or hurry his Blight up."
"Yha too bad those sorcerers only let a select few know how to do that, I know a few individuals I'd love to curse if I had that spell," the third expressed as the three began to leave, "at least we know he'll prove useful. The bosses plan to turn that knight into an Ash Ghoul when the Blight claims him. Maybe we could have some fun then and turn him on the others." Jestro remained hidden for a few minutes after the three had left worried they might still find him before the Scimitar Scarab shocked him and he dropped it. Once free the construct rushed off trying to get away from him.
“No come back here! I need you!” Jestro proclaimed rushing off to try and capture the construct.
"I'm telling the truth there were three of them here and they were doing something to the main computer," Jestro pleaded trying to get the others to believe him. The knights along with Misako and Merlok were gathered in the control room listening to Jestros story.
“Yha I’m not trusting anything he says,” Lance proclaimed and Ava noted checking the computers, “there doesn’t appear to be any signs of tampering with the ships computers but I’d have to do a deep search just to be sure.”
"Do it and you'll see," Jestro stated and Clay inquired, "did you see anything Aaron?" Clay was willing to give Jestro a chance and believe him but he wanted proof to his claims and he knew the others wouldn’t believe him unless he had concrete proof.
"Not really, honestly I passed out shortly after we got here. Something did feel off in here but it could have just been the Blight I was feeling. This Blights really beating me up today," Aaron expressed still feeling a bit tired.
“It’s not that we don’t believe you…” Macy began trying to be nice to Jestro before Lance cut in to say, “I don’t.” She gave him a look of disapproval before continuing.
"It's just you have no proof and given your record..." she explained and Jestro acknowledged, "I get it but I did have proof. This metal beetle thing, it heard everything."
"Metal beetle? You mean one of those Scimitar Scarab things?" Aaron wondered and Jestro responded feeling desperate as he looked around the room and under the round table, "yha one of those things. I had it but it managed to get away from me and I couldn't find it. I searched everywhere but it's gone!"
"Why would one of those things be here?" Lance wondered and Axl noted, "Divayth said they feel safe around us. Maybe it was looking for us or thought it was safe here."
"Or it was here to watch us, he did say they've been spying on us," Macy noted not pleased by that fact. All of them felt uneasy by that fact.
"Please you have to believe me!" Jestro pleaded. The knights looked at each other. None were convinced.
“We’ll look into it but if we find nothing you’ll have to drop this. We have more important duties here than to be chasing false leads,” Clay proposed putting a hand on Jestros shoulder to reassure him. Even though he wanted to continue to try and prove what he had seen Jestro agreed to Clays proposal. They looked into it but found nothing too concerning. Other than evidence that this DJ had recently hacked the computers to play some games and send some documents on the Blight by this Juib for Misako and Merlok they found no evidence of others hacking the systems. They did find though that the Fortrexs surveillance systems had been shut off somehow and all the squirebots they had onboard had been shutoff and had no memory of who had shut them off. While they did find it odd they reasoned those could have been results of this DJ playing around with things. Even though this DJ served the Stag they didn’t have much of a reason to believe he meant to cause harm so brushed it off as likely an accident on his part. They didn’t find any Scimitar Scarabs anywhere on the ship but did find a Winged Serpeton they had been unaware was there. They searched its data but it had nothing important to show. It had been hanging out with Robins Serpeton Brassy, observing Misako and Merloks research and keeping an eye on Aaron whenever he was in the Blights Trance but not much else of interest other than it and Brassy had been spying on them often during rather uncomfortable moments such as a time where Clay had come across one of the traps Robin had set up to keep Aaron from wandering off the Fortrex during the trance and got caught in it for a few hours after inspecting it confused not knowing at the time who had made it and put it on the ship. It also revealed answers for some strange occurrences such as who had damaged a lamp in the common room which turned out to have been from Jestro listening to some rock music by himself while playing air guitar and accidently knocking over and damaging the lamp which he had tried to fix so it looked like nothing had happened plus how one of Lances shampoos had been switched with mayo the one day. Apparently during one of his trances Aaron had taken a bottle of mayo for his tower and after leaving it Brassy had taken it and swapped it with Lances shampoo as a prank; the constructs apparently had some of a playful side. The constructs also seemed to enjoy listening in to anyone playing music or singing even if that person was in the shower. The fact these things would sometimes watch them even when they were having personal times made everyone uncomfortable. It seemed these constructs had humorous and fun loving sides to them even though they sometimes chose inappropriate times to express this. Other than these they saw no evidence that Ashers had been in or near the ship let alone messing with the computers. With no evidence they dropped the issue thinking Jestro was messing with them or crying for attention. A few days passed before a strange message arrived at the ship. It was a scroll carried by a large rather talkative glowing violet eyed crow though something about this creature made them think it might not be a true crow. The knights brought it into the command center to read the scroll it had brought them.
“They promised this one tasties and shinies for my services but have I got any NO! Just orders and tasks meant for lowly pigeons not a regal Crow of Sheoths court such as myself! They lure me from my masters service and don’t hold up their bargains! A pox I say I curse upon those curs, may their clothes always be coated with bird droppings, their shinies dull and their tasties turn to dust!” the crow cranked with a somewhat regal yet gruff voice from where they had placed it on the round table. It hadn’t stopped talking since they brought it in mad at whoever had sent it.
“What is this thing?” Macy wondered confused by the talking bird and Aaron noted rather thrilled by the creature, “don’t know but it’s pretty rad. Do you think it can do other cool things like sing and dance?”
“This is not a true crow; it is a Shadowlands Crow a rare magical entity that has the form of a crow. They have some minor magical abilities and are capable of fluent speech. Some think they might be creations from some other realm or an accident by a very powerful wizard. There are some accounts that suggest they have ties and are related in some ways to Noctern Crows however they lack their cousins dark natures. They are considered more of a nuisance than a threat in most places,” Misako explained as Axl gave the bird a plate of food which it wasted no time in hopping over to help itself from.
"Ah finally featherless ones who know how to treat a noble crow of the court! I will never answer the summons of the burning skins again!" the crow proclaimed through mouthfuls of food.
"Burning skins? Ashers sent this?" Clay wondered not getting a good feeling from this scroll as he opened it to read it.
"A scroll? What's with this regions fascination for these primitive technologies?" Lance expressed and Macy inquired, "what does it say?" Clay was disturbed by the letters contents. He was worried how the others would take the news.
“It’s a ransom letter,” Clay stated hesitant to reveal more knowing it wouldn’t be taken well by some of the others and Macy wondered, “Ransom letter? You need hostages for a ransom. Who’s the ransom for?”
"The Ashers haven't got a hold of the ninja have they?" Misako worried.
“No… it’s for us… they want us to surrender to them for the safe return… of some of our families,” Clay explained worried. The other knights were stunned.
“Our families? Who have they taken?” Macy worried and Clay explained, “the Ashers have Axls parents and little sister, Lances parents and little sister Izzy, Aarons parents and two of his brothers, my younger brother Fletch and the King and Queen.”
“What!” Axl and Macy exclaimed. They all looked at Lance when he didn’t make a sound surprised unlike everyone else he didn’t seem too worried; even Misako and Jestro looked more worried over the news than Lance did.
"Dude aren't you worried about your family?" Aaron asked and Lance responded, "my little sister yha my parents uh only somewhat."
"What have they done to them?" Macy inquired and Axl asked, "what are they going to do to them? Where do they have them?"
"They are being held in that ruin they caught us in before. They haven't done anything yet but if we don't give them what they want by sundown they'll be turned into Ash Slaves," Clay explained.
"Oh dear, this is a predicament," Merlok expressed.
"What do we do?" Macy expressed and Axl stated, "we can't let those monsters have them. We have to rescue them!"
"This could be a trap. When they were here they said you guys wouldn't know what they were doing till it was too late maybe it's this they were talking about," Jestro vouched, even though the others didn't believe he had heard Ashers plotting in the Fortrex he still maintained it was true and had a feeling this was tied to what he had heard from the three Ashers.
"This most defiantly is a trap..." Clay expressed in agreement and Macy stated, "but we have to do something. We can't let our families fall to these monsters."
"We can't just rush in there though. These are Ashers we're talking about and for all we know they could have one of those nightmare sorcerers with them," Aaron noted and Clay agreed, "probably and a full frontal attack could just worsen the situation."
"Then what do we do?" Axl inquired and they thought it over.
"Too bad we didn't have the ninja with us, they're good with stealth. We could have gotten one of them to scout the place for us so we could sneak them out," Aaron stated and Clay got an idea.
"We don't have the ninja no but maybe we could become ninja. We learned quite a bit from them maybe we could put that knowledge to use. Perform a stealth operation to rescue them. If we can get in and sneak everyone out before they know we are there then we could thwart their plan and they'd have no leverage on us. With everyone safely back here we could see if we could get help to eliminate the Ashers," Clay proposed.
“Do you think we could pull it off?” Macy inquired and Lance expressed, “hey if that talkative worry wart Jay can do it how hard could it be.” They were in agreement and quickly worked out a plan. For their mission of stealth they donned themselves in ninja like attire. Their knights gear was too bulky and restrictive for the stealth they planned to use. They were still going to bring their shields and weapons in case they needed to defend themselves and Robo-bill Merlok was going to join them; Robin had even crafted him a staff to go with his Robo-bill form for him to use in combat. They wanted to use the Fortrex to get them where they wanted to go and for an escape but it was not going to be moving till they could find some parts. Instead they got permission from Tafari to use the Ash Strider. Once they were ready they headed to the town they had been at before where they knew an entrance to this Blackreach and the ruin they sought was located. They brought along Misako and Jestro who would be staying on the Strider with Ava and Robin till the knights returned. They didn’t feel comfortable leaving the two alone in Balmora. When they got to the town they quickly became aware that something was off. No person was around and the place looked deserted as if the people had suddenly just got up and left leaving whatever they had been doing when they disappeared. A few Moss Runners were hanging around the town helping themselves to sacks of grains and any produce left out but something about the creatures seemed odd. They were miscoloured and hyper aggressive as if they had been corrupted by something. They could clearly see it wasn’t the Blight; instead Merlok believed it was a result of the Void Breach. The energies causing the event were starting to warp living things into monsters.
(corrupted creatures)
“Is it just me or does anyone else get the feeling something’s not right here?” Clay wondered nervously looking around as they cautiously made their way up the trail to the Scimitar ruins after leaving the Strider. Other than the deserted town and a few creatures that were showing signs of the plane melds corruption everything seemed fine. Everything was calm and actually quite pleasant. Though it was overcast the day was warm and surprisingly pleasant despite the usual cursed feeling the wastes boasted. The Scimitar ruins were showing no signs of life but they were expecting that. The ruin was abandoned and it was highly unlikely the Ashers would want to make a fortification in such an easily seen location. They were the type to use hidden and hard to find locations for their strongholds.
“Oh good it’s not just me feeling that, I thought the Blight was messing with me again,” Aaron expressed and Macy stated, “this gear feels so weird. I feel so defenceless and oddly light from it.” The combination of the environment and their non typical wear for such a task had them all on edge.
"It's because we're not used to wearing such light and un-armoured gear," Clay explained as they entered the ruins. Everything seemed quite. They headed down to Blackreach keeping alert for trouble and trying to be as quiet as they could. Nothing seemed different from how they had last seen it and they didn't find or come across anyone in their travels. With the sensors from the Robo-bill Merlok was able to survey the surroundings and pick up the signals of living beings. Other than random insects and small reptiles and mammals there was no other entities other than them in the ruins. When they got into Blackreach they cautiously snuck close to the ruins of Fal'Zhardum Din keeping to the shadows. They sought out a rocky ledge overlooking the ruins and lay low to observe the place. The ledge was unlit with only lichens, non-glowing shrooms, twisted roots, rocks and stalagmites on it helping to keep them hidden.
“It appears whatever traps the Stag put down they found a way around them and are rebuilding their fortifications,” Clay noted as they observed the ruins. The Ashers had re-colonised the ruins decking it out with their dark decorations and were patrolling all around the place along with other dark entities which aligned with them like the shambles, Vulcaroths, Gloam Harpies and Corpse Birds. It was also clear the Ashers had enslaved a bunch of people some they believed had come from the town above while the rest were people from Ninjago and Knighton. The Ashers were forcing the people to fortify the walls and craft machine parts, armour and weapons for them. They appeared to be building siege weapons and some sort of vehicles all likely designed for a siege to the city of Balmora.
"Dude it looks like they're prepping for a full out attack," Aaron noted and Axl inquired, "does anyone see them?" He, Macy and Lance were too occupied looking for their family members to fully observe the Ashers and what they were doing. They were too distracted by the desire to rescue their families.
"This Robo-bill body comes with some very interesting features including a scanner for picking up the signatures of living beings. I am able to pick up some entities nearby separated from everyone else. They do not share the same signature as these Ashers indicating they are people however I cannot determine who they are," Merlok explained and Macy inquired, "you do where?"
"Over there on the western side of the ruins," Merlok explained. It was hard to see much in the caverns dim light and the area they were searching was poorly lit by dying braziers and torches making it dark but they could make out what appeared to be some cages hung over a cliff. Two of them hung from cranes which were perched on the cliffs edge. There appeared to be figures in the cages but it was hard to see any details of the figures.
"Do you think that's them?" Lance wondered and Macy stated, "only one way to find out. Let's see if we can get a closer look." Clay, Aaron and Merlok felt they should do some more observations first before taking any action but the others rushed off towards the cages not listening to them. The three reluctantly followed knowing with the Ashers around it was best they stuck together than risk being separated. Sticking to the shadows and using the many natural structures and flora of the cavern to hide behind they slowly made their way towards the dark western region outside the ruins where the cages were hung making sure to keep to the shadows and keep quiet.
“We’re not too bad at this stealth stuff, I’m betting we could pull off being ninja,” Aaron boasted as they got to the cages. Once there Macy and Axl immediately activated the cranes that hung the cages over a dark what they could only guess was a ravine. There appeared to be no bottom below the cliff, it was black as the void with no evidence of flora anywhere below just a dark turquoise tinted mist or fog which was slowly moving through parts of the ravine. Aaron dropped a rock down the ravine and he and Clay were unsettled to hear or more accurately not hear it hit anything on the way down not even a bottom.
"We're going to have to be very careful, we don't want anyone falling into that abyss," Clay expressed as the others moved the cranes so the cages were over the ground. They slowly lowered the cages trying to not make much noise while Aaron, Clay and Merlok watched for danger.
"Something's not right, this seems too easy," Clay worried looking around and Aaron added, "yha why isn't this place guarded? Where is everyone?" Looking around the place was unnervingly empty and no one seemed to be keeping watch of the area. Everywhere else Ashers were on guard and watching including areas that were natural and had nothing of interest for the Ashers to watch. So why were they ignoring this place where they were holding important prisoners?
"Guys I think we should fall back and re-plan, something's not right here," Clay proposed the weird state of the place making him and Aaron anxious.
"Yha something wacky is going on," Aaron agreed and Merlok noted, "I believe you are right. I sense a dark magic here but cannot identify its source or what it is doing here. I would have to believe however that it is not for anything good."
"Just give us a minute we're almost done," Macy expressed as the cages touched the ground and Axl came over to open the doors which were surprisingly unlocked. Macy, Axl and Lance were too occupied with the rescue operation to take note of the oddities around them. The fact the cage doors were unlocked made Clay, Aaron and Merlok even more nervous. Something was definitely wrong.
"Come on everyone let's get you..." Axl began before he, Macy and Lance noticed something was wrong. What they thought were their families were just dummies made from fabrics, bones and parts from scimitar constructs made to look like those they knew.
“This is a trap! Come on we have to get out of here before…” Clay began before the voice of an Asher expressed sending shivers down their spines, “we catch you; too late for that.” Flood lights were suddenly turned on and focussed on them blinding them with light. Not hesitating as their eyes adjusted to the light the knights pulled their weapons ready for a fight. Ashers and their monsters wasted no time in rushing in from the ruins to encircle them and cut off any means of escape. They rushed in for the attack and the knights wasted no time in fighting back.
"What have you done with our families you monsters?" Macy exclaimed pummelling any Asher that got close to her.
“We ain’t saying anything not until you surrender,” the lead Asher boasted as the knights fought back. They summoned a Nexo power from Merlok who along with giving them the power was aiding in the battle using his staff with the Robo-bills natural defences of a shock from its power source and its agile design to aid in combating the Ashers.
"We'll never surrender to you," Clay declared using his magic ability while fighting. It was helping to hold the Ashers back, they also found the Spinjitsu they had been learning from the ninja also helped and was easier to do in the lightweight gear they wore instead of their normal armour.
“Then we’ll make you surrender,” the Asher proclaimed. They were lucky that there was no Ash for the Ashers to use to summon Ash spawn but they did have other dark creatures like Vulcaroths, Corpse-birds and Shambles on their side. If the knights managed to destroy an Asher the others would reanimate their fallen comrade as an Ash Spawn preventing them from taking a serious toll on the Ashers. Even though they were trying their hardest and giving the Ashers a good challenge there was too many of them and they were trapped. They either fell off a cliff into darkness or fight through the Ashers. Aaron was the only one not trapped. After nearly losing his footing at the top of the cliff as the Ashers pushed them closer to the cliffs he had hopped up onto his shield and used it to hover and stay above the group. This clearly angered some of the Ashers who attempted to use magic blasts to knock him out of the air. Aaron used it to their advantage to trick the Ashers into attacking their own forces to help give the others some space which just angered the Ashers more.
"Will someone knock that fetcher out of the air," the one Asher expressed during the fight.
"Everyone watch your footing!" Clay exclaimed when his foot nearly slipped off the cliff as the Ashers pushed them closer to the edge. They were struggling to break free and slowly being pushed closer to the cliff edge. Aaron tried to clear a path for them to escape but something slamming into him from behind knocked him off his hover shield and sent him to hit the ground and roll off the edge of the cliff. He managed to grab hold of the edge to keep himself from falling into the darkness but his weapon fell disappearing in the abyss.
“This isn’t good!” Aaron expressed startled watching his weapon fall before trying to get up. Looking up he saw a corpse bird snatch up his shield in its beak and fly off into the ruin with it letting him know it had been the creature to knock him off his shield. He attempted to pull himself up but he was feeling weak and the joints in his arms and hands were stiff making it very difficult for him to pull himself up. As he struggled to pull himself up Aaron moaned to himself, “why does the Blight have to decide to give me a hassle now?”
"Aaron hang on we're coming," Clay exclaimed noting Aaron struggling to get up and hold onto the cliff. A group of Ashers separated the rest of them from Aaron and were not going to just let them pass. While they fought their way towards Aaron who was having trouble holding on thanks to the Blight one of the Ashers came over to try and force Aaron to let go. They were trying as hard as they could but getting nowhere and getting quickly overwhelmed. Lance was the first to get subdued and restrained by the Ashers followed by Axl who was pinned down by a Vulcaroth.
“Gotcha,” one of the Ashers proclaimed managing to slam a cursed stone cage over Merlok blocking their Nexo powers after another Asher managed to stun him with a shocking blast. Macy was next to get restrained having her limbs restrained by dark tentacles one of the Ashers summoned out of the shadows on the ground to hold her still. Clay managed to make his way over to Aaron who was barely hanging on with just one hand now. He dispatched the Asher trying to push Aaron over the edge but as he attempted to help Aaron up another Asher jumped him and pulled him into a brawl. While he attempted to break free from the Asher Aaron lost his hold on the cliff. The others could only hopelessly watch in disbelief as Aaron fell into the darkness of the abyss below.
"No!" Clay exclaimed knocking the Asher over and rushing over to the cliff edge. He stared down at the darkness where Aaron fell in shock wondering if there was something he could do to save his friend with his magic. Before he could attempt to do anything however he was pulled back as two Ashers wrestled him to the ground and another clamped cursed stone bracers onto his wrists. Once they were all restrained the Ashers put them in a line and forced them onto their knees holding their own weapons against their backs laughing at their misery.
"You're worse than monsters. You could have done something to save him," Macy exclaimed and the lead Asher boasted, "oh don't worry, you'll see him again as an Ash Ghoul. Send some scouts down there to retrieve his body so we can make the conversion."
“Don’t you dare,” Clay growled feeling enraged as the knights tried to break free of their captors all of them a mix of emotions desiring to take revenge on the Ashers for their actions while the Ashers just kept laughing at them.
"You know how we could make this worse?" the leader boasted and Axl inquired, "how?"
"Your 'rescue' was a fruitless endeavour. We never had anyone to ransom for. Your families are still back in your realm somewhere. We knew you'd come for them if you thought they were in danger, you're attachments and emotions are a weakness we can take advantage of. You know your friend would still be alive if you had listened to the jokster," the Asher boasted. His words hit them all hard and they slowly started to lose their fighting spirit overcome by the dark hollow feelings of guilt and grief.
"He was right, wow never saw that coming," Lance noted and the Asher continued, "we knew he was hiding there and we knew you'd never listen to him. You have only yourselves to blame for your friends demise. Now take these s'wits to work with the others."
He felt cold, damp, sore and winded as something warm, wet and rough wiped at his face. Every part of his body felt sore but nothing luckily felt broken as far as he could tell. Opening his eyes he could see once his vision settled and refocused he had landed on some mushrooms which had cushioned his fall. He could see more shrooms, some which were giving off light, and some plants above him which he guessed had helped slow his fall keeping him from getting too hurt or worse. In the dim light given off by the flora and some glowing rock and crystal structures sticking out of parts of the wall nearby he could see a Vale Hyena, one of the native fauna of Blackreach, licking his face with its cat like tongue.
“Please dude stop. I’m not dead yet, at least I don’t think I am,” Aaron groaned barely moving as he felt his neck for a pulse, “yep I’ve still got one. Sorry but you’re going to have to scavenge something else.” It took him a few minutes before he slowly and stiffly with some pain pushed himself up into a sitting position the hyena backing up as he moved. The creature just looked at him its head held low as he looked around feeling a bit dazed and very sore. He appeared to be in a wide crevice or ravine with some flora growing on the lichen patched soil and rock walls. Tall rock cliffs lined in a horseshoe around him and led off somewhere behind where the hyena stood. The place was damp and cool with a strong earthy and musky smell. He was laying on a large clumping of typical sized non glowing shrooms which helped cushion his landing though they had become squished and broken by his landing. Debris from shrooms and plants lay scattered around him and the hood to his outfit lay on the ground next to him. He guessed the hyena must have pulled it off before giving him a taste likely to see how he tasted.
“Man how am I going to get out of here? There is no way I’m climbing up those and I don’t have my shield,” Aaron noted looking up the cliffs into the dark void above him. He was sore, shaken and exhausted and from more than the Blight. He had a feeling he had hit a few things on the way down the cliff. Along with being scattered around him a few broken pieces of plants and shrooms lay atop him which he brushed off himself. He took a quick look over himself trying to assess how bad the fall had been. He was definitely bruised but he didn’t think anything was broken or at least not broken too bad. He could see some cuts and bruises, he could feel he was winded making it sore to breath and he might have pulled some muscles but he couldn’t see any broken bones nor did he think he could feel any serious injuries.
“You don’t by any chance know how to get out of here?” he asked the creature who just looked at him tilting its head but remaining silent. When another Vale Hyena approached it from behind it wagged its tail showing its teeth as it acted submissive to the new comer who came to sniff him. This hyena was carrying his crossbow in its mouth and it dropped it on the ground as it inspected its fellow hyena. Behind the hyenas a Vale Slothdillo also approached to look at him. The hyenas looked back at it and the creatures looked like they were communicating with each other. They resembled their species above ground relatives however were colored differently. They were largely a dark to black color with pale colored spots and stripes which every now and then would give off a faint bioluminescents decorating their bodies. By the way it operated the bioluminescents seemed to act as some form of communication or for signalling something. The Slothdillo had a dull and warm greenish glow while the hyenas had a pale bluish purplish glow. Both had stunning icy blue eyes which were highly reflective. A noise next to him drew Aarons attention to a Skeever which by the fungal and floral growths and skin patches he could tell was one of these un-dead creatures attached to the strange fungal and floral hive mind of Blackreach. Most of its body had been replaced with fungal and floral imitations to its original form leaving patches of ragged haired flesh and bone from its original body showing in some places. Some parts such as the strange fungal structure that looked like insect eyes that replaced its original eyes and various fungal growths on its body were glowing with a warm greenish glow. While many would have been scared by these creatures Aaron wasn’t. Despite not knowing their intentions he wasn’t scared of them; they were just animals not monsters.
“You know you guys are not as creepy as everyone says you are,” Aaron expressed to the creatures looking them over, “let me guess you all either want to eat a piece of me or make me join your strange fungal plant hive mind. Just so you know I’m not interested.” Feeling sore, a bit dazed and tired he lay back down and stared up from where he fell. He could see no evidence of the top of the cliff he had fallen from as the crevice quickly faded up to a void black emptiness which was only broken by a few faint areas that seemed to have glowing plants or structures somewhere above him. There was a faint mist in the void above him and he could see closer to the bottom with him some of the shrooms and plants he had hit on the way down.
“Man I wonder how far I fell? I guess I’m lucky I survived that fall unscathed,” he stated trying to move again only to feel a great pain in his back and chest causing him to lay still and moan, “largely unscathed.” He lay staring up at the darkness wondering what he was going to do and testing himself to feel for possible broken bones or other more serious injuries before a voice responded to him sending shivers up his spine. He was shocked and scared by the voice.
“Aye the fall was not as far as you think. I don’t sense anything too severe, possibly some dislocations, some serious bruising and cuts possibly a cracked rib or two but you’re not in too bad a shape. Defiantly gonna need some care but you should be fine for now. As long as you take it easy of course,” the voice stated and he jolted up to look at the creatures that had taken an interest in him startled.
"Did one of you just say that?" he inquired getting anxious and he was startled when the Vale Hyena that had carried over his weapon responded with, "don't worry none of these critters are gonna hurt you. They're just curious to why someone would drop a surface dweller into their territories. I cannot speak to or for the caverns hive mind but I can tell you it would probably like you and your friends help in ridding its home of those foul spawn the Ashers."
"The creatures are talking to me! Okay either I hit my head pretty hard on the way down or I must be inhaling some spores from one of these shrooms and it's making me hallucinate cause the Blight doesn't do that. Unless the Blights driven me crazy? Can it do that? Boy if I've lost it everyone will have fun with that," Aaron muttered unsettled and the hyena that had been talking raised its head and perked its ears.
"Oh sorry I forgot. Do not worry you're not going crazy. I am no mere beast," the hyena assured him before shifting into a form Aaron recognised having seen depicted in several places in Balmora. It was that of Sheoth. He even summoned his staff to chill with.
"Is this okay or would you like something a little more akin to the human form you are used to," Sheoth speculated shifting to a non beast folk human form. Aaron was relieved that he wasn't going crazy and felt comforted by Sheoths presence.
"Thank goodness, if I told the others I was hearing animals talking to me they would think I'd gone crazy. Boy would they have fun with that," Aaron expressed before looking up to mutter, "the others. They've probably been caught and I'm the only one who can help them aren't I."
“Caught yep alone not really,” Sheoth concurred before Aaron struggled to get to his feet feeling weak, shaky and sore. It took him a minute to get up and get his footing. He couldn’t stand up straight feeling bruised and winded from his fall and struggled to not fall over but managed to get to his feet though he was very un-steady. Sheoth just watched him leaning on his staff the whole time seeming to be amused with Aarons attempts to stand.
“You know you’re in no shape to face the Ashers let alone be wandering around. You’re like a snake tied into a pretzel rate now; hmm snake pretzels, I wonder how those would taste? Anyway you should really take it easy till you can catch your breath and maybe get some stitches for those cuts and ice for those bruises. Take a moment to rest you really need it. You could probably also use this; it’s an old recipe from my old pal Mystara; one of her special recipes. Won’t entirely fix you but should make things a little more mild in severity,” Sheoth suggested summoning a potion bottle then trying to hand it to Aaron who was hesitant to take anything from Sheoth. He didn’t think this being was intending any harm to him but he was an Oni. The knights had never had any experience with Oni; they only knew what the ninja had told them about these beings and was unsure how safe anything from one could be. They were after all beings whose natures were of destruction and chaos with a mastery in dark arts even if they were good. He was worried about whatever was in the bottle and what it could do to him.
“I get you’ve probably heard how monstrous my kind are but don’t worry not all of us are like that, unless of course you get on our bad side and you me lad are not on my bad side. Don’t worry archer this won’t hurt you it’s just a special healing potion in a handy tea form. I hear it’s not very pleasant tasting a bit on the bitter side but hey a lot of things that are good for you humans are not the tastiest,” Sheoth proclaimed noting Aarons hesitation to taking the bottle. Being polite Aaron took the bottle and had some of it drinking most of the bottle. True it didn’t taste very well but he did feel a bit better after having some. He felt warmer and sturdier and it felt like some of the milder cuts and bruises had healed up even though he still was too sore to stand up straight and he could still feel most of the cuts and bruises remained and were still painful.
“See just be wary however it can have some odd side effects. Drowsiness is to be expected; the development of the tail and ears of an animal on humans like you a non beast folk however is a little more unexpected and severe. It’s usually rare but if that happens hopefully you’re not allergic to fur and don’t worry I’m pretty sure I still remember how to fix that. If not I’m pretty sure my chamberlain knows how to fix it or you could just learn to live with it could make for a cool conversation starter or an interesting trophy from your adventures,” Sheoth stated unsettling Aaron a bit making him wary of having any more of this tea potion.
“It could do what to me? Okay strange and a bit unsettling side effects aside what about the others. They’re probably not going to be treated well by those monsters… and I’m in no shape to face them…” Aaron began still feeling terrible from his fall and Sheoth countered, “ah don’t worry they’re in no immediate danger. Just take a moment to rest and then we’ll get them. We have time.”
“We? When you say we are you talking the creatures or are you going to help?” Aaron wondered and Sheoth responded, “yha why not? This is my realm too; I’m not going to give it up without a fight and I’m pretty sure these fellas would be willin’ to pitch in to have those monsters driven from their home. Flora and Fauna hate Ashers just as much as you humans do. I wouldn’t blame them, you think you humans have it bad you should see the ways Ashers treat beasts and droids.”
“Cool… wait you’re supposed to be guarding your lands? What are you doing here? How did you know we we’re in trouble and needed help? Was it some sort of special Oni power?” Aaron wondered.
“A little birdie told me; literally a bird did. One of the Shadowland Crows from my lands came to me with a message from a man of merriment,” Sheoth explained. Before the knights had left on their task from the Fortrex feeling it was a trap and the knights were in serious trouble Jestro had sent the Shadowlands Crow to look for someone to help them and keep the knights from falling into this trap since they weren’t listening to his warnings. Because they had given it the treatment it felt it deserved and not just ordered it around the crow had decided to help and returned to the only one it knew who could help.
"So what are we going to do? How do we even get out of here?" Aaron wondered.
“We just head back that way and we’ll get out of this ravine. Once you’ve had some rest we can head out. In the mean time why don’t we come up with a plan. It won’t be easy getting your pals out of the Ashers dark clutches,” Sheoth expressed pointing behind himself.
“Keep working and no fooling around s’wits,” one of the Ashers expressed whipping the air by them in an attempt to scare them. The Ashers had put the knights who were feeling depressed and despondent from loosing Aaron and falling into this trap to work building some of their siege vehicles. Robo-bill Merlok was locked in a cursed stone cage by them where they were forcing him to run on a wheel they had hooked up to help power the bellows for stoking fires for the forges. Some of the Ashers were playing and pestering him through the bars of the cage while he worked and in defence he was nipping at and shocking them. Their weapons and shields had been taken from them and were locked in a trunk on one of the watchtowers of the ruins perimeter. A Vulcaroth and two Gloam Harpies were guarding the trunk. The Ashers had shackled the knights with cursed stone and were watching them closely to make sure they didn’t try to sabotage anything or attempt an escape. The knights weren’t the only ones the Ashers had enslaved for their work. They had caught several people including people of all ages from Ninjago and Knighton to work for them. All had been shackled and were forced into building the Ashers siege weapons along with cages to trap people and creatures, weapons and armour for the Ashers, helping the fire-breathing Vulcaroths with stoking the fires for forges and fortifying the walls of the ruins. Most of the people had not been turned to Ash Slaves yet and were terrified by the work they had been put into doing and by the Ashers and their creatures. The kids had been tasked with feeding coal to the fires, retrieving tools and supplies for the adults and feeding the Vulcaroths which the kids were terrified of. The creatures were fed various meats and unpleasant looking dark fruits and vegetables which the kids were scared to touch and the Vulcaroths were not very pleasant beings either. They were aggressive and hot headed prone to snapping at anything even each other when they got mad.
"The ninja! Have you come to rescue us?" one of the kids which they guessed was from Ninjago asked pulling on Clays gi while he pretended to work on some sort of ramming vehicle. He was feeling too down to actually be doing anything and was instead just staring at the parts inside. When the kid pulled his shirt Clay turned to look at the kid who was surprised to see he wasn't one of the ninja.
“Oh I thought you were… never mind,” the kid mumbled their mood lowering. Clay was guessing because he was wearing a blue gi and his hair was a similar color the kid must have thought he was Jay.
"That's not one of your ninja that's the Nexo knight Clay. Are you here to save us?" another kid who was from Knighton expressed coming over to join the other kid.
"I'm sorry but that might not be possible," Clay sighed feeling down.
"What why?" the knighton kid asked and Macy who was working with Clay explained, "we've been taken prisoner like you and we lost one of our team."
"Lost? Couldn't you find him? Maybe they'll find you and help rescue us," the knighton kid proclaimed and Macy stated, "it's not that kind of lost. It's worse... the kind they'll never come back from."
"Aaron fell off a cliff into the darkness down here," Axl explained and Lance added, "And these monsters are going to turn him into some reanimated monster for their service."
"I tried to rescue him but I was too late. We tried to fight these monsters but we failed," Clay croaked trying to hide his emotions from the kids. The kids were clearly feeling down, upset and hopeless by their news. An Asher noted them talking and to prevent any conspiring whipped at them angered that they had stopped working. The action scared the kids who went back to work. The knights wanted to do something to the Asher but couldn't bring themselves to do anything too upset over everything that had happened. They just continued slowly working. They kept working till the Ashers stopped everyone for a meal time. Everyone else was given a meal but the knights weren't. Instead they were given nothing and tied up to posts so they didn't try anything. They weren't bothered by it. None of them felt like eating not even Axl.
“Here we brought you guys this. Sorry it’s really gross but it’s all they give us,” one of the kids expressed as some of the kids brought over the slop they had been given to the knights. It looked to be some sort of paste made with bugs and some sort of plant matter possibly a rice or potato like thing but it was hard to tell. None of the knights even Axl were interested in it. The knights were too down to care about how they were being treated.
"No that's okay you need it more," Macy expressed for the knights and the kid countered, "but you need it to keep your strength up so you can rescue us."
"I don't think that's going to be possible kid," Lance expressed and another of the kids asked, "are you giving up?"
"It looks like it," Axl stated and one of the kids from Ninjago decreed, "but ninja don't give up. You should be like the ninja. Ninja don't quite they never give up. The ninja haven't given up have they? Didn't they send you? They'd want you to continue the fight no matter what."
"The ninja, they have no clue what's going on out here. For all we know they might not even be around anymore. They were kidnapped by a daemon from these lands and are trapped like we are in its lair and who knows what that monster has done to them," Macy stated and Clay wondered, "why did you think the ninja sent us?"
"Because you're dressed like them, why else would you be dressed like them if you weren't working with them?" the kid asked.
"I see your point. We had been working together but we've both failed. Things are hopeless," Clay stated. The knights' moods just upset the kids who had been hoping for a rescue. The adults had all given up but the kids were clinging on that there might still be hope. A little later they were put back to work. Atone point a Vale Hyena wandered into the fortification. It wasn't bothering anyone or causing trouble. It was just sniffing around minding its own business likely looking for scraps. It investigated a table where various objects had been strewn about and pulled a few things off investigating them. All but one individual seemed to have no cares about what the creature was doing. One of the Ashers who was not yet a full Asher however was not pleased with the creatures presence and whipped the creature to drive it away. One of the kids threw some of the coal they were carrying in buckets to fuel the forges with at the Asher in the creatures defence as it fled from the whipping out of the ruins with its tail between its legs and something in its mouth. Angered by the kids actions the Asher turned its attention to the kid. To stop anything from being done to the kid Clay rushed to put himself in the Ashers way.
"Why don't you pick on someone your own size," Clay declared and the Asher laughed at him, "what are you going to do? You have no weapons or powers?"
"I still have my fists," Clay expressed punching the Asher in the face as hard he could. He was pretty sure he broke the beings nose but he didn't care, it deserved it. Surprisingly the Ashers were amused at the whole thing enjoying their pals pain instead of coming to its aid. After everyone's amusement died down they shoved Clay in a cage next to Merlok as punishment for his actions but he didn't care it had made him feel better to stand up to these dark and cruel beings.
“That wasn’t very knightly Mr. Super Knight,” Lance noted to Clay after he had been shoved in the cage to which Clay replied, “I know but that monster deserved it.”
“Was it at least worth it?” Lance asked him and Clay expressed, “you know it really was. It felt good to do that.” The others were forced back to work leaving Clay alone in the cage. He tried to improve his mood but was only able to focus on their failure and the loss of Aaron. It just kept making his feelings worse. He had grown up as an orphan and though his uncle had eventually found him and raised him he hadn’t truly had much of a family till he met the other knights. They’d become his family and loosing Aaron felt like he had lost a brother. It made him feel empty, lost and hopeless.
“Maybe the people are right. It’s all hopeless,” Clay muttered to himself at one point his thoughts worsening his feelings and struggling to not breakdown from his overwhelming emotions. After some time a strange dark fog began to creep over the walls of the ruins and coat the ground inside. The fog was black, cold and clung close to the ground. It was slowly increasing in depth as it began to fill the ruins. As the fog filled the place everyone slowly stopped what they were doing curious of the strange fog. The knights looked at it unnerved getting a familiar and unpleasant feeling from the fog. The Ashers seemed confused poking the fog with their weapons while the people were unsettled by it.
“Yo what’s with the strange weather?” one of the Ashers commented. Everyone’s blood then ran cold as a familiar and dreaded voice called out, “you scum should know why.” Startled they all looked to the source of the voice to see standing atop one of the towers glaring down at everyone a dark corrupted figure. It was Aaron who had become possessed by the Stag! He was wielding a dark naginata, bore the unmistakable dark markings of one under the Stags hold and some of the dark fog was seeping out from under his clothes and out of his body. He wasn’t wearing his hood and pointed his weapon at the Ashers as he talked his eyes baring the unnerving void green glow with a disturbing hollowness to them.
"I thought I told you fetchers to never return here," the Stag boomed through Aaron before he jumped down from the over two story tower to land on the ground unharmed the fog clearing from his landing zone with the force he landed with. Everyone was scared and put on edge.
“It seems I have to give you another lesson,” the Stag proclaimed rushing in to attack the Ashers not holding back and showing no mercy. Some creatures’ native to the cavern even rushed into the ruins to attack the Ashers alongside the Stag. The Stag and his beasts luckily seemed to have no interest in the people ignoring them in their attacks. Despite this the people were all terrified of the Stag and the creatures huddling in groups together near the edges of the ruins hoping nothing would take interest in them. The knights came to huddle together feeling disturbed and scared.
"Oh my that is startling to see!" Merlok gasped disturbed by the Stag possessed Aaron and Clay stated, "what has that monster done to him?!"
“The Stag has claimed him!” Axl exclaimed and Macy noted, “Do you think that monsters going to keep him? What a cruel fate to be re-animated as a puppet for that thing.” As they watched feeling unsettled and disturbed the Ashers falling to the Stag turning to piles of dust the knights were startled when something touching Macys shoulder made her jump. They were shocked and greatly confused to see it had been a non possessed Aaron to touch her.
"Sssh, we don't want to alert anyone. We're breaking out of here," Aaron proclaimed using some keys to remove the binds from the others and let both Clay and Merlok out of their cages.
"How... how are you here and there?" Axl wondered highly confused and scared.
“You remember what the ninja said about Oni how they’re shape shifters…” Aaron began and Clay exclaimed startled and disturbed, “that’s an Oni!”
"It's a good one right? Like that Mistake the ninja told us of and not an evil one?" Macy wondered worried.
"Yah he's good, that's Sheoth," Aaron stated.
"Wait we saw you fall you should be... how did you survive?" Clay wondered and Lance proposed scared of Aaron, "he didn't, he's now some sort of un-dead like a zombie or digi-ghost!"
"No man I'm still living. Cursed still and banged up but living. Some flora slowed my fall," Aaron explained before Axl gave him a big hug stating, "good to see you're okay pal."
"I wouldn't say okay, I'm still cursed and pretty seriously banged up," Aaron gasped as the hug brought him pain from his injuries.
“Sorry,” Axl stated putting him down and Clay declared, “we should free everyone else.” Aaron gave them the keys and they rushed around freeing all the prisoners from the Ashers binds while the Ashers were busy fighting Sheoth and the creatures. A couple Ashers took note of what they were doing but using the skills the ninja had taught them it wasn’t hard for them to keep back and even take out some of the Ashers. As they freed them they ordered the people to gather outside the ruins to await their next commands. While the knights freed the others Merlok and Aaron went to retrieve their shields and weapons. Merlok and a Vale Slothdillo took out the Vulcaroth and Gloam Harpies guarding the chest with their items. Aaron had tried to help but he was too sore and in bad shape to do much instead just stressing himself winding him and causing him pain. Instead he searched some keys he found nearby for the one to the chest. After a few failed attempts he was able to find the keys to unlock the chest and get their weapons and shields back. Once they had their weapons and shields they returned to join the others. As they returned to the others who had freed everyone and were waiting by an exit to the ruins for them Sheoth got stabbed by one of the Ashers. To everyone’s surprise he was unaffected and just laughed maniacally at his attacker.
"What are you?" the Asher that had stabbed the figure stammered backing up scared.
“You Ashers have lost your touch, you’d think you would recognise an Oni when you saw one well then again it’s been a long time since most of you have seen one of us,” the figure of a Stag possessed Aaron laughed its voice no longer sounding like the Stag and the lead Asher angrily stated, “You’re the Oni traitor Sheoth aren’t you, one of those who went against his own kind to protect the light of the realms.”
"Well that is a mouthful of a title but yha that's who I am. He is me and me is him," the voice of Sheoth came from the figure and the lead Asher declared, "why don't you show us your true face daemon or are you afraid of what your allies will think of you?"
"Oh I'm not afraid, only those on my bad side should be afraid. You on the other hand, I don't think you could really handle the sight," the figure proclaimed before getting engulfed in a dark fog. When the fog dispelled Sheoth was in his true Oni form and laughed at the Ashers who were unsure what to do.
“That’s an Oni!” Axl exclaimed spooked. The knights were startled and terrified by the sight of an Oni’s true form.
"You knights take the prisoners and get them out of here; I'll deal with these monsters and catch you up later," Sheoth proclaimed lifting the lead Asher off the ground by the front of his shirt.
"I think we should do as he says, I don't want to see what it's like to get on his bad side!" Lance stammered and they were all in agreement. They headed out to lead the prisoners they had freed out of Blackreach. None were brave enough to look back at what was happening at the ruins. From what they could hear though it was probably not pretty. Due to his injuries from his fall Aaron had to get help from the others to make it back to the ship. He was weak, sore and struggled to keep up. Axl helped support him and helped him navigate out of the ruin. Macy and Merlok led everyone out through the Scimitar ruins while Clay and Lance brought up the rear making sure they weren't followed. They wasted no time in getting out to the surface where the knights brought everyone onto the ship so they could take them all to the safety of Balmora. For the past few hours Misako, Ava, Robin and Jestro had been waiting in the Striders command center worried something had gone wrong. They had started wondering if they should get help seeing as the knights had been taking an oddly long time. They were sure something was wrong. When they saw the knights returning with a group of prisoners and not their relatives they were confused and quickly made their way onto the deck of the Strider to meet the knights.
"What happened to you guys? You were taking an oddly long time," Robin noted as the four came up to the knights and Macy explained, "The whole thing was a trap. They didn't even have our families they lied to lure us in so they could capture us."
"See I told you they were up to no good," Jestro proclaimed and Ava wondered, "Where did you find all these people?"
“The Ashers held them prisoner to help build their fortifications and weaponry,” Clay explained and Aaron added feeling sore and trying to catch his breath, “yha they’re building up for a serious attack.”
"This isn't good," Robin expressed before Misako gasping caught their attention. She had noted a strange figure had appeared on the deck. Looking to see what she was looking at they were all startled to see an Oni standing on the deck staring at them. The thing looked mad and like it had just come from a fight.
"Oh sorry forgot to get changed, just give me a minute," the oni expressed looking at itself. It then shifted its form into Sheoths non beast folk form summoning itself a staff to stand with. Seeing it was just Sheoth some of them relaxed.
"Those Ashers shouldn't be a bother anytime soon," Sheoth proclaimed.
“I guess we should thank you for your help. If it wasn’t for you we wouldn’t have gotten out of there. I guess not all monsters are bad,” Clay expressed wary of the oni but grateful for its aid and Sheoth proclaimed, “Ah monster is such a relative term; to the mouse a cats a monster, to a shrub a deers a monster. I am only a monster to those who fear the darkness.”
"Have you come to aid us in protecting the town?" Macy inquired and Sheoth declared, "yes and no. I cannot stay, my lands and its people still need me but I gave the town back the protection it needs."
“The protection it needs?” Robin wondered from where he was hiding behind Clay and Sheoth declared, “you knights.”
“Not to be a bummer but we’ve not fared too well so far in our run ins with these Ashers and I’ve got the Blight curse... I think… I need to sit down… I don’t feel to good… is the ground moving or is it just me,” Aaron began looking to be dizzy before collapsing back to sit on the ground his legs feeling too weak to stand on and still in pain from the injuries from his fall. His condition worried the others and Macy and Clay came over to check on him worried.
“I think you should take a break archer you had quite the fall not to mention you have the curse of the wastes to add to that. My advice get some more healing potions; it won’t help your Blight but it will help with the effects of your fall. If anyone gives you a hassle over giving you the potions tell them old uncle Sheo prescribed it. If they have problems they can talk to me about it. I would also recommend you and your pals get some rest you’re going to need it,” Sheoth expressed before addressing the knights, “don’t be so hard on yourselves. Everyone fails what matters is that you get back up and keep going. One who falls and gets back up is stronger than those who have never fallen. Never give up, never surrender huzzah.”
"That can be easier said than done especially around here," Lance noted and Clay agreed, "things just seem to be going from bad to worse around here. First we failed our initial mission and the ninja were kidnapped by this daemon Stag, Aarons been cursed by the Blight and we keep getting caught by these Ashers and every time we fail to them it's worse than the time before. We don't stand a chance against these monsters. Then there's this place, I don't know what it is but this place... something's not right here."
"Ah failure is but a part of life what matters is that you don't let it get you down or get in the way with what must be done as for this place indeed there is something wrong. This place has for longer than your little minds could comprehend been shadowed and consumed by darkness and corruption tainting the light of this realm. It has long lay in the shadows here waiting like a snake to strike out and conquer this and all the realms as it now does. You have been caught up in its shadow and cannot see it but from a distance I have noted it. Since you and the ninja showed up there has been a brightness in this place that has not been seen for millennia. You bring with you a light to this darkness and it has the darkness worried for your light has the power to banish their dark. You guys are like the sun and moon. The ninja bring the powers of the light and shine the brightest in this dark place with it while you knights are the moon harnessing and reflecting that light even during the darkest hours. Together you are banishing the darkness here even if you cannot see it," Sheoth proclaimed and Macy countered, "it doesn't seem like that, things just seem to be getting darker and darker as time goes on. Despite all our skills and powers, even when we had the ninja with their powers we both barely stood a chance against these monsters. We've had to have beings like you and that daemon the Stag save us each time."
"I think you are cutting yourselves short little missy, you've just been unlucky. You can stand up to them I know you can," Sheoth proclaimed and Clay expressed, "I don't think we can. The people here are right, this time it's too much. We don't stand a chance."
"Don't take everything the people here say to heart sir knight, they have long suffered under the darkness and it has taken its toll on them. They can no longer see the light and reflect the darkness. They need you now more than ever. The ninja will bring light to one of the darkest places in the realms you must reflect this light to help banish the darkness of this place and show others the light in order to give them the courage to fight. Troubled times are ahead. I do not know exactly what these troubles are I just sense them coming but I know you knights will be needed to help stop the troubles and bring light to the dark," Sheoth declared. His words were starting to have an effect on the knights and they thought over what he had said. It brought some hope to them. If such a powerful and dark being believed they could do it and bring light to this place than maybe they did have a chance. Even if it was a slight chance it was still something and that was better than nothing.
"You mentioned the Stag has the ninja?" Sheoth questioned while they thought over his words turning to look towards the mountains in the wastes.
"Yes, the Stag is holding my son and the his friends prisoner while the Blight consumes them. Do you know what he wants them for or what he has done to them?" Misako wondered the mention of the ninja making her worried and upset but she managed to hide most of her emotions and appear strong. Sheoth stared at the mountains for a second before mentioning.
“I have no clue what he would want them for. It is very odd for him to take interest in dragons as for what he has done well given his track record it’s not pretty. I don’t think he would just terminate them though so their lucky there… you know there are tribes who once worshipped and some still do an entity they call the hunts-father or Storabek. These tribes live in harsh lands often in the boreal, northern woodland and alpine regions of our world. These tribes viewed him as a god of the hunt and the wilds a great spirit of the realms. Appeasing him was said to bring safety and a successful hunt to his followers. He had a great thrill for the hunt and while he did protect and showed caring in his own way to his followers he was noted for being highly temperamental and often cruel, harsh and unforgiving in his ways yet also surprisingly fare and just; he would advocate that the prey should get equal chance and rights as the hunter. Neither could cheat nor be at a disadvantage. He would admire the prey who could overcome whatever was thrown at it no matter the odds. His ways often did not bother his followers much as he reflected the cruelness and reality of life and they saw him as a necessary evil for survival in their harsh lands. It was even said the curse of man-beasts came from him as a punishment or a blessing to followers and enemies. He was worshipped for thousands of years before he seemed to turn on his worshippers hunting them, cursing them, destroying villages and the like causing many to abandon his worship and turn in fear from him. It had been noted that he seemed to slowly get crueller and distant from his followers over the years before turning on the people though no one knew why. He and the Stag are the same being so it makes me wonder if he was once more caring, protective and just why did he suddenly become so cruel and mean and turn on everyone even those who looked up to him. Why has he become the monster he is today and why did he suddenly decide to inhabit the Forbidden City and what would a being like him want with the dragons?” Sheoth pondered looking out over the wastes towards the mountains in the distance.
Notes:
The hyena didn't take off Aarons hood Sheoth did. He took Aarons hood off then told the hyena to lick his face in order to wake him up while Sheoth retrieved his weapon.
While never mentioned in the show the character Fletch a young boy from the knights academy that first appears in the first episode of season 4 of the Nexo Knights is Clays younger brother. Because both had been orphaned however they are unaware of this at the time. When asked about it Tommy Anderson who helped create the theme confirmed this and that it was eventually going to be revealed.
While the story largely follows the ninja I wanted to give the knights some chapters of their own not only to offer views to what is happening outside the city and from different view points but to give the knights their own moments to shine as it would in the story.
If have any questions go ahead and ask I do not bite. I will try to answer them, I will however not give away spoilers.
Chapter 45: The Curse of the Stag
Summary:
Who's really cursed?
Notes:
Pictures relating to story can be found here: https://www.deviantart.com/nerdy-hyena/gallery/72478681/story-project
They are really good and help to visually flush out several aspects of the story including environments, characters, outfits, locations, creatures and other aspects often important ones in the story. All images I post in my work can be found there if you want a better look at them. Defiantly make sure to check them out.Also if you need a refresher on creatures, flora or aspects of the environment you can check out the second chapter in this work titled 'Keikiarys Guide to the Ash Wastes'. It includes short descriptions and pictures of these things.
Parts of this section are subject to change as the prequel story is written to improve story continuity.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
The ninja had been working hard all morning. After the events in the Stags fighting pit a couple days earlier they had decided to try and not anger the Stag or even catch his attention worried over what he might do to them for the Black Hand interfering so kept busy even if they weren’t feeling up to it. They had reason to believe he would not hurt the members of the Black Hand at least not Juib and Celaena, he seemed to have some feelings for them though what exactly they were they were not too sure; they knew however he had no qualms with hurting them and from what they had frequently observed when angered the Stag tended to take his anger out on any living thing unfortunate enough to catch his gaze or spark his anger. They were busy clearing the path and repairing structures that sat next to it like walls, stone benches and the path itself as they cleaned it. While they worked they were having to fight the effects of the Blight which had steadily been getting worse. Nya was having chills and sore joints; Lloyd was feeling drowsy and disorientated but was trying to not show any signs of it. Zane was confused over the strange feelings of the chest pains and shortness of breath the condition was making him feel. He could get pains in the chest often as a result of damages from battle but they didn’t feel the same as what he was currently feeling and he had never experienced shortness of breath like this either. It had him hunched over holding his chest in pain unable to do anything but watch the others. Cole was feeling weak and leaning on a shovel to help keep himself on his feet while Kai was sore and drowsy. Kai and Cole were watching Jay who was going through the Blights Trance wandering around mumbling the typical gibberish while trying to stack a bunch of random items. The others including DJ who stood nearby were keeping an eye on him.
"Wish we had a camera to tape this. I would love to see his reaction to seeing he was in the Blights trance," Kai teased holding his injured hand which had required new stitches after the events in the fighting pit and was painful. Cole and Kai were teasing and joking about Jay in the trance. The others agreed it was a little funny given Jay's new paranoia about it thinking the trance was a result of some dark force using the individual as a puppet for spying having led him to develop a fear of the symptom. Lloyd was not amused with their joking trying to just keep working determined to reach the vault.
"He would probably flip out and go on one of his paranoid rants again," Cole noted and DJ offered, "I can give you a recording from my memory data if you desire to play with him."
“When isn’t he going on a paranoid rant lately? I largely blame the Blight for that,” Nya added before Lloyd stated a little angry that the others were just hanging around and not doing much, “you know we should really keep working,”
“Sorry it is just this Blight and its symptoms are…” Zane began finding himself lost for words the strange feelings in his chest worrying and confusing him having him on edge and unable to properly focus on anything else.
"They are starting to get harder to work around," Cole noted and Lloyd agreed, "I know but we have to continue. The longer we take the worse things are going to get and I don't know about you but I want to get away from this place and that Stag thing as soon as possible. I mean no offense to you DJ, your homes nice and you and your pals aren't bad it's just that monster..."
"No I get it; he makes all of us uncomfortable. It is often stressful when he is nearby. You know he is not here today. He went out this morning and will not be back till later tonight. I do not see any harm in letting you guys take a day off. You have gotten pretty far in such a short time I think you deserve a break especially after what he did to you guys the other day. I am surprised you desired to return to working after that whole ordeal," DJ expressed still watching Jay.
"Couldn't he read your memory data to find out you let us take a break?" Lloyd noted and DJ replied, "it might be surprising to you but he never does that. He may take over us but he does not look into our memories or thoughts. It is a very strange quirk for one such as him but we are glad for it. It would be highly tormenting if he did not give us that privacy in our lives and make living here very uncomfortable and stressful."
"You know a break would be nice," Kai proposed and Cole agreed, "yha, it couldn't hurt to take one day off could it?"
"That could be hard to determine but given our current states it might do us some good to rest and recharge for at least a day especially given what we have been through this week," Zane agreed. All but Lloyd were in agreement that they should take a break. Even though Jay was unaware of what was going on they were pretty sure he would agree to a break, he often complained about wanting one while they worked.
"I think you should take the break. Why do you not go and explore, find some place to relax. Do something you find relaxing. Do not worry none of my brethren will give you a hassle not even Kozac. He comes off as cold and cruel but he is soft at heart. None of us will tell the Stag we let you have the day off. You can spend the day in your room if you want or hang with some of us. There is plenty you can do here. If you are interested in video games I have quite a few at my home. Divayth and Juib both have plenty of books if you would prefer something to read," DJ offered.
"But the vault...our home...this Blight ...my mother," Lloyd began to fumble worried they wouldn't reach the vaults in time and something terrible could happen.
"Do not worry Lloyd, a days break will not hurt. I would say you could use the break. You are what is that term the people use... high sprung or is it burning the candle at both ends I am not too sure. Anyway you need to relax. Worrying just makes things worse," DJ expressed and Kai noted, "you sound like that knight Aaron."
“I think all of you should relax, things take time besides how good are you going to be at saving your home if you have worn yourself out before you even get the chance to defend it. As for your mother do not worry. Some of us are still in Balmora and watching out for her. They report that she is safe. Besides if something was to happen the knights will keep her safe you can trust them. They keep her close; they even let her stay with them on their armoured land ship to keep her safe. You should not worry so much. It is not good for your health,” DJ expressed.
"I guess..." Lloyd mumbled not entirely convinced however he had to agree with the others. He could use for the rest. The Blight, all the working and the things the Stag had done with them had taken a toll on him but he didn't want to admit it. He didn't want to show weakness to the Stag or the denizens of Holamaya nor his friends. With his agreement they decided to head off to spend the day doing other things elsewhere in the city. They originally intended to stick together but soon found themselves heading off on their own to explore at their own paces. Over their time in the city they had not been able to explore it largely just being herded to and from where they were sleeping and where they were working. Nya stayed to watch over Jay till he came out of the trance while the others headed off. Kai stayed with her and they chatted with each other while waiting with DJ for Jay to come out of the Blights trance before heading off. Jay was very confused and worried after coming out of the trance wondering where everyone else was and paranoid something bad was happening. Before he could go off on a paranoid rant they told him that they had been given the day off even though Kai wanted to have some fun with Jay and see how psyched out he could go. Jay was relieved and very glad to hear they had been given the day off. He had been hoping for some time to get a day off. They were unsure what to do with their day so decided to just wander around and see what they could find.
As they wandered they were drawn to the terrace the Black Hand was teaching them to perform a Dragon Aspect on. There a group of hyenoids made of a few Scimitar Samurai with largely worker droids appeared to be brawling. It looked like the Samurai were training the others self defence. Some other constructs and creatures hung nearby just watching. These included a robotic Hoofivore, the Fearbricant, some Robo-bills, a Kaiju, some skeevers and a few other creatures including the Kappa, Tree-bill and Scleroboa the ninja recognised as being the ones to have visited with them during their night in the woods. Those watching took note of the ninja and showed they were pleased to see them. The creatures that had spent the night with them even came to hang with them. Kai, Nya and Jay were a little pleased to meet the creatures again and showed them some affection. The hyenoids on the other hand appeared to take no notice of the three and kept at their training. The feelings from the samurais armour was disturbing them but the three had come to learn these droids meant no harm to them despite how fearsome and ruthless they were in battle and how coldly they interacted with them.
The non warrior droids while capable of self defence clearly lacked the fine tuning and programming to perform more complex and advanced fighting moves making them no match for the samurai who clearly were not performing the best they could likely restraining themselves so their brethren wouldn't get hurt. The ninja had not really had much time to observe the denizens of Holamaya and outside the Black Hand knew very little about them. They had been quick to note since their first day of capture however that they were not the ruthless, savage, cold-hearted and unfeeling monsters many of the people in Balmora had claimed they were. The ninja had noted that the constructs had social attachments and even feelings for each other and the creatures that shared their home. Often they showed a surprising amount of caring towards each other and would not willingly cause harm or trouble for one another. They would help each other even if they had no reason to do so nor would it benefit the helper in any way. They seemed more a kin to living conscious beings than mindless machines. One of the hyenoids attempted to kick a weapon from one of the samurais hands but misjudged its manoeuvre and instead lost its footing falling backwards onto one of its pals knocking both to the ground. Kai and Jay couldn't help but laugh a little which caught the attention of the Samurai.
"Do the Dragons of Fire and Lightning think our brethrens hard work is funny?" the one Samurai who didn't have on a helmet and had the image of a moon on its forehead asked not sounding very pleased.
"A little," Kai replied and Nya wondered, "why are you training them to fight, weren't they not made for that? Most of them perform other tasks that don't require them to fight do they not so why train them?"
"True they are better suited for other tasks but they were given the same base programming for offensive and defensive actions as us samurai. We were given more advanced programming and skills for combat but that does not mean they should rely on us for their safety. We cannot protect them from everything. They need to be prepared for any attack so we teach them how to better protect themselves," the leader explained before going back to getting the others to practise ignoring the ninja. One of the worker droids managed to get the upper hand on his Samurai opponent and knock him off his feet with a staff bringing praise from the leader.
“I guess for a simple non warrior droid that was pretty good but I could probably do better though even with my injured hand,” Kai remarked drawing the leaders attention again where it inquired, “What do you mean by that?”
"I think what he means is that one is a simple working droid not a fighter like you Samurai so for him to get the upper hand must be impressive," Jay explained nervous of the hyenoid looking at them. While he had come to accept most of the constructs as harmless Jay was still nervous of the Samurai especially Kozac.
"And he thinks he could do better?" the leader pondered unsure exactly what Kai was meaning. The droid did not understand that Kai was just bragging trying to appear cool and not talking literally. Deep down Kai was unsure how well he would fare against the Scimitar Samurai. They were not simple droids and more advanced than the nindroids and hyenoids they had faced before.
"If you really think you can do better then why do you not show us. Face off against one of us and prove your words," the leader expressed unsettling the three.
"Well I'm not really prepared, we were working all morning you know and thanks to this Blight I didn't get a proper night's sleep and all..." Kai began unsure about sparring with one of the Stags Samurai.
"Are you going to back up your words or are you what the humans call a type of poultry prized for its meat and eggs which despite its highly aggressive and dominating temperament is somehow viewed as a sign of fear and cowardice?" the leader stated noting Kais hesitation.
"I don't think that would be a wise idea?" Jay whispered to Kai and Nya added quietly hoping the droids wouldn't hear, "yha these are not your typical run of the mill droids. These things are far more advanced." Kai however was not going to listen to them; he did not want to look like a coward.
"I guess there is no harm in a sparring match, just for fun right? We're not going to try and hurt each other," Kai expressed putting on a tough demeanour.
"Alright, we spar with wooden staves no more. First on their back is the looser," the leader proclaimed as the other hyenoids moved to the side to watch appearing eager to see what was going to happen. One of them gave the leader a staff.
"You know you may be made with advanced technology but you're still no match for one of flesh and blood," Kai expressed stepping forward for the brawl one of the civilian hyenoids giving him a wooden staff.
"If that is what you believe then maybe I should make the first move in order to get the upper hand," the leader stated.
"Sure if you want I doubt it will make much of a difference," Kai stated trying to hide the fact he was not too sure about this giving his staff a twirl in his one hand. It slipped from his hand as he did this falling to the ground. Nya and Jay were both un-amused and embarrassed by Kais actions.
"He's goanna get his butt whipped," Jay mumbled.
"I meant to do that," Kai chuckled trying to hide his embarrassment quickly picking the staff back up and prepping for the fight. The leader gave a huff of un-amusement before wasting no time in rushing at Kai swinging the staff towards him. Kai quickly blocked the attack with his staff. He then pushed the leader back with his staff and when it went to swing at him again he swung his to block and force the leaders staff to hit the ground. To his shock and surprise the leader then bit his arm making him take a few steps back checking his arm for a bite mark. Luckily it hadn't done any damage but it was surprising.
"Hey what was that for?" Kai mentioned and Jay added, "that's not a very honourable way to fight."
"No it is not but Ashers fight far from honourably so if you wish to fight them you should be prepared for as you would term it a dirty fight. You should be prepared for anything while fighting them even the unexpected," the leader stated before rushing at Kai again. They sparred with the staffs a few more times before Kai managed to knock the staff from the droids hands.
"I did it! I mean now I have the upper hand, you have to fight bare handed still want to proceed," Kai boasted surprised he had managed to get the upper hand over a Samurai. Instead of seeking to retrieve its staff like they expected the leader instead wasted no time in grabbing Kais staff with one hand and pulling him towards itself delivering a punch to his face as he was pulled close. In surprise and pain Kai let go of his staff.
"Hey that was uncalled for you better not have given me a black eye," Kai mentioned rubbing his face where it had punched him.
"The Scimitar Samurai do not give up. Now we will both fight with our bare hands. I promise not to scar your delicate skin with my sharp claws I know how the Dragon of Fire prides his looks," the leader proclaimed throwing his staff to the side before rushing over to brawl with Kai. They began wrestling but Kai could tell from the start he was not likely going to win. He could feel the droid was not using its full strength as it pushed him around and he couldn't muster enough strength to push it off its feet. It was stronger than it was giving off and the Blight and his injured hand was affecting him making him weaker, slower and making it harder to move. If it wasn't for his injury or the Blight and if he could use his powers he felt he might stand a better chance against the droid but he could feel in his current state he stood no chance at winning this but he didn't want to back down.
"Will you back down or do you want me to embarrass you," the leader stated to him and he stated back, "I won't give up. A ninja never gives up."
"Alright," the leader stated and Kai noted it sounded a little pleased with his answer. The leader then wrapped its right arm around his chest and tackled him to the ground putting him on his back.
"How does the ninja who thinks he is so macho feel about being beat by a girl," the leader boasted standing up and crossing its arms as it put a foot on his chest to pin Kai down. The ninja were confused by the droids statement. This droid didn't appear to be designed as a female; then again the armour of the Scimitar Samurai appeared to make them all look the same, a unified demonic army; defiantly a great way to strike fear into the hearts of one's enemies. This droids voice also was not really feminine sounding but the fact it was deep and gruff, likely aiding its appearance as a fierce warrior, did make it hard to determine what gender it was supposed to sound like.
"You're supposed to be a girl?" Nya inquired confused. Most of the ninja had simply assumed all the hyenoids had kept the original and same body plan and other than personality and preferences nothing else had been changed in their designs.
"Yes what did you think we were all the same?" the leader inquired and all the hyenoids seemed confused about the ninjas comment.
"Well not entirely but... you know outside the Black Hand we thought the Stag had not given much care about the rest of you, you know just shuffle you're programming around a bit then poof you're born... or made or however it is you came to be," Jay responded as the leader let Kai get up.
“He gave just as much care to the rest of us that he gave the Black Hand. He chose me to be female and made me a teacher, a warrior skilled in berserker tactics and second in command to Kozac amongst the Samurai. He gave me the name of Luna hence the moon on my forehead, that is how he knows who I am. We are each unique. Lupus here was gifted the curse of man beasts and the ability to control it from the Stag to aid him in combat; a rarity for droids as we have great trouble controlling the condition. Rose and Sitka might share similar programming and occupation but they are in no ways the same. Sitka is reserved, calm and enjoys climbing trees while Rose prefers to keep her feet on the ground and is outgoing and lively. She prefers partying while he would rather care for his bonsai than have a party. We are not simple copies of each other and are each unique,” the leader declared motioning to some of its comrades to emphasize its point. Lupus was one of the samurai who was not wearing a helmet and had the symbol of a wolf on his forehead. He also had markings of a bestial nature designed on his skin; they recognised him as being the one to have joined Nya in the ring the other day who had become a cyber were-wolf for the fight. They had seen Sitka before, they had helped patch him up after the Stag attacked him, and while Rose did look much like him with very similar dirt stained attire she wore a flower in her longer hair, had red eyes instead of green and had the symbol of a rose on her forehead.
"We meant no offense it's just..." Nya began and Luna finished, "it does not seem like a trait that aligns with the Stag. We know. It does confuse us but we have come to just accept it, we find it best to not challenge or think about what we are or why he made us the way he did."
"That is so strange, he doesn't seem like that caring an individual. He seems more like the type to create simple mindless hive-minded drones to follow his every bidding like your typical baddy," Kai noted.
“Indeed he does seem like an entity to do that but for some unknown reason in reality he is not what he seems. It was his doing and his choice that we should each be unique not copies,” Luna stated as the ninja looked over the various hyenoids around them. They did all look very similar and at first glance only the markings on their forehead, hairstyle, hair color and eye color, or markings and/or adornments marked into their skin seemed to reveal any differences but as they looked closer they did note other differences. They had their own position for standing and were looking at the ninja in different ways revealing hints of different personalities. Some seemed nervous, others appeared angered, some seemed to have a curiosity in them or were unsure of what to think of the ninjas views. Aside from the samurai they dressed differently and wore different colors however the ninja had assumed that was to represent what role they played amongst the workers and while that did hold some truths they realised for the first time that could also indicate personal liking. There were even slight hints that a few of them had been designed to be female, they were not big just minor hints of appearance to their gear, hair or form but they were clearly there.
"You might not think it and we do have to agree his creation of us and how he views us they do not match up with entities as dark, dominating and cruel such as the Stag but it is who he is," Luna explained.
"Might we ask how does the Stag view you? From what we've seen he seems to think your servants that he can torture and take his anger out on whenever he wants," Jay noted.
"That is true it often does seem that way, but when you live with him as long as most of us have you pick up hints that this is not entirely so. He views us all as living things equal no matter our make and apart from those dark times he treats all living things with a surprising amount of respect for such a dark entity. Yes he is cruel he enjoys using us for his torment and pleasure. He has no qualms with terminating us if we anger him, become too damaged or fall under the Blights curse but he lets us live out fairly decent lives, far better than what those under the Ashers rule get. He makes sure our needs are met, he keeps us of robotic and cybernetic make updated and he makes sure none of us have to fear from the Ashers cruel hands. In ways he often seems to have an almost parental like view towards us almost as if he views us as some sort of family," Luna regaled.
"Well he did make you guys, I guess that could make him see you as his children and I guess then you see him as your father, part of your family," Jay noted, the talk of parents and family brought to their minds their parents and loved ones they had left behind. Even though they all tried every day to keep their emotions up and not think about what was happening back in Ninjago or with their loved ones so they would not focus on worries it was always at the back of their minds.
"Like our parents and friends we had to leave behind," Nya expressed and Kai added looking at the Blight on his arm, "I wonder if things are okay there or if things have turned out grim like it is here."
"If something happens to us here and we can't make it back how will they know what became of us? What will they think? What are they to do if we don't make it? Will they be left tormented by the thought of what has become of us as they're held captive by that daemon or has it already been the end for them?" Jay began to panic. His panicking only made the threes feelings and thoughts worsen.
"How are we to know? We are trapped here and are probably going to..." Kai expressed as Jay cut him off to babble, "don't say that word."
"It's not pleasant to think of Jay but it's true. We are trapped here by the Stag and this curse has no cure," Nya noted.
"Yha and if that droid who's smarter than Zane couldn't find the cure in two years there is no way he'll find it in a few weeks... if we even last that long," Kai noted.
"I know but I don't want to think of it. We could at least have some hope right? If not then why keep going, why not end it now before it's too late and we turn into daemons that the Stag or Dagon could use to hunt down our own families for some cruel sport?!" Jay exclaimed. The hyenoids watching were confused over the ninja's sudden change in mood, particularly Jays panicking, and were wondering what to do. Most of them had never had experience with people and even though they had the programming and knowledge to deal with them and their emotions they had never really had practice with using them. They all looked at each other wondering who was going to be the first to react.
"You know thinking like that is just going to hurt you, possibly more than this Blight will," Luna noted.
"Easy for you to say you're not cursed or had to leave friends and family behind in a dangerous situation," Kai stated.
"That is true but we have lost many over the years to the Blight and have lived everyday with the threat of being attacked by the Ashers, catching the Blight or facing the Stags cruelty. We have learned in time to just keep carrying on. There is too much wonder and beauty in the world to focus on the negatives. Just because you have little left in time does not mean you should give up while you still have time. You should enjoy what little you have. Enjoy the good things while you can and leave behind the negative. Sure some of those who matter in your life are not here but you at least have each other and if the observations from the Black Hand are true you three are luckier than the other three. You have the closest relations, mates and blood siblings, the other three do not have that luxury their mates and blood relations are not here. I understand the Blight is harsh and cruel and there is much pressure on you six to save the realms but you dragons are not alone in this you still have each other and your dragon brethren, that is more than what many get," Luna expressed.
"I guess you do have a point. Lloyd had to leave his mother in Balmora which is under threat from the Ashers," Kai noted after a moment's thought and Nya added, "Zane had to leave Pixal behind and Cole had to leave his father and even though he probably won't admit it Seliel behind."
“We do at least have each other,” Jay commented grabbing hold of Nyas hand as the two looked lovingly at each other while Kai was rather embarrassed about the two.
"Indeed now put those depressing thoughts aside. We are going to continue our training and if you desire you are free to join our brethren in practice. It could help take your mind off such depressing thoughts and you never know it might prove useful for you in the future and we promise not to embarrass the fire dragon again," Luna offered and they decided to take her up on her offer.
While wandering around Cole came across a group made of a few hyenoids, Ocheeva the Ash Walker and some Robo-bills. They were hanging around one of the large column towers which appeared to have once had one of the upper walkways pass through it but by the damage on the column and the rubble around it the path had broken off and collapsed sometime in the distant past. Those around the tower had various equipment with them including scientific and materials for repairing the structure along with some which Cole recognised as equipment for mountain climbing. Interested to know what they were going to do with this stuff he approached the group.
"What are you guys doing here?" he asked.
"We are going to assess this structure to ensure it is structurally stable and catalogue if any new flora or fauna have taken residence on the structure since it was checked six months ago," one of the hyenoids responded as it handed a climbing rope to a Robo-bill which then began scaling the structure taking the very long rope with it.
"So do you do this often?" Cole wondered watching as the construct meticulously and with ease manoeuvred its way up the tower.
"We perform this maintenance bi-annually in order to ensure safety and for research purposes. We also evaluate these structures after major earthquakes," the droid responded.
"This is a pretty impressive structure. Was it carved out of stone or did they make it out of something like concrete?" Cole asked and the droid responded, "a bit of carving and a bit of making. It is not concrete though, it is a stone of Scymer make. It is not entirely sure how they were completely made but the basics are understood. Normally they are not completely covered by vegetation such as this one but since it is not in primary use we decided to let the flora stay. It has offered an interesting study into the caverns ecology."
"So it's kind of half vertical garden half experiment. Zane would probably be interested in that," Cole stated as a few of the hyenoids were getting into climbing gear as the one doing most of the talking gave another rope to another Robo-bill and it proceeded to climb the tower.
"Is there something you wanted?" the droid inquired looking at Cole confused as it tried to determine why he was there talking with it.
"Just curious to see what you are doing, you know I'm pretty good at mountain climbing, used to do it for fun. I didn't even use any gear just my hands and feet. I was pretty good at it too," Cole remarked looking up at the structure.
"Do you want to climb it?" the hyenoid wondered.
"Well...somewhat. It is very high though... I bet it has a pretty awesome view up there...I think with this Blight though it will be harder than usual to climb anything; it could make me lose my balance or grip and that wouldn't be good...you know I think I'm okay with keeping my feet on the ground..." Cole thought aloud to himself before the hyenoid thrust a rope in his hands.
"Okay then maybe you could help us as you climb it. Take this and approximately four to five stories up there is a passage through the tower where an elevated pathway once intersected it. There are some anchors up there please secure this best you can for us," the hyenoid stated not really listening to Cole and just wanting to get its work done and not socialize.
"Oh okay, I wasn't really looking to get involved but if you want my help I guess I could offer it," he responded and the hyenoid added, "do not worry. If you lose your hold or slip Ocheeva will catch you. She will make sure you do not hit the ground. I cannot guarantee however that she will not break any bones. She will try to be gentle but when you are her size it is hard to not harm creatures smaller than yourself." The hyenoid didn't wait for him to answer and went to checking some of its scientific equipment with the others.
"Okay, I guess I'll help out, is that all I need to do," Cole inquired a little hesitant. The hyenoids just ignored him busy prepping their equipment. The hyenoid he had been talking to handed another rope to a Robo-bill. It came over stopping to look at Cole. It gestured with its head for him to follow before scaling the tower. The Robo-bills made climbing the structure look easy.
"Alright, here I go," Cole encouraged himself. He tied the rope around his shoulder so he could easily climb with it. As he began to climb Ocheeva came to stand by the tower next to him watching him.
"I'm guessing you'll catch me if something happens," Cole commented to Ocheeva looking back at her for a few seconds. She gave a snort and Cole took it as a sign that she was agreeing to his statement. It was a little tricky trying to find decent footing while scaling the tower. It was a sheer vertical surface with not many nooks or crannies to hold onto and the few decorative etchings and metal plates on its surface didn't help. There were many plants and fungi growing all over the structure having rooted themselves into cracks and crevices made by erosion and likely earthquake damage. They at least gave him something to cling to and he found many were a lot stronger than they looked. He particularly didn't think the mushrooms would be very strong but they surprisingly were. He was slow to make his way up nearly losing his hold a few times. He always however managed to catch hold of something to prevent himself from falling. He would take a few minutes to gather himself each time to slow his startled heart rate before continuing the climb. As he had expected the Blight was making it harder than normal making his limbs tire more easily and his joints stiffer. As he reached about two thirds the way up he began to worry the Blight might make him slip and fall if he didn't reach level ground soon.
"I think till the Blight is cured I will be sticking to level grounds after this," he commented pausing to see how far he had managed to reach. He was about two thirds the way up. The hyenoids still were not paying attention busy with their equipment while Ocheeva had reared up onto her hind legs one limb held out against the structure to steady herself as she remained alert and ready to catch him should he fall. Above him on the ledge he was having to reach the Robo-bills were looking down at him waiting patiently for him. Despite the weakness he could feel the Blight bringing on he held on and continued his climb determined to reach the platform. When he finally made it the Robo-bills helped pull him up where he came to lay on his back feeling sore and exhausted.
"This Blight stinks," he commented as the one Robo-bill took the rope from him and tied it to an anchor that was attached into the platform. As he sat up the Robo-bills went over to a stone and metal chest and pulled out more ropes. They tied one end to another anchor on the platform then proceeded to continue climbing the tower headed for a path higher up leaving Cole alone on the ledge.
“I’ll let you continue with that. That was enough climbing for me today,” he commented sitting up. He sat for a while just looking out at the cavern. It was peaceful and calm. Ever since arriving the ninja had found it odd how calm and peaceful Holamaya was. Given how it had been termed the Forbidden city, what all those in Balmora had said about it and its denizens and who ruled over it they had assumed it would have been an unpleasant fortress of darkness and nightmares but that was far from the truth. The place was surprisingly pleasant and felt similar to an ordinary town. Well more like a town outside a national park where the environment was so plentiful the flora and fauna had spilt over into the town and had claimed it as their own and no one seemed to care pleased by the situation he thought.
"What are you doing up here?" a voice questioned startling him. Looking behind himself Cole saw Celaena crawling up to him from the other side of the passage through the tower. She was not mad but seemed curious.
"Given your element is earth I do not see why you would be interested in being so high above the ground? I would not think you fond of heights," Celaena stated coming to perch next to him.
"Yha I'm not too fond of them. I made a comment about liking rock climbing and those hyenoids below asked me to bring a rope up here. I think they thought I was offering to help them," he replied.
"Ah, one thing you should remember when talking with the hyenoids is they are very intelligent just not when it comes to human communications or behaviour. They have difficulty determining differences in tone or meaning of what is said, many have trouble linking emotions with words and different concepts in speech such as sayings or idioms sometimes are very confusing for them. Many sometimes cannot tell if you are offering help, threatening or challenging them or conversing in idle chit chat," Celaena noted.
"Kinda like Zane," Cole noted before saying after a few minutes of silence, "what brings you up here?"
"I am built from a beast with aerodynamic qualities, being up high is normal for me. If you are meaning why I decided to perch on this tower I noted you climbing it and was curious to why you would want to be up here," Celaena responded. They sat in silence for a second before Cole commented, "must be lonely for you here, I haven't seen any like you here."
"In ways that is true. Racer Fabricants were rare and only five of us were gifted elemental powers. My one sister was felled many years ago by Asher hands, my brother Pelagius lives with Sheoth in distant lands, I have not seen him in over 70 years, my other two siblings I have not seen since the Stag took over. No one knows what has become of them. I wish I could remember their names but it has been so long I believe I have forgotten them. I often wonder what happened to them but sometimes I think it might be better to not know," Celaena expressed.
"Really, if they were my siblings I would want to know. Know if there was something I could have done to save them or if they're still alive, if they're okay, if I will ever get to see them again or hold her hand..." Cole began getting lost in thought.
"It is not my siblings you are talking of is it, by the sounds you are talking of someone personal to you; someone outside the city I would presume, maybe someone who you left back in your world?" Celaena pondered.
"Well I guess it wouldn't hurt to tell you. You probably won't make fun of it like the others... her names Seliel," Cole stated. Normally Cole didn't like to open up to others particularly about emotions or relations but he felt comfortable talking with Celaena. He was not quite sure why but felt it could be related to her largely bestial appearance and nature or that she was respectful, wise and friendly.
"Someone close I assume like a mate?" Celaena prodded.
"You sound like Zane when you say it like that," he stated pausing for a minute before continuing, "we are close and the others are right I do have feelings for her it's just... I worry about letting her too close."
“Why?” Celaena questioned sounding comforting and Cole took a few seconds to reply, “I’m afraid... I’ve lost or nearly lost many people in my life and I’ve grown tired of it. It hurts to lose someone… the pain from it there’s nothing worse and I can no longer stand it. I worry if I let her too close something could happen and I’ll lose her… I don’t think I could handle that.” Ever since they had become trapped in the forbidden city and learned of their curse he had found himself thinking more about Seliel and getting more worried about those they had left behind. He had managed to keep his feelings and thoughts hidden from the others but as their time in this place and their Blight curse continued he had a feeling he might not be able to hold back his feelings much longer.
"What is the pain from loss but another form of love; love with which you wish to give but cannot. Greif is love with nowhere to go; the desire to give love to one you can no longer give that love to," Celaena stated looking over the cavern. Cole thought over what she had said for a minute before expressing, "I never really thought of it that way."
"I understand. At the time of the loss it is hard to see it that way but when you are as old as I am and have seen as much as I have, known as many as I have you begin to see things in a new light. True you can never get over the pain of loss it leaves a hole that can never be filled that you will carry for all your days but I would prefer that pain over not knowing someone and always be left wondering how my life with them would have been like; to miss all the joys and wonder they could bring to my life. You should not let the fear of losing someone control your feelings for them. Even if you are unsure of your feelings you should tell them how you feel. If you wait too long you might find one day that it is too late, they could move on or even no longer be. There is no worse feeling than wanting to tell someone how much they mean to you but you can no longer tell them; to leave things unsaid and undone," Celaena explained looking over the cavern below. They sat for a while looking over the cavern below and Cole thought about what she had said. He had never really thought much about it like that. A lot of what she said made sense and he felt her words were true. The more he thought of it the more it made him want to go find Seliel and tell her how he felt but he knew there was no way for that to be possible. They were trapped in this place; none of them knew how long it would take for them to find what they needed and find a way to break free from the Stags hold if this Blight didn't claim them first. Every day it was looking more and more like they were not going to escape this place depressing them. It was starting to take atoll on each of them though they were each trying to hide it from each other.
"You know I often wonder if the Stag can feel loss, is he capable of grief. He often makes it clear that he despises mortals but none of us know why. Is it because he is an entity of darkness or could the feelings that come with loss be why he despises mortals? Why he distances himself from the rest of us? Even us of artificial make who are gifted with long life still have a day we will cease to be and we can still be felled like other mortals. In all my years around him his hatred for other beings is unlike any other entity I have come across. I have met Oni, Dragons, spirits, Ashers and others of great power and longevity but none quite match his characteristics. Others like the Oni and Ashers, they do not hate us in the same way the Stag does. To them we are beings of lesser value meant to be used and controlled but to the Stag we are something else. He shows caring towards us protecting our home from the daemons of the wastes, giving us what we need to live peaceful and well off lives. He gave many lives, some new others a second chance. He takes care of us like we are his prized pets yet how he distances himself from us; how he speaks of us, the cruelty he uses on us and the hatred he shows to us they conflict with his caring side. It is as if he has two sides and many of us wonder why. Is it grief and fear that make him hate mortals or is it something else, something truly dark. I and Juib have long pondered about the Stags true nature. From what we have observed he has a strong desire to corrupt and destroy the world around him much like the Oni we theorize who made him yet for some reason that we do not yet know of he resists acting out on these desires. He cannot fully control these desires however. You can see glimpses of it now and then; in his entertainment, his punishments and uncontrollable anger they stem from this desire, this darkness in him," Celaena thought aloud while Cole only listened wondering what was going on with those they had left behind; it brought a lot of worrying thoughts.
"I am sorry if my ponderings have lowered your emotions. I understand such deep thinking can be highly unpleasant especially for troubled minds," Celaena stated after a moment of silence, "you probably came here for some peace and quiet in attempts to relax so I will let you be." She went to leave but Cole commented to her stopping her in her tracks, "it's okay I don't mind if you wish to hang out; thinking about her... and the others kind of makes me feel ... well down... and lonely. It would be nice to have your company." With his words she came to rest next to him occasionally talking with each other.
After splitting from the others Zane had wandered around observing the constructs and beasts of Holamaya. Unlike the people of Balmora the denizens of Holamaya were friendly and welcoming to him and didn’t hesitate to involve him, share with him or interact with him. It was a nice and welcome change from the way people had treated him in the town removing some of his feelings of loneliness and raising his emotions a bit. Despite the threat of the Stag possibly lurking nearby he felt relaxed and safe here. He still had feelings of loneliness but they were no longer as strong as they had been in Balmora. As he wandered he was inspecting the many creations of the Scimitar people occasionally helping some of the other constructs interested in learning more about the creations of the Scymer folk and the people who had made them. Much of it was very fascinating. Eventually in his wandering Zane found a small garden section across the river from the palace on the outskirts of the small town area they were being kept in. The garden was mainly well kept and well decorated with various flora including a few strange plants he had not seen anywhere else in this realm which seemed to be much like fabricants, half organic and half metal. Along with the flora various statues in an assortment of poses were scattered throughout the garden. There were at least over two dozen of them. Some were obscured by trees or shrubs that had matured around them and a few had vines that had grown up onto them over time. The statues were mainly stone with decorative metal pieces made from Scimitar Steel incorporated into their make. The metal decorations seemed to resemble armour, weapons or even implants the figure the statue was meant to represent likely had in life. Both men and woman from adolescents to old age were represented. There was a mix of races represented from warriors and scholars to spirits. Below each statue was a plaque stating who the figure was and the deeds they were known for. Most appeared to be figures from the realms mythology including notable past elemental masters or dragons as those in this realm called them, great thinkers and artisans, warriors who had done great deeds, mythical spirits said to reside in the world and memorable beasts. The Dragon Master and all three members of the Tribunal even had statues in this garden. There were even shrines to this Storabek in some places which he reasoned had likely been built after the Stag had taken over. There primitive style of design with decorations of bones, leather, feathers and stains from various substances likely blood and oils on their surfaces strongly contrasted with the statues of Scymer make. Apart from the shrines to Storabek from what he could see this seemed to be a place either for memorial purposes, maybe teaching or even both. As he wandered through the garden looking over each statue and plaque intrigued by the place Zane noted something. By one statue the silvery face plate for an old Robo-bill was placed. It was placed in front of the statue on a small pedestal with a heavily worn candle next to it.
Zane was perplexed. The way the object was placed resembled a memorial though for what or to whom he was not sure. None of the other statues had anything placed by them and while he felt the other constructs had the ability to understand and perform behaviours like this, it was obvious some of them were doing it with the shrines to Storabek, he doubted most of them had a hand in this. He could deduce that this was likely put here by a single entity. He defiantly felt that the Stag didn’t do this. The Stag had no care for such things; everything seemed worthless in his eyes. The face plate looked familiar so Zane picked it up to get a better look.
"You noticed it too," Divayths voice stated. Zane looked up to see Divayth standing nearby; he looked to be observing Zane.
"You know what this is?" Zane inquired.
"Yha, most of us here do. He thinks we are unaware that he has done this but all of us who live here know, well I am unsure if the Stag knows but the rest of us do," Divayth stated coming to stand next to Zane who remembered why this faceplate looked so familiar.
"This was part of Juibs old body but why has he put it here?" Zane wondered inspecting the statue. He recognised the figure. The statue the faceplate had been placed in front of was that of Jules the Wise the last champion to Whetu and Juibs last companion.
"This Jules meant a lot to him and his passing was sudden and as Juib likely saw it too soon. I am guessing his placement of his old face plate by the statue of his former companion is a mimicking of a symbolic nature probably one of a memorial. He often comes here in secret during the night to meditate by the statue. I do not think he wants any of us to know he does it or that he created this memorial. I am pretty sure he knows I and Celaena know about it. I do not know if he is aware that others know," Divayth explained.
“If everyone else knows why does he keep it secret?” Zane inquired putting the faceplate back on the pedestal just like he had found it and Divayth regaled, “I cannot say. Maybe he does not want the Stag to know; maybe he does not want this behaviour known to the rest of us out of worry that it would change some of the others views of him. To most of those in the city they know Juib as a sturdy, tough and logical thinker who rarely acts on such shows of emotion. He is a leader, a scholar capable of separating thinking from emotions, a rock for many to lean on. I understand as a younger construct prior to the Stags takeover he was more willing to openly show off a more emotional human like side but over the years of serving under the Stag and having to take on a more responsible role he has moved away from that side. Only rarely will you catch glimpses of it and only with us of the Black Hand.”
“I would agree Juib does seem to focus on more logical thinking and this behaviour seems out of place but I understand it. What I do not understand is Juib is old is he not and he had many companions before that he likely felt a kinship to so why has he only given a memorial to this one and not any of the others? I do believe I have seen a few other champions to Whetu here,” Zane noted curious about this strange quirk from Juib and Divayth explained, “I am not too sure. He has seen many years; older memories are likely gone or damaged even if he saved them; sadly that is but a symptom of time, nothing no matter how hard we try to retain it can last forever. He likely does not remember all of his previous companions no matter how hard he tries.”
“What do you know of this Jules the Wise?” Zane wondered inspecting the statue and Divayth regaled while Zane listened, “just what was written and what Juib has told me. From what I understand he was given a position of great power and admiration but while some might have enjoyed this he did not. He took up the mantle he was given and performed his role as Whetu’s champion and as a protector of the realm but deep down he never seemed happy with his role. He was always scholarly even from a young age preferring lone study to fighting at the front and leading others. Juib felt he had much regrets. Before he became a champion and before the Scimitar folk fused his organic body with cybernetics he had lived in a small village with a family; Parents, a sister, a mate and offspring. As the reptilian wars dragged on his hometown was set upon by the serpentine, he took up arms like many others but his town was no match for the serpentine army. He was the only one to be saved. Juib always felt Jules regretted that he had been the only one to survive; that he regretted not departing with those he loved. He regretted that he got a chance to continue in life while his family did not. He longed to join his loved ones but Jules continued on. He continued because he saw beauty in life and the world around him and he knew he had a duty to perform, to protect this beauty from the darkness that so often seeks to destroy it. He knew the people needed him and he had a job as a protector of the realm which he was not going to take lightly. He would only let death stop him in his duty and he would let death come to him when it was ready, he would let the universe tell him when it was time to end it all he would not make that decision for himself. I think when he faced the Stag he knew this time had come that is why he did not put up a fight and instead made a bargain to protect the innocent of the city from the Stags wrath. I wonder if he also knew the Stag would have no desire in the vaults and would help keep the Ashers from entering the city. Jules would not have given up as easily as he did if he felt the vaults were in danger or the Stag was a threat. Did he know something about the Stag we have not yet found I wonder?”
“You know I often wonder what keeps Juib going. Logically the power sources we were gifted can last a long time but if we so desire we can pass on or be felled if we so please and our power sources are not eternal they will run out one day. Knowing all he has, seen all that he has, all the years he has been operating… I can see that it has taken a toll on him. I do not know who it would not take a toll on. Time is the enemy to all. Juib may have a new young body but deep down his processing’s, memories, programming even the very essence of his being what some might call a soul are old. He is by no means ancient like Celaena but she and her siblings were designed to last for longer than we could imagine they were after all meant to be the ultimate guardians to the vault and realm. Juib though like you and I were never designed for that length of time. I do not know why the Stag keeps him going, Juib should have been sent to rest in the departed realm many years ago; Jules was to be his last companion. He would have been retired and a new construct was to take his place along with the next champion but of course the Stag got in the way,” Divayth regaled.
"Maybe Juib is not ready to..." Zane began before suddenly finding it hard to utter that word; die. It reminded him of his predicament and he looked at the Blight on his arms and legs. It was very noticeable and was almost complete in its march up his limbs. Soon it could start around his eyes then there would be no hope for him. The thought of the end approaching so quickly for him and that he likely would not be able to see Pixal before then lowered his emotions; he wasn’t for his life to end yet but this time he might not have a choice.
"No Juib has been ready for a long time. He has confided this with me a few times. I think he keeps going to please the Stag and to help protect and care for the rest of us, we are after all family and we care for each other; well I would not consider the Stag a loved or even liked member but technically he is family. You know Juib once told me that he does not understand why some desire for immortality. Yes there is many great and wonderful things in this world to see and experience, more than one could experience in their life time even if you can live for centuries but even if your body does not age you will still feel age; the passing of time on your mind and energy, the loss of those you love and hold dear, the changes to the world around you. Eventually even if you have experienced all the world has to offer you will desire for the great rest that comes for us all. Juib told me himself that he would rather perish before he is ready than experience a long drain of time to the world and loved ones around himself. At first I was unsure what to think of his statement but after giving it some thought I understand his logic and what he meant. In some ways it makes me pity the Stag for he is immortal. He will see many changes and if he is capable of it feel much loss... you know this is not a very up lifting subject. I can see your mental state is not in the most stable or elevated of levels. Why do we not talk of something else? Given your state of mind I do not think it wise for you to be alone where your current predicament will likely do nothing but bring about unpleasant and emotional lowering thoughts worsening your current state,” Divayth proposed noting Zanes mood, “when ones emotions are low it leads them only to think more on what depresses them furthering the lowering of emotions which can lead to very unpleasant circumstances. If you like we could hang out here or we could visit my abode. I could offer you tea and edibles made with Scimitar Oil; my one of four daughter-clones has become quite the chef. I can show you some of the research I have done on Scimitar culture, the flora and fauna of this realm or some of its mythology. I have noted you are curious about many things here, I must admit I do have a curiosity in your realm as well. We could compare knowledge and stories.”
“I guess… you are right… it is just this Blight… I am not ready to…” Zane mumbled looking at his Blight struggling to control his emotions.
"No one is ever ready but there is nothing that can be done. The time will come for us even if we try to fight it. I know it is unpleasant to hear but I urge you to keep going. Even though you feel or think it this might not be the end for you. It is nearly impossible to tell what the future holds. You never know how things will turn out as Juib has told me before only time can tell. Now come we can spend some time together and you can tell me about the she-droid who holds your heart. I am betting you miss her dearly," Divayth expressed urging Zane to follow him.
After the others had left him Lloyd had continued to wander around observing the constructs, flora and fauna of the city trying to find something to occupy his time and get his mind off his worries; the Blight curse, his mother, getting out of this city, what was happening back home... despite how hard he tried he could not take his mind away from these thoughts. Eventually his worries drove him back to where they were working to continue their task. He started by cutting back some of the brush blocking the pathway. Not long after he started working Kozac came strolling over to stand cross armed and watch him a few meters away. Lloyd was unsure if he was mad or relaxed, Kozac often had an expression even when relaxed that made him look mad, so tried to ignore his presence not wanting to get involved with Kozac.
"Where are your clan mates?" Kozac grumbled while watching Lloyd who was trying to cut back the shrubs but the Blight was making his joints sore and stiff making the task much harder than he had hoped.
"The others gave us the day off," Lloyd replied continuing to work.
“Then why have you come back here, should you not be with your clan mates?” Kozac inquired.
"They are doing their own things and that is fine. I know I should take this time to relax but I just can't. I need to get to that vault and stop all this. Dagon, those Asher monsters, the Stag harassing us, this Blight...," Lloyd began stopping to look at the Blights markings on his one arm. The sight of them depressed him. Even though he managed to hide most of his feelings and thought Kozac couldn't see how he was feeling some of his emotions did show and Kozac did take note of them and he did notice the effect the Blight was having on Lloyds mood. Kozac however gave no signs that he noted Lloyds feelings.
"I just have to get this done so we can get out of here," Lloyd stated before muttering quietly to himself hoping Kozac couldn't hear him, "mother must be so worried, hopefully we can get out of here before it is too late." Kozac could hear him but made no mention of it, he just watched. After fighting with some trauma vines barely making it out unscathed Lloyd uncovered a large fallen log. He could tell just by looking at it that he would not be able to move it from the path on his own. It was pretty large, he could probably fit inside the trunk it was that large. By the moss, debris, fungi and plants growing on it Lloyd had to guess the log had been here for some time. Not wanting to give up for the day he grabbed an axe from the tools they had been given, since he couldn't move it he was going to try and cut a part of it out so there was away through. If he was lucky the log could be rotten and easy to dismember if not the wood could be dry and rock hard making his job worse. Kozac just stood watching him. Thanks to the Blight the axe felt heavier than it looked making him struggle to wield it. He managed to give one hefty overhead swing into the log. It sunk in a bit but didn't penetrate too deep. From how the axe went in Lloyd had to guess there was a bit of rot to the wood but not enough to make his task easier. He would just have to keep pushing on as best he could even though he didn't entirely feel like continuing on working anymore. He tried to pull the axe out but he could not muster the strength to do so and it felt like his wrists were swollen making it hard and painful to move them. He let go of the axe and rubbed his wrists trying to relieve the discomfort before he would try to pull the axe out again. In his break he noted a sound nearby. It was soft and kind of sounded like a Venom-Fang. It sounded close. Not wanting to risk getting bitten by the venomous bird lizards he looked around trying to figure out where the sound came from. Following the sound he noted a sizable hole in the log by the ground partly hidden by some ferns. He slowly leaned into look at the hole wondering if one of these reptiles was trapped in the log.
Before he could get a look into the log a Venom-fang fabricant launched up from behind the log landing atop it startling Lloyd who fell backwards in surprise. Three regular Venom-fangs then rushed out from the surrounding woods to encircle him hissing and growling at him. Before the reptiles could make a move Kozac rushed in to stand protectively over Lloyd his weapon drawn ready to attack. The fabricant began making noises at Kozac using its robotics to communicate with him.
"Watch your tongue lizard. I protect you and your clan so it would be wise for you to obey me. The green Dragon is not your prey now get back the lot of you and look for something else to stick your teeth into," Kozac growled at the Venom-fangs taking a few swipes towards them with his sickle trying to scare them away. They jumped back but did not leave and seemed to be getting angrier snapping and clawing at the air towards Kozac. Before he attempted to get up to help scare the creatures away the sound he had heard before drew Lloyds attention back to the hole in the log. Looking closely in the darkness inside the log he could see something moving and he understood why the Venom-fangs were attacking.
"Kozac stop, they're not hunting," Lloyd expressed getting up and restraining Kozac, forcing him to hold his weapon down.
"What are you doing? Do you want them to attack you?" Kozac growled and Lloyd quickly countered, "they won't attack." Lloyd then addressed the reptiles who were still on edge hoping they would understand him.
"I'm sorry I didn't mean to harm or scare any of you," he expressed to the reptiles. They began to calm down but still looked angry. Shortly after they started to relax two half sized Venom-fangs, two chicks, rushed out from the hole in the log towards the closest adult, one that Lloyd guessed was the mother, and nuzzled into her. The adult inspected them over making sure they were okay nuzzling them as she did and one of the other adults, likely their father, came to inspect and nuzzle the young ones as well. Lloyd watched the family interact showing affection to each other. Watching the creatures he could feel tears coming to his eyes as it made him think of his family. He couldn't help but think this Blight might claim him before he could get to see his mother again and he worried what would happen to her alone in this realm. Would she ever find out what happened to them? What horrors awaited their world if they failed? With the family reunited and they could see the young were scared but okay the mother led the group off into the brush taking their chicks to safety. The fabricant was the last to follow giving a snort and growl while baring its teeth to Kozac before leaving.
"Did any of them bite you?" Kozac inquired after the creatures had left. Lloyd remained staring where the creatures had left trying to hold back his feelings and didn't hear Kozacs question. Kozac was able to pick up that something was bothering Lloyd but was unsure of what.
"Are you listening? Did any of them bite you? Venom-fang venom is fatal to those of flesh and blood," Kozac demanded.
"No... they just... startled me that's all," Lloyd expressed looking at the ground in front of himself caught up in his worries and emotions and trying to hide them from Kozac. It didn't take much for Kozac to put things together having noted Lloyds behaviours and emotions to the Venom-fangs and their family. Even though he understood Lloyds feelings he was not entirely sure what to do.
"Maybe you should join the others in taking a break," Kozac noted sheathing his weapon. Lloyd didn't say anything as he went and sat with his back against a low crumbling stone wall on the path.
"Are you sure you are not hurt?" Kozac wondered unsure of what to do as he kept up his cold stern appearance.
"I'm fine, I just... I just need some time alone," Lloyd snapped struggling to holdback his emotions. Kozac just stood silently looking at Lloyd unsure what todo. Kozac looked from Lloyd to where the Venom-fangs had disappeared then to the log which still had the axe in it. After a minute of thought Kozac went over to the log and pulled out the axe. He looked at it, then at the log where it had been then back to Lloyd who was sitting quietly staring at the ground a mix of emotions on his face as he thought about the ninjas predicament, his mother and what Dagon could be doing to their world and those still there while they were trapped here. After a quick thought Kozac began to hack at the log to cut pieces from it. As pieces fell off he brushed them aside but left them on the path as he continued cutting away the log. At first Lloyd didn't notice what Kozac was doing. He only became aware when he caught movement in the corner of his eye.
"What are you doing? You're not supposed to be helping us. Won't the Stag punish you?" Lloyd inquired trying to hide the emotion in his voice.
"True we are not to help you but who is to say I am helping you. Maybe I just need to take out some frustrations and it just so happens there is a log and an axe here for me to do that. He would not like it if I used you to take my frustrations out on; he does not want us hurting you guys. That is for him to do. Just because my attacks are removing parts of the log clearing the path does not necessarily mean I am helping. Maybe I am making it worse for you by leaving a great mess for you guys to clean up later. There are lots of little pieces and splinters. We could make you pick up every little splinter with your bare hands. Maybe it will make your job easier or maybe harder right," Kozac stated continuing cutting at the log after having managed to get a decent chunk taken out of the part that lay over the path. Lloyd looked over the mess Kozac was making. True in ways he was both helping and making things harder for them. They had a considerable mess to clean up yet the hard task of cutting the log off the path Kozac was taking care of. Kozac was helping them in a way that made it look like he was not helping, a clever way to get around the Stags rule to not help them. Given Kozac hated people and had shown no liking or caring for the ninja Lloyd thought he would be the last one here to help them. He felt warmed and comforted by Kozacs actions.
"Thank you for helping us," he expressed giving Kozac a hug making Kozac pause what he was doing. Kozac showed no emotions back to Lloyd.
"Why do you not join your dragon brethren and take a break for the day," Kozac stated waiting for Lloyd to let him go before going back to hacking at the log.
"If it's okay I want to stay here," Lloyd stated moving to sit on a stone nearby to watch Kozac.
"You know you can trust the knights they will keep your mother safe. If there is anyone in the wastes you can trust or rely on it is them. No matter what they will keep your dam safe. Do not worry so much it is not good for your health and with the Blight consuming your health you should not be adding to things that will further have a negative effect on your well being," Kozac noted as he worked. After a while of sitting and relaxing Lloyd began clearing the debris Kozac left behind feeling he needed to keep working to keep dark thoughts from propping up. It wasn't long till Cole joined them feeling that he needed to continue their task to reach the vaults. His talk with Celaena had given him a desire to continue their work. Though he didn't say it aloud or acknowledge it Lloyd felt he wanted to get this done so he could get back home to Seliel. Shortly after Cole joined Zane came back. Zane also had the urge to continue. His chat with Divayth had renewed his urge to continue so he could get back home and back to Pixal. The two helped Lloyd in picking up the pieces of the log that Kozac was demolishing. It wasn't long after Zane joined as Kozac was finishing up having cleared the log from the path that Nya, Jay and Kai joined them.
"A breaks nice and all but we have stuff to get down and if we are ever to survive and see the others again we have to keep moving on," Kai stated as the three came to join the others.
"No matter what we are going to continue what we started till there is nothing left to do. We owe it to everyone especially ourselves to keep going," Lloyd expressed to them all. As they got back to work none of them realised that they were being watched. From in the shadows an entity had been keeping an eye on each of them all day unannounced to everyone in the cavern. It had been remaining unseen observing them for its own purposes.
They had been working all day. They had gotten over halfway to the structure of the halls of knowledge over the two weeks and a bit they had been there despite the interruptions and problems they had encountered in that time. So far they had been able to work through the Blights effects however over the past few days the Blight had started to take a serious toll on them all. It was making it harder for them to get the job done and making them work much slower each day. While so far they had been able to get through most days without too much trouble for some reason today they were having serious trouble. All of them had not had a good night’s rest the previous night. All had been restless and kept waking up in cold sweats over horrid nightmares that seemed to strike at their fears and worries or terrible memories often involving them or someone they cared about getting seriously hurt or ending up dead or worse; things too horrid and nightmarish for them to even want to think about. Sleepless or restless nights were starting to become more frequent and worse as the Blight progressed further aggravating other symptoms. Sometimes they would wake each other up with their screaming from the nightmares leading all of them to frequently get little sleep even if that night they were not being plagued by bad dreams.
The weirdest effect the Blight seemed to be having on them now was an odd ability to mess with their powers and leave them with times where they would lose control of their powers. The Blight also had an unnerving way of bypassing the effects of the bracers and let their powers through when they would lose control. Luckily this loss of control of their powers seemed to occur mainly while they were sleeping but sometimes things while they were awake would set it off; sneezing, coughing, shivers, disorientation, tripping, falls and getting startled were just some of the things that could cause a loss of control of their powers. This symptom wouldn’t have been such a terrible one if it wasn’t for how others reacted to it. Many of the animals would get spooked by it while the hyenoids and constructs would either get nervous or angry depending on the results of their accidents. Because they slept in the same structure as the Scimitar Samurai these individuals who were the most fearless of the Stags constructs had become nervous of them apparently afraid of getting hurt. A few times Kai had accidentally set his bed on fire or made it uncomfortably hot in the building, Jay had blown a few of the buildings circuits a few times and shocked not just the rest of them but some of the Samurai a couple times, Cole had accidentally caused the building to shake after falling out of bed the one morning making them think there was an earthquake and causing some damages to the structure nor were their building mates a fan of Zanes powers a few times having chilled the local environment and causing ice to build up on surfaces. Others like those who controlled and monitored the caverns weather systems and environment were more annoyed than scared of them especially when that onetime Nya’s powers had screwed up she had caused a heavy downpour in the cavern and burst some pipes for the rain simulating system which were not easy to fix due to their placement high up on the caverns ceiling while another time Lloyds had disrupted the caverns lighting systems getting it stuck on the late evening setting for a day. Losing control of their powers was frustrating and disturbing them and the effects it had on those around them was demoralising them all. Though none of them were willing to admit it but the Blight had really started to get to them and they were struggling to keep going.
By far though the worst of the Blights symptoms so far were its mood swings and in particular the Blights rage. This raged state turned the victim in simplest terms evil causing them to attack others over the littlest or strangest things and they could not be reasoned with. When they entered this state they tended to go after each other often ignoring the caverns other inhabitants unless they interfered in the fighting. There was little anyone could do to combat them when they were in this state. Depending how severe they would get they were either locked in a special enchanted cage that chilled anything in it to try and cool down their mood and the burning temperature the rage sparked in them or if it was severe enough they would have Divayth or Juib knock them out for a few hours with a powerful sedating spell. These episodes of Blights Rage generally didn’t last too long and were not frequent but were definitely scary and some were scarier than others during these episodes. They had reasoned that Lloyd, Cole or Nya would have been the scariest to enter this state and while the all agreed they were scary they had been surprised to find they were not the scariest. By far they had all come to agree that Zane was by far the scariest during these episodes and it wasn’t just his powers that made them think this. He could genuinely get very scary, dark and dangerous.
Each of them had already been in the conditions strange trance at least once that day, currently Nya was going through it kneeling on the ground stacking some rocks and tools on the path which they had recently uncovered and cleaned. As the Blight progressed these trances seemed to get slightly longer each time they occurred. Generally they only lasted for 20-30 minutes now but it made working very hard especially when the one in the trance would start taking the tools they were using. The only thing they could do for someone in the trance was let it pass and keep them out of danger. Zane was currently terribly disorientated and was sitting with his back to a stone wall that lined the one side of the path leading to the structure. Every time he tried to get up or move he was getting dizzy and unable to stand or balance which was causing him to lose control of his powers. This had led him to accidently freeze Jays feet to the floor when the dizziness had caused him to fall over. Jay had to spend over ten minutes chipping his legs free of ice with a trowel. They had all agreed it best for Zane to sit till he was better even though he was not wanting to just sit and do nothing. Zane had to agree though that he was of little help in his current state and a bit of a danger to them. If he didn’t sit still and keep his eyes closed only opening them now and then to keep an eye on what was going on he would feel dizzy. He was slowly getting better. Lloyd sat next to him struggling with a bout of depression talking to himself questioning what they were doing there, why they didn’t just give up and was it worth continuing their work. The other three were trying to work and keep everyone’s moods lifted but were finding it very hard. What was happening with the other three was demoralising them as they wanted to help but knew they could do nothing. They were also having their own problems. Jay and Kai were keeping an eye on Nya to keep her from getting hurt. The two were not suffering any of the more extreme or mental symptoms at the time but they felt weak, painfully sore and exhausted as they put some cut off pieces of plant in a wheel barrow they were using to move them to a compost pile elsewhere. Cole attempted to move the barrow but as he went to lift it he felt as if he had no strength and ended up tipping it over, losing his footing and landing on top of the spilt over barrow.
"Do you think we could take a break?" he questioned as Jay and Kai came to help him up as he struggled to get back up feeling weak and exhausted.
“That daemon could be watching we can’t stop, what do you think he’ll do to us if we stop?!” Jay panicked. Even though they had rarely seen the Stag since the incident in his torture ring a couple earlier Jay had developed a new paranoia where he thought the Stag was hiding in the shadows to attack them when they least expected it. After they helped him onto his feet Cole fell back down coming to sit on the ground too tired to try and get back up.
"Rate now I don't care. We can't keep going like this, I say we take a break at least for a while, maybe the rest of the day," Kai expressed sitting down next to Cole as Nya came out of her trance confused about the strange tower she had been building.
"What was I doing?" she wondered and Jay blurted out happy she was back to normal, "you're back!" While everyone else didn't think much of the Blights trances they unnerved Jay freaking him out and making him paranoid. He had somehow gotten the idea that the trance was someone, probably a bad person like one of these Asher folks, taking control of them and forcing them to do strange things so no one would suspect they were spying through the individual in the trance.
"What do you mean back I never left? It was just that trance," Nya explained sitting down after knocking over her tower frustrated by the condition. They all sat watching as Jay began to go into a panic yelling and freaking out expressing they should get back to work before the Stag saw them and what the Stag would do to them before going off on a paranoid rant. They were all feeling too terrible to care and just listened thinking Jay had really lost it.
DJ was sitting on the edge of one of the nearby watch towers watching them. He had originally been playing a game on a hand held game system he had gotten from Balmora but was now staring confused and worried about the way the ninja were behaving. All of those that lived in the city had noted the ninja were starting to struggle from the condition and starting to lose hope. Unlike their master most that lived in the city liked the ninja and wanted to help them but had little idea of what to do. Many of the constructs had tried to boost the ninjas moods even though the ninja were not comfortable with some of their attempts. Many of the hyenoids were mentally like children and did not fully comprehend many human social customs such as the ninja didn’t need the hyenoids help in the showers and not to bother them when they were having personal times nor was everything they said to be taken literally. Most of the hyenoids rarely or had never interacted with people. Outside each other they only really interacted with animals and other constructs so had very little skills for interacting with people. The ninja were very understanding of the hyenoids and tolerated them, mostly. Zane was the most trusting of them and wasn’t bothered by their misunderstandings even if they made him uncomfortable. Zane didn’t hesitate to consider the hyenoids friends. Jay however was still not entirely trusting of them and would become paranoid of them from time to time thinking they were out to get him or brainwashing the others, particularly Zane, into betraying him.
"What is that ones problem?" Kozac inquired coming to see what all the yelling was about.
“The Blight, Jay seems to be prone to paranoia more than the others,” DJ replied and Kozac noted, “I prefer his paranoia over the red ones or his sisters aggressive fits, those two seem to be prone to those.”
"True Cole and Zane seem more prone to more melancholy moods. Lloyd he seems to be a mix of melancholy and aggression. I wonder if Juib has noted that certain individuals are prone more to certain emotions than others while under the Blights influence," DJ noted.
"Probably, he has studied it very thoroughly though Juib has only come across a few recordings of a Dragon getting the condition. He was intrigued how the condition affects their powers even through those bracers," Kozac acknowledged. They sat for a moment watching the ninja. Normally when Jay went off on a paranoid rant the others were quick to chastise, critique or make fun of him but they were not doing anything this time just drowsily watching Jay go on his rant.
"The condition is really taking its toll on them. Too bad the Stag has forbidden us to help them. They do not have much to go before they reach the halls of knowledge," DJ expressed.
"They must do it on their own Stags orders and you are not to get any ideas. You know what the Stag will do to you if you go against his orders and I do not think Juib or Celaena could save you from his wrath over this," Kozac growled.
"I know... I hate his punishments... they are getting very despondent though, I fear they might start to give up if we do not do something. It does not have to be big. Something small to improve their mood and give them some hope; make them feel better you know," DJ hypothesized sounding upset.
"What can we do without invoking the Stags wrath?" Kozac maintained. The two sat and watched for a few minutes as the ninja talked unsure what to do.
"He wants us to break them so they will serve him not so they give up," DJ expressed.
"What are you getting at?" Kozac inquired not liking what DJ could be thinking.
"Take over my watch for me, I am going to speak with Juib," DJ stated getting up and leaving Kozac on the tower where Kozac commented, "Juib is someone else who needs a break."
"Can we just go to our room?" Kai complained and Lloyd added, "we're not in the mood for this. We just want to go to bed." After working all day and struggling with the Blight the ninja were exhausted and down. They all felt like doing nothing but laying on a bed or even just the floor for the rest of the night. Cole was so disorientated he could barely stand needing others to help him stand and move. He was leaning on Nya who was trying to help him stay on his feet while feeling like her skin was burning. Zane had started to suffer bouts of temporary memory loss from the condition and was going through a pretty severe one. He had forgotten some important things about himself and his past the most important of which was that he was a droid causing him to become agitated by his metal skin and extremely confused. While the others were trying to comfort and relax him till his memory came back Zanes memory loss and agitation were freaking Jay out putting him on the edge of a panic attack. He was dreading this symptom happening to himself and worried what they would do if Zanes memory didn't come back even though DJ and Kozac had assured them his memory would come back it could just take a few hours.
“We all agree you could all use this,” DJ expressed herding the ninja to the area they were training to use their Dragon Aspect in. The area had been cleaned up a bit and lanterns and colored cloths now decorated the buildings. On the terrace in front of the buildings various rugs had been laid out with pillows and low tables placed on the rugs. Lights were strung between some posts which had been erected earlier for dummies the Black Hand had the ninja practice their aiming on while using the Aspect. They had not done too good for that training. Even Zane had trouble aiming though it wasn’t entirely from the Dragon Aspect it was mostly the Blight making him disorientated and messing with his senses that was to blame. The place seemed busier than usual. Some hyenoids were practice fighting, some others were playing tabletop games with some of the Robo-bills who were beating most of the hyenoids at the games, a few were reading or just hanging with each other and some of the creatures while a few were tending a fire they had built in the center of the terrace. Ocheeva lay on the outskirts of the terrace resting while Bruma, Yin and Yang were pestering some of the hyenoids which appeared to be cooking a meal for the creatures on a grill they had set up. A few were just relaxing on the carpets watching the others with some of the creatures hanging with them. One was practicing an instrument playing some bardic songs most of which were not the happiest sounding. Divayth was hanging with some hyenoids who were hanging near where the meals were being prepped. They recognised four of them as his daughter-clones; individuals he had created from his programming from studies into the nature of the hyenoids. They were some of the only ones outside the Black hand to routinely interact with or aid the ninja and show no fear of interacting with them. Noting the ninja were being brought over Divayth went over to talk with the one playing music. They guessed he told the other one to play more upbeat and less depressing music since after their talk the bard went on to play a weird but cheerful and humorous sounding song. They sometimes had heard townsfolk in Balmora sing the song while enjoying themselves. Juib was there sitting on a carpet with a cup of warm Scimitar oil tea and a Venom-fang fabricant resting next to him where Juib would occasionally pet it.
"Use what?" Zane wondered confused and a little worried still struggling from the memory loss.
"I think it is called an intervention?" DJ responded.
"Intervention for what?" Cole inquired not in the mood for hanging out; he just wanted to pass out on one of their beds even though the beds were not very comfortable. At that time he even felt the cold stone floor would feel comfortable enough to consider a bed.
"I am unsure if you are aware of it but you all seem to be losing hope and giving up," DJ expressed, "besides you have done a lot of work and deserve a good break."
"We haven't given up," Lloyd countered not wanting to admit that deep down he was struggling to keep going on. Jay was quick to blurt out, "I have." The others were not wanting to admit they were struggling to not give up. The Blight was having a terrible effect on them and though they wanted to admit defeat because of it they were afraid of what the others would think especially each other.
"I have good reason to believe you truly do not believe your own words," Kozac expressed helping DJ usher the ninja over to where Juib sat and forced them all to sit down across from Juib on the carpet where they were surrounded by lots of various pillows. They wanted to object, to get up and head to their room but were too weak and tired to do it so just sat looking around at the others. Most of the others there only temporarily glanced at them before going back to what they had been doing. A few would wave at them but none seemed like they were going to come over to interact with them even though it looked like a few were interested in doing so. The ninja had learned over their time there a few things about these hyenoids. They were not the monsters the people of Balmora thought they were. Even the militant Scimitar Samurais' were not as dangerous or mean as they appeared, except for in battle then they lived up to their reputation. DJ sat with Juib while Kozac sat on a stool next to them crossing his arms while he sat remaining on guard.
"So we're a little down that doesn't mean we have given up," Kai acknowledged after a moment of silence.
"Doesn't help we can't get a good night's sleep with nightmares waking you up all the time and scaring you so much you do not want to go back to sleep," Cole noted.
"Indeed they can take a serious toll; I would not worry too much about the dreams. I believe they are simply a way for the condition to further weaken and torture the individual often by using personal fears, worries, doubts or terrible memories," Juib explained.
"That must be why they feel so real," Nya noted and the others agreed.
“Dreams? Do I dream? I think I do, is that normal?” Zane asked the others confused and a little worried.
"Yes you do; how long is this memory loss thing last and is it normal to be this severe?" Kai inquired starting to get bothered by Zanes confusion.
"It should only last a few hours. Technically it is a lapse in memory as the memories are not lost something is just blocking the memories from being known; the memories are still there. Normally they are not this severe, generally they are more mild. From studies it appears this symptom attacks memories that when forgotten lead to discomfort, fear and other unpleasant emotions in sufferers," Juib explained and Lloyd expressed, "what a cruel effect then again allot of what this Blight does just seems for being cruel."
"What do you expect from something created by the Ashers," DJ expressed. They sat quietly for a few minutes before Jay blurted out, "what would agreeing to the Stags terms imply?"
"Jay?!" Nya expressed. She, Kai, Lloyd, Zane and Cole were shocked at Jays comment while Juib, Kozac and DJ were worried. His comment even made some of the constructs nearby turn to look over nervously at them.
"What? Serving him could not be any worse than this Blight besides he can make the Blight go away right?" Jay expressed starting to panic.
"Trust us you do not want that," Kozac stated and Juib added, "No he cannot remove the Blight. He can only delay its progress and hide its traits. It will still progress despite his attempts to stop it. He cannot save you from the Blight, I do not know if anyone or anything can stop it and I can tell you from experience that what he can do to you is just as bad and sometimes worse than what this Blight does."
"Yha and if he is what we think he is and he has control of you guys if you think what Dagon or the Oni do is bad he will be far worse," DJ explained.
"Why would you think like that Jay? I could see Zane maybe breaking down seeing as he is further along than us and the Stag likes those like him but not you... no offense Zane," Kai began upsetting Zane who was hurt to hear the others might still be thinking he would betray them and Kozac cut in to say, "he does not like us. He just tolerates us because we can live longer lives than other mortals so he can use us more and for a longer time. He can also easily scrap us back together and keep us going longer than we should or please to live. If we were short lived with more dispensable bodies he would simply terminate us."
"Then why do you serve him? Why don't you try to leave and find somewhere you would prefer to live?" Lloyd inquired and the hyenoids thought it over not looking to happy about it.
"Well he created most of us, even though he did not create our blueprints, those are somebody else's but still he built us and gave us life. In ways that makes him what you would consider a father to us so we must serve him. We owe our existence to him," Kozac expressed and DJ added, "besides this is our home. We have nowhere else we can go. Our only other options are worse. Torture at the cruel hands of the Ashers, wander the wastes till the ash terminates you or be scrapped by the people. Besides who knows what the Stag would do to us if he caught us leaving his service."
"Besides with the Scimitar Folk gone we are all that is left to keep the vaults safe," Juib replied.
"How much do you know of these vaults? If we somehow manage to get to them what are we to look for? No one has been able to tell us? How can we succeed if we don't even know what we are to look for?" Lloyd inquired sounding down.
"I am sorry to say but I do not know what you have to look for. I am old but not that old," Juib explained and Cole wondered, "how old are you?"
“At least over two hundred years. I was originally a simple working Robo-bill. I do not remember that time really. I do remember that one day they took me to the workshops and made me into a superior model with more advanced programming than my brethren before giving me to a Champion of Whetu. According to them I had been chosen to be a companion to the champions to aid in the protection of the vaults, the champion had chosen me themselves. They said Whetu herself told the champion to pick me though I do not understand why. I was companion to several champions before being given to Jules. Even though we protected the vaults champions rarely entered them and I never entered it, the dark energies within scared me too much. I know of some of the items placed in there but I do not think they are what you are looking for. Celaena or her siblings might know but I do not believe they would. Knowledge of what is in the vaults was given only to a select few to help keep it secret,” Juib regaled as Divayth came over and put a bowl of food in front of each of them. It looked like flavoured rice with some vegetables and some sort of meat along with some cooked insects like what looked like some sort of grasshopper and some beetles. He then placed cups of chocolate flavoured Kagaur milk in front of each of them. Despite originally being a little grossed out or uncomfortable with some of the items they considered edible here they had come to accept it as normal and were no longer bothered by what things came from. They were also so tired they did not really care what it was made from.
"What is this?" Kai inquired. They were all too tired to be interested in eating even though they were hungry. They all just wanted to go to bed.
"It is your evening meal," Divayth explained sitting with Juib and the other hyenoids, "you have been working so hard you deserve it besides it is important for your health to have it."
"Is this safe or is it some sort of trick? Did the Stag make you poison it as punishment for taking a break when we were supposed to be working?" Jay fretted looking over the bowl, utensils and cup for anything hidden.
"You know it's hard to tell if you're just being your normal worrisome self or if it's the Blight talking," Kai noted questioning if Jay was onto something or just being paranoid, he quickly came to the conclusion that it was the Blights paranoia making Jay think that as Jay babbled on.
"No, no trick. As far as I know he has not said anything to me these past few days," Divayth commented and the other hyenoids agreed. None had heard a word or even seen the Stag all day.
"What is he up to then? Spying on us? Trying to take over Zane while we're not paying attention or is he trying to take over someone else? Or is he goanna wait till we are sleeping and strike us when we are at our weakest? Drag us to some horrid torture room and torture us for several days hanging us by our ankles from the ceiling or forcing us to lay on beds of spikes," Jay began babbling confusing the hyenoids while the ninja were not very amused getting fed up with Jays rather frequent paranoid views of late especially when it got directed to one of the others.
"I think he's lost it," Cole commented and Kozac asked, "is that one always like that?"
"Yha he can get this paranoid from time to time. The Blights just made it worse," Kai offered and Divayth commented, "What I gave you is safe, we fed the same thing to Bruma and as you can see he is fine." Bruma was finishing off his bowl of food making sure to lick the bowl clean while Yin and Yang ate next to him. He looked fine and very happy.
"If we eat this then can we go to bed?" Nya asked and all but Jay who was still being paranoid agreed with her question.
"I guess if you are that tired I would agree so," Juib agreed.
"Am I hungry? Can I feel hunger? How do I tell?" Zane wondered confused.
"Trust me as your friend and a brother you are now eat up. You'll feel better when you do," Kai muttered tired of Zanes confusion and wanting to get the night over with before muttering more quietly to himself, "and hopefully it will keep you quite, you're starting to sound like Jay."
"How can you be my brother if I am not made of flesh and blood?" Zane worried confused and Lloyd responded hoping to comfort Zane, "It doesn't matter what you're made of or what you are Zane your just as human as the rest of us despite what you are made of and what you are. You're family no matter what."
"You don't have to be blood related to be family," Cole agreed before expressing unaware he was swaying back and forth in disorientation as he sat looking at the bowl he had been given, "Is there an earthquake? Why's the bowl keep moving?"
"The bowls not moving you are," Nya noted and Cole expressed trying to stable himself, "oh." They began to dig in. Zane was a little hesitant at first still confused before finally giving in and eating with the others. Cole had a bit of trouble while eating missing the bowl a few times before he was able to steady himself so he wasn't swaying so much. Jay was the last one to start still worried this was some sort of trick. Whenever one of the others looked away from their bowl or cup Jay attempted to put his food and drink in theirs still convinced the hyenoids had done something to it. The others and the hyenoids kept reprimanding him for his attempts each time. Eventually all it took was a grunt from Kozac and seeing Kozac was watching him Jay stopped his paranoid behaviour and reluctantly started eating his food. As they ate their meal the hyenoids talked trying to get the ninja to converse with them but the ninja were more interested in eating their meal and going to bed so listened more than talked...
Celaena was perched on one of the columns nearby watching over the ninja and the others. Every now and then she would aggressively groom a part of her body trying to relieve the burning and skin irritation of her Blight. She had been invited to join the others but had declined wanting to spend the night meditating by herself; she also knew she would feel out of place with them and she did not want to feel that way. Even though she shared programming with the others she was much different than them. Even the other fabricants were different. She was ancient and unique, she could do things only dragons could do and had been around the longest. Only four others had been made like her, her clutch mates. They had been hatched together, raised together, converted together than imbued together. Her one sister had fallen long ago taken out by Ashers, her one brother lived far away as a companion to Sheoth and her two other siblings, a brother and sister, had disappeared decades ago leaving her alone. Even though she had the other constructs to call family her unique qualities sometimes left her feeling lonely. She was different from them and this often left her feeling lonely. She longed to see her clutch mates again but knew that was very unlikely to happen. She had come to terms with this fact even though it still made her feel heavy-hearted.
As she watched over the others she felt a shiver go down her spine as the air around her got cooler. She shook off before looking behind herself.
"We had a feeling you would show up but why up here and not down there? Do you not want to punish them?" she commented as the Stag materialised in his stag-headed man form and came to stand next to her. He stood looking down at those below and seemed surprisingly calm and emotionless. He almost seemed confused as he looked down at them one hand on his chin the other resting beneath the others elbow.
"I am aware they were given a break yesterday and that they were not working today. Do not worry I understand why, I will not punish them for these..." the Stag began before hesitating staring down at everyone. Celaena remained quite knowing it was best to remain quite at that time. She did not want to aggravate the Stag and cause trouble for the ninja.
"Why are they socializing with the dragons?" the Stag questioned still staring.
"Why would they not. All living things from animals to plants even us of artificial make need to socialise with each other to feel we are not alone in the world. To feel comforted and belonged; to feel a part of the greater world around us," Celaena told the Stag who remained unchanged.
"They could be dead by the end of the week, why care?" the Stag pondered.
"Why would how much time they have matter? They could live for only a few hours or for hundreds of years how long one has should not matter when trying to be their friend. Sometimes it is those you know the shortest who can mean the most in one's life," Celaena proclaimed.
"You mortals, always clinging to foolish desires and ways. No matter how long you got your lives are all short why would you bother with such trivial pursuits. Why would you get attached to them when they will shortly perish and bring you nothing but pain from their loss," the Stag snorted and Celaena could feel her mood lowering from the Stags words.
"The pain of losing someone is worth having known them. I would take that pain over not getting to know them. Greif is the expression of love, the love you wish to give them but can no longer give to those you want to," Celaena expressed.
"What a foolish thought," the Stag expressed.
"Maybe to an immortal it may seem foolish. Maybe if you were mortal you would understand. You can take life for granted, you never have to face the problems of mortality, the daily struggles, the chance you may not have much time. Every mortal desires to share their existence with others who share their mortal plight, I am guessing for an immortal like you things like that do not matter, not much matters to you does it?" she expressed looking back at the others.
"You would never understand the turmoil's of being immortal. All the things you see, all that comes and goes, all that changes around you, all those who pass...," the Stag growled pausing for a few seconds before continuing, "you are getting too attached to the dragons. They cannot stop the curse or Dagon no more than you can. They will perish sooner than you wish." As he spoke he glanced momentarily at the Blight on Celaena's one wing making her feel conscious and embarrassed by the condition.
"Even if they do not have the power at least they are willing to try, that is more than can be said of some beings that do have the power," Celaena commented. She knew what she said would have angered the Stag as he would take it personally as she had intended and she braced herself for punishment. To her surprise punishment never came, when she glanced at him the Stag was still looking at the others. He stood staring for a few more seconds before turning to leave.
"Are you going to punish us?" Celaena inquired before the Stag could leave looking back to him. The Stag paused for a second then without looking at her spoke calmly with a hint of something else in his voice; something Celaena thought could be some sad emotion.
"You will all come and go. Your mortal issues and desires mean nothing to me. Do what you want with each other. If you want to waste your precious time with the dragons then so be it I will not interfere and I will not punish you. You are not breaking my orders and you are but simple mortal machines controlled by your mortal being which I will never understand. It all means nothing to me if you want to waste your precious time with the Dragons," the Stag settled starting to move off before Celaena asked him a question. She and the others were all curious. He had not explained to them why he wanted them to break the ninja and it was making them curious. Why did he want to be so cruel to them when they were suffering from the Blight? What did he want them for? He was far more powerful than all of them together so why did he care about them? He could easily control them if he wanted to and take away their free will so why did he want to break them?
"We have all been wondering why are you trying to break them to serve you? You have the power you could easily enslave them with your powers so why are doing this to them? Why do you desire to be so cruel to them?" Celaena inquired. The Stag paused with his back to her. For a minute Celaena thought the Stag was not going to say anything but he spoke calmly and quietly.
"I am testing them," the Stag replied and Celaena inquired confused, "testing them for what?"
"You would not understand. From what I have seen though, I do not think they will be able to do it," the Stag expressed.
"Able to do what?" Celaena wondered and the Stag responded with, "it cannot be known to you," before he moved off disappearing as he left. Celaena looked at where he had been for a few seconds before looking back to the others...
The ninja were getting close to finishing their meal and starting to feel even drowsier but were still listening to the hyenoids as they talked occasionally responding or asking questions.
"What kind of things are we likely to find in the vaults?" Lloyd inquired drowsily.
"There are lots of terrible and dark things in there but do not worry not all are bad. There are objects of light in there too. They were locked up because they are too dangerous for most folk to wield. The Dragon Master was very cautious and thought it best they be kept somewhere the wrong hands could not get them. Not everything is dangerous either. Some are just weird or oddities sometimes created by accident or as a prank which many thought it best they were removed from the reach of common hands. For example there is a ring of disrobement, pretty sure Sheoth created that one as a prank. When you put it on all your clothes are transported off your body and several feet away leaving you naked. There is a quill that will only write curse words and vile sentences, a broom that leaves dirt instead of cleaning and a necklace that turns the wearer into a skeever, it took a while for the Scimitars to find how to reverse that items spell. The calming pants, makes the wearer even if they are the most anxious and paranoid entity so relaxed and calm you could put them in the face of death and they will not even flinch and the boots of blinding speed as their name suggests makes the wearer move rather fast however at the same time you are blind and the spring-heel shoes allow the wearer to jump over twice their own height like a cat can," Juib regaled. By the time he finished speaking all the ninja had fallen asleep. Zane lay on his back missing the pillows though his one arm was propped up on one while Cole who had been sitting next to him was laying on his side and using Zane as a pillow. Nya and Jay who were next to them were both using the pillows as pillows and Jay was hugging one like it was a teddy. Kai had been using a pillow but had rolled off and just lay face down on the rug while Lloyd had fallen asleep sitting up before falling onto his side missing any pillows.
"Guess I owe you that dynamo core," DJ commented to Divayth.
"Why would you doubt my knowledge," Juib stated.
"Shame most of them missed the pillows," DJ noted and Divayth commented, "well I believe they refer to it as it being the thought that counts."
"How long does the potion last?" Kozac inquired relaxing his sitting position.
"It usually lasts on average 12 to 14 hours. They will be able to get a full night of sleep; the potion should help keep the dreams at bay for a while. That should help them feel better and give them a happier outlook on things. We should give it to them every few days to help them sleep," Juib responded.
"Should we put them in their beds?" Divayth inquired.
"When we are done here, they will be fine here till then," Juib replied.
"Do you think they can succeed in their quest?" DJ wondered. Juib was quite for a second before responding. They were all hoping for someone to put a stop to the Ashers and the Blight that plagued their home. None of them wished to live in a world ruled by Dagon and the Ashers. They already had the Stag making life terrible for them they didn't want more like him making it worse.
"Truthfully, the odds are not great. I fear no matter how hard they try they will fail. They are no match for the powers against them. They should at least try, that is better than doing nothing at all. Maybe I might be wrong and they get lucky and succeed. We can only hope," Juib expressed.
"How dangerous are these places again?" Ed asked.
"Well depends on what has made its home here," Seliel explained. The raven had found a few ruins however they had all been claimed by the necromancers already. Luckily the Raven had found another possible location, one where they could acquire some added defensive aids if their plan worked. The Raven had located what remained of the caves of despair. A Scimitar ruin seemed to have been merged to the same location. According to the knowledge of both Pixal and Keikiary these ruins often had extensive structures underground they could shelter in and technology that could help protect them. They were hoping these underground structures were okay and safe enough to shelter in. The only problem was these ruins were not truly abandoned. Scimitar Constructs always inhabited these ruins and were not likely to just let them walk in. They were likely to try and obliterate them but they had come up with a plan. The constructs would not be acting out of hatred or because of aggression. They were programmed to protect what they considered their home for their creators which they likely did not understand were not coming back. They were simply following programming, programming they hoped they could change. With the special programming she had been given the Scimitar constructs would see Pixal as one of them and if she could connect with them she could get the constructs to accept them and let them shelter in their home. They had made a small group to try and claim this possible shelter.
They had brought two groups to try and claim the ruins. Pixal, Jays father and mother Ed and Edna, Coles father Lou, Seleil, Mahei and two people from Knighton had been chosen to enter the structure. They were hoping the constructs would see they had no powers and by not appearing like fighters the constructs would not feel too threatened by their approach and let them get close. Wu, Skylor, Karlof, Gryphon, Ray, Maya, Ronin, Tox, the Pale Man, Sir Brickland, Keikiary, and a few people from Ninjago, Knighton and Lost Realm were waiting nearby on the outskirts of the town in case something went wrong. They were hoping not to run into trouble but constructs were well known to be unpredictable so they each carried something to defend themselves if they had to. Pixal and Seliel were the only ones to be armoured and carry real weapons while the others had staffs, canes, cooking pans or gardening tools to defend themselves.
The ruins consisted of large stone buildings, towers and walls all with bronze colored metal roofs and decorative inlays, panels and other pieces. Decorative symbols were etched into the stone and metal. Metal pipes ran on a few walls where they ran into the walls, the ground or the underside of some structures. Patches of stone tiles seemed to come out of the ground in some places looking to have once formed paths but most of these paths had either been removed or buried over time. Some structures were damaged with piles of rubble lying at their base however most of the structures seemed fairly well kept. Some trees, mosses and grasses were growing near and on structures. The way into the ruin took them through a narrow rocky valley before it opened into a more open courtyard like section which was surrounded by two story rocky walls made from the mountain. Several exterior buildings and towers surrounded the courtyard some being built into the walls. The largest of these structures sat separated a bit from the courtyard and had large round decorative silvery and bronze metal doors which Pixal believed was the main entrance to the subterranean section of the ruin. The place seemed deserted. While wildlife was hanging around the place, mainly birds and insects, there was no sign of any constructs.
"Where is everyone?" Seliel wondered as the group remained at the entrance to the courtyard wary of moving further.
"I am picking up a couple entities nearby," Pixal noted trying to contact any constructs as they entered the courtyard.
"What kind of entities are we talking about?" Ed worried.
"Hopefully it is not one of those Centurions or a fabricant," Mahai noted as Pixal led them into the ruins. By one of the structures which looked to have been a small house a small group of constructs were working. It looked like they were attempting to make repairs to the structure. Two hyenoids who were dressed in the clothing of the Scimitar folk held a metal exterior wall lamp to the structure while a Robo-bill was attempting to weld it back onto the structure. A winged Serpeton was hanging around them watching out for danger. When it saw their small group approaching it began to make a rattling noise and hissed till its companions were aware of their presence. The constructs stopped what they were doing to look at them. The lamp they had been trying to weld slipped from the two hyenoids hands hitting the one in the head. The one that got hit then proceeded to yell at its fellow droid in the Scimitar tongue getting in a fight with it.
"Hello, we do not wish to cause any trouble. We are a small group of people fleeing a great threat and we were wondering if we could communicate with you. We mean you no harm. A cub of the fang is with us she'll tell you," Seliel spoke as the Robo-bill and Serpeton looked at them appearing to be wary of them. The Robo-bill snapped at the two hyenoids shocking them with its power supply stopping their fight before turning back to their small group.
"Will you talk with us?" Pixal inquired. The constructs were quite for a minute.
"Why does Sister of the Fang bring non cubs," the one hyenoid inquired.
"They mean no harm. They are ill and scared and seek shelter from those that wish to harm them. We wish to talk with you and the other cubs and hopefully come to an agreement about sharing your dwelling..." Pixal began before the constructs became aggressive by the call of a Venom-fang fabricant. It sounded like the creature was calling from the outskirts of the ruin where the others were hiding worrying the group.
"What trap is this?" the one hyenoid growled.
"Trap? There is no trap..." Pixal began before the one hyenoid cut her off, "there are dangerous fleshies hiding outside town!" They could start to hear fighting between the others and constructs as the hyenoids pulled out weapons making them all nervous.
"This isn't good is it?" Lou expressed before Seliel exclaimed, "no, we should retreat to the others before things get worse." The constructs began to attack them forcing them to defend themselves. While the others attempted to escape Pixal and Seliel fought back the hyenoids and Robo-bill to keep them from attacking the others. As they fled back to help the others more constructs summoned by the fabricants calls came out of ruined structures or ports on buildings to attack them. Serpetons, Scimitar Spheres, hyenoids and Robo-bills attempted to attack them. Even a centurion appeared out of the ruins.
"What happened?!" Seliel inquired as their group joined the others who were trying to fight off a large group of constructs.
"One of those Venomous fabricants spotted us and began calling for aid," Skylor noted and Pixal expressed, "if I focus I could try to communicate with them maybe get them to stop their assault."
"We will watch your back. If we cannot get them to agree then we will be in very dire circumstances. There are few other places we could shelter," Wu explained as he, Skylor and Seliel held back the constructs so Pixal could try and connect with one of them.
"They are calling me 'betraying Fang Sister' they say if I want to reconcile and talk I must speak to their leader but they will not tell me who it is," Pixal noted looking around for any sign of which construct was leading the group.
"How do we tell which is the leader, is it even here?" Seliel wondered taking out a Scimitar Sphere.
"It is somewhere here," Pixal offered joining the fight as the four of them looked around for any of the constructs which showed any sign it was leading the others.
“The leader isn’t one of these little Rattatons is it?” Seliel wondered kicking one which was trying to shock her away.
"I am having a hard time locating this leader, the Blight is disrupting my sensors," Pixal expressed as they fought getting frustrated by the Blights effects.
"We will help you find it," Wu offered. While fighting they kept looking around for the leader. As far as they could see all those they were fighting showed no signs that they were in charge. One thing they did note was the fabricant that had started the attack seemed to have disappeared. Seliel was the first to notice it and she was the first to notice it was acting strange. It was moving around making noise at its fellow constructs snapping and swiping at them while randomly attacking someone constantly changing targets and not sticking with one or two like the others were. It looked a lot like it was barking orders at the others.
"Hey Pix is that normal behaviour for those things?" Skylor acknowledged.
"No, it is the leader," Pixal noted trying to connect with the fabricant but she was having difficulty connecting to it. The Blight was making it hard for her to focus and the fabricant did not seem in the mood to connect with her. It hissed at her putting on a threatening display as she tried. She continued trying to connect with it though her attempts seemed to be angering the fabricant. It gave off a sparking electrical energy as it rushed into them giving off a large burst of electrical energy as it reached them. Skylor, Seliel and Wu managed to escape its electrical attack but Pixal got shocked. She fell over and sat dazed while the others had to dodge the creatures bladed tail as it swung it around trying to hit one of them with its tail or stab at them with its bladed forelimbs.
"Maybe if it can't fight back it might be willing to listen to us," Skylor expressed jumping onto the fabricant to try and restrain it. Despite being smaller than them it was surprisingly strong, Seliel had to help her restrain the creature.
"It will be unable to perform that electrical attack again for half an hour," Pixal noted as Wu helped her up. She began to attempt to connect with it again. This time seeing it was having trouble escaping it decided to listen but was clearly not happy. It used a strange combination of the Venom-fangs noises and robotic sounds to communicate.
"We do not wish to bring harm to you or your companions. We would like to share your home for a short time while we wait for some friends to return from your realm. We will help defend your home and help with any work you may need," Pixal offered. Since the others could not understand the construct but she could Pixal interpreted what it said for the others.
"He says we are dangerous. We bring dragons which will only draw the dark ones to their home and they do not want that for the dark ones will destroy them," Pixal interpreted.
"Dragons? We have no dragons what is he talking about?" Seliel questioned.
"Your elemental masters; Here you call them ninja in our realm they are called dragons. Even those who are not active dragons are still of the dragon as they will always be even past the end of their days. Being of the dragon leaves a permanent mark on your very being like how a wound leaves a scar and it draws in the forces of darkness for they will always conspire to snuff out the light of the dragons whether active or not. Even if we do not intend to bring the darkness it will follow drawn by the energy of a dragon, it always has and always will,"Pixal translated for the fabricant as it growled.
"You do not understand; we are working to stop this darkness. My ninja have gone to your realm to retrieve what is needed to stop it," Wu explained and the creatures eyes went wide as it seemed to recognize something before managing to slip from Skylor and Seliels grasp.
“When serpents rise and make the realm quake; When realms of souls fall to slayers of oni and stone giants wake and walk to end the nights; When dragons and knights of masters fail scions of Ash and chaos shall awake; As walls of realms begin to crumble allowing realms to mix and mingle; Realms must turn to knight of powers and dragons of whirlwinds for escape; But all must fall for darkness to awake and the dawns of light to re-awake,” the fabricant muttered confusing them as it clambered onto the top of a nearby structure that looked to have once been a home pausing on top to overlook them. It called for its fellow constructs to stop and fall back. Everyone was puzzled as the constructs retreated back into the ruins collecting any fallen companions and dragging them with them. The fabricant remained standing on the structure. As everyone turned to look at it the fabricant surprised and shocked everyone.
"The scrolls foretold of this; His defeat was merely a delay; after the oni would fall the dragons would fail. When their wings are clipped and they have fallen to shadow the border between realms shall weaken and fall and darkness shall come. Realms once light and familiar shall be covered in shadows, shadows that are in plain view yet hidden consuming the world in darkness. There is only one this darkness fears; one of its own. But to gain this darkness and for the realms to be saved knights must fall to ash and shadow and dragons must enter the tower of first light and fall to its darkness in order for realms to see the light," the fabricant growled the voice emanating from its internal machinery and not its mouth, "if you desire to stay here we will not hinder you but we offer no comfort and no aid. Like your dragons at the mountain of first light you must face the darkness in order to see the light." The fabricant then took off headed for the ruins within leaving everyone confused and worried.
"Dragons must fall to the darkness, that does not sound good," Skylor expressed and Wu noted, "what is going on in the Lost Realm? What is going to happen to the ninja?"
Notes:
If have any questions go ahead and ask I do not bite. I will try to answer them, I will however not give away spoilers.
Chapter 46: The Attack
Summary:
Danger has come.
Notes:
Pictures relating to story can be found here: https://www.deviantart.com/nerdy-hyena/gallery/72478681/story-project
They are really good and help to visually flush out several aspects of the story including environments, characters, outfits, locations, creatures and other aspects often important ones in the story. All images I post in my work can be found there if you want a better look at them. Defiantly make sure to check them out.Also if you need a refresher on creatures, flora or aspects of the environment you can check out the second chapter in this work titled 'Keikiarys Guide to the Ash Wastes'. It includes short descriptions and pictures of these things.
Parts of this section are subject to change as the prequel story is written to improve story continuity.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
They had finally cleared the way into the halls of knowledge. It had taken a little over three weeks but they had finally gotten into the structure. They had to pry some wooden barricades off the entrance and break the locks off the doors with shovels and hammers to get in. Inside it definitely showed signs of abandonment but was not damaged too bad; some holes in the ceiling of the main foyer, some small piles of debris and a few grasses, shrubs and shrooms were growing in the structure. It felt damp with a strong earthy smell to it. Mosses, molds and algaes had come to coat the wooden debris and decorations in the place and were stretching onto the stone of the structure. A few puddles lay on the floor and some vines and roots were growing down from holes in the ceiling. By the looks of it they didn't need to do much work inside the structure to get where they needed to be despite the ruined state of the place. Both Cole and Zane had seen the foyer of this place in a dream and both had a sense of where the vaults were held, somewhere down a hall on the left side of the entrance. Inside the structure was dark but luckily the hyenoids had given them flashlights and lanterns to help navigate inside the structure and Lloyd was using the star stone for light. The hall both Cole and Zane felt was the correct one led to an area which looked to have been a library at one point but there were no books or scrolls or even the strange cubes left there. Just decaying wooden shelves, empty containers, molding old chairs and tables, lanterns, rusted light fixtures, torn cloths and tapestries, paintings and dirty rugs were all that was left in the place. Some structures which resembled lights hung on the ceiling and a control center was located by the entrance. Nya, Jay and Zane inspected the control center while the others kept watch for anything in the room that could be dangerous. They were in luck; the control center was run off the same Geo-thermal circuit as the rest of the city and was still connected and not damaged. With a few flicks of some switches they were able to turn it on and Zane was able to turn on the light structures for the room through the center. Not all of them came on but enough come on to give them enough dim light to make out most things in the room.
"That's better, now what?" Kai asked as they turned off their light sources and looked around.
"Normally I'd say we should split up and look for anything but..." Lloyd began suddenly finding himself unable to focus, a side effect of the Blight. The condition had been progressing over their time there. Juibs potion and his touching of the Stag had only stalled the condition for two days before it had started back up again. Zane was still the furthest along and they were all worried markings would start appearing around his eyes soon. The markings on his limbs had reached their full extent for the condition. Once they started appearing around his eyes it wasn't long till it could be too late for him. Even though Zane was putting on a brave face they all knew it was depressing him that he was further along and was less likely to make it than the rest of them. He had even confessed to them that he had thought of making a bargain with the Stag though he dreaded what the Stag would want from him. He did not want to die not from this curse or at this time and he especially did not want to become a daemon. None of them wanted that to happen either. For them all the symptoms had progressed and gotten worse making their task much harder and making them feel worse and worse. The condition had progressed far enough that they now could experience all the symptoms which would come and go at random making things worse for them.
"You were saying?" Cole inquired rubbing the area around where the wound he had gotten in the ring back in Balmora had been. The wound had healed and he no longer had the bandages or stitches but his arms were sore, burning and irritating him thanks to the Blight; they had been that way the past hour and likely would stay that way for a few more hours.
"Were you going to say we stick together to search, I think that would be the best idea," Nya suggested gently touching Zanes arm to try and catch his attention. She was unsure if he was in the weird trance or just tired by the way he stood by the control center staring at the ground and swaying a bit. It took him a minute to realise someone had touched him but he luckily wasn't in a trance. He was feeling depressed, tired, had a lot of pain in his chest centered around his heart and he was unable to think clearly but he was still with them.
"What are we doing here again?" Kai asked confused suffering from a bout of temporary memory loss, one of the later symptoms to appear in them and a rather debilitating one.
"We are looking for these vaults which hold something to defeat Dagon to save our home, right?" Jay responded not too sure of himself worried he could be having a bout of temporary memory loss and not knowing it.
"Yes and I think Nya's right. We're not in very good shape and who knows what is hiding in here," Lloyd agreed. They began to search the place sticking close together while trying to fight the effects of the Blight. There looked to be very little left. Surprisingly despite the ruined state of the place with decaying wooden furniture there were no spider webs or signs any living thing had been in there since it had been cut off from the rest of the city. Bones from these Scimitar folk with their decayed clothes and armour and trashed scimitar constructs lay here and there where they likely fell during the Stags takeover. They were searching for anything that could be or open a secret passage or room but there was very little in the room that could reveal any secrets. DJ was right the place had been gutted. As far as they could see the paintings or tapestries did not hide anything nor did any rugs.
"Well any ideas?" Lloyd asked after a while of their searching. They were all tired, sore, weak and having trouble focusing.
"Maybe we should take a break," Jay suggested.
"We don't have time for that. Look at Zane he doesn't have much time left. If Juib can't find a cure then maybe something in the vaults can. I heard him say that," Lloyd objected pointing to Zane who seemed distant as if in a trance.
“Do you sense that?” was all Zane said looking around at the back wall where some tapestries were pinned to the wall by a few decaying shelves that had fallen on them. Comforting him with a pat to the shoulder Nya stated, “No Zane.”
"I say we take a break," Kai stated and Lloyd feeling desperate replied, "No we have to keep searching."
"Why are you so intent on finding the vault now?" Jay questioned starting to feel paranoid, "what are you planning?"
"What are you talking about?" Nya asked confused over what Jay was thinking.
"How do we know you really want to help us? Maybe something in that vaults warping his mind and going to make him turn on all of us?!" Jay exclaimed clearly no longer thinking straight.
"Yha are we forgetting he's part Oni, maybe the vaults are awakening his dark side," Kai agreed not thinking clearly either. Lloyd, Nya and Cole were shocked at the twos reactions, no one was aware that Zane had wandered off to investigate the area he had been looking at and starting to clear the ruined remains of the shelf away from the wall.
“What has gotten into you two?! You both know Lloyd would never do that,” Nya objected. She and Lloyd then began arguing with Jay and Kai. Cole didn’t join in feeling too tired to argue and thinking they were all being foolish. He was the only one to notice Zane had wandered off but when he tried to get the others attentions they didn’t seem to hear him. Worried where Zane had gone and what he could be doing Cole felt like leaving the others to their squabbling to search for Zane. Something however caught his attention. He thought he heard a woman’s voice tell him to look over here. When he looked at where he thought the voice came from it was just a wall. No one was there and he was afraid of what he had heard. Was he starting to lose it or was there something in there with them? Something they couldn’t see like a ghost! When he looked at the wall he noticed something seemed off to the wall. He couldn’t see it at first but to get a better look he turned his flashlight on and pointed it at the wall. It took him a second to realise what he was looking at. It was the images Juib had documented, the ones he had asked them to try and decipher. They were in the same orientation. Oni on top, dragon bottom left, folk on bottom right and sorcerer in the middle. As he surveyed the pictures he noted a few other scribbles with them ones he could see Juib have ignoring possibly thinking they were just scribbles or scratches in the wall. What resembled a volcano encompassed the images and what could possibly be a representation of some sort of alter beneath them. Beneath the images crudely scratched into the wall was small writing he could understand. It read: The scrolls foretold of this; His defeat was merely a delay; after the oni would fall the dragons would fail. When their wings are clipped and they have fallen to shadow the border between realms shall weaken and fall and darkness shall come. Realms once light and familiar shall be covered in shadows, shadows that are in plain view yet hidden consuming the world in darkness. There is only one this darkness fears; one of its own. But to gain this darkness and for the realms to be saved knights must fall to ash and shadow and dragons must enter the tower of first light and fall to its darkness in order for realms to see the light. Juib had not mentioned anything about writing. Had he not noticed it or had it not been there when he had seen the images? If they hadn’t been there so long ago then how did they get there? Was something in the room still? Cole didn’t want to think of that but he couldn’t drop it from his mind. He took a quick glance around the room feeling nervous before attempting to get the attention of the others.
"Guys..." Cole said before having to yell at them, "will you guys stop it and look at this!" The others stopped their squabbling and were confused unaware they had been arguing or what they had even been arguing about.
"What? You find the vault?" Jay asked as they came to look at what he was looking at.
"It's those drawings Juib had," Nya commented and Kai added, "Well he did say he found them in here. I don't recall him mentioning the volcano one though."
"I think he overlooked them. In his defence they look like nothing more than scribbles and he only saw them over forty years ago when he was a less advanced Robo-bill. They might not have registered as part of the imagery to him at the time. There also looks to be some alter or table here too and is that writing," Lloyd commented pointing at the one he was mentioning to before reading aloud what the writing said. The writing unnerved them. What did it all mean? Even more worrisome what did it mean by the dragons had to accept the darkness to see the light? They had a feeling dragons could mean them so what did it mean they had to accept the darkness to see the light? They didn't like the implications of what that could mean. They could think of two possibilities either they didn't wish to happen. Either they accept the Stags offer and become his slaves or succumb to the Blight and become daemons.
"That's not very comforting. Zane what do you think all these could mean?" Jay asked before realising Zane wasn't there starting to worry, "uh-oh. Where is he?!"
"I think he's in one of the Blights trances," Cole explained as they looked at their surroundings.
"Yha I think so. He's over there stacking the ruins of that shelf," Kai commented being the first to notice Zane.
"Should we do something?" Cole asked.
"What can we do? We just have to wait till it passes," Nya replied as Lloyd came over to Zane and gently touched his shoulder. They were surprised when Zane reacted to being touched.
"Were you saying something?" he asked looking at Lloyd.
"We thought you were in one of those trances again," Lloyd commented, "did you see what we found?"
"I did," Zane replied looking at the drawings, "with the added images I would have to deduce it is depicting some sort of ritual or spell performed in or at the base of the volcano. As for the words...I do not like what they could imply." Upon mentioning the words they noted Zane was clearly very disturbed as he looked at the Blight on his arm and they came over to comfort him.
"Maybe the words mean nothing and it is just a joke? Maybe the Stag put them there to torment us more," Kai offered.
"Maybe but I don't think so, none of the constructs in the city have ever recorded him anywhere near here so unless he did it long ago then someone else did, possibly whoever made the drawings," Lloyd noted.
"Hey Zane if you're not in that weird trance then what are you doing?" Jay inquired as Zane went back to clearing the debris from in front of these tapestries which depicted nothing special. The tapestries had simple random designs to them nothing more.
“Can you not feel that?” Zane wondered confused that they seemed to not be able to feel what he was feeling.
"Feel what?" Kai asked.
"I cannot exactly tell what it is but it is some sort of energy originating somewhere behind these tapestries," Zane replied. Zane had noticed the energy the moment they had entered the room. The energy was faint but it felt like a sirens call drawing him in like it wanted him to find it. Thanks to the effects of the Blight it had taken him much longer than usual to pinpoint where it was coming from. He could sense it was somewhere behind this wall but not exactly where. Cole and Lloyd helped him move the shelf from in front of the tapestries and pull the tapestry off the wall. They couldn't see anything there just a stone wall.
"There's nothing here Zane. Maybe... maybe the blights already affecting your mind more than usual...like final Blight stages affecting," Nya expressed investigating the wall worried for Zane.
"But... I can sense it," Zane mumbled feeling upset and worried.
"I'm sorry but she's right there's nothing there. We'll just have to keep searching," Kai comforted Zane giving him a few pats on his shoulder.
"Can we take a break for a few minutes before we start again?" Jay moaned, "My legs are burning."
"Sure," Lloyd agreed as they all sat down. They sat there for a while trying to focus on happy things but they could all feel the Blight affecting their emotions. Zane sat with them but stared at the wall for quite some time trying to survey the wall for anything before giving up to stare at the floor in front of himself feeling defeated.
"Don't worry we'll try our hardest to find this vault," Cole comforted Zane giving him a pat on the shoulder while he sat next to him. They both sat next to the shelf pieces which Zane had stacked on a worn rug. After a while of sitting there the feeling of something suddenly crawling on his one wrist and heading up his arm made Cole freak out.
"Something was just crawling on my arm! I think it was a bug, felt like a bug! A really big bug with many legs!" he panicked getting up and backing away from where he had been sitting. The others looked but couldn't see anything.
"Are you sure you felt something? Maybe the Blights making you feel things," Kai objected as Zane inspected the shelf pile. He found nothing in the rubble.
"No I wasn't just feeling anything. I swear there was something there!" Cole exclaimed while Zane decided to inspect under the rug in case something was hiding under it.
"Did it feel like a spider?! I hope it wasn't a spider! That book showed there's some pretty nasty ones here. Or was it something worse like a centipede?!" Jay worried.
"Spider or possibly centipede, whatever it was felt like it had many legs," Cole commented brushing off his arm as if whatever it had been there was still crawling on him. After moving the rug Zane noticed an odd patch in the floor. All the floor tiles in the room were a regular square in shape but under the rug there were strange cut shapes in a few of them. Looking at the whole thing Zane noticed it bore a familiar shape but he was having trouble calculating what it was.
"Are you okay Zane?" Kai asked as they noticed Zane looking at the floor confused. They all came over to see what he was looking at.
"The shape looks familiar," Nya noted and after running his hand over the shape Zane responded finally realising what it was, "It is that Shurikan Divayth gave me." As they investigated it further they noted a handle in the centre of the shape that was flush with the floor. It took a little work to dig it out before they could pull on it. As they pulled it up the shape lifted out of the floor leaving a void beneath it perfectly shaped to hold the Red Diamond Shurikan.
"I bet that weapon is the key to finding the vaults," Lloyd commented feeling the depression.
"Well then let's go get it. I'm pretty sure Juib will let us use it," Kai exclaimed. They wasted no time in heading back to the foyer to get Juib. Now that they had a possible lead they didn't want to waste any time. When they got to the foyer they could hear a commotion outside and they stopped for a second worried. They cautiously exited the ruin and were shocked to see the denizens of the city including the venom fangs Yin and Yang, the birch runner Bruma, the Ash Walker Ocheeva, the Fear-bricant and Celaena fighting a group of Ashers and Ash Spawn on the patio and walkway area in front of the palace. Several Asher Sorcerers were with them! One sorcerer was using some sort of spell to restrain Celaena preventing her from moving pinning her to the ground and the Birch Runner Bruma was trapped under a net trying to break free while the venom-fangs tried to protect him. The only two with powers that could stop the Ashers were taken out and even though the others were standing their ground against the Ashers without ice powers or special potions or materials they could not defeat them to remove them from the city.
"Ashers!" Jay exclaimed and Nya added, "How did they get into the city!"
"They must have found a way through that gate, we have to help them," Lloyd expressed. Though they were not feeling up to the task they decided to offer their aid. Those here had been kind to them. They had been offering them aid, taking care of them even if some of their attempts made the ninja uncomfortable and helping them with their task despite what their master wanted. They didn't deserve a cruel fate at the hands of these horrid beings. The ninja rushed out of the building and to the walkway to join in the fight. They were quickly finding though that they were in no shape to fight. At first they had little problem but were quickly becoming sore and exhausted. Zane was even finding it hard to muster his powers and when they tried to use Spinjitsu they became dizzy and felt exhausted and sore from the effort. They were clumsy in their fighting and were having trouble landing a blow or dodging attacks. The Blight had taken a serious toll on them, they could feel it.
"You guys are in no shape to offer assistance get out of here before you get hurt," Kozac grumbled at them helping Kai back onto his feet after he had stumbled backwards and fallen over trying to use Spinjitsu. Seeing an Asher aiming some spell at them Kai pushed Kozac out of the way and got hit by the spell. He was flung backwards getting winded.
"They are here for you guys, you should get out of here," Divayth explained to them as they all came to help Kai; Nya and Jay helping him back onto his feet. They were all feeling beat and decided the hyenoids were right. They were offering very little help and were just getting hurt. Before they could do anything though the Ashers forces stopped; some of them starting to laugh at the ninja.
"How do you enjoy our little gift to you," the one sorcerer growled with a deep gruff voice at them as it approached them. They were spooked by its appearance and confused on how it was talking; they couldn't see a mouth on the thing. Kozac and Divayth stood close to the ninja preparing to protect them from the sorcerer.
"We know what you have come here for, we will not let you have them," Kozac growled at the sorcerer.
"Oh really is that what you think. Tell me you heap of walking scrap metal where is your master. The great and mighty Black Stag," one of the regular Ashers whose attire was more decorative than the rest lending them to believe he was the leader of the group demanded coming up to them.
"He is not here and lucky for you he is not or you would never have been able to enter the city," Juib proclaimed coming from somewhere by the palace to confront the Ashers. He was wielding the Red Diamond Shurikan.
"Ah the Stags right hand, just who we wanted to see," the Ashers leader proclaimed with a sinister sounding laugh.
"Divayth, Kozac take the ninja to safety. DJ, Celaena, you and the others take shelter till the Stag returns," Juib ordered the others not taking his eyes off the Ashers.
"What about you?" Celaena inquired. She was no longer being restrained by the sorcerer.
"You do not stand a chance against them," DJ expressed worried.
"Just do as I say, I will be fine. We are just going to talk," Juib declared looking at the shurikan he held before whispering to them so the Ashers couldn't hear, "the Stag will be here soon do not worry." Though it was clear the others did not like this idea they obeyed. DJ and Celaena took the others towards the village in the cavern while Divayth and Kozac took the ninja to the halls of knowledge where they sheltered just on the inside of the foyer to watch what was going on outside. Though they could see what was going on they were too far to hear anything. Luckily Divayth connected with Juib so they could hear what Juib was hearing so they knew what was going on. Divayth played the audio through his audio systems as they watched.
"What is it like you talking scrap heap to know you aided in the destruction of your masters, your creators?" the Ashers leader goaded loudly clearly trying to get Juib to react but Juib remained emotionless looking surprisingly calm.
"We were not responsible for their demise. Yes we pushed them from this city but not by choice. It was the Stag that did that. I do not know what led to the demise of their race but something tells me it was not natural," Juib stated looking at the Star before looking at the Ashers still remaining emotionless.
"You know you lot are very interesting. The Stag could have made you all the same boring hunks of scrap but instead he made you each an individual with your own personalities, feelings and traits. Something your old masters would have done not something that fits with the Stags traits does it. Why do you think he did that?" the Ashers leader stated and not just Juib but all the other hyenoids were confused. It had crossed many of their minds but they generally had come to agree to not question why they were the way they were. Even though the members of the Black Hand had thought about it extensively they could never figure it out. They had all just accepted how they were. Why had the Stag made them all unique?
"If only you knew why it would blow that thing you call your brain. Now tell me scrap heap do you think the Stag cares for any of you? Does he have feelings for any of you? What would he do if something happened to any of you? What if something happened to one who is close to him? Tell me Juib do you think the Stag will mourn for you?" the leader proclaimed before rushing at Juib swinging a Katana. Juib reacted quickly defending himself with the Red Diamond Shurikan. The two began to fight using weapons and spells. They were evenly matched and it seemed their allies were going to let them fight it out on their own. At one point the Ashers leader managed to get Juib positioned so his back was to the other Ashers so he could not see what they were planning. With Juibs back to them the leader stepped aside as one of the Ashers hit Juib from behind with a spell that flung him several feet forward towards the palace. Juib bounced once pretty hard before coming to land laying face first on the ground. He remained still for a few seconds before slowly getting to his feet having clearly been stunned and damaged by what the Asher did. Damages to his face, chest, left shoulder and right arm showed allowing some of his internal mechanics to show. The Ashers just laughed as Juib slowly got back up and picked back up the shurikan to face the Ashers. Celaena and some of the other hyenoids made a move like they were going to come help Juib but he growled at them.
"Stay back, this is for me to deal with," Juib growled stopping them. Juib faced the Ashers ready to continue the fight. The one sorcerer began preparing a spell and Juib held the shurikan in front of him as he created a ward to protect himself. The Asher flung the spell at Juib where it seemed to be blocked by the ward Juib had created. Juib managed to hold back two blasts before he stumbled backwards onto his knees clearly more damaged than he was letting off and his ward went down.
"We have to help him!" Cole commented and Nya added, "he can't fight them on his own."
"He does not want help though," Divayth commented. Both him and Kozac wanted to help but they did not want to go against Juibs orders. Juib knelt for a minute staring at the Red Diamond Shurikan as if transfixed by it; a reddish reflection from its blades reflecting on his face and eyes for a few seconds.
"What's a matter too wrecked to continue?" the leader teased as an Ashers sorcerer came to stand in front of the others. Juib remained still for a few seconds before slowly getting back onto his feet taking a few seconds to steady himself.
"You demons have long terrorized this realm; I know what you did though I cannot speak of it. Go ahead have your fun cause it will all be over soon and you will be the ones cowering and afraid of the shadows," Juib proclaimed preparing to defend himself but before he could make a move the sorcerer flung a spell at him. There was a bright flash of light forcing all those watching to close their eyes and look away so they were not blinded. When the light faded they looked back. They could not see Juib anywhere and the Ashers looked very pleased with what they had done. Where Juib had been standing all that was left on the walkway was a scattering of ash and the shurikan. It took no explaining for them to know what had happened. The ninja were in shock and could see Divayth and Kozac looked to be horrified. The only one to do anything was Celaena who with a racers scream rushed in to land heavily in front of where Juib had been standing sending a mighty blast of air at the Ashers sending them flying backwards. She and Juib had the closest relationship out of them all. Seeing the Ashers destroy him had sent her into a vengeful rage. She held her beak open growling and hissing at the Ashers ready to attack them wings held open in display.
"One of the famous dragon imbued racer fabricants. We've dealt with one of you before, we fell her just as easily as we fell your rusted pal Juib. What makes you think you stand a chance?" the Ashers leader boasted loudly. Seconds later Celaena became terrified and took off to hide with the others while the Ashers laughed at her thinking she was a coward.
"Who here dares challenge us?" the leader proclaimed with a laugh unaware of the darkness suddenly building in the cavern.
"He is here!" Kozac stated as the hyenoids cowered. The ninja were nervous knowing who they were talking about. They had seen what he could do by possessing them, what could he do on his own! It took a few seconds before the Ashers realised what was building. A dark smoke surrounded where they were and blocked off the exit to the cavern. The light in the cavern seemed to dim and the air began to cool.
"How dare you filth invade my home, why the sudden bravery after all these years," the Stags voice boomed sounding deeper and more terrifying than usual. Some of the Ashers were clearly spooked while the others looked eager to challenge the Stag as they all looked to the towering smoky mass that now blocked off the far end of the cavern.
"So the Lord of the Mountain finally shows his face," the leader challenged as deep dark aquamarine eyes appeared in the mass.
"This is my mountain and my kingdom. You and your kind have no place here," the Stags voice boomed as out of the giant mass a dragon far bigger than any they had ever seen crawled out. It was clearly a dragon in form but the way it moved, the way it positioned itself it was all wrong. It was a corrupted evil version of a dragon. It had four limbs with the highly tattered looking and clawless wings being tied up in the front limbs, it was low slung crawling like a lizard on all fours walking on the knuckles of its wings and its neck was slung down. A horn adorned the nose while horns which branched a few times mimicking the antlers of a deer stuck out from the back of its head jutting out from the shield like bosses of the top skull. The edges of the bottom jaws were lined with a few small thick spike like bosses which pointed foreword getting bigger as they got to the end of the jaw. A spike jut out angled down and foreword over where canine teeth would go in the top snout making it look like the dragon had forward pointing tusks or scimitar teeth on its top jaw. A large foreword pointing horn jutted out of its cheeks pointing foreword and slightly downwards. The canine like spike and cheek spike had tips of aquamarine which faded into the black of its body. Two small spikes jutted from the shoulders while the spines down the back were small to minimal largely running on the neck down to the hip area. These spines appeared knarled and ragged. The tail was smooth and slim while on its chest what looked like aquamarine tinted ribs stuck out of the somewhat concave breast of the creature; four of them on each side. A scute stuck out from its knee-caps. The eyes, the inside of the mouth and a scaled crack pattern on the chest were an unnerving glowing aquamarine and its teeth were a striking white which reflected the glow in its mouth offering the only color and light to the void black shape the Stag had taken. The whole form looked dark, had a decayed like property to it and was somewhat disturbing to look at. It was a monstrous depicting of a dragon.
"What kind of dragon is that?" Jay panicked and Divayth replied, "That ninja is more demon than dragon. It is the Stags demonic mimicking of a dragon. He uses it to terrify Ashers."
"Why the hostility? We come baring an offer. Join us, we can help you fulfill your dark desires," the leader offered unafraid of the Stag.
"After what you did? My answer remains the same as it did so long ago. I will not join you. Not now not ever," the Stag growled crawling towards the Ashers navigating his massive form through the cavern each foot fall making a deep noise that they could feel vibrating through the ground. As the structure they sheltered in shook from the vibrations of his foot falls dust and dirt fell from above onto them. The Stags dragon form had a snake like way of moving as he crawled.
"You were created to be the greatest threat to all living things, to all the realms, and instead you wish to spend your time harbouring wildlife and those talking scrap heaps in the ruins of a dead race. Why waste your powers here, come with us we can help you can fulfil your destiny. Bring an end to the world so our master can create one anew. You are the World Eater, the Great Destroyer, the Living Extinction, the end of all things, the Oni’s Steed, Son of the Void," the leader proclaimed interesting the ninja. These Ashers clearly knew things on the Stag no one else knew and some of the things they were saying disturbed the ninja. It was sounding like what the hyenoids always believed might be true, the Stag was this Void given life; given life solely to destroy it.
"Lord of Emptiness, Lord of Horrors and Shadows, King of the Red Tower, Storabek, Akulakhan, the Nightmare of Oni... I have been called these and many more; Lovely titles but that is all they are titles. They do not stand up to my true power, my true being," the Stag bellowed as he came to stand in front of the Ashers pulling himself up to raise his head high above them and displaying its massive ragged wings. Now that he stood only a couple feet from them and towered above them did the Ashers seem to suddenly fear him realising their attempts were in vain, the Stag wasn't going to join them and they had no way to escape his wrath. All the hyenoids and animals seemed to sense what was coming as they took shelter in structures, between rocks and in burrows not wanting to get caught up in whatever was about to happen. Only the largest like Ocheeva and the Fear-bricant remained out though they both tried to use foliage or structures to shelter behind and turned away closing their eyes so they could not see anything.
"Now tell me, how do you desire to die!" the Stag boomed rearing up before lunging down atop the Ashers collapsing into a shapeless black mass that engulfed the area. The mass seemed to be moving like smoke being whipped and torn around by gusting winds. Nothing but the Ashers screams and a deep rumbling noise and the wind could be heard. The air of the entire place seemed to start getting blown around emanating from the centre of this dark mass. The ninja had to crouch down and cover their eyes to prevent from being knocked over and having dust blown into their eyes by this wind. After almost a minute of this things died down. The wind stopped, it went quite and when they looked the smoke was dissipating and the cavern started to lighten and warm up. Most of the smoke disappeared with a bit of it remaining to form the Stag in his deer form. He stood regally staring at the ashen remains that had once been Juib which were amazingly untouched. The Stag looked emotionless and his expression was unreadable. All that was left of the Ashers was their weapons, some burned bones, torn cloths and ash. The Stag had obliterated them. Everyone began coming out of hiding, the ninja were the only ones brave enough to get close to the Stag wondering if he might be reacting to Juibs death.
The Stag was standing rather still and quite for an extended period. The ninja had noticed during their time in the city that the Stag seemed to act differently towards Juib than the rest of his servants. The Stag would actually listen to Juib and used a friendly more caring tone towards Juib than the others. He rarely harassed or threatened Juib and seemed to show him respect. Only Celaena got equal treatment. It confused them why he seemed to be like this. They had come to wonder if the Stag had some sort of deep attachment to Juib; that maybe Juib and Celaena somehow had an effect on him and could curb his dark nature to something more pleasant because of this attachment. If they did and now with Juib gone and Celaena in mourning they worried what the Stag would do and what he would become. How would he react to Juibs death? Would he not care or would he react? If he did would it be good or bad? As if sensing their approach the Stag looked up and called for Celaena. She flew to gently land on the walkway in front of the Stag her head held low in sorrow.
"You are now my second in command, the other members of the hand will move up in rank. Now everyone back to work," the Stag boomed. No one moved and Celaena looked mournfully at the remains of her buddy before looking back up at the Stag. She looked to be seeking comfort but the Stag was offering nothing.
"Why do you look at me like that? It was his time get over it; I cannot fix him or bring him back if that is what you want. Just accept it and move on. I expect everything to be back to normal by tomorrow morning," the Stag growled and Celaena looked away. Seeing how he was treating her the ninja came to Celaenas aid. They stood with her and confronted the Stag.
"Can't you let them have some time to mourn? Someone they loved just died!" Lloyd demanded.
"Don't you have any sympathy?" Kai asked as he and Nya stroked Celaena who pressed her head into Nya.
"Why should I? You mortals are all the same. There will be more losses in their pathetic lives why should this be any different. Things die everyday just because you are attached to one does not mean you need to cry over it. Everything dies now get over it. As for you ninja times almost up is it not. I will offer this once more join me and I can spare you or I will tear your powers out and give it to others before it is too late. You have till morning to decide," the Stag growled before he strode off to disappear into the palace leaving everyone else shaken, heartbroken and disturbed.
It was late evening. The sky was red as the sun began to set. Though it was windy and cool the dark figure that knelt on the mountains overlook could not feel it. He could not feel anything dealing with senses. Not cold or warm nor wind or rain. He knelt over with his arms out touching the ground to brace himself. He was feeling, the best he could describe as, dizzy. He had rarely felt this way before. He could not believe what had just conspired. He could remember feeling like this before primarily long ago and he had come to despise the feeling. Despite what many believed he was capable of feeling emotions but he had for a long time been able to avoid feeling them. He had come to despise his feelings; he could not recall why he had them. Given what he was he shouldn't have them, those Ashers tried to create him without them yet somehow he had them. He thought he would never have to feel this way again, not anymore. He had already felt it too many times. He thought he had distanced himself enough from all those he oversaw but he was only now realising he had done exactly what he had tried to avoid. He had become attached, too attached, to a mortal.
"Why do you not mourn for him?" a deep feminine voice spoke. He looked over his shoulder to see a dark robed figure standing behind him on the platform. Other than her red eyes and Oni horns which stuck out of her hood which obscured her face no other features of the figure were visible.
"What do you want?" he growled at the figure.
“He was like a son to you was he not? You should mourn for him,” the figure replied sounding calm and emotionless.
"He was nothing just a mortal servant that is all," he growled back looking back over the wastes.
"I doubt you truly believe that," she spoke.
"Why are you here? You have been quite and avoided me for so long why do you now desire to speak with me?" he chastised growing angry at this figure. He had always been aware that she was living in his city. A ghost, a shadow in abandoned halls and structures. No matter how hard he searched he could never find a reason she was there and she never wanted to meet with him and seemed to avoid him when he tried to confront her.
"I made a promise long ago that I would watch over and protect someone. Someone with a good, honourable and noble heart and I intend to keep that promise. I have avoided you for I know you will never listen to me, you never have listened to anyone else... except for two. The outlanders are right she could use your comfort, they all could. It is not just you the Ashers hurt. They knew what they were doing," she explained.
"It was you who brought the green one here the other night, I had a feeling. No ordinary creature would do that. Did you bring those demons here too?" the Stag growled getting angrier, tired of her kind meddling with things he felt they should leave alone.
"I brought him to you because I believe they can help you, if you would only open yourself up to them and no I did not bring the Ashers. You should know by now that I am not one to associate with them. Like others I went against my kind, I do not follow their desires. I enjoy the beauty and light of the realms. The Ashers came on their own; they have been planning terrible things. Things others are going to need help with and it will involve a choice, one only you can make," the figure stated and her words only angered him more.
"I grow tired of you be gone before I make you regret staying here," he snapped standing up to look her in the eyes. She was emotionless and unmoved.
"I am only trying to help you but if you cannot mourn for him or show compassion to others then maybe it is too late to help you," she stated before disappearing before him. He stood looking where she had been standing for a few seconds before turning to look back over the wastes angered by her words...
"Are you sure this is a good idea? We've only seen a fraction of what he could do to us," Cole explained as he and Zane tried to talk some sense into Lloyd as they walked through the palace headed for the platform Lloyd had met the Stag on before.
"He will not listen and he has made it quite clear he greatly dislikes us," Zane added but Lloyd was determined to speak to the Stag angered how the Stag had treated the others.
"I'm fed up of how he is bullying us, this realm, anyone he meets aren't you," Lloyd stated as they came to the hall that led to the platform. They could see the Stag in his elk headed man form standing at the edge of the platform looking over the wastes. They hesitated in the hall worried about confronting the Stag. After a moment of hesitation Lloyd continued putting on a brave face and not wanting their friend to face this demon alone Zane and Cole reluctantly followed fearful of what was going to happen to them but hiding their fears so they appeared brave in front of the Stag.
"I thought I told you to leave," the Stag snapped as they came onto the platform whipping around to face them before grumbling, "I thought you were, no... typical of her."
"Her?" Lloyd wondered. They were confused by what he was talking of. Did the Stag think they were Celaena or was he referring to someone else, someone they had been told never talked to the Stag?
"What do you want? Come to agree to my terms?" the Stag demanded.
"No to talk; I'm fed up with how you treat everyone else. What is wrong with you? What kind of entity are you? Juib gets killed by those things and you have no care! You just yell at the others like nothing's changed and order them around when they need time to mourn. You could offer them comfort; you could take out those monsters but no. You come up here and do whatever it is you do here. You torture others for fun; you treat the droids here who do your every bidding without question like trash. You're a cruel callous being. At least the Oni cared about something, you... what do you care for? Nothing. The others are right aren't they? You're nothing but the void, a soulless emptiness," Lloyd chastised and the Stag seemed emotionless though hints of anger were appearing in his eyes.
"I think you should leave my presence," the Stag calmly warned but Lloyd was not listening the Blight having affected his mood agitating him. Cole and Zane were growing more and more nervous as the other two argued afraid the Stag was going to snap. They wanted to run but they felt they needed to stay to pull Lloyd away before it was too late.
"No I'm sick of this! We came here to save our world not be your slaves. We would rather die than give you our powers you demon. How do we not know you did not give us this condition so you could ensnare us into serving you?!" Lloyd fumed and seeing the Stag appeared to be getting angrier Cole and Zane decided to try and break things up before things could get worse and something happened that they would regret.
"I'm sorry, I think the Blights getting to his head or something. We'll leave just please don't do anything drastic," Cole pleaded as he and Zane tried to pull Lloyd away. Lloyd was not co-operating fighting them saying, "someone has to put a stop to this monster. If we don't put him down then who will. He'll just keep harassing this realm then he could move on to attack Ninjago, he has to be stopped!"
"Why should I spare you? You wanna challenge me go ahead give it a try," the Stag challenged.
"That is not a wise idea," Zane noted and Cole stressed, "I think you need some time to relax and come back to your senses you're being foolish." The two kept trying to pull Lloyd away but he kept fighting them having become overcome with a strong desire to fight the Stag.
"Listen to your friends boy or you will regret setting foot in my lands," the Stag growled putting his face rate in front of Lloyds face and looking him straight in the eyes. This snapped Lloyd out of his Blight fuelled rage making him fearful as he took a few steps back.
"Thought so, there is none who stands a chance against me. Not even Dagon is a powerful enough entity to be my match now listen to your friends and go back into the mountain to cower with the other dragons. Why do you not let them know that thanks to your outburst you will be punished, all of you. I think the hyenoids have been too lax on you; maybe it is time I personally see to things. Maybe torture is what is needed," the Stag declared slowly seeming to get taller casting a bigger shadow on them flexing his muscles to intimidate them. The three took a few steps backwards terrified unable to look away from the Stag afraid he would harm them when they looked away. Zane was the first one to notice something in the distance. He forgot all about the Stag as he stared trying to figure out what had caught his attention. The Stag seemed to become aware of the same thing as he turned his attention back over the wastes his anger dissipating. Cole and Lloyd were not aware of the change and tried coaxing Zane to follow them as they hoped to sneak back to safety but Zane was too occupied trying to figure out what was different. Zane could feel the Blight affecting his mind making it harder to just think. The other two looked to see what had gotten Zanes attention and became aware that something had changed. As the sky had been darkening the faint glow from the Ghost Fence which had been reflecting off the clouds that coated the sky over the city had slowly been getting more noticeable. It had now however just suddenly disappeared, no glow. The fence was too far for them to see, even Zane could not see it so they were confused where the glow had gone. Lloyd began to worry.
"Where'd the glow go? Is it just fog or is it an ash storm?" Cole wondered though deep down he had a feeling the glows disappearance was a sign of something deeper and darker. Both him and Zane were having the same thoughts and they were worried as they looked at Lloyd.
"Mother!?" Lloyd quietly muttered and they could see tears starting to come to his eyes as he realised what was likely going on. As they looked towards the city a reddish tint and glow began to develop in the clouds over the city.
"As the scrolls foretold the ash will rise, bleed and burn as Balmora is cursed. They long thought I was the ancient shadow that was going to curse them, the fools. The city will fall to the Ashers, their guards stand no chance. Tafari and the knights will fail. By morning they will all either be Asher slaves or... dead," the Stag confided emotionless as he looked over the wastes. The Stags words upset Lloyd who was struggling to not break down upset that he was likely going to lose his mother and there was nothing he could do to change it. Zane and Cole comforted him while the Stag just kept looking over the wastes. The Stag glanced back at them and he seemed to still be angry.
“I think that is a good enough punishment for now, emotional torment the greatest of torments,” the Stag stated emotionless, “now get back into the city or I will curse you just as bad as those in Balmora.” They were in no mood to argue with the Stag and both Zane and Cole felt it best if they got Lloyd away from the Stag and console him. They began to head back into the mountain Lloyd starting to silently cry putting his hands over his face to try and hide it.
"You know you claim you're so powerful but all we've seen is how you torture others and harass the town. You know you could do something to help them but you won't cause your nothing but a heartless coward. You hide in your mountain and force others to do your bidding hurting them till they are so scared they fear for their lives doing your every bidding so they don't get hurt. The folk in Balmora think your servants are the heartless ones they're wrong, you're the only heartless entity here. As Lloyd said at least the Oni cared about something, sure it was dark evil things but at least it was something at least they had cares. In ways that makes them better than you," Cole commented to the Stag before they left leaving the Stag standing there staring at the entrance to the mountain. He stared for a few seconds more feeling angered before looking out towards Balmora. He began to feel something he had not felt in a long time as he could make out fire and smoke starting in the city.
"They are right. You have the power, you could do something. He would have wanted you to, it is the right thing to do and you know deep down you want to," her voice came again to him and though he wanted to deny it some part of him felt she was right...
As Zane and Cole led Lloyd through the palace, using the Star Stone to light their way, Bruma came running up to them followed by Yin and Yang. The three looked to be worried and in a panic. They came up to Zane heads held low making noises that sounded like a combination of machine and their natural beast noises.
"What's wrong with them?" Cole inquired. Thanks to the programming he had been given Zane was able to understand what they were saying. They were still clearly bestial at heart and had very little understanding of the common language making most of their noises a language Zane could not understand but from the robotic undertones they were using Zane could make out that they were scared and that the others were doing something that put everyone in danger.
"What exactly do they mean?" Lloyd asked calming down and putting on a brave face trying to hide that he had been crying.
"It is hard to decipher, I can only understand what their robotics are communicating but they do not seem to fully understand how to communicate through these parts. They are only able to tell me something is wrong. It seems they do not understand how to fully describe the situation," Zane explained.
"Maybe the Blights made Kai go crazy and Kozac is giving him a spanking? Wouldn't that be funny to see?" Cole offered trying to lighten the mood and cheer up Lloyd who stated, "let's see what they're talking about." They hurried into the cavern and were confused. They were expecting to see fighting, possibly more Ashers, or maybe someone, mainly Kai or Jay, had done something stupid and had gotten hurt. There appeared though to be nothing wrong. The ash had been cleaned up and where Juib had been killed someone had placed some rocks in the shape of a cairn. None of the animals were nearby and it seemed quite, too quite, like the creatures sensed some tension and were afraid to make noise. Only the hyenoids and creatures who bore cybernetic implants could be seen. They stood in two groups on the patio facing each other. DJ and Kozac were leading one group with the Fear-bricant at their side while Celaena and Divayth led the other with Ocheeva siding with them. Nya, Jay and Kai stood by the palaces entrance watching the two groups looking nervous.
"What's going on?" Cole asked as they came to stand with the others; Bruma and the two Venom-Fangs hiding behind them clearly not wanting to be a part of whatever the others were doing.
"They're divided. Some of them want to go after the Ashers and take them down for what they did to Juib; the others think that's a bad idea," Kai explained.
"Juib was their leader. Without him they're fighting amongst themselves," Nya added while Jay commented looking at Lloyd, "Are you okay? You look like you've been crying?"
"I'm fine," Lloyd snapped trying to hide his feelings.
"The Ashers are attacking Balmora," Zane responded and those words hit Lloyd hard and he tried fighting the urge to cry again. He tried but he couldn't and ended up breaking down.
"You're mothers there!" Nya exclaimed and Kai added pointing at the hyenoids, "maybe we can save her. They get into the town all the time unseen maybe they could help us."
"You have to stop their squabbling first," Jay noted before they all moved closer to try and resolve the two groups arguing.
"Those monsters deserve to perish for what they have done," Kozac growled at the others.
"And do you think you have a chance against them. Not even Celaena with all her powers could take out all their forces. A small group yes but not what is hiding at their main stronghold," Divayth argued.
"So what you want us to let them get away with what they have done?" DJ questioned and the Fear-bricant hissed an approval.
"Juib would not have wanted that, he would want us to stay here and protect our home and not risk everyone's lives," Celaena stated hissing and Ocheeva grumbled an agreement. Lloyd attempted to talk with the groups but Kozac snapped, "You ninja stay out of this. It does not involve you."
"We're just trying to help," Kai snapped back.
"We do not need your help, we have dealt with things here for a long time on our own and we will continue to deal with things without your help," Kozac growled as he and Kai began to argue dragging Nya, Lloyd and Jay into arguing as well. Cole kept commenting how the arguing was not helpful trying to break things up. The rest of the constructs got involved Kozac and his group going against them and telling the ninja not to get involved while Divayth and his group backed the ninja and maintained that they should drop the argument and fortify their home against more possible Asher attacks. Zane stood back feeling very agitated and dizzy from the arguing. Something felt wrong in his head and the noise of the arguing was making it worse and causing him pain. Using his powers Zane sent spikes of ice towards Kozac and Kai splitting them up and sending both flying back several feet as he yelled, "enough!" His actions ended the fighting some of them becoming wary of Zane.
"Whoa, that was a little drastic Zane," Cole remarked looking at the ice Zane had created. Something about it seemed odd. Cole broke a piece of it off to get a better look at it. The color was off and it looked almost like ash or dust was stuck in it giving the ice a grainy appearance but there was nothing where the ice had formed to give it that feature confusing Cole. When he thought about why the ice looked like that he did not like what it could mean. The Blight was now infiltrating Zanes powers, what did that mean then for Zane!
"Be careful Zane, someone could get hurt," Nya stated as she helped her brother to his feet. Jay was the first to notice it and he backed away from Zane. There was a dark insane look to Zane, he was breathing heavily as if out of breath and he looked like he was in shock. Then there was his eyes... the Blights markings had started to appear around his eyes!
"Zane!" Nya exclaimed as the rest of the others looked at him. Zane began to relax but was confused. The dizziness, pain and agitation were fading but his mind still felt numbed and he felt disturbed though he was not sure why.
"What?" Zane wondered.
"Your...your eyes!" Jay exclaimed and though he had a strong worrying feeling he knew what they were all scared of Zane asked, "What about my eyes?"
"The Blights markings! They're starting to appear around your eyes!" Cole explained upset showing Zane his reflection in the ice he had made.
"You only have a few hours before it is too late to fix it. Once your eyes turn red you are essentially dead," Divayth commented sounding upset as the ninja came to comfort their friend.
"Once that happens I think it best you terminate him. He will go insane and attack everyone else if you do not and if you let the Blight take him it will turn him into a daemon," Kozac expressed as DJ began to help him up. Before Kozac was back on his feet DJ gasped and dropped his pal back on the floor backing away.
"Kozac you have the Blight!" DJ exclaimed before looking at himself to express, "I have it too!" On both of them their fingers and hands, just past the wrists, bore the Blights markings and the glow was quite noticeable even through Kozacs armour. Many of the other constructs then began to look at themselves. All were infected!
"How?" one of the hyenoids who looked to be a farmer inquired confused.
"The Ashers cursed the rest of us but why? Was this their intent the whole time?" Divayth wondered looking at his hands.
"I would have to think it was. We are the only ones who stand a chance against them. Take us out and they will have free reign of the wastes. No one will prevent them from attacking the people to create more slaves and soldiers for their use. The Stag does not care what happens to others, he will let them destroy whatever they want. We have been the only ones standing in their way," Kozac theorized as he got up looking at his one hand.
"By how quickly it has already progressed I would have to deduce that within 42 hours most of us will have succumbed to the conditions final stages. Juib was the only one working on curing the Blight, without him we cannot fix this. Not without more time, which we do not appear to have," Divayth added.
"What do we do now?" another of the hyenoids inquired.
"There is nothing that can be done," DJ moaned, "any animal not inflicted should be released into the wild and we should work on shutting down the city. This will be a ghost town soon."
"He is right. Ninja do what you want, you do not have much time left either," Divayth expressed as the others began to disperse, all seemed saddened. Just Divayth and Kozac stayed with the ninja.
"What about the vaults didn't you say something about there being a possible clue in there?" Jay objected but Lloyd responded trying to hold back tears, "what use would it be? Balmora is being attacked, my mother she's probably..." He then broke down no longer able to control his emotions. Nya and Kai came to comfort him.
"I doubt you would be able to find a clue in there in time and I am sorry to hear of your mother," Divayth offered giving Lloyd a comforting pat on the shoulder before leaving. Kozac remained standing near them quietly looking at the floor.
"So what this is it? We failed?" Jay wondered upset.
"It seems so. For all we know everyone back home might not be there anymore. If Dagon didn't get them then this Blight could have... everyone could be gone," Cole expressed, "I should have told Seliel that I loved her before we left."
"Well at least we have each other," Jay commented moving over to hold Nyas hands.
"Only some of us are together," Nya commented as she and Jay noticed Zane walk over to the cairn and pick up the Red Diamond Star which someone had placed on it. He stared at its center as he walked back to them as if expecting the shurikan to do something. They could see he was very shaken up and depressed by his condition. The others were also all clearly very upset. By the looks of it everyone else was not going to see those they loved and cared about before the condition claimed them.
"When the Ashers were attacking, you put yourself in harm's way and took that Ashers attack for me. Why would you do that? Why would a person want to save a droid?" Kozac asked Kai his voice sounding less aggressive than usual.
"It just felt like the right thing to do. Just because you're a droid doesn't mean you don't deserve fair treatment. Sure you're grouchy and a bit mean but that doesn't mean you deserve to get hurt," Kai responded. Kozac looked at the floor for a few seconds saying nothing before leaving. The ninja all sat down feeling defeated and depressed. Nya and Jay sat close together holding hands while Kai sat next to them with Lloyd trying to comfort him. Lloyd had stopped crying and just stared at the ground defeated. Cole sat next to Zane regretting that he had been so closed off to Seliel and had not told her how much she meant to him before he left and how it was now too late to tell her how much she meant to him. Zane kept staring at the Shurikan hoping it would reveal to him anything like it had before, something to cure this Blight he hoped but he was getting nothing from it. They sat for a while trying to comfort and cheer each other up but it didn't seem to help.
After a while of silence Zane became aware of a noise he had heard before. It was a siren like call, like the one in his dream. Looking around he saw no one else seemed to notice the sound. At first he thought it might have to do with holding the shurikan but after putting it down he could still hear the call. He listened for a second to determine where it was coming from. It was coming from the halls of knowledge. He felt the sirens call start to overwhelm him giving him a sudden overwhelming urge to follow the sound; something was calling him and he couldn't resist its call. The call made him feel as if he was in a trance, all his senses felt numbed and distant. Whatever was making it wanted him to come to it. Picking up the shurikan he got up and followed the voice unaware of anything around him.
"Uh... is Zane in one of those trances again?" Jay commented when they noticed Zane get up and leave. They called to him but Zane didn't respond.
"I think so," Kai stated.
"We shouldn't leave him alone not in his current state," Cole noted and they all agreed. They got up and followed him.
Notes:
In the Chapter Riddle of the Stag the reason Kozac was not around and left the door open was because Whetu has convinced him too so the ninja could leave their room that way she could commune with them and lead Lloyd to the Stag so they could talk. The Tree-bill Lloyd sees is Whetu taking on a physical form to try and help them.
If have any questions go ahead and ask I do not bite. I will try to answer them, I will however not give away spoilers.
Chapter 47: The Battle for Balmora
Summary:
Balmoras in trouble, are the knights ready to defend it?
Notes:
Pictures relating to story can be found here: https://www.deviantart.com/nerdy-hyena/gallery/72478681/story-project
They are really good and help to visually flush out several aspects of the story including environments, characters, outfits, locations, creatures and other aspects often important ones in the story. All images I post in my work can be found there if you want a better look at them. Defiantly make sure to check them out.Also if you need a refresher on creatures, flora or aspects of the environment you can check out the second chapter in this work titled 'Keikiarys Guide to the Ash Wastes'. It includes short descriptions and pictures of these things.
Parts of this section are subject to change as the prequel story is written to improve story continuity.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
“If we leave the Strider parked in front of the gate with the Fortrex behind it they can act as a barricade to help hinder anything from getting through the gate,” Macy noted. The knights stood with Tafari, Hassiri and Misako by the Balmora Gate where they had parked the Ash Strider so it blocked the gate through the Ghost Fence with the Fortrex wedged behind it to hopefully make it harder for anything breaking through the gates to push either vehicle out of the way blocking access to the city from the wastes. After much work and reworking parts from the knights other vehicles they had on their ship Robin had managed to get the Fortrex working almost in normal working order. It was late evening and hardly anyone was out despite the nice weather. Although overcast it was warm with a mild wind and no ash was falling everything seemed peaceful. Everyone in the city however were scared of a possible attack and the peaceful conditions had many on edge. The guards who were out were all on edge jumping at every sound or movement. One had nearly wet himself when he accidentally mistook a bush in a shadowed walkway as one of the Asher Sorcerers. The sun was going down while the cities exterior light sources of sparsely scattered lamp posts and various decorative lighting came on. In some places they had fire braziers that were being used for light and to offer warmth for those on patrol as the night was going to get chilly. Almost no one was out; largely only the town guards were braving to walk the streets. All the guards patrolling the streets were on edge. Even though they were hesitant to wander outside many people still had their windows open or were taking in the evening on balconies enjoying the mild weather before the night got too cold. It was quiet and surprisingly peaceful out.
“It’s been over a month and so far nothing serious just our bad run ins with them and several minor encounters,” Clay noted feeling uneasy despite the calmness, “you’d think they would have done something major by now. This quiet does not bode well.” They had a few incidents with Ashers since their incidents in Blackreach. These mainly involved having to clear out small bands of Ashers, necromancers or bandits in league with the two from areas in or near the city who were trying to set up outposts in various structures for spying, to cause havoc and in preparation for an attack or to rescue people caught by theses bad beings. After their previous failures the knights had been determined to succeed these times and had even made Jestro a part of their team to increase their fighting potential. So far they had gotten relatively lucky even when they had some close calls. The one time Aarons Blight had chosen a very unfortunate time to send him into a raged state which they had learned quickly they could use to their advantage to trick Aaron into attacking their opponents who were not prepared to deal with the unnatural strength and resilience the state brought turning the tides on a not too good squabble to clear out an old fort and watch tower they had taken over as a surveillance outpost. Another time they had sent Jestro and Misako undercover into the town library and records to find Skin-stealers who were trying to look for blueprints and schematics on various structures of the town including the Ghost Fence and Under-city likely to sabotage them. Even though the two eventually had their cover blown they were still able to lure the Ashers into the knights trap to remove them. The village had also noticed nests of unnatural creatures with ties to Ashers like Vesparilions and Serpent Flies oddly popping up near the town and settled areas near the town and had gotten the knights to clear out some of these nests worried over what these monsters were doing there when they were normally a rare sight near settled areas. These altercations they had the past while however showed no signs the Ashers were building up for anything serious, if anything they seemed to have slowly tapered out in severity and frequency. They had no clue however why this was and it had many on edge worried for what it could mean.
“Maybe we’ll get lucky. Maybe what we’ve been doing and whatever that Oni Sheoth did has scared them away,” Lance expressed but the others were not buying it.
“No pretty boy you knights and Sheoths meddling will only have delayed them. Those monsters don’t fear Sheoth especially with Dagon returned. They are likely biding their time for the right moment to strike,” Tafari explained looking over the fence and Clay agreed, “I think you’re right, the Ashers are probably planning something.”
"Ava, Merlok anything on the radar," Macy asked through her communicator. Ava, Robin, Robo-bill Merlok and Jestro were in the Fortrex keeping an eye on various sensors for any possible disturbances.
"No, it all seems clear," Ava responded and Robin added, "too clear, it doesn't feel right."
"I would have to agree with them on this. There is a strange aura to the air around here and I do not like it," Merlok stated. Even inside they could feel the uneasiness of the air outside. It was not pleasant.
"What do you think they could be waiting for?" Misako inquired. After the knights encounters with Ashers before and fearing an attack from Ashers any day the knights had gotten her some lightweight armour and a dagger made from the same material as their weapons to help keep her safe should anything happen.
"Don't know but I do not like the possibilities," Clay responded.
"It's too quite," Tafari noted looking around her arms crossed. She was in her armour but was not wearing her helmet.
"You're right, not even a peep from an insect or bird," Axl noted as they all took a listen. Sure enough it was eerily quiet. Not even the wind seemed to be making a sound. Only the faint distant rumbles from the volcano could be heard randomly.
"Hopefully it just means a simple storm could be rolling in," Hassiri offered though he did not sound too sure of his words.
"Well no use standing around. I think I will do a few more rounds of the town before retiring for the night. Hopefully we get off lucky tonight and those creeps stay in the wastes," Tafari declared before starting to head off.
"I think I'll join you," Hassiri stated following her. As they patrolled Hassiri took the time to have a personal chat with her. He had been meaning to talk to her for some time but had not had the courage to. Worried they might not get a chance in the future he wanted to reveal his feelings to her before it was too late. He was having trouble opening up to her. He was unsure how to properly put his feelings into words. Tafari listened unsure what to think. She had long suspected Hassiri had feelings for her but had never paid attention to it. She was often too occupied with her work to take note of even her own feelings let alone someone else's. Now that he was revealing his feelings to her she was unsure what to do. She did have feelings for him but was unsure how strong they were and if she felt the same way Hassiri did for her.
Misako remained with the knights, they were all worried and on edge.
“How you doing Aaron?” Clay asked his friend who was looking around confused. The Blight had gotten pretty far on him but had yet to appear by his eyes. It had been tough trying to deal with his condition especially with how far it had gotten. He now could suffer all the symptoms which occurred at random and he was close to having the markings start appearing around his eyes. For the longest time he had remained positive about the whole thing but he had quickly become less upbeat as the condition had gotten worse. They could all tell the Blight and its symptoms had taken a heavy toll on him. The initial symptoms had just gotten steadily worse and though he was trying to not let it get to him and continue on as normal it was clear he was struggling against what the Blight was doing to him. Aaron was frequently not as happy as he usually was and now often seemed confused, on edge or depressed along with the soreness, tiredness and disorientation brought on by the condition and its symptoms. The bad dreams and night terrors often left Aaron getting restless to little sleep. Following advice from this Juib they had contact within the Forbidden City they had been giving him a sleeping potion every few days to help him sleep. This helped alleviate some of the symptoms of the Blight but not all of them. While the sleep issue they could manage relatively easily the episodes of memory loss were harder. These led to Aaron forgetting things often important things about himself or where they were and what they were doing in this realm. This often led to periods of confusion and anxiety for everyone. These periods of memory loss however were nowhere as bad or difficult to deal with as the episodes of Blights rage. He had gone through a couple episodes of this rage. At first they had been able to somewhat control them by locking him in the Holo-deck and setting it to a cold environment setting till the episode passed. In the later episodes though this no longer worked and they had been surprised to find this raged state made him immune to any method of sedation leaving placing him in a heavy duty containment field as the only way to contain him and prevent any problems. The townsfolk had just gotten more scared of Aaron as his Blight progressed and even the people from Ninjago and Knighton had become fearful of him and his condition. To keep safe and prevent issues with the people Aaron had largely been sticking close to the Fortrex unless on a mission to help ease peoples anxieties. If he was on a mission or was not near the Fortrex they made sure he wasn’t on his own in case one of the more problematic Blight symptoms showed up such as the trance, memory loss or rage so those with him could keep him out of trouble or in the case of the rage state keep others safe from him.
"I think I'm good. Things are a little... I guess you could call it numb and maybe dizzy. Defiantly sore... a bit tired too," Aaron stated.
"Were you and Merlok able to find anything?" Macy inquired to Misako hoping for some good news even though deep down she knew it was likely not going to be good.
"Not much. We think the Stag has something to do with it but we cannot tell how. The correspondents in the Forbidden City had similar ideas but were clueless how the Stag relates to the Blight," she replied pausing before asking, "I was wondering now that your ship is working again when or if the threat is resolved here could you take me to Holamaya?"
"You're worried for your son aren't you?" Macy noted.
"We can do that. Could give us a chance to question the Stag on this Blight as well; maybe he knows something that could lead to a cure for this curse. I have to warn you though. Even if you can somehow get into the city you might be disturbed to see what that thing could have done to them... if the Blight hasn't already gotten them that is," Clay noted and Misako was relieved. She had been worried with all that was going on the knights might refuse her request, after all they had not had good run ins with Ashers in their time in the city and from rumours they had heard in the city venturing outside the cities borders had become incredibly treacherous. Ashers were plaguing the landscape while tears between realms were everywhere and had grown in size leading to the realm of fusion being created by the Plane Meld. She had feared the knights would be too scared to venture outside the city scared by their encounters with Ashers and of falling into the plane meld so she had been hesitating on asking. She wanted to try and see her son before the Blight claimed him and maybe if she could reach this city there could be something there that could cure this Blight curse. She was hoping it was not too late. She was hoping those hyenoids were right and that maybe this Stag entity was keeping him safe from the Blight.
"Do you think we should head inside for the night?" Axl commented.
"It is getting late," Lance noted while Aaron added, "yha I could go for something to eat... and a nap."
"At least you still have your appetite," Macy commented to Aaron trying to stay positive for him about his condition before Aaron asked putting his hands on his head as if trying to steady his head, "Is the ground moving or am I just dizzy?" He was swaying a bit and looking around at the ground.
"You guys can go I'm going to stay here and stay on guard. I'll contact you if something comes up. Aaron I think the Blights making you feel things, you should probably lie down for a while," Clay noted.
“I’ll stay and help you Clay two eyes are better than one. Why don’t you guys head inside we’ll call if something turns up. Misako why don’t you head in with them and can you keep an eye on Aaron?” Macy inquired.
"Sure," Misako replied before she, Aaron, Axl and Lance headed into the Fortrex. They headed to the lounge where Lance sat in one of the chairs and Aaron lay down on the couch feeling dizzy. Axl decided to make dinner and wanting to be helpful Misako decided to help him. They headed off to the kitchen but before they got there Ava called everyone to the command center sounding worried. They rushed to see what was up and were joined by Lance then Aaron who was trying to remain balanced fighting a bout of disorientation from the Blight.
"What have you called us here for?" Lance inquired. They had pulled up on the screens views of the exterior looking at the Ghost Fence. The green glow from the Ghost Fence which they had become used to over there time there was not visible confusing them.
"What happened to the fence?" Axl wondered as they looked at the images.
"It seems something has shut the fence down. The systems controls have been hacked and shut down. Everyone's trying to get them back on but they can't get access to the systems," Ava explained and Robin added, "we're trying to help them get the fence back up but something's wrong. The towns engineers worry the systems have been sabotaged."
"Even stranger the sensors and radar are not picking up anything. They even seem to think the fence is still on," Robo-bill Merlok noted.
"This doesn't bode well then does it," Aaron noted and Lance added, "I'm guessing this means we can't take a break." Clay then came through on their communicators calling them to come outside. Axl, Aaron and Lance headed out with their weapons followed by Misako and Jestro who were curious to see what was going on. They all headed out while the others continued trying to help the town gain access and reboot the Ghost Fence. They headed over to Clay and Macy who were by the fence. They were looking at a panel in the fences foundations that had been pried open revealing some of the inner workings of the fence. Several wires had been cut and some parts had been pulled out.
"Someone's sabotaged the fence. There are several more reports of these maintenances hatches having been pried open and damaged throughout the city," Macy explained as they approached.
“We have to be on guard this is likely just the beginning of something bad. Misako you and Jestro should head into the Fortrex and stay in the command center with Ava and Robin till we can figure out what is going on here. Aaron it might be good for you to go with them,” Clay ordered but before anyone could move the ash around them began to move rising from the ground forming shapes. The ash formed into humanoid forms and forms of beasts from the wastes. Realising what the rising Ash likely meant they rushed to get back to the Fortrexs drawbridge to get Misako to safety but the rising Ash Spawn cut them off preventing them from getting close.
"Guy's what's going on out there?" Robins voice came from one of their communicators.
"What are these monsters!?" Jestro exclaimed as the rising ash set them all on edge.
“The Ash is rising!” Macy stated and Clay elaborated, “Ash Spawn! I think this prophecy the town fears is about to come true. It’s an Asher attack!” The Knights and Misako drew their weapons ready to fight, even Jestro had a weapon. No one had felt safe giving him a sharp or major weapon so had given him a staff made from the same materials the weapons they had been given. They could hear fighting beginning elsewhere in the city as the spawn closed in to start an attack. As the attack started a full sized Ash Crawler as big as the one the knights had faced in the wastes before with the ninja burst from the ash on the wastes side of the fence then crawled up and over the fence to crawl towards the center of town tearing down power lines, lights and breaking chunks off buildings terrifying citizens hiding inside as it went. It wasn’t long till the spawn were joined by Ashers and some of their dark creatures. Monsters like Nocturn-crows, Vulcaroths, Shambles, Hungers, Vesparilions, Serpent-flies, Gloam-harpies, a few Dreadcondas and other strange unnatural and dark entities of the void monsters in allegiance to the Ashers and the darkness they came from. Along with these monsters people in line with the Ashers including necromancers, those inflicted with vampirism and even some bandit groups joined in the battle. As the battle started the clouds above developed a reddish hue and seemed to slowly circle over the city.
"So the Ashers finally decided to show themselves," Clay declared, "remember don't get separated. Stick with someone else at all times. We must remain strong if this city has a chance to survive." It wasn't long after the fight started that the guards were quickly overwhelmed and citizens were drawn into the fighting. Many of them were fighting with whatever they could find trying to stay in pairs so one of them could use a fire extinguisher, potion or other means to try and freeze the Ash Spawn or Asher that threatened them. The spawn, Vulcaroths and Dreadcondas were quick to set places on fire to drive the citizens out of hiding so they could be attacked. There were just too many enemies and no matter how hard they tried every Ash Spawn that was destroyed was simply resurrected by an Asher when they found it. When the fight started the knights had wasted no time in calling in a Nexo Power which they, Misako and Jestro were able to utilise. The icy based power Merlok and Ava chose for them was a major help allowing them to permanently remove Ash Spawn and any Asher they could. It was helping but there appeared to be too many threats for them to take on and they were clueless how to take out the monsters allied to the Ashers who were not affected by the ice powers. They luckily seemed to lack resilience's and their weapons did harm the entities but they were tough and could wield powers and magic's that could take a toll on their ability to fight. The knights stuck together as they fought dispatching as many of the enemies they could while keeping Misako close. The Knights with Misako and Jestro were keeping in a protective circle with their backs to each other hoping to keep their enemies from sneaking up on them. As they fought their enemies were working hard to break them up and take them out trying to break up their protective ring. Tafari and Hassiri fought nearby trying to aid a group of guards in taking out the crawler which was trashing the downtown area and trying to stab anyone it could to turn them into Asher Slaves. The town had modified some canons to shoot balls and shards of ice along with weapons made from unique stones with ice based magical properties like Stahlrim and Glacial Stone which they were keeping in some freezer trucks to make and keep them even colder at the crawler hoping to destroy it. They were having a minor effect on the creature. They were leaving cuts and frost burns on it and the weapons were able to pierce its hide but it was clear it would take much more to destroy the creature. It was too large and powerful. They were angering it more than harming it.
While those in the city were busy fighting Ashers on the other side of the fence drove vehicles made by the Ashers to attack the fence. They came rolling out of the dunes headed for the gate. Three had canons on them while one was designed to ram into the gates. The canons held back a few meters to shoot at the gate while the one designed for ramming would back up speed up into the gates doors then backup again to repeat the process with the canons timing their shots for when the ramming vehicle was backing up. The gates were tough clearly meant to take a beating but everyone knew the gates couldn’t hold forever. The guards that were positioned on the towers were powerless against the vehicles. To make it worse the ash on the other side of the fence began to rise! Burned skeletons of the common folk and serpentine of this realm and even a dragon came rising up out of the ash with burning blood red eyes. These battle spawn were wearing tarnished armour and wielding tarnished weapons as they came out of the ash; they were the remains of those who had died in the battle long ago now being reanimated and enslaved by the Ashers magics. These entities stood next to the Ashers vehicles waiting to get into the town to follow the Ashers biddings. The skeletal burning bone dragon flew over the fence and joined the attack in the city helping to spread fire through the city and take out defences on the towers and walls of the city.
The Knights had managed to make their way to the Fortrexs entrance however Ava had pulled up the drawbridge to prevent the enemies from getting into the ship. Robin and Merlok were manning the Fortrexs exterior weapons to help keep the enemies at bay. Putting the Fortrex to their backs it made it easier for them to keep their enemies at bay and watch each other's backs. As the knights fought a ball of fire and molten rock came out of nowhere and sent the knights, Misako and Jestro flying in all directions. Misako landed near Clay and Macy who quickly helped her back onto her feet making sure she was okay.
"Where did that come from?" Misako wondered shaken up and bruised but not hurt too bad. There was no logical way that bolide had come from the volcano or nowhere. Something had to have created and shot it however they could not see any sort of weapon nearby that could have done it. The canon equipped vehicles were still trying to break through the gate and it was unlikely from their position for them to aim over the fence.
"I'm betting that was from an Asher Sorcerer! Where is it? We have to destroy it or the town doesn't stand a chance," Clay exclaimed looking around trying to find this dreaded being. They had to destroy it before it could cause too much damage. He could not see it and he could not see through the fighting where the other knights had landed. He could only hope they were together and not caught by these monsters. Lance and Axl had ended up not too far away and were able to quickly make their way back to the others. Jestro had been blown nearby into a cart smashing into it but managed to make his way back to the others who were surprised the Ashers had not tried to turn him to their side yet. Aaron however was missing and none of them had seen where he had landed...
Aaron had been unfortunate to be caught by Ashers after getting blown into some crates of supplies. His disorientation from the impact and the Blight which he was trying his hardest to fight while fighting had given the Ashers an opportunity to grab him and drag him off before the others could help him. He was being dragged by them to a secluded section beneath the stairs of one of the fences towers which the Ashers had already taken over creating a little bunker for themselves around it. A group of Ashers and some of their monster allies were waiting there with some small canons and siege weapons of the Ashers own design. They had broken through the walls of the tower into a small storage room that sat in the towers base. Some of these battle spawn entities were entering the city through the hole and joined the attack of the city.
"Dudes what are you doing? You know I can walk," Aaron stated to his captors as he came to his senses. He put up a fight and managed to break one arm free from his captors. He wasted no time in grabbing his crossbow which the one Asher was holding back. He shot a bolt into the other Asher who was holding him and trying to restrain him. When the bolt hit the Asher the being quickly froze into a sculpture of ice. The other Ashers backed up from him afraid of getting shot.
"How do you like that?! My Stahlrim bolts are tipped with a freezing poison. They also inject the stuff. Combine that with the Nexo power and you guys don't stand a chance. So who wants to be stung first?" Aaron cheerfully boasted before becoming aware of what sounded like someone speaking. The voice was raspy and wheezy sounding and it spoke a language he could not understand but had heard before and feared; it was a language that struck fear into the hearts of all living things near the Red Tower. When he looked for the source of the voice he saw come out from the shadows under the tower an Asher Sorcerer and it pointed its one gnarled hand at Aaron as it spoke.
"What is that you're saying? Sounds like the Ashers language. I'm not looking to buy whatever it is you're selling. Do you need a lozenge, sounds like you need one," Aaron spoke trying to hide his fear of this entity. The Ashers were pleased to see the sorcerer and a few seemed to be chanting it on. Aaron slowly tried to walk away dreading turning his back on any of these folk.
"I'm not sure how well my weapon will work on you but I'm going to try. You ready for the Sting?" Aaron declared taking a shot at the sorcerer but his bolt never hit its mark. The sorcerer hit the bolt with some kind of dark magic which obliterated the bolt as it flew. It then began speaking again pointing at Aaron who was slowly backing up terrified of what the sorcerer was intending. He had no backup and he could see no way of easy escape. These entities had encircled him and were cutting off any possible escape. He shot at a few of them trying to make a way for him to escape while the sorcerers words started to agitate him.
“You know I do not like the vibes you’re sending my way so I think I’m going to just…” Aaron began before he found himself unable to think or move, feeling disorientated and his head in pain. As the sorcerer finished his words Aaron suddenly could not remember anything not even his own name. The disorientation and pain disappeared as his mind went numb. He was quickly overcome with a strong urge to attack others particularly his friends. Markings from the Blight appeared around his eyes and his eyes turned a glowing sanguine red. Patches of his skin even started to develop an ashy appearance and his canine teeth became sharper and more pointed and prominent. The Ashers laughed as Aaron dropped his weapon and fell to his knees and knelt there staring blankly at the ground. The sorcerer growled commands in their language at Aaron while one of the Ashers gave him back his shield and crossbow. Aaron took a second after being given his things before getting up and heading off now under their control…
The other Knights, Misako and Jestro were a block away being overwhelmed by the Ashers forces and unaware of what had happened to Aaron who was sneaking up to them. The Ashers had broken through the gates and had used their vehicles along with magic from one of their sorcerers to nudge the Strider and Fortrex out of the way so they could spill in from the wastes further overwhelming them. The knights were using their normal skills along with the Spinjitsu the ninja had taught them to try and clear themselves some space in the ever overwhelming forces now spilling into town. Clay and Macy had managed to find the sorcerer that had knocked them about and moved the Strider and Fortrex not far from them hiding in an alleyway and it took all of them to subdue and take out the sorcerer. Clay had even tapped into his magic powers in order to help do it. He had been hesitant to use his powers worried what the townsfolk would think of them but since with the fighting it was highly unlikely anyone would take note of him using it he had decided to use the power. They had also found if he didn’t use his magic then they were barely able to handle the sorcerer. The amount of power he had needed to use had taken quite a bit of energy and he needed to take a break for a short time to get back into fighting order. While he rested Misako and Jestro protected him while the others protected them and helped keep the enemies at bay. While Clay caught his breath Aaron reached them and he hid himself behind an overturned cart. He took aim at Clay preparing to shoot him in the head from his hidden location. He would have succeeded if it wasn’t for Misako who along with Jestro had been told to keep an eye out for him. She tackled Clay to the ground telling him to look out and Jestro ducked down as the bolt flew past them hitting into one of the battle spawn which disintegrated into a pile of frozen ash.
"What has gotten into him?!" Jestro exclaimed as the others attentions were drawn to Aaron.
"Aaron what's happened to you!" Macy exclaimed as they all turned to look at their friend as he came out from behind the cart to try and get a better shot. The Ashers and their spawn backed off laughing to watch what was going to happen next.
"What do they think is so funny?" Axl wondered while Clay and Misako got back up.
“These Ashers must have done something to him!” Clay noted stunned and Robin noted from atop the Fortrex, “What’s going on down there? Why’s Aaron attacking Clay?” Aaron began to mumble something in what sounded like the Ashers language at them sounding very mad and dark. Not only did he sound but he also looked dark, much darker than what the Blight naturally did to an individual and the Blights markings were a more dark blood red than the usual bright red color of Blight. The areas around the Blight markings also appeared to be greyed. Parts of his skin outside the markings also appeared to be turning a sickly grey color looking corpse like.
"Is it just me or does it sound like he's gone insane like more than his usual insane," Lance commented as Aaron prepared to shoot another bolt while Jestro cried, "he's become one of those monsters!"
"It would seem the final stages of Blight have consumed him!" Merlok noted and Clay stated as Aaron shot at them again forcing them to dodge the bolt "I'm betting a sorcerer did this, the condition doesn't advance that fast naturally."
"No it doesn't and something doesn't look right about the Blight," Ava noted looking through the cameras to keep an eye on what was going on outside.
"He's likely turning into an Ash Ghoul, they said they were going to do it to him," Clay theorized.
"What do we do?" Macy wondered and Axl wondered, "maybe Merlok knows something we could do?"
“This is a dark and ancient magic unlike anything I have ever seen. I am afraid there is nothing I can do,” Merlok explained and after a second of thought Clay moaned upset as they had to dodge and shield themselves from more of Aarons attacks, “then there is only one thing we can do. That’s no longer our friend; he’s just a Blight fuelled husk turning into a monster.” They all knew what had to be done but they were dreading it. They had all known this time would come. They hesitated as Aaron reloaded his crossbow. None of them wanted to do what had to be done.
Before they could move they all found themselves being flung several feet in the same direction, ash and debris flying with them. They all landed dazed fighting to regain their senses before harm could befall them. As they struggled to come to their senses some Ashers grabbed Misako and dragged her towards the Crawler who had been the one to send them flying by whipping its tail through the ground below them. The Crawler was crouched waiting to pierce someone with its tongue. Clay went to get up and defend Misako but Aaron put his one foot on Clays arm and aimed his Crossbow at Clays chest ready to strike declaring in a dark off voice, "remain still fetcher and watch as you lose."
The Ashers held Misako, who was struggling to break free, in front of the Crawler who adjusted itself prepping its aim to pierce her with its tongue. Ashers held the rest of the Knights and Jestro forcing them onto their knees so they could not get involved. All any of them could do was watch. The Ashers forces were destroying the town and everyone was hitting their limit. Even the Under-city was under attack from Ashers and their spawn. They were losing. They were going to lose not just the city but their lives!
"No!" Clay yelled feeling defeated. He had promised Lloyd he'd keep his mother safe, his friends were doomed with one of them already claimed by the darkness of this realm and the town he had agreed to protect was falling. They were not going to get out of this place not alive at least, it was highly likely the ninja had failed meaning there was no one left to stop these monsters. They were facing the ultimate fail.
What happened next took a moment for everyone to register. One minute the Crawler was preparing to stab Misako the next it was sent sideways smashing into a couple stories tall apartment building which fell atop it. Standing where the Crawler had been standing still in its head butting pose was the Fear-bricant the town used for training. It seemed to have come from nowhere to ram into the Crawlers side bowling it into the structure. The Fear-bricant gave a shake of its head and shoulders and a snort at the Crawler which slithered out of the rubble giving a hiss at the fabricant before rushing off to attack elsewhere in the town not wanting to tangle with such a powerful construct. The Stags Scimitar Samurai and some of the other constructs the town used for training then rushed out of the shadows to attack the stunned Ashers freeing the others then herding them together near Clay. One of the hyenoids grabbed Aaron, ripping his weapon from his hand, and pinned him to the ground with what seemed like almost no effort.
"Kozac has instructed us to help you and keep the green dragons dam safe," the one hyenoid explained helping Clay up.
"Why is the Stag now helping out?" Macy asked confused, they were all confused worried this was a trick.
"The Stag does not know we are here, we are not taking our orders from him. Our leader Kozac wants us to help you. Our orders are coming from him not the Stag. You must be very special for Kozac to want us to help you. After what you people did to him he has hated your kind ever since," the leader replied before ordering in their language to his pals to attack the Ashers. All but the leader and the one who pinned down Aaron went after the Ashers the Fear-bricant joining them to hunt down the Crawler.
"This one has to be put down, the curse has claimed him and he's becoming a ghoul," the hyenoid pinning Aaron down expressed. Aaron was fighting to get up uttering something in the Ashers language.
"We'll deal with him, we promised we would," Clay stated, "if you really desire to help us you can start by getting the towns folk to safety." The Knights were wary of the hyenoids but they were grateful for the droids saving them. With how things were going they knew they needed the help, no matter where it came from.
“Alright, we will get to work at that and you can deal with your clan mate,” the leader proclaimed. Lance, Axl and Macy then took over for the one hyenoid to pin Aaron down as the two left to aid the others. The Blight had made Aaron much stronger than normal almost un-naturally strong taking all three to pin him down as he struggled against them cursing at them in the Ashers language. Misako gave Clay her dagger but he hesitated starting to shake. After a minute of thought struggling to do what he had to do Clay exclaimed, “I can’t do this! I just can’t! He’s like a brother to me I can’t do it!”
“He’s just going to suffer till the end then they’re going to turn him into a monster. The transformations already started we have to do this to spare him that fate,” Macy stated struggling with the others to hold Aaron down.
"I know but I just can't, could any of you!" Clay expressed tears starting to come to his eyes. None of them could. They knew it was the best thing for him now but Aaron was family to them and they could not bring themselves to hurt him even with what he had become and what was going to happen to him.
Tafari landing near them caught their attention. She had been flung by the Ash Crawler as it was tearing apart the freezing canons they had built while fighting the Fear-bricant whose metal and hide were too tough for the Crawlers tongue to pierce. Even with the added forces of the hyenoids and constructs they were still being overwhelmed.
"The cities going to fall," Tafari moaned getting up. Her armour had been torn off and the gray gi she wore beneath it was torn and dirty with one sleeve missing showing off her robotic arm.
"We have to try to get the people out. There are at least eight of those filthy sorcerers here. We should fall back to the Under-city, we'll take out those in there and find a way out from there," Tafari explained kneeling on one knee as she tried to catch her breath having been beaten up pretty bad.
"How they're blocking any means of escape?" Lance noted.
"I don't like the idea but maybe those hyenoids can let us use one of their hidden tunnels, hopefully they have some that lead out of the city somewhere, hopefully somewhere safe. If not then we're all doomed," Tafari expressed.
Notes:
If have any questions go ahead and ask I do not bite. I will try to answer them, I will however not give away spoilers.
Chapter 48: The Vaults
Summary:
Times running out could the ninja still find the vaults in time?
Notes:
Pictures relating to story can be found here: https://www.deviantart.com/nerdy-hyena/gallery/72478681/story-project
They are really good and help to visually flush out several aspects of the story including environments, characters, outfits, locations, creatures and other aspects often important ones in the story. All images I post in my work can be found there if you want a better look at them. Defiantly make sure to check them out.Also if you need a refresher on creatures, flora or aspects of the environment you can check out the second chapter in this work titled 'Keikiarys Guide to the Ash Wastes'. It includes short descriptions and pictures of these things.
Parts of this section are subject to change as the prequel story is written to improve story continuity.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Zane went back into the library to where they had found a possible secret entrance.
"Zane, what are doing? They said it's too late," Lloyd inquired as Zane put the shurikan in the holder in the floor. To their surprise he responded.
"It is hard to explain but I feel something trying to draw me to whatever is hidden here. I have to know what it is," Zane replied turning the shurikan in the floor. A click came from behind the wall and a section suddenly moved revealing a hidden passage behind the wall. There had been no evidence of the passage. No seems in the wall, no drafts nothing. It had clearly been designed to be perfectly hidden, a testimony to these Scimitar folks great work. It was no wonder the Dragon Master had entrusted them to build these vaults they were looking for. The passage was dark and no light was visible making it impossible to tell how long the tunnel was. The air coming out of it felt damp yet surprisingly warm. There was a faint smell of earth and metal but nothing else. It was quite and the air felt stagnant.
"Just leave it, it's all too late," Kai noted but Zane didn't listen. He turned on his flashlight and headed into the tunnel. Though whatever had been calling him had stopped he felt compelled to find out what or who had been calling him. The tunnel and whatever else was in the area were showing up as an empty void on his sensors yet something was telling him that something was there.
“Well we have nothing to lose. It couldn’t hurt to see what’s in there?” Nya commented. They all took their flashlights and headed in. Before he entered the hall Cole felt compelled to remove the shurikan from the holder in the floor and bring it with them, he felt it was important they had it. Luckily the entrance remained open when the shurikan was removed so they would not be trapped. The tunnel was narrow making them go in single file and it was a couple minutes before they saw light at the other end. As they went through the tunnel they shone their lights on the walls, ceiling and floor looking for anything about this tunnel or where it led. There were no signs, writing or pictures to tell them anything just rock. The passage became wider and taller as they got closer to the end of it giving them more space to move. As they exited the passage they came into a large cavern which had been carved into a more artificial room like shape than a natural cavern. At the opposite end of the cavern up a small staircase was a stone wall with decorative metal and wood pieces on it with a large rounded metal door at its center. A dragon was depicted on the door. A large half of a stone lantern came out of the wall on either side of the door giving off a warm light from strange fiery colored crystals. More of these light structures lined the walls throughout the room some of them the light giving crystals either gone or dead giving no light. Even with the couple lighting structures giving no light the cavern was well lit and somehow surprisingly warm. In the middle of the stairs at their base sat a life sized statue of Whetu in lotus pose. She was not wearing her hood, wore a sleeveless gown and a dragon was lying curled around her its head resting at her feet. She held her hands in the same position as some of the statues that depicted her holding a star in Balmora had however there was nothing in her hands. Two simple square pillars sat against the walls at the base of the stairs with her, one on either side framing the stairs. In the ceiling some large cracks with a strange layer of ice blocking each crack from the outside sat. The ice confused Zane. The cavern was warm enough to have caused the ice to melt even though the environment of a cool early spring outside would keep the ice from melting too much. These temperature differences should have caused abnormalities in the ices surface added with the caverns warmth there should have been evidence of at least some melting on the cavern side of the ice but there was no sign of the ice being affected by the environment on either side. Its surface was smooth and looked fresh. It was like this ice ignored its environment as if it was not natural. Scattered around the cavern in front of the stairs were the skeletal remains of Scimitar folk along with the remains of Scimitar constructs including a Scimitar Centurion which had been pulled to the side of the cavern onto the rubble piles. All entities looked to have perished during the Stags take over. Some ferns, vines, shrooms, shrubs and grasses were growing here and there in the cavern. Piled near the side walls below the staircase, some spilling into the main pathway, were rocks and boulders of various sizes. They looked to have come from a cave in but the damage on the walls, floor and ceiling of the cavern were not large enough to have caused the amount of debris that had been piled up.
Confused where all the debris came from Cole looked at where they had come in. Thanks to his time climbing mountains he had come to recognise evidence of landslides and cave ins, they could prove very dangerous areas to climb near, and he noted their distinct markings on the passages walls, floor and ceiling both inside the tunnel and on its exterior that indicated the rocks and floor had been broken and damaged there by a collapse; a collapse which had been cleared.
“This is a little disturbing,” Cole remarked looking over the rock piles and Kai asked, “What’s disturbing?”
"This," Cole noted motioning to the piles of debris, "the tunnel entrance shows signs of a cave collapse but it has been cleared. Most of this debris was probably covering the entrance at one point."
"Well Juib did say some tunnels were collapsed during the Stags attack," Nya noted.
"They probably cleared it afterwards," Jay commented not wanting to think of the alternatives.
"The Stag closed up the library shortly after his take over, they did not have time to clear this passage and all those in this cavern look to have been fallen before a possible collapse," Zane noted looking at a Robo-bill that was crushed under a boulder along with a Scimitar folk's skeleton.
"So they couldn't have cleared the tunnel, then what did?" Lloyd noted while Jay nervously looked around waving his flashlight over every shadow he saw.
"Didn't Juib say two of those things like Celaena were supposed to be here?" Kai thought aloud.
"He did and I don't see anything that looks like her," Nya noted looking around. As the ninja looked around they remained silent in order to possibly hear something. In the silence the ninja could hear what sounded like metal clicking against stone. It sounded like it was coming from behind the rubble on the right side of the cavern and on the ceiling even though they could see nothing there. It sounded like whatever was making the sound was slowly moving and getting closer to them worrying the ninja.
"Zane can you sense anything," Lloyd asked. Zane looked around trying to use his sensors but they were malfunctioning making it hard to identify anything hiding in the cavern. It was frustrating and disturbing him that his sensors were malfunctioning. Despite his lack of sensors Zane got a strange and strong feeling that something was there. After a few seconds the clicking stopped and the cavern fell silent.
"Maybe we should get out of here?" Jay opted slowly moving closer to the tunnel ready to bolt.
"But I bet those are the Vaults we need! We finally found them! Maybe we do have a chance," Lloyd objected. Before they could make a decision on what to do the ground began to shake and dust and dirt fell from the ceiling.
"Earthquake!" Cole exclaimed as they all got down to lay on the ground and covered their heads. The shaking lasted for a couple seconds and a few small chunks of rock fell from the ceiling, a few hitting them, before the shaking stopped. They waited a few seconds after the shaking stopped before relaxing.
"Everyone okay?" Lloyd asked as they slowly got back up brushing the dust off themselves.
"Define what you would consider okay?" Cole asked while Jay added, "if you mean not hurt by falling debris but still going to die from an evil curse then yes."
"That was unusual," Zane noted.
"What do you mean?" Kai asked.
"We have been in the mountain for over three weeks and despite the geologic activity of the area there has been no considerably sized earthquake like that and it lasted too short a time to be natural," Zane explained while Jay looked at the tunnels entrance, which just happened to be behind where Cole stood, and pointed.
"Hey it wasn't me. I'm still wearing those bracers just like you so I can't use my powers," Cole exclaimed thinking Jay was going to blame him.
"No look the tunnel!" Jay exclaimed. They were shocked and surprised. The entrance was now blocked off but not from something fallen. Instead spikes of rock had shot up from the ground creating a wall that blocked off the entrance.
"We're trapped!" Jay panicked as Nya, Cole and Lloyd went to investigate the spires.
"Zanes right, this isn't natural. I think we're not alone here," Lloyd noted before he, Nya, Cole, Jay and Kai were flung against the left side wall by hurricane force winds. Zane went to help his friends but found he could not move. Strange vines of stone and metal had erupted from the floor and entwined themselves around his legs preventing him from moving. He had not been aware of the vines having slowly ensnared him after he had stood up. Zane attempted to try and remove them but no matter how hard he tried he couldn't move them. As he attempted to remove the vines Zane heard a comforting voice speak in his head. It told him, "it is okay brother, we will keep you safe." The voice made him nervous and he abandoned trying to free himself to look around worried over what was talking to him. He was suddenly able to pick up the signatures of two unknown entities in the room with them. He could not pinpoint where in the room they were he could just sense that they were there.
"What did that?" Kai moaned as they all got up.
"Don't know but I don't think it's friendly," Cole noted.
"So the demons finally found their way in here. You may have gotten past our brethren in the city but you will not get past us," a gruff metallic male voice stated.
"You may have fooled the others but you cannot fool us," a deep metallic females voice stated. The ninja looked around looking for who was speaking getting highly agitated. At first they saw nothing then slowly they saw two figures, the Racer Fabricants they had been warned of, letting down cloaking devices to reveal themselves. One was crawling towards them from the debris pile on the right side standing between them and Zane. The other clung to the wall above them. Both hissed at them when the ninja looked at the creatures who held their tails curled up like scorpions to show off their blade tipped tails.
"I can connect to them but they will not listen to me," Zane warned before getting shocked from within himself as the one on the ground looked back at him holding its beak open and hissing at him.
"You may have warped this droids mind to serve you but whatever trickery you used we promise it will not work on us," the racer spoke with the feminine voice as it looked back at the others. Just like Celaena when these racer fabricants spoke they did not move their mouths, the voice emanated from the cybernetics in their chests.
"Hey don't you do that to him!" Cole defended his friend. The racer on the wall above them dropped down onto Cole pinning him to the ground to hiss and state with the masculine voice, "silence." It then crawled over to crouch with the other fabricant and the two seemed to be communicating with each other using the noises of the racer creatures while the others helped Cole back onto his feet.
"That was uncalled for," Kai noted and Zane called over to them, his one hand against his forehead as he tried to communicate with the creatures, "they are called Kamdida that is the girl and Barbas is the boy. They..." Zane got shocked from within again, this time harder, by the one they guessed was a male. The two fabricants were looking angrily at Zane.
"Enough Cub of the Fang or we will put you offline till this is over," the masculine one threatened, hissing at Zane who was scared and starting to shake afraid of them and disliking how they were hurting him.
"When the demons have been dealt with we will comfort you in your final hours Fang Cub," the female stated before the two fabricants looked back to the rest of them growling and hissing.
"Demons... I think they think we're the demons!" Jay whispered to the others worried.
"Lloyd I think they can tell you're part Oni," Nya noted.
"What do you think they are going to do to us," Cole wondered as the fabricants began stalking towards them.
"So you finally found a way to the vaults. Did you think nothing was here?" the female, Kamdida, growled as the two stalked towards them crawling with their wings folded up and their heads held low their beaks open to display their serrated metal edges. Their tails were slowly swaying behind them and their metal claws clicked on the ground as they moved. Sometimes they would give a hiss or growl.
"That monster may have claimed the others but he will never claim us. We will never let you demons near that vault," the male Barbas hissed.
“We’re not what you think!” Kai exclaimed and Jay begged, “We’re not Oni!”
"Maybe not all of you but we can smell that one is here, try to mask yourself all you want we will find you," Barbas hissed looking them over.
"You don't understand we've come to find something to save our realm and yours from Dagon we intend no harm," Lloyd pleaded as the fabricants began to inspect each of them individually.
"This one is holding her star," Kamdida noted sniffing at Cole who was carrying Whetu’s star. Barbas joined her to investigate Cole.
"Indeed, are you her new champion?" Barbas questioned.
"I... I don't know," Cole replied nervous. What was he to reply with and if he said the wrong thing what would they do to him?
"He is not the Oni, he carries her weapon but I cannot tell if she has chosen him or if they stole the weapon," Barbas noted sniffing Coles face scaring him.
"He goes over there then. We can solve it after the demon has been dealt with," Kamdida declared harshly hitting Cole to shove him towards Zane, "you stay over there and do not harm the Fang Brother or you will regret your existence." Kamdida displayed the blade on the end of her tail to threaten Cole.
"Maybe if we could use our powers they could see we aren't Oni," Kai whispered to the others before the fabricants turned back to them. As the fabricants inspected the others Cole tried to help free Zane.
"I think the two of them are not in the right state of mind," Zane noted as he and Cole tried to pull the vines off his legs.
"I wouldn't doubt it. Alone in a cave with dead things, nothing to eat and a vault filled with magical and cursed items. Can't be good for your mind," Cole noted struggling to pull the vines off. Without his powers Cole found he could offer no help. The vines that wrapped around Zanes legs were too tough to pull off without his super strength.
"Maybe this thing can cut them," Cole wondered inspecting the Red-Diamond shurikan. Zane looked at the weapon and a thought came to him.
"It can reveal hidden knowledge," Zane noted to which Cole stated, "what?"
"It can reveal hidden knowledge, I have seen it work. I do not understand how it works but it does. Maybe if the two fabricants touch it the item could reveal to them that we intend no harm," Zane noted.
"Are you sure?" Cole wondered looking over the weapon and Zane replied, "not entirely but what else can we do?" By that time Kamdida and Barbas had found what they were looking for.
"This one, he is the Oni," Kamdida hissed knocking Lloyd to the ground and pinning him to the floor while Barbas pushed the others back and hit his tail to the ground causing vines like those that trapped Zane to erupt from the ground and entwine the legs of the others so no one could move and interfere with what the two were intending to do.
"What should we do with you?" Kamdida growled as Barbas came and helped her pin down Lloyd who was trying to break free from them.
"These things do not deserve a quick end, let us make it a slow and painful one," Barbas hissed.
"First we should take out its legs so it cannot get away," Kamdida hissed as Lloyd kept fighting the creatures terrified of what they were going to do to him. The fabricants however were too strong and Lloyd was far too weak thanks to the Blight to put up a descent fight and was struggling to continue his fight.
"We don't have much of a choice do we? How do we get them to touch it though?" Cole noted and Zane quickly thought it over.
"They recognised the weapon and recognised it as this Whetus weapon. Maybe they will listen to Whetu?" Zane noted moving to take the weapon from Cole. The moment he touched the weapon Zane felt something come over him, possessing him making him feel dizzy and light headed. The vines that entwined around his legs dissipated with a golden glow. Cole was confused and worried over what was going on as Zane stumbled a bit before levitating above the ground a faint golden light coming from him as he held his arms out to the side a golden half moon and a golden sun appearing above his hands. His Blight had turned a golden color and his eyes now emitting a golden glow.
"Zane? Are you okay buddy?" Cole wondered nervous about what was happening. When Zane spoke it was not his voice that came from him, it was someone else's. The voice was deep, feminine and had a deeper toned echo to its sound.
"Racers of the Dragon cease your hostilities," the voice exclaimed sounding angry. The voice caught the fabricants attention as they and the rest of the ninja looked at Zane. The two fabricants seemed stunned. Kamdida made a move with her tail, flicking the tail tip up, summoning the vines trapping the others to wrap around several parts of Lloyds body along with his arms and legs to pin him down and prevent him from moving. The fabricants obviously were not going to give Lloyd a chance to get away. The two then slowly approached Zane heads held low while acting submissive.
"Mistress of Moon and Star!" they proclaimed coming to bow in front of Zane.
"What's happened to Zane?" Jay expressed on the edge of panicking. The ninja were scared and confused.
"You will not hurt these mortals," the voice proclaimed from Zane.
"But our lady one of these is not what it appears," Kamdida stated and Barbas explained, "there is at least one with Oni blood amongst them. There could even be more."
"What if there is? Do you forget that I was once one of Oni blood and so was your master? Their blood and relations are not important, these mortals have been chosen. You are not to harm any of them not even the one of Oni blood," the voice proclaimed.
"They could be a threat though, how do we know this one of Oni blood is not here to cause trouble," Barbas countered.
"These mortals are from the dragon and are under my watch. Any trouble any of them cause is meant to be in order for them to fulfill their quest even if you do not agree with it," the voice emanating from Zane proclaimed as the vines that entwined the rest of the ninja dissipated with a golden light releasing the ninja. Cole who was highly disturbed and confused about what was going on took a couple steps back once freed unable to take his eyes off Zane and trapped from the others by the fabricants. He didn't dare try to get close to the creatures and held tightly onto the Red Diamond shurikan in fear. The others came to huddle close to each other shaking feeling scared and confused.
"I think something has possessed Zane and is using him to converse through," Nya whispered as they came together.
"Possessed? By what?" Jay panicked and Kai noted, "I don't know but it doesn't sound human."
"They recognise whatever it is and referred to it as the mistress of moon and star," Lloyd commented and Nya expressed, "do you think they were talking of this Whetu?"
“Zanes been possessed by Whetu!” Jay exclaimed in shock.
“If they are of the dragon then why do they not show us their powers? They could have easily done that but they did not,” Kamdida growled to which the voice expressed, “the bracers they bare are blocking their proof of the dragons blood. Remove them and you will see.”
"The bracers, are you sure? How do we not know the bracers are simply there to hide their true identities from us," Barbas inquired as the fabricants glared back at the ninja who, all except Cole were huddled together.
"Do not question me mortal. These are the dragons of prophecy; you will spare them unless you wish to face my wrath. These mortals are under my protection. This vessel that I am using I name my champion. He and his allies are now your allies and knights for my cause, even the Oni hybrid. You are to help them and not hinder them in any way do I make myself clear?" the voice from Zane proclaimed as he angrily stared down the two fabricants. The two hesitated unable to meet his gaze looking at each other before with heads bent in defeat they nodded an agreement. With the fabricants conformation the entity that possessed Zane let him go dropping him to the ground where he stumbled and fell to his hands and knees the glow and objects disappearing and his eyes and the Blight returning to their normal colors. Zane was dazed and confused. Cole came over to check Zane over still feeling disturbed and confused to help him back onto his feet.
"What happened?" Zane wondered feeling unstable on his feet from the possession.
"I think something possessed you," Cole noted. The others wanted to come over but were hesitant to get close to the fabricants who were looking over the ninja. It was clear from the way they looked at the ninja that they still didn't trust them despite Astara telling them they had to trust the ninja. Barbas slowly approached Cole who was helping to stabilize Zane who was coming off being possessed. Both were unaware of the fabricants movements. Barbas looked at Cole as if questioning who he was before launching at Cole clamping his jaws around the one bracer around Coles wrist. Cole attempted to pull his arm away from the fabricant freaking out while a sparking energy came from the bracer as the racers metal toothy beak scraped across it. Zane went to help his friend hoping to hit the fabricant with some ice hoping it would deter its attack but before he could make a move the fabricant pulled back and the bracer which was now somehow unlocked fell off Cole's wrist. At first Cole worried the curse the Stag put on the bracers was going to hurt him but after a few seconds and nothing happening he was confused.
"I thought the Stag put a curse on the bracers," Cole commented inspecting his now free wrist.
"We can break his spell," Kamdida stated as Barbas then took the other bracer off Coles other wrist, "now show us that you are of the dragon. Give us a taste of your elemental powers." Cole was unsure what to do wondering what of his powers he could show that would easily confirm to the fabricants his powers. After a quick thought he came up with an idea. Concentrating he made a square patch of ground beneath Kamdida raise up a few feet.
"How's that?" he inquired. The fabricants inspected what he did and seemed intrigued.
"Interesting, Champion of Moon and Star what can you show us?" Barbas inquired to Zane who was confused. He remembered being possessed but it felt like a dream and he was not entirely sure about everything that had been said through him.
"They mean you, whatever had you proclaimed you were its champion," Cole whispered to Zane. Zane wasted no time in using his powers to freeze Barbas's feet and wings to the ground. The fabricants seemed pleased. Barbas then melted the ice with his powers before the two turned to the other ninja.
"What is happening?" Kai wondered while Jay fretted, "is this some sort of trick?"
"We will remove your bracers but you must show us proof of your dragon given powers," Barbas explained.
"Okay, I'm ready," Kai expressed holding his arms out eager for his bracers to be removed. Kamdida came over to remove his bracer. Once his bracers were removed Kai wasted no time in showing off his powers by creating a small flame in his hands which seemed to mesmerise the fabricants. They then moved onto Jay who was scared and hesitated to let the fabricants near him. It took both of them to surround him so he couldn't move away from them and together they took the bracers off. Jay didn't hesitate to use his powers so they wouldn't attack him. He shocked the two who surprisingly seemed to like it. They then moved onto Nya who was pleased to have the bracer removed and after she showed them her powers they came to Lloyd and hesitated.
"She wants us to trust this one? Even though he smells of an Oni?" Barbas pondered hesitating on removing Lloyds bracers. The fabricants were clearly not entirely trusting of Lloyd.
"You can trust me, I'm the grandson of the first Spinjitsu Master," Lloyd replied and the racers sniffed him thoroughly again before removing his bracers.
"Indeed, I thought I could smell the hints of something familiar," Barbas noted as he and Kamdida crawled up onto the pillars at the base of the stairs, one on either side. They perched there, sitting like cats, looking at the ninja.
"What do you mean?" Nya wondered and Jay added starting to calm down, "Have you met the First Spinjitsu Master?"
"Yes, he agreed to the building of the vaults and their purpose. For the balance of the universe the items within cannot be destroyed despite the risks they pose and not all the items are evil, some are just dangerous or too powerful to be wielded especially by the wrong hands. He, the Dragon Master and many others felt that if the items remained hidden then they might be forgotten and so they could never cause harm or be desired," Kamdida explained and Barbas added, "it is also the reason the Dragon Master gave his people the traits of beasts. Animals have no desire for the items in the vaults; he thought by giving people traits of beasts it would lessen any possible desire to seek the items out. Turns out though it takes more than that to stop the nature of people, no matter what you do to them people are people."
"Your First Spinjitsu Master was there when the barrier to keep the Ashers and Oni out was created. He, the Dragon Master, the other two of the tribunal and a few others including us and our dragon imbued brethren were there. They were not happy with the idea of what it involved to create the barrier but it had to be done, for the safety of the realms," Kamdida explained, "So you are the foreign travellers who Juib spoke of. He never told us one of you was part Oni. We are sorry for scaring you. We sensed Ashers in the city. Juib never told us one of you was part Oni so we assumed you were the Ashers coming to get these vaults. Sorry for tricking you fang brother. We have been aware of all your presences in the city and we thought you had tricked the others since you aligned yourself with the oni and the others had accepted you all. When we picked up the energy of a sorcerer we decided it was time to make a move. We intended to destroy your friends. We knew they would follow you if you came so I drew you here so we could get them. Can you forgive us for our trickery?"
“Indeed, you were just following your programming to do your job and keep the vaults safe,” Zane accepted. Barbas then inquired, “Juib, they finally got him did they not. We sense something has happened to him? Can you tell us what?”
"The Ashers destroyed him," Cole explained before Jay blurted, "They turned him into a pile of Ash!"
"Juib told you of us? But he said no one knew what happened to you two not even him," Nya noted.
"Despite what you think we are not trapped here. The cracks in the ceiling are big enough we can get through them. We created the ice that covers the cracks in the ceiling. We can remove and replace it as we see fit. After the Stag took over we worried the Stag would come after the vaults so decided to remain hidden. Since Juib once lived with its protectors we felt safe contacting him. We often met up a few times a month in an old scimitar outpost not far from here. He would keep us informed and our robotics up to date there away from the prying eyes of the Stag. We agreed it best to keep our existence unknown," Barbas explained.
"How have you remained hidden from all the others in the city? Surely they would be able to sense you," Zane inquired.
"Having spent so long by the vaults we have learned a few things on how to hide ourselves even from the sensors of our brethren and the Stag," Kamdida replied
“So if you’re old enough to have met the first Spinjitsu Master then do you maybe know what we need to destroy Dagon?” Lloyd inquired eager to continue their quest and Kai added, “What about this Blight? Do you know how to fix it?”
"Sorry but no to both; the banishing of Dagon happened long before we even hatched and the Blight; only the Ashers know how to fix it. They created it," Kamdida began.
"We have seen many through the years succumb to it. Sadly we are why Juib was cursed with it. He was coming to meet us as usual when a group of Ashers ambushed him. We destroyed them but it was too late. Juib had been cursed. What we never expected was what the Stag did, stalling the condition. Why would he do that to our brother? That entity has never shown compassion to any other form of life why did he spare our brother?" Barbas contemplated.
"Would you let us enter the vaults and find what we need?" Lloyd inquired checking out the door to the vault with Nya and Kai. The fabricants seemed worried.
"We mean no offense but we do not feel comfortable letting the green one in," Kamdida replied as Lloyd and Kai tried to pull the doors open but the doors didn't even budge.
"Also as a safety measure, we were never given knowledge of how to open the vaults. Only the Dragon Master, Astaras champion and a few others were ever given the knowledge of how to open it," Barbas replied.
"The Dragon Masters only surviving son might know but I doubt he would leave the Dragon Guards monastery, there are those there who need him especially now with how bad things have gotten. Sheoth could know but I doubt it. Even if you could get him here and he did know trying to get a straight answer from him is rather difficult, he is insane after all and sometimes he has the attention span of a sparrow," Kamdida added.
"The First Spinjitsu Master knew but I doubt he would have let others know. Juib might have known but it is too late to ask him now," Barbas stated sounding sad remembering his lost friend.
“Fang Brother, Astara proclaimed you as her champion. Did she tell you what needs to be done?” Kamdida asked Zane who thought it over before replying, “no, I think she wants us to figure it out on our own.”
"Why won't she tell you? Do you think she's testing us?" Jay expressed.
"I don't know but we don't have much time. If we want a chance to find the cure we are going to have to figure this out and soon," Nya noted and Kai opted, "Well then maybe we could try to figure it out?"
“Sure. Maybe it’s like in video games. Maybe there is something in this room that shows how to open the doors,” Jay added and Nya countered, “I don’t think it would be that easy. We’ve seen how complex these Scimitar folk were I doubt they would make it that simple.”
"Well we don't have much time and I'm willing to try anything?" Lloyd opted.
"Anything? What if it involves sacrificing someone with Oni blood?" Cole commented.
"Well almost anything," Lloyd confirmed, "let's take a quick look around then we can try something else. There has to be something to open the vaults." Lloyd, Kai, Nya and Jay began looking around the room seeing if anything was in the room that could give a hint; any possible writing, drawing, secret hatch or switch, anything. The fabricants remained perched on the pillars watching them. Cole was going to help them but he noticed Zane standing near the statue of Whetu. He didn't look very well almost like he was going to have a panic attack or was going to collapse.
"Are you okay buddy?" Cole asked coming to comfort Zane.
“No, I can feel this Blight starting to mess with my mind. It's a terrible and very unnerving feeling,” Zane began sounding scared and in pain, “I don’t think I will make it! I think this thing will claim me! It wants me to attack others; I can feel that urge building. I don’t think I’ll be able to fight it if the urge gets stronger. I don’t want to become a daemon!” As he spoke Cole noticed Zane kept making motions with his hands clenching them like he wanted to crush or strangle something. Though Cole noticed it and was scared by it he tried not to react to it not wanting to upset Zane. He was unsure if Zane realized what he was doing with his hands or not. Cole was afraid to ask. He didn’t want to upset or set Zane off. He was clearly in a very fragile mental state.
"Don't think like that. We're going to try everything we can to fix this; we won't let that happen to you. We found the vaults; we just have to get in there. I know we'll find the cure in there just try to hang on a little longer," Cole comforted Zane.
"How do you know that?" Barbas inquired tilting his head.
"Well I had a dream and Astara told me it is in there," Cole explained.
"Really?" Kamdida wondered.
"Yha, both me and Zane have had a dream with her in it, it was all kind of weird and a bit scary," Cole replied while Zane became transfixed by Whetus statue. Something about it was off.
"Something is wrong with this," Zane noted inspecting the statue.
"You're not going into one of those trances again are you? This is not a good time for it," Cole worried before he too noticed what Zane was looking at. Every statue they had seen of her holding her hands the way this one was Whetu was holding something, generally something that resembled a star.
"You’re right something about her is off. Maybe she needs her star? Probably got dislodged or broken out during the Stags takeover," Cole offered looking around for the missing piece to the statue. As he investigated the statue Zane noted grooves in Whetus hands indicating something sharp had been slid in and out of her hands.
"Can I see the shurikan," Zane asked. Kamdida and Barbas just watched the two sitting hunched over with their heads tilted curious and intrigued.
"Okay but I don't entirely see why you're focusing on the statue, we should help the others look... for something. I doubt Jays idea will work though. I doubt it would be that simple," Cole commented handing Zane the shurikan. After a quick look over the shurikan Zane slid it into the statues hands the way he felt it would best fit. The metal scratched the stone as it went in coming to click into place as he got it wedged between her hands. The shurikan was bigger when compared to the statues size than the star she usually held in the smaller statues but it felt right and Zane felt relieved that it was right. After suffering so long with the feeling that something was wrong and being unable to fix the problem it felt so relieving to finally be able to put something right. Even Cole had to agree.
"You know you're right it does feel better for her to have her star," Cole noted.
"What are you two doing?" Jay asked coming to see what they were doing.
"Why are you playing with the statue when you should be helping us find a way into the vaults," Lloyd disciplined them as the rest of them came over.
"Why'd you stick the shurikan in the statue?" Kai wondered and Zane replied, "It felt right."
"Okay now if you're done with that can we please get back to looking for some way to open the vaults," Lloyd demanded feeling impatient. He wanted to find the cure and save Zane before it was too late and now with the vaults in reach he felt they could have a chance at completing what they set out to do. He could also feel something behind those doors was calling to him; ever since they had entered that cavern he had become aware of it. He hadn't told anyone about it worried over what they would think. He had to find what was drawing him in. Hopefully he thought it was the item they needed to save their realm.
“That is where she knelt,” Kamdida noted drawing the ninjas attention. The two fabricants were staring at the floor in front of the vaults doors. A warm glowing circular pattern had now developed on the floor along shallow grooves in the stone floor. Around the outside of the circular pattern were symbols that looked like the Scimitar writing. The centre of the pattern depicted what looked like a Fear and a Hoofivore biting each other’s tails in a circular yin yang style design. Lloyd remembered someone in Balmora having told him that symbol was a common and often important symbol in this realm. He couldn’t remember who it was. He thought it was Hassiri or maybe Fae or possibly one of the knights probably Clay or Macy or maybe Ava or Merlok but he was not too sure; the Blight was making it hard to remember things. The symbol had come into being during the reptilian wars representing the balance between light and dark, good and evil. The two being eternally locked together like the rivalry between the two apex predators represented; the Fear representing the darkness and the Hoofivore representing the light.
“That wasn’t there before was it?” Jay noted as they all came to investigate the pattern and Kai stated, “I didn’t recall seeing it.” Noting the Scymer writing Lloyd inquired, “Zane can you read the symbols around the edge?”
"No it looks to be that special form of writing," Zane noted having trouble trying to analyze the writing and symbols getting frustrated by how the Blight was messing with him.
"Aw man, I'm betting that is our clue. If you can't read it then how do we find out what it says?!" Jay complained and Kai stated angered, "we can't have come all this way just to be stumped by this."
"If you wish to open it then you need the blood of a dragon," Kamdida stated surprising the ninja who turned to look at the fabricants.
"How do you know that?" Cole asked.
“We can read those writings. Just as she had done a dragon must be willingly shed its blood upon the centre of that pattern to open the vaults,” Barbas explained.
"Blood of a dragon? Are they talking actual dragons or one of these Dragon Guards?" Nya wondered looking over the design while Jay added, "or could the term dragon refer to something else? Could it be some sort of riddle or something like that?"
"Where are we going to find one of these Dragon Guard members or a dragon here?" Kai noted.
"They say your kind share the blood of dragons, hence your powers. Would your blood work?" Cole asked the fabricants who looked at themselves thinking it over.
"Probably not what flows in our veins is not compatible to blood even though it serves a similar function," Barbas noted and Kamdida added, "It would be smart for us to be incompatible for this. It would make it harder for the wrong folk to enter the vaults."
"That would make sense given how complex and well thought out many of these Scimitar folks creations are. It looks like they tried to think of everything," Zane noted while Lloyd, feeling drawn to the center of the structure rubbed his hand across the floor inspecting it.
"Maybe one of us can do it," Lloyd theorized.
"What do you mean?" Kai wondered.
"Well all those here kept calling us Dragons and others here have claimed we are compatible to their Dragon Guard," Zane noted and Cole added, "true but if that is true who should do it and how much blood are we talking?"
"I've already given blood here thanks to that plant," Kai expressed holding the hand he had injured and pulling it close to his chest remembering how much it had hurt and Zane noted, "I do not really have blood." They all looked at each other before Lloyd offered, "I'll do it. I'm also part dragon so that could work if it means a real dragon right?"
"I'm fine with that now how do we do it," Jay stated glad no one was making him shed blood. None of them had any weapons and though they could have used the shurikan something made them feel they had to leave it in the statue for this to work.
"We can offer assistance if you desire," Barbas offered showing off his blade tipped tail, "just tell us when you are ready." Lloyd looked over everyone; they didn't have much time left. Though he was not too keen on doing this he had a feeling it had to be done.
"Alright, just can you be careful and not do too much damage please," Lloyd stated as the fabricants came up to him.
“We will make it small, warning though it will most certainly hurt,” Kamdida stated as Barbas grabbed Lloyds left arm in his mouth and held it close to the central symbol on the floor. Kamdida then took her tail and slid it across the top of Lloyds hand leaving a deep cut and drawing blood. Lloyd put on a brave face despite the pain while the others waited watching them. Barbas shook Lloyds hand flicking blood onto the symbol. When his blood touched the stone the symbols and writing etched into it developed a golden glow. Two lines of the etchings stretched out to the door and disappeared beneath it. After a few seconds a deep click noise and what sounded like gears being turned came from the door. Kamdida crawled over to the door once the noises stopped and investigated it. After a few sniffs and looking over the seam at the centre she reared up placing her wings on the door and pushed on it. Slowly the doors opened. They were stiff from years of no use and the dust that had gathered on the cracks and designs of the door fell off as it moved but it opened.
"It worked!" Jay exclaimed as Zane and Cole went over to help Kamdida open the doors.
"Now let's get in there and hopefully find what we need before it is too late!" Lloyd exclaimed as Barbas let go of his hand.
"What about your hand?" Nya inquired. His hand was still bleeding, it looked like he might need stitches for it but it didn't seem too bad; definitely not too important or serious he felt.
"Here you could stop the flow with this and you could get it fixed later," Kai opted tearing a piece of cloth off one of the Scimitar skeletons and handing it to Lloyd who was not entirely convinced. The cloth was not very clean but he guessed it was better than nothing and he didn't want to head back for something better. He wanted to get in the vault and get what they needed. He was almost shaking with anticipation to get in there as Nya helped him tie the cloth on his hand. They were all very eager.
"Before you enter ninja a few words of advice," Kamdida stated as she and Barbas came to sit by the top of the stairs, the two did not look comfortable about having the vaults open. They all turned to listen to what the fabricants had to say.
"We do not know what you will find in there but be very careful. Not only are the things in there unimaginably dangerous but many appear to have a mind of their own," Barbas began.
"Some items might try to trick you into taking them even though they are not what you seek. They might want to corrupt you or do worse. Some items might want to feed off your life even kill you so be very careful. Avoid touching anything if you do not have too. Do not read anything, do not wear anything and do not trust your senses. There are things in there that can mess with them, casting illusions to fool you for their own desires. Try to stay together and keep watch of each other," Kamdida continued.
"Are you coming in?" Jay asked feeling agitated by the fabricants warning and the fabricants wasted no time in responding.
"No! We will stay out here on guard," Kamdida noted and Barbas continued, "We would never dare set foot in there. We can feel the dark energies attempting to sway us and we want nothing to do with anything in there. I think for everyone's safety we do not enter."
"Okay, well hopefully we get lucky," Kai noted. They came to the doorway and stopped. Though eager to enter the fabricants warning had made them all nervous of entering and they had to agree. They could feel dark and unpleasant energies coming from inside. After a moment of hesitation they entered the vault, Jay was the last to enter asking the fabricants one last time if they were sure about not joining them. The fabricants shook their heads not wanting to change their minds.
Notes:
You might have noticed the line said by Juib ‘Celaena or her siblings might know…’ in the chapter Curse of the Stag and thought it was a grammatical error. Given the knowledge to this point he should have said "Celaena might know or her siblings would have..." implying they were no longer but he phrases it as if they are still alive. This is a subtle hint that he is aware that the others like Celaena are not dead even though no one else knows about this, not even Celaena or the Stag.
In their dreams during the Chapter 'Riddle of the Stag' Cole and Zane got a foreshadowing of the vaults guardians. Zane hears Kamdida calling to him while Cole sees a monstrous depiction of the two.
The Red Diamond Shurikan was made from Whetus blood. Her energy is tied into the weapon that is why it is a key to the vault. Then like her an elemental master must willingly shed blood upon the site of the ritual in order to open the vault.
If have any questions go ahead and ask I do not bite. I will try to answer them, I will however not give away spoilers.
Chapter 49: The Vaults of Madness
Summary:
There is more to these vaults than they appear...
Notes:
Pictures relating to story can be found here: https://www.deviantart.com/nerdy-hyena/gallery/72478681/story-project
They are really good and help to visually flush out several aspects of the story including environments, characters, outfits, locations, creatures and other aspects often important ones in the story. All images I post in my work can be found there if you want a better look at them. Defiantly make sure to check them out.Also if you need a refresher on creatures, flora or aspects of the environment you can check out the second chapter in this work titled 'Keikiarys Guide to the Ash Wastes'. It includes short descriptions and pictures of these things.
Parts of this section are subject to change as the prequel story is written to improve story continuity.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
The inside of the vaults didn't look very special. It was a large cavern filled with shelves which had been altered by scimitar stone works and metals to resemble the interior of a building and held a variety of items. Weapons, scrolls, apparel, dolls, books, lanterns, bones, household items, there were even some jars whose items they could only guess at though some looked like they might be body parts. The place was well lit with metal lamps hung on the walls and ceiling providing light. How they were lit however they could not tell. It was clearly not from fire but they did not appear to be from any technological means either. The place looked amazingly well preserved and clean as if it had still been in use the day before like it was trapped in time. Decorative rugs were on the floor lining the corridors between the shelves which appeared to be placed in non uniform ways in the room. Paintings, banners and tapestries hung on walls and some urns and statues were on shelves or placed around the room. A few of the statues they felt might be watching them or were even moving when they weren't looking at them. The shelves looked to be made from that strange wood the staffs they had fought with before were made of, Brasswood, though these had been painted an off white color. The shelves were open so they could be accessed from either side and the ends held plaques with Scimitar writing and an ancient language that Zane could not recognise but knew was ancient on them. To the right of the entrance a small area with desks and strange apparatuses was located. It almost looked like they had been studying the items within the vaults, for what reason though only those who had worked here likely knew. To the left of the entrance was a little area separated by three bookshelves which had closed off backs. They enclosed an area where a pedestal sat in the middle. Some books and scrolls sat on the shelves and a rather large thick tome sat on the pedestal.
"Where do we begin?" Cole wondered as they looked around. None of them wanted to make the first move worried they might touch something dangerous.
"I don't know," Lloyd stated and Kai mentioned, "what are we even supposed to be looking for? A weapon, a scroll? It's not something pathetic like a doll or ring is it?" Zane noticed something written on the pedestal holding the tome and went over to investigate it. Written in both the Scimitar tongue and the common language were the words "Vault Catalogue". The words were written on the tome as well.
"Zane what are you doing that could be very dangerous?!"Jay exclaimed on the verge of freaking out as Zane opened the book to take a look.
"It doesn't feel evil, it just looks like a normal book," Cole noted as they all came over to inspect the book. Inside was written in scimitar writing with the translation in the common language below it what appeared to be descriptions and names for various items plus which realm they had been found in and from where in that realm they had been located.
"I don't think there is anything to worry about Jay. This looks to be a catalogue for what is stored in here," Nya noted as they looked over the pages.
"Maybe we'll find what we are looking for in here," Lloyd noted gently moving Zane aside from in front of the book to get a better look at the pages. Zane went to investigate what was on the shelves around the pedestal picking up and looking at some of the books and scrolls despite Jay's protests.
"It appears they were studying what powers each item had, what effects they could produce and the nature of the object. They even went to hypothesize what could occur if the items fell into the wrong hands," Zane noted as Cole came over to check some of the books Zane was looking at.
"I think what is in this section Jay is safe. It looks like this is all these folks study notes and cataloguing. They're not these special items we have to worry about," Cole noted looking through a book labelled 'Undetermined'. It appeared to be a book cataloguing items not in the vault with notes on what the item was said to do or contain and if they should acquire them for safe storage.
"Hey we know some of these," Cole noted looking through the book, "the Sword of Sanctuary, the Realm Crystal, the Yin Blade... looks like they were intending to continue collecting items."
"But then the Stag got in the way and these people are now gone," Lloyd noted before reading aloud some of what was listed in the book, "Untitled book found in the Cloud Kingdom, causes reader to become nauseous and disorientated while reading it. The runes on the pages often shift and change. Soul Steelers Star found in Cursed Realm. Star shaped dark blue gem that ensnares a dying entities spirit and traps it in the Cursed Realm. Boots of Blinding Speed found in this realm being sold by a wandering merchant, makes the wearer faster than a cheetah though entirely blind while wearing it. From Ninjago a scroll of Forbidden Spinjitsu! Another one from this realm a strange large two tined fork that always smells of cooked beef thought to spark insanity in most folk who hold it. A ring that instantly kills its wearer, a cowl that cloaks the wearers' identity, a necklace that turns the wearer into a skeever..."
“Not that this isn’t entertaining but if you guys want to look through old books you can, I’m going to look around to see what I can find,” Kai butt in getting impatient to which Jay objected, “You heard what they said, we have to be careful in here.”
"I will," Kai claimed while Nya expressed, "I don't think it's a good idea you go wandering off on your own brother."
"Your right; Cole, Zane you two go with Kai and see what you can find. Do not touch anything. If you find something come get us and we'll look at it together. We'll stay here and see what we can find in this book," Lloyd instructed. With that Kai, Cole and Zane headed off to look over the items on the shelves while the rest looked over the book.
As the three investigated the shelves they came to realise the shelves had been laid out in a labyrinth like design complete with dead ends and areas that doubled back. Possibly a way to make it harder to find items Zane theorized. Many of the items had a tag on them stating what they were called but gave no other information. As they had agreed the three did not touch any of the items, though they would touch the tags attached to them, as they looked.
"It's so weird in here," Kai noted as they moved between the shelves, "one moment you feel fine then a few feet away you get that terrible feeling that dark matter gives or you feel disorientated or other weird or unpleasant feelings."
"I think it's the items," Cole noted and Zane added, "some items seem to be able to affect the area around them. We should be very vigilant that these items do not start to affect us."
"Hey look," Kai noted pointing to a jar of a strange dark substance, "Dark Matter from Ninjago."
"They must have been studying it," Cole noted. As they walked through the shelves looking them over Zane began to have a strange feeling. It was like something was calling to him. As they went the other two kept talking and seemed to be unaware of what he was feeling or that he was falling behind of them. Zane was trying to identify what was calling to him. His sensors were no longer working properly so he could not find the source frustrating him. To make it worse he was having to fight the Blights violent urges. He became so occupied trying to figure it out and keep control of himself that he lost track of the others. He found himself alone in a corridor unable to find where the other two had gone and even more worrisome he found himself lost. He could not determine where they had come from or how to get back to the vaults entrance. The place seemed to have been set up to confuse and mess with anyone who entered. Possibly a way to make finding or stealing anything from the vaults difficult Zane thought. He stood looking around for a while trying to determine where he should go. Should he wait for someone to find him or should he go looking for them? He didn't want to make the wrong move and wander into something dangerous. He was unsure if it was from an item nearby, the Blight or because of his worries of being lost here but he began to feel agitated and the feeling was only growing.
Something suddenly fluttering past in front of him caught him off guard startling him and drawing his attention. He watched intrigued as a pale colored Ancestor Wing flew in front of him then landed on the shelf next to him to stare at him with its big icy blue eyes. He felt a deep comforting and familiar feeling from the creature and his agitation and worries disappeared with its presence. Even the Blights urges to harm living things seemed to dissipate. He felt calmed by the creature.
"You are not what you appear to be are you?" Zane asked the creature curious about it. Not only was it different in color to the normal creatures but how it could have gotten into the vault was confusing him. Zane was pretty sure these Scimitar folk did not lock up some of these creatures in here, they wouldn't have survived long in here, and he doubted the two fabricants would have let it in even though it seemed very unlikely this creature would cause any trouble. The creature flew to land on his arm and looked at him. Zane gave it a few pets. It felt real but with his sensors malfunctioning he could not tell if it was truly an Ancestor Wing or something else. Even without his sensors though he got the feeling there was more to this entity than he could see. The creature then took to the air lazily flying around him, sometimes flying off in one particular direction before coming back to him. Zane got the feeling the creature wanted him to follow it. Zane remembered what the book had said about these creatures. How the people believed the departed could send messages through these creatures. Was something or someone wanting to tell or show him something? If it was someone then who was it? Was it someone he had known, like his father, or was it someone he did not know like this Dragon Master? The familiar feeling he got from the creature was too strong for him to think it was a stranger.
"Do you have something to show me?" Zane wondered following the creature...
"Uh-oh, we've lost Zane!" Cole noted getting worried. He was unsure when or where they had lost Zane but he was pretty sure it was not good to have lost him. With his condition and what could possibly be in this vault it was not good for them to have lost Zane.
"He was just behind us where could he have gone?" Kai noted as they looked around anxious. The two had been looking over the items and had just kept wandering. They had thought Zane was following them. He was normally more quite than the rest of them so they had not found it odd that he wasn't saying much but at this point that trait just made things worse. When had he left them and for how long had he been on his own? Was he okay or had the Blight sent him insane? Had an item corrupted him?
"Don't know but we should find him," Cole noted and Kai added, "yha I'd hate to see what could happen if one of these bad things swayed his mind or the Blight has claimed him." The two began to retrace their steps hoping Zane was maybe waiting somewhere for them but that task proved harder than it appeared.
"Are some of these shelves somehow moving? I could have sworn we came through here earlier," Kai noted confused as they came to a dead end.
"Don't know, this place is seeming more and more like a maze. Too bad we can't read these folks strange writing, that could make it easier," Cole stated looking at the symbols on the plaques on the shelves trying to remember if any of them seemed familiar. In ways they both did and didn't seem familiar. He had come to recognise the symbols as letters and Zane had shown them which letters corresponded to ones they knew to help them read the symbols but he still couldn't understand their words and couldn't read them.
"I wonder if there is a map somewhere?" Kai noted heading off. Cole began to follow but a sudden noise made his hair stand on end and his blood run cold. It sounded like his mother calling his name! He looked around in a panic. His mother was gone; she had been for some time now. Was one of these items using her voice to try and catch his attention and if so which item and why. If that was the case it probably wasn't for anything good he thought. If not then was the Blight starting to seriously mess with his mind. Something moving out of the corner of his eye made him jump but he was relieved when he saw it was only one of these Ancestor Wing creatures. It landed atop one of the shelves and looked down at him with orange eyes. The creatures presence calmed him and he felt a warm comforting and familiar feeling from the creature.
"How did one of you get in here?" Cole wondered looking at the creature which looked back at him tilting its head.
"You haven't seen Zane have you? What was it the book said about your kind, folk believing your kind relay messages from the departed or something like that," Cole thought aloud before noticing he was now alone and lost in the maze of shelves. He began to worry. How was he going to find his way out and where were the other two? Zane hadn't gotten into something dangerous had he? The Blight hadn't claimed Zane yet had it? Without the others around Kai wasn't going to do something foolish would he? What if these items managed to sway him or the other two? The creature crawled down to sit on a shelf at his eye level and look at him. When he looked at the creature he felt his worries melt away; the creature gave him a comforting feeling and he got an odd feeling he knew this being. He remembered what the book had said about Ancestor Wings and he wondered if that belief held some truth. If it did then who was this Ancestor Wing? Was it his mother? Was that why he had heard her voice? Had it come from the creature?
"Are you here to help me? You don't happen to know how to get out of here do you? Do you know where the others went? Is that you mother?" Cole asked giving the creature a few pets. It remained silent. It looked at him for a few seconds then looked down the hall before looking back at him.
"Do you have somewhere you want to take me?" he asked the creature. It took to flight and flew lazily in circles in front of him. He had a feeling he should follow it.
"Alright I'll follow," Cole remarked as the creature began leading him...
"This will take a long time," Lloyd commented looking through the catalogue getting impatient. They didn't have time to go through the entire tome. They needed to find the cure for this Blight now before it claimed one of them.
"Maybe something else here could have the answer?" Lloyd commented moving to look at the scrolls and books on the shelves around the tome while Nya came to look through the catalogue.
"I don't know if they will and it likely will take even more time to go through it all," Jay noted going through the book Cole had taken off the shelf the one titled 'Undetermined'.
"Maybe the others will have some luck," Nya opted noting Lloyds frustration, he seemed to be getting more and more frustrated the longer he was in the vault. She and Jay were unsure if it was the Blight or the vault but something seemed off with Lloyd. He was getting very frustrated, seemed distracted and angry, very angry. He was getting mad at random objects and seemed to have a temper worse than Kai. He wasn't being himself. They had a feeling something in the vault was affecting him and they worried what it could be and what could happen if he snapped or came into contact with whatever was causing the behaviour.
"You know one of their documents states this vault sits in a pocket realm outside all the other realms with ties to the other realms even the Departed Realm. Time also passes differently in here than in the realms that's why everything looks so pristine despite having been abandoned for so long doesn't that sound cool?" Jay explained trying to see if he could improve Lloyds mood but Lloyd wasn't entirely paying attention and expressed angrily looking through the shelves, "not now Jay, we have more important things to find."
"Maybe we should make Lloyd wait outside with Barbas and Kamdida," Nya whispered and Jay quietly added holding the book up so Lloyd could not read his lips, "I would have to agree but do you wanna tell him."
"Yha with his attitude rate now I wouldn't dare say anything," Nya noted going through the catalogue while Jay continued looking through the book not wanting to draw Lloyds strange wrath.
"Hey look at this," Jay noted showing Nya a page on the Tea pot of Tyrahn, "looks like they planned on adding it to the collection here." The two were intrigued and began to reminisce on the events that occurred around the item talking quietly so Lloyd couldn't hear them.
"Maybe when this is over we could do their job for them and see that it gets added to the collection here," Nya noted.
"I have some bad news," Kai stated coming up to them as he left the shelved area, "we lost Zane and I thought Cole was following me but he is now lost too."
"Shhh... we don't want Lloyd to hear that," Jay warned and Kai inquired, "why?"
"We think something in here is messing with his mind. He's not himself. He's become very angry," Nya responded.
"You do realise he's not here right?" Kai noted and the two expressed turning to look, "What?!" Sure enough Lloyd was nowhere to be found.
"This isn't good!" Nya exclaimed and Jay worried, "where did he go?"
"I don't know but we should stick together. We don't need anyone else getting lost," Kai noted.
"We should find Zane and Cole to help us find Lloyd," Nya offered and they all agreed.
"Hopefully none of them have gotten into trouble," Jay hoped...
As Zane followed the Ancestor Wing he tried to ration how this creature could be linked and relay messages from the Departed Realm. Was such a thing really possible or was it just a myth brought on by coincidences? Was it something to do with the vault or could it happen all over the realm? Were spirits able to possess or control in some way the creatures or was it they could enter this realm but only through the form of an Ancestor Wing? Could they take other forms? Was this ability unique to this realm or did all realms have such a trait? He had heard of similar beliefs about some song birds in Ninjago as the people here had for these creatures but he had never seen any proof of it, then again he had never looked for any proof. He just accepted them as beliefs some people had. He had seen things before that defied logic, things he could not work out no matter how hard he tried leaving him to conclude that they simply were not meant to be explained or understood. Maybe this was one of them and he just had to accept it for what it was.
The pale Ancestor Wing led Zane down a few corridors before coming to rest on the top of a shelf. Zane looked around. It hadn't led him out of the maze of shelves but he couldn't see exactly what it had led him here for. The creature just sat atop the shelf looking down at him. He had a strong feeling it wanted to show him something here.
"Why have you brought me here?" Zane wondered looking over the items on the shelves. Even though he knew he shouldn't he picked up a few of them to look them over. A few of the items he could feel having an effect on him, a bad effect, and he struggled to put some of these items back strongly feeling their dark influence. He could feel a pull to use the items but he managed to let them go feeling disturbed by the feelings the items were giving. One item finally caught his eye. It was partially hidden between a plain counter shaded urn and a scroll. It was a red diamond shaped gem, a red diamond. It looked like it belonged to an amulet. He pulled it out and looked over it. He felt like he recognised it but he was sure he had never seen it before. It resembled the blades of the Red Diamond Shurikan in make and he was not getting any bad feelings from it. Instead it felt right to be holding it. He looked over it trying to remember where he had seen it before. When it came to him he was disturbed. It was the gem the Stag in his dreams had as a center piece of his necklace. It spooked him to be holding the item he had dreamt of but he was confused. Where was the rest of the necklace? Looking at the shelves he couldn't see it.
"Maybe the rest of this is held somewhere else," Zane theorized looking up at the creature. When he looked at it the creature took off and Zane followed thinking it was going to lead him somewhere, maybe to the missing piece of the necklace. He brought the gem with him feeling it was important to have it...
"Are you really living or are you something else? A spirit maybe, if the whole link to the Departed Realm is true how does it work? Are you like a messenger or are you really the spirit of someone possessing or taking the form of that creature?" Cole asked the creature as it led him down a few of the corridors. When it landed on a shelf he stopped and looked around. He was still somewhere in the maze of shelves.
"I'm guessing you're not leading me out but to something else," Cole mentioned looking over the shelves, "what is it you want me to see?" He was very hesitant to touch the items on the shelves but he had to move a few to get a better look at some of the items. He tried to ignore any feelings he got from the items but one item made his skin crawl and he had to back away before going back to looking. As he searched one item caught his attention, hidden under a plain worn cloth was a golden necklace with a large clasp that likely held a gem at one point but there was no gem there now. The item looked to be made of gold but when he picked it up he had the feeling it wasn't made with gold. It was heavy like gold but when he tried bending it he found it was stronger than steel and didn't bend or stress. As he was looking at the item he found it looked very familiar. Even though he was pretty sure he had never seen it before he felt like he had. When it came to him he felt a shiver go down his spine. The Stag had been wearing it in his dream! There was one thing missing however, the gem in the center.
"There was a gem in this where is it?" he noted looking over the shelf. He couldn't see anything that resembled the gem. The creature landing on his arm caught his attention. It stayed there a few seconds allowing him to pet it before taking off again. Feeling this necklace might be important and the creature might be leading him to the missing piece Cole followed it bringing the necklace with him...
He could feel something messing with him. Ever since Lloyd had entered the vault he felt agitated. He felt like something was calling to him and he had to find it; the longer he stayed the stronger this call was getting and the more it was driving him crazy. Having found nothing in the book and feeling too agitated to continue looking through the book he had wandered off to try and find what was calling to him. As he wandered through the shelves trying to find what was calling him he felt very unnerved. He could feel the dark energies of some of the items and it scared him to be anywhere near them. He didn't want to touch the wrong thing and get corrupted by whatever was here. As he got closer to whatever seemed to be calling him the feeling it was giving him felt stronger telling him he was headed in the right direction.
He stopped in front of a shelf that he felt the feeling he was getting was strongest and looked over it. He didn't want to touch anything on the shelf and stood as far away as he could from it feeling nervous of whatever was on it calling to him. What was it? What did it want? Why was it calling to him? Could the others feel it or was it just him? He had seen no indication the others were sensing it and he had a feeling it was only him this item was calling too. Somehow he felt it was nothing good calling him but he was curious to know what was calling him and why.
As he looked over the shelf whatever was calling to him was making him more nervous and he found himself unconsciously walking backwards till he bumped into the shelf behind him. When he bumped into the shelf he jumped surprised as something dark shooting off the shelf scared him. He stood frozen in fear looking for whatever had shot off the shelf afraid of what it could be. He was relieved yet confused when he saw a dark colored Ancestor Wing flying around in the corridor. It came to land on the shelf he had been looking over and looked at him with red eyes tilting its head as if curious. The creatures presence had a calming effect on him. He felt an air of familiarity to the creature and it made him feel safe and calm. He remembered what the book had said about these creatures.
"You're not what you appear to be are you? Are you someone trying to tell or show me something? Is that you father? Mother? Are you this Dragon Master? Are you Whetu, Astara?" Lloyd asked the creature as it looked at him, "if you have something to show me I'm listening." The creature crawled over the shelf to a cloth on the middle shelf. The cloth was plain looking, nothing special. The creature pulled the cloth to uncover a scroll, one of these Ancestor Scrolls like what they had used to get to this realm was hidden underneath. There was something off about this scroll though. It was dark in color with glowing red runes on it. The runes resembled the scripts used by these Asher folks which were very similar to Oni symbols. He could sense this was the item that had been calling to him and he was scared. It didn't look like the item meant anything good but he was curious to know what it was. It had a paper tag strung on it. Maybe if he could see what the item was called he could look it up in the catalogue. When he looked at the tag all it said was: designation unknown possibly corrupted, very dangerous!
That didn't make him feel better about the item and the lack of information didn't help. He felt compelled to get a better look at the scroll; maybe that could help him identify it in the catalogue. Maybe a quick peek wouldn't hurt. He slowly reached out and pulled the scroll off the shelf. It made his skin crawl just to be holding it and he didn't like the dark energies he could feel coming from it. The Ancestor Wing just watched him. He looked over the scroll hesitating to open it. He looked at the Ancestor Wing which looked him in the eyes.
"Should I risk opening this?" he asked the creature. As he looked into the creatures eyes he got the feeling he should open the scroll. He took a deep breath pausing before opening the scroll to see what it held...
"Where did you last see them?" Nya inquired as they walked through the shelves.
"Well that's hard to tell. I can't tell when we lost Zane and I last saw Cole somewhere near I think here. This place is so confusing and hard to navigate," Kai noted bringing them to the dead end where he had last seen Cole. No one was there.
"It's like a maze in here, how are we going to find them? How do we stop ourselves from getting lost?" Jay expressed.
"Maybe there is a map in that section by the entrance that could help," Kai offered and Nya added, "Maybe; we could see or maybe we could get lucky and they found their way back there." They began to head back keeping an eye out for the other three. As they headed back they came across Cole who was looking around confused holding some sort of amulet. He looked to be looking for something.
"Where'd you go? First we lost Zane then one moment you were following behind me the next I was alone in this creepy place with no clue where either of you went!" Kai fretted and Cole replied showing them the necklace, "I thought I heard my mother's voice, it came from one of those Ancestor Wings which led me to this."
"Have you gone crazy?! Hearing voices, seeing a creature and touching the items from here?!" Jay fretted and Cole replied looking at the necklace, "it feels safe not evil."
"How do you know? How are we even sure we're talking to our friend and not some sort of corrupted evil version of yourself," Jay claimed.
"He looks fine Jay," Nya noted and Jay countered, "How do we know that?"
"I don't think we have time for this. We still have to find Zane and now Lloyd too," Kai expressed.
"You're right brother. By any chance you haven't come across either of them have you Cole?" Nya wondered.
"No has Lloyd wandered off now too?" Cole asked not liking the sound of Nyas question.
"Yha he wandered off now we can't find him and we still haven't seen any trance of Zane," Kai noted looking around. Noticing something behind Jay Kai suddenly yanked Jay out of the middle of the corridor and into the shelves seconds before something shot through where Jay had just been standing. What shot past them landed several feet away and caused a dark ice to spread on the ground where it had hit.
"What was that?!" Cole commented as they turned to see where the icy blast had come from.
“Oh no!” Nya exclaimed when they saw where the blast had come from. Zane was standing several feet away down the corridor looking at them. It was quickly apparent that something was terribly wrong with him. He was mad a very dark mad and the Blights markings were surrounded by a dark greyish color. While his eyes were still an icy blue color there was a reddish iridescence to them and patches of his skin and clothes had started gaining what looked like a sickly dark frosted flesh appearance. He was holding a strange sword they had not seen before. It was golden with inlaid writing on the blade and a pummel that bore a sun like design that emitted a pale golden glow from a gem at its center.
"The Blight it's claimed him!" Jay panicked before Zane rushed at them with the sword swinging it to try and hit one of them speaking something in the Ashers tongue at them. As he talked they noted his voice was starting to sound off and he had grown fangs which he wasn’t afraid to try to bite them with.
"Zane stop this isn't you," Nya stated as she, Jay and Kai tried to restrain him while Cole tried to take the sword from him. The Blight had made him incredibly strong and Zane broke free of them with little effort knocking them all back with a cold blast of energy from himself.
"Zane stop this," Cole expressed as Zane knocked over Nya and froze her arms and legs to the floor before shoving Cole into the shelf and freezing him to it. The dark ice he was creating was unnaturally strong and not even Cole could break free of it.
"Why are you trying to talk to him he's nothing but a Blight fuelled monster now!" Jay exclaimed trying to get away but Zane knocked him over with an icy blast which froze him face down on the floor when he landed.
"His eyes are still not totally red yet. There's a chance we can bring him back," Nya stated trying to break free of the ice Kai coming over to use his powers to help free her. With the others immobilized Zane turned his attentions to Kai who had managed to free his sisters one arm and was working on the other. The ice was taking much more heat than usual ice to melt.
"Give up fetchers you have lost. Give in to my master's gift and he will be merciful to you," Zane declared his voice sounding terribly off, evil and dark.
"Zane stop this isn't you! Dagon's not your master and you're not a monster!" Cole expressed trying to use his lava arms to break free of the dark ice trapping him to the shelf with little success.
"The one you knew as Zane is gone, I am now a loyal servant to the dark lord Dagon as you should become," Zane declared launching an attack on Kai who was the only one not trapped by dark ice. Kai had to stop trying to free his sister and dodge attacks as Zane attempted to slash at him with the strange sword.
"Come back to us Zane before it's too late," Nya stated trying to continue breaking herself free and Jay expressed trying to break free of the ice trapping him by squirming and using his powers with little success, "fight this Zane, don't let the Blight claim you and turn you into a daemon!" Zane seemed to not be hearing them as he attacked Kai. Zane managed to grab hold of Kai with his one hand and hold him up pinned against a shelf by the front of his shirt preparing to slash at Kai with the sword.
"Come on Zane you're our brother not Dagons slave! I know you're still in there. This isn't you and you know it," Kai declared terrified looking into Zanes eyes as dark ice began to build on his skin and clothes from Zanes touch.
"You can fight it Zane don't let the Blight change you," Nya expressed managing to get her other arm free and trying to free her legs to no effect and Jay added still having no success in escaping, "yha we're here for you buddy come on fight it." Zane looked into Kais eyes and hesitated with his blow. For a second the red iridescence disappeared before Zane shook his head and it returned. He let Kai go and took a few steps back seeming to be confused. Kai remained with his back against the shelf scared Zane was going to continue to attack.
"That's it Zane fight this, you can do it. We're going to help you get through this that's what families are for," Cole remarked his struggling in the ice starting to leave cracks in it.
“That’s right and your apart of our family no matter what. I… we know you’re strong enough to fight this curse. Whatever it’s doing to you fight it; don’t let the darkness consume you,” Kai remarked as Zane closed his eyes and put his hands on the side of his head as he seemed to be fighting the Blights hold on him.
“If you let this thing consume you then we can’t help you; you’ll be lost to everyone forever. We don’t want to lose you,” Cole encouraged still trying to break free. They could see Zane was still fighting the Blights hold and the others offered encouraging words to him to help him fight the curse. The darkening around the Blights markings slowly vanished as they talked to him but the corrupted patches of his body and the fangs remained. When he opened his eyes the iridescence was gone and he looked disturbed. He looked at the others before noting the sword in his hand becoming startled and shaken by its presence.
"I... I could not control myself... the Blight... it wanted me to destroy you... I had no control..." Zane mumbled his voice back to normal as he tossed the sword to the ground and backed away from it. He was shaken and disturbed about what he had nearly done to the others.
“It’s okay we know you had no control,” Kai comforted him and Cole declared managing to finally break his top half free of the ice, “don’t worry we’re going to help you fight this and we won’t let it claim you. You’re not alone in this. You shouldn’t feel bad about what you were doing. It was the Blight not you doing it besides no one got hurt…”
"Well I'm pretty sure Jay wet his pants but no real harm done," Kai remarked trying to lighten Zanes mood to Jays dislike. Zane was a little amused by the comment but still seemed upset.
"Instead of commenting about the condition of my pants why don't you help me out of here!" Jay grumbled offended by the comment still trying to break free of the ice that pinned him face down to the floor with no success.
"Give me a minute," Kai stated coming over to free the others while Zane stood upset by the shelf. They all noticed he seemed to be making a clenching motion every now and then with his hands like he wanted to crush or strangle something and tried not to react to it though Jay put himself behind Nya afraid to get close to Zane. They didn't wish to mention his actions believing he was not fully aware he was doing it. They had a feeling the Blight was making him do it, part of the final rage state.
"It's okay Zane we know you didn't mean to do it. Don't worry we're going to fix this," Cole stated as they came to comfort Zane once they were all free of the corrupted ice.
"What happened to you? Where did you go? Me and Cole thought you were with us then we turn around and you were gone? Did something sway you?" Kai wondered.
"Kind of, there was... it is strange but I saw an Ancestor Wing in here. It lead me to a strange gem," Zane began looking around trying to remember what he had done with the gem. After a seconds thought he remembered he had put it inside himself so he wouldn't lose it.
"You stuck that inside yourself?! No wonder you went psycho crazy! How do you know what that thing does? Why would you put that inside yourself let alone touch it?!" Jay yelled as Zane took it out of a hatch in his chest by his heart.
"I do not think this is evil... for some reason I get this strange feeling we need this," Zane stated looking over the gem and Cole noted pulling out the amulet he had found, "hey I've seen that before! In a dream it was attached to this!"
"You have seen it too!" Zane expressed surprised when he saw the amulets base.
"Yha in a dream, an Ancestor Wing also led me to this," Cole remarked while Nya picked up the sword Zane had been wielding and looked it over. Other than the inlaid words which she could not recognize and its unique design there was no means of identifying it; there was no tag on the item.
"Where did you find this sword?" Nya wondered and Jay panicked, "don't pick that up who knows what it will do!"
"I don't think it's dangerous... at least it doesn't feel evil," Nya noted and Jay countered, "That thing could have been what made Zane snap!"
“No it was not. My actions were from the Blight; even now I can feel it trying to control me again. I remember finding the gem then following the Ancestor Wing. I thought it was going to lead me to the other part of the amulet or out of this maze… I cannot recall when exactly since the whole episode is rather foggy but the Blight took hold. I could not fight it. I remember wandering around the shelves looking for you… to harm you… that is what the Blight wanted. I picked the sword off a shelf; I cannot recall which one though. I do not know why I picked it up?” Zane recalled. He was still appearing to be feeling down but the others could see his mood did appear to be lifting now that he was with the rest of them, his family.
"I don't know why but I'm getting a strong feeling from that sword like we're supposed to have it...is that bad?" Kai commented looking at the sword and Cole agreed, "I don't know but I'd have to agree something does seem odd with that sword. It doesn't really feel bad at least not evil bad."
"Maybe we should look up what this thing is in that catalogue," Nya declared. All but Jay who thought they should just leave it on a shelf and never think of it agreed. They began to head back to the entrance. As they headed back it took Zane a few minutes to realise someone was missing. With the Blight messing with and trying to control him he had not been aware of it at first despite having a sense that something was missing.
"Where is Lloyd?" he commented as they approached the front of the vault.
"Oh yha he wandered off without any of us knowing and we had gone looking for him along with you and Cole," Kai recalled and Jay stated, "Yha, with Zane's psycho phase I guess we forgot we were looking for him."
"I don't think any of us should be alone. We'll leave the items by the catalogue and we'll go look for him together. From now on we should stay together and keep a close eye on each other," Nya declared and they were all in agreement. As they reached the catalogue and placed the sword, gem and amulet on it a commotion outside the vault caught their attention. It sounded like fighting.
"Oh great what now!" Jay moaned.
"Don't know but we should probably see what it is," Kai stated. They all agreed. When they got out of the vault they were confused and worried over what they saw. Lloyd was fighting Barbas and Kamdida. Lloyd looked to have been corrupted by something. They had good reason to believe it wasn't the Blight causing his behaviour. His arms had darkened and the Blights markings seemed brighter and were more purple tinted than red. His eyes were red and the area around his eyes had darkened. Patches of his skin were starting to look like that of these Asher folks. He didn't look like how Zane had looked while under the Blights control. This was something else even though it was equally dark. As he fought they noticed Lloyd was holding tightly something in his one hand. It looked to possibly be a scroll; possibly one of these Ancestor Scrolls. Interestingly despite Lloyd trying to hurt them Kamdida and Barbas looked like they were not trying to harm Lloyd just restrain him or take whatever he was holding from his hand. By the way they had reacted to him before they were sure the fabricants would have tried to kill or at least seriously harm Lloyd if something went wrong like this. It was a relief that they were not trying to kill Lloyd, but that was of little comfort to them. They had to do something to break whatever had overcome him before something bad could happen.
"Well we found Lloyd," Jay nervously chuckled.
"Lloyd what are you doing?" Kai asked startled and Jay panicked, "Isn't it obvious. Something from the vault turned him evil!" When they called out to him Lloyd didn't respond only saying something in a strange language which sounded like the Ashers tongue at the fabricants his voice sounding off.
"Take the scroll from his hand!" Barbas yelled at them knocking Lloyd over with a blast of icy wind and Kamdida landed atop him pinning him to the ground clamping her jaws around his arm which held the scroll. Her metal serrated beak drew blood and she looked to have either broken or dislocated Lloyds arm or shoulder as she restrained him. Lloyd was trying to break free seeming to be oblivious to whatever pain Kamdida was causing. She held Lloyds arm out for one of them to take the scroll as Barbas came to help restrain Lloyd but they were too scared having seen what it had done with Lloyd to get close. None of them wanted that to happen to them but they knew they had to get the item away from Lloyd.
"You do it, you're the strongest!" Jay proclaimed pushing Cole closer to Lloyd. Zane looked like he was going to help but Nya stopped him saying, "no given your current condition I think it would be a very bad idea for you to touch or even get close to that item!"
"Yha you've already gone psycho once and are still borderline going crazy and attack everyone we don't need anything driving you further over the edge," Kai noted. Cole didn't want to get close or touch the item Lloyd had but he knew it had to be done and they were probably right. He was probably the best one for the task at that moment. As quickly as he could he pried Lloyds hand open and took the scroll from his hand. As he grabbed the scroll he got a very unnerving and dark feeling from the item which sent shivers down his spine and gave him goosebumps. Once he had the item free of Lloyds hands he quickly threw it a few feet away towards the wall wanting to get the item as far away from himself as possible. The moment the item was removed from his hand Lloyd returned to normal, the scrolls corruption and the signs of its corruption vanishing. As Lloyd came back to his senses he was left very confused and in pain. Kamdida and Barbas let Lloyd go and moved to sit by the top of the stairs while the ninja came to help Lloyd back onto his feet.
"What? How did I get out here? What's going on?" Lloyd wondered as Cole and Zane helped him up while Nya checked him over. He had bite wounds which luckily didn't look too bad on his one arm and luckily his arm was only dislocated at the shoulder and not broken. Zane and Nya held him still while Cole fixed his dislocated arm pushing his shoulder back in place.
"You touched that thing and went crazy!" Jay explained pointing at the scroll in a panic and Kai added, "you can feel the evil coming off it! Why would you want to touch it?"
"I could feel it calling to me and I had to see what it was," Lloyd admitted embarrassed about what had occurred.
"What is it? Is it one of those weird scroll things?" Cole asked as they looked at the scroll. It was giving them all a dark unnerving feeling, a feeling like the one they got from the Stag!
"It is an Ancestor Scroll but that one has been corrupted, as if those things were not dangerous enough. That one was recovered from an Ashers Stronghold long ago. Who knows what dark deeds they planned to use it for and what darkness they imbued it with," Barbas hissed at the item.
"We warned you about items like this," Kamdida growled. The two fabricants were sitting hunched over like vultures looking angrily at the ninja.
"I know I'm sorry. An ancestor Wing showed it to me so I thought it was important," Lloyd apologised regretting what he had done. At the mention of Ancestor Wing the fabricants changed their expressions from angry to one of confusion as the ninja talked to each other.
"You saw one too; me and Zane saw one of those Ancestor Wing creatures as well. They showed us something we had both seen in a dream. We think it might be important," Cole noted and Kai stated sounding like he was going to tease them, "You had the same dream?"
"No different dreams. I can't say for Zane but in mine the Stag wore the necklace," Cole explained and Jay insisted, "no offense but if the Stag was wearing it then maybe that item is a bad one and should be left in the vault. Maybe that is why the Stag is here, he wants that necklace."
"Speaking of bad items we should get that scroll back in the vault before it can do any damage," Nya stressed. They were all in agreement but with the feelings they had gotten and seeing what it had done to Lloyd none of them desired to get close to the item.
"How exactly do you think we should do that? I am not going to touch it again!" Cole asserted. They began going over possible ideas most involving using a stick to whack it or roll it into the vault. Zane didn't join in their conversation; he could feel the scroll calling to him. He wanted to ignore it but he found he couldn't. If it wasn't for the Blight he thought he might be able to resist the item but he had a feeling even without the Blight he would still be strongly pulled to the item. The energy it was giving off was very strong and he had a feeling this thing wanted something. He looked at the fabricants and could see they were getting the same feeling he was by the way they stared at it. The others seemed oblivious to the items pull. Zane moved a little closer to it having trouble resisting the items pull. The others were quick to notice Zanes behaviour and worried. They feared in his state he was weakened to the items dark energy and was going to use it. Their worry turned to fear when Zane didn't respond to them. To Zane their voices sounded muffled as a familiar female voice came to him telling him to 'freeze the scroll'. Following the voices orders he did as it said and began to hit it with his powers. The fabricants joined in spraying the scroll with a frosty breath confusing everyone else. They had no clue what had gotten into the three and were scared of what was going on. As the ice hit the scroll it quickly melted and steamed but they kept hitting it determined to freeze it. Slowly some ice seemed to start sticking to the item.
"Zane what are you doing? What's gotten into you?" Lloyd asked trying to get Zanes attention gently pulling on his arm but Zane didn't move continuing to hit the scroll with a blast of ice. Zane felt it had to be done; they had to freeze the scroll even though he could not tell why it had to be done. Ice began to build up on the scroll as it began to freeze. Slowly it became entombed in ice. The next thing they knew it appeared like the scroll had blown up and they were all blinded by a bright light emanating from where the scroll had sat...
Notes:
The vault is more than it appears. Her sacrifice has bound Whetu to the vault hence why she is prominent in the city and wastes. The vault also while seeming to occupy this realm is in fact in a pocket realm all its own and has ties to other realms. Time doesn’t work the same in the vault like in the realms either.
While in the vault Cole, Zane and Lloyd see an Ancestor Wing which is unique in appearance for each of them. The creatures are a spiritual entity of someone they knew having manifested to guide them. The creatures are the energy of an individual even those who are departed given a physical form. For Cole it is his Mother, for Zane it is his father/creator and for Lloyd it is his father; not just the departed can commune through Ancestor Wings, for those who know how and have the power they can project themselves through the creatures to commune with.
If have any questions go ahead and ask I do not bite. I will try to answer them, I will however not give away spoilers.
Chapter 50: Tale of the Stag
Summary:
Will the knights be able to save Balmora let alone themselves and will we find where the Stag come from?
Notes:
Pictures relating to story can be found here: https://www.deviantart.com/nerdy-hyena/gallery/72478681/story-project
They are really good and help to visually flush out several aspects of the story including environments, characters, outfits, locations, creatures and other aspects often important ones in the story. All images I post in my work can be found there if you want a better look at them. Defiantly make sure to check them out.Also if you need a refresher on creatures, flora or aspects of the environment you can check out the second chapter in this work titled 'Keikiarys Guide to the Ash Wastes'. It includes short descriptions and pictures of these things.
Parts of this section are subject to change as the prequel story is written to improve story continuity.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
The knights had locked Aaron up in a metal animal cage to deal with him later. He was clearly angry at them cursing largely in the Ashers language at them and trying to break free. Things were too hectic and they felt if they were going to have to end his life they would do it in a more respectful environment. They also knew since he was becoming an Ash Ghoul ending his curse was not going to be easy. Like his new masters he would have to be destroyed by ice or a frost based magic. Even then they worried as long as the Ashers were present they would resurrect what remained of him as an Ash Spawn just to torture them. They didn’t want that to happen to him. What he was going through was bad enough; add on that possibility and it was a fate far worse than death. They also had a hope that if he did become an Ash Ghoul then maybe Merlok could find a way to undo what they had done to him. They also wondered even though Merlok thought it highly unlikely if maybe the transformation into a ghoul might have cured his Blight. Merlok was not entirely sure it would work like that or that they could return Aaron to normal but even if there was a small chance to save him they were willing to give it a try. They weren’t going to give up on their brother just yet.
The knights along with Misako and Jestro were still pinned with their backs against the Fortrex fighting off the dark forces. The knights were trying to clear enough of the enemy away from the Fortrex so they could get the drawbridge down and get on board. The cage with Aaron they had put behind them to keep him contained and the Ashers from getting close to release him. It had been a struggle just to get him in the cage. From how he was acting they were pretty sure even without his weapons they would not be able to handle or restrain him if he did get loose. They had taken his bow and shield from him and given them to Misako. She was not very good with ranged weapons but was trying her best to aid in the battle with it. Along with the crossbow she was using Aarons shield to help protect herself. Aaron kept trying to break free of the cage behind them angrily cursing in the Ashers language, growling like an animal, throwing himself into the bars and trying to push the bars out of the cage. He was even biting the bars from time to time in frustration that he couldn’t get out. They could see he was steadily turning into an Ash Ghoul. The Blights markings were fading being replaced by greyed un-dead looking skin which was steadily covering more parts of his body, the area around his eyes no longer had markings instead having darkened while his eyes remained a bright fiery glowing red and they could swear it looked like he was starting to grow claws. Even his armour started to look heavily worn and greyed in color. Parts of his body mainly his forearms had started to develop a faint fiery glowing cracked pattern on the skin and they had noticed he seemed to be getting stronger. He was starting to dent and bend the bars of the cage they had put him in. They were hoping they could get into the Fortrex and lock him up more securely in a containment field or find some way to sedate him before he could break free.
The knights and the town guard were planning to use the Fortrex and the Ash Strider which the town guards along with Tafari were working to free and get aboard to get as many of the people in town on board both ships to try and get them to safety. They were hoping to bring the ships to the edges of town where others were working to bring as many folk they could rescue to be picked up. It was clear they were going to lose this battle. There was too many of the Ashers and their forces; they were surrounded and getting tired and weaker with every passing minute. They had been in battle for over an hour, possibly two. It was hard to tell. The best they could do now was rescue as many as they could and fall back. They were not fond of the idea but they felt there was only one place they could fall back to, the Forbidden City in the heart of the Stags territory. They knew the Stag would not be pleased by that but they were willing to deal with him in order to get away from these monsters. Even if they couldn’t stay there it would at least give them a chance to recuperate and plan out what they could do next.
To make the fighting worse shortly after the fight had started a storm had broke dumping rain over the area. The rain was having little effect on the fires which had gotten out of control and the rain didn’t seem to have much of an effect on the Ashers. The ash beneath their feet had turned into a slippery and sticky sludge from the rain making movement harder and the smoke and mist caused by the rain interacting with the fires and the Ashers bodies was making visibility poor and breathing unpleasant.
“I don’t think we’re going to make it!” Macy expressed as she and Misako fought side by side some of the battle spawn. Though they didn’t shape shift like the Ash Spawn, were solid in make and often wore tarnished armour they were much tougher and were better fighters along with having a nasty rotting burning smell to them.
“We have to at least try to continue; a knight never yields!” Clay declared as he and Jestro kept trying to keep the enemy from reaching the cage they had put Aaron in. Some of the Ashers were clearly trying to release Aaron so he could join them in the fight.
“There’s too many,” Axl stated trying to push back a Vulcaroth that was attempting to break them up.
“I think we should face it, we can’t win this one. I don’t think we will even be able to get out of here!” Lance complained running through some of the battle spawn with his lance only to find his weapon just went straight through them and the spawn didn’t seem to care or even acknowledge they had been pierced creeping him out.
“We must try,” Clay expressed. They could all feel they had hit their limit and likely wouldn’t last much longer. The constructs while being a welcome addition to their aid were fairing no better than them. They were struggling alongside guards and towns folk to fight the forces. Their allies had run out of things to freeze the Ashers forces with and fires were spreading through the town and nearby areas trapping and cutting off people and the allied forces.
While they fought unaware to them the cage holding Aaron disintegrated setting him free. Once freed Aaron went straight for Clay who surprised that Aaron was loose looked around for what had disintegrated the cage while defending himself from Aaron. He was pretty sure it had been a sorcerer that set Aaron free. Aaron attempted to choke Clay who struggled along with Jestro to keep Aarons hands away from his neck. His curse was making Aaron incredibly strong.
“Give in knights and join my master Dagons service. If you give in freely he will show you mercy,” Aaron growled his voice sounding dark and off. While Clay and Jestro fought Aaron trying to restrain him the others continued to try and drive the Ashers and their forces far enough away for them to get onto the Fortrex. While trying to restrain him Jestro went to hit Aaron with his staff to try and knock Aaron out but Clay stopped him.
“No don’t hit him. If he’s becoming an Ash Ghoul than he will be harmed or worse by our frost and ice Nexo Powers like the rest of these monsters,” Clay stated and Jestro inquired, “then how do we stop him?”
“The cage idea obviously didn’t work,” Macy noted and Axl stated, “we’re probably going to need something stronger and Asher resistant to hold him.”
“If we can get him onto the Fortrex we could put him into a containment field,” Robin offered from atop the Fortrex where he was using the ballista on its top to shoot back at some of their opponents alongside Merlok who was perched on the edge above the drawbridge using his magic and staff to aid in the combat from above trying to keep the airborne enemies at bay while trying to aid in clearing the area below.
“That could work, the troubles going to be getting him inside,” Clay stated struggling to keep Aaron back even with Jestro working hard to try and pull Aaron back.
“How is he this strong?! He’s got to have the strength of a mammoth!” Jestro proclaimed wrapping his arms around Aarons body to try and pull him back from Clay. He couldn’t pull him back and instead just ended up catching Aarons attention. Aaron broke away from Clay letting him have a moment to recuperate as he turned his attention to Jestro. Aaron grabbed Jestro and threw him as if he weighed nothing into Macy before going back to attacking Clay. Seeing they were in trouble Robo-bill Merlok hopped off the top of the Fortrex in an attempt to aid them. He landed on Aarons back with a mild frost powered magical impact surprising and stunning Aaron. While Aaron was stunned Clay took a few steps back to recompose himself as Merlok jumped off Aaron and put himself between Aaron and Clay.
“We need to get him into the Fortrex and contained to keep them from releasing him again till we can find a way to undo what has been done to him. If we use some well timed mild frost based Nexo Powers we might be able to weaken and restrain him long enough to get him inside and contained without hurting him,” Merlok proclaimed and Macy stated, “that’s going to be easier said than done…”
“Especially with less of you fighting for your side,” Aaron proclaimed a dark smile on his face before he said something in the Ashers language and pointed at Jestro hitting him with a blast of energy. The energy corrupted Jestro turning his eyes reddish and giving him the same features Aaron had starting to turn Jestro into an Ash Ghoul as well.
“Who’s ready for the sting next?” Aaron boasted as the corrupted Jestro now turned on Clay his weapon losing their Nexo power and developing a burning power. Aaron went to turn Macy into an Ash Ghoul but she managed to dodge his blast protecting herself with her shield. The Nexo Power they were using helped block the spell preventing it from corrupting her.
“He can turn us into Ash Ghouls! How can he do that?!” Axl exclaimed shocked as Aaron tried to hit Clay who was too busy struggling against Jestro to defend himself with the spell to corrupt him. Thinking quickly Misako put herself between Clay and Aaron and used Aarons shield to block the spell. Her actions angered Aaron who noticed she was using his shield and was holding his weapon. He decided to try and reclaim them.
“I believe the transformation they have done to him has allowed him to tap into the powers of these Ashers including some of the skills of the Asher Sorcerers,” Merlok deduced trying to help Clay take down and restrain Jestro while Aaron went to try and wrestle his weapon away from Misako. He managed to grab hold of the weapon but Misako kept her hold of it to try and keep him from getting hold of the weapon. In the struggle over the weapon her fingers slipped on the trigger and hit Aaron with one of his bolts in the left shoulder knocking him back a couple feet. He landed on his back a few feet away and quickly pulled the bolt out clearly in pain from it. He tried to get up but fell back to his knees weakened. Because he was now becoming one of these Ashers monsters the material the bolts were made of and the potion his bolts injected had an effect on him. The burning markings on his skin and his eyes began to dim, he was visibly weak and ice was starting to form on his skin.
“No we can’t let him freeze or we’ll lose him forever!” Clay proclaimed and Misako stated upset and shaken that she had shot him, “I’m sorry I didn’t mean to shoot him!”
“It’s okay you didn’t mean too it was an accident,” Macy comforted her.
“This might prove useful. Clay quickly with me hit him with the powers of flame and lava that will combat the poisons of his bolt and stabilize him. The poison will have weakened him enough for us to easily get him restrained,” Merlok declared. Macy took over fighting Jestro so Clay could help Merlok who hopped onto Aarons back to use a Nexo power on him. After Clay and Merlok hit Aaron with a warming power the ice stopped building on his skin and the ice that had developed melted. The glow from the markings and his eyes didn’t return. He was still clearly weak and unaware of what was occurring due to the weakening caused by the poison but he seemed stable and Merlok believed he would survive.
“That should do now let us get him and Jestro aboard the Fortrex and put into containment,” Merlok proclaimed.
“There’s still too many enemies around the Fortrex,” Axl noted and Ava came through their communicators as Clay helped the weakened Aaron to his feet and helped support him, “hold on I have someone to help with that. Get close to the ship and watch out!” They did as she said as the Fear-bricant approached the ship. It gave a roar before rushing in to smash the enemies away with a swing of its head clearing them some space. It attacked any of the Ashers or their allies that got close keeping most of the enemies at a distance allowing them to put the Fortrexs drawbridge down and start to get inside. Misako headed inside followed by Merlok. The two helped keep back any enemy that got past the Fear-bricant with their ranged attacks while Axl got a hold of Jestro and carried him despite his protests into the Fortrex while Macy and Lance helped the Fear-bricant hold back their enemies till the others got onboard. Clay began helping Aaron to the Fortrex. As he approached the drawbridge he felt something burning wrap around his one leg. Looking down he was shocked to see burning roots coming out of the ground to wrap around his feet. The others soon found these vines wrapping around their legs and those inside the Fortrex were grabbed and dragged out by the same vines. Some of these vines were even wrapping themselves onto parts of the Fortrex to prevent it from moving. The Fear-bricant was caught as stone arches suddenly formed over it and pinned it to the ground. With the fabricant restrained the Ash Crawler slunk over to it and began trying to break into the fabricants metal parts to try and destroy it from the inside while it tried to struggle to get free and fight back.
“What’s going on?” Macy demanded attempting to break the vines off herself. The vines were tough to combat and if they broke a piece off the vine would grow two pieces in its place. They all began to fight against the vines trying to break themselves free.
“These things aren’t natural,” Lance noted as Aaron wrestled himself free of Clay and attempted to wrestle Clay’s weapon and shield from him as he gained some strength back. Aaron was still terribly weak from the poison but was regaining some of his functioning the glow starting to come back to parts of his body and still under the Ashers control.
“You refused to surrender peacefully now you will pay the price,” Aaron declared.
“Aaron come on whatever they have done to you you’ve got to fight it! We need you,” Clay pleaded as he struggled with Aaron before a dark raspy growling voice declared, “plea all you want he can no longer control himself. He is now one of us as you all will be before the moons reach their pinnacle.” Looking for where the voice came from they saw standing on the top of a damaged two story home looking over them was an Asher sorcerer. The light from the fires in the dark of night lit the figure up from below making it look even more eerie and menacing than usual.
“A sorcerer! We have to take it out!” Clay exclaimed and Macy objected, “how? Aaron’s the only one of us who can wield a ranged weapon good enough to hit it and he’s gone. Not to mention I don’t think we have the power or strength to take it out.” It looked hopeless and it seemed things were only getting worse. They continued to try fighting with even Ava and Robin being forced into direct combat as some battle spawn managed to get past the others and into the Fortrex. The two used tantos the town had given them and their junior shields to defend themselves while the Squirebots they had on board with them used any weapon they could find. They managed to trick a group of spawn into the holo-deck where they locked them in it setting the deck for the hardest training level on the coldest winter themed setting they could to keep the monsters occupied while they continued to combat any spawn that entered the ship which seemed to be drawn to try and reach the engines likely to shut down the Fortrex so they would have no way to escape. The others outside continued their struggle against the enemies and the highly restricting vines. As they continued to fight the sorcerer cast another spell at them. At first they couldn’t figure out what it had done, they couldn’t see anything. When the markings started to appear on their hands and feet they saw what it had done and were horrified. Even Robin, Ava and the Squirebots who were out of sight or at least they thought they were out of this monstrous entities sight had been cursed by the thing. Even Merlok got cursed. It had given them all the Blight! Even if they were to somehow escape the battle this monster had made sure they would still lose in the end!
“Why do you still fight when you know it is over,” the sorcerer growled at them with a sinister laugh.
“Because we will not let evil win, not without a fight; that would be dishonourable, break the knight’s code and we’d be cowards to not try everything to stop scum like you; a knight never yields even in the face of danger. Evil can only be defeated if we stand and fight against it. Even if we lose you’ll never forget that we stood in your way and challenged you,” Clay exclaimed trying to restrain Aaron who in defence and surprising Clay bit him.
“You may be a monster now but I know deep down your still a knight Aaron and this isn’t how a knights supposed to act,” Clay declared to Aaron trying to restrain him and Lance stated, “yha I don’t think he understands anymore. He’s been turned into a monster.” The sorcerer just laughed at them as they struggled to break free and fight back the Ashers forces.
“Oh we will remember you alright along with those foul dragons. We will remember you as the unintelligent swine who thought you could stand in our way. When we convert you all we will make sure your transformations are the most painful and cruel of them all,” the sorcerer declared as a cool breeze came over the area. The breeze while odd offered nothing other than some reprieve from the heat caused by the fires and Ashers. The vines were starting to swamp them as their enemies closed in but they continued to fight not wanting to give up just yet. At one point as Aaron broke free of his restraint and came at him with his own sword forcing him to defend and attack with his shield Clay thought he saw something move across the sky by them. At first he brushed it off thinking he was just seeing things. Another cool breeze and a sudden odd chilling of the rain and environment followed confusing many still in the fight. A deep roaring noise drew their attention to the sky and many of them in the area stopped fighting to look up at the sky curious.
“What was that?” Lance wondered. They couldn’t make much out from the darkness, rain and smoke. Whatever it was flew over them again and this time as it did some smoke in the air was moved by the wings of whatever it was. A massive shadowy figure of what looked to be a massive dark dragon with dark aquamarine glowing parts swooped out of the darkened sky to attack the burning skeletal dragon which was perched atop the temple blasting fire over the area. The two got in a scuffle before the burning skeletal dragon was obliterated by a cold aquamarine flame looking blast from the shadowy figure which launched back into the dark clouded sky once the other dragon was obliterated. The skeletal remains of the burning dragon collapsed to the ground around the temple as charred bones emitting a greenish mist from the blast that had destroyed it. They could hear folk questioning what they were seeing as the creature flew overhead surveying the area. Some were thinking the Ashers had created an Ash Spawn in the form of a dragon or that the great darkness had returned from the dead to aid the Ashers but by the fact the Ashers seemed equally surprised by the figure as everyone else the knights had a feeling it had nothing to do with them worrying them.
“There is a cold dark energy manifesting here. I think we are in for some serious trouble,” Merlok expressed looking up for the shadowy dragon the dark vines having nearly entwined every part of his Robo-bill body and pinned it to the ground despite his attempts to chew himself free. A coolness was coming over the area and recognising it the knights got chills getting a deep feeling of fear from the temperature change. They had a feeling they knew what that had been and dreaded its sight and what its presence could mean. Even Aaron was affected by the things presence clearly showing signs the beings hold of him in the past had traumatized him. The dragon figure came to land on the roof of the tallest building in the town its tattered wings grasping the sides of the building as it perched atop helping to balance its massive body on the roof top. As it landed the heft of its landing shook ash off the building and vibrated the ground. It looked around surveying the city around and below it with its bright burning aquamarine eyes. A dark smoke was emanating from its body drifting down off its hide before tumbling off the top of the building. Several parts including the eyes, a cracking pattern on the chest, the horns and spikes of its head and what looked like ribs that poked through its concave looking chest were giving off a deep aquamarine glow. Other than that the figure was a near shapeless dark mass bearing a decaying dragon like shape, a dragon of the void. The knights knew exactly what they were looking at despite never having seen him in this form. They recognised the feelings and the dark with aquamarine accented form this being liked to use and it made their blood run cold. They had hoped to never feel or see him again.
“That is him isn’t it, the Stag!” Misako murmured feeling terrified and getting a cold horrifying feeling from the sight of the entity. She had heard and read what this entities presence was said to be like but to actually feel it and look upon him in one of his physical forms was far more terrifying than what words could portray.
“Indeed, his full form is here!” Clay moaned and Macy worried, “Why do you think he’s here?”
“Don’t know but it’s probably not to help us,” Lance mumbled as the knights remained still hoping the thing wouldn’t notice them. As they looked up at its form the knights wondered why now had he shown up and who was he siding with? Or was he out to get rid of them all, taking advantage of the chaos to wipe both groups out with one foul swoop?
“What is he looking for?” Axl wondered tightly gripping his axe terrified as the Stag kept looking over the city. It did seem he was looking for something but they had no clue what. They were hoping it wasn’t them, after all he had shown an interest in them in the past. After a quick survey over everything the Stag breathed a dark smoky aquamarine fire over a large area of the city covering many of the areas on fire. Instead of burning and adding to the fire however what he breathed when it touched surfaces left a frost and as it touched the fires they went out smothered by a deep dark cold. Any of the Ashers caught in the blast were destroyed while the people or droids felt an overwhelming cold emptiness grip their bodies. Whatever he was breathing felt like it sucked the heat out of the air around it freezing it with an unnatural cold like the void was gripping the area. The Stag then looked around; still seeming to be looking for something. Everyone remained still and quite hoping not to catch his attention. His gaze finally came to the knights who were terrified to have this entity looking at them dreading what he could want from them. He stopped to stare at them. They didn’t know why he was staring at them but it terrified them. Even many of the Ashers were terrified of his presence. The only one not terrified by the Stag was Tafari who had been fighting alongside some guards nearby trying to reach the Ash Strider.
She looked up into the figures deep eyes as he seemed to become aware she was there and finally locked onto her. Tafari got the feeling he recognised her. She had never told anyone but in her time in his city there was a few times she had been conscious enough to be aware of what went on around her. Most of it was the constructs tending to her or creatures checking her out but a few times she had felt the Stags presence and thought she had heard him talking to her. She could never remember clearly what he was saying but he had sounded confused even possibly hurt. When he talked it often sounded like he was contemplating or regretting something. She had often gotten a sense from him that something plagued him, tortured him into being the darkness he was. There had been times when he talked to her that she could have sworn she felt a hint of lightness to him. She had never told anyone this fearing that it would make others think she was under his control but she felt the Stag was not entirely what he seemed.
As she looked into his eyes she felt she understood what he wanted to do. She looked at the knights and Misako as they stared at this entity horrified. They were not going to like what was going to happen but to save themselves and the town it had to be done. They could not defeat the Ashers on their own and they were in no shape to continue fighting, at least not in their normal state. She looked back up at the Stag and nodded an agreement to him.
“So you Oni spawn think you are the hunters do you? You are but the prey; arrogant prey to believe you are the predators, and I will show you this,” the Stags deep voice boomed emanating from the figure whose mouth did not move with the words after he saw Tafaris approval. He then reared up throwing his wings out giving out a loud deep thundering roar. With his call various entities throughout the town came under his possession. All the constructs, any animals in the vicinity and some of the guards and people who still had some fight in them both above ground and in the Under-city fell under his control. The knights including Aaron, Ava, Robin, Misako, their Squirebots and even Jestro whose clothes even became altered by the Stags energy turning into a black and aquamarine with deer like iconography design became possessed. The Fearbricant became possessed and with little effort smashed free of the stone arches pinning it down scaring the Ash Crawler which fled from its sight. Tafari also fell under his control. All those he took over developed the iconic markings of his possession. Their voices even seemed to change, developing a gruffness and deepness to it.
The vines that had held the knights and Misako withered from the Stags energy setting them free allowing them to fight back unhindered. Clay freed Merlok so he could join them in the battle. Merlok was lucky to escape become possessed by the Stag being too strong for the beings influence to easily gain hold of him and though despite being disturbed and spooked by the Stags hold on everyone he continued to aid in the fighting. Now hosting the Stags energy Tafari and the others possessed by him began to fight back with a ferocity and strength the Ashers were not prepared to deal with. The Stags possession energized them and made them stronger. The Ashers began to find they couldn’t even touch the Stags hosts. Their skin was cold to the touch and they gave off a similar freezing dark energy as their puppeteer the Stag; a cold dark energy that harmed the Ashers. While those under his control fought below the Stag flew over the city and area putting out some of the biggest fires with his cold flamed breath of the void. Any Ashers or their spawn caught in his breath were obliterated helping to turn the tides of the battle. With many of the fires out the Stag landed in the city remaining in his dragon form to fight the Ashers and their monsters. They stood little chance against his dragon form. One of the first the Stag took on and took out was the Ash Crawler having a short tussle with it before burning it with his void breath reducing the creature to ash. The Stag was fighting with a power and ferocity the Ashers had never seen before and it scared them. The Stag himself personally took out many of the Ashers most powerful members and monsters weakening their forces while the others took out anyone they saw. As their forces began to dwindle the Ashers attempted to retreat but were blocked off by the Stags puppets who proceeded with destroying as many as they could. Some Ashers managed to escape running off into the wastes. The Stag let them go feeling it was unlikely they would return anytime in the near future, not even if joined by a Sorcerer or Crawler. With his powers the Stag was able to break the spell the Ashers had cast to raise the Battle Spawn from the ground causing them to collapse and stop fighting. For all the people not under the Stags power and not an Asher they hid as best they could terrified of what was happening.
“This is for what you’ve done to my friends and my realm!” Clay growled at an Asher Sorcerer as he destroyed it running it through with his sword which had developed an icy aquamarine flame on it from the Stags powers. The sorcerer burst into a pile of Ash.
“I want to never see your kind in or near this city again. This is now part of my territory. You cannot and will not ever reign here now get out and never return,” the Stags voice came from Tafari as she held up a sorcerer by its neck before stabbing it with her tanto collapsing it into a pile of dust. Once the last of the Ashers forces had been destroyed or driven from the city folk began to come off their possession feeling weak, cold and terrified unsure of what had just happened to them. Many were in shock. The animals fled the city while the constructs hid afraid of facing the Stag. As the battle ended the red hue to the sky slowly vanished and the clouds settled down as the Ashers lost their hold of the area. The rain continued to fall however.
When Tafari came off her possession, she staggered a bit. She would have collapsed on the ground if it wasn’t for Hassiri who came rushing over to hold her up. He had been watching nearby terrified of seeing everyone else under the Stags control. He had seen the Stag controlling Tafari and he had been horrified to see that thing using her like a puppet.
“The Stag saved us?!” Hassiri, baffled, explained to Tafari when she asked, dazed, what had happened as he held her. Tafari hugged Hassiri grateful for his comfort. She had only ever felt hints of the Stags possession. To feel the full effect was shocking and very disturbing. As she hugged him she expressed she had feelings for him worried she might not get another chance. Hassiri hugged her back happy that she felt the same way about him that he did to her.
“What happened?” Macy wondered shaken as the knights along with Jestro whose clothes still retained the Stags designs and Misako came off the possession. They were all very cold, in shock and had a dreaded empty feeling but they were alive. The corruption Aaron had put on Jestro was gone but they all had the beginnings of the Blight curse.
“Are we dead?” Lance worried as they looked around. They were all still together near the Fortrex. Aaron was lying on the ground near them rather still and not looking to be breathing worrying them.
“Is he…” Macy worried as Merlok came over to inspect him. After a few seconds he coughed a bit and began breathing.
“Oh man what happened? I feel like the Fortrex ran over me!” Aaron moaned his voice sounding like his normal self as he began to stir. The knights were stunned to see Aaron’s Blight had largely been reversed to what it had been before the sorcerer had found him. He still had the fangs and altered patches of his skin from the ghoul transformation but his eyes and clothes were back to normal and the only glow on his body came from the blight and not any burning markings.
“Aaron you’re back!” Clay exclaimed helping Aaron up before he, Macy, Axl and Lance gave their friend a hug.
“What do you mean back?” Aaron asked confused feeling weak and unsteady on his feet needing Macy to help hold him up. He couldn’t completely remember everything since the Ashers had caught him. He had vague memories but they felt more like dreams, nightmares he couldn’t wake up from.
“One of those sorcerers had made the Blight claim you and began turning you into an Ash Ghoul but it looks like the Stag has reversed some of what they did,” Misako explained getting a warm feeling of hope. If the Stag could alter the Blight then he could protect the ninja from succumbing to it. The ninja could be alive; her son could still be alive! If they were then maybe they still had a chance at completing their mission.
“So that wasn’t some wacked out dream,” Aaron stated as Ava and Robin came out of the Fortrex to join the others feeling very disturbed and scared.
“What happened?!” Robin trembled and Merlok explained, “the Stag used you all as his soldiers; Possessing you to give you his strengths and powers for the battle.”
“Why though and why has he let us go?” Clay worried looking around for where the Stag had gone. The Ashers were gone, people were recovering from their possessions and the fight, a couple scattered fires were still burning, it was still heavily raining and smoke and steam were building up again. There looked to be no sign of the Stag. A noise behind them caught their attention. They turned around nervous of what had made the noise worried the Ashers might still have some fight to them or the Stag was now going to attack. When they looked back they were unnerved and terrified. The Stag in his dragon form was perched on the top of the Fortrex hunched over with his wings gripping the sides glaring down at them. They were scared worried about what he was going to do but also confused and curious.
“You… saved us?” Clay wondered trying to hide his fear as they looked up at the Stag scared.
“I have. The Ashers have been dealt a serious blow it is unlikely they will be a problem here anytime soon,” the Stags voice emanated from the dark figure though no mouth moved.
“Why? Why have you helped us?” Macy inquired.
“I have my reasons… none of these reasons mean you any harm; nor harm to the city or the people,” the Stag replied.
“You reversed my Blight!? How, Why?” Aaron noted looking at himself feeling nervous yet also surprised and confused before looking back up at the Stag.
“I have given you more time to be with your mortal brethren, do not waste it,” the Stag spoke to Aaron.
“My son, the ninja what have you done with them?” Misako inquired worried what the Stag might say.
“They are alive for now. They are running out of time however as the blight consumes them. I know you are going to ask so before you do no I cannot cure this curse nor do I know how to find the cure for it is not meant to be known by me; that answer is for others to find,” the Stag told Misako looking straight at her. She was relieved they were still alive but she worried; if the Stag didn’t know how to fix the Blight curse than who did and how much time did the ninja have before the Blight claimed them? She wanted to ask him more questions but the Stag seemed to have his attention drawn away as he looked up over the wastes towards Holamaya.
“It is time for me to depart but you will be safe now,” the Stag proclaimed looking back at them.
“Wait why did you save us?” Clay inquired. They were all still worried and confused why the Stag had suddenly shown an interest to help them and save them from the Ashers when he had never shown any interest in helping people before. Did he have something planned and if so what? From what they knew of him it could not be anything good. The Stag however didn’t seem to hear him and took off headed out over the wastes towards the Forbidden City without answering his question leaving them with feelings of worry and dread over what his saving of them meant.
All any of them could see was darkness. They were blinded by the explosion and could hear nothing around them. Slowly they all began to see visions in their mind and a voice spoke to them. It was deep and feminine with a slightly deeper echo to it.
“He began in brightness and honour,” the voice began, “Centuries ago and many years after the Dragon Master banished Dagon Nerevar a strong and noble samurai, Emperor of Holamaya and my first champion thought it wise they destroy the Ashers and their fortress to eliminate that evil for good. Though the spell had been put on the vaults Nerevar still worried the forces of evil would somehow find it. He felt only by destroying the Ashers would the vaults truly be safe. He told the Dragon Master and the others who agreed and aided in the construction of the Vaults his plan. They agreed the Ashers had to be dealt with but they thought it would not be wise to attack them at that time. The Oni were still a threat and many dangerous items had to be removed from the Ashers reaches before any of them felt it would be safe to challenge these beings. Nerevar however felt strongly otherwise. He intended to finish the Ashers despite others warning him not too. Nerevar did not head others warnings and gathered his forces, those who wished to see the Ashers gone as well. Folk from all races including serpent folk, folk from other realms and even one of the dragon imbued Racer Fabricants joined his cause. Though none knew what they would face they knew it was not going to be easy. Nerevar launched an attack at the stronghold at the Red Tower. Though his army was large and strong they were unprepared for what they came up against. Ashers, Oni, denizens of the underworld and dark realms from across the mortal and un-mortal planes were all waiting for them. Despite how hard they tried Nerevars forces were overwhelmed and defeated. The Ashers and Oni had not yet learned of Dagons true fate, he had yet to re-manifest as a physical entity so they decided to recreate a weapon just like him, to replace him. This time they would use a mortal as their base, one with close ties to their enemies hoping their ties to the Dragon Master and others like him would prevent their weapon from being banished. Using the blood of both Oni and Dragon and the energies of the void they combined and fused them into Nerevars very being through the dark twisted magics of the Ashers creating a new and powerful entity. An immortal lord of the void a being of ultimate creation and destruction, of life and death; one they hoped to turn into a living weapon no one could best but they made a mistake.
The use of a living being, one who was not an Oni with views opposite to theirs meant their new creation would not obey them. At its heart the entity was still Nerevar and he still had his free will, something they could not take away from him. He would never bow to his makers and lashed out at them. Realising and fearing what they had done the Oni and Ashers knew they had to do something drastic to stop Nerevar and try to control him. They enacted a curse upon him. None was to know what had become of him and for as long as he disobeyed and went against them not only would he be cursed but all those of the realm and wherever the soil from the grounds he had been made at touched would suffer. He would forever be controlled and consumed by his dark nature and all light from him would be gone consumed by this darkness. He would be an entity of the voids darkness; a dark unforgiving monster. As a final blow all knowledge of what had occurred would be erased from existence so none would know who he was. By doing this none would ever wish to help him so no one else could remove his curse. They hoped that one day the curse would consume him and destroy the lightness inside him turning Nerevar to their side. Not even Nerevar remembered what had happened to him. He could no longer remember who he was as he fell into darkness but all is not lost. If the darkness can be banished and the truth of his identity revealed than the curse shall break and all shall be set free...”
As the voice and visions ended their senses slowly came back. As their vision returned they looked around. They all stood where they had been before. They were all stunned and in a bit of shock unsure of exactly what had happened. The scroll was still lying on the ground in a puddle of oddly colored water but it now looked normal, the corruption was gone. It was light colored and the runes were gone. As their senses returned to normal they began to think over what had just happened.
“What did you just do Zane?” Lloyd asked intrigued while Jay worried, “are we dead?!”
“We broke the corruption and revealed the truth,” Kamdida noted.
“Ashers corrupted that scroll for it was the only thing that remembered what happened and it refused to let the memory die,” Barbas added.
“We’re still alive, was that…” Nya began and Cole finished, “who the Stag really is.” The ninja gathered around the scroll looking at it. They were all confused over what had just happened and a little shaken. They remained quiet for a few seconds thinking over what they had just experienced before one of them spoke.
“It all makes sense now. His hatred for the Ashers…” Lloyd began.
“Why he took over the city, why he feels the way he does…” Nya noted.
“Why he made the hyenoids the way they are…” Zane added and Cole added, “Why he takes the form of a stag…”
“Why he isn’t drawn to the vaults, why the Blight is tied to him,” Jay noted.
“He doesn’t even realise it, he doesn’t realise any of it,” Kai finished.
“This was once his home he returned to his home even though he doesn’t realise it!” Nya noted.
“Their symbol was a stag, maybe that was all he remembered of who he was so he took that as his form,” Cole added.
“The Scimitars saw their creations as living beings equal to them, they felt they deserved to have their own views and personalities like all other living things,” Zane continued as Lloyd picked up the scroll and looked at it.
“He really isn’t the monster he seems,” Cole noted and Barbas added, “He is only a monster to those who are looking for one.”
“He’s still protecting the realms from the Ashers like he had planned,” Kai noted.
“Why then does he fear the Star Stone? Why did he spare Tafari? What then does he want from us?” Jay wondered and they thought it over.
“Despite what they did to him pieces of who he was still came through the darkness. The constructs, Tafari, the city, him saving us from Ashers each show his lighter side, who he was before he was cursed. The darkness though always takes over shadowing who he really is almost like its possessing him,” Lloyd noted looking at the iced over cracks in the ceiling which were reflecting the light in the cavern making them look like they were glowing.
“Maybe the light from the stone hurts him, some part of the curse maybe,” Kai offered.
“It’s his curse causing the Blight we break it and we save ourselves. The Blight will be destroyed,” Cole noted.
“But how do we do that, how do we break the curse?” Kai wondered and they all thought it over. None of them had any clue what to do. On a hunch Lloyd opened the scroll to see what was on the pages inside, see if it had any hints.
“I know how,” Lloyd expressed as the scroll revealed to him what had to be done, “it will be dangerous though and will cost us but it is the only thing that could save us and end the curse.”
Notes:
If have any questions go ahead and ask I do not bite. I will try to answer them, I will however not give away spoilers.
Chapter 51: Breaking the Curse
Summary:
Can the ninja break the curse before it's too late?
Notes:
Pictures relating to story can be found here: https://www.deviantart.com/nerdy-hyena/gallery/72478681/story-project
They are really good and help to visually flush out several aspects of the story including environments, characters, outfits, locations, creatures and other aspects often important ones in the story. All images I post in my work can be found there if you want a better look at them. Defiantly make sure to check them out.Also if you need a refresher on creatures, flora or aspects of the environment you can check out the second chapter in this work titled 'Keikiarys Guide to the Ash Wastes'. It includes short descriptions and pictures of these things.
Parts of this section are subject to change as the prequel story is written to improve story continuity.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
“Where did the ninja go?” DJ asked Kozac and Divayth. They had been too occupied going over Juibs notes for a possible hint of how to cure the Blight and hadn’t noticed the ninja had left. They sat on the patio in front of the palace with a few other hyenoids including Divayths daughter clones and some of the samurai helping them. Celaena was laying depressed by the cairn they had erected as a monument to Juib. Ocheeva, the Fear-bricant, Bruma, Yin and Yang were lying nearby watching them.
“I do not know did anyone see them?” Divayth asked those around them. No one had seen the ninja for some time.
“I cannot even pick them up on our sensors, not even Zane,” Kozac noted before stating, “Wait I am picking something up; Two entities in the library; two very powerful entities.”
“Ashers?” DJ worried and Divayth noted accessing his sensors to get a look, “No they are something else.” Those on the patio got up preparing to defend themselves from whatever they were sensing. Even Celaena got up preparing to defend. They all looked at the library structure waiting to see what was coming. Seconds later two figures burst out of the ruins into the air of the cavern where they began to joyfully fly around. At the sight of the two entities Celaena became shocked and overjoyed taking to the air to fly with them. Celaena had long assumed her brother and sister had been destroyed long ago, she was thrilled to see they were still alive and they were thrilled to finally see their sister again.
“It cannot be?! They are supposed to be dead, where have they been for so long?” Divayth exclaimed as they watched the three racer fabricants fly around happy to see each other.
“Divayth, Kozac, DJ we need your help,” Lloyd calling them made the hyenoids return their attention to the library. The ninja had made their way out of the ruins and were making their way over to them. They had Whetu’s Star along with the Star Stone and a few items none of them had seen before though they recognised the one as an Ancestor Scroll. The hyenoids were relieved to see the ninja were okay and still around. Since they had arrived at the city the hyenoids had felt comforted by the ninja’s presence. They had been the only ones to stand up to the Stag and help protect them and didn’t try to hurt or threaten them like most of the denizens of their realm.
“What do you need?” Divayth inquired as the racer fabricants came to roost at the edges of the patio roosting close together, happy to see each other after having been separated for so long.
“We know how to break the Blight curse but we’re going to need help,” Lloyd proclaimed as the ninja got up onto the patio. They were all eager to hear what the ninja had found.
A while later after they explained what the scroll had shown them and what had to be done they concocted a plan. They would have to perform a ritual on the Stag. They needed five things and a good deal of space for the ritual. They cleaned off the patio area hoping to perform it there. For the ritual they needed five things which were going to help trap the Stag. Each item was tied into what had been used to make the Stag. They needed something from the blood of an Oni, the blood of a dragon, the blood of a scimitar folk, a piece of an Asher and something from the Void. For the blood of the Oni they had Whetu’s Star, for the blood of a dragon they had the Dragons Blood Stone Tafari had given them that they had placed in Zane. When it came to the blood of the Scimitar folk they were a little lost. The race was extinct and they didn’t think their constructs or creations counted for blood of a Scimitar folk. Zane believed though that the bones of the race could work and there was a good deal of their remains in the palace they could use. They chose a skull and a few limb bones placing the skull on the top of the other bones. When it came to a piece of the Ashers the hyenoids believed one of their spell books could work. Over the years the hyenoids had confiscated items from the Ashers to try and weaken them. One of the items was a spell book they believed was bound in Ashers skin. For something from the void the only thing any of them could think of was the strange material the Stag had given Juib for his research. Juib had a few jars of it in his study. Since through the curse and his creation the Stag was part of the void they were hoping it would work. They set the items up to form a large square on the patio with the items forming the corners of the square with the material from the Stag being laid in a line between each item to make the border. Divayth used a spell book that Juib had to create a ward between the items forming a square in order to trap the Stag when he stepped foot in it.
“Okay do we all know the plan, do we have everything ready?” Lloyd inquired once everything was set up.
“I think so, we just have to wait for the Stag,” Kai stated as the ninja stood together waiting for the Stag to show up. Kozac was nearby with Divayth and DJ who were using a spell book Juib had in his study to try and draw the Stag to them. The ninja could all feel the Blight getting worse; they were all pretty sure the markings would start to appear around their eyes soon. Zane had gotten worse. His eyes were slowly starting to turn red and he was having difficulty focussing and the urges to attack others were getting worse. He was barely able to control the urges having made a few attempts already to attack one of the others before they were able to bring him back to his senses. They were pretty sure he did not have much time left.
“He should be here any minute,” Divayth explained as him and the others finished with the book.
“Good let’s get ready,” Lloyd proclaimed holding tightly to the Star stone, “we’ll probably have only one chance at this and we can’t fail.” He looked at Zane as he said the last part. Zane was trying his hardest to stay focused and was fighting to keep the Blight from controlling him starting to shake from the effort to maintain control. Without the Dragon Blood stone hooked up inside him Zane was finding it very difficult to fight the Blight.
“Just hang on a little longer Zane, we’ll get this curse fixed,” Cole comforted Zane while Nya gave him a pat on the shoulder to comfort him.
“I will try my hardest but… I can feel it corrupting my mind… I don’t want to become a daemon,” Zane muttered growling under his breath from the curse and not realising he was doing it still making the unnerving clenching motions with his hands every now and then. A few seconds later Celaena hissed looking up at the ceiling, “he is here, everyone to your places.” All those not critical to what was about to happen hid leaving Celaena, Divayth, DJ and Kozac standing by the square they had created. Divayth hid the book behind his back. The ninja hid in the undergrowth by the walkway, awaiting their cue. Celaena sat by the edge of the walkway with her tail hanging over the edge so she could signal to the ninja. It took barely a minute before they could feel the Stags presence beginning to manifest in the cavern. The light dimmed and the air became uncomfortably cold. From where they were hiding the ninja could see the Stag manifest in his deer form on the patio his head held low. Only his back half stood in the square but he at least seemed to not be aware of what they had made.
“Why have you called me?” the Stag growled, he did not sound too happy, “have those outlanders finally agreed to my terms or do I have to rip their powers from them.”
“No sir but we did find something else,” Divayth stated before Celaena made a move with her tail to signal the ninja. To help give them the strength and because the energy it produced would aid in the ritual the ninja quickly activated their Dragon Aspect and came out of hiding getting up on the walkway and made their way towards the Stag. Upon seeing the ninja and that they possessed a Dragon Aspect the Stag became aggressive, possibly enraged. He erupted with the strange flames he had used before and the constructs before him stood aside to let the ninja past.
“What is this? Who taught them to become dragons? Do you think that will save you?” the Stag growled at them.
“Your dark reign is over Stag, it is time someone showed you the light,” Lloyd exclaimed holding the Star stone up and making a bright light emit from it.
“What is this? Where did you get that?” the Stag growled slowly moving back away from the light. Once the Stag was in the middle of the square they had made Zane told Divayth, “now Divayth.” Divayth uttered an incantation at the perimeter they had set up. When the incantation was over they could make out a faint disturbance to the air around the perimeter indicating an energy field now trapped the Stag in. It was clear the Stag could see it and he now noticed the items around him. He bared his teeth as he growled looking at the items turning in a circle to look at what they had done before looking back at the ninja.
“What is it you are trying to accomplish? Do you think you can defeat me? I will show you a darkness like you have never or will ever experience again before I rip your powers as painfully as possible from your frail bodies,” the Stag growled at them getting more enraged standing like a stalking wolf while the place began to get darker and colder with every second. The ninja came to stand in front of the barrier.
“No we are going to show you the light,” Lloyd replied as Barbas and Kamdida came to land at the sides of the barrier wings held out in display. Celaena came to stand behind the Stag with the same pose.
“You two?! I thought you were destroyed. Celaena how dare you betray me! When I get out of here I will see that you all pay for your betrayal,” the Stag growled at the fabricants. Lloyd gave the stone to Nya so he could unfurl the Ancestor Scroll to see the incantation he needed to say.
“That scroll! You should not have that!” the Stag growled getting angrier and the ninja noticed his voice seemed to change; he was starting to sound more like an Oni! His voice was no longer the Stags and they were getting a strange feeling from him. It felt like there was something else within the Stag, a dark entity or energy that seemed to be engulfing him.
“It’s like the curse is controlling him to try and stop us,” Kai commented while Lloyd began inciting the incantation. The words he had to speak were in a language he did not recognise nor understand but he somehow found he could speak them. He could hear what they sounded like in his head as if the scroll was telling them to him. As he read the Stag began to laugh at them, a deep laugh that wasn’t his. His voice now no longer sounded like the Stag, it was something or someone else’s.
“You think that will work. A few words from a few shadowed dragons, there is not enough light in the world to purge me. My darkness will consume you as it consumed this vessel and there will be no help. Not for you, not for these betraying constructs or those frail meat sacks in Balmora, no help for anyone!” the dark voice growled from the Stag who was baring his predatory teeth looking ready to bite someone. His voice had a negative effect on all of them and they could feel the Stags darkness starting to consume them. They lost their Dragon Aspects and according to Zane it felt like the Stag was trying to possess them. Lloyd began to struggle reading the words, stumbling and faulting as he felt the Stags darkness start to take him over. The Star stone Nya held started to dim as she felt the darkness and they all started to feel weak and frail. They had an overwhelming urge to run away but they knew they had to do this. The cavern was now so dark other than the area they stood the ninja could not make out anything around them as if they were in a Void. It had gotten cold enough their skin was starting to freeze and it hurt to breath. Even Zane was affected by the cold just as much as the others scaring him.
“It feels like he’s turning this place into the void,” Jay commented trying to not panic. The Stag made a charge at the barrier to try and break it, giving it a head butt. The barrier held sparking with energy as the Stag ran into it spooking them all. Terrified the Stag was going to break free Jay grabbed onto the Star Stone and held it up more to the Stag. Nya still held on and with the two of them holding the stone it gave off more light and it seemed to give off warmth. They all noticed the changes in the stone. Its light brought comfort to them and they felt protected from the Stag by it. As he looked at the stone Cole remembered what Tafari had said about the stone how it could banish the darkness and he thought about the Stags words about light and purging. He got an idea.
“We have to make as much light as possible with the stone,” Cole stated as the Stag dissolved into smoke in the barrier and began attacking the barrier as a shapeless mass trying to break free.
“How?” Kai shuddered unnerved by what the Stag had done to the place.
“The stone, we all have to touch it to make as much light as possible,” Cole explained and Lloyd noted, “it uses someone’s energy to make light.”
“The more energy it is given the more light it can produce,” Zane theorized.
“If you think it will work I’ll give it a try,” Kai expressed coming to touch the stone worried the Stag would soon break free of their trap. They all came to touch the stone. As each of their hands touched the stone it got brighter, slowly lighting up the area and driving away the Stags darkness that had consumed the cavern.
“We should use the Dragon Aspect to give it more energy,” Cole noted and Jay worried, “but that could be dangerous, the aspect could kill us if we let it use too much of our energy.” Jay took his hand off the stone as he spoke scared of the idea that this could kill them.
“It’s either that or we die from the Blight, we really don’t have a choice,” Nya stressed. Jay slowly touched the stone again knowing she was right. By now they could see the barrier holding back the Stag was starting to weaken and a deep rolling whipping sound was growing emanating from the Stag. Lloyd began to read again what was written on the scroll, Nya helping him hold it open so he could keep one hand on the stone. As he read they each brought their Dragon Aspect up making sure to not let go of the stone which was slowly getting brighter. Once all of them had their aspect up the stone started growing in brightness and they had to close their eyes to not get blinded. The magical barrier they had put up to trap the Stag was breaking as they continued the ritual. The wind and noise from the Stag began to pick up as he broke free but the ninja held their ground despite being terrified of what the Stag might do to them. They were trying their hardest to focus on happy pleasant thoughts to help fuel the stone. Lloyd continued to read as Celaena, Barbas and Kamdida moved to put themselves between the Stag and the Ninja using their powers to blast the Stag with an icy breath to try and hold him while he took on his dragon form to try and fight them. While the force of their attacks had an effect on him the element had no effect and just got absorbed in his darkness. As the ritual went on the ninja could feel their energy being drained as the stone fed off their and the aspects energy to produce light. They could feel they had already reached their limit and would soon perish if they didn’t stop but they had to keep going. The Stones light was almost as bright as sunlight now and all the ninja even Lloyd had to tightly close their eyes and look away. Though he could not see the scroll anymore Lloyd could sense the words he needed to say in his mind while holding the scroll. He continued to utter the words as a dark voice came from the Stags form.
“You can try all you want but you will never purge the darkness. It shall always be. There can be no light without the dark,” the Stag growled trying to fight past the fabricants who were blocking his path to the ninja hitting him with as strong a blast they could. The fabricants had activated their Dragon Aspects revealing Barbas to be tied to water and Kamdida tied to earth. They were barely holding the Stag back. As he finished up all of them struggling not to pass out from exhaustion Lloyd began to struggle to get the words out, nearly fainting from the effort. The final words he uttered were, “The one once cursed and lost to time I name thee to set you free, I name you Nerever, Lord Nerever.”
Upon uttering those words there was an explosion. The entire cavern was blinded with a bright flash of light. There was then silence and the cavern returned to its normal light levels. The ninja lay thrown about on the walkway in front of the patio. A thick dark mist was slowly moving over the patio obscuring the entrance into the palace but there seemed to be no sign of the Stag. Divayth, DJ, Kozac and a few other hyenoids came over to check on the ninja. Celaena, Kamdida and Barbas had been flung off the walkway by the energy of the blast into the undergrowth below coming to lay on their backs. Their aspect having been dispelled it took a few seconds for them to register what had happened and what was around them. As they reconstituted themselves they got back onto their feet and wings and shook off before crawling back up onto the walkway to join the hyenoids. All the ninja were unconscious; their dragon aspects had dispelled and they were in a very bad way. The hyenoids could barely pick up signs of life from any of the ninja. They still had the Blights markings but the markings were getting duller and beginning to recede. Soon none of them in the cavern showed signs of the Blight.
“Is it broken? Are we cured?” DJ wondered looking at his hand as the Blight vanished from it before they all became aware of something else in the cavern with them. It seemed familiar and was emanating from within the dark mist as it started to dissipate. They could make out the form of something lying on the ground in the mist but none dared get close enough to see what it was. They remained by the ninja. The fabricants crouched ready to attack and Kozac equipped his hand scythe in case they had to attack putting himself between the ninja and whatever this figure was. The figure began to move; it looked to be trying to stand up but was too weak or dazed. It seemed humanoid but they couldn’t tell what it was. After a couple seconds of struggling the figure slowly and a bit clumsily got up as the mist dissipated. As they got a better view of this figure Celaena and her siblings bowed in respect to the figure and slowly the others followed suit as they realised what they were looking at.
After the battle in Balmora everyone was resting before they were going to do anything else. Everyone even the Scimitar Samurai and constructs were exhausted and felt weak and sore. The knights, Misako, Robo-bill Merlok and Jestro were in the recreation room of the Fortrex resting and tending to wounds.
“It’s not that he helped us that scares me it’s why he helped us?” Clay expressed as Robin helped him wrap up his right forearm which had received a burn from a spawn in the fight then been bitten by Aaron while he was under the Ashers control leaving a deep bite wound in the burn. They were all sitting or lying on furniture or on the ground too tired to stand.
“I think rate now we should not worry about that too much and just be thankful we survived,” Macy proclaimed as Ava helped her tie a bandage onto her left hand which had received some scrapes and scratches from the fighting.
“I think I agree with her; I can tell you being under those monsters control is a nightmare add on this Blight and it is far from pleasant,” Aaron admitted as he lay back in a chair while Misako tended to the wound in his shoulder from the bolt she had accidently shot him with. She felt guilty for shooting him so had felt it only right she fixed the wound she had made. Aaron wasn’t holding it against her knowing he had not been in the right state of mind and likely deserved it at the time but he didn’t wish to upset or anger Misako despite not enjoying her work. She was rough giving him pain and was not too knowledgeable in first aid for such an injury so was not doing a very good job.
“Speaking of Blight, what are we going to do about it?” Lance commented putting some of his cosmetic creams on his face as he reclined in a chair. They all looked at themselves. They had won the battle but lost the war. The sorcerer had cursed them with the Blight.
“We could not find anything to combat this curse,” Merlok stated and Misako added, “if the Stag is somehow tied to it and he does not know an answer then I do not know who would know the answers.”
“If that is the case we might as well make the best of what time we have left. These Ashers may have been dealt a serious blow but our realms are still in danger. I swear till I take my last breath that I will not give up. I will stick to the knights’ code and continue to fight to try and save the realms,” Clay proposed trying to stand getting shaky from exhaustion before falling back into his seat.
“Trust me bro as the condition goes on it gets harder and harder just to focus and do simple things and those night terrors… ,” Aaron expressed before reacting in pain to Misako using a cloth with peroxide to his wound causing it to sting.
“I say then we take a long break,” Lance expressed.
“Well we could use a bit of a break but I don’t think we should just give in just yet we could still try to continue on our mission,” Macy expressed and Clay agreed, “indeed. With what the Stag has done I don’t think the Ashers are going to risk getting near the city any time soon and with the Fortrex in largely working order I think we could head out to the Forbidden City to continue our quest.”
“You think we’ll be able to get in this time?” Axl wondered.
“Well we could try… we really don’t have much to lose anymore,” Aaron noted and Merlok added, “Sadly I would have to say this looks to be true we should not give up hope so easily however. If we can get into the city this time we might be able to directly collaborate with this Juib and see if we can still find a cure.” They sat for a few minutes thinking things over and coming to terms with their new states. None had objections and Misako was over eager to reach the city to find out what had become of her son and the other ninja.
“If we’re all in agreement then I think we’ll head out first thing in the morning. This is one of those cases where the sooner is the better,” Clay proposed and Macy added, “we might want to get some supplies for the trip first. We don’t have much left from when we first ended up here.”
“True. We should take stock of what we need then,” Clay stated and Lance questioned, “now?”
“Yes if we plan to leave in the morning we’ll need to collect supplies beforehand which means now,” Clay declared and Aaron stated before jolting in pain as Misako wrapped a bandage round his shoulder, “really, after all we’ve been through already tonight? I doubt I will be able to stand let alone carry anything.”
“I wouldn’t try lifting too much with that wound in your shoulder,” Misako added and Clay stated, “true you Aaron should probably take some time to rest. You are still after all far more ahead of the rest of us with the Blight but some of us are still in good enough shape to do some work.”
“Speak for yourself,” Lance proclaimed putting cut cucumbers over his eyes while reclining in the chair. Clay got up and went over to Lance and straightened his chair jolting Lance who was not pleased with the action up. While the others talked Robo-bill Merlok began to pick something up and picked up Ava’s tablet and began to work on it.
“You’re one of those who can help,” Clay stated as he forced Lances chair up.
“We’ll need food, fresh water and medical supplies,” Axl noted and Macy added, “should probably get cleaning supplies to handle the ash just in case we run into Ash Spawn or get stuck in an Ash Storm.”
“Okay I’ll see if Tafari can get us some aid in getting supplies. Anything else we can think of?” Clay inquired and Robin proposed, “Maybe some more of that Scimitar Oil for Robo-bill Merlok, right Merlok? Merlok?” Merlok was still working on the tablet.
“Whatcha doing magic man?” Ava wondered as they noted Merlok seemed distracted working on the tablet. He pulled up on the TV in the room some readings from the ships sensors and images from exterior cameras looking towards Holomaya.
“What do those readings mean?” Axl inquired as they looked at the screen and Merlok explained, “there is a strong energy being emitted from the Forbidden City and it appears to be growing in strength.”
“What does that mean?” Macy wondered and Misako worried, “what kind of energy?”
“It is hard to tell. There is a strong darkness in the vicinity but there is an even stronger growing energy of a much lighter from some type of good magic,” Merlok explained.
“What do you think is going on?” Clay worried. None of them liked the sounds of this.
“I cannot say, it is powerful that is for sure. Ever since the Stag took over that mountain it has always registered as an empty void, a blank space on maps and radar likely a result of the energies the Stag emits but now it is starting to show up as if something is disrupting the Stags energies,” Merlok explained perplexed.
“What does that mean? What is going on in the mountain?” Clay worried.
“Maybe this has to do with him claiming the city as part of his territory? Some sort of magic to hide it from the Ashers but not those under his reign?” Macy offered.
“Possibly,” Ava noted as they started to notice something appearing on the views of the mountain. There appeared to be a bright light emanating from something on the mountains side.
“Uh is there something wrong with the camera or is that really happening and what is it?” Aaron noted Misako helping him get his bed shirt on and Axl added, “that Mountain isn’t a volcano is it?”
“No it’s not a volcano, maybe that’s just a trick of the cameras?” Robin stated unnerved.
“We should check outside to get a better look; see if it is just the cameras or not,” Clay proposed. Though sore and tired they made their way outside to the top of the Fortrex to get a better look at what was going on. It was dark and still raining outside but the fires in the city had all been put out. The cities power was out due to the damages the system had received during the fight so only fire based lights like lanterns and braziers provided any light. Their light however was dim and the Ghost fence was still down so the green glow it normally gave off was not present. The only other sources of light were the power lines on the Fortrex but none of the lights outside could have been giving the light they had seen on the cameras. In the dim light outside they could make out that what they had been seeing was indeed from the mountain. In the darkness of the night it was clear to see a small light on the mountains side. It was too far away for them to see what the light was coming out of or what was making the light however.
“Has something like that ever occurred before?” Misako wondered.
“Records indicate that before the Stag took over there was a watchtower on the mountain that could give a signal fire if something’s wrong but that structure is believed to have been abandoned since the Stags takeover,” Merlok noted and Aaron added, “yha and I doubt a simple fire in such a watchtower would not be very visible here. I think Balmora is too far from the mountain for that.”
“Not to mention that doesn’t look like any form of fire light,” Clay noted, “it kind of looks like the light from that Star stone.”
“The ninja have that stone,” Axl noted and Misako wondered, “Do you think that is from them?”
“Maybe… it could be some form of message,” Macy offered before what sounded like a distant explosion or thunder could be heard and the light vanished.
“What was that?” Misako worried. A strange tingling in their extremities made them all look at their hands. The markings from the Blight slowly disappeared, even the effects from Aarons starting transformation into an Ash Ghoul disappeared and they were quick to become aware that something felt different. Though it was not entirely gone the strange cursed feeling they had come to accept as normal for the area despite how unnerving it was diminished. The air felt lighter and more relaxed.
“What happened?” Jestro wondered. They all looked at each other before looking at the mountain.
“I don’t know but I think we should set out for the city as soon as we can,” Clay proclaimed.
Notes:
If have any questions go ahead and ask I do not bite. I will try to answer them, I will however not give away spoilers.
Chapter 52: The Prince of the Mountain
Summary:
Has the curse been cured? Did the Ninja pay too high a price to do it and what has happened with the Stag?
Notes:
Pictures relating to story can be found here: https://www.deviantart.com/nerdy-hyena/gallery/72478681/story-project
They are really good and help to visually flush out several aspects of the story including environments, characters, outfits, locations, creatures and other aspects often important ones in the story. All images I post in my work can be found there if you want a better look at them. Defiantly make sure to check them out.Also if you need a refresher on creatures, flora or aspects of the environment you can check out the second chapter in this work titled 'Keikiarys Guide to the Ash Wastes'. It includes short descriptions and pictures of these things.
Parts of this section are subject to change as the prequel story is written to improve story continuity.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
“Be on guard we do not know what has occurred since we were last here or what could be hiding here?” Clay stated as the knights with Misako, Robin, Ava, Robo-bill Merlok and Jestro got off the Fortrex in the loading bay of the Holamaya research station. The journey to the city had been uneventful and compared to what they had run into before eerily calm. Due to uncertainties over what could be waiting in this place they were going to stick together as they searched. The power for the facility was out but they didn’t care to start it. They had flashlights and lanterns to light their way. As they searched the building something quickly became apparent to them. The place had been cleared out. Any items or furniture that had been in the structure before were gone with no hints of who or what had taken it all.
“Dudes this place has been cleared out,” Aaron noted as they searched room by room and Macy added, “What do you think took everything the Stags minions or the Ashers?”
“Well that could be hard to tell. After the battle in Balmora I don’t think the Ashers would brave coming this close but everything could have been taken any time since our last visit and that proved the Ashers had gotten brave enough to encroach here,” Clay noted. Slowly they made their way to the excavation dome remaining alert. The door to the dome was surprisingly unlocked and open. Inside the dome was dark. They cautiously approached and entered the dome where Ava and Robin started up the generator which had surprisingly been left behind. As the lights came on they could see the Scimitar Dragon still lay entombed in the ash but everything else was gone. There was no one there and the gates to the city were still closed. There were surprisingly no tracks in the ash leaving no indication if anything had moved about in the dome. Something had to have though for the items they had left behind to have been taken from the dome.
“It’s like the place was cleaned out by digi-ghosts!” Lance expressed nervous.
“It is very eerie,” Axl agreed as they all made their way to the door for the city.
“No handle on this side Merlok can your Robo-bill body sense anything on the other side?” Clay inquired as they inspected the door.
“Intriguing I do sense something alright but it is not in the city it is in here with us,” Merlok noted looking back at the entrance to the dome. The others turned to look around nervous of what was in there with them.
“Where are they and what are they?” Clay inquired as they pulled their weapons ready for a fight. They were confused to see a Scleroboa with a third of its right forearm being cybernetic come hopping out from behind the Scimitar Dragon and hop close to them. It just stood looking at them tilting its head in a curious manner.
“Is it just this little thing? He’s no threat,” Aaron chuckled encouraging the creature to come over and interact with him. It hopped over and sniffed his hand before letting him pet it.
“What is that thing doing here?” Robin wondered and Macy expressed, “look at its one arm. Its largely metal, a cybernetic implant. A classic sign of one of the Stags minions.”
“Be on guard everyone it is probably a scout. That likely means there are more of his minions here,” Clay expressed before a deep voice came from behind them by the door into the city.
“Very astute knight,” the voice stated. The voice was accompanied by a familiar dark and empty feeling that put them all on edge. Turning to see who spoke the group was terrified to see one of the Stags Scimitar warriors standing between them and the door. In reaction to the surprise they all took a few steps away from the figure. The door was still closed meaning this entity must have been in the room with them but where had it come from and how long had it been there. They then watched as more of these Scimitar Samurai appeared from the shadows letting down what they could only assume was some form of invisibility cloak or spell. They were surrounded by the constructs who were all armed and looked ready for a fight.
“Who are you? What do you want?” Clay demanded as the knights prepared for a fight.
“I could say the same of you. What are your intentions at the Forbidden city,” the samurai that had first talked proclaimed pointing at them its sickle as its companions stalked closer to their group.
“Seems we are not going to get a warm welcome,” Macy stated as they looked at everyone around them.
“Kozac what are you doing? You know who these are and why they are here,” a strange semi-electronic voice expressed as the doors to the city opened. The samurai who had spoken turned to watch as a hyenoid in civilian clothes with blue eyes, markings resembling circuitry and scimitar symbols on his face, and the symbol of a radio on its forehead came out from the city and up to the lead Samurai.
“I am remaining on guard. Just because the Ashers have been scared we cannot let our defences’ lack. It is better to be a warrior in a garden than a gardener in a war,” the one they assumed was Kozac growled to the hyenoid.
“Do not mind my fang-brother, he just takes his job overly seriously,” the hyenoid explained before whispering to Kozac, “why do you not take off your helmet bro, I think you might be scaring them.”
“I will not, while I am on duty my helmet will stay on,” Kozac grumbled.
“You are just proving my point now,” the one with the electric voice countered.
“Who are you?” Macy questioned.
“I am DJ and you are the Nexo Knights and the dam to the Dragon of Energy Misako am I right. Come you are permitted to enter the city,” DJ expressed sounding friendly and cheerful. They were hesitant. The Stag and his minions had helped them several times before and showed no hostilities to them but they still did not know what their intentions had been. Had they been trying to sway them into the Stags service and if so for what? What did the Stag have planned?
“Do not worry flesh ones you are safe here. None in the city will hurt you and do not fear we will keep your ship safe while you stay here. Come do not worry we do not bite,” DJ expressed encouraging them to follow.
“I guess it couldn’t hurt,” Aaron noted relaxing and starting to follow DJ. Misako was next to follow. She was eager to see her son and from her encounter with some of these droids before she believed they could trust them. Merlok also followed. The others were still hesitant.
“Are we going in?” Axl wondered quietly to the rest of them.
“I wouldn’t, who knows what they have planned?” Jestro expressed worried and Macy agreed, “I don’t know, they seem trustworthy but how do we know it is not a ruse to lure us into some sort of trap?”
“We’ll go in but stay on guard, we don’t know what lies in the city,” Clay told them after a moment of thought. They sheathed their weapons before following this DJ into the city. They were taken through a dark decrepit looking entrance section before being led passed doors like those that closed off the entrance. What they saw on the other side stunned them all. What they saw did not match what they expected to find. Instead of a dark, dirty, crumbling and cramped tunnels and ruins overrun by evil droids and crazed beasts it was a spacious, bright, surprisingly up kept place filled with life. It took them all a moment to take everything in.
“This doesn’t look like what I expected!” Macy expressed.
“Dude this place is so rad,” Aaron commented and Axl expressed, “this is the supposed evil city? It looks so nice and peaceful.”
“You know this could make for a pretty cool tourist destination,” Lance expressed before they continued following DJ who continued to lead them down the main walkway after giving them a short pause to take everything in.
“So you’re DJ? Are you the same DJ as the one who likes to hack technologies in Balmora and has hacked the Fortrex a couple times?” Clay wondered wanting to know more about the constructs and this place. Until they were sure of the intentions and dangers to this place they were not going to let their guard down.
“Yha that is I. Tech export for Holomaya and one of the Stags highest advisors. Do not worry I meant no harm in hacking your moving home. We just wanted to know more about you and we thought you could use the information we sent you plus I wanted to see what kind of cool games you brought with you,” DJ confirmed and Axl stated, “so you’re the one who beat all our high scores.”
“Yha, it does not take me long to get a hang of game mechanics and how to beat them. Helps when your brain is a computer,” DJ expressed.
“So where is this master of yours?” Macy inquired. As they were walking they were all keeping an eye on everything around them. They could see all sorts of beings in the cavern with them; constructs, hyenoids and animals of all sorts many of which were watching them. They had seen the Stag was capable of shape shifting plus he could posses things. Was he possibly one of the caverns entities watching them without them being aware looking to ambush them when they least expect it?
“He is both here and not here. He is down in one of the tunnels connected to the main cavern investigating how the Ashers were able to breach a special gate he made to keep them out. He might greet you later on his own time,” DJ explained as the group noticed the racer fabricant they knew as Celaena make a few fly bys along with two others like her. The constructs appeared to be investigating them before heading off to the far side of the cavern by what looked to be a palace built into the far wall.
“There’s three of those things!” Clay exclaimed when he noticed them and Axl added, “they’re not going to attack us right?” They were all wary of the constructs remembering how Celaena wrecked havoc on them in Balmoras arena.
“Yha because that one really did a number on us and the ninja when it attacked us,” Aaron expressed.
“Do not worry they are just curious to see who you are and technically there are four of them however Pelagius lives with Sheoth. You of course know Celaena; do not worry she and her siblings will not hurt you. You know we thought Celaena and Pelagius were the only ones still in existence till the ninja uncovered their siblings Kamdida and Barbas guarding the Vaults they came here for…” DJ began to explain before Misako cut him off.
“The ninja, my son where are they? What has happened to them? Are they okay? We aren’t too late are we; the Blight didn’t claim them did it?” Misako worried. She had seen no sign of them making her worries worse. DJ looked nervous from the question further fuelling her fears.
“Well actually they are the ones who broke the curse that caused the Blight. Yha turns out the Stag was the reason for the Blight,” DJ expressed.
“Really how?” Macy wondered and DJ explained, “well turns out the Stag is actually the long lost Scimitar emperor Nerevar. Turns out the Ashers turned him into this powerful daemon monster in order to serve them but when he refused to obey them they made the curse to make him and everyone else suffer. Their curse erased all memory of who he was and they implanted a great darkness in him to try and corrupt him all in an attempt to control him. The Stag had no clue the curse was tied to the darkness inside him. That tie to it was why he could affect the curse. The ninja used the Star Stone to banish the darkness the Ashers had placed in the Stag and revealed his true identity to him to fix things. It… came at a great cost though.”
“A great cost? How great?” Misako worried trying to keep it together worried over what she was going to hear.
“Well we taught them how to use a Dragon Aspect we thought they might like to know it… turns out they needed to use it to help them break the curse. It took tremendous amounts of power and energy to dislodge and destroy the darkness that had consumed the Stag. Do you know the details of the aspect? How it feeds off your energy to create the aspect, the longer its maintained the more energy it takes. If used too long, put gently, you fall asleep to never wake up. Combine that with the energy draining of the Star Stone and well…” DJ began. Misako had heard of this power but had not looked into it having been focused on helping the knights and looking into the Blight. The knights were getting a terrible sinking feeling that nothing good had happened.
“They’re…” Misako began dreading what she was hearing.
“They were willing to risk it despite what it would take and what could happen. They did not have much time left; the Blight had gotten pretty far. Our Fang-brother Zane already had the markings around his eyes and was barely clinging on. Once the ritual was over they were free of the curse but in a very bad way. The ritual had taken too much energy from them; Kozac thinks it had begun to feed off their life force to maintain the ritual. They were fading fast…” DJ regaled.
“So they’re…” Misako trembled on the verge of tears.
“I am unsure exactly, the Stag he did something. I do not really understand what it was. Not even Divayth understands what it was and he is our expert on the arcane; well Juib had been but he… he is gone… the ninja had cured the Stags corruption but he still had his powers. He made us lay them all in front of him and he did… something… Divayth thinks it could have been some sort of energy transfer or healing magic but he is not too sure. Whatever it was it made them well… maybe it is better if you take a look. We have them in a safe place,” DJ stated clearly nervous and lost on how to explain what he knew to them.
“You do? Take me to them I need to see my son,” Misako exclaimed. DJ took them to a structure on the north side of the walkway not far from the palace. The structure appeared to have once been a bath house made of a mix of stone with accents and inlays of metal and wood with metal tile roof. Various civilian Hyenoids were hanging around doing various chores in and around the building; one was even playing an instrument and singing bardic songs captivating some of the creatures of the cavern which were hanging around it to listen to the song. Despite the stone exterior the interior was more wood than stone. The ninja had been placed in one of the rooms of the structure. It was a decent sized room with wooden walls, ceilings and floors. A few rugs were on the ground and against the entry wall were some tables and a desk. Various medical, alchemical and other forms of equipment were on the tables and various notes were on the desk. The room was separated from the rest of the rooms by a sliding door made of metal with inlays of wood sandwiched between its simple decorative metal designs and frame. Against the opposite wall to the door were six beds equally spaced from each other. The ninja were laying on the beds in their bed attire and looked to be sleeping. Misako wasted no time in rushing over to Lloyd to hold one of his hands in hers trying to hold back tears.
“Are they okay?” Axl inquired as the knights came to look over the ninja worried. They all looked like they were being taken care of and all were tucked in under blankets, even Zane, but something didn’t look right.
“It doesn’t look like they are breathing,” Macy remarked as she looked over Nya and Aaron who investigated Zane and a tablet that had been hooked up to him which didn’t seem to be registering any signs of life remarked, “It doesn’t look like they’re alive. Not even my cyber bro here is showing signs of life.”
“They’re so cold, unnaturally cold,” Clay noted feeling Kais arm.
“We believe that is a result of whatever the Stag did with them,” a droid who was in the room and appeared to be working there stated. It had a symbol that was half a beetle and half a dove.
“This is Naryu she has been leading the care for the ninja,” DJ explained.
“I and my clone-father Divayth believe the unnatural cold that is coming from them is a result of whatever the Stag did to them. In time if they recover they should warm back up as the Stags spell wears off,” Naryu explained.
“How long have they been like this?” Macy inquired.
“Since they broke the curse three days ago,” Naryu explained, “we have been closely monitoring them for signs of improvement but so far we have seen none. They are not showing much signs of life. I would determine they are departed however they are not showing the typical signs that they are which is rather confusing.”
“Are they un-dead then?” Lance wondered a little hesitant to get too close to any of the ninja and using his weapon to poke Jay who had been tucked in with the teddy of a skeever to see if he would move. There was no reaction.
“I do not think that is what is going on. From what we have observed they could be in some borderline state, not departed yet not living. Or the Stag could have done something else to them, though what we currently do not yet know. We are hoping if given time and the proper care we can get them to recover,” Naryu proclaimed.
“So they have a chance to come back?” Misako inquired managing to control her emotions and sound relatively stable.
“I will not tell you the numbers, they are not that comforting but I can tell you they do have a chance. A very slim chance but a chance,” Naryu stated.
“You have probably had a long journey and would like some time to clean up and rest. Come I will show you to a place you can stay while you are here,” DJ expressed. The knights seeing there was really nothing they could do to help the ninja decided to take the droid up on his offer. Misako wanted to stay with Lloyd.
“I think it would be best if you joined your fellow humans in seeing to your accommodations. There is nothing you can do to help here,” Naryu explained to Misako who didn’t want to leave her sons side.
“I think you should come with us. We have no way of telling how trusting these droids are. For all we know the Stag could have done this to the ninja and these droids are covering for their master. Until we know more I don’t think it wise any of us stays on our own,” Clay whispered into Misakos ear coming to stand close to her.
“Do not worry your ninja are being taken care of and you are free to visit as long as you want here. We will not hinder you,” DJ expressed encouraging them to follow. The knights were quick to follow, Misako hesitated. She wanted to stay with her son but she had to agree with the knights. They did not know enough about what had occurred here and what had happened to the ninja to fully trust the constructs and they had seen no sign of the Stag and still knew very little on him; mainly his dark, cruel and disturbing nature. Misako reluctantly followed the knights as DJ showed them to a place they could stay while they were there.
“I don’t trust it here. Something doesn’t seem right. What are they hiding? Where is the Stag?” Clay whispered to the others as DJ led them around. DJ kept jabbering on about the city and some of his pals in it keeping things upbeat but not seeming to notice that none of them were listening to him.
“He’s a shape shifter, he could be anywhere,” Jestro worried sticking close to the others and Macy noted, “yha and why is the Stag suddenly willing to let us stay here now? He wouldn’t let us in here before.”
“It is all rather confusing but I don’t think these droids mean any harm plus they’ve been nothing but helpful to us before, I trust them. They seem sincere and rather chill; that Stag on the other hand I wouldn’t trust him,” Aaron noted.
“Well until we know more about what occurred and what’s going on I don’t think any of us should go anywhere alone. Who knows what the Stag is really up to?” Clay whispered to the others.
“You should have let a professional deal with this wound. There is still ash in it,” Naryu stated while tending to the bolt wound in Aarons shoulder. It had become infected since it hadn’t been properly cleaned so the hyenoids were taking care of it. Clay and Macy had brought Aaron to get seen since he was ignoring the issues it was causing thinking he would be fine. After all they had gone through in this place they weren’t taking any chances and wanted to make sure he’d be okay. They were in the bath and maintenance house the hyenoids were keeping the ninja in.
“It’s fine I’ll just wash it and put a new bandage on and it will be all good,” Aaron proposed trying to get out of the seat the hyenoids had put him in. To keep him from moving around too much as the wound was very sore and hurt to be touched causing Aaron to flinch or jolt when it was touched the hyenoids had tied him into the chair.
“This is ash and soil from the wastes which are tainted by the Ashers and the Red Tower; I would not play around with this stuff. It could still turn you into an Ash Ghoul or corrupt you to the Ashers side; do you want to risk that?” Naryu proclaimed and Aaron was quick to state, “It can do that?! No way I do not want to risk that! I already got a taste of what that was like and it was so un-rad.”
“Alright now do not worry we will try not to hurt you too much,” Naryu stated starting to work on Aaron and Aaron said a little unnerved by the hyenoids words, “You know if you’re trying to help someone you usually don’t tell them you are going to have to hurt them to do it.”
“If everything is good here we’re going to check on Misako,” Clay stated and Naryu stated, “maybe you can persuade her to do something other than mulling around here. Maybe take her for a walk. There is currently nothing she can do for her offspring. If she has any problems we promise she will be the first to know if there are any changes to their condition.”
“We’ll see what we can do,” Macy stated as she and Clay left the room which Aaron was a bit nervous of not wanting to be alone with the hyenoids and went to the room the ninja had been placed in. Since they had arrived the day before Misako had spent the whole time with the ninja. The knights had not been happy that she had spent most of the day by herself here with the constructs of the city. They felt the constructs wished no harm and did wish to help but they still had a feeling they were hiding something. Likely something about what really happened to the ninja or on their master the Black Stag. The most worrisome was they had still not seen any sign of the Stag.
Misako was seated in a chair next to Lloyds bed where she was leaning on the bed having fallen asleep with one of her hands on Lloyds and her head resting on the bed. While some constructs were working in the building none were in the room with them. While coming to get Misako they decided to check on the ninja. It had been a day since they had arrived at the city and they had seen no improvements to the ninja’s conditions.
“I hate to tell her but I don’t think they are going to wake up,” Clay noted checking Coles wrist for a pulse, “I can’t find any pulse. None of them are showing any signs they are alive. If they have been this way for a few days as the hyenoids say than that does not bode well.”
“What do you think he has done to them? Turned them into some form of un-dead for his service? Stolen their powers or even their souls for his dark service? Do you think they have been like this longer than those here proclaim they have been? All we’ve had to confirm they were okay was the words from these droids. They could have been lying to cover up for their master,” Macy wondered looking over Nya.
“You could be right, he could have done this to them after he took them. Let’s hope not cause that would be very bad... Is it just me or do they feel warmer than they did yesterday?” Clay noted.
“Hard to tell…did you hear that?” Macy expressed as they could hear footsteps heading down the hall towards them. Unsure of who it was and thinking they might have a good opportunity to spy on whoever it was maybe gaining some knowledge being withheld from them Clay and Macy hid in the rooms closet. It was a small room that the two could just fit in. Some shelves were built into one wall where blankets and towels were laid on while a broom, mop, bucket, basket, crate and some sacks were laid on the floor around the rooms’ edges. They closed the door leaving a crack just large enough for both of them to peer through. The hyenoid Naryu along with another who they recognised as Divayth came into the room.
“The others are tending to the green knight. Other than being infected there does not seem to be any evidence of corruption or doings by Ashers. Some cleanings, stitches, a few healing potions and a new bandage will fix him up fine,” Naryu explained to Divayth.
“Good the curse may be broken but we should still not take any chances. Not while the Ashers are still out strong and the Void Breach is ongoing… has she been here all day?” Divayth inquired noting Misako and approaching her to inspect her.
“Indeed, she has not left her offspring’s side since arriving,” Naryu replied. They began to get a dark unnerving feeling and a coolness came to the air unnerving Clay and Macy.
“Anything to report Divayth?” the Stags voice bellowed sending shivers down their spines as he strode into the room in his stag headed man form holding a spear in his one hand using it like a staff. He was tall standing over seven feet and wore nothing but tattered pants revealing a muscular form to his body and a tattered dark cloak draped over his shoulders. His large form and size along with the cold dark energy emanating from him unnerved them yet something felt different about him from the last time they had seen him. They could not identify what it was. Was it that his darkness didn’t feel as dark as it had or that he was not making the air around him feel as cold and empty as it usually did when he was around? They couldn’t really tell.
“Are you sure they are going to make it? We have found no improvement in their conditions. They remain unresponsive; we have been unable to register a pulse or brain activity from any of them. All signs point that they are departed,” Divayth responded.
“I know they will recover. I gave them energy to sustain them, preserve them, till their own energy returns,” the Stag replied before partially muttering to himself, “I will not let them perish for my mistakes…” he then stated more loudly to the hyenoids, “they are just in a very weak state. It will take time for them to return we just have to be patient.” Divayth and Naryu didn’t look to sure of the Stags words. The Stag then took note of Misako. Clay and Macy were worried about what he was going to do. His reputation to people was not good and by the looks of it Misako was still asleep and unaware the Stag was there.
“How long has she been here?” the Stag questioned sounding surprisingly calm making Clay and Macy nervous. The Stags tone was not something they expected from him. They were worried over what the Stag was going to do and if they should reveal themselves in order to intervene.
“She arrived with the knights yesterday and has spent most of her time here with her offspring. We have given her a place to stay elsewhere but she would prefer being here by her cubs side,” Divayth explained. The Stag looked at her for a few seconds before responding.
“If she desires to stay close to him then make a place for her to stay here,” the Stag proclaimed stunning Clay and Macy. The Stag was showing compassion; they did not think him capable of such an action. From what they had heard, seen and believed the Stag only did things that benefitted himself. He had no cares for others and seemed to enjoy the pain and suffering of others. They could not see how this action would benefit the Stag unless he somehow wanted to gain their trust but they didn’t think that likely. The Stag hated people why would he care about getting them to like him? So then why was he suddenly showing compassion? Had something truly changed?
“If that is what you would like us to do then so be it,” Divayth stated he and Naryu looking at each other for a second before Naryu added, “I will see that it is done by the morning then. There are a few spare rooms here we could convert for her.” The Stag remained looking at Misako for a few more seconds before seeming to notice something.
“Did she make his hand grasp hers or did he do that?” the Stag noted drawing the hyenoids curiosity. Naryu and Divayth looked back at Misako before investigating her.
“No she has not done that; normally it is her hand grasping his,” Divayth noted and Naryu commented, “this looks to be an unconscious and instinctive reaction caused by the presence of something being placed in ones palm. This would indicate that there is brain activity as such an unconscious activity would require the brain to be functioning in some way even if it is of a minor level for this action to be possible.”
“I am able to pick up something that could be taken as life but it is very faint,” Divayth noted before inspect each of the ninja.
“Indeed each are registering signs of possible life. The signs are terribly faint but it is there. Their temperatures have also appeared to have risen slightly. They are in a severe range of what would be considered hypothermia however they are no longer registering the abnormal deep freeze temperatures your powers left them with,” Divayth noted while inspecting the ninja.
“Then that is good, they are recovering. As I told you my spell would eventually fade as they begin to return,” the Stag noted. Clay and Macy were surprised at what they were hearing.
“I would not count this as a good sign just yet. They could still turn to the worst. What should we tell the other humans? I do not think it wise we say anything at least not yet, not till we know more and can better assert what state the dragons are in,” Naryu expressed sounding a bit worried.
“True. It may seem cruel but it is the wise decision as to not bring them to the wrong conclusion only to have their emotions hurt when things go a way they do not like. It may however be hard to hide this change from them. The other humans will likely take note of any changes to their friends; they could even already know,” Divayth noted and by the way he talked Clay and Macy wondered if he somehow knew they were there.
“Alright, I will let you deal with them. I do not think it is the right time yet for me to speak with the people,” the Stag expressed sounding a bit mournful possibly even being regretful.
“You know you will have to face them eventually,” Divayth noted and the Stag muttered, “I realise this but I also know that I have scarred many… done many terrible things; things one could never forgive. It is unlikely I will ever be forgiven for all I have done, I understand and accept this. I have been cruel to these people ever since they arrived and all they wished to do was help… for now I need time to work some things out before I interact with those mortals… in the meantime I will let you and the others see to what needs to be done.” Clay and Macy could swear the tone he spoke with almost sounded upset or hurt confusing them. Was he capable of such emotions or were they just hearing things? The Stag turned to leave but before he could leave the room Divayth stopped him seeming concerned.
“Did you ever find how those demons got past the gate and why they went after Juib?” Divayth inquired.
“They dug a tunnel around the gate. They used their illusion magic’s to hide it from our sights. I have Luna and Kamdida seeing to that the tunnel gets filled so no more of those foul scum can get through. As for Juib… they knew how much he meant to everyone here, they hoped by killing him it would not only hurt everyone here but collapse the functioning of the city and prevent the dragons from getting any aid so they would succumb to the curse. With them turned to daemons they could turn them on you while the darkness they cursed me with would be unhindered in consuming me turning me to their side,” the Stag responded not turning to look back at the droids before leaving. The droids waited for a few seconds after the Stag left looking at each other seeming to be concerned.
“If you can get for me a spare blanket and pillow from the closet I will go get a bed ready to move her to. The room next door has a spare; she will just have to share it with the Moss Runner with a broken leg and the Skeever that got its head stuck in a vent but it is close by. Hopefully she is not allergic to feathers, fur or scales,” Naryu stated shortly after the Stag left. She then left and Divayth waited till she had left the room before making his way to the closet where Clay and Macy were hiding and now trying to find a place to hide or get out without being seen. It was no use. There was only one way in and nowhere they could hide without revealing their presence. They would just have to face Divayth.
“Oh hey, were you looking for something?” Macy expressed the two knights feeling awkward and embarrassed as Divayth opened the closets door. Divayth didn’t look surprised; he looked like he knew they had been there.
“So you got to see him since the attack; what are your thoughts?” Divayth inquired remaining calm and even toned. They guessed he was talking of the Stag.
“Everything about him seems the same but there’s something different. I can’t tell exactly what though,” Clay noted as Divayth moved them aside to grab a pillow and blanket off the shelf in the closet.
“He will always have a feeling of darkness, emptiness and cold to him. It is unavoidable. The Stag was made a son of the void he cannot escape those energies for they are a part of his very being but the great deep dark cold and emptiness he once emanated you will notice is gone. With it went much of his dark and disturbing emotions and behaviours. I understand your apprehension to him and I do not blame you. I was hesitant to trust him as well; I still have doubts on him. I cannot forgive the many terrible things he has done; I do not think many can… Juib once told me that even though it is rare bad people can change and deserve the chance to do so but even if they improve themselves those they have hurt are not required to forgive them or let them back into their lives. Yes I will never forgive him but I am willing to give him a chance. You do not have to give him a chance if you do not want to that decision is up to you. You have seen and felt what he was like, I can tell you what you got to witness just scratched the surface of the darkness he was. Those here have seen and experienced far worse than you could imagine. That darkness we long faced though was not entirely his fault. He was cursed by the Oni to try and make him like them. It slowly consumed him over the years darkening his being. One day it would have entirely consumed him and there would have been nothing that could banish the evil he would have become. Juib always worried about that day but thanks to the ninja that day will luckily never come,” Divayth regaled.
“Tell us the truth was it the Stag that did this to them or was it really the breaking of this curse?” Clay inquired. He trusted Divayth and believed he could get the truth from him. Divayth explained as they moved from the closet to the main room, “I know what you probably think and I do not blame you. Yes he was cruel to them and treated them terribly but no the Stag did not do this to them. It is true the breaking of the curse caused this. They knew it would cost them and they were willing to pay the price; I do not think however they realized just how high the cost would be. It cost them more than they thought it would.”
“I saw him! The Stag he looked at me! What did he mean by he’s sorry for what he did to me?! Has he done something to me?!” they could hear Aaron freaking out in the hall and Divayth noted, “there is not much you can do for the ninja and we will take care of Misako so why do you not head off and enjoy your evening. You should take your friend to relax. It seems he has some trauma over his interactions and contacts with the Stag. I would not blame him.”
“We’ll do but before we go do you think they’ll recover?” Macy pried. Divayth paused and looked at the ninja before responding.
“I will not lie to you as far as I am concerned unless I can get conclusive proof that they are truly back, that their souls are still there, then I will consider them dead,” Divayth regaled and Clay stated, “that’s a pretty harsh and bleak view.”
“True it is bleak and harsh but it is true. Many of my fang-siblings do not fully understand all that went on but I do. Breaking the curse cost them their lives. They were never on the brink of death, they were dead. They were not showing signs of life because they were not alive. I do not fully understand what the Stag did but he tried to bring them back. I do not know however if he can. He is powerful but his powers align more with death and destruction not with life and creation though he has shown some traits in that field. Maybe with the darkness banished from him he can encompass the lighter side of his being more now if he can; we will have to see,” Divayth stated and Macy noted, “you said though they are starting to show signs of life? Don’t you think that means anything?”
“I cannot say, I guess as you humans say only time can tell” Divayth declared.
He was surrounded by darkness and emptiness. Everything was numb and cold. He couldn’t sense anything or feel anything but temperature-less emptiness around him. All he remembered was a bright light then it was like a cold current dragged him into emptiness. Did time pass? He couldn’t tell but it felt like a long time that he floated in the emptiness. He felt like he was kneeling low to the ground on hands and knees on what felt like solid ground yet at the same time a weightless muck like the ground of a bog. He should have felt scared, worried or some other unpleasant emotion but he felt nothing; he felt hollow. In the darkness he thought he could see faintly outlined by a dark haze that bore unnerving void green tints shapes and figures around him. Were those rock structures? Trees dead and lifeless? Was this a fog around him or something else? Were there other beings in the fog around him? Monsters moving in the shadows maybe the shadows themselves moving? There appeared to be living things moving through the fog; strange unrecognisable creatures or monsters some baring glows to parts of their beings. None seemed to care about him or acknowledge his exsistance moving about sometimes in strange ways as they moved. He could swear he could see others with him. They looked to be laying or kneeling like him and looking around just as lost and confused as he was. He felt he should know them, that they were close to him so he could make out in decent detail their appearances but he couldn’t remember them. They looked just as equally confused and lost as him. Were those noises he was hearing? The creaking of dry wood, wind over emptiness, distant thunder, faint dripping of some liquid, unnatural crows cawing, strange insect or beast calls, a dark heart beating… was there talking? Did he know those voices? Were they sounding confused, lost? Or was he just imagining sounds? He knew not for how long he was in the darkness feeling it slowly seeping into his body trying to drown him in its hold but eventually he felt someone come and help him up to lead him off through the darkness. He couldn’t make them out in the darkness; they appeared as just another shadowy figure moving in the dark with icy green eyes that despite their cold color brought a warmth to him as they looked at him as they pulled him to his feet and helped them stand and move. To where this figure was taking him he did not know and he couldn’t see anything through the haze but he felt a comforting warmth to his aid that made them feel safe from the darkness that was creeping in around them. Eventually there was light.
When he opened his eyes he could not tell where he was or what time it was. He just felt sore and exhausted. It took him a few moments to register where he was. He lay on a bed in some structure he did not recognise. He was defiantly indoors but he could not tell where. The Ceiling and floor were wooden and there were worn rugs and tapestries along with decorative metal plates and pictures on the stone walls. Something seemed different but he couldn’t tell just yet what it was. He slowly sat up feeling light headed, sore, stiff and weak. Looking around he could see the others were starting to come around as well and were slowly sitting up and gaining their bearings like he was. The ninja had vague memories of what had happened before they lost consciousness. They looked at each other then at their surroundings and themselves trying to piece together where they were and what had happened. As they looked at themselves they could see the Blight was gone, even Zane who had been inches away from being claimed by the condition showed no signs of it. How much time had passed? How had they gotten there? They all felt like they had the same dream of being lost in darkness and emptiness. We’re they still dreaming? They were guessing they were still somewhere in Holamaya as the architecture resembled that of the Forbidden City but where in the city they were they could not tell. They were in a room separated from the rest of the building by a sliding wood and metal door. Other than the beds they had been put on there was little else in the room. Some blankets, a table with alchemical tools, medical supplies, some mechanical tools and cloths. Everything seemed quite and calm.
“Are we dead?” Jay worried. Despite the calmness they were all on edge and worried highly confused by everything.
“I don’t know,” Nya offered.
“Does your spirit have a pulse when you’re dead?” Kai wondered feeling himself for a pulse.
“I think we’re alive,” Lloyd stated, “what do you think Zane?”
“I think we came close to dying, at least it feels like it,” Cole noted before Zane replied looking himself over a little worried, “indeed I think we came close to dying but I think we are alive.”
“What happened? Are we cured?” Jay wondered as a Robo-bill carrying a damp cloth in its mouth slid the door open to enter the room. When it saw they were up it raised its tail and gave off a trilling honking noise as it rushed off somewhere.
“What was that about?” Kai wondered and Lloyd stated, “maybe we should get up and see.” They all slowly and a little clumsily got out of the beds. It took them a little time to get their footing feeling exhausted and weak leading them to each fall over a few times before they stabilized themselves. They were slow and cautious as they exited the room and found their way out of the building. Outside they found themselves on the terrace that they had been training the dragon aspect on. The building they had been in was one of the structures the inhabitants of the city used for the caring for and repairing of animals and constructs. At first once outside they didn’t notice much of a difference to Holamaya. Indeed the palace had been cleaned up and interestingly Celaena was perched resting with her siblings Barbas and Kamdida on an upper terrace to the palace. Normally nothing dared roost on the palace; had something changed? The strange dark vines that had once coated parts of the palace were missing. They could see the constructs and animals of the place seemed to be going about as if nothing had changed though they could feel a lightness to the place that had not been there before. In the middle of the terrace in front of them stood a strange figure they did not recognise. The figure had its back to them as it looked over a table which held the red jewel, golden clasp and scroll they had gotten from the vaults plus another of these Ancestor Scrolls and the strange sword with inlaid writing on the blade; all were sitting on what looked like a map. Something about the figure had them on edge. He wore clothes that looked like a mix of the guards clothes from Holamaya that were still on a few of the skeletons and the armour of the Stags Scimitar Samurai. His hair and markings on his greyish furred skin were a golden color. From what they could tell he looked like one of the Scimitar folk however they knew that was not possible. That race was extinct.
“Who is that?” Kai whispered and Cole added, “more like what is that?”
“I don’t know,” Lloyd whispered back as they clung close together nervous of what this figure was while Jay muttered, “Are you sure we’re not dead?”
“Do you think one of us should get its attention?” Nya quietly asked.
“You do realise I can hear you,” the figure spoke without looking back at them. The voice sounded awfully familiar. When he turned to look at them they noticed a large scar across the figures face like the one Divayths camouflaged appearance had. The figure had a dark grey small moustache and beard and his eyes were red. His hair was short and on his forehead he had a golden tattoo of a star.
“Who are you?” Cole asked nervous. The ninja hung back and close together afraid of what or who this thing was. They could feel they were too weak to defend themselves from even the weakest of threats. Jay even admitted he felt like a gust of wind could knock him over.
“Ah yes you would never recognise my true form, my original form. It has been a long time since anyone even myself has seen that. Even though you have never seen my true face you should know me. You set me free,” the figure spoke. The ninja thought it over before one of them responded.
“Are you Nerevar?” Zane inquired.
“Indeed, Lord Nerevar once an Emperor to the Scimitar Folk and honoured warrior and now in ways the last of my kind,” the figure replied sounding a bit mournful of his status.
“So if you are… well you, does that mean the Stag is gone?” Kai wondered. The figure paused before mournfully looking down as he shifted into the Stags elk headed man form making the ninja take a few steps back in fear. That form scared them though they did notice they were no longer getting that dark hollowed feeling while looking at him as they usually had before.
“You may have broken the curse of corruption the Ashers put on me but no one can fix what they did. I will forever be the Stag, none can change that. It is okay though I will accept what I am, it is my fault for becoming this, I did not listen to the others so long ago and I paid the price. Now however with the curse broken I am free to do as I please with the powers I was given. To use the powers that come with this being they made me for good. I can turn the Ashers own powers against them and protect this realm along with all others from those monsters like I had intended to,” the Stag declared.
“So you’re still an evil spirit?” Jay worried. The Stag looked over the ninja noting their fear and unease of him in this form before replying, “my evil deeds were brought on by the curse. In ways yes I am an entity of darkness none can undo that but now without the curse I am no longer an entity of evil. I am an entity of darkness only in powers and not in being anymore. I know I have done many terrible things for many years. I do not ever expect to be forgiven, I realise many of the things I have done many could never forgive and I do not wish or seek forgiveness but now that I can control myself I hope to rewrite some of the wrongs I have done and start anew.”
“So are you going to hurt us?” Lloyd inquired anxious; they were all having trouble not seeing the Stag as an entity of evil. That is what they had come to know him as even though he was no longer emitting the dark energies that had always seemed to further darken his aura. All he had done to them, all they had seen from him it had scarred them leaving them with a deep fear of him.
“No I will not hurt you. I understand I have done cruel things to you all and I hope I can make it up to you; it is what Juib would have wanted and it is the right thing to do. I can start with this,” the Stag explained before motioning over the items on the table he had been looking at.
“I see you found the Red Diamond amulet known as the Amulet of Souls. One of the two items you will need to defeat Dagon,” the Stag proclaimed.
“Amulet? It’s just a gem and a necklace,” Jay expressed and the Stag noted, “that is because my people disassembled it to prevent it from being used by the wrong hands. I however can fix that.” The Stag then held his hands over the gem and necklace. The pieces rose up off the table and the Stag pulled the pieces up using some form of telekinesis so they hovered between his open hands and in front of his face. The two pieces then moved together. As they came together they became encompassed in light and when the light faded the two pieces were stuck back together into an amulet. The Stag gently grabbed it out of the air and showed it to them.
“What does this amulet do?” Lloyd inquired.
“The Amulet of Souls like the Red-Diamond Shurikan can enhance the wearers powers however while the weapon can only go twice the strength the necklace can go greater, much greater. Unlike the weapon the amulet has a dark secret. It can absorb the soul, the energy, of one who is vanquished. By uttering the right words as you fell your victim it can absorb their energy. By using the trapped energy within the gem one can wield tremendous power. Though he created it for his battle against Dagon the Dragon Master never liked the item always wishing to have it destroyed. He never could bring himself to do it though, I think deep down he knew Dagon would one day return and it would be needed once more. He trapped many Oni and Ashers within this gem to power it,” the Stag explained holding the item out for one of them to grab. Hearing what it was and what it could do made them nervous of the item, none wanted to be trapped in this thing or accidently use it in the wrong way.
“Do we have to touch it?” Cole worried and Kai added, “yha that things not going to steal our energy if we touch it is it?”
“Do not worry it is safe to touch it, the spell for using it to trap souls luckily is only known in documents in the vaults which are now sealed. It will not trap you unless you utter those words and I know you do not know the words and are very unlikely to figure them out. They are in an ancient language that almost none know of anymore,” the Stag stated putting the amulet on the table. He then picked up the sword and held it out in both hands to show them it.
“You will also need this, Dawnbringer. This is the sword the Dragon Master used to harm Dagon. Forged in light it deals great damage to beings of darkness; not even the Oni are immune to its power. The incantation you need to strip Dagon of his powers is written on the blade. Though the language it has been written in is lost to time I believe when you wield it you will know the words even if you cannot read the writing. This used to be my weapon; the Dragon Master gave it to me for my attack at the stronghold of the Red Tower. After they caught me Ashers held onto this blade trying to corrupt it for their own use. Luckily the Dragon Master caught word that they had it and managed to recover it from one of their Strongholds long ago before they could damage it. You will need to wield this blade while wearing the amulet in order to deal a serious blow to Dagon. Once his powers are stripped and he is weakened then you can deal the lethal blow,” the Stag proclaimed.
“Really that’s all we need to do. Well if we now have what we need why don’t we get going and save our home,” Kai proclaimed; even though they were all eager to complete their mission they felt none of them were in any shape to continue. They were still weak and tired from the ritual.
“I think it wise if you take a while to rest. You nearly perished, you need time to recover besides there is some folks here who would like to see you,” the Stag expressed motioning to the walkway behind himself. Coming down from the path onto the terrace was Misako and the knights. Lloyd couldn’t help himself upon seeing his mother and rushed over to hug her tears coming to his eyes exclaiming, “You’re alive!”
“It’s good to see you’re finally up,” Misako replied hugging Lloyd back.
“How long were we out?” Cole wondered and after a second of thought Zane noted, “I sense some notable amount of time has passed.”
“You have been out for over a week, almost two,” Macy explained and Clay added, “For the first few days it looked like you were dead.”
“We were out for over a week!” Kai exclaimed and Jay began to worry, “Were we out or were we dead? Maybe we are all really dead and we are all trapped in some cursed illusion making us think we are alive by those daemons while they use our bodies as their slaves! I told you trying to break that curse would kill us! The knights must have been killed battling those monsters in Balmora now there is nothing to stop the end of the world.” Everyone was a little startled by Jays thinking.
“Dude that’s rather dramatic don’t you think,” Aaron noted voicing many of their thoughts on Jays rambles and Clay affirmed, “don’t worry you’re alive; we’re all still living even though the end came real close for some of us. We’ll continue the quest soon enough; I think some of us should take a rest first.”
“Yha I’m still feeling beat from defending that city,” Lance proclaimed to which Macy countered, “really, you got the least banged up of all of us and have spent the whole time relaxing in hot springs or napping and not helping out with anything like the rest of us.”
“When did you get here?” Cole wondered and Aaron replied, “Two days after Balmora was attacked, with Balmora safe we decided to come see if we could enter the city.”
“The city is safe, how did you beat the Ashers?” Nya inquired.
“It really wasn’t us, I hate to admit it but we were not doing well; they raised these hordes of un-dead, sent Aaron who had caught the Blight on our first trip through these nasty wastes crazy monstrous as they turned him into an Ash Ghoul then sent him after us where he turned Jestro to their side, then those monsters cursed the rest of us with that Blight curse before they managed to trap us with these creepy vines…” Lance regaled before Axl simplified, “We would have been destroyed if it wasn’t for the Stag.”
“The Ashers had brought at least eight sorcerers and a crawler like the one we had faced in the wastes for their attack. None of us stood a chance,” Robo-bill Merlok explained. The ninja were surprised to learn the Stag had offered aid.
“You dragons were right. I have the power I could do something. Long had I tried to hide from the cares of the world; to live without emotions or attachments. Immortality is a curse not a blessing let no one tell you otherwise. All that you see it comes and goes, all those you know eventually you lose, all the changes and loss it takes its toll. I grew tired of losing others; of watching everything around me change often falling apart or crumbling to dust. I could no longer stand it so I tried to distance myself from the affairs of the mortal world to avoid it all but the world always found a way to me no matter how hard I tried to keep it away. The more I tried to avoid the world the more the darkness grew. I had come to despise everything I saw or at least I thought I had. When those monsters attacked and took Juib I came to realise the truth. I had to stop hiding from my emotions. Your words were right, in the darkness I had come to have no cares I had let the void consume me, it had turned me into a monster that would give even the Oni nightmares. I could no longer hide from it all; it was time to do something. I owe it to many including Juib to do the right thing,” the Stag responded, “now ninja I would take some time to rest and recover. You will need it to complete your quest.”
They took a while to rest, a little over two weeks. The ritual they had performed had taken a serious toll on them even the knights had experienced a serious toll fighting back the Ashers and weren’t in the best of shapes. They were very weak and for the first few days the ninja could not get their powers to work worrying them that the ritual had caused them to lose their powers. Eventually their powers did come back but like them they were weak and it took a lot of energy for them to muster even just a little of their powers. While they recovered they spent a lot of time with the knights just relaxing and learning about what had occurred outside the city while they were trapped in it. During that time both groups saw little of the Stag even though they often got the unnerving feeling that he was watching them. They all had reservations over if the Stag had truly been changed by the breaking of the curse. After all he had done to them and the fact he still felt dark made it hard for them to see him as something less evil than what they had come to know. They had to admit though that something about him did feel different and the few times they did see and interact with him they could tell that something had changed with him. What though they could not tell. While they still needed time to rest both the knights and the ninja decided they could not waste anymore time. Even though they were still not back to their full strength they worried too much about their quest. They had already been gone from their realms for a few months and they worried what they might be returning to and that they didn’t have much time left.
“You already know the Void Breach has already begun and is already quite far along. It is no longer just our worlds at stake but all the realms are now in danger. With every passing day the meld gets worse. I cannot say how much time we have left but if you can defeat Dagon before it is completed it should set everything back to how it was before he started it I do not need to tell you about the consequences of your failure; to be brief everything will be lost,” the Stag who stood in his stag headed man form explained to the ninja, the knights who had Robo-bill Merlok and Jestro with them and Misako while they were gathered in front of the palace. The Stag had given Lloyd the sword and necklace. They all felt he was the best option to wield the items and when the time came to face Dagon.
“Are you sure? What if we can’t fix it? What if the breach can’t be stopped, what are we to do then? What if things don’t go back to normal and everything remains melded or trapped in this void? What if those things got everyone else and turned them into monsters?!” Jay panicked voicing what they all worried.
“We should focus on taking out Dagon first then we can worry about what’s left behind,” Lloyd opted and Aaron expressed, “hey if things remain melded we could still try to make this melded world our home.”
“Isn’t it true you can see through time and space? Can you see anything about what is to come?” Cole questioned the Stag who replied with, “I can but these times are hidden from my sight. It could be a result of the Void Breach but I have reason to believe it is because events to come are not set in stone and are yet to be written. As for those you left behind, I can say they are still alive. They have had it rough fighting the Ashers and the effects of breach but remain strong hoping things have gone well for you. Apart from that I do not see much else.”
“We should get going. The longer we hesitate the worse things are going to get,” Lloyd expressed.
“Yha enough chatter let’s get back at those necromancers and Ashers for what they have done. You coming with us?” Kai asked the knights.
“Not immediately,” Clay stated and Macy explained, “the Stag has agreed to help us find our friends and families so we can keep them safely with us; some of them could even aid us in the assault on Dagon.”
“While you were unconscious things took a turn for the worse. It would seem the breaking of their curse enraged the Ashers,” Robo-bill Merlok stated and Clay added, “Their attacks are far more aggressive than usual and they have been trying to target those with close ties to both of us. You guys were able to get your friends and families to safety before you left. We weren’t so lucky.”
“Yha we just fell into this realm before we had a clue of what was going on,” Aaron expressed and Cole asked, “Would you like us to help find them?” The knights looked like they were going to agree to their help but the Stag butt in.
“I think you should focus on finding your families and friends. I will make sure the knights find theirs. In your time here you have been sheltered from the worst of the meld. Most places are now fused together and under Dagons foul rule. Everything; people, animals and plants of all sizes even entities you would never think of have been corrupted by what he has done and everyday it worsens. Nowhere is safe and few places have been spared their wrath. Those you left behind will likely be in danger and need your aid. Focus on helping them and before long we will meet up with you for the assault on Dagon,” the Stag declared.
“If things have gotten that bad why didn’t anyone tell us we could have done something,” Kai opted. The ninja felt a tinge of guilt that their breaking of the curse had caused the Ashers to increase their aggressiveness and destructivity and that those they had left behind were likely in danger.
“You were all weak and needed to rest besides we needed the items we found here for a chance to stand against Dagon,” Misako replied.
“This is true. Now that you have what you need it is time you take this fight to Dagon,” the Stag proclaimed.
“Well then we’re ready to leave,” Lloyd proclaimed eager to get back home to make sure everyone else was okay and to destroy this menace.
“I do not know entirely what you will face when you return to where you left but I can tell you this. It will be very hard to navigate your way back to where you need to be but we do have something to help you. While he was in Balmora watching over you I had Kozac retrieve the scroll you used to get here. I will open a portal for you to return to your home… interesting that this scroll found its way to you; it was originally found in Ninjago and came to be held in a secret vault in Sheoths lands which only Mystara knew how to open,” the Stag noted before reading from the scroll. A portal opened on the patio but they hesitated worried for what they might see on the other side.
The knights wished them good luck before any of them were to venture through the portal. Lloyd was the last to head through. Before he could enter the portal the Stag held him back.
“Take this; it can help you navigate through the melded realm. We will rejoin you to aid you when it is needed most,” the Stag proclaimed handing Lloyd the scroll. Lloyd thanked the Stag before moving through the portal. The sight that awaited them on the other side took them a few seconds to register and shook them to the core. It was all wrong. The area was less mountainous than usual looking like the foothills in the Ash wastes. The Monastery was there but it lay in an unfamiliar landscape. Dunes of ash piled against its walls while the strange fungi and plants of the wastes grew on and around it. The sky was dark with tints of an unsettling dark purplish color and cloudy. Deep bluish purple streaks crossed through the dark clouds. Chunks of earth and buildings floated in the sky and a haze seemed to fill the air slowly obscuring things further afar in the distance. There was a strange cold metallic smell mixed with a burning smell to the air. A thin dark void green fog coated the ground slowly moving about like water. Many of the flora seemed tainted by dark energies discolouring them and making their forms twisted and creepy looking or appeared dead. Sounds from the environment sounded unnerving and muffled. The faint sound of rocks colliding together, rumblings of distant thunder and corrupted songs of insects and birds could be heard every now and then but it was largely an unsettling quiet. Things didn’t just look off but felt off. The air was an unnatural cold that even Zane was feeling cold from and there was an unnerving darkness feeling to the atmosphere.
“What’s happened to our home?!” Lloyd gasped as they all rushed into the courtyard to see if anyone was there. The gate to the courtyard had been smashed open and lay in pieces in the courtyard which had a yellowish mist hanging close to the ground. Minor damages could be seen on the roof and exterior walls roots from flora that had come to colonise it spreading over it and within it. Some of the doors were open letting ash and flora to spill into the building. Ferns, grasses, shrooms and mosses had spread into the building coating not just the floor but walls, furniture and even dripped from rafters. They searched around for signs of anyone worried over what had happened to their friends and family. As they searched they all got a feeling of being watched but they could not see anything. Like back in the wastes Zane was finding he was not able to properly use some of his sensors preventing him from using them to help search for the others. They found a pack of Skeevers who were in the TV room lazing about on the shrooms and moss coated sofas. The creatures were not happy to be disturbed by the ninja and scared them off so they could keep lazing about. Other than the skeevers only small insects crawling about randomly could be found in the building. The place looked to have been abandoned for some time with evidence creatures had come and gone through the building making a mess and tracing footprints everywhere. Many supplies were missing. There appeared to have been no one in the building for some time. After an hour of searching they gathered in the courtyard cold, shaken and worried.
“Where did they go?” Nya wondered and Cole added, “You don’t think the Ashers got them?”
“Were we too late?” Kai worried and Lloyd mentioned, “the Bounties not here, maybe they got away?”
“Does anyone else get this unnerving feeling we are being watched?” Jay mumbled looking around at the plants and fungi that had come to colonise the courtyard. They all had that feeling. Looking around they could not see anything.
“Maybe…” Lloyd began before icy blue flames burst up atop the walls of the courtyard and spread to block off the entrance to the monastery and the gates trapping them in the courtyard. They were terrified. It was a trap but by who?!
“Speak daemons and I might spare you. Who are you?” a voice echoed and they looked to where it had come from. Sitting atop the wall hidden in the shadow of the large Emperor Parasol shroom which had come to grow on the wall was a figure bathed in icy flames. It was reared up with its wings held out in display, its tail curved up and head held high. It looked like a small dragon, possibly one of ice. Something about it seemed familiar.
“What is that?!”Jay worried.
“Speak or burn,” the entity boomed as the flames grew taller and closer.
“We are ninja trained in the art of Spinjitsu and masters of elements,” Lloyd explained and the entity roared back, “do you speak the truth?”
“Yes,” Lloyd exclaimed as the fires got closer forcing them closer together.
“How do I know you do not lie?” the entity bellowed, it did not seem convinced. As he looked up at the figure Zane noticed something. Something of the being was reflecting light from the fires. Like there was metal to this being and quickly searching with his sensors he found something. The entity seemed to pick up what he was doing and looked at him.
“Are you a brother of the fang to Celaena, Barbas and Kamdida?” Zane inquired as the others coward confused and worried and curious the entity inquired, “How do you know them?”
“We met them in Holamaya when we went to retrieve the items to Dagons demise,” Zane replied and the flames seemed to lower a bit. As the flames lowered the others could just make out what Zane was sensing. The entity bore a resemblance to the racer-fabricants though this one wore an icy ethereal armour, a Dragon Aspect.
“If you speak the truth then you must be who you claim to be,” the entity spoke after a moment to look over them.
“And you must be Pelagius, loyal companion to Sheoth the mad Oni prince of the Tribunal,” Zane replied as the flames died and the entity dispelled its Dragon Aspect.
“My master sent me to aid you. Since you have returned can I assume you succeeded? If you are who you claim to be show me proof. Show me what the powers of darkness cannot do,” Pelagius responded remaining alert keeping his wings and tail up though he lowered his head looking like a vulture. They were confused. What did Pelagius mean? They quickly thought it over worried. They could feel they were still not powerful enough to fight any serious threat and definitely would not stand a chance against Pelagius.
“Our powers, that must be it,” Kai offered as they whispered to each other. They each gave a small demonstration of their powers which took more energy to muster than they realised. They could barely use their powers and it tired them out quickly just to use them but what they could muster seemed enough for Pelagius who seemed intrigued. He was happiest however to see Zanes powers and they knew why, Ashers could not even mimic ice proving they were not Ashers.
“Alright you have proven yourselves. I am at your command,” Pelagius replied as he relaxed and Jay didn’t hesitate to yell out, “if you’re here to help us why did you try to kill us?!”
“I had to be sure; Ashers are masters of illusion so I could not trust my senses. When facing them it is best to harm them before asking questions. If you were not Ashers my cold flame would have only have given you frost burns not destroy you,” Pelagius replied.
“If your master sent you to aid us why didn’t you come help us in the wastes?” Kai blurted out and Pelagius responded with, “because he sent me to protect those you left behind. You had my siblings of the fang to keep you safe in the wastes. Those here had no one.”
“If you were protecting them then where are they?” Cole inquired feeling a glimmer of hope that they were somewhere safe. They all started to feel hopeful but Pelagius’s words quickly trampled those feelings.
“I tried but things took a turn we had not prepared for. I could help keep the forces of darkness at bay but I could do nothing to keep the wastes, its cursed ash or the Blight at bay. For their safety they had to flee for somewhere they hoped the wastes was not entering. I stayed to await your arrival to lead you to them. I have not had contact with them since they left but I was given the co-ordinates they seeked to shelter at,” Pelagius explained.
“Then can you take us to them?” Lloyd inquired and Nya inquired, “where did they go? If they took the bounty how are we going to reach them quickly?”
“They used a code they hoped you would understand, something the enemy would not understand. They did not take the Bounty; they feared it would draw too much attention. The Ashers claimed your ship over a week ago; I do not know where they have taken it. I can arrange you some transportation however,” Pelagius replied.
“Okay then, where did they go?” Cole asked.
“You will find them where golden quakes were once hid,” Pelagius regaled.
“Golden Quakes?” Jay wondered as they quickly thought over Pelagius’s hint.
“It’s obvious isn’t it, the Caves of Despair where the golden scythe of quakes was hidden,” Cole quickly replied and Pelagius gave a noise that sounded like he was pleased before stating, “wait here and I will find you some transport.” Pelagius flew off and they waited for several minutes for him to return feeling unnerved by the environment the meld was creating and scared of being ambushed. There was an eerie silence to the air with only the sounds of wind, the creaking of tree branches and the occasional distant rumble of thunder being audible. Combined with the dark overcast conditions with the strange and unnerving cloud cover they were kept on edge as they waited. When Pelagius returned he led five Kaguars into the monasteries courtyard. The creatures were surprisingly tame and relaxed.
“They are not as fast as your bounty but they will help you more quickly traverse the landscape. Through the power of the mind I was able to communicate with them and get them to co-operate with you,” Pelagius explained. They didn’t hesitate to climb onto the creatures backs ready to get going. Since there was only five of the creatures and seven of them a few of them would have to share a creature. Lloyd and his mother shared one and Jay and Nya shared one with Nya in front at the control. The others got a Kaguar of their own. Because of the meld Pelagius took the lead flying above them keeping an eye out for danger ahead. As they travelled they got a firsthand look at what the meld was doing to their world and how bad things had gotten. It was disturbing. Plants, fungi, animals and even people from Ninjago, Knighton, the Lost Realm and ones from realms they didn’t recognise had colonised the place and were being corrupted by the energy of the meld. Animals, plants and fungi were darkened by the energies with not just their colors which were often tinted blackish and sickly greenish hues but in temperaments as well. Some even developed dark greenish bioluminescents with their color change. The corruption seemed to have driven most animals mad making them aggressive. The people were a different story. They were greyish, had paled clothes, white empty eyes and stumbled around like tortured mindless husks. Some had burning looking markings in their skin. All seemed unaware of what was around them and just mindlessly wandered about labouring for what they could only guess were the Ashers. They stopped at one village to try and see if they could help the people but it was of no use. None would respond to them if they tried to talk to them. They didn’t even seem to acknowledge the ninjas presence or when they were touched. They just shambled about doing daily chores unaware of anything. Some people were not yet in this state though by the greying of their skin were starting to get that way. When the ninja tried to help them they refused the help and pleaded that the ninja leave them alone terrified their presence would bring the monsters to them. It was all disheartening. They were forced to leave the town when a group of Ashers showed up and began ordering the people around. The Ashers were armed, had whips and were accompanied by monsters like the Hunger, Vulcaroth and Nocturn Crows. The Ashers were cruel to the people shoving them around and barking orders. The people who were not yet in this mindless state were scared of the Ashers and their forces making them cower. Any creature that wandered by the Ashers would whip at scaring it off. The ninja wanted to do something but they could feel they were not yet back to their normal strength and likely wouldn’t stand a chance in a fight against them. They did not want to risk getting caught. They had come too far to take unnecessary risks now. They needed to gather as many allies they could and take out their leader before dealing with the rest of them.
“Just leave them; there is nothing we can do now. Only by defeating Dagon can all forms of life be saved,” Pelagius explained to them before leading them on. The world seemed to be gripped by a dark unnatural cold, one they recognised from the cold the Stag had given off while cursed. It was like a grip of the void. The soils and rocks had darkened from the melds energy however water took on a bright pale icy, strong fiery or sickly greenish glowing colour. Some areas had the ground torn apart with lava filled fissures, rivers, pits and lakes. These areas were burning hot, reeked of sulphur and eerily Vulcaroths liked to chill like gators near and even in the shallows of the lava. No matter where they went the sky was dark, clouded with faint streaks of a dark purple blue color through the clouds. Void tinted lightening struck randomly throughout the region and a void tinted fog seemed ever present wherever they went. Ruins of all sorts of make lay scattered around. Some looked to have once been towns from Ninjago, Knighton or the Lost Realm. Some towns they did not recognise the architecture from. They didn’t match Ninjago, Knighton or the Lost Realms architecture leading them to conclude they were from other realms. They even came across a scimitar ruin as they travelled. Its inhabitants included scimitar constructs, hyenoids, nindroids and Squirebots. All were hostile having been warped by the meld in similar ways to animals and could not be communicated with. They steered clear from them not wanting to get in trouble. In some areas strange portals or gates which by the inhabitants hanging around them and the corruption to the grounds around them they had to believe were to dark realms sat. Skeletons, un-dead beings and monsters of all sorts hung around these portals along with Ashers. The ninja made sure to give these portals a wide berth not wanting to catch any of the denizens attentions. Every now and then as they travelled they could swear they caught glimpses of strange shadowing beings following or watching them but any time they tried to get a clearer look whatever they thought they saw just disappeared into the shadows. They were unsure if they were really seeing things or if it was the landscape playing tricks on them. Most of these shadowy beings appeared humanoid though some resemble grotesque and gaunt tall figures with heads slightly like those of Asher sorcerers. These horrid looking individuals seemed to amble towards them from the shadows looking as if they were going to attack. This had them on edge the whole time worried for possible ambushes which never came.
Though they wanted to continue till they reached the others Pelagius urged they took the night to rest and Misako agreed. They were still not fully recovered from breaking the curse and even though they didn’t wish to admit it they all felt they needed the rest. Despite it already being dark it got even darker at night. Pelagius found them a place to shelter for the night and even gathered wood for them to burn. They had managed to salvage some food and drinks along with some blankets from a town they believe had come from Knighton that they had passed earlier in the day. They took up in the ruins of what looked to have once been a bar or tavern possibly from Ninjago or possibly Knighton. With the damages to the structure it was hard to tell. It was largely in tacked though patches were missing from the roof and walls. Furniture was thrown about along with various crates, barrels and household items all of which looked to have come from various realms leading them to believe some people might have been gathering to shelter here before leaving salvaging whatever they could find for their shelter. What had happened to these people they could not tell; they could tell though they likely had not been there for a few days. Flora, mosses, lichens and fungi from various realms including some glowing species and species from Blackreach were growing around, in and on the structure which sat in a damp lowland area. It was not an ideal location but they had nothing else to go with and they knew they couldn’t make it through the night without rest. They set up in a corner under a roofed section so they were protected on two sides from possible ambushes. They built a fire and huddled close to it trying to keep warm and feel safe. The Kaguars huddled close together near them in the building and Pelagius roosted in the rafters keeping watch of all possible entrances for danger of which there was quite a few. Along with the doors there were boarded up and shuttered windows, a few holes in walls, floors and the ceiling. Some of these holes had been boarded up or covered by canvas tarps some of which were damaged while the rest were open. They all found it hard to rest. The unpleasant environment, the possibility of threats, strange noises and the uncertainties of if they would find the others or if they would succeed in their quest made it hard for them to fall asleep. When they did finally fall asleep they intended for someone to remain awake to keep watch and help keep the fire going but they all ended up falling asleep. They were unsure when but something woke them up in the night. Each of them thought they heard someone call their name and tell them to wake up. The voice was feminine, deep with a slight echo and loud waking them from their deep sleeps. As they woke they looked around terrified shivers going down their spines. The fire was now embers and they lay close to it and each other for warmth.
“Did anyone else hear that?” Lloyd inquired nervous and Cole mumbled, “A woman’s voice calling your name and telling you to wake up.”
“So I wasn’t just hearing things?” Jay fretted as they all began to feel an unnerving dark presence somewhere nearby.
“Kai give us light,” Lloyd suggested throwing some fresh logs on the fire. Kai used his powers to relight the fire which cast its light on the surrounding area. Only a small area was lit up, not enough to let them see if anything else was in the building. The feelings were scaring them and they stood up and huddled close together by the walls. They all got the feeling something was out there in the darkness.
“I do not sense Pelagius anywhere,” Zane noted as they looked into the darkness. A movement in the shadows caught their attention before slowly they watched in horror as a cow sized Ash Crawler slithered into the light looking straight at them.
“Well I guess we no longer have to be stealthy,” a voice came from the shadows as Ashers appeared out of the shadows towards them.
“I don’t feel like I could handle fighting them, I still feel weak,” Jay whispered shaking and Nya added, “I don’t think any of us have recovered enough yet.”
“We can’t let them know that though,” Kai quietly mentioned and they tried to hide their fears.
“So you broke our curse and thought you could sneak back here to complete your little mission, you are sadly mistaken. We won’t let you get away this time,” the one Asher boasted as the Crawler got ready to attack them. Before anyone could make a move the ninja noticed movement in the shadows above the Ashers before icy flames burst across the remains of the ceiling and icicles which dripped drops of these icy flames began growing down from the flames spooking the Ashers.
“To oblivion with you foul scum,” Pelagius hissed as he burst out of the flames boasting his icy Dragon Aspect to attack the crawler which was startled and terrified by Pelagius. As he attacked the crawler mire-lions lunged out of the shadows to attack the Ashers. The ninja were confused and a little surprised. They wanted to offer assistance not wanting to get caught or worse but were unsure how much assistance they could offer. Before they could make a move they heard a voice tell them not to get involved and Lloyd felt someone grab his arm. When they looked at where the voice came from they were surprised to see Skales and several other serpentine holding open a hatch that had been hidden by a rug on the floor.
“Hurry while they are occupied, the half metal beast can take care of them,” Skales mentioned ushering them down the hatch. Even though they wished to help in the fight they knew it was best if they made an escape.
Notes:
The ninja were dead and lost to the darkness in the void. The act drained them to death and the dark magic of the curse dragged their souls into the void. The Stag gave them back their energy and had to pull them back out of the void to save them from this dark fate and give them another chance.
When it comes to whose point of view the part of when they are in the void is from it could be either Cole or Zane; I couldn't decide so purposely left it vague.
If have any questions go ahead and ask I do not bite. I will try to answer them, I will however not give away spoilers.
Chapter 53: A Dark Encounter
Summary:
The ninja have returned to their realm but darkness is waiting for them. Is it too late to stop Dagon and his chaos or do they still have a chance?
Notes:
Pictures relating to story can be found here: https://www.deviantart.com/nerdy-hyena/gallery/72478681/story-project
They are really good and help to visually flush out several aspects of the story including environments, characters, outfits, locations, creatures and other aspects often important ones in the story. All images I post in my work can be found there if you want a better look at them. Defiantly make sure to check them out.Also if you need a refresher on creatures, flora or aspects of the environment you can check out the second chapter in this work titled 'Keikiarys Guide to the Ash Wastes'. It includes short descriptions and pictures of these things.
Parts of this section are subject to change as the prequel story is written to improve story continuity.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
The hatch led into a cellar where the serpentine had created a tunnel in the one wall. They closed the hatch behind them locking it and took the ninja down the tunnel. It led into a large cavern filled with strange glowing mushrooms, plants and mineral structures which the ninja recognised from the museum in Balmora as having come from the place known as Blackreach in the Lost Realm. There were many of the serpentine from both Ninjago and the Lost Realm there along with more of these Mire-lions which they had read the serpentine in the Lost realm liked to keep as pets, like scaly four eyed croc dogs. The Kaguars they had been using had been put in a crudely made pen and fed some vegetation and fungi in this cavern. The cavern held several Scimitar Structures which looked to be in bad shape with partially collapsed roofs, crumbling walls and damaged pipes but the serpentine were fine with using them for shelter reinforcing areas with wood and scraps of metal. Oddly there were no signs of Scimitar Constructs anywhere near the ruins not even remains of scimitar constructs indicating either these places had been abandoned long ago or something had happened to the constructs before the serpentine arrived. The serpentine had small fires spread around for serpentine to shelter near.
“We had been wandering up there for some time till these foreign serpentine found us and brought us here. We had intended to leave our young and injured at Ouroborus to keep them safe but when we got there the place was crawling with these horrid monsters from other realms. We were left no choice but to keep wandering in hopes to find safety somewhere but everywhere we went we found nothing but monsters, corruption and nightmares. If it wasn’t for these serpentine from a sister realm who showed us this safe haven beneath the ground we likely would have fallen victim to those things up there,” Skales explained as the group took the ninja to a large fire they seemed to have positioned in the center of their little settlement.
“You’re lucky that strange half metal creature found us or those things would have gotten you. Please come sit down,” Skales invited them over to the fire as he went over to his son who was sitting by the fire with a few other young serpentine.
“Thank you I guess,” Cole mentioned as they sat down and Zane inquired, “These are Scimitar ruins. Where are the constructs that call them home?”
“There were none, according to the foreign serpentine these ruins are from a small ancient settlement that was abandoned long ago and no constructs were left making them safe for us to shelter in,” Skales explained and Lloyd inquired, “What are you guys doing all the way out here? We thought you might try to wait it out beneath Ninjago City?”
“Haven’t you seen it out there? Nowhere is safe especially that place!” Skales regaled.
“We’ve been in a different realm for a while we just got back,” Kai mentioned.
“You’ve missed a lot then. You do not want to see what the city has become. A strange giant tower of near impenetrable white stone surrounded by walls in rings of this stone around it sit at the heart of the capital with everything beneath it even our home has been fused with strange stone and metal structures dominated by crazed droids and metal contraptions that attack everything they see. Strange beasts and monsters along with these monstrous beings with burning skin patrol what remains of the city and the surrounding areas corrupting everything they see and touch while that demon Dagon resides as ruler over it all with his pet a monster of a dragon the living extinction known as Nidgrumndir which patrols the area for his master destroying anything that wishes to challenge this demon. The place has come to look like something from a nightmare; we barely escaped. These beings we thought were you were there. They’re working for that thing. They tried to tear us apart acting like savages and using their powers for dark purposes. We barely made it out of the city. Sadly most of us were not very fortunate, those monstrous beings got many of us and turned them into their slaves,” Skales explained and Skales jr cried as Skales tried to comfort him, “they got mother.”
“Everywhere you go things are in turmoil and being corrupted. Monsters of all kinds some more nightmarish than others and those burning skinned Ashers roam about everywhere taking over wherever they go,” Skales stated.
“Well hopefully we can stop it. We found something that can put an end to all this, we’re just going to need some help to reach that demon,” Lloyd explained and a deep gruff voice stated, “then you better hurry before the melds energies consume everything and turn us all into soul shriven like many of the others.” A strange serpentine they didn’t recognise came slithering up to the fire. He resembled a short necked python and his scales looked to have once been a greyish color but had paled to an off white. His eyes were clouded and white indicating he was blind. On his shoulders rested a species of winged snake from the Lost Realm known as an Ashen Hist-Python, he held a simple staff and a large Mire-lion hung by his side like a seeing eye dog.
“Who are you?” Cole inquired as the serpentine came to rest across from them at the fire.
“I was once the leader of my people the Ash-pyres. We lived peacefully in the wastes until the Ashers got involved. They spouted lies to my tribe and the other tribes of the serpentine in my world. They told us if we didn’t take out the common folk then they would turn on us and destroy us. The other tribes were fooled driven by the fear the Ashers spouted and started the reptilian wars. My people did not listen. We saw through their lies and so became a threat to the Ashers. Those beings could not have that. They captured all my people. Because of the war no one cared and no one came to our aid. Those monsters did terrible things to us things to nightmarish to regale. We slaved for them for many years till I was the last one. Years under the energy of their corruption blinded me and paled my scales. I thought I would perish there but then an attack by the Black Stag gave me the chance to escape and be free. His metal folk rescued me and several others and took us to safety. After so many years under the Ashers cruelty I can no longer remember my name. Everyone just calls me Pale-snake,” the serpentine replied. His story was sad and they all felt bad for him, all the serpentine seemed to give him a great deal of respect.
“You’re the one DJ talked about, the one they rescued,” Jay commented.
“DJ, I remember that highly talkative metal hyena man; it is from him I take my name in honour for the freedom they gave me,” Pale-snake expressed stroking his Hist-Python.
“What do you mean we have to hurry?” Cole inquired.
“Because as the breach nears completion its energies of corruption get stronger, things have already fallen to its corruption. You have likely seen it. The changes it has done to all forms of life and the world. Soul Shriven is what we call all beings that have been affected. These beings live in such a tortured state they wish they were dead. In time they will be destroyed as the melded realm that demon has made sinks into the void and becomes consumed by the void. Your powers slow the corruptions hold on you but once the breach is complete your powers will not save you and you will not get the peaceful end of the soul shriven. Because of your powers by the will of the void you will become one with it; monsters of its being to serve it as it sees fit. There will be no way to reverse or undo all that has been done. The world will be over and it will be up to the will of the void to decide if and when the world will be reborn but when it is nothing will be the same,” Pale-snake noted pointing at them. They were confused. They looked at themselves to see what he was talking about but couldn’t see anything. Looking at the serpentine around them they noted most had started to develop grey patches to their skin and parts of their clothes had paled as well. Misako was also starting to show signs of the breaches energies but the ninja showed no signs. What he was saying did not make them feel good.
“We got what we need though to stop all this. We’re going to get some of our friends then we’re going to take the fight back to Dagon and stop all this,” Lloyd proclaimed.
“I would not take too long. The Void Breach is nearing completion. When Dagons corruption is complete there will be no hope. Because you have tried to go against him he will punish you severely. He will turn you into his monsters to serve him and suffer for all of time; demons of darkness and destruction,” Pale-snake expressed as Pelagius came crawling up to them to rest by the fire. Pale-snakes words were unnerving to the ninja and struck at their confidence.
“The daemons are gone, turned to ash,” Pelagius proclaimed and Pale-snake expressed, “Good.”
“It shouldn’t take us long to get the others, when we find them will you come with us and help us defeat Dagon? If what others are saying is true we’re probably going to need it,” Cole asked and the serpentine looked worried. For about a minute no one talked and it seemed the serpentine were not going to offer aid.
“We lost many just trying to get out of the city,” Skales noted sounding like he was going to refuse to offer aid holding his son close to himself.
“I might not be able to see anymore but I will offer what I can, as for the others I cannot speak for them. It is a decision they must make themselves,” Pale-snake expressed.
“Will you help us?” Kai asked Skales who looked worried. All the serpentine looked scared.
“We will have to talk it over, what you are asking is such a dangerous proposition. You haven’t been there; you haven’t seen what is waiting there, what those things have done. The darkness, the nightmares, the monsters, the chains… it’s worse than a living nightmare,” Skales replied and they had a sinking feeling the serpentine were going to back out and let them face the threat alone.
“Dagon has created a fortress around his throne where he delegates to his loyal Asher servants and deals out his cruelty upon all he and his servants desire. It will be no easy feat to reach him let alone deal with him. Why do you not get some rest you will need it, head for your friends and family tomorrow, we saved your Kagaurs for you to make travel easier. Get who you can to help. Let the others discuss what they need to, I am sure they will do the right thing. I will meet you at the city when you need it,” Pale-snake expressed before leaving, his Mire-lion following him.
When they had left in the morning the serpentine had not come to a decision. It was clear the attempt to escape the city as it was controlled by Dagon and his minions had scarred them all. The ninja followed Pale-snakes advice leaving to find the others. They only hoped that he was right and the serpentine came to the right decision before it was too late. From what they had heard and seen they were in for a serious fight ahead and they could all feel they had not fully recovered from breaking the Blight curse. They kept going though; they were running out of time before it would be too late to fix things so they did not wish to waste any time. It took them nearly all day to get close to where they were headed. As they got there they quickly became aware that things looked and felt off more than everywhere else they had been.
The area had become woodier looking like dry brush land with lots of cedars, junipers and yellowed tall grasses. Where the Caves of Despair once sat looked to have had a Scimitar ruin fused to the same spot. The same darkness to the environment affecting everywhere else was present here. The clouds in the sky however seemed to be more tinted and crossed with the strange veins than usual and if it wasn’t for the light fixtures on, in and around the ruins along with some glowing flora it would have been too dark for them to properly see anything. Pelagius stopped them before they got too close to the area sensing something and wanting to get a better look. He wanted to keep them safe in case there was something wrong. The ninja had to agree with him something felt bad about the area. It reminded them of what it felt like to be in the wastes and they didn’t want to get caught in a trap. They were not going to take any unnecessary risks; not now. The ninja got off the Kagaurs and came to huddle close together by a large wall of the Scimitar ruin for shelter as Pelagius went to investigate. The wall was part of what looked to have once been a watch tower. Another watch tower was several feet away from them. It looked like the towers bordered what had once been a gate or entrance for the ruins but the structure was mainly gone leaving the ruins of the towers behind. Foliage, debris and soil had built up on the ruins adding to its abandoned look. The ninja all felt cold and nervous as they looked around not daring to venture off. The place seemed oddly quite. Only a faint wind through the foliage along with the rumbling of distant thunder could be heard both of which sounded muffled.
“I don’t like the feeling here,” Nya noted and Cole added, “yha, why would they take refuge here with these feelings in the air. You okay Zane?” Zane was looking over the ruins around them looking very worried.
“Not used to being affected by the cold like this?” Kai teased.
“A little but it is more than that. This is a Scymr ruin, I am able to sense any construct nearby. There are some, all of them are giving readings that best match with the emotion of fear. A few are communicating to me. They tell me I should leave if I want to be safe,” Zane replied getting anxious.
“Why are they telling you that?” Lloyd inquired as Jay was alerted to what sounded like rocks falling down a hillside before some debris fell off the wall above them onto his shoulder. Looking up he was shocked to see a Mire-lion looking down at him snarling. More Mire-lions then rushed out of the brush and ruins around them to corner them against the wall. A few of the Mire-lions looked to have been corrupted by the Planes energy while the rest were normal. The creatures looked ready to attack. As the Mire-lions appeared the Kagaurs took off afraid of the predators who seemed highly focussed on the ninja and ignored their potential prey.
“Not these things,” Kai moaned remembering his tussle with the one outside Balmora.
“They’re just animals, we can take them. We just have to scare them off that shouldn’t take much effort,” Lloyd commented before someone expressed, “good you found them.” The Hyenoids Razak and Ed came out of the brush nearby giving some of the Mire-lions pets as they cautiously approached the ninja. As they approached the Mire-lions relaxed like obedient dogs.
“You two?! Here to take us back to your masters? What have you done with our family and friends?” Kai challenged.
“It is not what it seems. We are on your side. We in truth serve Sheoth not Dagon. Sorry about forgetting to tell you that the last we met but things were rushed then, they are still rushed now really,” Razak pleaded quietly keeping his voice low. The two seemed very anxious.
“Why should we trust you?” Cole questioned and Razak pleaded, “We showed you what to do, we gave you freedom. We tried to keep the others safe, we are sorry really. We lost contact with our sister a while back. She was giving us inside information of Asher and necromancer plans and movements so we could help navigate them away from danger. We lost her signal; it is not even showing up anymore. They probably terminated her.” The hyenoids seemed to be showing a great deal of emotion and seemed deeply upset over the possible loss of their sister. While most of the ninja were questioning how true these emotions possibly were Zane had no doubt the hyenoids were being true and felt for them but he was confused over what to do. Cole seemed to be the only other one thinking the hyenoids were being true and not trying to trick them. After their time with the hyenoids in Holamaya Cole had come to become less judging towards these robotic beings at first glance seeing they were not just machines. The others however seemed hesitant to trust the two droids.
“What are you talking about?” Lloyd inquired hesitant to trust the two droids and Razak begged, “Sheoth sent us to be the prisoners of those you left behind so we could help them. Over a week ago though we lost contact with our sister who stayed behind with the necromancers to relay information for us then the Ashers attacked. They got everyone. The constructs helped us escape their attack so we could warn you before it is too late. You have to get out of here; the Ashers have set a trap to get you.” A commotion from nearby caught their attention. It sounded like Pelagius was in a fight. They could hear his attacks and him cursing and yelling in the Scimitar language. Zane was the only one who understood what he was saying but the others wouldn’t let him explain too focused on questioning the hyenoids. Pelagius was mad at Ashers for being present at the sight, for harming some of his fellow constructs and for their missing loved ones.
“Why should we trust you?” Kai questioned getting riled up by Pelagius’ fighting. The sound of the fighting was riling the others up. Cole felt riled up by the sound of the fighting but he was trying to remain calm to think reasonably about the situation. He could see Zane was starting to get anxious from the others not listening to him and the others were too riled up to think reasonably about the situation. Even the Mire-lions seemed to start getting anxious.
“Please we are just trying to help,” Razak pleaded getting more anxious.
“Do you know where they took everyone?” Cole inquired trying to stay calm and Razak croaked, “we do not know. Please…” The Mire-lions suddenly took off and the hyenoids began looking around frantically. The ninja along with Razak and Ed then felt an unseen and dark force wrap around their wrists pulling their hands behind themselves before pushing them onto their knees. They tried their hardest to fight this force but were getting nowhere.
“This energy…” Nya began and Cole finished, “it’s the same as in the Under-city when we were almost turned into Ash Slaves!” They were all terrified as they looked around for what was holding them. Ashers began to creep up to them out of the shadows from all around. They were very pleased with themselves. An Asher Sorcerer was among them holding its one hand towards them as it cast the spell that was restraining them. The Ashers began laughing at the ninja as they put cuffs of cursed stone on their wrists. The ninja continued to try and fight but the cursed stone prevented them from using their powers and the spell the sorcerer was using made it too hard for them to even just equip their weapons.
“We tried to warn you,” Razak groined looking at the floor as he, Ed and Misako were pulled aside and tied together with chains. Both the hyenoids looked defeated while Misako was worried. The ninja tried to fight back but it was of little use and finally gave in seeing they were doing nothing but wasting energy and hurting themselves. They knelt down as an Asher stood behind each of them holding them down feeling lost, heartbroken and defeated.
“So predictable those like you are; let your compassion lead you straight into a trap. Had to come for your loved ones to make sure they were safe, afraid to leave them to their fate,” the one Asher boasted as the sorcerer stopped its spell.
“What did you do to them? Where did you take them?” Lloyd demanded feeling broken.
“Oh don’t worry you’ll get to see them one last time before you meet your fate. Endus has a special treat for you six,” the Asher proclaimed.
The ninja were taken to Kryptarium prison along with the Hyenoids, Misako and Pelagius who had been taken out by the Ashers despite how hard he had tried fighting. The area around Kryptarium while still a desert had darkened; the sand and rock had greyed and dark often large and sharp rocks that were tainted with void energies were thrust up from the ground in many places. Dead looking shrubs or grasses and even a few dead bleached and bark-less trees could be seen every now and then. Dark off colored storm clouds covered the sky with unnatural colored lightening striking the ground in some areas now and then. In some areas sulphuric pools had formed staining the darkened ground around them with sulphur and dark corrupted plants and fungi grew near these pools or on the dead foliage. The Bounty had been parked outside the prison leaning on its one side against a large ridge made of the corrupted stones and was chained down. Void tainted Skeevers were crawling over it squabbling for scraps the Ashers were throwing on it for the creatures enjoying their fighting while Corpse-birds perched on the rigging and masts swooping down every now and then to grab some of the snacks or even one of the Skeevers to feed on. The ninja were disgusted with how the Ashers were treating the Bounty. The Ashers had turned Kryptarium into a fortress to contain prisoners. Above it a chunk of darkened land with dead vegetation floated high above the tower held in place by dark anchors which were lodged in the prisons outer walls and the ground outside; their chains attracting lighting every now and then. Dark vines like the ones they had seen in the tunnel leading to the Ashers stronghold grew up the walls and the blood grass grew on the grounds outside. The prisoners who were normally there were still there but were now joined by innocent people who were not originally prisoners; people from Ninjago, Knighton and the Lost Realm were all locked up in the prison. Some of the people in the prison looked to have come from realms outside Ninjago, Knighton and the Lost Realm revealing the great extent Dagons reach was getting. Even creatures, Scimitar Constructs and robots had been locked up. The Ashers didn’t seem to care who was stuck with who. They put regular folk in with prisoners; creatures and constructs in with people who were often scared by their non human roommates who were equally not happy to be sharing quarters with humans. The Ashers just seemed to like shoving the wrong kinds of beings together to create discomfort and trouble. The cells were filled far more than they should have been. Most of those in the cells showed signs of tainting and even full corruption by the voids energies and many of the people were dressed in ragged robes. Everyone in the cells looked upset and for many when they saw the ninja had been captured it seemed to worsen their moods making them feel hopeless and defeated. Ashers, their bone constructs, Vulcaroths, Necromancers who were showing signs that they were being turned into Ashers and other beings and monsters aligned with the Ashers were guarding the place and terrorizing the prisoners while monsters like Vesparilions, Serpent Flies and corrupted creatures like meld mutated Venom-fangs and Skeevers were hanging around in various places occasionally attacking or harassing prisoners some of the demons even feeding off the prisoners. People who had already turned into the mindless husks of the soul shriven were wandering around outside the cells slowly toiling for the Ashers oblivious to everything around them.
“What have you done to these people?” Lloyd inquired as the ninja were dragged through the place. The ninja were terribly upset, felt defeated and disturbed by what they were seeing and felt utterly hopeless. They had come so far getting what they needed and breaking a deadly curse now it was all for nothing. The Ashers had stripped them of their weapons, personal items and clothes the moment they were taken into the prison and put them in worn pale rags. They had cuffs on both their wrists and ankles made of cursed stone so they could not use their powers and it felt like the cuffs might also have been enchanted to drain their strength and energy giving them less of a will to fight. They would need a miracle to save them now.
“They will become the Soul Shriven, slaves for our use and pleasure. Many thought they could escape, hide from or fight us. Now they will see what their stubbornness and beliefs will get them,” the necromancer Onca who was leading them boasted. By her looks it appeared she was turning into an Asher.
“What are you going to do to us?” Jay shuddered. They were all shaking from a mix of fear and the unnatural cold of the environment. As they walked through the cells they scanned them looking for friends and family. They were dreading what these beings had done to their loved ones.
“We are going to make you regret all you have done. Razak and Ed will be terminated and scrapped like we did to their sister the betraying scum they are. As for the rest of you we will put you through great torment as you serve our lord as demons of the void,” Onca proclaimed as they shoved a terrified and deeply upset Razak and Ed into a random cell with a family from Knighton before taking the rest of them to a cell block that was not as full as the others. In those cells were their friends and families. All looked defeated, had been put into rags and most showed signs of the soul shriven effect the meld was creating. Skylor, Wu, and Nya and Kais parents, Coles father, Seliel, Pixal and Jays parents also wore venge stone cuffs. When they saw the ninja the realisation that all hope was lost hit them and they were clearly upset. The cells were bare, not even blankets to keep warm with and the bars of them had been made with venge stone to further block anyone’s powers. The Ashers were clearly not taking any risks with anyone.
“Don’t worry; we’ll let you all have something nice before your torment. Enjoy the company of your loved ones for one more night. Tomorrow Endus will make you all pay,” Onca boasted as they were thrown into the cells with their loved ones. Kai, Nya and Jay were thrown into a cell that held both their parents and Skylor. Zane and Cole were put into a cell with Pixal, the robotic Raven, Coles father, Seliel and her father. Lloyd and Misako were thrown into a cell with Wu where they were joined by Pelagius who had been muzzled and had a cursed stone collar put on. Pelagius came to lay curled up next to Wu clearly upset with his failure. When they were thrown into the cells the ninja wasted no time in rushing over to give their loved ones a hug and seek their comfort.
“We tried to fight them but there was too many of them,” Pixal explained as she and Zane hugged and Zane comforted, “so did we but they got the upper hand.”
“I should have told you before we left how much you meant to me. In that realm I was so worried I wouldn’t get the chance to. I love you,” Cole expressed as he hugged Seliel feeling like he didn’t want to let her go. He had worried the whole time they were gone that he wouldn’t get to tell her how he felt. Now that they were together he wanted to make sure he said what he wanted to say before it was too late.
“I had a feeling you did, it’s nice to hear you say it,” Seliel responded hugging him back.
“I’m sorry uncle, we tried. We had what we needed and we were coming to get you but they ambushed us; maybe if we weren’t weak from breaking the curse…” Lloyd started to explain to Wu trying to fight back tears as the feeling of defeat overwhelmed him while his mother comforted him.
“At least you tried; it would seem it was not meant to be. The forces of darkness were too much this time… did you say breaking the curse?” Wu expressed trying to comfort his nephew.
“What curse? Are talking of this Blight curse?” Skylor wondered as she and Kai sat next to each other holding hands while Seliel commented, “it was so strange many of us had caught it then suddenly around a week ago it just disappeared; we’ve been thinking it was some trick by these foul Ashers.”
“Oh yha you wouldn’t know. Yha turned out this daemon known as the Black Stag who was really some mutated into a void monster emperor of a dead race named Nerevar who was actually cursed by these Ashers and the Oni was the reason for the curse,” Jay blurted. Confused but interested to hear more Wu inquired, “Black Stag? You mean this daemon of the wastes we have been told of?”
“In ways he was a daemon but that is because of what the Ashers did to him. They turned him into a being of darkness and cursed him and the realm when he refused to obey them,” Zane explained as he and Pixal sat together the Raven coming to sit on their laps.
“We had to use this stone that makes light by feeding off your energy to show him the light and reveal his true name to him to break the curse,” Cole added as he and Seliel came to sit next to their fathers holding each other’s hands. Cole didn’t want to let her go.
“Yha that nearly killed us, I guess it’s better than what the alternative was,” Kai added.
“What was that?” Jays father Ed inquired and Nya responded with, “to be turned into daemons for these monsters service by succumbing to the Blights curse.”
“What?!” Wu was surprised to hear of this fact. They all were surprised by it having not heard of it before.
“The Blight had a special effect on elemental masters to give the Ashers more power for their forces. For an elemental master when they succumbed to the Blight the condition would turn them into a daemon who would obey only the Ashers doing their every bidding. Similarly if they felt you were worthy enough you could also be turned into an Ash Ghoul by the curse. The Nexo Knight Aaron was having that happen before the Stag reversed part of the curse to give him more time during the attack in Balmora,” Misako explained.
“Were you guys cursed by this Blight as well?” Ray inquired and Jay began to ramble, “Yha those Ashers cursed us when they attacked us in the wastes. The Stag saved us but the Ashers still got to curse us, well the rest of us. They had cursed Zane when we first showed up in the town of Balmora but energies from this weird and a bit creepy fence plus this strange stone the head of the town guard gave us helped slow his curse down for a while. We didn’t realise he was cursed till we were in this cursed city when he started to show the markings we thought he had just been acting weird from the Stag. He was still further ahead than the rest of us though as we were trapped in this so called evil city which actually was quite pleasant despite the title of Forbidden City though yha its ruler the demon Stag was very nasty. His droid servants were actually quite nice though some were kinda scary. Zane was lucky; we all still had some time but he was inches away from going psycho attack nuts and starting to turn into a monster from the final stages before we stopped the curse…”
“We got past all that only to fail,” Lloyd moaned.
“At least we have each other now,” Nya expressed as she sat next to Jay holding hands while they sat next to their parents.
“Sounds like you guys went through a lot in this Lost Realm,” Coles father Lou expressed and Maya added, “we were worried for you all.”
“Yha there was a lot going on. The Stag, the people in this town most of which originally hated us, all these strange creatures and droids, our allies the Nexo Knights, the Ashers who wanted to turn us into monsters to serve them every chance they got…” Cole testified. Everyone had come to sit so they faced each other despite being locked up in different cells so they could talk to and see each other.
Since they had little else to do and everyone was curious the ninja began to regale to the others the events that had occurred to them in the Lost Realm while the others listened and asked questions. When their story was done the others regaled to them what had occurred after they left. They talked till late in the night. Regaling all they had gone through brought them some comfort and made them feel better. They continued to talk telling their stories till real late in the night. Even though they all dreaded what was going to came at some point they all managed to fall asleep dreading what the next day was to hold. None of them got a good night’s sleep.
In the morning the ninja were dragged into the center of the prison and forced to kneel in front of a platform that had been put around the central tower in the main cell block which though still standing had chunks broken out of it and dark vines like the ones they had seen in the tunnel leading to the Ashers stronghold growing up it. Their friends and family were brought out with them to watch before they were to be turned into soul shriven. Pelagius, the Raven and the hyenoids Razak and Ed were brought out as well. Everyone in the cells around them were watching worried; even most of the original prisoners who were still in the prison looked to be worried for the ninja as well. Many of them didn’t wish to join or live in a world dominated by these Ashers or their master. Around the outer wall of the room were various torture devices and some people and creatures that the Ashers had stuck in stockades or tied to posts for torture. Standing on the platform by the center of the area was an Asher Sorcerer who they guessed was this dreaded Dagoth Endus, said to be the most ancient, powerful and cruellest of the Ashers. He defiantly looked more ragged, worn and dark than the sorcerers they had seen before. Onca stood next to him and many Ashers had gathered around on the ground and walk ways to watch and cheer on Endus. An elephant sized Ash Crawler crouched next to the central tower.
“So this is it? What kind of dark twisted things do you think they will do to us?” Jay fretted as they were dragged out and forced to kneel in front of Endus.
“I don’t know and I don’t want to think about it… it would take a miracle to save us now,” Lloyd mumbled depressed by their failure. Ashers stood behind each of them holding a venge stone dagger to their backs to make sure they didn’t try anything. With a raise of his hand Endus silenced everyone around them before Onca addressed the crowd.
“These foul dragons thought they could deny our master and threaten his life now they will pay the price for their treachery. They will face decades of torture as they are turned into daemons to serve his majesty,” Onca declared and the Ashers cheered. Everyone else was deeply upset. While Onca talked and the Ashers cheered Cole thought he saw one of the Ancestor Wing creatures flying around the tower before it flew over to land on the outer wall near the Ash Crawler who showed no sign of seeing the creature. The creature kind of looked like the one he had seen in the vault but he brushed it off thinking it was just shadows playing tricks on him. He doubted one of those little creatures would be hanging around here.
As the crowd quieted down a muffled commotion could be heard elsewhere in the prison. Some of the Ashers laughed stating things like, “sounds like the fights are starting early today” and “sounds like the daily torments are off to a good start” as they laughed.
“Sounds like things are off to a good start today; why don’t we get started,” Onca boasted to Endus who didn’t show any emotion, at least none they could recognise from its horrid and grotesque face. Endus began to chant out a spell. The ninja just stared at the ground feeling to ashamed and down to look at anyone else while their friends and family could only hopelessly watch wanting to do something to stop what was going to happen but knowing there was nothing that could be done. While beginning the spell Endus suddenly paused for a second getting distracted by a sudden change in behaviour of some of the inmates. The creatures, droids and constructs which just seconds earlier had been cowering in their cells were now going nuts aggressively throwing themselves into and attacking the bars of their cells as if trying to break them scaring the people who shared their cells. Even hardened criminals were scared. Pelagius and the Raven seemed affected by the behaviour of the others. Pelagius was anxiously looking around as if expecting to be attacked while the Raven cawed and kept trying to bite and peck at the one restraining it trying to break free. Even the Ash Crawler seemed affected as it looked over the cells at the strange behaviour looking to be nervous.
“Never mind them; stupid things probably are just upset that they’ve lost. They cannot stop us now no matter how hard they try,” Onca declared not caring about the strange behaviours. Endus didn’t seem convinced by her words hesitating before continuing. He seemed to ponder over what was going on for a second. He started back up and as he continued his spell the sky started turning a blood red as he went on. Glowing Asher symbols appeared beneath and in a circle around the ninja as the clouds above them began to circle over them. The ninja began to feel strange. They started to get light headed and things looked blurry. They were feeling a strange tingling in their extremities as parts of their skin started to darken. As the ceremony went on the creatures and constructs seemed to be getting more worked up and some cell bars were starting to break out of place worrying some of the Ashers who started to wonder if they should do something. Pelagius abruptly turned aggressive like the others and managed to break free of those holding the chains clipped to his collar breaking the chains. He rushed up the tower to perch atop it a dark smoke coming from the seams between flesh and metal. Endus stopped the ritual getting distracted by Pelagius’s behaviour. As he stopped the ninja felt whatever he had been doing to them cease and the darkened patches on their skin receded. Everyone looked at Pelagius who roared at Endus then reared up with his wings out and tail curved up in a threat display. He had developed a dragon aspect but unlike his normal icy one this one was dark and sinister looking. The Ashers were unnerved by Pelagius’s appearance, even Endus and the Crawler seemed affected though Endus seemed curious instead of fearful. Everyone else was confused and a little unnerved. What was driving everything crazy?
“Okay maybe something’s not right,” Onca mumbled sounding a little worried before what sounded like something being rammed into the concrete wall closest to where the Ash Crawler stood began to be heard. The spot was where Cole had seen the Ancestor Wing which was now nowhere to be seen had landed. It sounded like something big was on the other side of the wall. The Ash Crawler was clearly disturbed by the events and was starting to cower by the tower as cracks started to appear in the wall. Slowly with every hit the cracks grew before chunks of the wall were sent flying as a large hole was smashed through it. Debris was flung some distance into the yard as a dark fog that brought a chill to the environment started rolling out from the hole into the yard. The fog was cold and had an eerie feeling to it. There appeared to be nothing but darkness on the other side. After a few seconds a pair of glowing blood red eyes appeared in the darkness before a creature they recognised from the Lost Realm slowly stalked out of the darkness its eyes burning bright, its teeth bared and glistening in the light and snarling with drool hanging from its jaws. It was a Fear! One of the realms most dreaded creatures. The creature let out a roar as it entered the yard and seemed to instantly become focused on the Crawler which looked unsure of how to react. Everyone was scared unsure what to do not wanting to catch the Fears attention.
“A Fear! I thought they were extinct,” Onca moaned slowly starting to back away from her place next to Endus who seemed confused more than scared. The ninja were confused and scared over what was going on wondering if they should risk an escape attempt. The Ashers holding them however were not backing down, they looked confused not scared, and still held the daggers to the ninjas backs. The Fear roared at the Crawler before rushing at it and getting into a fight with it. From the start it didn’t look like the fight was going in the Crawlers favour. It was getting tossed about and slammed into the ground and walls as the Fear gripped the creature by its neck with its massive jaws and scythe clawed hands. The Crawlers tongue couldn’t pierce the Fears hide while the Fears jaws could grip the crawler with some serious force and prevented the Crawler from being able to properly move in the fight. By this time some creatures and constructs had managed to escape their cells smashing out the bars and threatened the Ashers closest to them. Onca and a couple of the Ashers on the ground tried to escape the chaos but a group of hyenoids one of which looked to have been one of the Stags Samurai and some nindroids led by a Venom-fang fabricant jumped down from the second row to cut them off and encircle them.
“You are not going anywhere you foul Deadric spawn,” the samurai hyenoid growled at the group. They attempted to break away from the group but the droids were quicker than the group and managed to de-arm them turning their weapons against them. Being defeated the group surrendered. By now the Fear managed to clamp its jaws over the Crawlers head with its forepaws helping hold the head in place. The skin around where the Fears teeth sunk into the Crawlers skin oddly seemed to be developing a frost, it made no sense. Fear did not poses elemental powers so what was causing the frost to develop. The Crawler attempted to paw itself free before a deep cracking noise caused it to suddenly stop and disintegrate into ash and burned bones. The Fear dropped the skull which was coated with a dark ice, crushed into several pieces and had puncture marks through the bones where the Fears teeth had sunk into it. The pieces were cracked and deformed from the strength of the Fears bite. The Fear now looked at Endus snarling. Endus seemed to pick up on something no one else had as he stared into the Fears eyes.
“This is no Fear,” Endus proclaimed in a dark unnerving voice before throwing a spell at the creature as it started to charge at him. The spell hit the creature which burst into a dark misty mass that just hung in the air where the creature had been.
“You’ll let the ninja go if you know what is good for you,” a familiar voice proclaimed giving the ninja a warm feeling. When they looked back they were surprised yet elated to see Clay holding from behind his blade to the throat of one of the Ashers that was holding them in place while Aaron shot the others with his icy bolts. Axl, Lance and Macy were freeing their friends and family from the Ashers nearby. The knights were dressed in ninja like attire while using their shields and the special weapons they had been given to take out the Ashers. Clay took out the Asher before he and Aaron helped the ninja up and helped take off the cuffs.
“Boy are we glad to see you,” Lloyd proclaimed getting a warm feeling of hope and Clay proclaimed, “same to you. We’re here to rescue you.”
“Nice getups,” Kai stated and Aaron boasted, “We couldn’t let these bruisers know we were coming; it’s a lot stealthier to sneak in here wearing these than our usual attire.”
“I’m guessing you found who you needed?” Jay inquired as the knights freed them and their loved ones and they came together.
“Yha we got lucky Sheoth had brought our friends and family to be protected by the son of this Dragon Master in the Dragon Guards temple till we could come for them. After we got them someone got the sense you were in danger so we hurried here. Looks like we made it just in time,” Macy explained as they looked at the dark mass which Endus had come close to inspect.
“Endus, I should have guessed it would be you here. Dagon would have never trusted anyone else with this task. You have always been his right hand, a deeply loyal servant to the Oni. It was you who set in motion the reptilian wars. What lies did you and your foul allies fill those snakes’ heads with? It was you who sent the assassin after Mystara. You sent the Crawler after the ninja and cursed them. You showed Dagon how to start the Plane Meld. What other dark deeds have you done that many do not know of,” the Stags voice boomed seeming to come from everywhere before a dark arm reached out of the mass and grabbed Endus by the neck to lift him off the ground. The ninja had a feeling who that was from. Their feelings were confirmed as the mist cleared into the form of the Stag in his Stag headed man form holding a spear in his left hand, a cap draped over his shoulders and holding Endus who was squirming to be let go clearly terrified in his right hand. Despite what they had gone through with him they were happy to see him. The Ashers were terrified and many of the people were spooked by his presence still seeing him as an entity of evil.
“So you thought you had won did you not. Thought you could make everything go your way. I think it is time you spawn of the Oni learn you cannot get everything to go your way. I finally have you rate where I want you Endus. There is no escaping this time demon,” the Stag growled as Endus squirmed and seemed to be uttering something in the Ashers language.
“Plea all you want I will show you no mercy. You have never showed anyone else mercy. You have spread nothing but darkness, evil and hate since your spawning you deserve no mercy,” the Stag growled back to Endus who was starting to have a dark ice grow on parts of his skin as he continued to plead with the Stag.
“You are right, you did make me. It is your dark magic that created me and Dagon but do not think that means I have any cares for you. I never asked to become this, to be a demon but you gave me no choice so I will do the same to you. Actions have consequences, remember what you sow Endus because you have to eventually reap it. Remember this Endus as you plead for mercy you made me into this darkness now you will face the consequences of your actions. I may be on the side of light but do not think for one second that I am like them. I will not spare those who do not deserve it,” the Stag proclaimed before tightening his grip on Endus crushing his neck and sending cold dark energy through him causing him to burst into a frosted cloud of dark ash. The Stag then focused his attention to the necromancers and Ashers the constructs had cornered. He cast a spell at them which seemed to suck some sort of energy from them. The Ashers burst into ash while the Necromancers fell down unconscious as the Stag finished his spell the corruption Dagon had placed on them gone. He then turned to the ninja and knights.
“Come let us get out of this cursed place,” he commanded.
“It’s surprising how glad we are to see you,” Cole remarked as the Stag began to lead them out of the prison and Lloyd mentioned, “what about everyone they’ve taken prisoner?”
“Leave them. It is safer for most of them to stay here. The best thing you can do for them all is destroy Dagon. For now the Scimitar Constructs and other robotic denizens will keep this place in order and safe. It will be a while before the Ashers brave coming here,” the Stag explained as they headed out. As they made their way out of the prison the ninja, their friends and family, the knights and the Stag took out any Asher, their monsters or necromancer they came across aiding the many beasts and robotics that had freed themselves and were attacking the enemies causing chaos and destruction throughout the prison while the people largely fled trying to find a safe place to shelter from the fighting. Those that were brave enough were joining the beasts and constructs taking up anything they could to fight back the monsters and free others. The Stag would suck the corruption from any of the necromancers they came across leaving them unconscious but alive and free of Dagons corruption.
“When they come to the realisation of what has been going on and what they were becoming will hit them. Most will be horrified with the truth,” the Stag noted as he drew the corruption out of them.
“Is it just you guys here?” Cole inquired as they moved through the prison stopping only to free friends, family, allies, any elemental master or anyone they felt would be able to aid them in the fight to come from Ninjago, Knighton, the Lost Realm and other realms that they could find. They were going to need their help to infiltrate Dagons fortress.
“Somewhat, Robin and Ava are managing the Fortrex outside and helping Merlok and Jestro who are keeping the way out clear with some of our relatives. We also brought something special,” Clay explained as they exited the prison. Many of the Ashers and their allied monsters who had been on guard outside had already been taken out and a few were left trying to get onto the Fortrex where Jestro, Robin who was using his Black Knight mech and Robo-bill Merlok were trying to keep them away joined by a few of the knights relatives including Macys mother and father, Axl’s parents, Lances younger sister and Clays younger brother. They were outnumbered but trying their hardest. The Ashers had summoned some burning skeletons and had some of their dark monster allies fighting with them trying to get into the ship.
“You made it out that’s good, we could really use your help,” Jestro’s voice came through the communicators the knights wore as they exited the prison.
“Is that ship over there yours? It looks like a really cool ship, reminds me of that Strider vehicle. Do you think you could let me study it?” Robin asked through the communicator.
“Later, we have our mission to complete first. Let’s first work on getting out of here,” Clay told them before Kai asked, “what about our stuff like our clothes and weapons? What about the secret weapon?”
“Don’t worry before we started the attack we had some of the small nimble constructs like the Robo-bills and Serpetons collect them and sneak them onto the Fortrex for you,” Macy explained as they headed towards the Fortrex.
“What about the Bounty?” Nya wondered and the Stag declared, “do not worry water dragon we will not forget your ship. Knights get your kin to board your vehicle and start the retreat we will take the dragons sky ship to get us and those we’ve rescued out of here.” As he spoke he used a spell to break all the chains off the ship which scared the creatures roosting and hanging around it away. The moment the Ashers realized the ninja had escaped they turned their attention from the Fortrex to the ninja giving those defending it a chance to get aboard and start their retreat. The Ashers and their allies abandoned the ship and started to head towards their group who prepped themselves to put up a defence.
“Wait,” the Stag spoke holding his arm out to stop them looking up at something.
“Why we could probably take them,” Lloyd objected as they came to a stop before the sound of something large and metallic landing on the walls of the prison caught everyone’s attention.
“We need not waste our energy on them, let him deal with them,” the Stag proclaimed as they looked up to see a Scimitar Dragon perched atop the prisons walls.
Scimitar Dragon:
“Is that…” Zane began before Aaron cut him off to explain, “yha Cyber bro Vahlok the Scimitar Dragon. Kiki sent him to help us.” The Ashers were staring up at the robotic dragon slowly backing away nervous as it looked at them. A deep voice came from the dragon as it spoke a few words in the Scimitar tongue at the Ashers its eyes changing from green to an icy blue color before it sprayed a frosty breath over the Ashers turning them to dust. It aided by Pelagius held back and kept the focus of the Ashers and their allies while their group made their escape to the Bounty. Once everyone was on board they wasted no time in getting the Bounty up and following the Fortrex. It didn’t take Vahlok and Pelagius long to finish off the Ashers and monsters. They stayed on guard waiting till they got moving. Once moving Vahlok followed the ship; Pelagius at his side.
“Let’s get going we have realms to save,” Kai exclaimed as they headed for Ninjago City.
Notes:
The Stag let the ninja get captured in order to flush out Endus in order to destroy him without Dagons interference to weaken him by removing his highly powerful right hand.
If have any questions go ahead and ask I do not bite. I will try to answer them, I will however not give away spoilers.
Chapter 54: The Impenetrable City
Summary:
They are ready to face Dagon but getting to him is going to be easier said than done.
Notes:
Pictures relating to story can be found here: https://www.deviantart.com/nerdy-hyena/gallery/72478681/story-project
They are really good and help to visually flush out several aspects of the story including environments, characters, outfits, locations, creatures and other aspects often important ones in the story. All images I post in my work can be found there if you want a better look at them. Defiantly make sure to check them out.Also if you need a refresher on creatures, flora or aspects of the environment you can check out the second chapter in this work titled 'Keikiarys Guide to the Ash Wastes'. It includes short descriptions and pictures of these things.
Parts of this section are subject to change as the prequel story is written to improve story continuity.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
A Corpse Bird flew over what had once been Ninjago City which had become fused with the capital of the Lost Realm Nirnhold and the capital of the Knights realm Knightonia. A massive structure of white nearly impenetrable stone known as the Ivory-gold tower had merged with Borg tower and the palace of Knighton at the center of this conglomerated city rising to tower over a blackish smoke that engulfed the center of the city. Halfway up this massive fused central tower a dark metal looking ring which seemed to be emitting some sort of energy within itself hung around it, large dark chains anchored the levitating ring to the ground within the city to stabilize it. The tower itself was broken a third of the way up with part of the central area being the broken floating pieces around it and the upper remains of the structure floating on a slight angle where it would normally be sitting if it was whole. Above the tower dark reddish tinted clouds rotated in a mild form of a funnel focussed on a strange dark reddish energy which shot out from the towers center into the sky above it. A few chunks of structures, chunks of land and stones hung throughout the air over the city and nearby areas. This central structure was surrounded by a large circular wall several meters away from its base inside of which the dark smoke engulfed everything obscuring much of what sat in this ring. The fog was deep with what looked like faintly and slowly moving currents moving within it. The smoke filled the ring to the height of the rings walls with some pouring over them dripping into the outer rings slowly dissipating and disappearing before they could touch the ground. Only the tallest buildings and towers from the various realms, none of which reached as tall as the central tower, could be seen poking above the fog. All were not in the best of shapes and tainted by dark energy corrupted flora growing off parts of them. On some of those that stuck above the fog aerial monsters like Corpse-birds, Noctern Crows and Gloam Harpies were perched overlooking the area and fighting amongst themselves for dominance of the area. Another circular wall sat a little further several meters out forming a second outer ring. Sandwiched between the outer and inner rings were what looked to have once been various districts where people used to live and work including one which looked to have been gardens prior to the chaos affecting the realms.
This outer ring was split into six sections each separated by walls of the same stone as the rings. Each of these sections seemed to have fallen under some strange elemental hold morphing its area and any entity living in it into a strange corrupted state matching the element that held it. One was flooded and swampy having become swamped in a five to six story deep lake. Any structures in the ring were sinking in the mud and murky waters dominating the ring. Water loving flora filled many areas of the section growing on buildings that poked above the water forming misty forests of cypresses in some spots their dark under stories dominated by reeds, cattails, swamp loving fungi and other wetlands flora some of which had glows to them adding an eerie look to the dark murky forests. Much of this flora, mosses and various algae’s grew on the structures encased in this ring with algae coating and dripping from the walls encasing the ring. Kelp with warm glowing pods, strange corals and algae’s some with glowing parts grew in the water lighting areas below the surface. Most of the fauna were aquatic and semi-aquatic and included void mutated natural fauna like fish, aquatic turtles, crocodiles, Repto-birds and jellyfish along with water loving monsters which were all co-existing rather peacefully with each other. Sea going birds and other areal creatures including Repto-birds and even some Retches along with various bugs including several color variants of torchbugs hung around and perched on buildings and the flora that grew from them. Strange floating yellowish and brightly glowing masses of energy also moved through the swamp forest areas vanishing and reappearing at random throughout the area. An eternal rain storm seemed to grip this area the clouds of which roofed the section spilling out over the walls as a mist.
In one everything was scarred by fires that seemed to have been hot enough to melt metals and the stones of the buildings inside it. Fires remained eternally burning throughout the district and charred flora and fauna dotted the place. The fires caused the air in this ring to be hot and smoky with ash from the fires frequently raining down while the ground was blackened from soot with seams resembling burning embers dotting the place. Heat and fire loving monsters roamed the place unbothered by everything some even enjoying bathing and resting in the fires. All structures in the ring were burned by fires with some still on fire. The barrier walls of the section were stained black from where fires had or were currently lapping against the walls but despite the heat these walls were intact and unaffected by the element they were containing. Dark humanoid beings, some monster race from the void, had built pyres and bonfires throughout the ring where they were relaxing unbothered by the heat and smoke alongside the monsters. Some insects, birds and reptilian creatures all of which were on fire or had been mutated by the fiery energy into fiery versions of themselves were calling this place home.
Another section was fringed by dark jagged rock spires and had the earth inside been torn open leaving a lava filled rift running through the area with a lake of lava in the one corner. Fungi and petrified flora grew about the crumbled remains of structures which looked to have been collapsed by earthquakes and impacts from large rocky debris. A miniature volcanic mountain sat in the one corner grown onto the wall of its boundaries that spewed lava that flowed down into the ring. Sulphuric pools were scattered about and volcanic vents and fissures were randomly scattered throughout. Rocky arches, pots and cliffs that looked to have been formed of lava decorated the place some bearing burning cracks and seams revealing they weren’t fully cooled yet decorated the place. Heat loving and rocky monsters roamed the place unbothered by the heat, soot, volcanic gasses and sparseness. Vulcaroths lay like gators in the pools of lava, mutated and void born fish swam in the sulphuric pools while geothermally tainted birds and Repto-birds and fiery glowing insects flew through the air and perched on structures.
Ice coated another district. This ring looked to be engulfed by an eternal winter the walls that edged the ring encased by towering sheets of ice that boasted many large jagged ice peaks on their tops a cold mist emanating from the ice spilling over the walls and dissipating into the section next to it. Everything in this section was scarred by the ice and cold. Damaged buildings dripped with icicles and were partially buried in snow drifts up to a story or two tall in some spots. There were dark tainted chunks of ice that emitted icy and void colored glows from their cores scattered around the place like mineral deposits providing light to the place. Most water in the zone was frozen or had chunks of ice on them with ice tainted fish and crustaceans dwelling within them. Snow coated conifers and other cold tolerant trees were scattered about forming a scattered forest while freezing mists hung in lowered areas. Various plants poked through the snow while cold loving lichens, mosses and fungi grew on structures and flora throughout the ring some of them giving off cool glows. Any fauna in the region was corrupted by the ice and cold being frozen often with shards of ice erupting from or coating parts of their skins. Beings made entirely of ice and cold tainted monsters roamed the place unbothered by the cold. The ring was gripped by eternal blizzard like conditions of blowing and falling snow mixed with ice rains while lightening giving icy clouds swirled and flowed over the area.
Electricity danced through another. This areas soils were bare and both soils and crumbling structures bore patches where lightening from the continuous electrical storm that swirled over it continued to strike. Much of the flora was dead and charred some eternally burning inside from continued lightening strikes. Those that appeared alive were odd colored darkened often with glowing electrical yellow parts or crackings on them. A few of the flora mainly some fungi had even developed the ability to use electricity in attacks or for defence. Any water in the section was a stunning bluish color and electrified electrical tainted fish and other aquatic creatures like jelly fish calling the waters home. Various creatures mainly reptilian, insect and avian who were tainted by the electrical energy hung about the area some taking to resting by enjoying the heat from the burned areas and burning foliage caused by the continuous lightening strikes unbothered by the lightening. Some groups of tainted Retch creatures peacefully floated through the section unbothered even when they got struck by lightning. Some stones in the section were highly attractive to the lightening not only drawing lightening to them but having glowing yellowish seams to their dark metallic materials which glowed brighter for a while after they were struck.
The last section seemed vibrant and pleasant only hiding the true horrors of it. The place looked like a jungle dominated by foliage that coated the grounds and structures. The foliage however while looking unaffected and thriving upon closer inspection revealed seems of energy that was a dark purplish in color running through their trunks and into their other parts. Many dripped with toxic and corrupting plasmas that tainted anything they dripped on with void corruptions. The fauna of the region all appeared to be made purely of energy looking spectral and a void green in color. The water in this section was a strange electric greenish color and seemed to move and react like a strange energy more than water. Under the forest canopy dark tentacles like those of the Ashers tunnels coated the ground and wound up the flora and outer walls in some areas emitting a dark mist which created a fog close to the ground. Seems of energy which started as the dark purple close to the ground fading up into green the higher up they went were carved into many of the structures and the twisted and jagged rocky spires that had erupted from the ground.
In each of these strange districts there appeared an area almost like a roost or den where something seemed to reside as its ruler. In the watery section it was a nest under some large cypresses made of kelp decked over some tall buildings that had been crumbled and manoeuvred to create a nest that stuck as a platform out of the water. In the fiery ring it was a divot in the land surrounded by tall fires the ground of which was made of burning embers. In the rocky region it was a pit with a geothermally heated ground with a large rocky overhang that jutted up over half the pit to shelter it. In the icy region it was a section nestled and sheltered in some massive trees various logs and animal pelts coating the ground to make a nest. For the electric zone it was a cave made from several buildings having been broken and manoeuvred into a cave shape. For the energy zone it was a cave formed by strange dark tainted rocks that had some of the strange flora along with the dark vines growing on it. Whatever the rulers for the sections were though were not there now but by the size and shape of the nests they clearly were big and not humanoid. In these zones monsters could be seen along with some beasts and soul shriven all of which were touched by the elemental energy that gripped the region they had found themselves in. As examples those in the frosted region were frozen to semi-frozen beings, those in the fiery region all looked burned or made of fire and burning embers and the ones in the rocky region appeared to be made of burning stones, lava or rock.
Outside the rings the city continued on for some distance. Structures mainly from the Lost Realm, Knighton and Ninjago made up the city. Some structures looked to have come from other realms. While the structures close to the center showed damages they were in much better states than those around the city’s outskirts. As the city stretched further out from the center it slowly got more damaged and decayed looking till the outermost regions where things were in serious states of destruction. Some structures close to the shore including the docks had sunken, collapsed into the sea, were leaning into the ocean or starting to sink into the swampy soils of the coast. Flora that was often corrupted and tainted along with vines of dark nature were quickly overtaking the outskirts of the city. In the regions closest to the inner structures people, serpentine and other humanoids of the realms who had not been fortunate enough to escape the Ashers hold had been turned into the soul-shriven or Ash Slaves and were toiling for their dark masters oblivious to everything. Along with them corrupted creatures and monsters like Shambles, Hungers, Vulcaroths, Skeletons, Ash Spawn, Dreadcondas, half woman half spider monstrosities, humanoid beings of the void and many others were crawling around the city alongside Ashers and people aligned with them like vampiric beings and necromancers. Many of them were patrolling looking for those who thought they could escape detection or trying to flee the chaos. Humanoids were working and forcing their captured to work in creating weapons, armour and various vehicles and contraptions for their reign. The closer flora and fauna went to the ringed inner section of the city the more corrupted and unnerving they looked. By the outer most ring of the inner fortress Dagon had built most trees looked to be dead or had their leaves become darkened and off color with darkened grass some with blood red tips, twisted glowing shroom like plants and dark vines grew throughout the area slowly turning into less affected flora by the cities outskirts. Any water in or near the city was either reddish and foul, dark and murky, yellowish and sulphuric or an eerie glowing icy blue. The outer most regions of the city had become dark, swampy, and overgrown with twisted trees, large shrooms, darkened grasses and half dead looking plants where un-dead beings and soul-shriven seemed to be mindlessly wandering unaware of everything around them. Ruins of buildings from at least three different realms and of various ages and in various stages of destruction littered the swamp with plants and fungi growing over them. Sharp and dark rocks had jutted up from the ground throughout the area becoming homes for meld corrupted Skeevers and other hardy corrupted small critters that had managed to escape the attentions of the monsters patrolling the place. Corpse Birds and other avian scavengers some of which appeared to be of the un-dead variety circled above the city and surrounding area looking for anything to pick at navigating as they soared around the floating rocks and debris that floated above it. Along with these was a massive un-dead partly skeletal half corpsen serpentine looking dragon which was patrolling the inner most reaches of the city; Dagons pet.
The Corpse Bird made a few circles at various heights around the city and through the elemental sections before heading off away from it. It flew some distance from the city before choosing a dense dark wooded area at the edges of this city to enter. The woods were thick and swampy filled with large sickly looking trees and even some trees that looked to be made of stone. Shrooms of various sizes including many glowing species along with mosses, lichens and ferns filled the damp dark forest understory. Within it the creature found what looked like the ruins of a small castle to perch on. As it came to land atop the castle it shifted its form from a Corpse Bird into a Racer Fabricant as it shut off its cloak and looked around.
“Pelagius is back,” Cole expressed from where he stood on lookout peering through a large tattered canvas they had stitched together and thrown over some scaffolding they had erected over the drawbridge to act as both a shelter and a hide. They had taken leaves, logs, mosses, rocks, broken pieces of buildings and mud and put them on and over the Fortrex to make it look like an abandoned structure to hide it from possible Asher patrols. So far they had not seen any but they didn’t wish to take any chances. After their escape from Kryptarium they had wasted no time in heading for the capital where Dagon had constructed his stronghold and hid within. Knowing they were in for a great deal of trouble they had decided to scout out what they were about to face before heading in. The Bounty they had anchored outside this forest on the rocky coast which seemed to be bathed in a dense fog. The ninja, knights and some of their families and friends then headed out on the Fortrex to get closer to the city to scout out the area leaving the rest of those they had gathered on the Bounty till they were ready to start the assault. The Fortrex they had come to park in the tall dark forest to which realm it came from they were unsure. All they knew was the ground was swampy; the forest was dark, a bit misty and hard to navigate making it a good place to hide.
Cole held the curtain open for Pelagius who wasted no time in dropping down to the ground before crawling into the hide and into the Fortrex. Cole led him straight to the command center where Zane and Ava hooked him up to the Fortrexs computers so they could see what Pelagius had seen. The ninja along with the knights, Robo-bill Merlok, Wu, the Stag, Misako, Robin, Ava, Seliel, Jestro, Pixal and Skylor were waiting there for Pelagius’s report. The rest of their friends and families were elsewhere on the ship. Once hooked up Pelagius broadcasted what he had seen. They were all shocked and disturbed at the sights.
“What has happened to the city?!” Jay exclaimed.
“Dagon has fused your Ninjago City and Knightonia with Nirnhold, the capital in our world,” the Stag explained and Pixal noted, “There are things that do not match from any of our realms there as well.”
“That is because he is starting to draw in other worlds, eventually all will become his targets,” the Stag explained and Lloyd commented, “what kind of dragon is that?” The dragon patrolling the city resembled a nightmarish highly serpentine looking wyvern monstrosity with large parts of it looking decayed exposing bones and dried tissues beneath particularly on its snout and feet. Its serpent like head had two sets of horns on the skull. These were short and twisted with the upper set being longer than the bottom. Its wings were all tattered, its eyes a burning sickly void green and lifeless and its original colors gone having turned into sickly rot green and brown scales and skin much of which looked to be dripping off its gaunt form. Across its hide flesh was missing in patches with the flesh of the snout and feet being gone revealing the charred bone beneath. The belly area and into the ribcage was gone exposing flesh and bone within and part of the ribcage was exposed. Sickly void green markings glowed on parts of its flesh mainly on the neck and tail and the flesh that remained was a sickly brown green rot color.
“Nidgrumndir the end bringer the living extinction, Dagons pet formed from the lifeless husk of the dragon used to create me and fused with the darkest and foulest of energies to destroy all Dagon sets it upon,” the Stag regaled before Aaron wondered, “what is that knarly looking tower?”
“Whatever it is it has been fused with Borg tower,” Nya noted and Macy added, “And my home the palace of Knighton.”
“I do believe those structures along with this Lost Realms notable structure the Ivory-Gold Tower have been fused into a massive single structure,” Robo-bill Merlok who was standing next to Wu offered.
“What is this Ivory-Gold Tower?” Kai inquired.
“The Ivory-Gold Tower also called the Ivory tower sits at the heart of Nirnhold. It dates to the times of myth, many claim it has magical properties but no one knows who built it or why,” Zane explained and the Stag added, “That Tower along with its surrounding walls are said to be indestructible or close to it. It has only been known to have been breached twice, once by an army of Oni before they vanished from our world then by the great darkness and his stone army before the Dragon Guard wiped them out a while back.”
“That doesn’t sound good, how then are we going to get into the city,” Clay wondered and Lloyd added, “I doubt we would be able to breach its walls. We’re still not fully recovered from breaking the curse.” As they talked Pelagius, Zane, Pixal and the Stag noted a small winged serpent, an Ashen Hist Python, slither up onto the computers control board and curl up to rest on it.
“Given the forces dwelling there I do not think it would be wise to perform a frontal attack on the city,” Zane noted and Wu added, “indeed, if we want to have any chance of reaching this Dagon and facing him then we need to not be found.”
“The son of the First Spinjitsu Master is right. You will need to conserve your energies for the fight against Dagon. He will not be easy to take on and it is likely with your escape from their prison they will be on high alert waiting for us. He likely will have the corrupted Dragons at his side along with anyone else of great strength or power that he has corrupted or side with him,” the Stag explained.
“So what then are we to do? How do we get in unseen and find Dagon?” Lloyd inquired.
“Where do you think he’s hiding?” Macy wondered and Cole offered, “probably in that tower.”
“Yha defiantly seems like a place he’d be; at the heart of the mess,” Kai inputted and Aaron stated, “He’s probably created a throne room in that crazy conglomerate. Hey if this Nirnhold is here then are the old Scymer ruins they said sit below the city here too?”
“The serpentine have all sorts of tunnels beneath Ninjago City as well,” Nya added and Macy joined, “plus there is also a bunch of old tunnels beneath my father’s palace. They’re probably there too.”
“Not to mention sewers, filthy lowly sewers,” Lance noted disgusted by the thought of sewers and Seliel explained, “We met some of the serpentine; they did mention that strange ruins dominated by Scimitar Constructs along with strange passages they didn’t recognise had appeared below the city.”
“Then that is our way in, we find an entrance and we can get in,” Skylor expressed and the Stag regaled, “I remember those ruins, I once dwelled there when I was still just a Scymer. The place was designed to be a fortress with many hidden exits in case of attacks. I do not know how many are still accessible. Even if we do find one however it will not be easy to navigate the depths there. Fusion between the ruins, tunnels and sewers will have created quite a mess not to mention the any great number of beings and forces that could now dwell down there. It might take us some time to navigate our way to the heart of that mess.”
“Indeed and we do not know if Dagon has the underground guarded,” Wu advised.
“I could not sense what lies beneath the city but given he has turned this place into a fortress I do not think he would leave any part of it unguarded,” Pelagius inputted.
“True but we might be able to draw his attentions elsewhere. If a large enough force was to attack the city above ground it could draw his forces out from the tunnels. While they are distracted a small group could potentially slip through the ruins beneath unseen. The big problem however would be navigating the underground to find our way into the tower. The fusion of subterranean structures will likely have created a maze that will be difficult to navigate and require time to get through. We would need a considerably sized force to distract them long enough to allow those below to navigate their way to the center of that mess,” the Stag hypothesized.
“I doubt we have enough people; even if civilians and children helped to distract them. We wouldn’t last long,” Clay noted and Lloyd added, “We haven’t heard back from the serpentine yet, we asked them if they would help when we last saw them but they seemed too scared to offer aid.”
“I would not count them out as allies just yet,” the Stag mentioned motioning to the Hist Python that lay on the computer.
“A snake?! How long has that been there?” Jay wondered startled as everyone took note of the serpent.
“The past few minutes,” Zane noted as noting something was strapped to its back Lloyd went over to pick the item off the snake. It was a note.
“What is it?” Kai inquired and Lloyd responded surprised, “it is a letter from Skales, the serpentine have agreed to join us!”
“Never underestimate the courage of the fallen,” the Stag noted before Nya expressed, “that may be good but still our forces are not large enough to stand against all those things there. I doubt many of them could stand against some of those monsters as well…”
“Yha, we didn’t fare too good against one of those Hunger things last time we faced one…” Cole noted and Aaron added, “not to mention there are plenty of sorcerers and crawlers there too. Trust me they can do some pretty nasty stuff to you if they catch you.”
“We might be able to bring some from our world here, not to mention a lot of the hyenoids in Holamaya were quite eager to get back at the Ashers for what they did to Juib,” Macy expressed and Zane noted, “Indeed they would. Juib meant a lot to them, it is only natural they seek to avenge him but even with their help we will still need added reinforcements to keep them sufficiently distracted for long enough.”
“I wonder…” the Stag thought aloud looking at the images on the screen prompting Wu to inquire, “What are you thinking?”
“I share powers with both Dagon and the Ashers, the same dark powers they used to corrupt and control the people. I might be able to use those same powers to turn their aids against them,” the Stag proposed. They all paused to think of it.
“That would work, but it seems cruel,” Jay expressed and Nya added, “those people are already being used and tortured.”
“True but this will be for their freedom to end their torment,” Lloyd noted and the Stag added, “A necessary evil.”
“These forces combined could buy us some time but they will likely be quick to deduce we are coming and take action to stop us once any attack starts,” Zane noted.
“Indeed, the best course of action would be to time the assault outside for when those that sneak beneath are closest to their destination in order to have a chance to successfully confront Dagon,” Pixal noted.
“It would be best for as small a group as possible to attempt to enter from these passages beneath the city, the more there is the more likely we will be spotted,” Wu added.
“I deduce that it is wisest that the ninja navigate beneath alone with the Stag, his dark energy could hide their energy of the dragons from any dark forces hidden beneath. The rest should wait above for a signal to start the attack,” Pelagius inputted.
“Indeed that would seem a wise decision,” the Stag noted. The ninja were a little apprehensive of this idea though they didn’t openly voice anything. They were still uncomfortable with the Stag still remembering what he had done to them during their time in the city and still unsure if his dark nature was truly fully gone. They could see the knights were not liking that idea either but no one was brave enough to voice their doubts aloud nervous of the Stags reaction.
“We could talk over who goes where some more but I think it best we get this over with as soon as possible before it is too late. By morning we should be ready to make a move,” Clay stated.
“Agreed, the Meld has gotten considerably far already, it will be best not to wait any longer. We will send a message to the serpentine through this winged snake and find a way to get those of the Lost realm and Knighton who seek to help here by tomorrow then we will make our assault,” Wu agreed.
By what would have been sunrise they made their way to their positions. The dark corrupted conditions made it nearly impossible to tell time. The ninja and the Stag were going to navigate beneath the city while everyone else waited above ready for a signal to advance for a frontal attack. All those they had gathered to assault the city were waiting throughout the outskirts of the dark swampy lands that had come to encompass the outer regions of the city. They were waiting in various sized groups which were hiding in the various ruins and buildings of the outskirts waiting for the signal to start an attack. Despite being hidden many were on edge worried of being found. Un-dead and corrupted beings populated these outer swamp lands but they luckily didn’t seem to care or even be aware of any of those hiding there. The Ashers and there monsters however did seem to at the least be alert for the possibility of threats even though most weren’t actively searching locations for anyone. Most these monsters were forcing soul-shriven individuals to work for them, tormenting them, were causing chaos and destroying things or what looked to be training. Some of the Ashers were training corrupted beasts like corrupted Venom-fangs and Mire-lions for use in combat. Some Ashers and dark humanoids of the void were patrolling the streets and they weren’t alone. Many of the monstrous creatures deemed as demons were also patrolling the streets and even the air on alert for trouble. These patrols luckily were not being very observant and were not looking into structures nor seemed very interested to investigate any strange sounds or sights. They did however make it more difficult for their forces to infiltrate the city taking many longer than they expected to get to the locations they had chosen to start the assault from as they had to sneak through the areas and dodge the senses of these patrols. The ninjas friends and family, the Knights with their friends, families and allies, various people from different realms who managed to get the courage to confront the enemy, the serpentine, elemental masters from both Ninjago and the Lost Realm, Keikiary and her companion Chewy, the Vigilantes of Dawn with their Ash Walker and more of their groups members, the hyenoids Razak and Ed who were seeking vengeance for their sister, and some of the Stags constructs like his samurai and robotics infused beasts including Kozac, DJ, Divayth, Celaena, Kamdida, Barbas, Bruma, Ocheeva, the Fear-bricant, Yin and Yang along with Pelagius and the Scimitar Dragon along with many others were waiting there. Ava and Robin were with the Fortrex on the edge of some of the woods at the edge of the city. They were holding back with those who were not in any shape to fight but still wanted to help. They were going to act as a base camp where those who were injured or got over whelmed could head to in order to have some safety. They had a few who could fight staying with them just in case they needed it and Robin had gotten out his Black Knight mech to aid in protecting the site. Things were a little tense; everyone was eager to get going eager to wipe out this menace but were also terrified of possibly being found by patrolling monsters or the enemies while they waited. Even though their allies were largely peaceful with each other there was clearly still some tension between some groups. Many, even groups not from the Lost Realm, were unnerved by the Stags minions. For many the half machine half bestial state of some of them was a bit unnerving and many were wary of the hyenoids with most being scared of the Scimitar Samurai. The energy and appearance of the Samurai made a lot of them uneasy and due to years of conflict many from the Lost Realm were hesitant to interact or get near them and most present were scared of them unsure of what they were. While the energy their armour gave off did unnerve them the knights had no problem with the samurai. The ninjas friends and families were waiting together along with the knights and some of their friends and families in what looked to possibly have been a large inn, library or warehouse, it was hard to tell what it had been due to the place having been heavily ransacked, about a third of the way into the city not too far from the outer most rings of the inner city. They had managed to sneak there unseen by the enemies and were waiting for the signal to start the attack. They had been joined by some of the Stags minions including DJ, Divayth, Kozac and two of Divayths daughter-clones. The structure had two stories and most of the hyenoids had taken to the second story to observe what was going on outside. DJ, Kozac and Divayth remained on the first floor with the people.
“Did they say what the signal was going to be? How long do you think they will take?” DJ inquired impatient and eager to attack the Ashers. He was wearing some guard armour from Holamaya.
“They said we would know when,” Kozac grumbled from where he hid against a wall to peer out a door at a group of humanoid beings from the void, Zivkins, who had built a pyre from rubble on the terrace outside and were practise fighting with a few of their monsters including a Hunger, a Vulcaroth and a Noctern-crow.
“You need to be patient we do not know the extent of what lies beneath the city so it is difficult to deduce any set time,” Divayth explained going through a book on the Ivory-Gold Tower he had picked up trying to ascertain a possible way to breach the cities walls to try and give them a better attack. While the knights were fine with the three hyenoids hanging by them everyone else was nervous unsure of how trustworthy these beings were and put on edge by the enchantment of Kozacs armour.
“So you are these dreaded monsters we have heard of? Truly I was thinking you would be more… bestial machine things by the way everyone describes you,” Coles father Lou who had wanted to help out in the battle even though he wasn’t really a fighter stated to Kozac, DJ and Divayth. Him along with many of the others who were not fighters had armed and armoured themselves with anything they could find both before and during their trek through the city in order to give themselves a fighting chance.
“Really that is how the people view us?” DJ wondered and Divayth concurred, “That is but one view and it is a mild one compared to many of the descriptions I have heard of.”
“You have served under the Stag longer than anyone else how well can we trust the Stag will do the right thing and not be tempted by his darker nature?” Wu inquired. Even though the Stag claimed to now be good many of them including Wu had doubts over his character. There was still darkness to him and from what the ninja had told them he was very dangerous and unpredictable. They may have broken the curse that corrupted him but Wu was worried the darkness that had been sowed into his being from his creation could still surface and possibly lead him to side with Dagon or worse putting the ninja at risk. They all knew even in top condition the ninja didn’t stand a chance against the Stag and even though they were trying to hide it the others could tell the ninja were still not fully recovered from breaking the curse making them weak. If the Stag turned on them things would not end well.
“We do have to admit after all the years of darkness we have faced from him it is hard to shake the thought of him as that dark being but since the ninja broke his curse there definitely seems to have been a change to him. He no longer acts with the cruelty he once had and he feels different. If I was to describe it I would use the terms lighter and warmer. I do understand your worries. I would like to believe the Stag will do the right thing but I will admit I am unsure if he will be able to do that. He was consumed by darkness for so long… can he so easily shake its hold or could all those years in the darkness have tainted him,” Divayth confided.
“Not to mention the Stag and Dagon come from the same place both are children of the void… could that tie with each other influence him? I would want to think no but after serving him for so long, so used to his darkness I would agree it is hard to think he will be able to do the right thing,” Kozac stated still surveying the landscape.
“Do we have to focus on such dark thoughts now? Things are already tense enough can we maybe focus on some positivity and why do you not take your helmet off while we wait Kozac, you look too serious,” DJ stated trying to hide his nerves though not doing a good job of it. Kozac just brushed him off remaining on guard.
While everyone else was waiting the ninja were navigating their way to the heart of the fortress. Pelagius had scouted out a few possible entrances to the city that seemed unguarded and showed the best potential for taking them into the labyrinth beneath the city. The one they had chosen was a sewer entrance on the south-east side. The area had ended up as a little ravine with a dark, dense and misty swamp forest dominating it. Along with this swamp forest the area was densely populated with un-dead entities and corrupted creatures which they had to fight through to get where they needed to be. Skeletons of both people and the beast folk some coated with algae, plants or fungi, zombie like beings from various races, Shambles, Ash Slaves, un-dead creatures some which were zombie like with algae and shrooms starting to grow on their skin plus a few Hungers and a Nocturn-crow were just some of the entities they had to fight through to reach the entrance. The un-dead and creatures were easy to defeat or at least scare off though there was lots of them which made it difficult. The Hungers and Nocturn-crow were difficult for the ninja to take on even with the special weapons the hyenoids from Holamaya had given them and Dawnbringer which they had given to Lloyd. Luckily the Stag took little effort to obliterate them making their journey to the entrance much easier than it would have been without him. The sewer entrance was gated and locked but it didn’t take long for Zane to pick the lock. Despite how dark it was in the sewers and tunnels they used only a few weak lanterns to light their way. They wanted to limit any chances of being found so would have to make their way with as little light as possible.
The tunnels beneath the city were extensive and hard to navigate. It was a maze of sewers from both Ninjago city, Knighton and Nirnhold along with ruins from the Scimitar folk, natural caverns, serpentine tunnels and tunnels of other various makes both natural and artificial. Some passages were collapsed, some had foundations from buildings intersecting, breaching or merged with them. Corrupted and un-dead and void poisoned beings both animals and people, Hungers, Vulcaroths, other demon creatures and horrid creatures of pure shadow including humanoid and a highly unnerving one made by Ashers which slightly resembled an Asher Sorcerer stalked the tunnels and would attack anything not aligned with Dagon or the Ashers on sight. For most of these the ninja decided not to get into altercations with so they could save their energy and remain hidden, they did not want to give off any hints that they were there. The ninja often opted to try and find an alternative way but if it turned out they had no choice or something noticed them the Stag would take out the entities on his own while the ninja remained hidden so they would not get caught up in the fight. Nothing stood a chance against the Stag who often took out the threats within seconds using only the dark spear he had made for himself or his powers. All throughout the tunnels it was damp smelling of earth and foul water. Various plants and shrooms grew throughout the place some of which looked mutated by the melds energy. Some of these flora were from glowing varieties with their glows having been mutated into dark purplish, reddish, void green or dark bluish hues. Sounds of insects and frogs many of which sounded like they had been altered by the plane meld could be heard throughout the tunnels along with dripping water and in some areas there were mechanical sounds coming from Scimitar machinery that were part of the ruins. Much of the underground was muddy and some areas had become swampy or partially flooded where unpleasant and aggressive species of fish like Slaughterfish inhabited the waters attacking anything that entered them. The network of structures wound throughout the earth even rising and sinking giving the maze multiple layers. A couple times they had to double back after coming to dead ends, too many enemies present or obstacles they could not pass like tunnels too narrow or flooded for them to safely manoeuvre through or filled with dangerous flora that would attempt to strangle, stab, poison or shock them. Any time they came to structures like man-holes or grates the Stag would take a look above ground to help make sure they were headed in the right direction. Using his ability to shape shift he often became a small creature or mist to see in the grounds above in order to try and remain unseen.
By noon they had only made it a little over halfway to the tower. They decided then to stop for a rest. They hid in a section that was made from a fusion of Scimitar ruins, natural cave and sewer. It was muddy with plants, a few small shrooms and corrupted looking trauma roots growing all over the place; other than some rats there appeared to be no other living things nearby. They put themselves in a dead end off shoot that was partially hidden from the three way section of tunnel it was connected to. The off shoot was slightly elevated from the rest of the tunnel making it slightly dryer than the surrounding area.
“You can take a break here, I will scout ahead to see what awaits us. Stay here, do not wander and I would avoid those vines something is not right with them,” the Stag stated looking over the corrupted trauma roots as the ninja sat for a rest. While they rested pulling out the foods and drinks they had brought with them for a lunch the Stag wandered off. The ninja were damp, their clothes were muddy and they felt on edge. The whole time they had been beneath the city they felt on edge. Things felt wrong everywhere they went and they got the same horrid feelings there as they had back in the Ash Wastes of the Lost Realm but it somehow felt worse, much worse. The feelings were giving them great unease and to make it worse it often felt like they were being watched by the shadows even though they could never see any evidence of something there. Combined with the entities they kept finding beneath the city and the uncertainty of what they might find with Dagon they were highly troubled and restless. They were trying to remain quite as to not draw attention; surprisingly even Jay was managing to stay relatively quite despite being on the edge of panicking.
“What do you think this monster has waiting for us?” Jay fretted trying to speak quietly.
“Probably the worst of his goons,” Kai expressed as Cole noticed Zane looking around highly on edge and looking to be confused.
“What is it Zane?” Cole inquired.
“Something is not right here,” Zane noted continuing to look around.
“Everywhere feels like that Zane, it’s this meld,” Lloyd expressed keeping an eye out for danger.
“No it is more than that. There are Scimitar Ruins here but so far we have not seen any evidence of Scimitar Constructs even though the serpentine recalled seeing some here. Given what is lurking down here and the denizens that are ruling above they likely would have not fared well here. I highly doubt the Ashers would have scrapped them so their remains would likely lay where they fell but so far I have seen no evidence of that,” Zane noted.
“Maybe they found somewhere to hide where these monsters can’t find them,” Kai noted.
“Possibly if not…” Zane began getting lost in thought while he looked over the area.
“I wouldn’t worry too much about that, I’m more worried about the Stag,” Lloyd stated.
“Really how so?” Nya wondered and Jay blurted out trying to be quite, “he is a being of darkness and just look what he had done to us.”
“True but we broke the curse,” Cole noted and Lloyd countered, “yes but at his core he is still a being of darkness. Even before we fixed things no one knew what he wanted or his intentions…”
“So you think he has secret intentions?” Kai wondered.
“Well possibly. How are we to know he is good? He even said himself he is still a being of darkness. What if that darkness takes over, makes him side with Dagon? What if he is not helping us but leading us into a trap? You heard what the Ashers said about him how he was created to be the ultimate destroyer what if something triggers him into fulfilling that purpose? What are we to do?” Lloyd disclosed.
“You do have a point,” Cole affirmed and Nya added, “well we have the amulet and the sword. If it will work on Dagon maybe it can work on the Stag as well.” They had all been trying to ignore this thought to put the task at hand first but deep down they had all been worried of the Stag. Despite what he claimed none of them could shake the feeling that the Stag was still a being of darkness nor could they forget all he had done to them. They were worried they would have to deal with the Stag as well as Dagon. They continued to talk as they finished their lunch. While they talked Zane noted something lying in the mud of the tunnel in a swampy section half coated by algae and trauma root which looked to have become corrupted turning dark with glowing fiery cracks and streaks over its vines.
“What is it Zane?” Jay wondered as Zane got up and went to investigate what had caught his attention.
“There is something here,” Zane noted slowly lifting the trauma root to get a look under it.
“What is it? Not something else that wants to get us is it?” Jay babbled and Nya noted getting up to see what Zane was looking at, “careful with those roots Zane. I would have to agree with the Stag something is not right with these vines.” Cole and Kai also got up coming over to see what was in the muck. They could swear there did look to be something in the muck but couldn’t exactly tell what it was.
“There appears to be something metal below here,” Zane noted as Lloyd felt something slowly slide onto his right shoulder from the wall he sat against. Looking to see what it was he saw a wingless serpeton slithering onto his shoulder headed to grab the Red Diamond Amulet which he wore. He quickly picked up that something was wrong with this serpeton. It had discoloured patches of metal and a corrupted trauma root was growing from inside of it reaching out of its mouth and wrapping around its top jaw. In a panic he harshly brushed it off throwing it a few feet away. As he brushed it off his shoulder Zane had his arm grabbed by whatever was buried in the mud. It was a nindroid! It grabbed hold of his arm and refused to let go. Zane attempted to pull his arm free but despite looking in a bad shape the droid was surprisingly strong. As Zane struggled to get his arm free the muck in the tunnel around them moved. Several constructs mainly nindroids along with some hyenoids rose from the muck to shamble towards the ninja and attack. All the droids had discoloured patches to their skin and clothes with corrupted trauma roots coming out of them and wrapping around parts of their bodies. The eyes of most were dark and any whose eyes seemed to be working, which seemed too often be just one of their eyes, had an unnerving sickly greenish brown glow to them. Their movements were seriously off as well. They were not the stable calculating droids one would expect. They stumbled about and just kept swiping unarmed at anything that moved or came close to them. They showed no signs of working as a collective unit as they rushed at the ninja to attack. A few of the droids were even headless. All this lead the ninja to believe the roots were animating the constructs, most of which had been deactivated or were dead. Eerily the roots coming out of them kept reaching out from their hosts and tried to grab at the ninja.
“Looks like we found what happened to some of those constructs for you Zane,” Cole noted as Zane managed to break free of the deprecated droid and its vines which were trying to pull him into the muck.
“It appears they have been taken out and reanimated by these corrupted vines likely as a hidden trap for any who wander through these passages,” Zane noted joining the others to fight off the droids.
“Time to do some weeding,” Kai expressed hitting the one zombiefied droid with fire.
“It takes more than a little fire to hurt a droid,” Jay commented as Kai stopped his fire. Other than its clothes being singed the droid seemed untouched but more shockingly the vines were untouched. The droid paused for a second before going back to attacking.
“The plants don’t burn?!” Kai gasped shocked.
“What kind of vines are these?!” Nya noted piercing a droid in the chest with her trident. As she pulled it out she ended up pulling out what appeared to be a mass or bulb of the roots. With this mass taken out of it the construct stopped collapsing to the floor while the vines on it lost their glow and began to die.
“What did you do?” Jay urged shocked to find the droids were unaffected by electricity.
“I don’t know. I pulled… something out of it and it just stopped,” Nya noted pulling the mass off her trident before continuing the attack. Noting what she had done Lloyd pierced a droid in the same spot she had. As he pulled out the sword nothing came out of the droid but it did stop its attacks and the vines on and in it died. Quickly inspecting the construct he found the same plant mass in the spot he had pierced. The mass was placed near the power source with tendrils coming out of it and wrapping around everything inside the droid. When he had stabbed it he had pierced the mass which was now oozing a dark purplish sap.
“Destroy the heart of the vines and you stop them,” Lloyd ordered as the droids started to overwhelm them. They worked together sticking close and watching each other’s backs to try and pierce the root hearts that were powering the droids. Now that they knew how to defeat them it didn’t take long for them to destroy all the zombiefied droids.
“That was overly creepy!” Jay exclaimed as they destroyed the last one and Kai added, “Zombie droids! I hate to see what else is hidden down here.”
“Hopefully that was the worst we’ll face till we reach the center of this mess,” Lloyd noted as he watched Zane inspect one of the constructs.
“Okay now we have to watch for things rising from the mud to attack as well as from the shadows down here,” Cole noted unnerved and Zane noted as he inspected the construct, “It appears either the necromancers or Ashers fell them before implanting these corrupted plants into them to control them.”
“Could whoever was controlling them see what they were seeing?” Kai wondered and Zane pondered, “I cannot tell but it is highly plausible.”
“Well there goes our element of surprise,” Nya remarked. The ninja were unaware of movement in the muck nearby. Something large was slowly rising and stalking towards them.
“I think we’ve had a long enough break, we should probably get going. If they did tell their masters of us we don’t want to give them much time to prepare. Where’s the Stag?” Lloyd proclaimed his back to the muck in the tunnel leaving him unable to see the mass stalking towards him.
“Lloyd look out!” Kai exclaimed as the other ninja noted the movement and began backing away from the mass terrified. Lloyd looked back in time to react dodging out of the way as the mass lunged at him attempting to bite him. The ninja moved together putting their backs to the wall to face whatever this was. The mass appeared to be made of metal, mud and corrupted vines with algae and some shrooms sticking to it. Its eyes were glowing the same unnerving color as the droids and it appeared to have a wolf like form. It held its mouth open at them giving off a metallic growling while showing off its metal teeth.
“What is that monstrosity?!” Jay panicked.
“I believe it is one of the Scimitar constructs, a robotic Hoofivore,” Zane noted inspecting the creature, “it has become coated in debris and animated by those vines!” The construct roared at them before charging towards them. They dodged out of the way as it came at them and the construct rammed head first with considerable force into the wall behind them. Its impact shook the walls and ceiling causing some dust and debris to fall. The construct shook its head as it took a few steps back before looking at the ninja who stood waiting for the construct to make the next move on either side of it.
“As I suspected I cannot connect with it. It is likely this construct is either offline or departed and being manipulated solely by those vines,” Zane explained attempting to connect with it.
“Okay so it can’t be reasoned with; I guess we have to go with the kicking and punching route,” Cole remarked before the construct began snapping at the ninja trying to catch one of them as they defended themselves against its attacks. The ninja were attempting to try and hit it in the chest where they reasoned the heart of these roots likely sat. The task was much harder than they expected. The creature was fast and surprisingly agile and the Scimitar Steel that made up its skin and parts were much tougher than the steel and titanium of the droids. Also thanks to its large size and the cramped conditions of the sewers they were in the ninja were struggling to get the upper hand and even to avoid getting bit, trampled or caught by it and its vines. To make it worse the vines were making it resistant to their powers and a dark mist like the one they had seen in the Ashers tunnel was starting to emanate from it seeping from seams in its body. In the struggle Cole got head butted away landing in the section they had minutes before been resting in coming to lay winded, Nya and Jay got whacked by its tail throwing them against the wall where they slid down and landed in the mud of the swampy section. The creature managed to clamp its jaws onto Zane and began to shake him as vines from on its head started to wrap around him. Kai rushed in to aid Zane but as the creature shook its head it smacked its head into Kai and flung him into the wall. The Creature then threw Zane atop him before it turned its attention to Lloyd. The construct looked him in the eye as it prepared to launch at him its mouth open showing off its shiny and sharp teeth as the dark mist spilled out of its mouth. Lloyd readied himself to swipe at it hoping to get a good shot at its chest. It charged at him before a dark streak slammed into its side knocking it over and pinning it to the floor. The construct made a few jerky moves as it tried to get up before it lay still its eyes and the vines dying and the smoke ceasing to spill from it.
It took the ninja a while to settle and register what had happened as the Stag in his elk headed man form approached the construct and pulled his spear from the constructs chest.
“Was anyone hurt?” the Stag demanded while the ninja got up and came together all shaking from the confrontation.
“Just shaken and bruised I think,” Nya stated as they looked over themselves.
“The thorns from those vines did not pierce any of your skins did they?” the Stag demanded.
“Why?” Lloyd inquired.
“Those dark vines can corrupt things they pierce into denizens of the void. You six might be able to resist the worst of its effects but it will weaken you to other dark influences such as the many we will have to face to reach Dagon down here. The Ashers have placed many traps down here. These vine twisted droids are just some of the milder ones. The deeper we go the worse they are going to get. The tunnels close to the center of the city are filled with the worst of the traps in order to keep anyone from getting close,” the Stag explained. The ninja checked themselves over even getting the others to check places they couldn’t see making sure they had not got cut or have thorns in them. They were clear.
“We got lucky, looks like we escaped this trap,” Kai expressed.
“This one but we must keep alert. We are getting closer and there is much worse we are going to have to navigate through to get to the heart of this mess. Come let us keep moving, we do not have much time to waste,” the Stag proclaimed not giving them any time to relax. They were all hesitant and a bit nervous to follow the Stag as he head off not seeming to notice their hesitation.
“We couldn’t have a moments rest from nearly being torn apart?” Jay complained and Nya noted, “strange how he was nowhere to be seen then he shows up just in time to save us?”
“Yha that does seem a bit odd, should we continue to follow him?” Kai wondered a bit on edge and Lloyd hesitated before responding, “I’m hesitant to but we need him in order to reach Dagon. We’ll follow him… for now.” They slowly followed behind the Stag as he continued to lead the way through the tunnels. The ninja one by one began to follow. Zane was the last to follow taking a look over the constructs that they had been fighting.
“A little upsetting to see what these things did to those made like you isn’t it?” Kai expressed as Zane caught up with the rest of them and not sounding very cheerful Zane responded, “It is disturbing and unpleasant yes.”
“Don’t worry we’ll take it to these monsters and make them pay for everything they have done,” Cole stated trying to cheer Zane up. As they continued the tunnels began to somehow feel darker even though most didn’t look any darker than the rest of those they had gone through. As they got deeper and closer to the heart of the city they started to notice a strange what looked like a dark mist start to build in the tunnels but there was something about it that was clearly unnatural. Even though it looked like a fog or mist something about it spoke that this really wasn’t what it was; that it was something their senses could barely perceive and could only make out as a fog because of this lack of understanding. It carried a feeling similar to the mist the Oni had brought to Ninjago city and like that in the Ashers tunnel yet worse, much worse. All of them even Lloyd and Zane could feel this mist affecting them making it hard to breath and making every step fall feel like they were getting heavier and that their joints were stiffening. There was an unnatural cold to the fog that not even Zane could withstand and the fog also brought strange dreaded and dark feelings that made them all feel like turning round and running as far away from this place as they could. The fog felt unnervingly like how the Stag had felt further unnerving the ninja. Some of them could even swear they were faintly hearing the possible sounds of voices whispering undistinguishable sounds and words to them or a faint drum like or heartbeat like noise emanating somewhere deep within the foggy tunnels.
“This mist feels like the one the Oni brought with them yet somehow unimaginably worse,” Cole remarked getting nervous and Lloyd worried struggling to keep moving, “What is this stuff?”
“I don’t know but I don’t like it? We should turn back before it’s too late!” Jay began to panic and Zane noted starting to worry, “do you hear that? It sounds like something is calling to us down here.”
“Do not listen to what you hear or feel,” the Stag warned noting the effect the mist was having on the ninja, “This is no mere fog. It is energies of the voids darkness the first and greatest darkness taking physical form. As realms are pulled together into the void it is allowing the void to seep into them pooling into areas of chaos and slowly creeping out from there to consume everything. Dagon and his lackeys have taken advantage of this and have let its darkness seep into the tunnels closest to the Ivory-gold tower in order to stop you. It just gets thicker the deeper you go. It swirls around through the passages down here seeking to pull the lost and troubled to the darkness of the void. Only those such as myself who are a part of the void can escape its effects. It will desire to ensnare you and make you a part of it. If it gains hold of you it will not let go. You must stay strong, if you fall to its call it will consume you and you will become a part of it. If you lose yourself to the void there is almost nothing that will be able to save you. Trust me I know its call well; I know what it is like for it to consume you. Do not trust your senses, your emotions or even your own thoughts in this stuff. It will do whatever it can to ensnare you.”
“How do we stop its hold?” Lloyd worried and Kai noted, “it’s hold… it feels terrifying…”They were all hesitant to continue unsettled by the fog and the hold it was trying to place on them.
“It is hard I know… the hold, the call… you must hold onto the light within yourselves and the world around you. You must hold onto it and cherish it to keep the darkness at bay. I can understand however this can be hard especially with all you are going through. All the pressures you are under and the darkness around you… I am a part of this darkness as it is a part of me. I know its hold but I also know what holds it back. I do believe I might be able to help protect you so you can pass,” the Stag regaled looking at his one hand as he manifested a golden light into it. The Stag then cast a spell at the ninja who initially were startled by the action as they were hit with the golden light. The light manifested into a glowing golden bracelet on one of each of their wrists as it hit them. They were all intrigued and a little nervous of the bracelets unsure what the Stag had done to them. They did notice the effects of the mist start to lighten and slowly stop bothering them as much.
“Those are made from the energy of the light of the world. As long as you see and feel the light you will don them and they will keep the void at bay; the mist should not bother you as much and the void will be unable to gain a hold. It will however not protect you from the other hazards that likely await for us down here so be on guard,” the Stag proclaimed as the ninja inspected their bracelets. The Stag began to head off but the ninja hesitated wary and unsure of what the Stag had done. Noting their hesitation the Stag stopped and waited as they questioned who should brave the fog first. Lloyd was reluctantly the first to brave the fog. When nothing seemed to happen to him and he noted not feeling the void trying to gain hold of him or affect him they all got the courage to brave the fog. Once they all had braved the fog and realised they were safe they continued to follow the Stag as they made their way through the darkness. They continued on keeping alert for possible threats in the mist around them as they moved. Slowly the fog continued to get thicker till they could barely see anything around them. The light sources they had brought with them could barely pierce the darkness of the fog, only allowing them to see a small distance around them as they slowly and cautiously made their way into the fogged tunnels. As they headed into the fog it swallowed the path behind them and left them barely able to see the tunnels around them. Every now and then glowing flora could faintly be seen through the fog. Only the faint glow from their bracelets could easily be seen through the darkness of the fog. After a while of navigating their way in the darkness below the Stag led them up a staircase into a structure they could only guess from the architecture and items was from Knightonia possibly a house or tower. The place was in ruins and though they couldn’t see the roof they felt by the rubble around them it was no longer there.
“We are now in the inner most ring of the city be on guard anything could be hiding up here. The fusion of the three cities has made quite a mess here. It will make it difficult to reach the throne room with ease. There likely will be no easy or direct path between here and there. Stick together and don’t wander off; anything could be hiding out here waiting to ambush us,” the Stag quietly noted as they headed down what might have been a street or possibly an alley way at one point skirting around piles of debris. As they slowly navigated their way through the dark fog they passed several blocks all of which were populated by structures from Knightonia, Ninjago City and Nirnhold. Many were not in the best of states and roads and pathways which would have made navigating the area easy were clogged up by various structures making the path to the center of the area a long winding one often taking them through various structures and having to climb over piles of debris. Some structures were even fused conglomerates of structures from different realms casing blockages to pathways they had to navigate around. Some of these blockages looked to have once been blocked by the merging but some force likely the Ashers or one of their monsters had smashed a path through the wall creating the blockage giving them some ease through some areas. Dark vine like structures climbed on many of the walls, piles of debris lay everywhere and unnervingly there was little in signs of life anywhere. Flora was scattered about the areas and growing on and in structures and out of debris piles. Much of it was tainted by void energies corrupting them darkening and dulling their colors. Glowing flora mainly fungi offered some color and light to the darkness but instead of offering a sight of comfort and warmth only unnerved them. In a few spots strange purple glowing crystals grew from the ground with stones and debris often floating around the crystals. Surprisingly there were no bones or bodies of anything lying around. Despite it being a gruesome thought they expected to see some. The fact they were not seeing any only unsettled them more. Everything was disturbingly quite. Only the sounds of debris falling once in a while, a slight breeze through the flora, flapping cloths or metallic creaking from metal adornments on buildings like signs moving slightly from the faint breeze of the area could be heard now and then. They could frequently hear the rumbling of the thunder in the sky above them but the fog was so dense they could barely see a few feet around them let alone the cursed sky they knew was above them. They were expecting dark monsters or at least individuals unfortunate to have been ensnared by the void to be crawling about the areas but there were no signs of anything. It was unnervingly unsettling. As they went they kept getting an unnerving feeling that something was watching them or even following them as they moved through the fog. The ninja stopped a few times to look around feeling uneasy and disturbed but could never see or hear whatever was watching them. Even more unnerving despite getting close to what they believed would be the central structure of the city where Dagons thrown room would be they had found no traces of Ashers or their allies. There appeared to be no one patrolling nor did there appear to be any traps. Still they moved slowly through the place all on high alert.
As they made their way through the maze of the fused structures Zane began to get an unnerving and terrible feeling. He could see the others didn’t seem to be feeling what he was so he kept quite not wanting to worry anyone. He was behind everyone bringing up the rear. At one point as they went through a long alleyway made between some buildings from Ninjago and Knightonia he swore he could hear what sounded like someone coming up behind them. He stopped to look readying for a fight. A minute passed but nothing came. He went to continue following the others but when he turned back around he found the path ahead blocked by the mist. The others had continued on and the mist had moved in as they left leaving him with no clue where they had gone. Even though he knew he could easily catch up to them if he tried he was hesitant to make a move. He could not sense the others through the fog leaving him with no clue where to go, he couldn’t even tell where he was the fog blocked all but his base human senses and there was something else. Despite not sensing anything he got the unnerving feeling he wasn’t alone in that fog. He remained still starting to get agitated and overcome by a dark feeling. As they had been getting closer to the center of the city he could feel something unnerving him more and more. An unsettling darkness that only got worse as they moved into this fog giving him a strong pull to the energies of this void.
“One of the vines did get you did it not?” an eerie yet beguiling voice that was neither male nor female nor did it sound human spoke to him and without thinking he responded, “it was just one thorn; caught in my wrist. It might have cut a wire or two but it should not be that bad. I know the poisoning it left me with is starting to affect me, weakening me to this fog but I can try to fight it, I have to the others need me.” He looked around for who he was speaking to only to be disturbed to find he was alone. Again he could hear the sound of something approaching. Probably one of the others coming to get him so he could catch up with them he hoped but he could not entirely convince himself of it. The footprints didn’t sound human and were coming from the wrong direction. Turning to face the noise he watched surprised as a silver hyena with lavender eyes slowly came out of the fog towards him. The creature amazingly seemed to be unaffected by the mist and was oddly calm. The creature looked familiar. He had seen one like it in some of his dreams before confusing him. Was he dreaming? No he was sensing that he was fully awake. Was it some form of hallucination or was this some otherworldly creature that was immune to the mist?
“What is an animal like you doing here? How is this fog not affecting you?” Zane thought aloud as the hyena calmly strode up to him its head hung low. It gave him a few sniffs before stopping to raise its head and tail to stare down the hall it had come from. It looked to be memorized by something. Looking in the same direction Zane noted the mist had thinned allowing him to see some distance down the hall. It was still dark and fogged nor could he make things out clearly, everything appeared as shadows and silhouettes not as the detailed objects he knew they were but it was clearer than it had been before. When he looked around himself he could make out the alley way he had been travelling down in both directions but he could not see too far down the passage ahead of him. The fog was still thick appearing like walls of shadow in that direction; the lantern he carried didn’t even cast any light on this fog. He was disturbed and nervous. Why had the fog down the alley behind him appear to be clearing while in front of him where he needed to go remained dark and impenetrable? What had caught the hyenas attention and brought it to stare down the alley? What was the hyena and why was it there? As he tried to ration everything out he could feel a darkness starting to overcome him.
“Okay maybe that thorn was dangerous. It feels… like how the final stages of the Blight did. I can… the urge is getting bad,” Zane noted looking at the arm the thorn had pierced. His clothes and metal skin were starting to look odd. It wasn’t the soul shriven effect the plane meld was creating. It was something darker and more terrible like the Stags hold worrying him making him start to shake. A sudden noise down the clearer path caught his attention. It sounded like something being knocked over as something stumbled through the alley. When he looked he at first couldn’t see anything then he noticed it. A shadowy being appeared to be slowly shuffling towards him in the passage. He could not make out any details of it, it was just pure shadow. It terrified him. He was unsure of what was going on but he had a feeling it was bad, very bad. He tried to calm himself but the darkness he could feel starting to overwhelm him was getting too much and he remained frozen by fear.
“Why do you try to fight the darkness? Let it consume you,” the strange eerie voice came to him.
“No I must… the darkness it calls to me I can hear it but I must…” Zane was struggling to control himself as the hyena turned its attention to him. It seemed oddly calm and relaxed as it looked at him even as his lantern began to falter flickering with an aquamarine light before starting to go out and unnerving him more. The bracelet the Stag had put on him was also starting to flicker and fade as he felt the darkness creeping into himself.
“You must not fight it, become one with the void. Make it a part of you, make it your own. You will be most pleased by it. Just relax it won’t hurt,” the voice whispered to him as tendrils of the mist seemed to start grasping at him making his feelings worse. He tried to fight them before getting distracted as the voice came to him again.
“Darkness eventually comes for us all, your struggles only delay the inevitable,” the voice spoke again as Zane took another look at the shadowy figure that was slowly headed towards him. It looked humanoid but had an unnerving way of moving more of shuffling or dragging its way towards him than actually walking. There appeared to be no features to it; not even eyes. It was as if the being was made of pure shadows. He wanted to run from this figure but at the same time he felt a strong desire for it to get close and embrace him with its darkness and this feeling was growing disturbing him even more. He was starting to hear what sounded like a faint beating sound coming from the darkness. It was drawing him in attracting his attention. His lantern went out then shortly after that the bracelet the Stag had put on him vanished and he found himself struggling against the darkness’s hold.
“No… the dragons… the dragons entered the tower… now… now they must join the darkness to see the light,” Zane declared starting to feel what the voice was saying was true as the dark energy he had been fighting started to overwhelm him, consuming him and leaving him unable to feel or see any light in the world. As the shadow figure got close to him slowly reaching out for him to grab its hand Zane could no longer hold back the darkness and stopped fighting letting the darkness overcome him…
Notes:
If have any questions go ahead and ask I do not bite. I will try to answer them, I will however not give away spoilers.
Chapter 55: The Throne of Dagon
Summary:
What awaits for the ninja at the heart of Dagons fortress?
Notes:
Pictures relating to story can be found here: https://www.deviantart.com/nerdy-hyena/gallery/72478681/story-project
They are really good and help to visually flush out several aspects of the story including environments, characters, outfits, locations, creatures and other aspects often important ones in the story. All images I post in my work can be found there if you want a better look at them. Defiantly make sure to check them out.Also if you need a refresher on creatures, flora or aspects of the environment you can check out the second chapter in this work titled 'Keikiarys Guide to the Ash Wastes'. It includes short descriptions and pictures of these things.
Parts of this section are subject to change as the prequel story is written to improve story continuity.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
“How long do we have to wait?” DJ inquired getting impatient. They had been waiting all day for a sign to start the attack of distraction. Even though they could not see the sky through the dark clouds that coated the sky the hyenoids believed it was around sun set making everyone waiting worried and impatient.
“Do you think something’s gone wrong?” Seliel wondered from where she stood with Wu, Skylor, Pixal, the Nexo Knights, Robo-bill Merlok and Jestro. They were all on edge and nervous.
“It is possible. We have no way of knowing what sits beneath the city. We have no way to know what they have had to face or how complicated the path to the tower is?” Pixal noted.
“You were in this foreign realm with my ninja and faced this Stag with them. What are your thoughts on him? Do you think we can trust him or have we put the ninja in danger?” Wu inquired to the knights keeping quite hoping the Stags minions could not hear him.
“I don’t know. I’d agree something’s different to him after the curse was broken but I don’t know what it is. He still feels like a being of darkness,” Clay noted and Aaron expressed, “yha I find it hard to shake the feeling of him as a dark and evil being. If you saw or felt what he was like or could do it’s hard to shake the thought of him as anything but that dark monster. I wouldn’t trust him.”
“Even his own minions have confided to us a few times that they are unsure if the Stag could truly escape his dark side,” Macy regaled and Axl added, “they should know they have dealt with him the longest.”
“He was created in darkness by darkness making his nature forever tainted by darkness. He will never be able to escape that no matter how hard he tries. Even if he intends to do the right thing there is no guarantee the darkness will not interfere and sway him to its side,” Merlok noted voicing what many of them felt.
“Given what the ninja told us I do not think it wise we blindly trust this Stags word,” Pixal agreed and Seliel stated, “what do you think we should do then? Do you think we should make a straight line for the heart of the city?”
“I think so. While the rest are keeping the forces occupied we should try and make a direct path to that central tower to aid the ninja,” Wu agreed and Lance noted, “That is going to be very difficult. You heard what they said about those walls.”
“Yes but there has to be ways through, gateways, doors you know. How else would people normally get through the city if they didn’t have those,” Seliel stated and Skylor added, “even if they are guarded working together we should be able to fight our way through.”
“Indeed but it will be risky especially if we have to fight our way to the gates,” Macy noted and Pixal suggested, “it could be made easier if we save the fighting for at the gates and get through areas on stealth avoiding unnecessary interactions with the enemy.”
“How good are you and your knights at stealth?” Wu inquired to Clay and Aaron stated, “we can pull it off if we have to.”
“If that is what you plan to do we can do it but we should first plan where we are going to go. From what was scouted the first ring is going to be a real trouble to get through and the central one I’m not sure how we’ll get through with that fog but we could think of something when we get there,” Clay noted drawing a mock up of an aerial view of the city from what he could remember of what Pelagius had shown them in the dirt of the floor. They quickly worked out a rough plan deducing which of the elementally influenced sections in the first ring was best for them to enter and navigate safely and easily through. All held dangers and difficulties. Despite seeming safe the murky waters of the swampy water region could hide many dangers and monsters could be hiding within its dark forests and waters; the earthy ring was quite rugged with a few notable rips with lava filled interiors in the earth making it hard to navigate; the icy region and its eternal blizzard offered poor visibility plus it risked freezing them all before they could get through it as Pelagius had noted every being who had became caught in it even un-dead and robotic had become living frozen beings by its hold; the fiery one was likely very hot and probably too hot for them to safely navigate they would risk burning up before they got through; the one gripped by energy seemed the best option but they were unsure of its exact nature and how things exactly worked in it. With that uncertainty that left only one region, the electrified one. Some of them notably the knights due to their highly metal armour and Pixal and Robo-bill Merlok were at an increased risk of getting struck by lightning but the terrain was not too difficult to navigate and the weather was more reasonable than the other regions. Even though some like the ninjas parents who were there wanted to join them in making for the city center they felt it best only certain individuals went. The smaller the group the less likely they would be spotted and they needed to be ready to fight possibly some of the nastiest monsters there. The knights accompanied by Merlok and Jestro with Wu, Seliel, Skylor and Pixal would be making the trek to the center of the city. The others would stay behind to join in the fight on the outskirts. As they finished up their planning they could hear a commotion starting outside their hiding place. It sounded like a fight was starting. They could hear the enemies yelling outside as they could hear the Scimitar Dragon Vahlok fly by the area letting out a mighty roar as he went.
“That is the signal,” Kozac declared and DJ exclaimed, “finally!” The hyenoids were quick to rush out into the fight. The others hesitated waiting till those outside were occupied in fighting each other before making a move.
“If we’re going to do this now’s the time,” Clay declared. They all agreed. While everyone else was occupied their group which consisted of the knights, Wu, Pixal, Seliel, Skylor, Robo-bill Merlok and Jestro snuck out headed straight towards the center of the city keeping alert for enemies and navigating their way around hoping to not be seen.
“Is it just me or is it getting darker?” Jay fretted as they made their way out of an alley way into what seemed like a more open area. The Stag had knelt down looking at some debris on the ground and got back up as they all came out of the alley way. Despite seeming dark the fog which bathed the area with a sickly greenish hue was a bit thinner here allowing them to see a large pathway had been cleared between a gateway in the inner ring of the wall and lead to a massive conglomerate structure that boasted massive unnervingly designed doors at the end of this cleared path. The edges of the pathway were dominated by piles of debris where dark mutated fungi some of which had glows to them and dead looking grasses and vegetation had taken root. Along with rubble from structures and dirt the debris piles held large bones, skeletons of people even serpentine along with skeletons of large unidentifiable creatures some possibly dragons some of the skeletons even looked to be partially fossilized or coated in some strange crusts, various household items, ruined vehicles some of which looked to have been torn apart by large creatures, some dead or dark tainted trees some of which even looked to have fossilized and had parts broken or crumbling off their trunks and branches, torn down power lines and lamp posts, patches of jagged pointed void tainted rocks that stuck up and pointed into the pathway and strange sickly greenish colored crystals that stretched up often in clusters light emitting from their cores in the same unsettling hue lighting the area close to them and attracting corrupted insects to them. Dead looking grasses sprouted from the broken pavement and stone works that made the path which had large chunks buried under dirt. The walls of the structure the path led up to were made of buildings and other structures from Ninjago, Knighton and the Lost Realm. Many of these structures were damaged with large chunks having crumpled down to their bases. Some structures had the strange dark tentacles dripping out of damaged areas, vehicles had been tossed into a few buildings, vegetation grew on some with fungi growing up the walls of some and a few even had scattered bones or even skeletons drooping out of damaged parts sometimes caught up in flora or the creepy tentacles. Most alleys ways were blocked off by debris while some which could be passed through were lined by dark foliage, often glowing fungi which tended to grow up walls or hang from lines or damaged parts of structures that roofed these alleys. These open alleys quickly faded into the dense fog obscuring most of the passages. A few large chunks of debris or rocky chunks some having vines, roots or these dark tentacles dripping from them they could make out floating in the sky around the place poking out of the thick low hanging clouds above. The place looked damp however they could see no water just puddles of something that looked like water but was an odd void greenish tinged color. They avoided stepping in these afraid of what they were and what they could do. Unnervingly there were no signs of anyone around. The only forms of life visible were some un-dead vultures circling through the area, void tainted birds most which looked like crows perched watching the area or inspecting debris, void tainted skeevers were rummaging through debris and minor beasts of the void like small glowing misty masses with tentacles hanging below them like some form of mutant jellyfish which were floating around, things that looked like brittle-stars with a large eye in their body which clung to surfaces and just watched them as they moved through the area and a strange flightless bird that was pecking through rubble. While all the creatures had them unsettled the eye creatures which seemed to be watching them with their unsettling octopus like eye unsettled them the most with Jay being the most scared of them. He even hit a few and startled them all when the creatures burst into a puff of dark smoke that quickly reformed into the creature unfazed and continued to watch them. There were no Ashers or more prominent and dangerous monsters of any kind in sight though by the looks they had been there and in fights at one point. It was all unsettling and didn’t feel right. If this was that demons palace why was it unguarded? Was it a trick? They hoped not.
“It appears darker here as the voids presence is thicker here tainting the very existence of this place with its darkness,” the Stag explained and feeling unnerved as they looked at the structure they had to head to Kai stated, “I’m guessing that demons hiding in there?” All of the ninja found the structure unnerving and the condition and circumstances of the place unsettling. To make the looks worse things were fairly quite with only the muffled off sounds of insects, birds and frogs mixed in with faint creaking from trees or metal hangings and the occasional dropping of debris in the area being audible.
“Uh guys has anyone seen Zane?” Cole wondered trying to see through the fog behind them in the alley waiting for Zane to appear but he wasn’t worrying him. They had been too occupied looking for threats and navigating their way to notice that Zane had disappeared. They were unsure when he had vanished. Had he simply got distracted by something or had something got him? Had he stopped somewhere getting lost or was simply a bit behind the rest of them?
“Hasn’t he been following us?” Lloyd wondered looking around worried. They looked to where they had come from but after a few minutes and seeing no evidence of someone following them they began to worry.
“What do we do? Should we go back for him? How long do you think he has been wandering on his own in here?” Jay began to panic which just made the others more anxious. The Stag however was calm. He looked at where they had come from then towards where they had been headed the doors of this sinister looking structure emotionless.
“We keep moving on,” he declared without emotion and Cole wondered worried, “what about Zane?”
“What about him?” the Stag questioned and Lloyd declared, “we’re not going to leave him alone in here. He’s part of our family and we’re not going to abandon him. You don’t leave family behind. I say we go back for him.”
“No, you will be wasting precious time if you head back for him... besides I have the sense he will find us,” the Stag declared continuing on the way they were heading.
“What do you mean he’ll find us?” Kai wondered not liking those words and Nya noted, “with this fog he’s probably gotten lost and needs our help we should go back for him.” They were all not happy with the Stag just brushing aside Zanes safety but he didn’t seem to be listening to them. He just continued on. Even though they wanted to head back and find Zane they followed the Stag not wanting to be left alone in this fog and not trusting to leave the Stag alone. He led them to the structure opening the massive heavy doors with little problem. The structure inside was filled with the void fog which was dense and spilled out into the outer area causing the fog there to thicken unsettling the ninja who took a few steps back from the smoke in fear. The Stag was calm and emotionless not budging from the smoke. He didn’t even wait for the ninja to settle as he headed into the structure forcing them to follow to keep him in their sights. They slowly made their way through the structure. Because of the fog they couldn’t see anything but reasoned they were likely in some sort of large open area. The fog seemed to slowly be getting slightly thinner as they entered the area. While they were walking they kept alert looking around hoping Zane was just lost and would find his way to them.
“Is it just me or is it getting hotter in here? Not that I’m complaining, its nicer than that extreme cold we’ve faced so far it just seems odd and I think some of us are going to start to feel uncomfortable if it gets any hotter,” Kai stated feeling anxious as they made their way through the place sticking close keeping an eye out for threats and Zane and the Stag responded, “something nearby is creating a great deal of energy which is manifesting as heat. I think they are a good sign that we are getting close to the heart of this mess.” They slowly continued to make their way getting the ever sinking feeling something was not right and something was lurking waiting for them in the dark fog they could barely see through.
“What’s that?” Jay wondered at one point trying to not panic as he caught the glimpse of something in the fog not too far ahead of them from the light of his lantern. He pointed at what he was looking at to draw the others gazes to what he was seeing. There appeared to be a figure in the fog just standing there. The dark thick fog obscured much of the figures features leaving it largely no more than a silhouette. They cautiously approached the figure.
“Is that… oh no Zane!” Lloyd expressed when they got close enough to make out details to the figure. To their surprise and shock it was Zane. When they saw him they were all both relieved but deeply worried. He was just standing there in the fog a bit hunched over and swaying a bit with his left arm held up to his body as if he was hurt. Zane looked like he was falling under the Stags hold most of his body having blackened with the unnerving void markings and his one eye the same unnerving green color. Only a few patches of his normal skin and attire and his one eye were not corrupted. Zane was clearly oblivious to everything around him not even aware of their presence not even responding to his name. He didn’t have his lantern nor any of his weapons not even the Red Diamond Shurikan he had been given to wield and the bracelet the Stag had put on him was gone. They tried to get his attention but he didn’t seem to properly respond or be aware of them. Zanes strange state and appearance had the ninja feeling deeply troubled; the Stag was oddly calm and un-reactive.
“Can you hear that? It calls to us, a drumming in the darkness, like a hearts, a dark heart. I can hear it, it calls to me; it is comforting, I must join it, I have joined it,” Zane mumbled not appearing to be talking to anyone in particular his voice sounding off and a bit dark. Nya went to check the arm he was holding in a strange way worried over why he was holding it like that feeling it was might be injured but before she could touch him the Stag declared loudly startling them, “Wait do not touch him, something is not right.” The Stag slowly approached to look Zane over. Zane didn’t seem aware anyone was there nor acknowledged being touched.
“What have you done to him?!” Lloyd demanded angry recognising the marks on Zane as those that showed the Stags hold on someone and Kai added, “those markings are the ones you leave.”
“I can assure you that I have not done this to him. The markings look like mine for they are a sign of the voids hold. Mine resemble the voids because I am apart of the void,” the Stag began inspecting Zane. Zane was unaware anything was being done to him. His state was starting to unnerve and anger all the ninja.
“Oh really then if you didn’t do this to him what did?” Nya demanded getting angrier while the Stag looked over Zanes one arm pulling out a piece of thorn from his wrist as he did this and surprising the others.
“He was weakened to the darkness, the bracer would not have been enough to save him,” the Stag declared
“This is because of that piece of the void Juib told us you placed in Zane isn’t it? That was what it was for to poison him, turn him into a demon for your dark purposes?” Lloyd growled and calmly looking Lloyd in the eyes the Stag declared standing tall, “this is not my doing. The piece I put in him was from the light of the void and not its darkness; it is harmless. It was to let him see and understand the truth of the void; to protect him from its darkness.”
“Protect him yha right. He doesn’t look like he has been protected!” Cole chastised and Lloyd demanded feeling a mix of anger and worry, “what has happened to him?” All of them drew their weapons at him but the Stag was unfazed.
“He has fallen to the void. He is only at the edges of its hold but even then its hold is powerful. Slowly in time its hold will further consume him. Eventually he will lose his memories and identity of self becoming but a shadow of who he once was to serve as a soldier for the darkness of the void. It is a fate worse than any death. As one who has felt the grip of the voids darkness I can tell you there is nothing worse than to be lost in its dark hollow hold. As Astaras champion I felt he was at a greater risk of being consumed by darkness than the rest of you even the one of Oni blood. Astara is a force of good and her champion is a bringer of the light; a threat to those of darkness. I thought by giving him a piece of the voids light he could see the bright side of the void and that it would protect him from the voids darkness. I see now though that was not enough to spare him its hold,” the Stag declared. While they weren’t sure how true the Stags words were it calmed them down and they relaxed a bit their anger slowly fading. Cole inquired trying to hide the sorrow he could feel building from what the Stags declaration meant, “is there anything we can do for him? Some way to break the voids hold and bring him back?” The others were starting to feel saddened and worried by Zanes state.
“I am unsure but it is likely too late,” the Stag proclaimed and Lloyd countered, “we can at least try something right? We can’t just let him fall to the darkness. You’re apart of this void can’t you do something?”
“Maybe… I cannot guarantee it will work but I could try to pull the void out of him,” the Stag declared before attempting to pull the energies of the void out of Zane with some sort of spell holding his one hand out towards Zanes forehead. Whatever the spell was doing clearly was causing Zane considerable pain. Zane put his hands on his head looking to be fighting something inside himself and was moaning, “no stop… I cannot… I cannot hear it… stop… I need the darkness… I need to be in its hold…” The longer the Stag performed whatever he was doing to Zane the more pain Zane looked to be in and the ninja noted strange colored sparks of energy start to come from parts of his body including on his chest where his heart was located. It quickly got the ninja worried and they quickly couldn’t stand seeing their friend in so much pain and being hurt. Whatever the Stag was doing didn’t seem to be working, instead it looked to just be causing pain.
“Stop it you’re just hurting him!” Lloyd exclaimed pulling the Stags hand back stopping the spell. When the spell ended Zane fell backwards and lay down awfully still on the ground. The ninja rushed over to Zane trying to get him to respond. He was unresponsive nor appeared to have any signs of life as they sat him up and checked him over. Pulling his sword out to confront the Stag who was strangely calm and emotionless as he looked at them Kai demanded, “What did you do to him?”
“It is too late. The voids hold is too great; if I try to separate the void from him now it will kill him further losing him to the void. If he was still fighting the voids hold I might have been able to help him but he is not fighting it. He has willingly given into the void and let it claim him. There is nothing anyone can do for him now; he is lost,” the Stag declared worrying and angering the ninja. They were deeply worried for Zane and angry at the Stag not fully believing all he was saying.
“Zane would never do that, he would fight this darkness. You’ve done something to him,” Lloyd expressed drawing Dawnbringer at the Stag who still remained eerily calm. Zane began to stir starting to breath as he mumbled, “we must listen, we need the darkness. Only in darkness can you see the light.”
“If you do not believe me than ask him yourselves,” the Stag declared and Cole noted, “how? He doesn’t seem to be able to hear us.”
“He's right I let the darkness in; it called to me and I listened. It spoke of the truths; we cannot defy its truths. The dragons must fall… I will not fight it,” Zane explained seeming to gain a bit of coherence even though he just stared blankly in front of himself and was still unresponsive to their touches or any visual stimulus even as they helped him to his feet. What he was saying and how he was acting was disturbing the others.
“What?! Why? Why would you willingly give into the void?” Jay demanded shocked at what he was hearing.
“Darkness comes for us all; we might as well embrace it then it will let us see the light. Sometimes we need the darkness to see the light and enjoy its greatness. Without the dark how could we know the light,” Zane mumbled and upset by what he was hearing Lloyd remarked, “no Zane. That’s what this void wants you to think. Don’t listen to it.”
“Say whatever you want you will not be able to change his mind,” a deep dark voice proclaimed from within the fog sounding to somehow come from everywhere. The voice was then followed by a deep laughing that seemed to emanate from somewhere in the fog disturbing and unsettling the ninja who looked around for where the sound was coming from. Zane was oblivious to the sound around him and the Stag was unnervingly calm as he looked around. The fog was steadily starting to lift allowing them to see where they were. They were in a massive, at the least five blocks in size defiantly likely more, makeshift throne plaza. The area was massive being squared at the entrance where they came in and rounded at the opposite end where a throne area had been built. At the far end made from the fusing of the palace of Knighton, Borg tower and the Ivory-gold tower was a large throne platform. They stood not far from this thrown area. The throne area was built up on a three to four story tall elevated platform area that covered the back of this area with a central stair case that widened out towards its base leading up to its top. The stairs did not touch the walls of the structure. Instead walls with strange portal gates built in front of them made the sides of the platforms base. A strange crystal like stone was built into the top of these gates and seemed to be powering them which despite being active showed no signs anything was using them at the time. On the throne area a dark stone throne sat near the front of the platform with the strange beam of fiery energy that they had seen shooting into the sky outside shooting up from a greenish crystal lined circular pit behind the throne. The energy shot up where it passed through what appeared to be this Realm Stone they had heard of which was stuck floating about four stories above the throne platform before it continued up into the sky. The Stag had a feeling the immense energy running through that item was what was causing the heat in the place which without the cold fog was now getting warmer and he warned them not to get close to that energy beam. This beam he reasoned was what was creating the meld and was an ultimate and concentrated form of the energies of creation and destruction. He had a strong feeling its energy would tear apart anything that got caught in it. It would not be a pleasant and far from painless death. Above the platform where the stone hovered a catwalk which went around the rounded upper walls of the back of the room sat. These rounded walls curved inwards a bit about a story above the catwalk indicating they likely were once part of a dome that due to the meld had been blasted away only leaving the lower reaches of the walls in place. Several items sat spaced out on platforms that came off this upper catwalk stretching out towards center where the energy beam projected. Held up on these pedestals with the same energy beam from the center coming from them and shooting into the Realm Stone were unique items none of them recognised. The Stag reasoned the items on the pedestals were special items from the realms Dagon was trying to fuse and along with the realm stone were part of the device he was using to make the plane meld possible and run. There was no roof to the area as it appeared to have been exploded outward with pieces from it just floating high above the area allowing them to see the red tinted dark stormy skies that slowly circled above the area. They could see the upper parts of the tower broken off and floating above the area above them as well and the chained massive ring that sat there high above. Piles of rubble lay about through the area mainly by the edges of the room beneath the six to eight story tall outer walls made of fused structures. The dark vines from the Ashers tunnels grew on the walls and some of the blood grass and small corrupted and even a few glowing small fungi were growing out of these rubble piles. Atop the throne platform standing in front of the throne who the laugh was coming from was Dagon decked out fully in dark attire that covered little of his dark with almost glowing red markings body letting his well muscled form show. He also wore decorative golden bracers, necklace and headgear which strongly clashed with his overall dark appearance and dark metal fabric loincloth. Dagon stood with an Asher sorcerer on the platform by him. This sorcerer was holding Zanes weapons including the Red Diamond Shurikan. Even more unsettling than the Asher and Dagons presence was the six corrupted looking dragons that perched on the broken upper walls of the structure. They were no bigger than a bus in size and they could tell by their colors and designs that each was clearly tied to a specific element. Along with their tie to an element they had dark markings around their blood red eyes indicating they were under the control of Dagons dark force. The Stag had good reason to believe those dragons were not true dragons but actually the members of this Dragon Guard who had likely been mutated by Dagon into these forms in order to serve him. He also felt if the Blight had consumed the ninja the Ashers would have eventually turned them into the same style beings to serve them. He proclaimed to them as they looked at the dragons, “take a good look ninja if the Blight had consumed you that is likely what would have become of you.” They were all unsettled by what they were seeing.
The Stag quickly pulled them all back away from Zane upon seeing where they had found themselves. The ninja refused to leave Zane but the Stag didn’t give them a choice harshly pulling them back. When the ninja tried to protest the Stag declared, “just leave him, it is too late for him.”
“Yes there is nothing you can do for your icy dragon brother he is now mine. He was smart and listened to the void like you all should,” Dagon proclaimed as the Stag put himself in front of the ninja separating them from Dagon, “Nice to see you come openly to me brother and not in stealth. Through darkness and war I welcome you. What do you think of my kingdom of the void? Shall I prepare a place for you within my kingdom or should I prepare a role in the pits of the void for your eternal reign. What will it be brother of the void? Have you come to me as a friend or a traitor; come tell me am I to consider you an enemy?”
“We may be brothers of the void but I will not join you. We are here to end your reign of tyranny and the chaos you and your Asher scums have created,” the Stag proclaimed pointing his spear at Dagon before Jay yelled out angry and upset, “what have you done to our brother?”
“Nothing, he accepted the darkness on his own and came to me openly and willingly accepting me as his lord. Sadly I think the true power of the void was a little too much for his little mind to comprehend and it has overwhelmed him the poor thing. He can barely function anymore. Luckily I can fix that and I think for his obedience I shall reward him as well. A great reward for doing the right thing; he was smart, unlike the rest of you. Now how should I reward him?” Dagon declared. Zane was still just standing by the stairs unaware of everything going on.
“Don’t you dare touch him you monster,” Lloyd declared making an attempt to try and rush at Dagon but the Stag held his spear out to block him and hold him back warning them that it would not be wise to just rush in at Dagon. Dagon just laughed at them.
“Ah I know. A good boy deserves a good reward… how about this. For your obedience ice dragon you deserve great power with an equally great form to go with it and I shall bestow these to you,” Dagon declared shooting a dark blast of magical energy from his one hand at Zane who was startled and appeared scared when it hit him causing him to get engulfed by the dark energy which turned into a dense black fog which grew to a rather large size around him. The ninja were shocked and worried wondering what Dagon had just done. The Stag was oddly calm.
“What did you just do to him?!” Cole exclaimed as they looked shocked at the mass where Zane had been. Dagon just laughed as a strange growling started coming from the mass and a few void green colored sparks seemed to dance inside the dark mass faintly lighting up its interior revealing something large was inside. Without taking his eyes off the mass the Stag was slowly moving them backwards away from it. As the fog began to settle and dissipate they could see a large pair of icy eyes appear in the mass before slowly a rather large dragon notably bigger than the others crawled out of the dissipating fog towards them. It crawled on four limbs with the wings also being the forelimbs with one clawed digit for use in walking and climbing. It was made of a dark colored synthetic scaly skin with patches of titanium scales and plates which bore the patterns of scales and plate scales on the metals surfaces. The forelimbs and wings were dark with void green cracked markings covering the membranes by the limb. Various sized titanium plates and scales coated the forearm and upper arm creating a row along the front of the forelimb. They also coated the shoulders, hips, outer side and front of the thighs, front of the lower legs, front of the feet, top of the toes and formed a continuous line of large scute like plates running from the top of its head down its back nearly to the tip of the tail. The rest was a dark synthetic skin looking material. It had no spines down the back but the plates of the back did form small to medium slightly pointed bumps down the spine which were largest over the shoulders preventing it from looking smooth and edging the large titanium scutes and plates of the back were short but wide titanium spikes which pointed outwards. These spikes ran down its neck, over the shoulders, along its sides above the wing membrane, over the hips and down a third of the tail. The tail lacked any spikes or spines all the way to its tip. There was a short titanium spike of a scute on the kneecap which pointed downwards. Strange horns sat on the head; the top set was larger than the lower one and between them a little bit ahead of them was a small spike of a horn pointing backwards. The horns went back before slowly curving down and forwards with the top horns being notably larger than the lower ones. The top horns also had a large short spike coming up from the top following the horns main body curve. The horns were blackish with a fading as they went down faintly glowing void green inner glow at their tips. Two small down and slightly back pointing horns sat on the bottom back of the lower jaw. Two small mainly down pointing horns sat on the chin one on either side of the jaw. It had no horn on its nose but did have a pair of small titanium scutes resembling small sabre fangs on the top jaw which sat over the area a canine tooth would exist in a mammal. These scutes pointed down and slightly outwards. While baring a scaled pattern on the metal the head appeared to be made of largely two solid titanium structures coating the head and jaw. The snout was average lengthed and broad yet narrow at the same time like the snout of a hyena. Its lips to the head pieces covered the large sharp reptilian looking teeth in its mouth. A ridge over its eyes and its pronounced cheeks gave it a mean look. The area around its eyes was darkened and some void green glowing markings resembling cracks and lightening coated parts of its dark skin on its underside mainly on the chest with a few stretching out onto the belly and a bit onto the throat. A notably sized solid glowing patch lay over where the heart lay. These markings emanated out from under a row of large titanium plates that ran along its underside from its chest shrinking in size a bit as they headed towards the belly before vanishing under the pelvis region. It had a generously sized head on a somewhat longish neck which it carried elevated a bit as it moved up from the back which was held fairly level with only a slight rise up to the shoulders from the hips. Its long tail was held off the ground sloping slightly down from the hips to its tip. The tail tip tapered towards the end with a few fleshy spines along its top. The tail tip boasted void green cracking markings in the dark skin. As it crawled out from the fog a little unsteady on its limbs small pieces of ice and frost seemed to fall off its hide with occasional wisps of this void fog coming out of areas on the body. A blackish with void green tinted substance resembling drool, what the Stag believed was void plasm, was dripping from its mouth with a bit even oozing from seems between the titanium plates and synthetic skin around the head and on the upper third of its neck. As it dripped off it this ‘drool’ dissipated into a mist and disappeared. A few pulses of what looked like electrical energy moved down the body from the head before the wisps, electrical energy, ice and frosts stopped as the fog cleared and the dragon settled. The plasm drool continued a bit longer before slowly petering off. The creature gave off a few sounds as it steadied itself that were a strange and somewhat eerie mix of bestial with mechanical and metallic undertones to it. The ninja were shocked and startled un-knowingly taking a few steps backwards in the disbelief of what they were seeing.
“Zane?!” Lloyd fumbled feeling disturbed and worried to the beast which seemed dazed and greatly confused as it stood by the base of the stairs. It seemed to register someone was talking to it and paused a second before looking at them.
“Zeimah Zu’u krosis; sorry my kin but we must give into the darkness. Only in darkness can we see the light,” Zanes voice came from the dragon. The mouth didn’t move as he spoke instead his voice seemed to come from within him and his voice sounded darker and more bestial than usual. The ninja were shocked by what they were seeing.
“Zanes a dragon! That monster turned him into a dragon!” Jay began to panic while Dagon just laughed. Even the corrupted dragons seemed to make a noise that sounded like they were amused. Zane just remained confused and dazed staring at the ground in front of himself.
“Indeed and if you had been smart like him I would have rewarded you equally as well. Now I will give you a chance come lay down your weapons it is not too late for my mercy. Surrender and I shall reward you equally or do not and face your doom,” Dagon declared and despite the shock of seeing what Dagon had done Lloyd didn’t hesitate to proclaim, “no we will never surrender to one like you.”
“If that is your decision then so be it. Since you insist on going against me then I will not show you mercy,” Dagon proclaimed before turning to the six corrupted dragons. The whole time they were talking the six had kept looking out over the city towards where the ninjas allies were to be setting off their attack. They were guessing the attack was already going on and had caught the dragons attention making them antsy as they likely sought to join the action.
“Now my pets I know you six have been itching to join the action so go ahead. My brother and his ninja do not stand a chance. Go have your fun,” Dagon declared to the corrupted Dragon Guard who wasted no time in taking off to join the fighting in the city. Dagon then turned to Zane who was still dazed and confused and now started to look a bit scared. Dagon cast a spell on him stating, “as for you my new pet why do you not take care of those pests my void brother and his mongrel pet ninja. Show them the power of the void. Do as you please with them just remember whatever you do show them no mercy.”
“Yes my lord,” Zane expressed sounding as if his mind was numbed as his icy eyes flashed red as the spell hit him before fading to the voids green as the spell took him over. Zane became steady before looking at the others baring his teeth and seeming to stare at Lloyd as he began to crawl towards them with eyes narrowed and focussed.
“What do we do? I don’t want to hurt him,” Cole stated and Kai expressed “yha but I don’t think he has the same feeling!” They were all slowly backing up unsure what to do as dragon Zane stalked towards them.
“I guess we should be thankful it was Zane who was turned into a dragon, if it was Cole he would probably try to eat us,” Jay joked trying to keep it together while Cole was not amused and felt a bit offended by the joke before Nya scolded, “now’s not the time to joke Jay.”
“Yha and I think he’s just as likely to try and eat us as anyone else,” Kai exclaimed throwing a ball of fire at dragon Zanes face to try and drive him back terrified about what Zane was intending to do to them. Zane was clearly not happy about the move but after a minutes recoil he kept coming towards them undeterred. He growled at them sounding both bestial with mechanical hints to the sound before rushing towards them attempting to snap his jaws onto one of them.
Their little allied group of the knights, Wu, Pixal, Seliel, Skylor, Jestro and Robo-bill Merlok had managed to make their way into the first ring with little effort. Most of the enemies forces had been drawn into the fight by the outskirts and against some of the victims of the meld who had turned on their captors shortly after the fighting had started. As he had promised the Stag had managed to sway some of those stuck slaving for the Ashers to attack their masters in order to even out the fight. They had run into some monsters like nests of Vesparilions and Serpent Flies, a few Gloam harpies and a few Vulcaroths but they were rather easy for their group to take out. They were now making their way through the electrified quarters which seemed oddly quite and abandoned. They had run into some electrified skeevers when they first entered the region but those had been easy to take out. Since then they had not seen anything or anyone. Most of the buildings in the section which came from at least three realms were mainly intact with a few parts being damaged or missing bits of the structures. A few small piles of rubble lay here and there and the region was stripped of healthy foliage with only a scattering of grasses which bore electrified yellow tips and some shrooms mainly small varieties most glowing growing there. Most other foliage appeared dead and many trees seemed burned with some having split open with their cores still burning from getting struck by lightning. Lightening was striking randomly throughout the area from the dark clouds above leaving burn marks on areas where it would strike more than once in that area. They were cautiously making their way through the area using buildings to not only hide themselves but shelter from the lightening trying to lower the chances of getting shocked. So far they had gotten lucky though they had a few close calls with Pixal and Aaron which had made Aaron decide to hold off riding his hover shield and remain on the ground till out of the area. They had come across the area they had noted from the scouting Pelagius had done that looked to be a nest. It was clearly the nest for something. They had found strange dark blue shed scales that Pixal deduced came from some type of dragon. Whatever it was clearly was not there nor seemed to be in the area. They felt that was a good thing; they didn’t want to meet up with what had corrupted this region.
“I think we’re almost there,” Clay stated as they moved peaking around a corner to check what was ahead of them. He could see the large doors which they had to pass through to get into the inner most ring. There was nothing hanging around or guarding the area. Clay didn’t like the looks of it and he wasn’t the only one.
“This isn’t good. The area looks abandoned; no one is guarding the doorways,” Clay stated holding everyone else back not wanting anyone to set off any possible trap. All of them were on edge looking for danger.
“The unnatural energy of the storm in this area is preventing me from being able to utilise some of my senses preventing me from sensing anything,” Pixal stated and Robo-bill Merlok added, “some of this Robo-bills senses are not working either but I am able to feel a dark magically based energy hanging over the area.”
“What do we do? Do we brave it or find another way around?” Skylor wondered and Aaron noted, “as far as we can tell these districts only have one door each into the inner ring. We don’t have time to try and look for other possible entrances. So if we were to take another way in we would have to pass through one of the other districts to use the only other ways we know of to get through.” Seliel noted, “and we don’t want to do that. The watery district and energy district border this one.”
“Not to mention we don’t know how much time we have to work with. We’ll have to risk continuing. Stay alert and on edge, no quick movements and stick to the sides of the road close to the buildings,” Clay declared. They slowly rounded the corner and stuck close to the walls of the buildings on the side they had come from moving slowly and keeping alert for dangers. Any time they came by a damaged section that went into a building or a doorway which all no longer had doors they would stop and at least two of them would look into the structure to make sure nothing was hiding inside. Shortly after starting their trek a noise in the sky above them caught them off guard and they sucked close to the buildings while looking up worried over what it was. They could just make out at least two dragons fly over head. By the sounds there was likely more flying by but they couldn’t see them from where they hid. The dragons looked to be headed out to the fighting in the rest of the city.
“Where did those dragons come from?” Wu wondered.
“Don’t know but do you think they saw us?” Axl wondered and Seliel noted, “it didn’t look like it.” They waited for a second to see if anything would happen worried they might have been spotted but when nothing occurred they decided to continue. As they got close to the doors it seemed they had gotten lucky. They were only a few feet from the doors when a blast of energy suddenly hit them sending them all flying backwards.
As they all recovered from the blast and got up they saw standing in front of the door they needed to pass was a green dragon that by its designs they believed was tied to the element of energy. It was reared up on its hind legs with wings out in display as it looked at them baring its teeth and growling. It was no bigger than a bus and had four limbs along with a set of wings. Its eyes were a red color and had large dark markings around them. The ends of its limbs also seemed to have been darkened by the same dark hold that marked around its eyes. They were not sure where it had come from but were pretty sure it was what had attacked them.
“I guess one of them did see us,” Lance noted and Wu expressed looking at the dragon and getting a strange feeling from it, “something about this beast is not right and it is more than the corruption that holds it.”
“I would have to agree there is a dark magic to that creature. I sense a dragon was not its original form,” Merlok noted as they grouped back together and Macy wondered, “then what is it?” As she spoke five figures came out of the shadows to stand with the dragon. The figures that came to stand with it looked to be beast folk from the Lost realm four of them were of the ungulate folk while one was of the hyena folk. The one of the ungulate folk was large and bulky in build while the hyena bore glowing markings on the side of his head which ran around his ears and under his hair indicating he had internal cybernetics in his body. By the gear they wore and their weapons and shields they guessed these were these Knights of the Prong they had heard of who had gone missing. By their darkened skin and red eyes and glowing reddish arcane markings on their bodies it looked like they had likely been caught and corrupted like this Dragon Guard they had heard of to serve Dagon.
“By who’s with it I think it might be one of these Dragon Guard members we’ve heard of,” Clay stated before the one knight who seemed to be the leader, a male with short upright hair and a large distinctive scar across the right side of his face declared pointing his sword at them in display, “Dagon told us you would likely be coming. We are to make sure you do not interfere with our lords plans.”
“Remember what Dagon said don’t hold back and show them no mercy,” the female of the dark knights proclaimed as they rushed at their group the dragon joining them. Despite their group outnumbering the dark Knights of the Prong they were finding these knights were much tougher than expected and all of them were able to wield the dark magic’s of the Ashers making them tough to fight. Add the energy dragon into the mix and there small group was getting nowhere fast. Clay and Merlok focussed on the dragon using their magic powers to combat it while the others focussed on the knights. Not long after their squabble started the dragon hit them with a blast of force that sent them all flying back a bit.
“We’ll give you a chance, surrender and we’ll let you live in service to our lord or continue on this path and face your end,” the leader of the corrupted knights of the prong declared to them as they got back up him and his knights laughing at them as the dragon landed behind them.
“We will not give in and surrender; a knight never yields!” Clay declared the corrupted knights looking pleased by their choice eager for a fight. Their group was about to get up and continue the fight when a noise caught their attention. Looking to the source they saw the Pryphon Chewy hovering in the air between their group and the corrupted ones. It was just hovering there looking at the corrupted beings seeming oddly calm. The corrupted knights just laughed at the creature amused by its presence while all those in their group were curious and confused. Why was the little creature there, what was it doing and how had it even get there?
“Dudes does this little thing think it poses any threat,” the hyena folk knight wondered and the female of the group stated, “not sure, what do you think Dagon could do with one of those?”
“Maybe we could see. We’ll take it to him after we eliminate these challengers to our lords rule,” the leader declared prepping to continue the attack. They prepared to defend themselves but before anyone could move a large beast rushed out from a dark alley way next to where the corrupted knights stood and rammed them with its head tossing them all against the one building. The beast was a Hoofivore which showed a surprising lack of being infected by the corruption of the Plane Meld like most creatures they had seen. After bowling over the knights the creature turned towards the dragon and began to attack it.
“Looks like these scum brought themselves a little pet, I wonder if Dagon would like a new rug,” the one knight who had small horn implants sticking out of his hair expressed and the leader stated, “maybe he would like to make a rug out of all of them.”
“Turning us into rugs; that just sounds so wrong man,” Aaron expressed while Clay noted, “We don’t have time to fight these knights.” The corrupted knights began to head back into fighting their group while the dragon managed to clamp its jaws on the Hoofivores back then throw it into a building causing a wall to crumble onto it where it lay there still. The dragon then turned towards them to aid its fellow knights. Before anyone could start to fight the Pryphon made a strange noise its call oddly deepening as a bright light engulfed it for a second as it went from its small pint size form to a full sized gryphon a bit bigger than the corrupted dragon. It landed between their group and the corrupted beings who looked surprised by the creature which was looking at them angrily reared up on its hind limbs with its wings out in display. It roared at the corrupted beings hitting them with a sound that clearly bothered them before hitting them with a roar that sent a blast of force at them knocking them all back. With little effort Chewy then tossed each of the knights one by one into buildings around them with his forepaws knocking them out before turning to the dragon. The energy dragon spat a blast of green flame like energy at Chewy who wrapped his wings protectively around himself. Once the dragons’ blast ended Chewy unfurled his wings which had only received some singeing to the feathers before launching at the dragon. The two got into a squabble and after a hefty bite to its one back leg the dragon took off trying to escape the pryphons attacks. Chewy took off chasing after the dragon giving their group an opportunity to continue unhindered.
“Do you think it needs help?” Axl wondered as they watched the two rush off and Seliel expressed, “I think it can handle itself. We should thank that Keikiary for her Pryphons help.”
“That’s if we get through this,” Lance noted before they heard a creature calling to them. The Hoofivore had recovered and stood by the doors looking at them as if waiting for them. It watched as they approached and opened the doors. As they opened the doors the strange dark fog that filled the innermost ring began to spill into the area they were in. The fog put them all on edge and they backed up away from the fog. Not only did it unnerve them but the fog gripped them with an unnatural cold and made it hard for them to move. It gave them feelings of dread and the feeling something dark was out to get them. They were coughing from the fog having trouble breathing and struggled with feelings to flee. They all took a few steps back from the fog. The Hoofivore seemed oddly calm about the fog and moved into it a bit stopping to look back at them as if wanting them to follow. For some reason it appeared unaffected by the fog unlike the rest of them.
“What is this stuff?” Axl wondered and Robo-bill Merlok noted, “I am unsure but it is a dark substance; a very dark substance. It may appear as a fog but that is only because our senses are incapable of perceiving its true nature so to us it resembles a fog.”
“When I try to analyze it this fog does not register and nothing within it can be seen. It appears as an empty void,” Pixal noted trying to analyze the fog getting no results and Wu wondered, “could this stuff be from this void?”
“Given the data it is possible,” Pixal noted and Aaron expressed trying to fight the fogs effects as more of it continued to spill into their area, “whatever it is it is incredibly hard to fight its effects and we’re just touching the edges of it. It probably will be far worse for us when we’re fully in it.”
“How are we going to get through it then?” Seliel wondered. None had ever heard or felt of such a substance as this void fog leaving them with no clue how to fight it. For many of them they could feel themselves getting frustrated by the fact this fog was the only thing separating them from their destination and it looked like something that shouldn’t be giving them as much trouble as it was.
“I don’t know. Maybe the passages below ground are free of this stuff if not…” Clay began before they heard a loud bang which faded out like thunder and some of them noted a weak but warm breeze come through the fog.
“What was that?” Axl wondered. None of them had a clue. They stood on edge looking around worried over what the noise had been. As they looked around they noted this fog appeared to be thinning out. They could start to see through it. They could make out ruined structures covered by strange dark vines, strange dark rock structures having erupted in some areas and corrupted flora including some dark glowing fungi in the area in front of them. As the fog slowly cleared they could feel its effects waning and could start seeing further into the central ring. As it cleared they were able to see a massive structure inside the ring. A mass conglomerate fortress made from structures from Ninjago, Knighton and the Lost Realm surrounded by the rubble of structures from the same places. A pathway followed the edges of the ring and a pathway leading to the entrance of this mass came from the door leading to the electric district.
“What has that monster done to this place?!” Macy expressed and Seliel wondered, “what’s caused the fog to clear?” With the fog clearing they started to pick up on the sounds of a commotion within this structure as the sound dampening the fog had brought to the area vanished along with it.
“Don’t know but I think this is our chance to reach the heart of this mess,” Clay declared and Wu added, “by the sounds I think the ninja are in danger.”
They just managed to dodge away from Zanes dragon form as he came at them looking to try and sink his teeth into Lloyd. After they dodged his first attack Kai hit Zane in the side with a blast of fire. Zane looked angry but was unaffected by it. Instead he went to try and bite Kai some of the void plasm still dripping from his mouth. Lloyd hit him in the face with a blast from his powers stopped Zanes attack to Kai. Zane turned his attention to Lloyd and they could see him building up an icy breath in his mouth. Thinking quickly Nya summoned a great deal of water and shot it into his mouth just as he went to hit Lloyd with a frosty breath. The water was froze instantly into a dark with aquamarine centered ice by his breath freezing it in and around his mouth. Dragon Zane shook his head a few times trying to dislodge the ice before hitting his head on the ground then scratching with his foot claws to start breaking the ice off his snout having to hit his snout on the ground a second times to get some decent cracks in it. With cracks forming in it and most on the outside of his jaws removed he then forced his jaws shut breaking the ice which fell off and out of his muzzle startling them with the strength of his jaws. Her actions drew Zanes attention to Nya and he bared his teeth at her hissing as dark ice fell out of his mouth. He looked like he was going to try and bite her.
“No bad dragon Zane. You don’t hurt your family and you don’t listen to a demon; you listen to us,” Jay scolded dragon Zane as he hit him a few times with shocks of electricity before he could make a move. The electricity had more of an effect on Zane giving him a notable shock looking and sounding to hurt him and drew his attention to Jay. Zane was clearly angry at Jay baring his teeth and growling. Zane began stalking towards Jay grumbling his voice sounding off and dark ‘no family in the void… there is only darkness… family must join the void or perish’ as he stalked. To stop him from getting close to Jay worried over what he was going to do Cole hit him in the back of the one foot with his hammer. Zane turned his attention to Cole turning to try and bite him. Kai hit Zane in the side with a blast of fire distracting him before Jay hit him again with a heavy charge clearly hurting and angering him.
“Jay tone it down in your attacks on him or he’ll probably make you regret it,” Cole expressed as Zane turned to attack Jay void plasm dripping a bit from his mouth. In hopes to distract Zane Lloyd took a swipe with Dawnbringer at Zanes right forelimb stating as he did it, “enough Zane. Snap out of whatever state that monster has put you in.” Lloyd hadn’t realised how hard he had hit till Zane made a sound clearly in pain before muttering ‘it burns it burns’ a few times backing up a bit from them. Lloyd had swiped too hard and cut through the dark synthetic skin of his limb cutting wires a few of which got pulled out and some void plasm began to drip from the wound.
“That’s not good,” Jay noted all of them taking a few steps back worried over how Zane would react.
“Zane I’m sorry I didn’t mean to…” Lloyd began before Zane retaliated by trying to hit him with an icy blast. Lloyd dove under Zane rushing to the other side while Zane stopped his attack to try and follow Lloyd who started to rush away from him. Zane began building up an ice breath so Kai hit him in the face with a fireball. Zane wasted no time in retaliating moving to bite him. Kai decided to try the same move Lloyd had to escape his attack dodging to underneath him thinking now as a large dragon Zane was not agile enough to react quick enough to catch him. Unfortunately his thinking was not so accurate and Zane still managed to get a hold of him biting onto his one leg to pull him up and hold him hanging upside down from his jaws. Zane luckily wasn’t biting hard enough to crush his leg not even to break skin which Kai felt a good thing considering how he had broke that dark ice in his jaws he clearly now had a very wicked jaw strength but the fact he wasn’t hurting him with his bite had Kai worried over what Zane was planning on doing with him. He could think of two possibilities hitting him with a breath attack or as he felt more likely eating him whole and alive! He was terrified as he didn’t want either option.
“Zane no drop him and don’t eat him,” Jay expressed as Zane began to shake Kai before Cole tossed his hammer into the side of Zanes head using his lava arms to give it some considerable hitting force causing Zane to drop Kai as the hit momentarily dazed him. Nya caught Kai who was a bit dazed from Jays shock and a bit light headed from being held upside down and getting shaken a bit. While Cole went to retrieve his weapon to keep Zane from trying to bite him as he recovered Lloyd hit Zane with his powers. The others then hit him with their powers a few more times hoping to try and knock some sense into Zane and break Dagons hold on him but it wasn’t working not even when they hit him with all their powers together. Instead it seemed to be angering Zane. Eventually dragon Zane paused backing up from all of them looking to think something over while looking at the ground in front of himself. He then glanced at the rest of them to growl his corrupted voice sounding dark, “If you do not wish to make this easy then I will not be easy on you, iiz-strun-wuld.”
He then built up a frosty breath but instead of trying to hit one of them he shot a frosted blast into the air above them where it exploded above him. As it exploded they could feel the air start to get colder and foggier as the wind picked up and snow and ice pellets began to form and whip around with the wind into a vortex around them. It surrounded the ninja and the Stag creating a white out preventing them from seeing anything not even each other and the ninja could feel the cold getting to them making it hard to move. They could hear Zanes dragon form take to the wing followed shortly by what sounded like him attacking someone but they couldn’t see who. They tried to find each other in the freezing whirlwind but were struggling to move from the cold as it started to freeze them. Thinking quickly the Stag rotated his spear above his head uttering a spell before slamming the bottom of the spear into the ground making a loud thunderous bang and sending a blast of warm energy out from himself breaking the whirlwind Zane had created causing it and any of the remaining void fog in the area to dissipate allowing the ninja to better see their surroundings and find each other. With the fog and whirlwind cleared they could see what was going on. They were startled to see dragon Zane had managed to grab Lloyd with his one hind foot and was hovering a couple feet off the ground trying to bite Lloyd who was frantically swinging Dawnbringer at his snout anytime Zane tried to bite him while also trying to break free of his hold.
“You will let him go,” the Stag declared hitting Zane with a hefty blast of light energy. The blast knocked him back out of the air and crashed him back first into the base of the stairs in front of Dagons thrown. When the blast hit him Zane let go of Lloyd who Cole managed to catch before he hit the ground. Cole then helped the stunned and shaken Lloyd back to the others as Dragon Zane recovered from the hit and rolled back onto his feet clearly very angry. He began building up a breath attack but the ninja were unsure what it was. It didn’t look like an ice attack. It was a black mist with green tints in some areas which was dripping from his mouth as he built it up. It was a quick build up before he blasted the breath at them. The Stag quickly put himself between the ninja who had gathered together and Zane bringing up a ward to shield them from this dark black with green tinted mist breath forcing the attack around them. When his breath hit the ward Jay got startled despite them being safe behind the ward and jumped back where he bumped into Cole who was knocked off balance by this action. Cole stumbled a bit trying to avoid stumbling into the blast but as he got his footing his left arm got caught in it. He screamed in pain as he jumped back to safety while Zane stopped his attack remaining crouched just looking at them. The others came to Coles aid as he knelt shaking terribly while holding down the arm that had been hit. The skin and attire of the arm from the forearm down had darkened. His skin had turned a void black and faint cracking void markings were beginning to appear.
“You can touch him but do not touch the mark it could infect you too,” the Stag warned while Cole panicked as the darkening began to spread up his arm and he could feel the cold dark grip of the void steadily consuming him, “what’s happening to me?!” He was shaking terribly and the golden bracelet the Stag had put on him was starting to flicker as if going out. Terrified by the uncertainty of what that attack had been and what it had done Jay screamed in panic, “What kind of attack was that?!”
“A void breath; your Ice Dragon brother now has powers in more than just ice. The voids hold of him allows him to tap into the energies and powers of the void. He can now spit a breath of the void to inflict others with the voids hold. Earth Dragon you must fight its influence or it will take over you as it has done to him,” the Stag declared.
“I can try but… I can feel it growing… getting harder…” Cole muttered growing more and more scared as the void steadily grew more of a hold on him and Jay feeling guilty he had caused Cole to get hit panicked, “is there anything we can do for him?”
“I could try and pull the void out of him but I cannot do it alone. He will need to have to fight the voids hold as well,” the Stag stated and Cole muttered the darkness having moved up his arm as he struggled against it, “I can try but the cold and dark… I’m not sure I can hold it off much longer… the hold… it’s so strong!”
“Qiilaan-Nil-Zeymah; Do not fight it brother, let it consume you. You will be grateful of its hold,” dragon Zane growled slowly crawling towards them and the Stag looked at him to state, “you stay back. You should be going after Dagon and not your family... Dagon is not the only one who can control those who have been consumed by the void.” The Stag then used a spell on Zane trying to break Dagons hold and gain control of him. His spell clearly caused Zane pain and he coward shaking and swinging his head from side to side trying to resist whatever the Stag was doing his eyes flickering between aquamarine and red, void plasm dripping from his jaws while he was giving off his mechanical bestial sounding noises screeching and yowling in great pain.
“Stop! You’re just hurting him. Help Cole before it’s too late,” Lloyd proclaimed trying to pull the Stags arm down to stop his spell unable to handle seeing his friends in pain. He wasn’t able to pull the Stags arm the Stag being too strong for Lloyd to move but his actions did make the Stag stop what he was doing. With the spell stopped dragon Zane nearly collapsed crouching low and looking tired and confused possibly hurt as well breathing heavily and his eyes returning to their normal icy color. The Stag then turned to Cole who was slowly but steadily getting consumed by the void despite trying to fight it shaking and growing more terrified as the void consumed him. While they were still hanging around him the others had put a bit of space between themselves and Cole not wanting to also get poisoned by the void. The Stag began to make his way over to aid Cole but stopped when he heard a voice call out, “what is going on?!” The Stag and ninja turned to the sound of the voice to see Wu leading a group made of the Nexo Knights along with Robo-bill Merlok and Jestro, Pixal, Seliel and Skylor followed by a Hoofivore into the area through the entrance doors. Dagon just watched amused with his sorcerer from up on his thrown platform as the group came up to the ninja. Zane seemed oblivious to their arrival remaining crouched looking scared and confused.
“No don’t touch me… I’ve been poisoned by the void… I don’t want it to infect you too,” Cole quickly expressed to Seliel as she came up to him to try and help him. Cole was shaking terribly still trying to fight the voids grip despite nearly half his body showing the voids hold. Everyone kept their distance from him unsure what was going on and what it could do to them. They were worried wanting to help but unsure what to do.
“What have you done to my ninja?!” Wu demanded from the Stag pointing his staff at the Stag while putting himself between the Stag and the ninja pulling Lloyd away from the Stag and close to him.
“I have not done this to them,” the Stag declared calmly and Wu expressed, “Cole says he has been poisoned with the void. You are part of this void…”
“But he didn’t do it. Dagon is also part of the void. Dagon is responsible for this, the Stag is going to try to pull the void out of him to save him,” Lloyd quickly explained before Pixal wondered looking around worried, “where’s Zane?” They were so focussed on the Stag and each other that none of them were aware that dragon Zane had recovered from the Stags spell and was slowly becoming aware of the others still confused and shaken. Before he could make a move Dagon took note of his recovery and silently took control of him again. Back under Dagons control Zane slowly and quietly snuck up towards the others while crouched on all fours.
“We’re so sorry Pix but he got poisoned by this void fog and it corrupted him…” Nya began to console before dragon Zane surprised and startled them all by snapping Jay up in his jaws so only Jays legs were sticking out of his mouth beginning to shake him like a dog with its toy. None of them had noted Zane sneaking up to them and targeting one of them. The knights, Seliel, Skylor, Pixal and Wu prepared to assault what they saw as merely just a regular dragon but Nya, Kai and Lloyd quickly stopped them.
“No don’t hurt the dragon that’s Zane!” Lloyd exclaimed confusing the others.
“What? How?!” Wu inquired and Kai quickly explained, “he got poisoned by the void and succumbed to it then to serve him Dagon turned him into a dragon.” While they were shocked and worried over what to do dragon Zane made a small toss up of his head so all of Jay fell into his mouth as he closed his mouth up. A few seconds afterwards Zane received a heavy shock causing him to freeze up in pain. While he was being shocked the Stag threw his spear at dragon Zane where it pierced him straight in the heart. The moment he was pierced Zane exploded into a black icy green tinted fog bringing a chill to the air while a stunned and slightly sparking Jay fell out from where the back of his mouth had been. Nya, Kai and Skylor rushed over to help Jay who exclaimed in a state of shock “he was trying to eat me! He nearly swallowed me!” while the others watched on in disbelief. Dagon was just laughing from by his throne amused at what was going on as they helped Jay up and back to the others.
“You just… just killed him! We could have tried something else you didn’t have to kill him!” Lloyd exclaimed feeling a terrible mix of emotions including shock, anger and grief to the Stag who was surprisingly calm despite the others becoming angered at him. The Stag summoned back his dark spear and stated to the others, “you cannot kill him now. He is a part of the void; as long as he is tied to the void he cannot be truly killed. When so called killed it will not kill him but only temporarily displace his physical form; he will reform soon and back to full health as well.”
“How do you know that?!” Wu questioned angry. They all started to argue with the Stag feeling he was still tied too deeply with the darkness seeing his ‘killing’ of Zane instead of finding a less violent method to deal with him as proof of this. They felt he couldn’t be trusted and it might be best for them to remove him along with Dagon. Dagon meanwhile was enjoying their fighting amongst each other watching with pleasure at their squabble. Pixal was the only one not joining in the arguing instead she was staring in shock and disbelief at the dark fog which was slowly reforming into the dragon form as Zane regained a physical form by the base of the stairs to Dagons throne. As the Stag had said he was back to full health with all wounds he had received gone. After reforming he cowered looking confused, stunned and scared his eyes their normal icy color before he noticed Pixal and looked at her. He seemed to recognize her and it calmed him down a bit. Curious Pixal slowly approached him holding out a hand for him. Dragon Zane hesitated a second before slowly moving close to her crouching low. As he got close he put the tip of his snout against her hand. She gave him a stroke. Despite still being scared he calmed down and relaxed from her touch. It wasn’t long though before he quickly recoiled from her giving his head a shake as his eyes again flashed red before turning aquamarine and aggressive as Dagon forced his hold on Zane again. Zane tried to fight Dagons hold but couldn’t and once Dagon had control he let out a roar at the others catching their attention while Pixal started walking backwards away from him realising he was now under the control of dark forces so it was wise not to get too close to him as he likely would be unable to prevent himself from hurting her. Before Zane could do anything the Hoofivore rushed at him trying to bite his snout. Dragon Zane tried to hit it with a frosty blast but the Hoofivore jumped out of the way before coming back at him. They had a short squabble before Zane clamped his jaws on the Hoofivores back and lifted it off the ground as it struggled to break free. Zane then tossed it against the one sides wall where it hit the wall hard and landed winded at its base. Before the creature could get up being stunned Zane hit it with an icy breath freezing it in a casing of dark ice. He then looked at the rest of them baring his teeth before rearing up on his hind legs wings held out in display and breathed a dark icy breath at the far and side walls causing a dark ice which had strange green glowing cores and veins in it to build up on the outer walls the floor closest to the wall also receiving dustings of ice and frost. The ice he put on the walls also blocked off the entrance trapping them all in Dagons fortress. After Zane was done his blast Dagon proclaimed with a dark laugh, “Now there is no escape; no help will come for you and no intervention can work in this place. You have sealed your fates.” The sky lost its reddish tinge becoming darker and turning greenish making the area seem darker and more unsettling than it had been before.
As Dagon talked a dark figure came up to stand next to dragon Zane looking confused for a second before Dagons hold overcame him and his eyes flashed red before turning aquamarine. When they saw the figure they realised with a sinking feeling of regret and dread that with Zanes actions and their arguing with the Stag they had made a huge mistake. They had forgotten to help Cole who had been unable to fight off the voids hold and succumbed to it just as Zane had. The corruption had turned his skin void black with glowing aquamarine cracking marks all over his body and his eyes hollow looking with a glowing aquamarine inside them. His attire and weapons had darkened developing similar glowing markings as well. Dagon just laughed at their mistake as Cole declared his voice off and dark, “you fools have wasted enough time now you will either bow to and become one with the darkness or perish.”
Notes:
The ending for this story took a long time for me to figure it all out. I knew kind of what I was expecting to happen but I didn't know the details of everything or everything that was going to happen. My original thoughts was that the ninja would face a monster mutated Dragon Guard under Dagons control as the final battle but it just didn't work. It didn't feel right or work very well and I couldn't work out an ending or much of a story with it. I'm not sure what sparked my final idea but when working it out it felt right, the story flowed together and the ending came together quite well I feel.
I won't give any spoilers but I'll tell you things are just ramping up!Zanes dragon form is inspired off Durnehviir a unique and sad dragon in the Elder Scrolls series. In ancient times he sought great power to wrestle control for the skies among the dragons by seeking out the aid from powerful god like beings known as the Ideal Masters. They granted him this power but in return he had to guard a prisoner till her death but they neglected to reveal to him that this prisoner was in fact a vampire which do not age so cannot die and because she resides in the Soul Cairn, a minor realm of oblivion, she will not die from the sun and will be very unlikely to die from any weapons or poison meaning in the end Durnehviir was tricked into eternal service for the Ideal Masters and forced to live in the Soul Cairn trapping him in a tortured state between life and death. When you meet him in TES 5 Skyrim he has been in the Cairn for so long he can now never leave it as his energy is now apart of the Cairn and he will cease to be if away from it for too long. A clip of one of the possible first interactions your character can have with Durnehviir if you wish to in a sense meet the dragon if you have never played the game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xCk_nxGYxw
Some of the inspiration for what Dagon says to the Stag when trying to determine whose side he's on is inspired by the quotes Dagoth Ur states to your character when you head to confront him in TES 3 Morrowind. Someone actually took some of what he said and turned it into a song known as the Dagoth Wave. If you want to hear Dagoth Urs complete quotes here is a compilation you can check out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YebMt5DDSF4
I can't make up languages so when cursed as a dragon some of the words Zane utters as a magic related language are actually from the dragon language in the Elder Scrolls. If you wish to take a look at it and try and translate what he says here is a link to the translations of this language: https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Dragon_Language Sometimes what he utters in this language has hidden meanings while others are like utterings to help him focus on what he does with his powers or are magic incantations.
Chapter 56: Battle of the Ivory-Gold Tower
Summary:
The battle has begun!
Notes:
Pictures relating to story can be found here: https://www.deviantart.com/nerdy-hyena/gallery/72478681/story-project
They are really good and help to visually flush out several aspects of the story including environments, characters, outfits, locations, creatures and other aspects often important ones in the story. All images I post in my work can be found there if you want a better look at them. Defiantly make sure to check them out.Also if you need a refresher on creatures, flora or aspects of the environment you can check out the second chapter in this work titled 'Keikiarys Guide to the Ash Wastes'. It includes short descriptions and pictures of these things.
Parts of this section are subject to change as the prequel story is written to improve story continuity.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
With Coles decree some Ashers and void monsters allied to them came through the portals by Dagons throne platform. Cole took charge of the dark forces speaking in an ancient dark language their commands before leading them into the battle. The rest of them prepared to defend themselves torn over what to do.
“What do we do?! I don’t want to fight our friends, our family,” Jay exclaimed worried and guilty as he was responsible for Cole falling to the darkness. The Stag declared to them as creating for himself out of dark energy a naginata before they started to fight, “you will fight them or they will destroy you. You no longer have a choice. Those are no longer your friends. They are but shadows of themselves darkened and twisted by Dagon and the dark energies of the void. If you wish to save them and end this madness then you need to destroy the source that has corrupted them. Green dragon we will keep everyone occupied you focus on reaching Dagon and destroying him. Take note no one is going to make it easy for you especially your tainted friends. She-droid I can sense you want to but do not try and connect with the droid dragon. You will get poisoned by the void energies that consumes him corrupting you as well and Amber Dragon do not touch me! I sense what you are doing. My energies are too dangerous for you. You cannot handle my powers and will be poisoned by the void if you do. You want a power to copy use the knights powers not mine.” Wu had quietly suggested to Skylor that it might be useful for her to tap into the Stags power in an attempt to even the odds and Skylor had thought she had been doing well sneaking up to him unseen. Upon his words she took some steps back away from him not wanting to risk getting corrupted and startled he had been aware of her. Instead she did as he suggested and tapped into the knights Nexo powers by touching one of their shields. The knights were using an ice based power for against the Ashers. The knights were more than willing to share their power with her. Their group was quickly overwhelmed by their enemies. The Stag took on the nastiest of the monsters like Nocturn Crows, Dreadcondas and Hungers which luckily were highly drawn to him while the knights helped the ninja and their friends take on the other monsters most of which were lesser entities and the humanoid Zivkins and Ashers while trying to also hinder but not seriously harm Cole and Zane who clearly could no longer control themselves deeply influenced by the darkness now inside them as they targeted their once friends and family. Despite wanting to Pixal heeded the Stags warning and didn’t try to connect with Zane, she did however attempt to get through to him by talking to him to try and talk him out of the darkness’s hold but he didn’t seem to be listening to her. He kept attacking them trying to hit someone with a breath attack of ice or the void mists or trying to snap his jaws on them which most of them were pretty sure would get them eaten as they had seen him bite onto an Asher that had gotten mad at him for interfering with its attack. As retaliation for its chastising Zane had clamped his jaws on it then as if unable to control himself after shaking it a bit swallowed it whole. Seliel had tried talking Cole out of his dark hold but was doing no better than Pixal was with Zane. Cole they quickly came to realise had developed an extreme strength and powers in dark magic with his corruption. A few of the dark powers he could use including an ability to cast a sphere of energy around others or himself that could block any of their powers or magic’s and to siphon energy from them. Both Pixal and Seliel didn’t seem to be having much success. They did note however that their loved ones would pause their attacks if they got in the way or caught their attention and would oddly for a short time turn their attacks onto one of the Ashers or their monsters close by instead of interacting with them or trying to hurt their friends. In her attempts to get through to him Seliel noticed at one point Cole did seem to regain some control for a few seconds pausing in his attack to mutter to her looking to be in pain, “it’s too late… I can’t… can’t fight. Save yourself… I’m sorry…” before turning his attack on an Asher who was confused and angry that Cole was attacking him and not them. While the others tried to keep Cole, Zane and the dark forces focussed on them Lloyd tried to rush up the stairs towards Dagon having to dodge and fight back attacks from Ashers, Serpent Flies, Vulcaroths and other various monsters on the way. Dawnbringer was quite effective at leaving damages and destroying the dark beings giving him a slight edge against them. He just managed to get to the stairs but wasn’t even halfway up before a force of cold air hit him in the side sending him flying off the stairs and towards the left side wall where he landed winded and sore on the floor. Dragon Zane had hit him with a shout of freezing winds to knock him back and after he was sent flying Zane jumped to land on the stairs before starting to stalk off the stairs and towards Lloyd to attack him. After he had landed Clay rushed over to help Lloyd up and put himself between Lloyd and dragon Zane to protect him while Lloyd recovered. Dragon Zane breathed a blast of dark frost at them but the two crouched down hiding behind Clays shield so they weren’t hit by the blast. When his breath was done dragon Zane moved forward looking to try and bite the two. Noting his actions and thinking quickly to stop him Robo-bill Merlok hit Zane in the face with a magical blast. The blast caught his attention turning him towards Wu and Merlok who were fighting together.
“Zane stop this, we all know this is not you. You’re a kind, caring and gentle soul not some cruel monster. You have to fight whatever that daemon has done to you,” Wu tried to encourage to Zane. Zane paused for a moment shaking his head as if fighting something in his mind before calming down and looking back at them to growl, “Nil-Du-Pah, it is too late the darkness is too strong… the Zane you knew is gone. I am now one with the void.”
“Indeed you are my pet and if you were smart like him then you would all join him or you shall perish,” they heard Dagon declare with pleasure before Zane muttered, “nil-iiz-du.” Seeing him charging up to hit them with an icy breath Merlok held his staff up with two hands at dragon Zane and created a magical barrier around him and Wu to protect them from the blast. It protected them but the dark ice built up on the ward around them entombing the two in a thick dome of dark ice. Dragon Zane just stood looking at the dome for a second before turning back to attack Lloyd and Clay who were prepping to have to fight him. Before he could attack Zane got hit by a strong shock seizing him up for a few seconds. The shock drew his attention to Jay who was yelling at him, “no bad boy, bad dragon mutated nindroid. You don’t freeze your master in your dark ice. Bad boy… you don’t eat your brothers either!” His attacks and disciplining turned Zanes attention to Jay who seeing he had caught Zanes attention and afraid of what Zane would do to him if he got close began trying to run away from him as Zane came after him clearly angry from Jays actions. While Jay ran from him their enemies tried to stop him so Zane could get close. As Zane began to follow Jay Macy took advantage of his distraction to get close and hit the back of his foot as hard as she could. While he reacted to her hit Cole who was fighting Axl and Skylor wielding his warhammer with one hand took note of Macys actions and while she was distracted sent a seam of dark tainted rock shards across the ground toward her. She was unaware of his actions till the rocks burst up in front of her knocking her back where Clay and Jestro came to her aid while Lloyd and Kai had rushed over to try and break Wu and Merlok free of their ice tomb.
“I’ve been cut, I can feel the darkness invading me,” Macy expressed holding onto her one leg where one of the dark shards had left a deep cut which was glowing with a void green glow while the area around it had blackened, “forget about me. Help the others. I’ll try to fight the voids hold as long as I can but I can’t guarantee it for long.” They left her while she tried to hold back the voids hold as long as she could while it steadily overtook her and went to help Lloyd and Kai who were being pestered by some Ashers and monsters including a Hunger which was trying to wrap its tongue on Lloyd to siphon his energy. Wu and Merlok were trying to break the ice from the inside but with little effect. None of them had left any damage to the dome. Clay helped Lloyd take on the Hunger with him attacking it from behind and Lloyd from the front till they managed to get a lucky break for Lloyd to stab the monster in its chest destroying it causing it to explode in a dark mist before disappearing. Jestro meanwhile helped Kai take out some of the Ashers and other monsters.
“We need to get them out of there, they have a limited amount of oxygen in this thing,” Lloyd panicked trying to chip into the ice with Dawnbringer having little effect. Even Kais fire had little effect on this dark ice barely leaving any mark or melting any. It seemed the void tainting in Zanes ice made it impervious to elemental powers and disturbingly strong. Even though Clay knew they should focus on getting to Dagon who was laughing and enjoying their squabbling from his throne he also knew Lloyd would not leave those he cared about till they were safe. Clay couldn’t blame him; he would do the same.
“We’re going to need something more powerful,” Clay noted as they looked around for something or someone with the strength to break the ice while fighting some of their opponents. Macy had instigated a fight with Nya and Skylor after succumbing to the voids hold. Jay had nearly been caught by dragon Zane who was still after him and Jay had been startled to find as Zane tried to bite him that Dagon had given his dragon form a set of teeth on the inside and roof of his mouth like some reptiles to make his bite even worse. He had managed to escape by tossing with considerable force one of the harpy beings who was trying to stop him into Zanes mouth all the way to the back of his throat as he went to bite him. While Zane swallowed the creature looking to be confused over what he had just eaten Jay tried rushing away having to dodge Cole who had activated his lava arms which glowed a void green color trying to crush Jay with his warhammer. Since he wasn’t wearing his hood and mask they could see Dagons hold was further affecting Cole as he had grown fangs which he was not afraid to use to try and bite them with and was starting to grow small bull like horns which were sticking out of his hair. Jay managed to evade Coles first attack and Axl rushed in to block Coles warhammer from a second attack but was struggling against Coles strength which had become much greater than usually due to the effects of the voids and Dagons corruption. After swallowing the creature dragon Zane went to hit Jay with an icy breath attack however he ended up hitting Cole who was in the way instead freezing him in ice. Instead of taking him out of the fight like they expected Cole smashed out of the ice angered to declare to Zane slamming his warhammer on a considerable piece of the dark ice that sat on the ground next to him smashing it to bits with no effort, “watch where you’re aiming that you overgrown reptilian tin can.”
“Cole can break the ice! We need to get his attention to bring him over here,” Clay noted and Kai exclaimed, “say no more I can do that.” He moved a bit away from the dome and closer to Cole who was battling Axl and Lance while Pixal and Seliel were trying to help Jay escape Zanes attacks while also fighting back the enemies. Kai threw a blast of fire into Coles back proclaiming, “hey Cole, your fat and weak, useless, a coward because you can’t express your emotions for Seliel… oh and cake sucks.” Kai’s taunting caught Coles attention angering him and he left Axl and Lance to attack Kai who placed himself with his back against the dome prepping for Coles attack. Cole went to slam his hammer on Kai who dodged his attack just in time so Cole slammed his weapon into the dome leaving a decent sized dent in it and cracking its surface. Kai kept teasing Cole to edge him on then dodging his swings making sure he would hit the icy dome with each strike. The others made sure to stand out of the way while keeping back the enemies.
“Will you stop moving,” Cole growled getting madder at Kai for his dodging but he luckily seemed unaware he was freeing Wu and Merlok. Once they were free Merlok blasted Cole away bowling him into Macy giving them and some of the others a bit of a reprieve from attacking their friends. Robo-bill Merlok was fine though Wu was a bit out of breath from the low oxygen they had in the dome. He was quickly recovering and urged Lloyd to not worry about him and get to Dagon before things escalated out of hand. Cole and Macy had recovered and Axl, Skylor and Seliel were trying to hold Cole back while Clay and Jestro had moved to try and keep Macy occupied. The Stag had taken out a few of the monsters plaguing him but more kept coming trying to overwhelm him. As they fought and took out opponents more kept coming through the portals. It seemed every time they took out an enemy another would come through the portal to take its place along with more enemies. Jay, Nya, Aaron, Pixal, and Lance were fighting various opponents while trying to avoid getting hit by Zanes attacks. Zane was crawling and occasionally flying around hitting random parts of the area with his breath attacks hoping to hit one of them with the attacks or to bat them with one of his wings, his tail or head along with trying to bite them. To stop one of his barrage of attacks from the sky as he made a pass overhead Jay hit him with a hefty shock. The shock clearly hurt and surprised him causing Zane to crash land and slide into the entrance wall breaking several parts of the ice barricade he had put on it including opening up the doorway into the fortress as he slammed into it. Small pieces of the ice that broke off landed atop him as he lay on the ground after the crash landing resting for around a minute before starting to slowly get up. Hoping to try and put some restraint on Zane to limit his attacks Aaron used his hover shield to rush over to Zane. Using a setting on his crossbow Aaron shot out a rope of Nexo energy around Zanes snout as he got up and pulled the rope tight. It seemed to be working to hold his mouth shut. Dragon Zane shook his head trying to loosen the rope but ended up pulling Aaron who held on tightly to his crossbow which the rope was still attached to off his board instead. Aaron clung on to his weapon as best he could terrified of being dropped especially as Zane took to the air coming to perch on the top of one of the walls by the throne platform. After landing Zane gave his head a few shakes before using his wings and a hind foot to work the rope off his snout. When he got it off however he didn’t let it drop instead he grabbed it in his mouth. Aaron had a bad feeling as he clung on that things were not going to go well for him. Zane began shaking him like a dog with its toy till Aarons shield which Aaron had summoned to try and help him get out of that situation hit Zane in the side of the head. When it hit him Zane let go of the rope in surprise flinging Aaron to the ground where he bounced a bit before landing face down on the ground winded, bruised and dazed. Annoyed by the shield Zane picked it up in his mouth from where it landed at his feet chomping on it a few times delivering some damage that shut it off before swallowing it. He then turned his attention back to Aaron stating ‘nil-du-ronaan, feel the sting void hound’. While Aaron lay dazed Zane built up his void breath looking at Aaron who was slowly recovering. Everyone else was occupied and unable to come to Aarons aid but Nya was able to call out to him drawing his attention to Zane. Aaron attempted to roll out of the way as Zane let his breath go at him but in his dazed, bruised and winded state he was unable to move away quick enough allowing his right arm and leg to get hit by the blast causing him pain and darkening them.
“Uh-oh, this isn’t good!” Aaron expressed shaking from the shock and pain of the void breath. He tried to fight its influence but was unsuccessful and quickly fell to the voids influence.
“Hmm that one has the image of a canid on his attire do you know what that reminds me of void brother…” Dagon expressed with a twisted smile as Aaron succumbed to the voids grip. Once he had succumbed Dagon hit Aaron with a dark spell which engulfed him in a dark fog. Before the fog could clear a large dark beast lunged out to land crouched on four limbs to look over all of them looking for a target baring its aquamarine tinted off white teeth at them. There was a distinct wolfish look to the beast who was largely coated in a void black fur. Though most of it was void black there was some faint and dim glowing void green markings on its lower limbs, claws, bushy tail tip, and part of the chest and belly. Its claws were brightly tipped by an aquamarine color and its eyes were void green. Interestingly the beast had Aarons headphones stuck on its head over its ears which boasted small lynx tufts on their tips.
“How does it feel to know you are not the only one who can do that brother or should I call you Storabek? Yha I know of your attempt to fit into the mortal realms as the demon spirit king of the wilderness and hunt. It took a while but I figured out how you did that trick and how to control your monsters. Try all you want but you will not be able to control or cure him like those of your make,” Dagon boasted with a dark laugh as the were-wolf Dagon had turned Aaron into gave out a howl before charging on all fours at Axl. The Stag just looked at Dagon with only hints that he was angry appearing in his near emotionless demeanour. Aaron knocked Axl over pinning him down from behind to bite into his armour trying to pull it off leaving Seliel and Skylor to try and restrain Cole while Axl struggled to get loose of Aarons grip trying to also not get bit by him. Pixal and Jestro came to aid Axl while Skylor and Seliel continued to keep Cole occupied. Jestro hit Aaron over the head with his staff trying to draw his attention away from Axl. This just drew Aarons attention to Jestro. Aaron lunged atop Jestro moving in to try and bite at his throat but Jestro managed to save himself by holding his staff into the back of Aarons mouth preventing him from closing his jaws. Axl went to help out trying to pull Aaron off Jestro but was quickly forced to help Clay fight Macy as she came at him to knock him away so Aaron could try and bite or what Jestro felt he was trying to do eat him. Thinking quickly Pixal noted the headphones still stuck on Aarons head and hacked into them to blare as loudly as they would go some music hoping the beast form Aaron was now in would have as sensitive hearing as the beast it resembled.
“Loud! Too loud!” Aaron howled his voice dark and beastial as he backed up pawing at his headphones trying to stop the noise now piercing his ears. This gave Jestro enough time to get up and put some distance between him and Aaron before Aaron managed to shut the headphones off. Mad for the disturbance Aaron turned his focus onto Pixal and lunged at her. The two began to spar and Jestro came over to try and help Pixal combat Aaron.
As Lloyd rushed to the stairs Merlok accompanied him helping him dodge and defend against attacks as they headed for Dagon. Just as they reached the stairs Merlok grabbed Lloyds gi from behind and quickly yanked him back expressing, “look out!” Seconds later an icy breath created a wall of dark ice on the stairs just a few feet in front of where Lloyd had been heading half the way up the stairs blocking off the stairways. From his vantage point Zane had seen Lloyd trying to reach the stairs and hit the area with an ice breath to stop him. After creating the icy blockade Zane hopped off the wall to land on the ground by the stairs and attempt to attack Lloyd. Merlok, Wu, Kai, Lance and Jay joined to attack him while Seliel, Nya and Skylor were dragging Cole over to get him to break down the ice barricade Zane had made while fighting back the monsters trying to intervene in their plans. Zane was blocking them from getting close to the barricade using breath attacks along with his tail, wings, head and feet to hit them and knock them back preventing them from getting close to the stairs. Spinjitsu didn’t work on him, most weapons didn’t do much damage to his metallic skin with only Dawnbringer able to do any notable damage though Lloyd was hesitant to hit him too hard not wanting to anger Zane and most of their powers had little effect on him. Only Jays had a notable effect. By how he would flinch and seize up when the electricity hit him it obviously did hurt him which was understandable as he still had his droid body, it was just now in the form of a large dragon so he was vulnerable to electricity like normal. How he reacted however to being shocked was not exactly what they wanted to encourage. Instead of deterring him it was just angering him making him more aggressive. While they were fighting him Lance managed to get close to his right forelimb which was also his right wing without Zane noticing. He shoved his lance into Zanes arm wedging it a considerable depth through the skin on his one forelimb. Zane recoiled clearly in considerable pain while some sparking came from the damage which was had not only caused damage with wires sticking out was dripping some void plasm which dripped out of the wound. By the looks Lance had done some damage to Zanes arm. Zane looked angrily at Lance who was trying to pull his weapon out of dragon Zanes forelimb. The lance however was stuck wedged deep in his limb and the others were guessing likely caught in some wires and materials of his inner make. Lance was trying frantically to pull his weapon out as Zane looked at him. Thinking Zane was going to try and hit him with an ice or void breath Lance put his shield up at Zane in defence. In surprise and shock to them all however dragon Zane didn’t use a breath attack and instead clamped his jaws on Lance picking him up to shake him a bit before tossing him fully into his mouth with a small jerk up of his head before swallowing him whole. Even the knights and ninja not around or fighting Zane saw him do it shocking them. After eating Lance dragon Zane pulled the lance out of his wing slowly working it out of his arm clearly receiving pain from the endeavour.
“Did he just… did I just see what I thought I saw? Please tell me I didn’t just see that!” was all Kai could express staring at dragon Zane stunned and shocked while Zane managed to pull the lance out of his limb some void plasm coming out with it and coating the part of the lance that had been in him.
“No you saw it right, he just ate someone!” Lloyd expressed shocked while they could hear Dagon laughing and expressing from his throne, “oh how I am enjoying this. Yes do not be afraid to take a literal bite out of your opponents my pets. Let them become fuel for your dark beings.”
“No bad boy, bad dragon Zane you don’t eat people. Even if you’ve been turned into a monster you still don’t eat people. I think you’re getting too into being a dragon; you cut it out this instant do you hear me mister or do I have to shock it into your thick nindroid skull. Now you barf the shiny knight up this instant do you hear me?! You barf him up rate now,” Jay loudly expressed repeatedly hitting Zane with heavy blasts of shock trying to knock some sense into him. His first blast clearly caught dragon Zane off guard causing him pain and to drop the lance after the shock. This drew Zanes attention to Jay who kept shocking and disciplining him talking to him like he was a dog. They weren’t sure if how he was being talked to was annoying him but it was clear the continuous shocking was steadily making Zane angrier with each shock.
“Uh Jay I wouldn’t do that… you’re just making him angry, very very angry!” Kai expressed still shocked by what he had seen while fighting an Asher and Lloyd noted shielding himself with his powers from the fire breath of a Vulcaroth, “he’s not like a dog he isn’t going to listen.” Jay wasn’t listening however determined to try and shock some sense into Zane who attempted to try and get close to Jay. The realization what he was doing was only angering Zane and nothing else didn’t hit Jay till dragon Zane had got close enough that Jay was in biting distance to him. Jay attempted to try and rush away but Zane was too quick and snapped his jaws onto Jay. Dragon Zane then lifted him off the ground shaking him. After some shakes he tossed Jay up a bit to catch him fully in his mouth before to their shock swallowing him whole as well.
“He just… He… He ate him! He just ate him! I can’t believe it Zane just ate Jay! Swallowed him whole like he was a bite sized snack!” Kai exclaimed shocked while they could hear Dagon laughing from his platform pleased by what was going on. Zane just went back to the damage on his arm and tried to put some of the wires that had gotten pulled out by removing the lance but he was having trouble just getting them put back in so he licked them flat against his arm cleaning the void plasm off as he worked. He looked to be in some pain as he worked on the injury ignoring the others as he worked.
“Jay!?” Nya expressed shocked and worried fiercely knocking over and piercing the heart of the Asher she had been struggling with while helping Seliel and Skylor with Cole taking it out causing it to dissipate into a dark energy which like all the other Ashers not taken out by ice or the cold rushed to the portals by Dagons thrown to re-manifest soon just like the monsters. Once it was taken out she hurriedly tried to contact Jays communicator. She was unable to get anything but gurgled static.
“Zanes body will interfere with the communicators you will be unable to contact him that way,” Pixal noted rushing over to help them while Axl and Jestro took on Aaron and Clay dragged Macy over to help break the barricade.
“What do we do?! They won’t survive for long inside his stomach. We have to get them out of him now,” Nya exclaimed.
“Yha and how do you plan on doing that. He obviously isn’t going to just barf them up, he probably won’t listen to us nor will he likely let us open him up like when you work on him and I am not going in after them. I don’t want to see what it looks like in there,” Kai expressed backing up from dragon Zane worried Zane would try to eat him next while Wu, Merlok, Nya and Pixal kept Zane distracted.
“How long do you think they could last in there?” Wu wondered knocking Zanes snout away with his staff as Zane went to bite him before getting knocked over by Clay who had been flung backwards by Macy, who had proclaimed herself a knight of the void and was trying to crush anyone who got in her way even her friends with her new strengths and powers provided by the void. Clay was still trying to get her close to the barricade but in her corrupted state she had become quite strong and could wield dark magic allowing her to rough Clay up quite a bit.
“At most possibly a couple minutes; the special breathing apparatuses of their masks should allow them to survive for longer I do not know for how long though and that does not take into account the nature and fluids of his synthetic digestive system which will have already begun to digest them the moment they ended up inside it. Their attire might offer them some protection but again I do not know for how long,” Pixal commented before suggesting, “I could try and hack into him to force him to regurgitate them.”
“No you would risk getting poisoned by the void. We cannot have more falling to this darkness. We will have to find another way to get them out,” Wu expressed looking around to see their force which were slowly getting smaller while the forces of darkness were growing. The only ones that could be permanently removed were the Ashers but only when harmed by ice or the knights Nexo powers. Instead most were simply being displaced to re-manifest and come back through the portals to get back into the attack. Seliel and Skylor were still trying to trick Cole into hitting the barrier some more. They had managed to trick him a couple times leaving some decent sized dents and deep cracks in the barricade but he had quickly clued in to what they were doing. He had turned the tables on them and was forcing the two away from the barricade and into the enemies which included some Ashers, a swarm of Vesparilions and a Vulcaroth. Since he had clued in and was not going to co-operate or be fooled it was up to Clay to get Macy to take a few swings at the barricade. Even though she lacked Coles super strength which had gotten stronger with the corruption they were hoping she at least had the power from her corruption to do damage to the barricade; Clay could tell from his fighting with her that she was defiantly a lot stronger than normal he just wasn’t sure if it would be strong enough to damage the dark ice. Meanwhile Axl was trying to help Jestro escape Aarons grip. Aaron had sunk his teeth into Jestros left leg and looked to be trying to shake and chew it off.
“If you need something to chew on then chew on this,” Axl expressed grabbing a large Serpent-fly that was pestering him trying to stab him with its stinger and tossing it at Aarons head. Aaron let go of Jestro to attack the Serpent-fly allowing Axl to pull Jestro away. Aarons fight with the serpent fly didn’t last as long as Axl had hoped as Aaron not only quickly overpowered it but wolfed down the whole thing swallowing it largely whole before turning back to them.
“… or make it a snack, a very gross snack… that can’t be good for you,” Axl commented grossed out by beastial Aaron eating the demon snake bug before Jestro told him, “just leave me; it’s too late for me. He bit me and it broke skin; I can feel this dark void thing taking over me. I know I can’t fight it.” Aaron had left bite marks on Jestros left leg which were glowing void green and the area had blackened with the darkness from the wound quickly spreading. Knowing he couldn’t help Jestro and seeing Aaron knew he had successfully infected Jestro with the void and had turned his attention to him Axl retreated closer to the others. Aaron gave off a howl before chasing after him leaving Jestro who was quickly being consumed by the void. Once fully consumed Jestro quickly turned on the others wielding dark magic like the Ashers sorcerers.
Shortly after the fight had started they had noticed this voids hold on their friends was not only giving their corrupted friends more power, allowing them to wield dark magic including magic of the void but was starting to make them behave more beast like and as time went on and the voids hold got deeper it was making this trait more noticeable. They of course expected Zane and Aaron to get more beastial due to the forms they had been cursed into but they had noticed Cole, Macy and Jestro also starting to become more beastial in behaviours using not just weapons but their teeth and the claws the corruption caused them to grow in their attacks. They were not afraid to bite others even their own allies; Cole especially was quite nippy. He had bitten off and even eaten parts mainly fingers of a few of the Ashers who had made him mad and, before Jay had gotten eaten, had grossed out Kai and Jay who both saw him eating some Vesparilions like they were donuts. Even though it hadn’t happened yet they were all pretty sure if any of them bit one of them and it broke skin it would corrupt them like how Aarons bite had converted Jestro. At one point while getting into a scuffle with Cole worried of being bit Kai took the advice of the hyenoid Luna and bit Cole on the arm surprising him and giving Kai a chance to escape Cole’s attention. From the start of the fight they had also noticed despite fighting for the Ashers side none of those who got corrupted seemed to hold any true allegiance to the Ashers or their allies. They had no qualms with hurting or destroying their supposed allies if they got in their way or angered them. Cole had taken out a Vulcaroth with his bare hands when it had gotten in his way before taking out some of the Ashers who tried to discipline him for his actions. Zane didn’t care if his breath attacks caught one of the enemies. While his void breath had no effect on them his ice attacks just froze the monsters in ice and the ice destroyed any Asher caught in it. If anything tried to fight back against their friends behaviours it didn’t end well for the aggressor often getting them slain, mauled and even eaten making the enemies wary of their corrupted friends. There was however a very strange occurrence happening with those corrupted. They were fighting certain individuals differently than others. They would become hesitant or show restraint preventing them from using their full potential on them and attacking these individuals would cause them act strangely. They would enter periods of time when attacking these individuals where they seemed to go a bit nuts for a while attacking everything else around them but these individuals as if they were frustrated by something possibly frustrated at their lack of control and their struggle to not hurt those with very close relations to them. This individual was unique to each of them. For Zane it was Pixal, for Cole it was Seliel while for both Macy and Jestro it was Clay. As far as they could tell Aaron didn’t seem to show this however there was no one there he had a major close relation to. Along with this strange quirk it was also quite clear none of them took any orders from their supposed allies. They would listen only to each other or Dagon who was clearly not bothered by their behaviour instead enjoying it and the chaos it made. Both Wu and Merlok felt the disturbing changes to their personalities and behaviours and the lack of allegiance to the others was due to the voids hold. The void was an ancient and primal force with allegiances to no one but those of its own and this trait was coming through in its corruption of those it got a hold of.
It quickly became apparent the fight was not going well for them. They had already lost a few to the voids hold turning them into monsters, two had been eaten by one of those who had been corrupted and those still in the fight were being overwhelmed by the enemies and their own friends. They had found they could at least turn their corrupted friends against their enemies every now and then but it wasn’t enough to stem the tide of their enemies. Despite his strengths even the Stag was being overwhelmed by some of the most powerful monsters the Ashers had including Nocturn Crows, Dreadcondas, Gloam Harpys, Hungers, Vulcaroths, Asher Sorcerers and more. The Asher Sorcerer who had been standing with Dagon had dropped down to confront the Stag in the beginning of the fight but had disappeared in the fighting which was not a good thing. It had the Red Diamond Shurikan which could cause a lot of problems if it was used against them. The enemies were ganging up on the Stag to prevent him from being useful in the fight. Things were not going good and if things continued the way they were going they would not last much longer and defiantly would not win against Dagon. It was not just them struggling against Dagons forces…
The fighting throughout the city had started off good but was no longer going good. Despite turning them against their masters the soul shriven were too weak and didn’t last long in a fight and their enemies clearly had no fear of them just pushing them aside to go against those they felt were worthy opponents most of which were not skilled at fighting monsters like these. What had not been evident to Pelagius when he had scouted was the many portals the Ashers had hidden throughout the city allowing them and their forces to quickly reach different parts of the city with little effort. To make it worse dark elemental dragons had shown up not long after the attack started. They were highly resistant to most weapons and could deliver serious blows to areas they attacked. Despite their efforts a good deal of their forces were falling back unable to stand up to these monsters hoping they had done enough to draw their enemies attentions away long enough for the ninja to get close to Dagon. The Scimitar Dragon Vahlok had taken on the monstrous dragon Nidgrumndir aided by Celeana and her siblings. While things had started out good the dragon and the Ashers allied with them had turned the tables allowing them all to get overpowered, trapped and grounded near the inner part of the city. Fearing for their relatives those closest to the ninja and knights had set off trying to get close to the heart of the city in hopes to aid them or if things were turning for the worst at least be with them for their final moments. Kai and Nyas parents had been joined by Coles father, Jays parents, Misako, Macys parents the king and queen of Knighton, Lances parents and little sister, Axls parents and sister, Clays younger brother, Aarons parents and two of his brothers plus a few others with close relations to them had set off towards the center of the city. While most of them were not fighters they had decked themselves with various weapons and armour they had been given or had for the fight. Some had even decked themselves with various things like kitchen wares, gardening utensils, farm tools and bits from fallen nindroids and scimitar constructs who looked to have been taken out early in the cities takeover to help give them extra arms for if weapons they had got broken which was easy when fighting against some of these monsters. They had managed to get into the first ring following the path the knights had previously went through the electrical zone but had become cornered by the elemental dragons and corrupted Knights of the Prong who were not letting them get past the area and were proving too difficult to break through even when the up sized pryphon Chewy and Chompy the Shintaran ridgeback dragon that had come with some forces from Shintaro came to their aid. Their group was cornered and trapped in the nest area of the zone and though they were able to keep the forces largely at bay they couldn’t break loose or escape stopping their progress and trapping them away from the safety of help and close to the heart of the darkness. When it seemed they were doomed they were surprised by some of the Stags minions including Divayth, his daughter-clones, DJ, Kozac and some of the Scimitar Samurai. They wasted no time in interfering with the dragons and knights. They took over their fight allowing and encouraging the group to continue on to the center of the city…
The knights and ninja continued their struggle but were clearly not getting far and were struggling to keep going. They were overwhelmed and their friends who had been corrupted showed no signs of weakening. Clay had managed to trick Macy into attacking the barricade and she had been strong enough to damage it adding further damage to the parts Cole had damaged and creating a small gap so one of them could slip through however none of them could get through to it. They planned to get Lloyd to the barricade so he could get through and confront Dagon then the rest of them were going to find some way to destroy the portals so enemies could no longer get through. This was turning out a very difficult task however as their enemies were not letting them get close to the barricade let alone the stairs not even their friends. They were fighting as hard they could but getting nowhere. Their friends were corralling them all together and trying to force them against the one side wall. All even Zane and Aaron even though they tended to rarely use it could wield the dark magic’s of the Ashers, in fact the dark magic had become Jestros main method of attack and their powers were stronger than both the ninjas elemental powers and the knights Nexo powers. They were stronger than normal some much so not to mention Zanes form as a large dragon was nearly impossible to get around and combat especially when his allies helped Zane by covering areas he could not easily combat them at to help him keep them back away from the stairs. Not long after Aaron had been corrupted Seliel had retrieved his weapon to use it in combat and to keep it away from the enemies. It offered some help but not as much as they had hoped. Their battle continued to drag on with no sign of changing to their favour even when they got some surprise helpers for their side.
Not long after Zane had eaten Lance and Jay they had been surprised by some unexpected reinforcements. Some of their relatives and friends had managed to join them getting in through the damaged area by the doorway that Zanes crash landing had made. Even though some of them really weren’t fighters they were grateful for the added help. They really weren’t doing good, were getting overwhelmed especially with some of them having fallen to the enemies side and getting tired from the fighting. They could use the help. As they joined the fight the first thing they all did was search out their loved ones. When their relatives arrived they all fought their way to congregate together with each other.
“What a time for you all to show up!” Clay expressed feeling a bit relieved for the aid and Lloyd explained, “things aren’t going very well. We’ve lost Cole, Zane, Aaron, Macy and Jestro to the void. They’ve been corrupted and are now under Dagons control.” Cole and Macys relatives recognised their loved ones and were shocked by their appearances. They tried to get through to them talking to them. To all their surprises even while corrupted Cole and Macy recognised their relatives and like they had noted with Cole around Seliel they hesitated and held back their attacks on them looking torn over what to do. After some struggling they would turn to attack someone or something else trying to fight the urge to bring harm to their loved ones.
“Don’t let Aaron bite you or you’ll get corrupted as well,” Axl expressed pulling Aarons one brother who went to attack Aaron noting Aarons headphones on the were-wolf form and thinking the beast had done something to his brother back as Aaron went to bite him in defence. Aaron was finishing feeding on an Ashers arm he had chewed off an Asher. His relatives were shocked and stumped by Aarons appearance and actions.
“Is that really you bro?! What’s with the beastial looks?” one of Aarons brothers expressed stunned to Aaron and Clay explained, “Dagon turned him into that after the void corrupted him. So far he’s mutated Aaron and Zane into more beastial forms. The others are slowly being mutated into monsters by the voids energies; I dread to think of what kind of monsters Dagon is turning them into.” They had started to notice the longer under the voids hold they spent it seemed to start morphing them into something else; some sort of monsters.
“Yha whatever you do don’t let any of them bite you, especially Zane!” Kai expressed unnerved and Maya inquired why before Pixal warned everyone to lookout. Noting they were all congregated together Zane had taken to the air and circled round to line himself up to swoop over them all to release a void breath. Seeing his approach and that he was building up a void breath Merlok and Clay created a ward over their group to protect them as he hit their area with the void breath. After hitting the area Zane landed by the stairs to Dagons throne to turn and face their group to continue his attacks. As he flew by Kai expressed startled, “cause that’s Zane!” They were all shocked by Zanes appearance.
“Dagon turned him into a dragon. If he hits you with that black mist you’ll be corrupted like them. He hit Cole and Aaron with it then Cole got Macy and Aaron got Jestro,” Lloyd explained hitting Zane in the face with a steady blast of energy to try and hold him back. Zane held his ground against Lloyds attack waiting for him to finish instead of wasting energy on fighting it. Zane was clearly annoyed by Lloyds attack but unharmed by it. Lloyd couldn’t keep up the blast for long and when he stopped Zane continued stalking towards them. Clay went to help Lloyd but got caught up fighting Jestro.
“Where’s Jay?” Edna wondered and without thinking still in shock from what he had seen Kai expressed, “being digested!” Zane had gone to try and bite Lloyd but Lloyd dodged and as he dodged Wu hit Zane in the side of the head with his staff. He went to hit him again but Zane had turned his head to attack Wu causing Wu to accidently shove his staff in Zanes one nostril stunning both. Zane backed up pawing at his nose and trying to blow the staff out. While he moved out of the fight Cole took over going after Lloyd his father trying to talk him out of the state he was in but having very little success and making Cole very unpredictable as he struggled to not turn on his father.
“What?” Ed wondered him and Edna confused.
“Zane… I can’t believe he did it!” Kai expressed only confusing everyone some more and Ray wondered, “what’s he talking about?” Zane managed to finally sneeze out the staff sending it to hit into the backs of some Ashers that were helping Cole attack Wu and Lloyd hitting them with the staff as well as some void plasm that came out with it grossing the Ashers out. He took a second to recompose himself before getting back into the fighting.
“You just missed it about ten to twenty minutes ago, hard to tell with all the fighting, we were trying to push Zane away from the stairs so we could get up to Dagon, I think Dagons making him guard it like a watchdog, anyway without warning he ate Lance and Jay. Snapped them up and swallowed them whole before anyone could do anything,” Seliel explained and upon hearing where the two had ended up their loved ones were all shocked and startled Jay and Lances relatives most of all.
“Are they going to be okay?!” Lances sister inquired worried for her brother and Nya expressed before rushing at Zane, “not if we can’t get them out soon. Zane won’t like it but even if I have to cut him open from the inside out I’m going to get them out before it’s too late.” Looking to be nervous of her approach Zane used a shout of cold air to knock most of them over.
“If it means anything I do not believe he intended to eat them. Bite them yes but he likely intended to just toss them away or shake them up to scare them,” Merlok stated as those who had got knocked over got back up and Axl inquired confused and disturbed while helping Aarons relatives try to hold Aaron who was trying to bite them to make them as Aaron was proclaiming part of his pack back, “then why did they end up in his stomach?”
“I believe either Dagons or the voids influence is responsible for that,” Merlok explained which Nya stated angry, “I don’t care what made him do it, I’m going to make him regret that action.” As they talked and fought some of them noticed one of the Serpent-flies fly into Zanes head smacking him in the eye. In retaliation Zane snapped it up and swallowed it whole. A few seconds later he looked a little unwell hanging back from the fighting a bit.
“Is he okay?” Ray wondered and Clay noted, “yha he’s been doing that every now and then since he ate Jay and Lance. I think it’s a good sign; could mean they’re still alive in there and trying to fight their way out.”
“Yha being trapped in there with one of those snake bug things would defiantly freak Jay out,” Kai expressed before calling out to Zane teasing him, “what’s a matter you big tin lizard. Not feeling too well? You look like you’ve had some of mine or Coles cooking; something or better yet someone you ate not agreeing with you.” His comment attracted Zanes attention and looking to be better Zane started to come at him. Not wanting to end up in the same situation as Jay Kai hit Zane with a blast of fire. They continued their fighting as more enemies kept coming through the portals. They at least had more to their forces even if some of them weren’t fighters it was at least something. They at least were helping them unlike the Stag who all though fighting the same enemies as they were didn’t seem to have any care in helping them or joining their group. He was fighting on his own. They all felt at least if he wasn’t helping them in their group it was at least a good thing that outside their corrupted friends the most powerful and dangerous of their enemies were largely attacking and focussing on him leaving mainly the weaker threats for them to handle. They continued fighting for close to an hour not getting anywhere.
“Quite flying around and get your nindroid butt down here so I can knock some sense into you. One way or the other I’m going to get Jay out of you even if I have to cut you open to do it,” Nya expressed after nearly over an hour of fighting getting more furious at dragon Zane for having swallowed Jay as time went on. Even though she knew Zane was not entirely himself so wasn’t fully to blame for his actions she was still mad at him. For over twenty minutes after swallowing Jay dragon Zane had shown signs that his decision was not entirely agreeing with him very well and that Jay was likely trying to fight back against his decision while trapped inside him as Zane looked occasionally to be feeling a bit sick sometimes sparking energy being present in his mouth and crossing his belly but he would shortly brush it off and never barfed Jay or Lance up. For the past while however Zane had shown no signs that Jay might still have been trying to fight back his actions which most of them took as a bad sign. Another thing some took as a bad sign was every now and then Zane was able to use a strange icy void green lightening like breath attack. For a while he would create snow storms that shot this lightening over the area. Luckily Merlok was able to counter these attacks whenever Zane tried to use the attack leading Zane to eventually abandon the storms mad at Merloks interfering. Some of them especially Kai felt Zane was suddenly able to use lightening in his attacks as a result of having digested Jay letting him use Jays powers. Nya on the other hand reasoned it was because Jay was inside him or part of the voids dark powers that was behind his strange lightening powers and not something bad having happened to Jay. Nya was not willing to give up or see the bad side just yet and had become determined to try and knock some sense into Zane. She had become hyper focussed in fiercely attacking him and anything that got in her way even those on her side if they tried to intervene. Pixal was mainly the only one brave enough to try and intervene trying to get Nya to understand Zanes predicament and to try and not hurt him too badly in her attacks. At one point Zane had reared up on his hind legs dodging a magical attack from Clay and prepping to hit him with a void breath. Before he could release the blast Clay surprised him with a powerful magical blast which created a bright flash of light when it hit him. This knocked him onto his back on the base of the stairs. While he lay on his back a bit stunned Nya climbed up onto him and made a few attacks on his belly trying to open one of the hatches in his body. When she couldn’t get them open as Zane wasn’t wanting them to be opened keeping them locked shut she switched to try and pry the plates on his chest up to get inside him. She had managed to dent and leave deep scratches in his skin void plasm seeping from the damages before he knocked her off by rolling over preventing her from doing more damage. At another point she had managed to climb up onto dragon Zanes head and had managed to give him several serious blows to the face including stabbing him in the one nostril and by his one eye. The act left deep scratches in his metal skin and clearly irritated and caused him pain possibly even scaring him. He managed to shake her off but she kept coming at him attacking his limbs, wings, tail or any other part she could reach. She was hitting him with such force she was leaving dents and scratches on both the metal and synthetic skin of his hide even cutting into wires beneath his skin any damages that broke through his skin dripping the strange void plasm. They all had a feeling even through the corruption she was scaring him with her attacks as he was steadily trying to avoid her any time she came near him. Often taking to the air to quickly put himself in a different location away from her if he saw her coming.
“You know if you weren’t threatening and trying to gut him like a fish he might let you get close to him and let his guard down,” Kai had expressed at one point only to get scared when she angrily chastised him for his comment. After quite a while of her barrage of attacks Zane had taken to the air; likely to avoid her fury some of them felt. He had circled the area once before using an ice breath to create a wall of dark ice between them and the stairs. It didn’t fully block them off from the area but did make things much harder as they now had to get around the icy wall which both ends had a swarm of enemies blocking their escape at. Zane perched on the side wall above them and continued to try and hit them with an icy breath for a few minutes while they continued to escape his and the others attacks. After failing to hit them with his breath dragon Zane again took to the air circling round to face them. As he flew towards them looking to build up his frost breath to create another ice wall this time over them Nya prepared to throw her weapon at him hoping to knock him out of the air. As he got close to them Nya threw her trident with as much force as she could at him. It struck him in the chest getting stuck in his chest and caused him to crash land in surprise and pain from her actions. His crash landing had him slide across the ground taking out a good portion of the ice wall he had made to corner them near the wall and coming to rest by the base of the thrones stairs taking quite a few of the Ashers and their allies along with ploughing over Cole and Macy who ended up knocked over to lay dazed on the ground having been hit by his wings. The three lay dazed for a few minutes before slowly getting back up to get back in the fight Zane looking to have received some damages from the crash as he got back on his feet having a bit of trouble gaining a footing for a few seconds looking sore and tired some void plasm dripping from his jaws.
“They’ve been inside him for almost an hour the chances they’re still alive or even okay is slim especially with him getting knocked around like he is… who knows what kind of dangerous things he could have eaten that could be in there with them not to mention his normal digestive fluids that are in there. Let’s face it he isn’t going to cough them up and you won’t be able to open him up,” Lloyd noted struggling against Aaron who was trying to bite him.
“Can he cough them up?” Aarons one brother inquired and Nya explained, “It takes some work but he can. His digestive system like his cooling system operate largely independently to his main neural networks that way his processors are not taxed and freed up for more complex operations. He only has minor control over the system like controlling their speed of functioning, temporarily reverse their functioning and shut them down if he has to. Other than that he has almost no control over what they do. On its own his system won’t work in reverse like that. He has to manually take control and operate it to cough something up and I do not think in his current state under Dagons hold he is going to do that. We would have to hack him and force him to do it which I don’t think he’ll let us do that either.” With her trident stuck in dragon Zanes chest Nya continued picking up one of the swords from an Asher that lay on the floor and throwing it at Zane where it hit his shoulder and bounced off a metal plate catching his attention as he slowly recovered from his crash landing laying propped up on his wings, “I’m not giving up just yet. I think it’s time we face it. Our only option is to destroy him. Hopefully they won’t get destroyed with him.” Despite having caught his attention Zane ignored her instead getting up and going after Wu not wanting to interact with or get close to her.
“As long as they are alive and have not been digested they likely will not be destroyed with him,” Pixal explained and Kai wondered, “and if they’re not alive or okay?”
“Then there will be no way of saving them. They will be considered part of him and will be destroyed with him and when he reforms what remains of them will still be inside him and continue to be processed,” Pixal answered and Kai muttered, “that’s not nice to hear… hey if we get out of this and fix the others this won’t give any of them including him a taste for humans will it?”
“According to some in the lost realm it can,” Axl stated as he along with Aarons brothers helped Lloyd with Aaron. Axl had wrapped his arms around Aaron holding his axe against his friends chest using it like a restraint to try and pull Aaron back from Lloyd who Aaron had pinned to the floor. His two brothers were trying to pry Aarons mouth open so Lloyd could get the sword out of his mouth trying to avoid getting cut by his teeth while also trying to hold back other monsters.
“Zane would never become like that. His current actions are not entirely his fault. Dagon has messed with his mind to control him not to mention who knows what kind of damages the void has done to his programming. He likely cannot think clearly and cannot resist any thoughts or desires that come to his mind no matter how hard he fights them,” Pixal defended Zane and Lloyd stated, “Guys can we focus on what we’re going to do. The quicker we get this done the better.”
“I know this is dangerous but before we do anything drastic just let me try and connect to him,” Pixal offered taking out some corrupted skeevers. Even though he had become a monster and clearly was no longer himself Pixal felt the Zane she knew was still in there somewhere and couldn’t stand the thought of something serious happening to him.
“I don’t know…” Lloyd began not liking the idea and Pixal pleaded, “I will be very careful.”
“Okay but if it doesn’t work we’ll have to go the destructive route,” Nya relented ripping an Ashers staff from its hands and using it to destroy that Asher who was surprised by her actions. Her ferocity in attacks was starting to scare some of their enemies. Pixal wasted no time in trying to connect to Zane Nya, Kai, Aarons one brother and Lances sister coming to help protect her as she focus on the task. She had a bit of trouble as Zane was refusing to let her connect. As she tried he stopped his fighting of the others shaking his head as he fought Pixals attempts to connect to his mind. He sounded scared as he fought her attempts.
“It’s okay, we just want to help. You know deep down I will not hurt you,” Pixal consoled as she attempted to connect to him. Once she managed to connect to him dragon Zane stopped his fighting calming down appearing scared, confused and tired his eyes slowly fading to blank and white. He just knelt by them his wings and tail drooped on the ground and head hung over looking to be breathing heavily possibly even panting as he stared at the space below him.
“See that didn’t hurt and you are okay… I have gotten through to him… the voids hold has caused serious altering to his brain… I can sense he is very scared of what that monster has done to him. He is sorry for what he has been doing and is very sorry and upset for what he did to Jay and Lance…” Pixal commented upset by Zanes state and Lloyd stated having managed to get up but still unable to get Aaron who seemed to think they were having a game of tug-o-war with the sword to let go of it, “careful we don’t know how the void can infect you this way. We should make this quick to lower the chances of any risks.”
“I am sorry Zane, sadly we do not have the time, knowledge or utilities to fix what that demon and the void have done to you rate now. We will have to help you later. Hopefully I can access the programming for his sub and un-conscious inner workings to…” Pixal expressed before suddenly receiving a shock from within. Aquamarine electrical energy danced across her body before she started to develop the same markings as the others who had become corrupted by the void. As Pixal became corrupted Zanes eyes returned to the void green color as Pixal lost connection to him and he lost control returning to attacking the others; once corrupted Pixal turned on them joining the other corrupted individuals in fighting them.
“That’s it we have no other options,” Nya expressed trying to hold Pixal back and Kai inquired, “okay then how are we going to do this. Get the Stag to stab him again?”
“No I don’t trust the Stag; he hasn’t been of much help this whole fight. He’s not showing it but I think deep down this void is affecting him making him want to side with the enemy,” Lloyd expressed and Kai wondered, “then what do we do? Other than stabbing him in the heart how else do you destroy a droid whose been turned into a massive crazed dragon and if you haven’t noticed his skin is a little too hard to easily cut into and he won’t just roll over and let us stab him in the heart.”
“If we had Jay we could try to overload his heart but Jays still inside him and might not be in a condition to help out,” Nya thought aloud and Aarons one brother added, “even if he was okay it probably won’t be easy to get instructions to him.”
“True. The only other thing I can think of would be heat… we could try to destroy him or at least weaken him enough so we could more easily harm him with heat,” Nya commented and Kai inquired confused, “how is heat going to do anything to him?”
“His internal circuitry needs to be kept at a fairly stable temperature, if it becomes too hot his circuits will begin to fry. If too many get damaged especial those connected to critical functioning’s and his heart it will kill him,” Nya explained fighting to hold Pixal who was now very strong from the voids hold back having Lances sister help try to hold her back and Lloyd commented, “but doesn’t he have systems in place to prevent from overheating?”
“Yes but he’s not his normal size, he’s a very large dragon,” Nya noted and Axl thought aloud, “larger bodies have a harder time keeping cool right; they can’t release as much heat as smaller ones. I know that from experience.”
“Precisely and even though his cooling system would have been morphed to fit his current form it’s still going to be over worked given the normal functioning inside his body all of which will create quite a bit of heat plus add on that he’s been highly active which will produce even more heat and that it’s quite hot in here his cooling systems are probably working overtime to prevent him from overheating so likely won’t be able to handle another source of heat. Add on another notable source of heat and it could prove too much for him,” Nya noted and Aarons one brother questioned, “if he’s overheating will he try coating his skin in ice or eat ice cause I’ve seen him doing that.”
“If he’s having trouble keeping cool yha he sometimes does that; that’s a good sign then. If he’s already having trouble keeping cool it probably won’t take much more to overheat him,” Nya declared.
“Alright I’m on it, I’ll hit him with a volcanoes worth of heat,” Kai proclaimed before Lloyd noted, “wait won’t his skin help protect him.”
“Yes making overheating him from the outside difficult. The best option will be from the inside,” Nya stated and Kai stated not liking what he was hearing, “wait from the inside… you mean like through one of the hatches in his body right?”
“Yha but he probably won’t let us do that which means there is only one easy option…” Nya noted and Kai quickly responded unsettled by the idea, “you mean… no way!” The others fighting with them were also unsettled and grossed out by the thought of what Kai would have to do.
“It’s not the best option but it’s all we have rate now,” Lloyd noted and Kai objected, “no way, someone else can do that. I am not going to do that!”
“But you’re the only one with powers that can produce the heat needed for this task,” Axl noted and Lloyd encouraged, “Come on hot head you’re the best one for the job.” Nya added, “besides if you do your job right you won’t be in there long and it’s not like you’re going to have to pass through the rest of his system..”
“Are you sure there is no other way?” Kai inquired highly against this idea and Lloyd stated, “pretty sure.”
“Plus if he eats you you’ll end up pretty much in the center of his body where it will be hottest. Heat it up there and the excess heat has nowhere to go but out pushing more heat to other parts of his body stressing him more. Plus the center of his cooling system is located in the same area. You get it overheated and it will short out shutting down then he’ll have almost no defence against overheating making your task easier,” Nya noted.
“I really don’t want to do this but if there is no other way… fine. Is there anything I should know about before I you know… get eaten,” Kai expressed dreading what he was going to do but knowing it had to be done.
“Well he’s probably got a pretty wicked bite force now so try not to make him too mad. You don’t want him to crush you,” Lloyd suggested and Nya offered, “well considering he has eaten his digestive systems going to be active so it will be very dangerous in there. If at all possible try to stay out of his gastric fluids the best you can, they are far more dangerous than a humans capable of dissolving bones. If possible try to find something plastic or metal to get on. There’s at least one of the knights shields in there, try to use that if you can. Plus unless he’s altered it his metabolism is rather high making things rather active so things probably won’t be stable in there so you’re going to have trouble balancing and be knocked around a bit. Also I’m not sure what you’ll find in there brother but it probably won’t be pretty. Just try and focus on your task and nothing else or it probably won’t go good for you.”
“This is going to give me nightmares…,” Kai moaned hesitating before hitting Zane who was occupied fighting Merlok, Wu, Clay, Maya, Ray and Macys parents with Macy fighting at his side in the back of the head with a powerful blast of flame and yelling a taunt at him. This caught his attention and he turned to look at Kai baring his teeth. Kai had expected Zane to instantly try to eat him but instead he tried to hit Kai with a frosty breath. Kai dodged out of the way and again hit him with fire this time in the face while taunting him. Again Zane tried to hit him with a frost breath forcing him to dodge the attack. Kai hit Zane a few times more and kept taunting him but each time Zane wasn’t co-operating and instead kept trying to hit Kai with his ice or void breath.
“I don’t think he’s interested in a snack rate now,” Kai expressed and Lloyd wondered, “is there some way we could make him hungry?”
“Does he even feel hunger?” Aarons one brother who was still helping trying to keep Aaron from attacking Lloyd asked and Axl wondered, “maybe after eating Lance and Jay he’s full?”
“Yha I don’t think that’s it. With his size he likely has an appetite bigger than Coles,” Kai expressed and Nya noted, “as a nindroid he technically doesn’t feel hunger, he can feel full but that is a safety precaution to prevent internal damages and overfilling himself which would put a great deal of strain on his systems; he does have programming that can let him feel like and think he’s hungry; his father gave it to him to help him fit in as a human. He normally doesn't have them active when on a mission though and I doubt he’d activate them for a fight so they’re probably inactive,” Nya noted and Kai expressed, “yha that feature of him always kind of unnerved me.”
“Is there some way to activate them?” Lances sister inquired and Nya responded, “We’d have to activate them manually by hacking him and we don’t have anything to use in order to hack him… I wonder though if Dagon has activated them possibly even altering them to make him think he’s starving; it could explain why he has been eating some of these monsters. Even if it was because of Dagons or the voids influence why did he even think of eating Jay and Lance? You’d think he’d have some control when it came to his friends and would have held back on eating them. Why not just freeze the two or corrupt them like the others? Has he gone crazy?” She was still quite mad at Zane and trying to get close to attack him but Pixal was fighting her and trying to keep her away from him; likely to protect Zane from her wrath they felt.
“As Merlok said maybe it was just an accident or well you know how he can sometimes get carried away with researching and getting into a role maybe he’s getting carried away with being a dragon,” Lloyd suggested to which Kai expressed, “that’s quite a disturbing thought. Let’s hope it’s the first possibility otherwise we should be careful with what role he gets into in the future.”
“Yha, there is quite a few I’d hate to see him take on… you know he did seem pretty mad at Jay and Lance when he ate them. Both had hurt him. Maybe you have to make him mad, well madder than he already is possibly by hurting him in some way,” Lloyd opted still unable to get Aaron to let go of the sword and Kai stated, “I guess I could try that but what can I do to hurt him in a way that would make him real mad at me?” They were at a loss of what to do until while trying to avoid his ice breath Kai dodged out of the way and rolled into Pixal knocking her over. Kai quickly got up and backed away from her as she got up and tried to hit him with a magical blast. As he got up he noticed dragon Zane came to stand protectively by Pixal baring his teeth at Kai. They had all noted earlier Zane seemed to attack Pixal differently than the others. He tried to avoid hitting her or getting into direct conflict with her almost like he didn’t want to hurt her. He’d even attack any monster or Asher that attempted to or did harm her. It seemed even with being corrupted Zane still had his affections for her and wasn’t going to let the void get in the way of that or make him hurt her. They had noted the same style behaviour between Cole and Seliel and his father with Cole often trying to avoid fighting them or trying to restrain himself when they interacted with him. Macy was doing the same with her parents and Clay. Even Jestro who didn’t have a relation to much of them showed some of this behaviour being rather sparing to Clay who had always treated him as a close friend like a brother and wasn’t mean or cruel to him like many others were. The only one going against this trend in anyway was Aaron but all he was trying to do with his close friends and loved ones was bite them to make them like him not actually harm them. They had even seen their corrupted friends a few times attack those threatening those they loved or cared about. It seemed there was one thing the void had trouble destroying; love and friendship. This gave them an idea.
“Sorry about this Pix but you and Zane are not in the right states of mind rate now and I need to get him to eat me,” Kai stated focussing his attacks on her trying to overwhelm her while also trying to avoid Zanes breath attacks which were getting more aggressive. Zane was clearly getting angrier at Kai for his attacks on Pixal. Trying to get the upper hand was harder than Kai expected. Pixal managed to knock his sword from his hand forcing Kai to rely solely on his powers and martial arts which were not very efficient against Pixals sword and new found skill in dark arts. When Kai finally managed to get the upper hand he hit her with a heavy blast of flame that knocked her back several feet to land on her back stunned. By the growl roar Zane gave him muttering ‘bein-yol-jul’ while baring his teeth at him Kai could tell he had really angered Zane. Dragon Zane wasted no time in stalking close to Kai and quickly clamping his jaws onto Kai who was preparing himself feeling terrified for what he felt was about to come. Kai wanted to close his eyes not wanting to see what was coming but he was too scared and strongly fighting his instinct to run. Dragon Zane bit onto Kai picking him up shaking him a bit before swallowing him whole like he had done with Lance and Jay. Zane then turned to move to stand protectively by Pixal while she got up. Everyone else even their enemies backed up giving him space not wanting to attract his attention and get eaten as well.
“I’m okay, you’re a good boy,” Pixal stated as she got up stroking dragon Zanes head as he crouched by her protecting her till she was up. He was enjoying her affections and it looked to calm him down. The two had a brief and rather loving interaction with her giving him some comforting and reassuring words while gently stroking his head and him gently rubbing his head against her giving a low relaxed grumbling before the two got back into the fight.
“That’s kinda cute, they love each other,” Lances sister expressed while Axl noted, “that’s interesting; seems the void hasn’t taken their affections for each other away.”
“If it wasn’t for the fact they’ve been turned into monsters and he ate Jay, Lance and Kai I guess it would be kind of sweet,” Nya stated retrieving her brothers sword to fight with.
“Okay that aside now that Kais inside him how long should this take?” Lloyd inquired trying to pull his sword out of Aarons mouth as Aaron had bit and also held onto it with his clawed hands and was playing a game of tug-o-war with the sword while Axl and Aarons one brother kept trying to pull him away from Lloyd.
“Not sure but hopefully it shouldn’t take too long,” Nya noted fighting Pixal who came at her after recovering. They could see Zane charging up to hit Lloyd with a freezing blast and thinking quickly Lloyd let Aaron have the sword as he, Aarons brother and Axl backed off just as Zane let his breath go causing Aaron to get hit with the blast freezing him in dark ice. Once Zanes blast was over Aaron broke free of the ice dropping the sword to rush at Zane starting to attack him. The two began fighting with each other growling, roaring, cursing, scratching and snapping at each other till Cole intervened breaking the two up commanding to them while pointing at Lloyd and his group, “hey beast brains cut it out. They’re your targets not each other.” His words brought the twos attentions back to their group which had been joined by the rest of their allies as they came over to aid them.
“Did we just see that right? Zane has now eaten Kai?!” Ray inquired stunned to see how the fighting was going.
“No you saw right but it was on purpose this time,” Nya noted and Wu inquired confused, “in what way would there be a purpose for Kai to get eaten?!”
“In the form of a large dragon Zane is too big and powerful to get past and he won’t let us near the stairs, he’s guarding them. Our only way to get past is to destroy him. Hopefully we can still save Jay and Lance too if we temporarily destroy him like the Stag did before. He’s too tough to bring down from the outside so we have to do it from the inside. We’re going to try and overheat him and fry his internal circuits,” Lloyd explained picking back up Dawnbringer and joining the others in fighting back the enemies that now surrounded them and Nya added, “his metal hide makes it too difficult to overheat him from the outside which meant Kai had to get eaten for the plan to work. It’s in no way the safest way but it is the easiest way rate now to get inside him. Plus this method should put him in the center or close to it of Zanes body where it will already be the hottest hopefully making it quicker to overheat him.”
“That sounds like a ridiculous plan,” Clay expressed and Lloyd inquired, “do you have any other options?”
“Not really… I just hope you know what you’re doing?” Clay expressed. Cole, Macy and Jestro soon joined Zane, Pixal and Aaron along with their other enemies in attacking and trying to drive their group back from the stairs while they tried to remain close to the stairs so Lloyd could quickly get up the stairs once Zane was destroyed. At one point Zane recoiled back for a couple seconds looking to have a bit of pain in his belly before coughing up some smoke.
“That was not a good sign was it?” Skylor wondered and getting a bit worried as Zane recovered and got back into the fight Nya commented, “I don’t think so.” It didn’t give any of them good feelings and the fact nearly twenty minutes passed and nothing appeared to be happening it had them all quite worried prompting Skylor to inquire worried, “Shouldn’t something have happened by now?”
“Maybe… I don’t know… you don’t think we haven’t doomed Kai as well?” Nya worried. A few more minutes passed before they noted Zane starting to act strange. He was slowly backing off from the fighting appearing dazed and un-well. He was holding his head low, starting to breathe heavily as if trying to pant and his tail and wings were drooped. He started using his ice breathe on his body core a few times trying to build ice up on his back and belly but it didn’t seem to work. A frost would build but melt shortly after he placed it.
“I think he’s overheating,” Clay commented and Merlok noted, “using some of this Robo-bills senses I can pick up his internal core temperature and it has risen notably into dangerous levels.”
“I’ll take that as a good sign,” Nya noted getting encouraged by the news and Lloyd noted by the way Zane was moving getting worried, “I think he’s going to try and leave the area to cool down. He will likely head to the frozen zone of the first ring in the city.”
“We can’t let him do that; it’ll stop what we’re trying to do! We need to help Kai destroy him,” Nya proclaimed hitting Zane with a blast of water to the side startling him and causing steam to come off his skin where the water hit. He acknowledged her attack but clearly no longer cared or had an interest in the fight. Instead he was getting ready to take off crouching down in order to launch into the air.
“This should slow him down,” Clay declared using his magic powers to summon a spire of rock to grow up encasing Zanes one hind foot just as he went to launch up causing him to instead fall face down as he went to launch into the air. He slowly got up and instantly went to attack the rock spire biting it to slowly break his foot loose.
“His internal temperature has gotten pretty high but we might need some more heat to speed up the process,” Merlok added.
“How are we going to do that? We don‘t have to send someone else in him do we?” Axl wondered not liking that idea.
“I do believe he is at a state where external heat sources might be sufficient,” Merlok explained and Skylor who was struggling with Wu against Cole expressed, “I could help with that I just need a break from everyone else.” Remembering Zane and Pixals reactions Nya got an idea and gave Seliel a suggestion to help Skylor get a break to attack Zane. Following her suggestion Seliel went up to Cole catching his attention by grabbing his shoulder. When he turned to look at her raising his warhammer with one hand in preparation for an attack looking to think someone else was attacking him she wasted no time in grabbing him by the front of his gi and pulling him close to kiss him on the lips for several seconds. Most of the others had expected him to just attack her not having noticed the strange pacifying ability ones loved one could have on someone who got corrupted. Instead he calmed down even letting go of his warhammer letting it fall behind him and almost seemed shocked or stunned by her actions. Even when she was done and moved away he still looked to be stunned and looked unsure what to do just standing there staring at her.
“You know that’s the first time we’ve ever actually kissed like that,” Seliel regaled while Skylor rushed off to attack Zane and Nya noted amused by Coles stunned state, “I think you broke him.” When Skylor got close to him she hit Zane in the under belly with a blast of fire. He clearly didn’t like it but was more interested in escaping than fighting back struggling from the heat. Instead their other corrupted friends attempted to intervene trying to protect him so he could escape. While struggling with Jestro Clay managed to yank Jestros staff from his hands where Seliel got an idea and took it from him. She waved the staff in front of Aaron who was trying to bite Axl while his brothers tried to pull him back catching his attention.
“Hey you overgrown mutt look what I got. You wanna play fetch? Look at the stick, see the stick. Want the stick go get the stick,” Seliel proclaimed hoping her idea would work and throwing the staff away from them. Just as she had hoped were-wolf Aaron couldn’t help but chase the staff picking it up to chew it once he got it. Jestro went to retrieve his staff getting in a game of tug-o-war with Aaron who looked to want to continue chewing the staff to Jestros displeasure.
“Sorry about this,” Clay stated hitting Macy with a blast of energy that tossed her into the ice barricade on the stairs knocking her out. Nya along with Ray, Maya and Wu were focussing on holding back Pixal who was getting more enraged that they were hurting Zane. By the noises Zane was making it was clear he was in pain and scared. Zane was starting to have trouble remaining on his feet crouching so low he was almost laying down and looking to be having trouble controlling his limbs almost collapsing a few times. It looked like quite a few of his internal systems were malfunctioning and starting to shut down as well.
“I know you don’t like this but we have to do it Pix. Don’t worry you’ll get him back,” Nya expressed as they held her back. Cole had tried to come help her but Seliel got in his way stopping him as she proclaimed, “Cole no, we have to do this.” Cole clearly wanted to attack but didn’t want to hurt Seliel leaving him torn over what to do.
Despite clearly being in a bad shape Zane managed to get into the air. He made a few weak flaps trying to hover before his body was gripped by an intense surge of electrical energy the glow in his chest from his heart getting bigger and brighter. The surge lasted for nearly a minute before he exploded into a black mist a few electrical waves moving through the fog and a frost developing over the area with the explosion.
Notes:
To learn more about Zanes anatomy and how it works you can read my separate short story Anatomy of a Droid. I would highly recommend reading it. It's not too long fun and rather light hearted and heart warming. This short can be found here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/44691181
Chapter 57: The Battle Turns
Summary:
Things aren't going well; are they going to get better or worse?
Notes:
Pictures relating to story can be found here: https://www.deviantart.com/nerdy-hyena/gallery/72478681/story-project
They are really good and help to visually flush out several aspects of the story including environments, characters, outfits, locations, creatures and other aspects often important ones in the story. All images I post in my work can be found there if you want a better look at them. Defiantly make sure to check them out.Also if you need a refresher on creatures, flora or aspects of the environment you can check out the second chapter in this work titled 'Keikiarys Guide to the Ash Wastes'. It includes short descriptions and pictures of these things.
Parts of this section are subject to change as the prequel story is written to improve story continuity.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
After being swallowed Kai had been surprised to find both Jay and Lance still alive inside dragon Zanes stomach as he dropped into it landing on Jay in the process.
“Oh great now what did you eat, another Asher or one of their monsters… Kai! You ate another of your brothers! You’ve really lost it haven’t you!” Jay had proclaimed as Kai landed atop him. The two clearly were starting to suffer from being in there starting to receive burns from the acidic fluid that filled over half of the place and bruises from being tossed about inside him as Zane was knocked about and moved around while fighting the others. By the looks the two likely weren’t going to last much longer but were still alive so could possibly be saved. The two were using two of the Nexo Knights shields to try and stay out of the fluids as much as they could by balancing on them the best they could even though with the cramped conditions in his stomach they had only enough space to crouch on the shields which were floating on everything else. Lance had his shield while Jay had Aarons shield which Zane had swallowed though they were not sure why he had done it. The two had been trying to stay on the shields as much as they could the whole time they were in there as the shields were more resilient to digestion than they were even though it was clear the shields had already received damages from the fluids they were in. As Pixal had suggested it looked like the outfits they had been given in Balmora to protect against the wastes was also effective for providing some protection from being digested though this protection clearly couldn’t last for long. The digestive fluids which were frequently splashing up over the shields were starting to damage them enough to get through. Lances armour was quite tarnished and Jays attire was not looking too good either. Most of the damage was focussed on the areas to their ankles and lower legs with what looked like some patches even missing from Jay’s attire. Jay also looked to have some minor acid burns in the areas where the pieces of his clothes were missing which he was trying to ignore as they made him anxious. While their masks were letting them be able to breathe and protecting them from most of the gasses in there it wasn’t fully protecting them making them a bit sick and weak from them. It was dark, damp and hot inside Zanes stomach. They didn’t have much room in there either despite his stomach being expanded to its max extent from its normal size to hold the large amount he had in it leaving the three sitting on each other while crouching on the shields. His stomach was filled with the half to heavily digested remains of some of the Ashers and their monsters filling most of the already cramped space. These monsters included the harpy being Jay had forced down his throat plus some more Gloam Harpies, a few Serpent-flies, a swarm of Vesparilions, something humanoid which they were hoping was not a person and if it was that it was at least something like one of those evil Vampire beings, there were also some spidery things, a few Ashers and surprisingly an Asher Sorcerer which Zane clearly didn’t have trouble digesting given its heavily digested state leaving the strange skull object of the Asher Sorcerers and scraps of its clothes as the only things of it still intact. They thought monsters like that would not be easy for anything that ate them to digest. They were guessing his resilience as a droid helped with that though it appeared whatever their skulls were made of was still too tough for Zane whose system could process bones with no problem to process. They were guessing most of the monsters in there were individuals who had been foolish enough to challenge him or get in his way during the fight though Jay and some of the others had noticed Zane eating some of them for no apparent reason. Most had already been in his stomach when Lance and Jay ended up in it. There had been a few more in there earlier mainly some Ashers plus the arm and a chunk of ribs of a Vulcaroth and parts of a Hunger when the two had gotten eaten but those ones had gotten broken down and already left the stomach. One of the Serpent-flies had ended up in there with them about twenty minutes after them. It had still been alive and attempted to attack Jay when it dropped on them. Thinking quickly Lance had punched it out into the digestive fluids while Jay had freaked out shocking Zane in the process. By the fact it didn’t get back up and all the Serpent Fly remains in there were in various states of digestion now it had clearly succumbed to Zanes digestive fluids before it could recover. If it wasn’t for the golden bracelet from the Stag that Kai still wore, the shields, the glow from the nexo circuits in Lances armour and some patches of glowing material that came from some of the entities Zane had eaten it would have been pitch black in there. Jay had lost his bracelet. It had flickered and nearly vanished several times before finally vanishing around half an hour in there as Jay kept trying to remain positive but had slowly lost hope. There were faintly glowing aquamarine lines throughout the lining of Zanes synthetic stomach that resembled circuitry from the circuits controlling the system but they didn’t offer any light looking more like tattoos inside the lining. These markings along with the unsettling green tinted dark purple coloring to Zanes synthetic inner organ unnerved Kai. As Jay and Lance helped him up onto the shield to keep him out of the acid Kai was thankful the masks to their armour had the special re-breather apparatuses that also helped block smells as even with the mask on he was getting a nasty mix of acidic, metallic, synthetics, digested meat and some unknown and very unpleasant smell he felt or at least hoped was stemming from the Ashers getting broken down. Kai was pretty sure the smell would be much worse without the masks and make breathing terrible to impossible in there. There was a thin dark greenish black fog filling the areas of his stomach not filled by the digestive slop. Kai wasn’t sure if the fog was tied to the smells or was from something else but it just further unsettled him. While not quite inside him they couldn’t hear anything from the chaos outside just the sounds from inside his body. Occasional they could faintly hear the noises or words Zane would give while fighting which sounded deep and rather muffled and they could hear the heightened rate of his breathing and his power source which gave off an artificial sounding heartbeat like sound. These were the only indications of the fighting outside. The main and loudest sounds they could hear came from his stomach and intestines with some muffled sounds from different parts of machinery nearby in his inner body. These sounds along with the sounds from his breathing and heart, the smells, the sights he was now seeing and the realisation of where he was and what was going to happen to him if he failed at his task had Kai on edge and too anxious to do what he had to do. He could feel it was quite hot, close to uncomfortable hot, inside Zane already which Kai felt would help make his task easier but he needed to calm down to focus on what he had to do.
This wasn’t made easy as Jay had clearly lost it from the stress of the situation he was in which was made worse by the sounds of Zanes inner workings, his multiple failed attempts to get him and Lance out of there, seeing what was happening to the other humanoid beings Zane had eaten knowing that could end up being them (he didn’t care about the monsters especially the bug monsters; he felt they deserved to be his lunch) and the fact he had been eaten by one of his own friends which was made worse by the fact he knew what Zanes insides looked like from when he would work on Zane but had never thought he’d end up inside and threatened by them like this. Immediately after being eaten Jay had tried using Spinjitsu to try and make dragon Zane want to barf them up but it was not easy as there wasn’t much space and things weren’t really solid. Jay had likened it to trying to fight on a moving water bed. He had tried using his weapon but after a few hefty swings it had slipped from his hand thanks to becoming slippery from the fluids they were in and a slime that coated the inside of Zanes synthetic organ. Jay was not sure exactly where it was but felt his weapon was either laying somewhere in the digestive slop around them possibly having sunk to the bottom or had possibly ended up in his synthetic intestines by that point. The fluids around them were opaque, dark and thick from everything being broken down in it and the lack of decent lighting had left him blindly feeling around for his weapon after he had lost it which had led him to pull the heavily digested arm of something humanoid out of the slop mistaking it for his weapon. The arm had rapidly fell apart as it was pulled out of the acidic fluids and Jay hoped feeling terrified the arm had been from the harpy being, an Asher or the Asher Sorcerer and not a person. He had refused to continue searching after that not wanting to possibly find something even grosser or more disturbing in there with them. He had tried using his fists for a short while and when that didn’t work he had tried his powers but that didn’t work much either. Due to his anxieties and fear it could hurt them as well if he went too strong with his powers he was unable to get a powerful enough shock to do anything other than cause minor disruptions to Zanes system. He had even tried to climb out barely managing to squeeze himself back up into Zanes throat but Zane had just swallowed him back down before he could get very far. As a final resort Jay had tried tickling him to see if that worked. All his attempts had clearly irritated Zane which he could tell by how Zanes body reacted to them often causing his stomach to try and squeeze them or jolt in pain or irritation but never gave them the option they wanted, to be coughed up. Lance hadn’t been much help stuck largely in a state of shock over what had happened to him and scared of Jays declining mental state as he was worried of what Jay would do now that he had gone crazy. He had remarked at one point the steady and frequent constricting and relaxing of Zanes stomach as it did its job felt a bit like a massage and the heat and dampness felt like a sauna which had only disturbed and worsened Jays state of mind causing Jay to snap at Lance. Lances only offer to get them out had been to try and find a way out through the other direction to the one they had entered. Jay was instantly against it not wanting to get out that way. They would at least be safe from the power converters attached to his synthetic intestines that converted matter absorbed by the organs into electrical energy but Jay worried Dagons corruption might have put monstrous worms or lethal spikes lining the walls in the rest of his digestive system to tear apart anything trying to escape getting digested. Jay had quickly spiralled into a sort of insanity from there starting to talk to and argue with the half digested skull of the harpy being he had made Zane eat to get out of ending up where he had eventually ended up anyway like it was a living person. Jay had found its skull when he had dropped into Zanes stomach basically landing on it and freaked out over it tossing it away in fear where it had hit Lance in the face freaking him out before he tossed it into the stomachs lining where it bounced back into the fluids. Jay had re-found it recently and out of his insanity started using it to vent his problems. He kept referring to the skull as Butch. Jay was convinced Zane had eaten him because Zane had gone crazy and was getting too into being a dragon. He also felt Zane had sub-consciously done this as some form of punishment for any number of things Jay had done to him in the past that Zane had not been pleased of, irritated or angered by, nor amused with or fond of. He had started talking to himself, talking and arguing with ‘Butch’ and arguing with Zane as if Zane could hear him. While Jay had lost it Lance had just sat trying to keep sane trying to think of what they could do and hoping something would happen to get them out of there. The two had lost hope and had been contemplating just letting Zane digest them when Kai had dropped in. Lance had been relieved to see Kai and hear they had a plan to get them out of there. Jay on the other hand saw it as more proof Zane had gone crazy and was mad at Zane wondering how many more of them he’d eat before stopping as they already had barely any room in his stomach let alone space for more.
“Will you stop eating things! Your stomachs full you don’t have any more room in here; you’re being worse than Cole now,” Jay proclaimed harshly punching Zane in frustration causing Zanes stomach to make a jerking motion knocking everything in it including them about causing Lance to chastise Jays actions.
Thinking it might help him calm down by having some light Kai brought a small flame to his hand. The moment the fire came there was a small explosion which knocked the three off the shields and into the walls of Zanes stomach before they slid into the fluids. By the noises he made and the disruption to his system the explosion made the action had hurt Zane quite a bit.
“Serious did you have to do that?!” Jay complained as they hurried to get back on the shields and out of the fluids. Confused and scared Lance wondered, “what just happened?”
“Mr. Hair-gel here lit the gasses being made in here on fire!” Jay chastised to which Kai remarked scared by Jays tone and nervous of his mood causing his voice to crack a bit, “I just wanted some light.”
“You’re not getting that in here not unless he swallows a lamp or flashlight,” Jay grumbled. Kai went back to relaxing himself trying to ignore Jay. It took around ten minutes for Kai to calm down and focus enough to attempt to create some heat. He decided the best option was to direct the heat through physical contact with the walls of Zanes stomach. After that minor explosion he didn’t want to risk causing another explosion. He put his hands on Zanes stomach lining getting grossed out by the slimy substance coating it and the slime brought a thought to his mind.
“Uh Jay, there’s nothing else flammable in here like that Scimitar Oil we gave him earlier right?” Kai wondered and Jay inquired in a grouchy mood not willing to co-operate, “why?”
“Well I’m going to make it real hot in here and I don’t want to risk starting a fire. It would probably help with the task and probably make him not feel to good maybe even hurt him but that aside while I could handle a fire you two… well you’re not masters of fire and you’re not in the best states so that would be dangerous for you two. Honestly I didn’t even think I’d find you two alive in here. Truly I thought you would have been well you know…” Kai stated and Jay grumbled clearly still crazy, “why does it matter? He’s won we’re not getting out of here, I say we just give in and lay down in here so he has an easier time digesting us. It’s probably a nicer fate than whatever Dagons got planned for us when he wins.”
“Will you snap out of it! We still have a chance now tell Kai what he needs to know,” Lance proclaimed grabbing Jay by the front of his gi and giving him a couple slaps to the face to knock some sense into him.
“Fine, we can give this a try,” Jay relented and Kai thanked Lance for slapping some sense back into Jay.
“I don’t think so; his metabolism is set to high so the oil would have left his stomach a few hours ago. Not to mention it would have been broken down and no longer a major risk of easily catching fire if it was still in here. You already lit the gasses on fire; it will be a while till their built up enough again to explode. I don’t think there is anything else flammable in here. You know for some reason his metabolism has increased from its normal levels to even higher, I’d say very high levels possibly as high as they can go. Could be to combat the amount he’s eaten or it could be to give him more energy to keep up with the excess demands of the fight… it’s also unusually hot in here. Man his cooling systems must be working some serious overtime to keep him from burning up and frying himself,” Jay stated gaining some sanity back from Lances slaps.
“Alright now I’m sorry about this Zane; I know you’re not in the right state of mind so are not fully to blame for what you’ve been doing so don’t deserve such a harsh treatment but at the same time you sort of brought this upon yourself buddy. You think my cooking can give you a burn you haven’t felt anything yet bro!” Kai declared focussing on using his powers to create as much heat as he could muster and focussing on pushing it into Zanes body while Jay kept babbling behind him.
“You know speaking of excess demands his power source would most certainly have been mutated to fit his new mutated body but I think he might be stressing it out; it sounds like it’s stressed out. Taken how hot it was in that creepy throne room, the fact he now has a large body that can’t get rid of excess heat so easily as his normal body could plus his highly active state and all his internal functioning’s which sound to be highly active so are taking quite a bit of energy while also producing quite a bit of heat which has probably pushed his cooling systems into overdrive meaning he also might be using his powers to help from frying his vital systems he’s probably pushing the limits of his power source… no wonder then he’s been eating so many of the monsters and increased his metabolism! I guess if you’re a dragon and you’ve got nothing else they are food. I did notice he wasn’t using that energy draining spell like the others have so that would leave food as the only option for him to counter the stress to his power source. He’s probably trying to relieve the strain on his power source. That could also explain why his digestive system is still hyper active while he’s overheating. If he’s overheating he would normally slow it down or temporarily shut it down till he cools down unless of course he needs extra energy to prevent his heart from exploding but then he would slow down his activities so he can cool down and his heart can rest and recover which he isn’t. Dagon must be pushing him past what his body can handle. What a cruel thing to do! Maybe then he didn’t intend to eat us and it was an accident. He has just been swallowing anything he bites onto likely hoping it could give him extra energy to prevent his heart from exploding. We’re just unfortunate now in being bite sized and easy for him to swallow now that he has the form of a very large dragon. When he bit us maybe he couldn’t control himself and just swallowed us like what he’s been doing to everything else. It’ll also explain why he ate this shield; it’ll do him more harm than good being in here and he should know that. I wonder if the others are being as badly affected by Dagons hold being pushed past what they can handle? It would explain why Cole was eating those monster bug things. I doubt even he would consider those things food, at least not normally. I guess if you’ve got nothing else available and you need the energy they are food; especially if you’ve been turned into a monster,” Jay babbled while Kai focussed on trying to overheat Zane.
“What was that? I think you broke something,” Lance commented as they heard some minor sparking before the circuits in Zanes stomach lining disappeared, his stomach stopped moving and they could hear a muffled sound that sounded like Zane was in pain.
“Oh great now we’re trapped in here; he can’t barf us up if he can’t control his stomach!” Jay complained and Kai countered, “he’s not going to need to barf us up when I’m done with him.” Encouraged by the fact he had damaged something Kai felt his powers surge, his eyes developing a fiery glow and fiery glowing markings developing on his arms as his powers grew stronger. It wasn’t long till they heard something else in Zanes body sparking and shutting down. Whatever it was sounded close and sounded to not only hurt him but scare Zane that whatever had been damaged got damaged. By the fact it was quickly heating up Kai had a feeling he knew what he had damaged.
“I think I broke his cooling system now there’s nothing he can do to stop me!” Kai declared hitting the limit of his powers. They were suddenly knocked about inside him leading them to guess Zane had crashed or collapsed possibly as a result of Kais actions. Kai quickly recovered from the impact and continued what he was doing not wanting to give Zane the chance to recover but was quickly tiring from the amount of energy he was using to produce the heat. The heat was also starting to get to him. The other two were already finding it too hot struggling against the heat. After a few minutes Kai slowly stopped no longer able to maintain his powers and croaked worried, “it didn’t work, now what do we do?! Oh I knew this was a bad idea now we’re doomed!” Seeing their plan had failed and that he was now trapped in a very dangerous place Kai began to panic. He had no clue what to do now and his feelings were made worse by the fact that his actions had now made things worse for the three as he had damaged the systems controlling Zanes stomach trapping them in it. Kai didn’t have a clue what to do and was steadily losing it as he began to panic. Jay however did have an idea. He had been worried to do this but seeing they had no choice and it was likely now or never that they could get out of there and survive Jay decided to do it. It was going to be dangerous for them as since they were in him they would get shocked too but he could lessen their harm by focussing the majority of the electricity to a single point; some of it would still affect them but he could keep the worst of the attack away from them. He also knew it was really going to hurt Zane. He just hoped Zane would forgive him for what he was going to do when they got him fixed; if they could fix him. Despite the negatives he was going to have to do it. It was the only option they had left. He would have to overload Zanes power source so it would explode.
“Sorry about this Zane,” Jay stated before touching his hands to Zanes stomach lining and sending as much electrical energy into Zanes body directed to his heart that he could muster causing his arms, chest and eyes to glow and spark from electrical energy. It wasn’t long before they suddenly found themselves falling through a black mist to crash onto the ground. The three lay stunned and dazed sparking a bit on the ground and blinded by the sudden increase in light levels.
Upon seeing them explode Zane Pixal became enraged and tried to rush at Kai, Jay and Lance. To stop her attack and give them time to help the three Merlok hit her with a heavy blast into Aaron before doing the same to Cole to knock him into Jestro knocking all four out in the process giving them some reprieve from their friends. Nya, Ray, Maya, Jays parents, Lances parents and sister along with Lloyd and Clay came over to check on Kai, Jay and Lance while the rest fought back the enemies to give them space. Kai was the first to sit up dazed and quite shocked. Along with the three quite a few various items fell out of Zane including Nyas trident which had been stuck in his chest, a shovel Jays father had gotten stuck then broken off under one of his teeth when he went to bite him, an Ashers spear Macys mother had stabbed and got stuck in his lower hind left leg and a pickaxe Axl’s mother had gotten stuck in his right forelimb wedged between the metal plates lining the wing. Many of the items were from beings he had eaten which he had been unable to digest mainly the various weapons from a few Ashers and their allies, along with various items like coins, bits from metal armour, various metal and plastic trinkets from the Ashers, claw sheaths and clumps of hair which were often encased in a strange slimy substance which fell from areas that were his stomach and upper intestines along with Lances and Aarons shields, Jays weapon, the skull object of an Asher Sorcerer with parts of its clothes and to their surprise Zanes weapons including the Red Diamond Shurikan which fell from his stomach area. All items along with Jay, Lance and Kai were coated by odd colored slimy substances; residues from his digestive system.
“I thought it was gross to see the outsides of his insides, it’s worse to be in the inside of them! Trust me you don’t want to see what it looks like in there!” Kai expressed clearly very shaken as Jay and Lance slowly got up not looking too well.
“Jay you’re alive! I knew you would be and your covered with…,” Nya began to express a little grossed out before Kai cut her off to exclaim, “please don’t tell me, I’m pretty sure I don’t want to know what it is! There was a lot of gross stuff in there!”
“Nya clean them off… you get to Dagon,” Clay ordered stopping Lloyd who wanted to help the others to which Clay declared, “we’ll take care of everything. Now’s your chance to reach Dagon and stop all this before it’s too late.”
“Don’t worry we can handle things here,” Nya stated hitting Kai, Jay and Lance with water to clean them off. Lloyd hurried off with Wu and Merlok who helped him reach the ice barricade. The whole time Dagon was still enjoying everything not caring that his ‘pets’ were being hurt and not scared by Lloyds approach. Once at the wall Lloyd slipped through the gap they had created and started to head up the stairs having to fight some Void Wraiths Dagon summoned as an obstacle as he readied himself to battle Lloyd creating a spiked maul out of dark energy for himself to fight with. Once Lloyd was through the gap Wu and Merlok headed back to help the others.
“Are we alive!” Jay expressed still sparking a bit feeling exhausted, scared and stunned and Nya expressed helping him to his feet, “you are. The others had given up on you but I didn’t.”
“Not to burst anyone’s bubbles but we should get them out of here before Zane reforms,” Clay expressed and Kai stated standing up with Rays help, “yha cause he’s probably going to be real mad and I don’t want to get eaten again!”
“Even though we got all this stuff out of him? He couldn’t have been feeling too good with it all inside him,” Maya expressed and Nya explained, “we fried a bunch of his internal workings including important systems before exploding his heart, it all would have caused him tremendous pain. For him there is not much else more painful than what we just did. Mad will be an understatement over how he’s going to feel when he reforms.”
“Then we should get out of here quickly, I don’t think we want to be anywhere near him when he gets back,” Axl stated and they were all in agreement.
“Geeze how many of those monsters did he eat?” Ed wondered helping Jay to stand noting the many weapons and Skylor noted, “Not sure but it looks like he ate one of their sorcerers. How did that not make him sick?”
“I think I know which sorcerer too,” Seliel expressed picking up and shaking off the Red Diamond Shurikan grossed out by the substance covering it, “looks like he went and got his weapons back.”
“I was wondering where that had gone. Guess it was a good thing he went after that monster. I think it’s better a weapon like that was in his gut than being used by the enemy,” Clay noted as they started to move away from the area Nya helping Jay move and Lances father helping him move. The two were struggling to get to their feet or even balance. Kai had no problems moving and helped the others fight back some of the enemies and clear a path for them his sister giving him back his weapon after recovering hers and he picked up Aarons shield to aid in defence even though he was very grossed out by the substances on it. Lances sister took her brothers shield, Seliel picked up and kept Zanes weapons including Whetus Star while Edna picked up Jays weapon so they weren’t left behind for the enemies to get. As they moved them they noticed Lance and Jay were very unsteady on their feet, were feeling very warm and feeling sick. Merlok had a feeling the two were suffering from being inside Zanes stomach for over an hour and the overheating meaning they needed medical care which unfortunately they didn’t have nor could access. Going with what they did have to help them they decided to take them over to the dark ice wall Zane had created earlier to help cool them down sitting them against the walls base Jay taking off his hood and Lance taking off his helmet. Once they were sat against the ice Nya hit them again with some water to help cool them down. Merlok and Clay also tried some spells on them. It did help stabilize them but they were in no shape to get back into the fight and would need medical treatment in the next 24 hours or they’re condition was going to get worse. They just got the two stabilized when they noticed Zane reform. He landed wings held out in display baring his teeth and growling at them.
“Oh great he’s back already and back to full health,” Kai moaned getting nervous from Zanes dragon form and Axl noted as they saw him pick up a shambles with his mouth then quickly whip it around to smash it on the ground not only breaking it apart but smashing apart some of its bones from the force he used to smash the creature with, “and he looks really mad!”
“He’s more than mad he’s enraged,” Nya noted as Zane started stalking towards them on all fours, the glowing markings on his body looking to be brighter and more extensive while he built up a frost breath a thick frosty mist dripping from his jaws as he came towards them the air around him chilled and frost and ice built up on the ground wherever his feet and hands touched it. His appearance and enraged state had them all scared and on edge. Many of their enemies even backed up from him and got out of his way not wanting to catch his wrath.
“No you stay back! You’re not going to eat me again!” Kai exclaimed hitting Zane in the face as he got close with as much fire as he could muster terrified of what Zane might do to him if he got close. The blast made Zane turn his head so the fire was hitting him in the top of the head and not directly in his face pausing his approach though he held his ground and wasn’t moved by the attack. When Kais attack was done Zane wasted no time in continuing his advance. He paused in his approach to release his breath attack spraying a frost filled with dagger sized shards of ice at them. To protect them from his attack Merlok created a magical barrier to block the attack. Despite struggling against the force of Zanes blast he managed to keep it up to protect them.
“Those are some pretty nasty ice shards he’s spitting at us!” Kai proclaimed startled and moving back unable to take his eyes off Zanes ice breath as it hit the ward Merlok had created to protect them. They were pretty sure if the ice shards hit them they would tear them to shreds. It was at least helping them out a bit in destroying any of the Ashers or their monsters that came too close to their group as when his breath hit the ward it was directed around and in front of it creating an icy barrier for their enemies to get through.
“We need to calm him down or he’s going to tear us all apart…” Nya began taking out some of the harpy monsters that managed to get past the barrier Kai cutting in to suggest feeling unsettled, “then probably eat some of us… I was in there already I don’t want to end up in there again!” Zane stopped his breath attack and stalked towards them to try and bite some of them forcing those he went after to quickly dodge his attacks or hit him with a weapon to avoid getting bit.
“Where’s Pixal she can calm him down,” Nya wondered looking around to determine where Pixal was. Zane was the only one of their corrupted friends attacking them. The others couldn’t be seen making them wonder if the others were still unconscious somewhere. As she looked around she was unaware she was being stalked. She only became aware when Jay called out to her in a panic, “Nya look out!” She went to look back at him to see what he was talking about but had no time to react as were-wolf Aaron launched onto her pinning her front down onto the ground and sinking his teeth into her one shoulder as he growled, “feel the sting of the void!” Jay shocked Aaron making him let her go and bounce back where Ray and Maya came at him swinging their weapons to drive him back while Nya got up her hand on the bite. He had broken skin leaving a bite mark that was glowing a void green and the surrounding area had blackened the darkening rapidly spreading out from the wound. Jay attempted to get up to come to her aid but was still in too bad a shape to get to his feet. Kai and her parents attempted to come to her aid as she got up but she pushed them back.
“Don’t it’s already too late I can feel it, he got me. All this chaos is making Dagon and the void stronger; their influence is getting worse. I can’t fight it,” Nya declared struggling against the void that was now consuming her quickly getting consumed by the voids energies. Using her powers she knocked them away from her before she became fully consumed by the Void and Dagons hold. Along with the darkness and void green colored markings caused by the voids hold her appearance came to resemble a spirits like a nereid. Once transformed she instantly focussed on Jay who was startled and shaken to see her in that state proclaiming to him, “come why don’t you join us. You will not regret the darkness’s hold.” She tried to hit Jay with a dark spell but Kai intervened using Aarons shield to block the spell.
“Why brother why don’t you join us, don’t worry it doesn’t hurt,” Nya proclaimed getting into a fight with Kai using her trident to try and take the shield from his hand so she could hit him with a blast of dark energy. She was soon joined by the others who had been corrupted to assault them. Their group of defendants at least had their backs against a wall to keep the enemies from getting them from behind but they were tiring and greatly outnumbered and out powered especially with their corrupted friends now rejoining in the fight.
“Hopefully Lloyd can deliver the final blows to Dagon soon, I don’t think we’re going to last much longer,” Clay proclaimed trying to hold up a powerful enough ward to block dragon Zanes ice shard breath but struggling to do so…
With the fighting going on none of them were able to see how Lloyd was doing against Dagon. Luckily none of the Ashers or their monsters were bothering them leaving the fighting to just the two of them. Lloyd was thankful that was the case as Dagon was a lot more powerful than he had expected in fact far more powerful than he was ready for. Lloyd wasn’t doing so good struggling to hold his ground and nowhere close to getting the upper hand. He could feel the Red Diamond Amulet he wore helping give him strength and energy to continue in the fight but it clearly wasn’t enough for him. Dagon was immensely powerful and along with the maul he was using dark arts in his combat and didn’t fight very honourably or fairly. Constantly attempting to trick and trip up Lloyd and every now and then using a spell to turn into a mist to travel and reform behind Lloyd to hit him from behind the whole time laughing and taunting him as they fought. Dagon didn’t even seem to be putting much effort into his fight as he knocked about, hit with both powers and weapons and tossed about Lloyd seeming to take pleasure in beating him up. Lloyd was trying his best and wasn’t willing to give up but was starting to worry Dagon was too powerful for him and that he might not be able to deliver the damaging blows to Dagon. Anytime he hit Dagon even if he cut him Dagon eerily seemed to enjoy it and just laughed at him unnerving Lloyd. He never seemed to be hurt by the cuts or any of Lloyds attempts at fighting him. Lloyd didn’t want to think of it but he worried what they would have to do if he failed. Things were defiantly looking like that might be a strong possibility…
“Why don’t you be a good boy and go find Pixal, come on go find your mate,” Clay proposed trying to distract Zane from trying to bite Kai who was occupied fighting his sister and some of the enemies alongside his parents. He hit Zane with a blast of electrical energy to the face which stopped him for a few seconds as he flinched in pain from it. Angered Zane used his one wing to swipe at Clay flinging him into Kai knocking both over.
“We need a break,” Kai mumbled as he and Clay slowly got up feeling winded, tired and sore while Kais parents tried to keep Nya occupied. Wu, Merlok, Skylor, Axls family and Misako distracted Zane while also keeping Jestro occupied and aiding Seliel, Cole’s father and Axl take on Cole who they had noted was starting to look like a minotaur already having the legs and tail of a bull and his head starting to resemble a bulls with the horns and ears of a bull already there while Macys parents took on Macy whose skin was starting to look as if made of a dark rocky energy with seams of void green crystals through it. As they got up Kai noted Pixal nearby fighting with Aaron against his parents and brothers and got an idea. Once up Kai put himself so he could hit his sister with a blast to knock her into Pixal and hopefully distract Zane to give some of them a reprieve.
“Sorry sis but you’ll thank me later,” Kai expressed building up as strong a blast he dared hit her with before releasing it on her. Nya was not prepared for his blast and sent flying into Pixal bowling both over and atop Aaron who got knock down by the force of the two hitting into him. After they were knocked over Kai along with his parents and Clay who had been trying to block Zanes attacks near them were knocked over by a strong blast of freezing winds. Quickly sitting up and looking around Kai saw he had caught Zanes attention. Not only had he caught Zanes attention but by how he was stalking towards Kai ignoring the others who were trying to distract him Kai was pretty sure he had further angered him. By the fact Zane didn’t look to be building up a frost or void breath Kai was pretty sure Zane was going to bite him which Kai was pretty sure meant he was going to get eaten!
“I’m sorry I didn’t realise she was there! Please don’t eat me!” Kai pleaded as Zane got closer. Before Zane could attempt to bite him Jay put himself between Zane and Kai holding his hands up to spark electricity between them. Zane clearly was threatened by Jays display backing up a bit crouching down defensively and looking wary.
“No bad boy, you don’t hurt your family. Instead of attacking us why don’t you go to your Yang; I’m pretty sure she would really like to see you,” Jay offered not letting down his display. Zane looked Jay over before giving Kai an angry glare baring his teeth. He attempted to try and get around Jay but Jay made the sparking brighter and stronger. Zane was clearly unnerved by the display and backed off before heading over to Pixal who after she and Nya had gotten up were fighting. They were yelling at each other and threatening each other with their weapons Pixal thinking Nya had hit into them on purpose the void and Dagons hold clearly having them riled up for fighting and preventing them from seeing reason. Aaron was just crouched by them. Even though he had gotten up he was clearly nervous of making a move and catching either of the girls attentions not wanting to and afraid to get involved with their squabble.
“Guess I finally knocked some sense into him, he finally listened to reason,” Jay proclaimed after Zane had moved off letting down his display as he collapsed to the ground on his hands and knees his parents coming to help him while Clay, Kai and Kais parents held back their enemies as they came at them. Knowing they needed help and hoping his overwhelming shock had deterred Zane from wanting to try and eat him again Jay had got up and rushed over to their aid despite feeling very weak and sick, the burns on his ankles and lower legs from Zanes digestive fluids causing him quite a bit of pain and starting to get a very dark disturbing feeling that sent shivers up his spine even though he didn’t know why.
“Come you should be sitting this out you’re in no shape to be fighting,” Ed proclaimed as he and Edna helped Jay to his feet to help him over to the wall.
Meanwhile when he got to them Zane broke up the girls fighting by nudging his head into Pixal to catch her attention.
“There you are… don’t worry I won’t let them hurt you again,” Pixal comforted hugging and stroking Zanes muzzle as he gently pushed his head into her. Her affection clearly calmed him down as the voids markings on his body shrunk and dimmed back to his pre-enraged state and the strange environmental effects from his powers on the area around him vanished. With the girls distracted Aaron snuck off to continue his attacks on the others.
“We may be on the same team now mister but you better watch yourself. You’re still in my bad books for what you did to my Yang do you hear me?” Nya scolded Zane who looked to be cowering from her tone as he nodded a confirmation that he understood her.
“My sister the only one who can make a large powerful evil dragon nindroid cower like a weak tiny frightened puppy,” Kai proclaimed as he and the others continued the fight noting their friends interaction.
“Keep the electric one from hurting us and we will not have a problem,” Pixal defended Zane before proclaiming to him, “I know they hurt you but don’t worry we’ll make sure they pay for what they did.” As she talked she and Zane looked angrily at them.
“You can do whatever you want with the others but Jay is mine,” Nya declared and the others were alright with her arrangement. They then got back into the fight, Zane hanging back and waiting for the girls to make the first move before joining them in the fight. Their small force was backed against the wall struggling against their enemies and corrupted friends.
“Uh Clay what are these?” Jay inquired from where his parents had leaned him against the ice wall while the others continued the fighting. He was looking at his legs worried as dark markings had come to coat most of them the burns on his legs glowing with avoid green glow. Clay looked back but since he was occupied by trying to hold back Cole Merlok who had heard the question came over to check along with Wu.
“This is not good,” Merlok noted and Jay worried, “I know that! They look like those corrupted markings but I wasn’t bit or hit with a spell.”
“It would appear they are those markings. It would seem more than just bites or spells can corrupt us… your nindroid companions digestive fluids are likely tainted by the void and likely poisoned you with this void as they ate into you,” Merlok deduced.
“So I’m going to turn evil like them! I don’t want to be a monster!” Jay began to panic and Merlok noted, “because you are weak it is not moving as fast but yes it will corrupt you like them.”
“Great how many more of us are going to fall to this void before this is over?” Kai remarked before the sound of a large discharge of energy caught their attentions everyone stopping in the fighting to look towards the throne platform. Despite having little success Lloyd was still desperately trying to take down Dagon. Dagon had dragged the fighting onto the catwalk above the throne platform. Getting exhausted and more desperate Lloyd had finally managed to deliver a blow to Dagon stabbing him straight through the middle and finding himself uttering a word he had never heard of before. He thought he had done it, weakened this demon but his moment of joy was quickly dashed when Dagon just laughed at him and seemed unbothered and was clearly unharmed. Dagon just pushed Lloyd back taking the sword out in the process. Lloyd fell back but quickly got up in shock holding the sword out in his shaking hands to defend himself unsure what to do. Dagon wasted no time in hitting Lloyd in the chest with a powerful dark blast sending him flying off the catwalk to land on the ground near the center of the room on his back the sword falling from his hand as he landed.
“You fools did you think that trick would work again? Do you think we didn’t know what you would plan; how can you be so naive? Shame on you,” Dagon declared for all to hear as he shot Lloyd. The moment Lloyd landed on the ground Wu and Misako rushed over to Lloyd Clay and Merlok following for aid.
“It didn’t work! It didn’t work!” Lloyd was sobbing as they came to help him. Fearing their enemies might attack they decided to get Lloyd to the safety of their group even though Lloyd was clearly in a lot of pain and not in the best shape to be moved. Clay helped Wu carry Lloyd to be placed near Jay and Lance Misako picking up Dawnbringer and helping Merlok watch their backs to make sure no one tried to attack. To their surprise no one attacked instead they just watched many laughing.
“Hah did you think a pathetic boy like you could stand against our mighty lord Dagon!” Macy proclaimed to them as they moved Lloyd over to the group and Nya added, “You’re nothing but a weak child.” Their corrupted friends each took a turn to chastise Lloyds failed attempt as they moved him.
“Enjoy the Sting? Soon you will be a part of our pack,” Aaron growled and Zane agreed, “enjoy the darkness brother you cannot fight it. You shall fall just like the rest.”
“Foolish ninja boy,” Jestro proclaimed and Cole proclaimed, “your no hero just a weak foolish child.” Once they got him laid down in front of Jay and Lance Wu looked him over while Merlok used some magic on him to try and heal anything they couldn’t see. Everyone was worried and on edge. Seeing what had happened the Stag came over to take a look. Despite Merloks attempts Lloyd was still in serious pain and holding his chest over his heart the area starting to develop signs of the voids poisoning.
“I cannot fix this, he has been poisoned by the void,” Merlok explained and turning to the Stag Wu inquired, “can you pull the darkness out of him?”
“If he was hit anywhere else yes but not this; he was hit directly in the heart, it would be too risky. The procedure would most likely kill him. Your only hope to save him is to destroy the source that corrupts him,” the Stag proclaimed calmly.
“Do not show them mercy. They shall either fall as one of us or as departed,” Dagon proclaimed ordering his forces to continue their attack to obliterate them. Most of them, including the Stag, were forced back into fighting while Clay, Merlok, Wu, and Misako hung around Lloyd wondering what to do.
“You have to do it… you have to try to take out Dagon,” Lloyd proclaimed fighting his pain to take off the Red Diamond Amulet and hand it to Clay who was surprised and worried the task was being given to him.
“But… I don’t know if I can?” Clay fumbled looking at the amulet.
“Please you’re the only one who could possibly stand a chance against him…” Lloyd pleaded the darkness steadily consuming him and eerily the markings on him coming to resemble those of an Oni more than the typical voids markings. Despite the others encouraging him Clay was torn. He didn’t think he was strong or powerful enough to stand against Dagon. They had chosen Lloyd since as the prophesized green ninja and grandson to the First Spinjitsu Master they felt he was the only one who could stand against Dagon. Because of his ties to the void and a lack of trust in him they didn’t want to give this task to the Stag. Clay was powerful, more powerful than Merlok but he was nowhere near mastering his skill in magic nor had ever reached his full potential in it.
“Maybe this can unlock your full potential and give you the strength to defeat that monster,” Wu encouraged Clay who knelt next to Lloyd holding the amulet torn over what to do. Even though he was not entirely sure he decided to give it a go. They didn’t have much of a choice and looking around he could see if they didn’t do something now they were going to lose and it would be all over. He put the amulet on feeling a surge of energy and warmth from it then Misako gave him the sword.
“What a fool you all are, I am immortal, a deity. How can you destroy one such as I? What a grand and intoxicating innocence. How could you be so naive? None of you stand a chance against me. Pathetic mortals, I am a son of the void, the king of darkness. Only an equal could stand a chance and none of you are my equals,” Dagon loudly proclaimed with a laugh as Clay prepared to try and make his way to Dagon. He started to head off feeling overwhelmed by the task but was quickly stopped by the Stag holding his arm out into Clays chest to hold him back.
“What are you…” Clay began looking at the Stag who was looking around emotionless at everything not listening. He looked at all their enemies then at those of them who had become corrupted as they attacked their own friends and families with even Jay and Lance having got up to aid the others in fighting despite not being in the shape for it and Jay slowly being consumed by the void the markings now up to his waist and coating up to his elbows on his arms. He looked at Dagon who was laughing proclaiming how he was enjoying all this then to Lloyd who had fully succumbed to the void having blackened with void green oni markings on his skin, small oni like horns having grown on his forehead and sticking out of his hair which had turned silver and his eyes were burning with a dark purple as he attacked the others with a power and ferocity they were unprepared for. He then looked down at Clay and at the Red Diamond amulet grabbing it to get a better look at it. Through the whole fight the Stag had not only been fighting the enemies but himself. He had been torn. Was aiding the knights and ninja the right move or was he supposed to join Dagon? What was his role in all of this? He had felt deep down he had more of a role to play than just a combatant but he wasn’t sure what it was. He could feel a part of him wanted to join Dagon but at the same time he felt he should be going against his void brother. No matter how deep he searched he could not find the answers. He had been keeping himself distanced from the others worried the darkness in him would interfere with the ninjas plans. Now though seeing what was becoming of everyone; how many were falling to the darkness of the void and the one everyone thought would be the one to fix things had fallen just as much as his brethren and was no more powerful than them at this task did he realize what his role was meant to be.
“The dragons shall fall; the forces of light shall fall to darkness… I understand now. You will not a stand a chance, not you, not the green ninja, the master wizard or the Son of the Spinjitsu Master, none of you can. You were all meant to fall. Dagon is right only an equal stands a chance and none of you are his equals. There is only one who is his equal. Me,” the Stag concluded his voice both emotionless yet bearing heavy tones, “I understand now. I know why the Dragon Master never saw me as a threat. I think he always knew despite what those monsters did… what I had become… the truth. This task was never meant for them or for you. The dragons and knights were never meant to face Dagon; they were meant to fail at this task. They were meant to have a different role in all this. To show light, warmth and love to the darkness and spare the monster it had consumed was their task. I was meant for this task. Sometimes it is not the heroes’ job to stop the darkness but the monster they showed the lights task.” Clay was confused and unsure what to do. The Stag brought him back to the others using a spell to pick up and toss Lloyd back and into Zane to give their forces a reprieve from his attacks. Zane was confused why Lloyd came to land on his head but quickly brushed it aside knocking Lloyd off his head to go back to fighting.
“You help the others hold back these demons. Protect the others,” the Stag proclaimed taking the amulet off Clay while Wu inquired, “what are you talking about, who’s going to face Dagon?”
“Leave that demon to me. We are brothers of the void, equals. We are the only ones who can hurt each other. This task was always meant for me. It is time Dagon sees who the real king of the void is,” the Stag proclaimed crushing the diamond in his fists and absorbing all its powers golden markings developing on his body and face as he did this. Clay gave him Dawnbringer before he then turned and headed off to face Dagon slowly making his way through the enemies. As he went no one dared face him moving out of his way as he went and some noticed Dagon wasn’t as cheerful as he had been looking a little unsure about the Stags approach. When he came near any of them their enemies backed off not daring to interfere with the Stag and just went to continue their attacks on the rest of them. Their corrupted friends were also still fighting them and ignoring the Stag. Aaron had managed to get the upper hand on Axl and bit his one arm biting with such force he bit through Axls armour and broke skin poisoning him with the void while his family tried to break off his attack. Aaron had bit down with a vice like grip and was refusing to let go and both his family and Axl couldn’t pry his jaws open. Nya had knocked her parents aside and was encouraging Jay to embrace the void trying to hit him with a spell that would speed up his void corruption while he defended himself from her now having a few dark patches appearing on his face with the rest of his body already tainted trying desperately to fight the voids slow but steady corruption of him. The corruption was countering his injuries keeping them from hurting him and numbing their pain. Lloyd was going after Wu trying to hit him with a spell to corrupt him, Macy was trying to destroy Merlok who Clay and his brother were helping trying to hold her back while she tried to corrupt them, Jestro was trying to get at Jays parents to corrupt them however Skylor was blocking his attempts with Lances help, Pixal was fighting Seliel, Coles father and Misako, while Cole was going after Axls family who were being helped by Lances family and Macys parents to try and hold him back. Zane had taken on Kai so Nya could get past him. Dragon Zane was trying to bite him as Kai kept dodging his attempts while trying to hit him with his sword his parents coming to his aid. Zane eventually managed to get the upper hand on Kai catching him with his jaws and lifting him up by his feet Kai abandoning his weapon and the shield trying to grab something to hold onto to keep Zane from lifting him up. Kais father attempted to help him out grabbing Kais hands to try and pull him loose from Zanes jaws but Zane had little problem pulling both off the ground and flicking them up into his mouth before quickly swallowing both before the others could react or help. Shortly after Zane swallowed them those that were corrupted all suddenly stopped their attacks and backed off from the fighting looking to be distracted. Their friends and family were confused but didn’t have time to react or think it over as the rest of the enemies came at them. Merlok and Wu had a feeling they might be going to interfere with the Stag.
The others were unaware but their corrupted allies were not going to intervene with the Stag. Instead they had started feeling odd and had retreated to figure out what was going on. They were all still corrupted by the void and could feel it’s overwhelming darkness inside them but they were suddenly finding themselves able to think for themselves. They no longer had Dagon influencing their thoughts, they could feel the void was still there but it had no cares over what they did and wasn’t forcing them to do anything just leaving them with a deep numbing and emptiness feeling while giving them each new strengths and powers. While they didn’t lose their markings or forms their eyes returned to their normal colors as they regained their free wills. They were all confused at first. Once under the voids hold everything to them had felt odd; they felt a lot like they were dreaming or somehow not entirely in their own bodies. Emotions had felt largely numbed and their thinking had been foggy. While they had a desire to attack others the void preferred that they dragged others to join them in its dark hold and not necessarily purely destroy them like what Dagon wanted. It had been Dagons hold that had been forcing them to try and harm and seek to destroy those they knew. His hold had also made them feel as if they were burning rising their body temperatures to uncomfortable levels; a result of Dagons ties with the Ashers and the Red Mountain. The voids hold while a bit cool was devoid of any temperature which they found more comfortable than Dagons burning hold. Even though they had been corrupted by the void and were being influenced by Dagon they had all been fighting Dagons hold and all but Zane had been fighting the voids hold the whole time. It had started taking a toll on some of them often making them resort to sometimes dark methods in order to maintain the energy to keep going. They didn’t feel so bad about hurting the Ashers or the monsters but the energy draining powers they had acquired felt wrong to them and only Cole, Zane and Aaron had been brave and to the eyes of the others crazy enough to eat the monsters. The rest thought that too gross to do despite how helpful it was as those they ate couldn’t reform till their bodies were done using them and their energies keeping them out of the fight for quite a while. Now it felt as if a weight had been lifted and their minds cleared as Dagons hold vanished and the voids hold loosened its grip giving them back their free will while letting them retain the power the void had. With their free will back they could now choose what they could do. They didn’t need to say much to each other to know what they were going to do. Despite the voids corruption which was giving them greater power and strengths than they usually had and a strong desire to get back at the one who had been mutating them and turning them into monsters they knew none of them would stand a chance against Dagon. As if the void was telling them itself they knew he was for the Stag to deal with. There was though one thing they could do and they could tell it was drastically needed; to help out their friends and families. Those who hadn’t been corrupted were not going to last much longer against the Ashers and their allies and most didn’t have the power to take on some of their worst monsters who now that they didn’t have the Stag to focus on were turning their attention to their friends and family. Zane took a moment to cough up Kai and his father the two relatively fine before they headed off to aid the others by attacking the Ashers and their monsters trying to reach one of the gates to destroy the portals letting the monsters into the area in order to stem their numbers.
“Yha you like that, let’s see you complain that my cooking’s too spicy now… he’ll complain about some of my cooking yet really wants to eat me, why?!” Kai groaned after getting coughed up slowly getting up stunned, confused, grossed out and covered in the same slimy substance as before.
“Is it supposed to be like that in there?” his father asked as he got up covered in the same substance, a bit in shock and grossed out by it and where he had just been and Kai stated, “unnerving and incredibly gross yha. Smell as bad as compost with a hint of oil sometimes. Full of a monster soup not usually; that’s because he’s going crazy under that demons control and eating everything especially if it makes him mad.” After being eaten again Kai had tried the overheating trick to try and save himself and his father hoping Zane remembered what had happened last time and learned a lesson. From what he could tell it looked to have worked as Zane had coughed them up and was now leaving them alone. They tried to shake off some of the slime before they made their way back to the others a little dazed. Not surprisingly none of the enemies wanted to touch them.
“Kai!? I thought you and your dad had been eaten?” Jay proclaimed as Kai and his father returned to the others and Kai proclaimed bringing a small flame to his one hand, “yha but I think he learned his lesson; he’s never been a fan of spicy foods.” His mother gave Kai his sword and the shield back as she had picked them up to use to keep the enemy from getting them. He wasted no time in joining the others in the fight. Their small force continued to fight the enemies relieved a bit to not have their corrupted allies fighting them. As they continued to fight they started to notice less of the monsters were fighting them. They were also stumped over why they hadn’t seen any of their corrupted friends and family. Unlike what they had first thought they clearly hadn’t gone for the Stag. The Stag was taking on Dagon alone. Both were equally matched with each other as they fought each other using weapons and dark magics. Despite his darkness the Stag fought rather fairly and honourably Dagon however did not and kept trying to surprise attack the Stag from behind as they fought. Each were able to deliver serious blows to each other and harm each other drawing from each other void plasm. The Stag had thought the fight would be quick but had soon come to realise after delivering what he had thought was a fatal blow to Dagon that his task was not going to be quick or easy. He had run Dagon through the heart with Dawnbringer causing Dagon to dissolve into void mist but Dagon had soon reformed and attacked him from behind. They quickly came to realise after a few times of appearing to kill each other that neither could be killed, simply just getting their physical form displaced for a short time. Neither was willing to give up though feeling eventually one of them would find a way to truly destroy the other.
Those that were corrupted managed to get lucky getting close to the far portal. While the others took on the enemies destroying as many as they could Cole tossed his warhammer at the gem powering it with as much force as he could. The hammer smashed through the gem exploding it and the portal. Once it was down Cole retrieved his weapon and they started to make their way to the other portal. The destruction of their portal angered the Ashers who came at them. While the monsters and some of the more powerful Ashers like the Asher Sorcerers stood a chance against most of them none of them stood a chance against Zanes attacks. While they fought they were suddenly all shocked as a dark mass came from the darkness outside the area and slammed into Zane from behind knocking him down and pinning him to the floor void mists coming off its form. It was Dagons demon dragon Nidgrumndir. It had come to its master’s aid to attack those who had been corrupted in order to stop their interfering and punish them for going against Dagon. Nidgrumndir got off Zane then bit Zane on the neck behind his head so he couldn’t retaliate and began dragging him around Zane trying to break free letting out noises of pain as the others tried to help free him. Nidgrumndir was bigger than Zanes dragon form and while appearing to be physical in make was made purely of void energy so the others attacks had little effect on the beast. In the struggle to break free Nidgrumndir whipped Zane into the side wall by those who hadn’t been corrupted. He hit the wall hard his shoulders and back hitting hardest while Nidgrumndir let him go. He came to lay partially sitting with his back against the wall and startling the others who while fighting had not expected him to be tossed near them having to watch out as his left wing nearly hit some of them.
Those that had not been corrupted had heard the portal get destroyed while they fought the Ashers and their monsters. They were all confused unsure what was going on. They had noted their corrupted allies at the opposite side of the room but had no clue what they were doing. They could see they were attacking their enemies but they couldn’t tell why. Both Merlok and Wu wondered if the Stag had done something to turn their corrupted allies on the enemies using his ties with the void to influence their behaviours. They felt that was a good thing as it really helped them out against the enemy. That was until Nidgrumndir tossed dragon Zane by them. The two seemed oblivious to their group as they tussled nearly hitting or landing on some of them. Zane hit Nidgrumndir with an icy breath his attack affecting Nidgrumndir to push him back so Zane could roll sideways back onto his feet. Zane managed to get onto his feet but Nidgrumndir wasted no time in ramming his head into Zanes side slamming him hard sideways into the wall causing both the wall itself and the dark ice that was built up on it to crack and bits of rubble falling off the upper sections to break off and fall while Zane collapsed onto his front a bit dazed and sounding a bit in pain while their corrupted allies fought the enemies to try and come to his aid.
“Do they have to fight here? Someone’s going to get squished,” Kai expressed as their group moved back away from the two dragons not wanting to get hurt from their fighting or some of the pieces of the wall and ice that fell from them impacting into the wall while still fighting the enemy. As they moved back Jay noticed having to take a double take at Zane as he recovered looking up baring his teeth while growling and cursing at Nidgrumndir his voice still dark and off that Zanes eyes were different. They weren’t the void green like they had been through most of the fight. They were their normal icy blue color. Jay was confused why that was, he cautiously got as close he dared to Zane who hit Nidgrumndir with a hefty breath of bright void energy pushing the monster back a bit. Jay didn’t want to get eaten again and wasn’t entirely sure Zane wouldn’t try to eat him while still under the voids hold plus he didn’t want to get crushed by either Zanes dragon form or the monster dragon as they fought. After his breath attack Zane lay staring at the ground in front of him looking to ready himself to get up clearly unsteady and in pain from Nidgrumndirs hit. Curious Jay called out Zanes name to him. Zane seemed confused at first before looking at Jay as if he recognised he was being called. While under Dagons control Zane had shown no sign that he recognised his own name and as far as they could tell he and the others who got corrupted didn’t seem to recognise when most people talked to them. Only those they had very close ties to like parents, siblings, close friends or loved ones seemed to get through to them. The fact Zane reacted to him without him having to shock him to catch his attention confused Jay. Before he could see however if he could get any sign Zane recognised him Zanes attention was drawn back to Nidgrumndir who used a blast of dark energy at the wall above Zane.
“Why did you intentionally miss?” Zane growled at Nidgrumndir confused why it had attacked the wall instead of him. Zane soon got an answer as pieces of the wall broken off by the other dragons blast crashed down on top of him a rather large chunk hitting him in the head and knocking him out his head landing on the ground largely on its left side with pieces of the building landing atop him on his shoulders and upper back. Jay took a few steps back as Zane went unconscious still wary of him and trying to not get crushed by his head as he went unconscious.
“Hopefully now that he’s out he can’t try to eat us,” Kai proclaimed as their group saw Zane get knocked out then Clay noted as Nidgrumndir turned its attention to them, “he may be out but now we have that thing to deal with and I don’t think we’ll stand a chance.” Nidgrumndir looked to be prepping to launch an attack at them. Luckily for them their corrupted friends caught the monsters attention drawing it away from them and into fighting them. Their corrupted friends clearly looked very angry at Nidgrumndir attacking it with considerable force as it came at them delivering some damage to the beast. Along with fighting the dragon they were also taking on some of the nastiest of the Ashers monsters. Cole was wielding his warhammer with one hand with his lava arms activated and to their surprise glowing their normal fiery color. He was using his powers to try and hinder some of the monsters while also trying to crush them with his hammer. Macy looked to have tapped into some dark geothermal power causing her weapon and shield to develop a lava like texture while also being able to create burning rock spires and lava blasts on occasion while fighting. Aaron to their surprise seemed to be acting less beastial than he had been during most of the fight. He would still bite at his opponents now and then and his main method of attack was his clawed hands but he was now relying more on his new skill in magic focussing on ice and dark energy attacks to damage opponents. Nya was using her trident and water powers which she had now seemed to know how to morph them into more icy attacks along with using dark magic on their opponents. Jestro was still using dark magic but now was also experimenting with more elemental based magic’s on the enemies or to aid his allies hitting them with spells to increase their strengths, help them recover and to increase their resistances and energy. Pixal had created swords of dark energy to fight with along with using dark magic attacks on opponents. She looked to be trying to get over to Zane but was hindered by the enemies which were trying to corral them together. Lloyd had created a dark sword which was baring a dark green flame on it along with using his powers focussing mainly on the dark dragon trying to take it out along with any enemy that got in his way. He looked very mad and extremely determined to take out this dark dragon. Despite all their new found powers however none of them were powerful enough to face the dark dragon and could only really hold their ground against the enemies which were trying to overwhelm them starting to focus on them over those who hadn’t been corrupted.
“Geez, we should make sure Lloyd never falls to darkness again! He’s kinda scary when he’s like that,” Kai remarked about Lloyds attacks and his darkened appearance with Oni like markings which Kai found rather unsettling. Jay added, “ I don’t think we should let any of them become evil or turned to monsters!”
“They all look scary… something looks to have gotten into them,” Axl noted and Lance added, “yha, why are they suddenly so set on attacking the enemies and ignoring us.”
“And why did that monster of a dragon go after Zane? Aren’t they on the same side?” Seliel added.
“I do believe the Stag is now influencing their behaviour and has turned them on the others. That dragon is under Dagons control while our companions including Zane are under the Stags hold,” Merlok hypothesized. While he didn’t voice anything Jay wondered if something else was actually going on remembering how Zanes eyes seemed normal and no longer getting a strange feeling from the voids corruption that had started on him and now seemed to have stopped corrupting him.
“Well whatever is causing it I’m glad it’s got a hold of them and making them attack these monsters instead of us,” Skylor acknowledge before Clay expressed, “maybe with them focussing on that dragon we can focus on closing that other portal to help keep the enemies from returning so easily.” They had started noticing the Ashers and their monsters were now starting to spill in from the entrance doors to the room with the one portal closed while still spilling in through the remaining portal. They had all pretty much hit their limits from the fighting and needed a break or at least for things to get easier before some of them started to pass out; if they could close the portal leaving the doors as the only way in it would greatly decrees the amount of opponents entering the room greatly helping them out. Clay got together Axl who though infected had found oddly that the voids hold hadn’t increased much seeming to have paused in its corruption, Seliel and Skylor in order to try and make their way to sneak close to the portal to take it out while everyone else worked on keeping the enemy focussed away from them. To help them sneak they decided to take advantage of Zane who was still unconscious and clearly made some of their enemies nervous as they kept some distance away from him. Their enemies however clearly had no qualms with pushing them into Zane which some of them mainly Kai and Lance were not very comfortable with. With the way he was laying Zane could offer them some cover for sneaking. Zane was laying largely on his front twisting so he was laying on his left side by his hips down with his wings stretched out a bit on either side more so on his right than his left as he was pressed close to the side wall. They snuck under his wing close to his body before climbing over his legs and tail trying to avoid detection as much as possible. While they snuck towards the portal the others continued to fight sticking close to Zane using the wariness some of their enemies had towards him to help lighten some of the fighting. There were some however who were not scared of Zanes dragon form and were rather pleased he was unconscious. Some of the Noctern Crows were entirely ignoring the fighting to instead try and pry some of the titanium scales and plates off Zanes shoulder and back attracted to their shiny surfaces.
“Hey leave him alone; how would you like if someone tried to pull your skin off,” Jay proclaimed scaring off the Noctern Crows with a blast of electricity as he climbed onto Zanes head.
“Jay what are you doing?” Kai questioned to which Jay replied, “I just want to check something. His eyes looked normal before he got knocked out. I want to see if I was just seeing things.”
“Are you sure he’s knocked out and not dead?” Lances father wondered to which Maya noted, “he’s still breathing; it’s low but you can still hear and see it a bit.” Jay managed to get Zanes one eye open enough to look into it. His eye was dark not revealing much color. Jay guessed it was because he was unconscious so let his eye close while he returned to help the others remaining on Zanes head to help give him a higher vantage against aerial combatants. He’d have to wait for Zane to regain consciousness to see if he had just been imagining the color change to Zanes eyes.
“Besides if he had been hit with anything considered fatal he would have burst into a dark fog then reformed like before,” Wu explained as those that had snuck off quickly returned Clay explaining, “not good. There’s too many getting through and there’s several of their nastiest monsters guarding the portal.”
“Great now what do we do?” Kai expressed and Skylor noted, “I don’t know but I don’t think we’re going to last much longer… what’s taking the Stag so long.”
“He and Dagon are equally matched. No matter how much damage they do to each other because of what they are and their ties to this void they cannot easily destroy each other,” Merlok explained him along with some of the others having noticed the Stags struggle against Dagon and Wu regaled, “if we help him we might be able to find a way to put an end to this madness.”
“If we’re to try and do that we’re going to have to get rid of that monster dragon,” Seliel noted. They could see their corrupted friends were still trying to combat Nidgrumndir but were no match for it.
“Despite their efforts I don’t think they stand much of chance to defeat that thing,” Seliel noted and Merlok deduced, “that dragon is a pure vestige of the void. I fear like Dagon only a being of equal power stands a chance against it.”
“Where are we going to get one of those?” Clay wondered and after a moment’s thought Jay wondered aloud, “maybe if they had Zane and worked together they could defeat it.” Most of them were unsure about that and a few were not happy with that idea; not comfortable with dragon Zane being awake.
“Are you sure that’s a good idea. How do we know he’s not going to try and eat us again?” Lance wondered and Kai agreed, “Yha he already got me twice, I don’t want to make it a third time.”
“And we were both stuck inside him for over an hour; do wanna risk that or worse happening again?!” Lance added to which Jay explained, “I don’t think that was entirely his fault. Dagon was messing with his head; he ate us by accident. If he is no longer under Dagons control we should be safe.”
“Even so he’s still under the voids hold; we have no clue how that will make him behave. He’ll be unpredictable. It could be dangerous to wake him,” Clay noted and Jay proposed, “you got any other ideas.” None of them had a clue of what to do.
“We could try this but we will have to be careful,” Wu stated and Clay ordered, “Everyone put some space between you and Zanes dragon form. Jay since this was your idea you wake him.” Everyone made sure to put some space between themselves and Zane worried over what was going to happen.
“Come on Zane wake up. Come on buddy we could really use your help,” Jay stated to Zane gently tapping the side of his head trying to see if he would respond. When that didn’t work he tried giving him some gentle strokes to the top of the head while talking to him.
“That must have been quite a hit to the head,” Jay noted seeing his methods weren’t working and Kai suggested, “you’re being too gentle. He has a thick skull; you need to give him a harder hit.” Kai picked up a large chunk of rubble and tossed it at Zanes head while calling to him to wake up. He hit him a few times with large chunks from the building but got no response.
“How is hitting him hard in the head going to wake him up when it was a hard hit that put him in this situation,” Jay chastised before getting a surprise attack from behind by a Noctern Crow. It pinned him down but before it could continue its attack in shock and defence Jay gave off a shock hitting both the crow and Zane with the shock. The crow was irritated by the shock but unharmed. Despite the shock having little effect on it the crow flew off scared as Jays shock had caused Zane to move a bit making it look like he was stirring. It spooked a lot of their enemies making them take a few steps back. Despite his slight movements Zane remained out but seeing how he reacted gave Jay an idea.
“I think he just needs a jump start,” Jay proclaimed. He put both hands on Zanes forehead and directed a heavy shock into him making sure not to hit him too hard not wanting to overload his heart or fry any circuits. After a few seconds he felt a disturbing energy rush through him and he fell off as Zane jerked his head rapidly to the side slamming it into the wall. Zane then just lay there his head held up a bit and eyes closed. He looked to be dazed but awake.
“Geeze Zane careful, you don’t want to hurt yourself,” Kai proclaimed while Jay landed next to him a bit stunned.
“That was unexpected,” Jay proclaimed and the others became nervous of him noting something off.
“Uh Jay what did you do?” Kai worried and Jay wondered, “I got him up… I think.”
“I’m not talking about that…” Kai began taking a few steps away from Jay and Edna stated, “uh honey… I think that void corruption got you.” Jay began to panic looking at himself as he got up. He was now fully consumed by the voids poisoning his whole body and attire blackened with void green markings.
“What?! No I don’t want to be a monster! No how do I get rid of it?!” Jay began to babble and Seliel noted, “you’re corrupted but you’re not acting like a monster and you don’t have those creepy void eyes.” Wu and Merlok came to inspect Jay who was trying to not panic.
“Interesting, when you shocked your friend some of the voids energy must have backfired into you and completed the poisoning yet it would seem you are not being controlled by it,” Merlok noted and Jay panicked, “what? How? Is that good or bad? I really don’t like this feeling; it’s so empty and numb and scary!”
“If you have control while you are in the voids hold then maybe the others have control as well,” Wu pondered and Skylor noted, “that could explain their sudden strange behaviour.”
“How would they have gotten their free will back?” Axl wondered and Clay hypothesized, “maybe it has to do with the Stag, maybe he did it or him confronting Dagon disrupted his hold on them.” They looked at the others who were overwhelmed by the enemies and not doing well in the fighting. Along with their other monsters the Ashers had now brought in a massive Ash Crawler to take on their friends to try and stop them. Watching them they noted that despite being corrupted none of them had the void eyes anymore and their behaviour was not as savage or beastial as it had been before.
“If that’s true then maybe they’re trying to take the enemies out for us,” Seliel proposed and Kai stated, “well then I guess it’s a good thing we got Zane up. He could really offer them some help. What do you say Zane you gonna get up and… Zane?” Kai turned to check on Zane and see if he was finally awake only to get spooked at what he saw. Zane was still in the same position still not fully awake but void plasm and mists were dripping from his jaws and the seams between his metal plates and synthetic skin, the glowing markings looked like he was enraged and now rimmed the seams between the titanium plates and synthetic skin along his neck down his back and onto his tail and there was an unnerving energy coming from him. Any enemies fighting them were backing up from Zane scared.
“I think something’s wrong,” Wu noted and Kai stated pushing Jay close to Zane, “you’ve already been corrupted; you go and see what’s wrong besides this is probably your fault.”
“My fault?” Jay questioned and Kai responded, “you’re the one that shocked him with thousands of volts through his brain. Maybe you accidently switched something on in his head.” They were all nervous of what was going on. Even though he didn’t want to do it Jay slowly approached Zane mumbling, “Zane you okay buddy? You forgive me for exploding your heart right? You’re not going to eat me if I get close are you?” Before he got too close Zane opened his eyes. Jay was startled and rushed back to the others who were all scared. Zanes eyes weren’t back to normal, they were the voids eyes but something about them was darker than before despite their bright void green glow and there was a disturbing emptiness to them now. He turned his head to look at Nidgrumndir issuing out a roar at the other dragon as he slowly got to his feet void plasm dripping from his whole body. While sounding like the beastial with metallic toned sounds Zanes dragon form had been using before there was now an unsettling hollowness tone to it startling everyone.
“Watch out! Don’t let this stuff touch you or you’ll get corrupted too!” Clay proclaimed as void plasm dripping from Zanes body got sprayed towards them and dripped off him as he roared and moved towards the other dragon. They all rushed to get out of his way Zane not seeming to notice or even care they were there hyper fixated on the serpentine void dragon. Even though they tried to avoid it some of them got hit with the void plasm including Kai, Clay, Wu, Merlok and a few others. Where the plasm hit them they developed blackened markings, the beginnings of the voids poisoning.
“Jay what did you do?” Kai stuttered backing up terrified watching as dragon Zane roared a challenge at Nidgrumndir who turned to look at him. All but Dagon and the Stag who were still trying to best each other stopped what they were doing to look at Zane terrified.
“I didn’t do that!” Jay muttered scared as Nidgrumndir accepted Zanes challenge with a hiss and growl. Zane wasted no time in launching at the void dragon and sinking his teeth into its throat trying to tear it open. Everyone backed away from the two rushing out of the way as the two dragons squabbled both using dark magic breath attacks along with biting and clawing. Those who were not corrupted were all so focussed on the two fighting that they became startled to find their corrupted companions had rushed over to them. They only became aware they had come over when Lloyd yelling at them caught their attentions and startled them. He yelled in a panic at them, “WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!?”
“Is that really you guys? You’re not monsters are you?” Jay worried hiding behind Kai and Aaron remarked, “dude, you do realise your corrupted now too right?”
“We thought he could help you,” Kai stuttered wary of those who had gotten corrupted.
“He’s not going to help anyone now, he’s become nothing but a demon of the void,” Cole explained and Clay wondered, “how do you know?”
“It’s hard to explain but it’s like through the voids tainting we can feel it,” Macy noted and Wu wondered, “if you guys are largely yourselves than why is Zane not in the same state?”
“Because before all this chaos started Zane willingly and fully gave himself to the void; he accepted its hold and became one with it. We haven’t accepted it and are still trying to resist its hold, Zane hasn’t been resisting it,” Nya explained and Merlok hypothesized, “then it was only a matter of time till he became lost to the void.”
“And Jay must have done something when he gave him a jump start that let the void take over,” Kai expressed to Jays dislike to which Kai stated, “hey you’re the one that sent thousands of vaults through his brain.”
“Is there any way for him to regain control?” Wu wondered and Cole explained, “no, it’s too late. Once you’re lost to the void there is no coming back. The Stag told us that himself and as part of the void he should know.” Dragon Zane managed to get Nidgrumndir pinned down beneath him his one foot on the void dragons neck and wings held out in display. He built up an energy blast and hit the void dragon in the chest with a strange icy aquamarine breath attack. Whatever it was caused void green cracks to appear all over Nidgrumndir before it burst into a dark mist Zanes foot falling through what used to be its neck before he turned his attention to a group of Ashers cowering by the far wall to them. Dragon Zane used this strange breath attack on them turning all into a black mist. Some Ashers and monsters attempted to flee through the remaining portal catching Zanes attention. Crawling on all fours Zane turned to face the portal building up another blast before releasing it over the area. Not only were the Ashers and monsters destroyed by the blast but part of the platform and the portal were all torn up the parts hit by his attack dissipating into a black mist.
“Oh how you have fallen; gone and lost yourself to the void haven’t you,” an Asher Sorcerer who stood on the throne platform teased Zane catching his attention while some of the Ashers attempted to sneak away. Zane just bared his teeth at it and growled. The Sorcerer then boasted, “you can’t even speak can you. You’ve fallen lower than even a beast now. You’re a demon nothing more.” The sorcerer attempted to gain control of Zane but to its shock it had no effect. Instead Zane built up a dark icy aquamarine blast and hit the sorcerer with it destroying it in seconds before turning to a group of Ashers including a rather large Ash Crawler that were attempting to escape by sneaking towards the doors to the room. Using the same attack Zane destroyed most of the Ashers as they scattered trying to get away from him.
“What’s he doing?” Kai trembled as they all clung close to the side wall hoping to not catch his attention as they watched as Zane got a hold of the Ash Crawler biting it on its back and pulling it back building up his breath attack. He let go the attack on the crawler exploding it to mist before turning his attack on the fleeing Ashers and monsters. Some of them started to notice that the strange dark mist that had coated the area before was returning starting to spill in to the area from above the walls and filling the edges of the room. The sky above the area had greatly darkened and quickly became cut off by the dark mist.
“Zanes no more than a demon of the void now; a living piece of the void. He’s doing what the void wants. To destroy everything and bring it all back to the void. He’s on no one’s side anymore and won’t spare anyone or anything,” Lloyd explained and Lance suggested, “then we should get out of here right?”
“We should but if we move we could catch his attention and I don’t think that will end well for us,” Cole noted and Jay offered, “maybe the Stag can help?”
“He’s too busy trying to take out Dagon who we don’t want getting control of Zane. Dagon and the Stag are the only ones more powerful than he is now and are the only ones who can influence him now,” Nya noted as they glanced to see how the twos fighting was going. Both had noted what had become of Zane and to take advantage of the situation Dagon attempted to use a spell on Zane to control him but the Stag intervened preventing him from using the spell. Once finished with the Ashers Zane began looking around slowly swaying his head around and keeping it low trying to look through the dark mist that now engulfed the rooms edges. The Ashers who had not been able to escape were hiding in the mist using it to disguise themselves. While those who had been corrupted could enter the mist those that hadn’t couldn’t leaving them trapped in the open. Luckily it seemed Zane was more focussed on the Ashers who had escaped his sights than they were.
“Maybe if we move real slow he won’t see us?” Jay quietly offered slowly moving sideways only to bump into Kai who having been too focussed on Zane became startled dropping his sword and the shield. The noise caused by the items caught Zanes attention and drew him towards them. He stared at them for a second hunched over void plasm dripping from his jaws and the void mist starting to emanate from the seams in his body before starting to crawl towards them terrifying them.
“What should we do?” Jay panicked while Kai commented feeling terrified, “I don’t know but I’d rather be eaten than hit with whatever he hit that dragon with.” Before Zane could get too close Pixal rushed out putting herself between him and everyone else with her hands up towards him.
“Zane stop, if you are still in there you wouldn’t do this. You’re not a demon,” she declared to him. He stopped in front of her putting his head low to get a better look at her the dark mist coming off his body slowing and the void plasm stopping from oozing out of his jaws as he stared at her his eyes unnervingly blank and as empty as the void.
“Pixal it’s too late. He’s lost to the void, there is nothing we can do,” Nya explained being quite hoping to not catch Zanes attention. Pixal wasn’t entirely sure of that and was hoping it wasn’t so. Dragon Zane remained staring at Pixal for a few seconds his expression blank. Despite his enraged state he seemed oddly calm.
“Why is he hesitating?” Seliel wondered before a dark mass crashed into Zanes side bowling him over. Nidgrumndir had reformed and came at Zane from the void mists trying to tear him apart. The two got in a squabble before breaking apart to growl and hiss at each other Zane clearly having received the worst of the fight as he struggled to use his left wing the upper arm and shoulder torn open and sparking with damaged wires and other inner workings sticking out. Zane went to try and bite at Nidgrumndirs throat but Nidgrumndir head butted him back before hitting him in the chest with a void electrical attack aiming straight for his heart. Zane only lasted a few seconds under Nidgrumndirs attack before exploding in a dark frosted mist. With Zane gone Nidgrumndir turned its attention to them and seeing they had an ally on their side that could take out Zane the Ashers and monsters came out of hiding to attack their group. Because they were in a better state and more powerful than those who hadn’t been corrupted those who had become tainted by the void put themselves at the front of the attack to protect the others. After about a minute Nidgrumndir was suddenly knocked off his feet and slammed into the wall by them breaking a massive hole into it causing a good portion to collapse out into the area outside the structure. Zane had reformed from the void mists seeping into the building and dove at Nidgrumndir coming to perch atop the dragon with a cold dark mist coming off his body. The two got in a fight rolling out of the structure as they fought while the Ashers and monsters continued to attack the others. At one point Nidgrumndir took off into the air trying to escape Zanes attacks. Zane quickly followed taking to the air to chase the other dragon into the rest of the city the two vanishing in the darkness surrounding the place. The others continued to hold off the Ashers who were now being joined by void shadows which were spawning out of the voids mists.
“We need to get those who haven’t been poisoned yet out of here,” Cole commented at one point coming to the aid of his father who was struggling in the fighting and starting to fall sick from the void mists. The mist was weakening those who weren’t tainted by it chilling them and making it hard for them to breath. They planned to use the hole Zane had smashed into the wall using the serpentine dragon to escape with those poisoned by the void using the void magic they were poisoned with to clear the mists back enough to get people out. They tried to fight their way free to the hole but they were overwhelmed by the enemies. After a few minutes a deep growling in the mists in the hole of the wall by them caught their attentions and stopped the fighting worrying them all. At first they thought it might be dragon Zane which would offer them a chance to escape but their hopes were dashed as the serpentine dragon came crawling back into the area holding something in its mouth as it positioned itself round to look at them. It dropped what it was carrying on the ground in front of them as if boasting over what it had.
“What is that?” Ed wondered and some of them had a feeling they knew what the mass of metal, synthetics and wires Nidgrumndir had dropped on the ground which was slowly getting consumed by the voids mists was and it didn’t bring any good feelings. Despite having fallen to the void and no longer on their side it was still upsetting to see the object and what it meant.
“I think that’s part of Zanes spine,” Nya noted and Jestro wondered, “shouldn’t having that torn out have killed him?”
“Not necessarily, if torn from the right spot it would paralyze him but not kill him,” Jay explained and Lloyd noted, “it’s disabled him so he can’t interfere with their attacks.” The enemies began to advance again in their attacks pleased by Nidgrumndirs actions.
“Even though he’s fallen to darkness and turned into a monster I feel sorry for him. I don’t know if he can still feel anything as a void demon but if he is then he’s got to be very scared and in a lot of pain,” Kai remarked.
Notes:
To learn more about Zanes anatomy and how it works you can read my separate short story Anatomy of a Droid. I would highly recommend reading it. It's not too long fun and rather light hearted and heart warming. This short can be found here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/44691181
What happens with Zane after Jay wakes him up is inspired and takes reference by the part in the Ghibli film Princess Mononoke where Okkoto the boar god gets poisoned and ends up becoming a demon.
Chapter 58: King of the Void
Summary:
Who will win this battle and will the world end?
Notes:
Pictures relating to story can be found here: https://www.deviantart.com/nerdy-hyena/gallery/72478681/story-project
They are really good and help to visually flush out several aspects of the story including environments, characters, outfits, locations, creatures and other aspects often important ones in the story. All images I post in my work can be found there if you want a better look at them. Defiantly make sure to check them out.Also if you need a refresher on creatures, flora or aspects of the environment you can check out the second chapter in this work titled 'Keikiarys Guide to the Ash Wastes'. It includes short descriptions and pictures of these things.
Parts of this section are subject to change as the prequel story is written to improve story continuity.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
He lay crashed on the ground somewhere in the city. It was dark with a thick dark fog coating the area. Some fires were nearby and dark clouds which occasionally struck lightening over the area were overhead of the fog. He wasn’t sure where he was. Rubble from various buildings lay scattered about around him. Fighting throughout the city had largely stopped. Everyone had retreated back to the outskirts by the Fortrex. Even the corrupted Dragons and Knights of the Prong had fallen back to aid their allies Dagon having lost hold of them as the Stag had confronted him. With their free will gifted back to them from the Stag feeling terrible from the role they had been playing they had turned the tables to aid the allies. Seeing the allies now had powerful combatants on their side the Ashers and their allies had turned to head to the center of the city to aid Dagon. He was not sure where he lay but he could hear the distant fighting and voices from Dagons fortress leading him to believe he was not too far from there. The sounds were riling him up making him anxious to get to his feet but no matter how hard he tried he couldn’t. He lay on his side trying to move but every time he did he felt nothing but pain from even the slightest movements with sparking coming from the open wounds torn into his metal and synthetic hide by Nidgrumndir. The dragon had torn into his back, neck, hips, thighs and upper limbs even tearing out a piece of his spine in his lower back before collapsing a large building on his body core to immobilize but not kill him so he could not pose a threat or recover. He had to get that other dragon. How dare it consider itself one with the void! It was sided with Dagon not the void. The void had no say in who was to win, that was for Dagon and the Stag to decide if the world was to end or not. What the void did care about was things remained balanced till then and Nidgrumndir was disrupting that balance causing the darkness of the void to start overwhelming the realm fuelling and tipping things into Dagons favour. Nidgrumndir had been born in and made from darkness and come to embody it. While it had ties to the void it was not of the void, simply a shadow of Dagons dark powers which Dagon had bestowed powers of the void to. Because it lacked the light of the void Nidgrumndir was disrupting the natural balance of the void simply by existing in a physical form. He had to take out that usurper and restore the balance so both sides had an equal chance to win or lose making the decision made fair and right. He was of the void that monster wasn’t. No matter how hard he tried he couldn’t get up and slowly began struggling less tired and in pain. His struggles had drawn attention to him. At first it was beastial monsters of darkness from the void who all sought to steal his energy and hinder him till the battle was over where they would likely then destroy him when he could no longer interfere with their masters plans. They were hanging back in the shadows weary of him; even in his weakened state he could deliver serious damage and destroy them. As he got weaker though they were getting bolder, a skinned hound snuck from the shadows followed slowly by some Voidfears. They got close to him but before they could make an attack they were attacked. A small group Pryphons all in their large gryphon forms including Chewy and a dragon, the shintaran ridgeback Chompy, came in to attack and drive off the monsters. It was little effort for them as the monsters were in no hurry to attack him and backed down. With the monsters slunk back to the shadows the Pryphons and dragon came to cluster around him curious and wary hanging back as they watched him. They wanted to help him sensing he was needed in the fight but none knew what to do. Despite what he was they didn’t fear him. They knew he wished no harm to them.
“Poor thing, you sacrificed yourself to the void to save others but it has cost you dearly. You have lost yourself to its emptiness,” a woman’s voice proclaimed. He calmed down to listen wondering where it had come from. Even though he couldn’t remember he somehow felt he had heard the voice before. When he pin pointed where the voice had come from he saw standing in the shadows of a tower whose top had fallen over ahead of him and leaned against its base creating a makeshift archway was the silhouette of a woman. Upon seeing her the others bowed in respect to her; he just growled baring his teeth.
“You have fallen so far that you cannot even speak anymore, you cannot even remember who you once were,” the figure stated slowly walking out of the shadows. She resembled a human but her skin was dark almost black and her long hair black both speckled with spots the color and even the faint glow of moonlight, her eyes were red, pale Oni like markings were on her face and body and two small bumps for horns were on her forehead. She wore a dark sleeveless robe which bore pale spots that glowed with a pale light like that of stars.
“You have forgotten haven’t you? Not just your memories but who your friends and family are, what you once were, who you really are,” Astara proclaimed slowly walking up to him. He attempted to get up again but still couldn’t.
“You gave yourself to the void because you knew it had to be done. You poisoned the others to keep them from suffering worse fates; to keep them safe and give them a chance. They would not have survived if you had not done that. Plus he would have never realised his true purpose if others had not fallen would he. Things haven’t gone entirely as you planned however have they? Dagon got to you, made you do things to hurt those you care about and now you have lost yourself; doomed to the emptiness of the void… or have you. Are you truly lost?” Astara proclaimed walking up to him creating a ball of golden light in her one hand as she approached him. As she got close she knelt in front of him. Something about the light agitated him yet at the same time captivated and calmed him. He stared at it its light reflecting in his empty void green eyes.
“They need you but you can’t help them like this can you; lost to darkness. You need to come back for them. You may be lost but you are not gone. You can return from the void; you just need to focus and remember. The void is not all emptiness and darkness. There is much light there for those who wish to yield it. Look to the light and you will find yourself,” she proclaimed stroking his muzzle. Her actions began to calm him. He was unable to take his eyes off the light in her hand. He felt warmed and comforted by it and remained focussed on it. Slowly he began to feel something. He felt light and warmth. He started to calm down doing as she had instructed to look within himself and the light of the void which lay hidden inside him; slowly things started to become clear. He hadn’t always been a part of the void had he? Who and what had he been before though? The void was a part of him now controlling him shrouding him in its darkness but it didn’t need to be in control, it didn’t need to banish him in darkness. He was in control. With it inside him he was the voids master; it was there to aid him if he needed it and had no right overwhelming him like it had done. He focussed on trying to peace things together and control the void. Slowly things came back to him and he gained some control.
“Shh relax… that is it dig deep into yourself and you will remember,” Astara encouraged sensing he was slowly recovering himself holding the light close to his face giving him something to focus on to help him in his task. He closed his eyes on it focussing hard to remember. Slowly he remembered. It all came back to him and as he opened his eyes which slowly turned back to his normal icy blue color. Even the void green markings on his body faded to an icy blue color.
“That’s it now you are in no shape to help anyone rate now are you but we can change that,” Astara proclaimed sensing Zane now remembered who he was and had control over himself and the void. She formed the light in her hand into a blade resembling Dawnbringer and Zane understood what had to be done. He was scared of it but agreed it had to be done. To make it easier for her he lifted his one wing up as best he could so she could more easily reach his chest. He even unlocked and opened the panel to his heart so she would have a clear shot.
“This will hurt but I promise I will make it quick,” Astara proclaimed as he lay waiting for the blow.
“I think we have to face it this is it we’re not getting out of here,” Lance proclaimed and Lloyd who was struggling to hold up a ward with Clay and Merlok to block a void breath from Nidgrumndir stated, “I don’t want to think that way but I think you’re right. Things are just too much this time.” Things weren’t going good. Nidgrumndir alone was too powerful for any of them to deal with but he wasn’t alone. There were still plenty of the Ashers and their monsters battling alongside the demonic serpent dragon. It was too much for them.
“If this is it and we’re going out then I’m not going out without taking some of these things with me,” Kai declared struggling with his sister against an Asher Sorcerer. Things were going very bad. All were struggling to keep going and even those that had been corrupted were struggling against the enemies. Becoming tired from holding up their ward against Nidgrumndir Lloyd, Clay and Merlok collapsed onto their knees letting the ward down. With the ward down Nidgrumndir began charging up a void blast.
“This is it. We tried but we’re not strong enough…,” Lloyd moaned as some of the others including Wu, Misako, Macy, Clays brother and Macys parents came to help them get up and protect Lloyd, Clay and Merlok from the other enemies. Before Nidgrumndir could unleash his blast a dark mass slammed into the serpent dragon from the mists of the void and they heard a rather familiar voice yell at them, “leave them alone!” To their shock and surprise it was dragon Zane but something about him was different. While still the darkened void dragon his markings and eyes were no longer void green being an icy blue instead and he was able to talk again. His voice while still deep and clearly tainted by the void sounded more like himself than that of his corrupted state. Zane had struck down Nidgrumndir the two rolling over each other a bit before Zane was able to perch atop Nidgrumndir pinning it down and his jaws clamped on its neck using his wings like a hawk struggling with his prey holding them out and flapping to remain balanced and help pin the other dragon down. He managed to hold him down a few seconds before Nidgrumndir tossed him off with its one wing. Zane wasted no time in getting back up to attack the other dragon. Zanes presence scared their enemies many fleeing in fear and they noticed his presence also seemed to be driving the dark void mists back clearing them from the area. At first many of them were worried until they noticed Zanes state. He appeared to no longer be under the voids hold and was aiding them in their struggles. This made many of them happy and gave them a renewed hope that it wasn’t all lost just yet.
Feeling it best to give the two space as they fought and to help protect the rest of them they decided to move up to the top of one of the buildings that formed the outer ring of the plaza. It was a four story tall apartment building. Using the powers the voids hold gave them Cole and Macy made a makeshift staircase for them out of the debris and earth around them and the structure fusing them to the structure for them to climb up. While they climbed up those that had been corrupted went last holding off the Ashers and monsters who tried to stop their retreat. Once they were all up Lloyd went to collapse the stairs they made to hinder the monsters from following. He was surprised however to find he couldn’t. Searching they found one of the Ashers sorcerers was using a counter spell to prevent him from collapsing it in order for the dark forces to follow them up. He tried to take it out trying to hit it with a blast of energy but some other Ashers and a Dreadconda interfered with his attacks. The Ashers helped shield the sorcerer and attacked them while the Dreadconda had crawled its way up the building to attack them grabbing Lloyd with its powers and starting to suck energy from him. Taking note of what was happening Zane paused his attack on Nidgrumndir to gowl something in an unfamiliar language what sounded like ‘Al-Gron-Nok’ before hitting a patch of the void mists with an ice breath. Where the blast hit some of the mists in the area coalesced turning into forms near the Ashers. The masses turned into three Noctern Crows with icy blue eyes, frost dusted on their attire and weapons made of an icy substance. The three looked at each other cawing a bit before taking off to attack the Ashers and their monsters surprising and shocking them especially when they found they couldn’t influence or control the creatures.
“Did Zane just summon those! When did he learn to wield non elemental magic?” Kai muttered stunned looking at the Noctern Crows Zane had created which were attacking the Ashers with their icy weapons and powers and Jay noted, “I don’t know but he can’t even do simple magicians tricks very well let alone true magic like that!”
“I do believe his ties to the void are giving him this magic ability, I do not recognise what form of magic it is though. I feel it might be a very ancient form,” Merlok noted. Zane struggled with Nidgrumndir a bit more before he hissed what sounded like ‘NilVith-Mir-Aam’ while looking at the Dreadconda that had Lloyd and was draining him of energy as the others tried to fight it with little success. His eyes flashed void green for a second before the Dreadcondas eyes flashed an icy blue and she dropped Lloyd before turning on her allies forcing them to take her out. To remove the threat of the remaining Ashers those who were corrupted along with Clay, Kai, Axl, Lance, Seliel and Skylor went back down to the ground level to deal with the monsters and Ashers that remained while the rest remained above and fought off any monster that made it past the others up to them. With the help from the Noctern Crows it wasn’t long till the Ashers and their allies were destroyed or driven off. Once they were gone the crows Zane had created flew up to perch on the outskirts of the plaza to watch their summoner. The rest of them moved onto the stairs but didn’t move too far up in case they needed to head down to aid Zane. With Zanes distraction in helping the others Nidgrumndir managed to knock Zane off balance and back a bit but Zane managed to keep his footing. Zane growled at it before hitting Nidgrumndir with a blast of void energy that seemed to weakening the serpent dragon a bit. In retaliation Nidgrumndir launched at Zane pushing into him getting under him to lift him off his feet and knock him backwards into one of the walls around the throne plaza. Zane was pushed into it with such force that the wall broke and fell backwards Zane coming to land on his back atop the crumbled wall a bit dazed. While he lay dazed Nidgrumndir crawled with a slithering like movement over to Zane and constricted around him to keep him from moving as it bit him on the underside of the neck below his jaw to hinder his movement and restrain him. Nidgrunmdir then began to suck energy from Zane icy blue waves of energy flowing across its body as it sucked energy from Zane who struggled to break free of Nidgrumndirs hold. The stress to his power source from Nidgrunmdirs siphoning and his struggling soon caused Zanes heart to start sparking before exploding turning him into a dark mist. With Zane gone the serpentine dragon adjusted its position and began crawling back towards the others. As it came towards them all of them prepping to defend themselves a line of ice was shot over it freezing parts of its body and pinning it to the floor from the void fog above as Zane swooped past having re-manifested from the void fog. He circled round as Nidgrumndir began breaking itself free of the ice. While it was focussed on breaking itself free Zane swooped in from behind it talons out to strike it from behind shoving its head, neck and chest into the floor. As he landed on the other dragon he rolled onto his side in front of it quickly getting back to his feet as it recovered growling and hissing at him. Zane went to bite at Nidgrumndirs neck while the serpent dragon launched straight at the base of Zanes neck biting into it to plough him into the ground and push him back a few feet before Zane hit it with an icy void blast making it let go. Nidgrumndir got pushed back a bit from the blast but quickly recovered and went back at Zanes neck as he tried to get up biting hard into his spine at the base of his neck pushing him onto his side and dragging Zane across the floor a bit. The serpent dragon tore open a section pulling out wires and disconnecting part of his spine causing Zane to lose control of his body. He could only make a few twitching movements of his limbs as he lifted his head up at Nidgrumndir hissing in defence with sparking coming from the wound in his neck. He then collapsed on the ground to lay on his side still with only slight motions indicating he was breathing able to be seen while void mists slowly built up around him slowly encasing the damage on him in it while Nidgrumndir turned back to the others. As Nidgrumndir approached them the mists slowly starting to fill the place again some Ashers and their monsters who were hiding waiting for a chance to get the upper hand snuck out of the fog to attack them. Feeling renewed by seeing they hadn’t lost Zane they put up a defensive getting down off their shelter again to hold off the attackers. Lloyd, Jay and Pixal even decided to try and make their way over to Zane to see if they could help him in some way to get him back up. If they were going to make it they needed Zanes help. He was the only one of them that was an equal match to Nidgrumndir. Seeing the three heading towards Zane Nidgrumndir built up a void breath and let it go in front of them. The three stopped in their tracks before they could get hit to look at Nidgrumndir as it approached them. They prepared to stand their ground against the serpent dragon till something caught their eyes. It caught Nidgrumndirs attention as well as it turned to gaze at the void mists behind it. There was an icy glow building up in the fog which was starting to dissipate behind the serpent dragon. As the fog dissipated it slowly revealed dragon Zane who had reared up in display his wings slightly out as he built up a breath attack his markings revealing him to be in an enraged state and also lining the titanium plate scales along his spine. To all their shocks Zane had somehow become healed the damages done by the serpentine dragon entirely gone. Zane hit Nidgrunmdir with a void tainted frost breath that was strong enough to slide the larger dragon across the floor a few feet even as it held its ground. Seeing he was okay and back up Lloyd, Jay and Pixal headed back to the others not wanting to get in the way as the two massive dragons fought. Seeing Zane had become healed and was back at their dragon ally the Ashers stopped their attack to watch with the others worried.
Once his breath attack was done Zane then shouldered into Nidgrunmdir pushing him to the side before biting onto the large dragons neck and slowly dragging the other dragon towards the throne platform Nidgrumndir fighting to be let free while Zane fought to keep his grip on the other dragon and drag it back. Nidgrumndir managed to break free of Zanes hold and launched at him grabbing him on the left shoulder. The two had a quick squabble and Nidgrumndir managed to deliver some serious damage to Zanes left shoulder pulling back the metal plates and synthetic skin and pulling out wires. The damages were serious enough that Zane lost the use of his left arm. Zane moved back from Nidgrumndir his left wing dragging as he moved while Nidgrumndir boasted about its attack rearing up and holding its wings out while hissing in display. Zane was clearly in pain and looked a bit defeated as he crouched down looking at the wound as it started to seep void mists and plasm from it both substances eventually covering his entire shoulder, part of his back, chest and the entire upper wing in its dark fog. Nidgrumndir roared at Zane who didn’t look at the other dragon focussed on the wound on his shoulder appearing to try and be gaining some control over his limb as they could see the digits of his wing twitching a bit and the lower arm of his wing flinching a bit. Nidgrumndir growled a challenge at Zane attempting to get close to try and bite Zane on the neck but Zane turned to snap at the serpentine dragon and hiss his dislike at its approach. Zane then slowly got up starting to move his left wing as he reared up the void plasm having stopped emitting from his wound while the void mists slowly faded. Zane reared up spreading out his wings to show off that the damages Nidgrumndir had put on him were no longer there having been entirely repaired and looking to have never happened. Nidgrumndir and the Ashers were scared by Zanes display. Everyone else was stunned and confused.
“Wait how did he fix his arm without being destroyed?” Kai questioned and Clay noted, “it looked like he used void energy to fix it but is that even possible. The void is a dark force; restoration isn’t apart of dark forces. It’s part of the light.”
“It would appear he did use void energy to repair himself, “ Merlok noted and Cole remembered, “didn’t some of those back in the Lost Realm tell us the void wasn’t entirely darkness; that it possesses both a light and a dark side?”
“I think they did. I believe they also said most who use void energies use it for its dark side though that’s why it is often associated with darkness,” Aaron acknowledged and Lloyd expressed, “Zane must be tapping into the light of the void.”
“Do you think that’s why they’re all scared?” Axl wondered as they noticed most of the Ashers fleeing with only a few sorcerers and some of the nastiest monsters like Dreadcondas and Vulcaroths remaining. Even these though seemed nervous.
“Zane can do something the Ashers can’t making him more powerful, he can use both sides of the voids energies!” Lloyd declared as Nidgrumndir built up a dark electrical energy blast and tried to hit Zane with it. Zane defended himself with his wings. The shock clearly hurt him but Zane was able to resist and recover. When Nidgrumndirs attack was done Zane unfurled his wings and growled what sounded like ‘Krii-Lun-Aus’ at Nidgrumndir before hitting him with a red tinged void breath. The blast hit Nidgrumndir and sent sanguine waves over its body looking to irritate it. Zane then launched at Nidgrumndir biting onto its neck pulling it down off its feet and dragging it a bit. It appeared the strange breath Zane had hit it with had weakened the monster dragon a bit. It again struggled to break free of Zanes hold as Zane dragged it towards the throne platform. Nidgrumndir broke free and knocked Zane onto his back on the stairs of the platform. Nidgrumndir went to bite at his belly but before it could sink its teeth in Zane kicked the other dragon in the head. It pulled back growling at him before Zane growled back before hitting Nidgrumndir with an ice breath that caused patches of ice that were tainted by void energy their cores a glowing void green to develop on and even in Nidgrumndirs skin leading to new tears in its decayed skin. Nidgrumndir was clearly in pain as Zane rolled back onto his feet. Still in pain but angry Nidgrunmdir lunged towards Zane pieces of the ice falling off. Zane jumped to the side out of the way of the others attack then hit it with a roar that pushed Nidgrunmdir with a strong gust of icy wind pushing it into the stairs. Zane put himself by the base of the stairs to trap Nidgrunmdir on them snapping at and hitting the other dragon with an icy breath attack whenever it tried to get around him. At one point Nidgrunmdirs tail brushed against the beam coming out of the platform and going through the realm stone. Nidgrunmdir screamed in pain from the action and quickly pulled its tail back the area that got hit dissipating into a dark fog. Zane took note of what happened and looked to get an idea. Crouching down he pushed up from under Nidgrunmdir pushing it back a bit but it held its ground trying to prevent Zane from what he was trying to do. In defence Nidgrunmdir bit onto Zanes back but Zane defended himself by sparking void energy across his body growling ‘Mul-Qah-Ahvard‘ as he did this the energy not only shocking Nidgrunmdir but turning the icy glow on parts of Zanes body back to the void green color and growing to look as if he was enraged. Zane had activated a form of Dragon Aspect charging himself with void energy making himself stronger than Nidgrunmdir. After Nidgrunmdir let go Zane hit it with another void tainted ice breath. Nidgrunmdir anchored itself trying to resist being pushed back. Nidgrunmdir hit Zane with the shocking breathe again to try and stop his attacks but Zane held his ground not wanting to let Nidgrunmdir get a chance to stop him with what he was going to do. When Nidgrunmdirs blast was done Zane then used a strong icy breath at Nidgrunmdir which caused it to lose some of its footing and stumble up the platform. Even though it tried to avoid the beam Nidgrunmdirs one leg grazed the beam damaging it and giving Nidgrunmdir a limp. It was clear Zane was trying to push Nidgrunmdir into the beam however Nidgrunmdir wanted to avoid the beam. Anytime Nidgrunmdir tried to escape Zane blocked its way and attempted to shove or use a breath attack on Nidgrunmdir who was trying its best to hold its ground but struggling from everyone of Zanes attacks which was causing some ice to develop on the platform making it hard for Nidgrunmdir to maintain a good foothold. Aided by the slippery floor Zane finally got the upper hand hitting Nidgrunmdir with a shout of a strong blast of cold air that combined with the icy floor knocked it off balance causing it to fall onto the beam. Nidgrunmdir roared in pain as the energy from the beam gripped its entire body sending sanguine waves of energy across it while its skin and parts of its body began dissipating into a black smoke. As it twitched and jerked as the energy began to consume it Zane moved back out of the way to avoid getting hit or touched by Nidgrunmdirs throws. It took only a few seconds before the serpent dragons body dissolved from the beams energy exploding into a mass of void energy that fell to the ground and slowly rolled off the platform as it dissipated. Zane waited a second before moving to inspect the mist that had been Nidgrunmdir baring his teeth at it as he did so.
“Wow, no wonder the Stag told us not to touch that!” Kai remarked and Lloyd stated, “somehow I get the feeling that dragon Nidgrunmdir isn’t going to be able to come back from that.” After inspecting the mist Zane turned to the remaining Ashers who were understandable terrified. Zane was still enraged with void energy as he crawled down towards the Ashers growling at them before hitting them with an icy breath. A couple managed to escape but most were wiped out leaving just them in the area. They were all happy pleased that the worst of the fighting was over. With the enemies gone they all came back down to the ground feeling safe and that not all was lost. Now they just had to help the Stag with Dagon and they could win this. Those who felt they had some fight still in them and wanted to help the Stag including Lloyd, Clay, Cole, Macy and Kai started to head towards the throne platform to get up towards the catwalk where Dagon and the Stag were still fighting. As they rushed over they were stopped in their tracks by a seam of void tainted ice which cut them off. Looking to where it came from they were worried to see Zane was still enraged by void energy and was now turning his attention on them.
“Zane it’s okay you won the monsters are gone you can calm down now,” Jay called to Zane who turned his attention towards the rest of them. He tried to hit them with his void ice forcing Nya, Jay, Aaron and Jestro to put up a ward of dark energy to block his attack.
“Zane stop we’re on your side,” Clay called hitting Zane with a blast of energy to catch his attention. Zane turned to look at them baring his teeth while void mists started to drip from his body his eyes flickering between void green and their normal icy blue.
“The voids darkness is still too strong here. He’s losing himself to the voids energies… we need to help him regain control or we’re going to lose him,” Lloyd expressed as his group that had broke away rushed back to the others and Kai wondered, “and how exactly are we going to do that?”
“I don’t know but we need to think of something fast,” Macy noted as Zane started shaking his head trying to fight the voids hold growling as he tried and Nya wondered, “how’d he regain control before?”
“Who knows none of us were there,” Cole noted as Zane attempted to hit them again this time with a lightening like void plasma blast which Lloyd blocked with a ward of void energy. After the breath Zane again shook his head and Lloyd encouraged, “come on Zane you can fight it. You’re not a monster or demon of the void. You know deep down who you really are. Don’t lose yourself to this darkness.” Zane was clearly trying his hardest to fight the voids hold causing sparking to come from parts of his body as he tried to restrain his movements to attack them. He went to hit them again with a void breath forcing Lloyd to defend them again before quickly cutting off the attack shaking his head. Void fog was slowly starting to coat the ground in the plaza worrying them. Seeing him struggle Pixal cautiously approached Zane calmly talking to him to catch his attention. Dragon Zane looked at her void mists still dripping from him and baring his teeth. He slowly approached her his eyes still flickering between void green and icy blue but he stopped baring his teeth. He crouched down putting his head to her level.
“This isn’t you, you are not a demon. Do not worry I am here for you, I always will be no matter what,” Pixal told him as she held her hand up towards him. He pressed his muzzle into her hand and she gave him a few strokes on his muzzle. The void mists slowly stopped dripping from him and he closed his eyes. The next thing they knew he had collapsed laying on the ground his markings fading from void green to icy blue and remaining that way.
“That’s it you are no monster,” Pixal stated stroking his muzzle as he opened his eyes looking to be calm and free of the voids overwhelming hold. Some of the others mainly the other ninja came to give him a few pets to calm and comfort him. The knights even joined them.
“Now that he has control we should aid the Stag and end this chaos before it is too late,” Clay declared and Kai wondered, “what do you think we should do?” Jay opted, “I’m pretty sure Zane could give Dagon quite the beating.”
“No we can’t get Zane involved in the fighting anymore. The void will take him over and he’ll be lost to it,” Lloyd proclaimed stroking the one side of Zanes muzzle and Clay stated, “okay then how do we…” He was cut off as they could all hear Dagon yelling “Wait what are you doing?!” They all looked up to where the Stag and Dagon had been fighting. During their fight Dagon had knocked the Stag down causing him to drop Dawnbringer off the catwalk while Zane had been forcing Nidgrunmdir up the platform and into the beam. Looking down at where the sword dropped both had their attentions drawn to the two dragons fighting. They had watched and seen Zane best Nidgrunmdir destroying the beast with the beam. This had angered Dagon who declared that when this was done he was going to force Zane to spend a thousand years isolated in the darkest reaches of the void as punishment for his actions. The Stag watched intrigued. It gave him an idea. While the rest struggled to calm Zane down the Stag got up determined and to Dagons confusion attempted to restrain him instead of harm him. The Stag finally got the upper hand de-arming Dagon and grabbing him harshly by his one arm. Dagon tried to escape the Stags grip but the Stag wasn’t breaking as he held Dagon tight and used his powers to tear apart the catwalk and re-forge it into a walkway that led to the beam through the realm stone. Dagon was terrified clearly understanding what the Stag was intending. Everyone else was confused. As the Stag dragged him towards the beam he started calling for his ‘pets’ to aid him. They all watched having no draw to aid Dagon and feeling nothing from his pleas.
“They will not come to your aid; I gave them their free will back something you would never give them,” the Stag declared to which Dagon proclaimed, “But I gave them their power…”
“You mutated them into monsters and turned their hearts black and foul against their will while turning them against friends and family. They feel no kinship or loyalty to you as it should be,” the Stag declared as they reached the beam. In a last ditch effort to stop the Stag Dagon declared, “you fool you’re going to kill us both!”
“If that is to be then so be; the world doesn’t need demons like us around,” the Stag declared holding Dagon so he was looking into his eyes before grabbing him by both arms and thrusting him into the beam. He firmly held Dagon there while Dagon fought to free himself the energy of the beam starting to injure him. As the beam started to tear apart Dagon it started to affect the Stag as part of him was touching the beam as well so he could restrain Dagon in it the realm stone started to glow with an ever increasing bright light and started making a sound like it was getting over worked. Dagon was terrified but the Stag was eerily calm and determined. Everyone else was getting a bit scared starting to note a strange energy to the air that seemed to be growing alongside the ever increasing light from the stone. It wasn’t long till they were all blinded by a flash of light and could hear an explosion then everything went dark…
Time passed; how long they couldn’t tell but by the time they all started to come to their senses they felt it had been far longer than a couple hours. They came to finding themselves in a strange large domed structure. They were indoors and despite some wear and minor damages to the structure they were in things seemed fairly fine and untouched by the Plane Meld. All those that had been fighting at Dagons throne were lying about in the structure and other than feeling very tired and sore were miraculously in not too bad a shape. Though ruffed up and still having some of the wounds they had received from the fighting they surprisingly were free of any dark tainting and mutating even those who had been corrupted and morphed by Dagons dark influence were free of his and the voids corruptions and tainting. They were all back to themselves, even Zane. It took a couple minutes for them all to come to their senses and remember what had transpired.
“What happened?” Lloyd wondered being the first to speak and Clay wondered, “is it over? Did we end that whole end of the world thing?” Looking around it looked to have worked, it was hard to tell though from where they were and none had a clue of where they were and if the place should look the way it did without dark influences.
“Are we dead?” Jay was quick to blurt out as they looked around. All were tired and sore. Strangely while they still bared injuries from the fighting they showed a notable amount of healing making them all wonder how much time had passed. They were all slow to get up. As they got up they all went over to loved ones to seek their comfort and for those who had been corrupted feeling guilty and ashamed for what they had done despite it not being their faults they were quick to apologise to those they had hurt during the fight even though the others knew it wasn’t their faults and didn’t hold it against them.
“Looks like neither of us were meant to take on that monster,” Lloyd noted as Clay helped him up and Clay agreed, “seems like it. I guess the Stag really was never the evil he seemed to be.”
“Sorry for turning into a demon on the rest of you… just that monsters hold and what he was doing to me. I couldn’t fight it,” Lloyd expressed as Wu, Misako and Robo-bill Merlok joined them and Clay stated, “hey I get it; when darkness grabs a hold of you it’s incredibly difficult sometimes almost impossible to fight its hold. I know.”
“Sorry for nearly chewing your leg off man; you should at least be thankful I still had enough control under that monsters control to keep from doing what that demon wanted me to do to you. He wanted me to rip out your throat,” Aaron apologized to Jestro who noted, “that’s okay. I still have my leg and I guess I could just consider it payment for troubles I’ve caused in the past.”
“Sorry about pushing you away when you wanted to help but I knew if you got too close I would have just cursed you as well,” Nya apologised to her parents and brother who weren’t bothered understanding she had done what was necessary before expressing to Jay, “I’m sorry I tried cursing you too but the darkness wanted me to complete your corruption.”
“That’s okay. It’s at least nice to know someone didn’t give up on me when an evil dragon ate me and didn’t think I was a goner,” Jay proclaimed giving an angry glare to Kai who defended himself saying, “hey you get eaten by a monster and what else am I going to think?” While they talked Pixal encouraged Zane to approach the rest of them to apologise as he was apprehensive to get near them worried they would hate or fear him for what he did and feeling greatly embarrassed by what Dagon had made him do to others. Pixal stuck close to him for comfort and to encourage him to say what he wanted to say.
“I’m sorry for what I did to you. I… I didn’t mean to eat either of you or Lance. Between that demons hold and the stress of everything I couldn’t help myself; it was an accident…,” Zane began to apologise struggling to find the right words to Jay clearly upset and unsettled by what that monster had made him do to his friends.
“That’s okay; I get it you were under some pretty nasty mind control. Besides it’s not entirely your fault. I probably shouldn’t have been electrocuting you constantly. I guess because I’m not made with metal I forget how much it hurts you besides you did quite a good job on those monsters. Maybe some advice for the next time you get turned into an evil mind controlled dragon; don’t eat the really bad monsters like those sorcerers. I think the energy from them was just helping to make you go crazy,” Jay expressed relieved to be free of the dark hold and that his friend was no longer a monster dragon that could eat him and Kai stated to cheer Zane up as he still seemed on edge, “no worries. You know your dragon form was actually quite cool looking; defiantly scary especially when your attacking us but still very cool.”
“I think I can’t push this off any longer. While cursed it kept coming into my head. Celaena was right, if I wait too long it could be too late… it almost was. You were always there for me even if I didn’t realise it. You mean more to me than what words could ever say… I wish to make it official that we are together. That we’re more than just friend,” Cole stammered to Seliel as she helped him up. Seliel had never thought she would hear Cole ask her that and was at first surprised by it before responding feeling warmth to hearing something she had longed to hear, “I don’t see why not.” Upon hearing that Cole didn’t hesitate to give her a hug. As they got together to revel over that they had survived the battle and possibly had won they were all startled to hear a clapping. On edge they turned to see where it was coming from and though still on edge were more confused than scared. The noise was coming from Sheoth who sat in his non beast folk human form on a throne that sat up on an elevated platform against the back wall of the room. He sat leaning to the one side of the chair with his one leg on the other clapping and looking very happy. His staff was leaned against the chair and a black Ancestor wing with green eyes and a red diamond mark on its chest roosted on the thrones top just looking at them. They were all confused and worried. What was with this mad man; why was he so happy, how did he get there and what intentions did he have?
“Who’s that?” Jay nervously whispered and to his unnerve as he showed no fear and even seemed pleased to see this folk Aaron replied, “Sheoth the lord of madness.”
“Well done well done my knights and dragons. I knew you could do it, well that would be lie. I had my doubts then again who didn’t. Plus it was the prince of the void, the Stag prince who technically dealt the felling blow and returned all to what they once were and spared you all of the darkness’s holds. You at least succeeded in your part,” Sheoth proclaimed from the throne.
“Our part?” Kai wondered and Sheoth decreed, “aye you freed one of the rightful rulers of the void from the darkness he had been poisoned with and showed him his destiny.”
“So it’s over. Everything’s safe and back to normal?” Lloyd asked.
“Safe that depends on your view of what’s safe. The Void Breach, Plane meld, the end of the world is over indeed but I wouldn’t exactly consider everything back to normal really. Lots of clean up to do… good time to be in the cleaning and construction businesses; going to be quite busy for some time. Also you’re probably going to find some new features to your realm; some new flora and fauna maybe a building or two or some ruins as well. Putting things back together after they’ve been broken up and stirred together like a cosmic soup ain’t easy but the Stag did a pretty good job. He even cleansed the lot of you from that demon Dagons poisons no matter how dark and deep they were quite a feat that was,” Sheoth regaled getting up picking up his staff as he came to stand over by them all stopping for a second as he came over to pick up a round dark object off the floor as he came over.
“Surprising how such little things can have a big impact on the world,” he proclaimed looking at the object which they all recognised as the realm stone, “I think this little fella belongs in a special place, a hidden vault in a Forbidden City to be precise, to keep it from falling into the wrong hands again.”
“Okay so everything’s better and we’ve got lots to clean up from this mess… first though where are we?” Jay stated and Sheoth proclaimed, “you are at the Dragon Masters thrown in the Ivory-gold tower in the Lost Realm; seems when he ended Dagons meddling the Stag placed you all somewhere safe till you were ready to awaken.”
“So we’re in the Lost Realm; we’re probably going to need quite a bit of travellers tea to get everyone home,” Kai noted to which Sheoth declared, “aye don’t worry about that. This little fella can get you all home with little problem. We can do that before we lock it away.” Sheoth showed off the realm stone before noting, “strange that Dagon should get a hold of this. It was supposed to be locked up in a special dungeon within my kingdom but the Dragon Master could never bring himself to do it. You know mortals it may be hard for you to understand but sometimes things even those you desire not to must happen and even if you have the power you cannot interfere with their happenings; they must happen; tis one of the banes of great power and immortality. You must learn when to interfere and when to let things just happen. I believe this was one of those. I think the Dragon Master somehow knew despite what would occur to leave this free for the wrong hands to get a hold of it this little fella had to remain free for what was going to happen to happen. It was the only way things could be set right. For the longest time the Stag could never grasp that. He was afraid to let things happen especially those that would hurt him; loss and change hurt him the most. The darkness that was instilled in him should have made him not care to have no feeling for others and all around him but it could never crush that. He could still deeply feel and care like others could. I think all those years facing the inevitable help let the darkness take hold of him and made him the monster he had been. I think you all did more for him than you realise. You didn’t just free him from his curse; you made him see there was more to life, to cherish those he knows and cares for and to see the beauty in the world around him.”
“Well then if things have been set right I guess then we should probably get started on the cleanup from all this chaos,” Clay expressed.
“Why don’t you slow things down there mister super knight; you’ve all been through a lot and the clean up can wait. Why don’t you take some time to chill and enjoy your victory. There is much more to life than just working. Besides there are some of those who are eager to hear news of your doing and to give you there thanks. They’ve been patiently waiting for you all to wake up,” Sheoth proclaimed and Lloyd wondered, “how long have we been out?”
“Aye it wasn’t just you. Everyone’s been out for quite some time as things were set back. Within you’re realms a few weeks to the void no more than what you would consider hours. That is one of the problems when you work with the void and its energies. Time doesn’t work in the void the way it does in the mortal realms. What seems like nothing to the void is quite a bit for mere mortals. You will find however that it will be as if only a few hours have passed since Dagon was felled. The void Prince wished to give you all back some lost time so you may enjoy and cherish what you have some more,” Sheoth proclaimed and looking around they all noted they could not see the Stag or any sign of him anywhere.
“The Stag, where is he?” Clay wondered and Sheoth proclaimed, “I am afraid you will not be seeing him here. Dagon was right. In doing what he had done the Stag destroyed he and Dagon both.”
“So he’s…” Jay began and Sheoth cut him off to state, “the state he is in your mortal minds would not understand. As a lord of the void he can never truly die merely be displaced. His physical form and ties to the mortal realms like Dagons were torn and severed from them. While Dagon will have been severely hindered and may never regain himself to the great power he once had because he felt the full energy of the melds magic’s because only a mere fraction touched him the Stag will one day regain what he once was. How long that may take only the void knows but it likely will not be in your time or in any recent times.”
“So we’ll never see him or be able to thank him for all he has done for us?” Lloyd wondered and after a moment’s pause to watch the Ancestor wing that perched on the throne dissipate into a black mist that vanished before turning to address them Sheoth proclaimed, “I would not necessarily say that. Maybe you will see him one day maybe you won’t. Maybe he may visit you maybe he won’t only time can tell. Now instead of focussing on dark thoughts why do we not head out and meet some folks who wish to see you.” Sheoth then ushered them to follow him as he led them out of the throne room towards the exit of the building. They slowly followed as Sheoth opened the door to the outside. It took a while for their eyes to adjust to the bright light outside having been used for the past while to the darkness caused by the meld. When they got on the other side they were all surprised and unsure how to act. A crowd was gathered of various folk from the Lost Realm many of which had been in the fight against Dagon along with Ava and Robin who had brought the Fortrex to the inner city after waking up confused outside the city with everything different from what they had last seen with the monsters and darkness gone. The two were nervous of being alone in a strange realm by themselves so when they saw the knights they instantly came over to stand by them.
“Might I introduce to you all to the knights and dragons of foreign realms who came at great peril to save the realms and set us all free of the corruption and devastation of Dagon the lord of destruction and corruption,” Sheoth announced to the gathered crowd. When the crowd saw them they began to cheer some most notably the members of the Dragon Guard and Knights of the Prong even bowing or kneeling on one knee in respect to them. They were all surprised and a little taken back by all the praise and attention. After the initial greeting the members of the Dragon Guard and Knights of the Prong came up to appoligise to them for having let their realms fall into this mess; they responded by telling them the apology wasn’t necessary. Looking back what they’d gone through hadn’t been that bad and truly Dagon and his allies would have eventually gotten to their realms and they likely would have been in no position or would have been powerless to do anything against the threat then. It had been better that they had been brought together to fight this menace before things got to far than having to face it alone during the thick of the mess; they lkely would not have survived if they had to do that. After the greetings and acknowledgements for their actions the Dragon Guard and Knights of the Prong invited them to stay for a while while they recovered. Though they wanted to get back to their realms they decided to stay in respect to the groups who wished to hold a ceremony for them in honour of their actions. They stayed a few weeks for the ceremony where the Guard and Knights honoured them as honorary members of their groups receiving unique items related to their orders as gifts in the process. The Dragon Guard gave them some honorary garbs of the Dragon Guard in colors matching their own normal attires colours and the Knights of the Prong gave them a replica of their orders shields showing of their individual symbols. They were also given each a Knight of the Dragon medallion a special medallion said to be enchanted to protect against the powers of darkness and often given to those who fought for the light in their realm. When the ceremonies were over they headed back to their realms to start setting things back up.
After some time to clean things up they were invited to visit each other’s realms where they were to be honoured as heroes to the realm. The Knights including Jestro and some of their relatives came to Ninjago first staying with the ninja for a few weeks where the knights including Merlok, Robin, Ava and even Jestro were awarded medals for their doings. Afterwards the Ninja went with them back to Knighton for a few weeks to be honoured for their deeds there. They brought along some of their relatives along with Pixal, Skylor and Seliel. The ninja along with Wu, Pixal, Skylor and Seliel were deemed honorary knights of the realm and awarded their own shields which boasted their elemental crests or the symbol that best represented them. After the ninjas knighting ceremony they all hung around on the palace grounds on an upper terrace that overlooked the city socializing with each other. After a while one of the squirebots came up to the knights and ninja and told them someone wanted to see them and that it was urgent. They wasted no time in following them to see who wanted to see them. They were taken over to the edge of the platform that overlooked the city. There standing by themselves was a strange figure overlooking the city staring at the horizon as the sun was setting. The figure was tall with a tattered black cape draped over its shoulder. When they saw the figure they were all shocked and stunned as he turned to look at them. He was colored differently with powdered whitish grey skin that bore black mixed arcane and primal markings with black markings around his aquamarine eyes but it was clearly him, the Stag! He was in his stag headed man form and stood with his arms crossed behind his back as he turned to look at them.
“You… but you were destroyed, how is this possible!” Lloyd stammered all of them shocked to see him standing there in front of them. From all they knew his sacrifice should have destroyed him. Was this some sort of apparition in front of them? Maybe a ghost coming to say farewell.
“Indeed I was destroyed but as a son of the void, being one with it, I can never truly be destroyed I was simply sent to within the void; I can never know what it is like to be truly departed. I am forever tied to and one with the void. As long as it exists so shall I and I must forever serve it to maintain its balance and uphold its will; I can never experience a true final rest and peace,” the Stag proclaimed and Clay stated bowing in respect to the Stag, “it is thanks to you the realms are safe and we are all here alive and free of the voids corruption. You should be the one we are honouring.” The others followed suite and bowed in respect to the Stag.
“No you do not need honour or bow to me. It is I who should be bowing to you. You set me free of the world’s darkness; you brought your light into my world and banished the darkness that had consumed me. I merely did what I was meant to do nothing more. You went out of your ways and did what you did not have to facing great danger and turmoil in the process for this it is I who should be honouring you,” the Stag proclaimed bowing in respect to them. Others on the terrace were starting to take note of the Stags presence and stopped to watch what was going on.
“Have you come to enjoy the festivities?” Jay inquired and the Stag responded, “no I am only here for a short visit.”
“Are you returning to Holomaya, I believe that many there are wanting to see you again,” Zane noted and the Stag replied, “No, I have already visited them and spoken to its inhabitants. They will get on fine without me. When I am done here I must return to the void. I am now one with it, a prince of the void; a ruler to its being and that is now to be my home. One day I may be able to return to the mortal realms but for now I must stay within the void to tame the chaos Dagon and his minions instilled within it and balance its energies to return it to the state it once was before their meddling. To do as you did for me and spread the light in its darkness and restore the balance that those demons disrupted. I do not know how long it will take. I may never see any of you again so I have come to say my farewells. I've never been comfortable with goodbyes; there is nothing harder in the world than final goodbyes but I have come to learn now that they are a necessity in life. No matter what we cannot escape it trust me I tried but no matter what it always found a way to me. I long sought ways to escape it; avoid it to create a place of safety where it could not get me yet that I would not be alone but it always found a way to me.
Before I am to take my leave however I wished to have words with those I am leaving behind to bring some closure to them in case we never meet again. Do not feel or weep for me this path was my doing, I chose this fate long ago and accept it. I leave with many regrets but there is nothing I can do but move on. I may never be able to atone for the atrocities of my past but thanks to you all I can now start anew and attempt to atone for some of the wrong I have done. Starting off from now on I wish to be referred to by my old friendlier title of Storabek and I desire to appoligise for all I had done to you when all you were trying to do was help. I also wish to pay my respects to you for your roles in all this and for all you have done. In case we never meet again I wish you best for whatever your futures may hold.” His words saddened them. Despite what they had gone through with him they had developed a friendship towards him and wanted for him to have peace with whatever he chose. A faint breeze blew and while everyone didn’t take more than an acknowledgement of feeling it the Stag took note of it.
“The wind, it has been long since I have truly felt it. Under my curse I couldn’t feel it nor many other things many take for granted. Now that I am free I can enjoy them once more. There are many things most in this world take for granted. Only when they are no longer there do you realise how special they really are. Only those who have suffered long in the darkness can truly see and admire the light even in the shadows. Only those who have suffered in and faced the darkness in the world can see the true beauties of the world and desire to fight for them. You all are special in that regard. You have all faced some of the darkest of darkness’s in this world and no matter what you stand and face the darkness to protect the light. The world needs more heroes like you those willing to do what is right no matter the cost and less of monsters like beings of darkness, selfishness, greed and hatred. They breed and spread like weeds. If only we had more like you those of the light full of love and kindness towards all things not just those of your kind. Take my advice heroes of the light never take those you love for granted no matter who or what they are and don’t every miss a chance to show or tell them how much you love them for one day there will come a time when you can’t do this. There are many I wish I had done this for Juib among them but it is too late for me. I hope to one day see them again and atone for things I had done to them and show them the love I should have given them when they were around but for now I can only hope for that day. I will have to bid you all farewell soon in my current state being away from the void for too long takes a heavy toll on me plus you do not need me around to bring down the mood of your celebrations,” the Stag regaled looking over the distance. Everyone just listened to his words feeling the weight of them and understanding the importance of them taking them to heart as they enjoyed their time and company together rejoicing in the moment knowing it wouldn’t be long till they would have to protect their realms again.
Notes:
Is this the end? Dagon may be defeated but what of his allies? Are they just going to let their work end? The main threat may be over but things aren't yet done for our heroes. Dagon and his allies have more in store for them and now that the boundaries between realms have been damaged monsters from the void can more easily enter the realms and cause chaos. Are the knights and ninja ready to face them on their own and protect their realms from the monsters in the shadows? The story will continue in the Shadow Court.
Chapter 59: Part 2 Bonus Short Stories
Summary:
Like with part 1 there are a few shorts for part 2 which offer a different point of view and flush out side characters or concepts of the story. Since they take place during the earlier part of the second half I will upload them before I finish part two but at the end it will go at the end of the part 2 chapters.
Notes:
Pictures relating to story can be found here: https://www.deviantart.com/nerdy-hyena/gallery/72478681/story-project
They are really good and help to visually flush out several aspects of the story including environments, characters, outfits, locations, creatures and other aspects often important ones in the story. All images I post in my work can be found there if you want a better look at them. Defiantly make sure to check them out.Also if you need a refresher on creatures, flora or aspects of the environment you can check out the second chapter in this work titled 'Keikiarys Guide to the Ash Wastes'. It includes short descriptions and pictures of these things.
Parts of this section are subject to change as the prequel story is written to improve story continuity.
All shorts are in the order to which they occur in the story.
A synopsis of the shorts are as follows:
Juibs Day- What one of Juibs Days are like.
Kozac and the Child- Kozac is faced with a dilemma, does he forgo his hatred of humans to help a child in need or leave it to its fate?
The Hunt- The Stag forces the ninja to be apart of his entertainment.
A Day of Quests- To boost their moods the Hyenoids give the ninja various relaxed tasks to do.
DJ's Raid- DJ tries to lighten everyone's mood.
Undaunted- While recovering from the battle in Balmora the ninja and knights are impatient to get back into action but an outing with a group of adventurers proves they're not ready yet.
Belly of the Droid- During the Final Battle against Dagon Jay finds himself in a rather unpleasant location.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Juibs Day Takes place midway through part 2
Juibs days were normally busy as he kept things in the city running smoothly. Since the ninja had arrived things had gotten a little busier. Like most mornings he started the day taking a stroll around the cavern to see how things were going. For most mornings it was a peaceful time and often relaxed him. Today was no different. Like all other mornings as he took his stroll Juib took note of things that needed to be done in the city such as repairs and he took note of how the environment and creatures were doing. Now with the ninja here he had taken to making his final stop of his walk by where the ninja were working to see how they were doing. Every day it was getting more evident that the Blight was taking its toll on them but they were still pushing on trying to remain strong and determined even though they were clearly suffering from the condition. Juib knew what it was like. He had been suffering from it for two years and though the Stag was somehow relieving him of many of the unpleasant symptoms he could still feel them trying to surface. Despite their condition the ninja were still able to cheer each other up and joke around with each other as they worked most days. It made Juib feel envious, to be so cheerful despite the hardships. Him and the other constructs in Holamaya lived everyday worried to mess up and face the Stags wrath. It had made them fearful of trying to enjoy themselves and express their more human like traits which for some reason the Stag had given them despite his hatred to them. It did not match with what they knew of the Stag. He hated mortals and disliked people. They were sure the Stag wanted mindless drones to serve him like most dark rulers not entities with free will and humanity. So why the Stag had given them such traits just confused all the constructs of Holamaya.
Divayth had the morning watch of the ninja this morning. Divayth was their master of arcane arts and third in command within the city. Though the hyenoids were comfortable letting the ninja do their thing without observation they needed someone at all times to look like they were watching over them so the Stag believed they were following his orders. None of them wanted the Stags wrath. Normally every few weeks Divayth would be sent to Balmora check on their operatives in the town. Most of their operatives were there to sell things that were made in or buy things for the city. Others ferried the objects to and from the city or hung in the shadows to guard their brethren from the monsters of the wastes. Since the ninja had arrived however most of their operatives had been brought back to Holamaya for their safety and to bolster the cities defences so he was staying in the city. They all worried Ashers might try to attack their home just to get the ninja and with them suffering the Blight they all knew the ninja would be no match for even a small group of weak Ashers. They probably wouldn’t even be able to defend themselves against wild animals; one of them had already lost to a plant receiving a serious wound in his hand. While watching over them Divayth was reading a book using a spell to levitate the book in front of him and flick the page whenever he flicked his hand in between him and the book.
After his walk Juib went to the dwelling they had given DJ to call home. As their programming, electronics, digital security and hacking expert DJ’s home had plenty of electronics; various computers and game systems, a few TV’s, radios, various gadgets and toys some of which he was currently tinkering with lying about. Juib gave DJ a list of the things he had noted on his walk that needed to be done so DJ could create a schedule and contact the constructs best suited to the job.
Since he had contracted the Blight and the Stag had appointed him to find a cure for the curse Juib would devote a great deal of his time during the day for going over notes, looking through books and scrolls, experimenting and trying to think of possible ways to cure it. As the Blight had progressed however he had been finding more and more that it was getting difficult to continue on this task. He could enter its trance at anytime though thanks to the Stag all he did during the trance was mindlessly wander around and not mumble or stack things. He would also suffer bouts of memory loss which occurred randomly often leaving him confused for between 20 minutes to a few hours, joints could lock up for hours and no amount of oil could fix it and a fogged mind made thinking difficult. He generally tried to spend a few hours a day at this task often only stopping for an hour or two at noon for a break. Today he was feeling too agitated to get much research done so headed back out earlier than usual. He set out to see if any problems had arisen since dawn. In the bathhouse which the constructs used for cleaning and caring for some of the caverns animals, each other and doing the laundry those that worked there were having a few issues cleaning up the large pool in the building. Some of the creatures fuzzy coatings, their fur or feathers, were clogging the drain and needed to be removed. It was a rather gross job that the constructs who were specialised in plumbing had to work on. At one of the watchtowers some of the constructs were patching up a part of the towers metal roofs which some birds had somehow managed to pry the metal tiles off to try and decorate their nests with. They were all baffled how the birds which were no bigger than crows had managed to pull the large bolted to the structures tiles off and break them into small pieces. They had a feeling Ocheeva had given them a hand; she was one of the few who had the strength to pull the tiles off and break them up. Much like many of her kind she was gentle and empathetic to other living things and liked to help out the other creatures of the city. It was also known she liked to use this tower as a scratching post to scratch her sides and back especially during molting season as it currently was. Evidence that she had been there recently was easy to see around the tower mainly from shed scales and pycnofibers lying around the structure. Broken pieces of roof tile lay about with her molted pieces. They had also had an issue with the ninja. The Blight had caused a few of them to suffer mood swings at the same time. Nya and Lloyd had gotten into an angry mood and were arguing with each other and the others had tried to break them up. While they did that Jays paranoia had surfaced causing him to turn on Zane who already feeling irritated from the Blight punched Jay in the face giving him a black eye and started to get worked up riled up by the others fighting. To prevent him from hurting anyone as he could still use his powers and was made with metal Cole had restrained him wrapping his arms around him and holding his arms to his body while he and Kai tried to calm everyone down. Not liking being restrained and riled up from Jays paranoia to him Zane bit Cole in order to free himself which caused Cole to start getting worked up. Luckily Divayth intervened before things got out of hand and hit them all with a paralysis spell. While they were stuck paralysed he got the aid of his four daughter clones Naryu, Eboshi, Caska and Maro to separate them taking them each some distance from each other. Once they were apart Divayth released them from his spell and they made them work on their own away from each other Divayth and his daughters keeping an eye on them and making sure they stayed away from and didn’t interact with each other till they had all calmed down. They were lucky that none of them had entered the Blights rage. It took an hour for them all to calm down after which Divayth forced them all to apologise to each other to prevent any tensions or hurt feelings from things done or said from building up. Some weren’t happy he was making them do that but they obeyed.
With noon coming up Juib visited those that prepared meals for others in the cavern. Usually they made feeds to stock feeders that were placed randomly through the cavern to aid the animals in finding enough food and created meals for the fabricants. Now with the ninja present they were caring for them as well. To help them with the symptoms of the Blight Juib had made some special potions to add to all of the ninjas food and a special cold brewed tea to help provide some relief from the symptoms such as soreness, weakness and the burning feelings. The ninja didn’t know about his potions and largely didn’t seem to care. Jay was the only one who ever seemed to have a problem randomly becoming paranoid about whatever they gave them. Juib had reason to believe though that he didn’t know about the potions. Instead his paranoia was stemming from the Blight fuelled by his uneasiness of being trapped in the Forbidden City and his fear of the Stag. Juib had noticed the Blight tended to make Jay paranoid, the others rarely suffered any form of paranoia. Juib felt that it was a good thing none of the ninja knew of his potion as it aided his studies giving him an un-biased result on the effectiveness of his concoction. So far he was seeing mixed results sometimes it worked other times it didn’t. It seemed to have worked more when they were in the early stages of Blight but as the Blight had progressed and was getting worse it seemed his potion was starting to no longer have an effect.
“Add Scimitar Oil to the ones for Zane it is healthy for us so it should be good for him. It should also help raise his emotions; I have noticed he is prone to heavily low emotions. Kai also needs the antibiotics and painkillers for his hand. Also make sure Jay actually eats and drinks his. Someone has to stay by him and watch him. He seems to be prone to episodes of paranoia more than the others and if he is in a paranoid state he will sneakily puts most of what we give him into the bowls and cups of all the others,” Juib told those preparing the meal while giving them a hand. At noon Kozac took over for Divayth to watch the ninja who were given their lunch and some time to take a break. They had calmed down from their squabbling earlier with some of them feeling guilty or embarrassed about things they had said or done. Juib sat on one of the watchtowers platforms to watch over them having the same tea he gave the ninja. Divayth often joined him sometimes with one or two of his daughter clones usually Naryu and Caska. Juib enjoyed Divayths Company, they got along well and Divayths scholarly mind often helped in his research. He also got along well with his daughters of which Naryu and Caska had joined them that day. His daughters often aided Divayth in his studies and works and were some of the few in the city not afraid to directly interact with the ninja. As they watched the ninja they noted that sure enough Jay was being paranoid that day. Whenever one of the others looked away from their bowl or cup he would try to put what he had in theirs. Luckily Kozac was quick to pick up on this and came to stand by him and watch him making Jay very nervous while the others seemed to take amusement that Jay was being treated like a child having to be babysat.
Once the ninja were back to work Juib went to the cities pumping station to check on the water systems. One of the filters needed changing which those working there were already working on and they were planning on the best time to simulate some rain for the city. They liked to keep the systems mimicking the world outside however to help the ninja with their task they wanted to hold the rain off during the day to make things easier for them. Juib agreed with them and had advised them that the best time was in the early morning hours before most were up. The constructs would be resting or charging and most animals would be sleeping in shelters at that time.
Next he checked on those who kept track of the populations of animals in the cavern. They were that day checking on the fish, invertebrates and semi-aquatic creatures of the main river that wound through the cavern. There was a group of around ten of them working with various equipments for their studies. Two were standing knee deep in the river getting samples from the water and searching for small critters and fish in the river. They had found two turtle nests nearby, a handful of young salamanders, some fish were spawning and they had noted a pair of Cobra Chickens making a nest by one of the walkway bridges that crossed the river. Knowing these birds were rather aggressive they advised Juib put up a parameter till their eggs hatched and they left the area otherwise others would likely get attacked by the birds. Juib agreed with their observations.
As evening approached Juib made sure the ninja were seen to their room and given their meals and drinks. Their afternoon had been rather uneventful as they had all felt worn out from their squabbling earlier in the day. It was a little tough getting the ninja to their room that night. As the Blight progressed it was getting harder to herd the ninja around but none of it they were doing on purpose. Their symptoms were getting worse and harder for the ninja to control or resist. Kai was in the Blights trance at the time so Kozac was carrying him over his shoulder to keep Kai from wandering around making it easier to get him into their room. Cole was so disorientated he could barely stand needing others to help him stand and move. He was leaning on Nya who was trying to help him stay on his feet while feeling like her skin was burning. Zane had started to suffer bouts of temporary memory loss and was having trouble remembering how they had gotten to the city, how long they had been there and what they were doing there. In his bout of memory lapse given where they were and that he was not wearing bracers Zane had become worried that he had betrayed the others and given them to the Stag to slave for him. This had led him to become upset and uncomfortable around them making him want to get away from them so one of the hyenoids had to drag him to follow the others. While the others were trying to comfort and relax him Zanes memory loss and agitation were freaking Jay out putting him on the edge of a panic attack. Along with that they were all sore and tired. Juib hung around with them as they settled the ninja down for the night to observe how they were doing with the Blight. Kai remained in the trance for twenty minutes after being brought to the room. To keep him from causing problems so the others could eat without him pestering them to take their stuff Kozac tied him to a bed post. This amused most of them. Zane still was having memory problems and it was making him nervous about being near his family. His memory lapse had somehow sparked a paranoia from the idea he had gotten that he had betrayed the others causing him to be uneasy around them and fearing they would hurt him. In his unease he had isolated himself in the one corner and wasn’t fully paying attention to what he was doing too occupied keeping an eye on the others worried they might sneak up to harm him even though worried over his state and not wanting to hurt him or make his feelings worse the others gave him his space. In his unease Zane wasn’t watching fully what he was doing and having finished his food and not realising it accidently swallowed the utensils he had been given to eat with. He wasn’t even aware he had done it too nervous and focussed with the others and his beliefs that they were going to retaliate over his betrayal to notice. To prevent damages and blockages to his system from the metal utensils Juib took him to get them removed. While others worked on removing the utensils Juib took the chance to look at Zanes memory data and try to determine what was going on to cause the memory lapse and if he could somehow resolve it. While still there the memories he couldn’t remember were blocked by the same strange unnatural arcane originating codes he had found in other robotic beings who had the curse. The codes were caused by the Blight and no matter what he did Juib couldn’t bypass or remove them. To prevent complications and ease Zanes emotions once they were done working on him Juib waited till the lapse in memory was over before taking Zane back to the others not wanting to have complications arise because of his problems. They let Zane hang out in the structure they used for the care of beings where he took to helping them care for some of the injured creatures they had recently recovered from the wastes who had been attacked by Ashers. Many had to have cybernetic prosthetics in order to save them. Interacting with the creatures who were all friendly to him clearly had a positive effect on Zanes mood cheering and calming him a bit. Once his memory lapse was over Juib took Zane back to the others who had all stayed up waiting for him worried for him; Jay had even started becoming paranoid that Zanes memories were not going to come back and he’d just keep losing more memories which in Jays mind would somehow drive Zane to side with the Stag and turn him into a monster. By the time they returned Kai had come out of the Trance and was having his dinner. They were all relieved and happy to have their brother back and that his memories were restored. Juib hung around talking with Kozac till they were all asleep.
Once the ninja were taken care of Juib headed back to his home where he took care of personal needs and relaxed. After seeing to personal needs Juib went out for a walk. The lights in the cavern had gone to moon mode indicating the sun had gone down outside and that it was night outside the cavern. Insects which were attracted to the various artificial lightings in the cavern, torchbugs and some nocturnal creatures were the only things out in the night. As Juib left his house he picked up a few flowers from the side of the path as he headed towards the part of the cavern where the river started north of the palace. Here below a watch tower a garden had been set up next to the river. The place was well groomed with many flowers and trees. Some rocks were neatly placed or stacked and some plaques sat here or there often by statues of various entities from the realm made from stone and metal of Scimitar steel. Juib toured the garden a bit before heading for one of the statues; one of Jules the wise. Juib came to look at the statue pausing to look it over before kneeling in front of it placing the flowers at the statues base. In front of the statue on the path a small pedestal had been set up and the silvery faceplate of a Robo-bill had been placed on it; the faceplate was Juibs old faceplate from his old body. After the Stag had given him a new body he had taken his old faceplate and put it by the statue of his old friend in memorial to times long gone when Juib had been the companion to the champions. As he knelt there Juib began to meditate in front of the statue. Though he considered his life pretty decent and he had new members to consider his friends and family he still greatly missed his old companion who in many ways he had often considered his father. He missed the days where his life was simpler. Where he didn’t have to work so much, where he didn’t have to be afraid of being punished by the Stag, where his life had been simpler. He often talked quietly to the statue while meditating before bed. He would talk about how things in the city were going, about current issues, how Jules would have enjoyed seeing what the town had become, that the Stag had not turned the place into a dark fortress like he had originally worried. He would talk of current goings on in the city, his research and stuff like that. Recently he had started talking of the ninja and how Jules would have been pleased to see those of the dragon had returned to the mountain. This was one of the few times of the day where Juib could relax by himself and try to forget all that stressed him. He often did this around the same time every night. Even though he knew none of the others in the city would make fun of him Juib preferred to keep this part of his day a secret. He preferred the privacy.
Juib was often unaware that someone sometimes would watch him as he meditated. Occasionally one of the others of the Black Hand or one of the guards on patrol would take note of what he was doing but they never bothered him just leaving him to do his thing. There was one though Juib had no clue often watched him. The Stag hung nearby in the shadows taking no form as to not draw Juibs attention. He remained hidden just watching Juib. The Stag watched quietly from the shadows within some foliage. He was curious and confused about what Juib was doing. After a few minutes the Stag was aware that Juib had fallen asleep so slowly approached him taking on his stag headed man form. He looked over Juib then over the items Juib had placed by the statue. Juib believed the Stag was unaware that he had placed his old head plate by the statue but the Stag was aware. He had long wondered why Juib had done that, it seemed an odd move for a droid, even one with much humanity. He knew of Juibs past before he had taken over, how he had been a close companion to many of Whetus champions especially Jules who the Stag had come to realise Juib had seen as a father like figure. The Stag knew even in his old form Juib was quite advanced and capable of feeling emotions. The Stag had reason to believe that Juib had not gotten over the loss of his old master and missed him greatly and wondered if that was responsible for this strange behaviour.
“You still miss him. Jules would be proud of you, he is proud of you. All that you have done what you have accomplished… it is best if you sleep in your bed not out here,” the Stag quietly commented looking at the statue and over the items placed by it then at Juib. The Stag then gently picked up Juib who remained asleep and carried him back to his home to put him in bed.
Kozac and the child Takes place midway through part 2.
As leader for the Scimitar Samurai Kozac spent most days seeing to it that the city and his fellow constructs and their home and all its inhabitants were kept safe. He took his job very seriously. The Stag had given him a very important task and he strived to show the Stag he had not made the wrong decision in making him the leader of the Samurai. Each day he made sure some of his samurai patrolled every cave and tunnel from the city and the wilderness of the Stags territory looking for possible dangers and those he had stationed in Balmora were keeping their other operatives safe and relaying important information from the towns guard. Ever since the ninja had arrived in Balmora he had increased patrols worried the Ashers were up to something. The Stag had made him stick close to where the ninja were since they arrived sensing the Ashers were out to get them. Kozac had not understood why the Stag cared about the ninja. From what his Samurai had gathered the ninja offered very little threat to the city or its inhabitants and the Stag had never cared about the Dragon Guard which were the ninjas equivalents in their realm so why did he care about the ninja? No matter how hard he had thought about it he could not figure out a reason. While they were in Balmora he had been in Balmora obeying the Stags orders. Sure enough they had needed to rescue the ninja from the Ashers a few times. The Stag was right; the Ashers were very drawn to the ninja and the ninja were barely a match for the Ashers and were defiantly not a match for their sorcerers. The Ashers were so drawn to the ninja they had become brave enough to get close to the Stags home to try and get them. Something they had never done before. Now that the ninja were in the city he was in the city.
One of his patrols had detected something in one of the tunnels that led from the main cavern out to the forests around the mountain. Though anything trying to sneak in through that direction would have to get through three thick solid metal gates he wanted to assess what it was his patrol had found not wanting to take any chances. For most of the tunnel he found nothing. By the cave entrance some skeevers were sniffing some small object. All he had to do was yell at them and they took off leaving the object. Kozac came up to the object and knelt down to look at it. It was a doll which looked to resemble one of the ninja. Since it was blue in color he was guessing it was meant to be Jay. He picked up the object and looked around wondering where it had come from. Someone had to have brought it to the cave. He looked through the dark cave; there were plenty of crevices and rocks in the cave for something to be hiding by. A muffled crying like noise caught his attention. He tuned his sensors into the sound which led him to the one side of the cave where some stalagmites jutted up from the ground. Cowering behind the rocks trying to remain unnoticed was a child; a little boy from Ninjago by the looks of it. At seeing Kozac come up to him dressed in his full Samurai outfit which bore red glowing parts and a mask with a resemblance to an Oni on it the child became paralyzed by fear only able to cry and remain huddled up. Kozac looked around the cave. He was picking up no other life forms in the cave; it appeared the child was alone.
“I am guessing this is yours,” Kozac stated holding the doll out for the child. The child didn’t move too terrified of Kozac to do anything.
“Fine I will leave it here and you can get it,” Kozac expressed putting the doll on the ground by the kid. He then started to leave. When he reached the tunnel to head back to the city he paused. He looked back at where the kid was. Kozac hated people for what they had done to him; the other hyenoids didn’t seem to care either way about people. Many who were not part of his samurai like DJ, Juib, Divayth and many of the cities workers liked to try and be like them. He couldn’t understand why and it sometimes bothered him. Though he hated people and wanted to just leave the kid to its fate he couldn’t bring himself to just leave it. The child hadn’t done anything wrong; he hadn’t been one of the ones to hurt him. It was no different than a hurt and scared animal; he would always give aid to an animal. As he stood there thinking he felt it wrong to just do nothing. It wasn’t natural for the kid to be there or in this danger; it was thanks to greater dark forces the child was now here. It would be wrong to simply leave him there where Ashers could find him. Thinking it over he could simply give the kid to one of the others, probably DJ, to take the kid to Balmora, the people there would keep him safe. The Stag would not permit the kid to be let into the city. Everyone understood Kozacs hatred for people; he had a logical reason to hate them. No one understood the Stags hatred to them not even Kozac.
He went back over to the kid who had picked up his doll and was sitting scared against the wall. Again at the sight of him the kid became paralyzed by fear. Kozac began to talk to the kid but the kid didn’t respond just staring wide eyed and terrified at Kozac tightly hugging his doll. It took a second for Kozac to understand the problem. His armour was designed to terrify others, the fact he had red glowing eyes also probably didn’t help either. He couldn’t take off all his armour, he wasn’t wearing anything under it and he doubted him being naked would make the kid feel any better. He could at least take off his helmet to appear less demonic. He just had to hope the kid did not fear robots or hyenas. He slowly removed his helmet but it didn’t seem to help. He had to think of something else to relax the kid. He noted the doll.
“You like the dragons, you call them ninja right?” Kozac asked pointing to the doll. The kid gave a slow stiff nod for yes still scared.
“I know the ninja they are here in this mountain, they have sent me to help you. Why do you not get up and we can take you somewhere safe?” Kozac stated but the kid didn’t move prompting Kozac to ask, “you can walk right?” The kid didn’t respond. Kozac took a quick look over the kid, he seemed fine though he did recognise the bite of a Mire-lion on the kids leg. Though not poisonous the reptiles bites were prone to getting infected. Though he knew the kid wouldn’t like it Kozac grabbed the kids one arm and pulled him up onto his feet. The kid just stood scared looking at him tears starting to come to the kids eyes.
“There now that you are up I will take you to safety,” Kozac stated and the kid quietly croaked, “But mom and dad. They have them.”
“Who has them?” Kozac inquired confused by who the them this kid was referring to were.
“The mean people with the burning skin,” the Kid stated and Kozac knew exactly who the kid was talking about.
“Ashers, where are they?” Kozac inquired. Quietly the kid told Kozac how him and his parents were headed for his grandparents house in the country to try and get away from the necromancers when they had found themselves in this strange woods. A group of running crocodiles which Kozac knew were called Mire-lions had attacked them then both them and the creatures had been attacked by these burning skinned people. The kid had managed to escape by hiding in the cave since the burning skinned people were too afraid to enter because of a black deer.
“Take me to where they ambushed you,” Kozac inquired. If Ashers were that close to the mountain he had to drive them away. Though still clearly scared by Kozac the kid slowly led him through the forest around the mountain to an area on the other side of a nearby foothill for the mountain. A clearing was there and in the clearing some Ashers had set up camp. Kozac and the kid hid behind a boulder and some bushes to survey the area. The Ashers had three of their vehicles for traversing the wastes one of which was for transporting their victims with a large cage attached to the back and had set up some cages around the vehicles. The kids parents along with the Mire-lions had all been caught and were in the cages terrified. As he had been led by the kid Kozac sent word to some of his samurai and DJ to meet him at this location. It would take his companions some time to reach him and he had no clue how much time he had before the Ashers left. Luckily there was only five Ashers and no sorcerer. Those they had captured were surely destined for horrid treatment in one of their strongholds. He had to act fast to stop the Ashers and free everyone.
“Stay here, if any of those burning skinned folk come near here head back to that cave,” Kozac told the kid before putting his helmet back on and navigating his way around the edge of the clearing till he was close to the cages. He didn’t have the key though Juib and Divayth had been starting to teach him a few spells that could prove useful. He just needed to get to the lock; luckily the Ashers were occupied with trying to load a very feisty Mire-Lion onto the cage vehicle leaving the cages unguarded. Kozac went to the cage that held the kids parents first. They were terrified by his presence but luckily remained quite. Kozac inspected the lock, he had no clue how magic worked and tried to remember what the two had taught him.
“How did that spell go again?” Kozac wondered to himself looking over the lock. He remembered something about energy and visualizing what had to be done in one’s mind but nothing else. While he was occupied by the lock he was unaware the Ashers had spotted him. The kid yelling from where he was hidden ‘daemon look out’ drew Kozacs attention to the Ashers. He quickly whipped around pulling out his sickle catching an Asher who was going to try and taser him off guard knocking it back and cutting it across the chest. The other Ashers were quick to move in. Kozac luckily had his back to the cage to prevent from being attacked from behind however he was outnumbered and unprepared for a fight. He could handle two Ashers at once, five was doable but he had not planned for a fight so had no plan of action to deal with them and no back up. They quickly overwhelmed him. The one took his weapon while two of the others held his arms to his back and forced him to kneel.
“What do we have here,” the one Asher noted coming to stand in front of him to inspect him, “who do we have. Wielding a sickle, red eyes, I am betting under your mask we would find the symbol for a samurai wouldn’t we. You’re the Stags head soldier what are you called again… Kozac isn’t it. What are you doing out here on your own. You hate people do you not so why are you trying to help them? Has having those ninja in your home made you go soft, have they changed your mind about people?” Kozac had never really thought of it but he had noticed how he did not have the same hatred feelings for the ninja like he did with other people. He had also felt less anger towards people since the ninja arrived and he started watching them. He had been quick to pick up how they deeply cared for and protected Zane, a droid like him, even in front of the judging townsfolk and treated him like an equal something he rarely noticed from the people in Balmora. Even the Nexo Knights treated and cared for Zane as an equal and their mentor who had become fused with technology they treated no differently from a person despite what he had become. During their time in his city Kozac had noticed the ninja held no hatred for any of the droids and even when he was mean to them they didn’t treat him any differently than they would another person. They had even seemed to try and get him to show more human like qualities like Joking or playing around with each other for fun. He had not really paid attention to it but he had noticed his feelings to people starting to change. He had not been willing to accept or acknowledge them though.
“What should we do with you? Such a prize you are, I’m pretty sure the higher ups would love to have you as a play thing tell me do you think you’d last long in an arena,” the lead Asher boasted as Kozac noticed movement by their cage vehicle. All the Ashers were focused on him and were not paying attention to the cages. The child had made his way over to the cage vehicle and, since they had left the keys in the lock, unlocked the cage to let the Mire-lion out.
“Why do you not tell your leaders to fight themselves in their pits, they want entertainment why do they not pick up a book or play a video game like normal folk instead of relying on savage fighting sports for entertainment,” Kozac growled keeping the Ashers attentions so they would not notice the kid unlocking the cages that held the Mire-lions. The creatures grouped together by the vehicle once released. Once all the Mire-lions had been freed they wasted no time in attacking the Ashers surprising them. With their surprise Kozac yanked himself free of the ones holding him and took back his sickle to aid the creatures in beating up the Ashers.
“You scum know the price for invading the Stags territory, flee now or face his wrath,” Kozac growled while fighting keeping the Ashers occupied by him and the Mire-lions so the kid could free his parents. Seeing they had lost their prisoners and not prepared for a serious fight the Ashers retreated scrambling back to their vehicles as the Mire-lions tried to tear them apart. They were quick to take off headed back to their territory. The Mire-lions chased the vehicles for several feet before giving up as the vehicles out sped them. The creatures then slipped off disappearing in the woods leaving Kozac with the Kid and his parents. The three were free of the cages but were cowering by the edge of the clearing staring at him. The mother and father were holding sticks ready to protect themselves while the kid was sheltered between them. Though still hugging his toy the kid seemed less scared of Kozac than when Kozac had first found him.
“They will not bother you anytime soon,” Kozac expressed to the people. The bushes nearby began to rustle scaring the folks and the kid rushed over to huddle close to Kozac. Three of his Samurai and DJ came out of the undergrowth riding Kagaurs. The people were terrified and pointed their sticks at his comrades shaking terribly.
“The Ashers just left, search the area. Make sure no more are hiding nearby and that they have not left any traps,” Kozac ordered to his Samurai who got off their Kagaurs and left on foot to search the area.
“What did you find Kozac, they look different from the people of our realm,” DJ inquired remaining on his Kagaur.
“I believe they are from Ninjago. A tear to the realm must be nearby. I need you to take them to safety so the Ashers do not get them,” Kozac instructed DJ who chuckled seeing the kid clinging to Kozacs side expressing, “I think you have a friend.”
“Just get it done DJ,” Kozac stated not in the mood for DJ’s teasing.
“Fine I know of a mining camp not far from here. The people there will take them to Balmora. People of Ninjago hop on to the Kagaurs I will take you to safety,” DJ expressed but the people did not move too scared of all the strange things they were seeing.
“What are you?” the father asked.
“We are just droids not the bad kind but good ones. We are here to help you, you can trust us,” DJ expressed but the people still didn’t move. To get things moving Kozac picked up the kid and placed him on the Kagaur behind DJ whispering to DJ as he did, “they might listen if you mention the ninja.”
“The ninja trust us, we are helping them. We have agreed to take anyone like you to safety for them while they work to save your realm,” DJ coaxed and the people seemed to relax a little and slowly approached the Kagaurs.
“Do not worry. They look scary but they are no more than beaked tusked cows. They smell and taste like them too,” DJ expressed as the parents slowly got on a Kagaur each. Kozac turned to leave but the kid grabbed his shoulder and pulled on it. When he looked at the kid he quietly asked Kozac, “please good daemon come with us.”
“Yha come good daemon, we could use your protection,” DJ teased. Kozac hesitated, he did not want to seem like he was becoming more accepting of people. He worried it would change how others viewed him, particularly the Stag. But he could feel a desire to make sure they got to safety. He knew DJ would see they got to safety but DJ was not a fighter. He would not stand up to Ashers on his own if they ran into them.
“Come on brother, I will not tell anyone that you went soft for a child,” DJ expressed.
“Fine, but you are not to tell anyone. Not the Stag and especially not the ninja,” Kozac expressed getting on the last Kagaur.
“Hey you know me, I promise,” DJ stated.
“Let us get this over with,” Kozac grumbled and DJ proclaimed starting to head off, “Whatever you say good daemon.” They headed off to deliver the people to the safety of a miners camp.
The Hunt Flushed out telling of an event mentioned in chapter Dragons in the Mountain.
“I don’t like this,” Jay whispered to the others shaking and Kai agreed, “I don’t think any of us do.” The ninja were huddled close together all terrified and shaking as the Stag in his stag-headed man form strode up to them holding a spear. The ninja had been dragged to a wooded part of the cavern for one of the Stags entertainments. No one else was around; all too scared of the Stag. Not even insects could be seen or even heard.
“I think it is time to see how clever the prey are,” the Stag declared stopping in front of them slamming his spears end into the ground. The ninja didn’t like the sounds of that. After looking them over the Stag harshly grabbed Zane by the front of his gi and pulled him aside from the rest. Zane was too scared to put up a fight or comment about the Stags action. Even though scared Lloyd managed to mutter in his defence, “leave him alone.” The Stag didn’t listen instead hitting Zane with a spell. He got engulfed by a dark fog which grew a bit bigger to around nine feet tall. When it dissipated they were all shocked to see what this demon had done to their brother. The Stag had turned Zane into one of the monsters of his make, a were-wolf. Like other droids inflicted with the curse the bestial creature boasted metal plating embedded in the skin, the claws and teeth were metal, his eyes retained their icy glow and in his chest where his heart was located there was a plate that revealed the glow from his heart. Interestingly in his bestial state the Blights markings didn’t appear visible. His bestial form was silvery grey in color with very dark icy blue speckling to the fur on his neck and parts of face largely the snout and around the eyes along with coloring his lower limbs and the metal parts were still a silverish color. There were some slight differences to Zanes were-wolf form from the typical one. It was larger, were-wolves tended to be around 7 feet tall this form was around 8-9. It was also bulkier with a broader snout and teeth, had longer fur forming a sort of mane on the top of the head back of neck over the shoulders and partially down his back beneath the shoulders and its ears had prominent fur tufts on them that when combined with the slightly longer cheek fur gave the head a slight lynx like appearance. The Stag had turned Zane into one of his Vilkalong, Wolf Lord, were-wolf morphs. These were far nastier and dangerous morphs to the regular beasts. Zane just stood dazed looking at himself clearly confused over what had happened trying to figure it out.
“You monster! You change him back!” Lloyd ordered to the Stag who ignored him to proclaim the lighting of the cavern darkening and gaining a reddish tinge, “a hunt is far more entertaining beneath a blood moon.” The Stag then turned to Zane who was still trying to figure things out and hit him with another spell causing Zanes colors to turn black with void green primal like markings developing on his skin and his eyes and the glow from his heart turned void green indicating he was under the stags control. The Stag then declared his form disappear, “can you outsmart the beast and triumph in this challenge? Let the hunt begin.” The were-wolf Zane had been cursed into gave a howl before looking at them baring its teeth waiting for the rest of them to make a move.
“You think he’ll be easy on us?” Kai stammered. They were all terrified and afraid to move. They didn’t want to be a part of the Stags entertainment but it seemed they had no choice. The Stag had at least given them weapons; they had been confused over why all but Zane had been given weapons thinking maybe it was because Zane could use his powers but now they saw the real reason. The Stag had turned him into a monster to hunt the rest of them.
“I don’t think the Stag is letting Zane have a choice,” Lloyd declared before annoyed that they were not making any moves were-wolf Zane roared at them his roar containing hints of his normal voice in it before charging at them on all fours. Terrified they all took off in separate directions. Zane paused looking around to determine who to go after till Kai got stopped mid flee by being electrocuted by seemingly nothing coming to lay on his back dazed afterwards.
“Nice try Fire Dragon but you do not have free reign in this hunt. The Prey must contend with their small territory,” he heard the Stag declare as he recovered from the shock noticing a faint shimmer to the air he had run into and a glowing marking on the bracers he wore. This shimmer went off in a line through the woods forming a perimeter. He then found his attention captivated in fear to Zanes bestial form as it crouched looking down at him drool dripping from its jaws onto his face.
“By any chance is the Stag letting you play fair?” Kai mumbled worried. Zane roared in his face before going to bite Kai around the throat. The beast stopped just as his teeth touched Kais skin having his attention drawn away and leaving Kai alone as Jay hit the beast in the back with the nunchucks he had been given.
“No we don’t eat our brothers,” Jay proclaimed as he hit Zane. Bestial Zane turned to face him and yelled in his face terrifying Jay who took off running away Zane giving chase while the others came to help Kai up Lloyd proclaiming, “I think we should work together to restrain him. Hopefully that demon doesn’t want us to kill each other in order to get out of this.” They rushed to help Jay who were-wolf Zane had cornered against the base of a tree a couple meters away and was stalking close to him on all fours baring his teeth while Jay was curled up in the foetal position hoping he wouldn’t get bit. Cole picked up a rock and tossed it at Zane where it hit him in the side of the head and caught his attention. While Zane roared in threat at them Jay quickly got up and started running towards them only to trip on some branches on the ground on the way over. Were-wolf Zane rushed over to pin down Jay growling at him then to their shock he ate Jay swallowing him feet first and whole. They could hear the Stag laughing with a deep sinister laugh as he made Zane do it.
“Does he think that’s funny?!” Nya proclaimed getting mad and Cole commented, “I think the Stag does; I doubt Zane thinks that’s funny.” They stood together unnerved and on the defensive though in a stunned shock Kai was slowly walking backwards from the rest not taking his eyes off Zane who was crouched growling at them.
“You don’t think the Stag would let him have control of his internal workings do you? That way he can pause his digestive system so it won’t hurt anyone who ends up in it?” Lloyd muttered on edge and Nya stated, “I don’t think so. If anything he might make it more dangerous; Jays in serious danger in there.”
“I don’t think that monster cares if he hurts us… or worse!” Kai muttered still slowly backing up before Zane roared at them and charged on all fours at them. Kai went to flee but Lloyd grabbed his arm to stop him from fleeing proclaiming, “no more fleeing. We can’t let this monster win. We’ll stand our ground and try to restrain Zane.”
“And how do you plan we do that?” Cole wondered as they got into a fight with the beast getting shocked to find this monster form was highly resistant to their weapons. Zane even slashed Kais sword into several bits with his claws unharmed by the action shocking Kai. Not only was he resistant to their weapons but surprisingly strong; Cole even admitted unless he used his lava arms which thanks to the bracers he couldn’t use in this ‘hunt’ he was pretty sure he was no match for this bestial forms strength. The monsters traits were made even worse when they found Zane could still use his elemental powers in this form allowing him to claw with icy claws or deliver frosty bites. Along with biting and clawing, this were-wolf form Zane had been cursed into could use a roar that had his ice powers fused into it allowing it to chill them to the bone making ice build on their skin, stomp or slam his fists down with such force if they were close enough it would knock them off their feet, he would also rush at them to tackle them to the ground which with the force he used and the bulk of this bestial form easily winded them and he could produce a roar that stunned them for a few seconds as they heard it. They struggled with him a bit trying to restrain him and figure out how to get Jay out of him. Cole went to give him a gut punch to see if that would do anything. Beast cursed Zane grabbed his hand before he could hit him and lifted Cole up by his arm. Thinking quick Cole equipped the warhammer he had been given and hit were-wolf cursed Zane in the face with the hammer. He dropped Cole a little stunned before shaking his head to clear it and grabbed Coles warhammer to yank it from his hand and toss it aside. The Stag then made beast cursed Zane eat Cole swallowing him whole and head first.
“You don’t think he’s got room in there for more do you?” Kai muttered and Lloyd stated unsettled, “I hope not.”
“Two down, three to go. You are not doing very well are you,” they heard the Stag boast before being forced to flee as he made Zane charge after them. Zane managed to tackle Lloyd down then roared at him while pinning him down face first into the ground. Kai and Nya came to Lloyds aid trying to drive Zane back. Zanes bestial form wasn’t easily deterred and held his ground. While they attacked Lloyd managed to slip free and join the other two in fighting back Zane. After over ten minutes they managed to get a break when catching glimpse of a nest of Burning Hornets Kai tossed a rock at it catching the attention of the insects that were hiding inside who were not wanting to be involved in the Stags entertainment. Angered that their nest was being threatened some of the hornets swarmed out and went after the largest thing they saw were-wolf cursed Zane. They swarmed Zane irritating him as they went after his face pushing Zane back a bit as he fought them trying to keep them away from his eyes and ears. He managed to break free of the swarm by hitting them with a frosty roar freezing the insects which dropped to the ground stunned from the cold with frost on their bodies. While Zane fought the insects the three had taken off through some thick woods hoping to lose Zane in it so they could find somewhere to plan. Zane had seen them go through the thicket and once the insects were dealt with followed taking longer than them to get through the brush because of his cursed forms size getting thorns and debris caught in his hide. Once out of it he paused to groom some of the debris off of him while the three hid inside the decaying trunk of a fallen redwood nearby to think over a plan. Their best bet was to distract Zane so one of them could get close enough to hit him as hard as they could. Their planning was cut short as Zane tore with teeth and claws into the trunk after having picked up their scent startling them and catching their attention. As they rushed out of the log Zane roared at them jumping down from atop the log. Though not done planning they got into action. Taunting him while throwing sticks and stones at him Kai kept Zanes attention drawing him into the middle of the clearing Lloyd helping to keep his attention focussed and preventing Zane from getting a hold of Kai meanwhile Nya prepared herself to rush at Zane without him seeing her. She entered a Spinjitsu tornado and rushed at Zane slamming into him to deliver a hefty kick to the gut before he could realise she was there. She hit him with such force he got tossed hard into the large trunk of a redwood knocking his head against it as he slammed back first into the tree. He landed and sat stunned against the base of the trunk for around a minute his eyes flickering a bit. As Zane recovered he slowly got up looking a little dazed. After a couple more seconds he then coughed up Cole followed shortly by Jay. Both were covered in slimy substances and grossed out but unharmed. The other three rushed over to drag the two back away from Zane who was still stunned.
“That was disgusting… is that what it feels like to be cake?” Cole commented cleaning himself off as they sheltered behind a boulder nearby to think of what to do next. While Cole was still rather calm despite what he had gone through Jay was shaken and began babbling about how gross uncomfortable and unsettling that had been, how he worried the Stags messing with his mind might turn Zane into a man-eater, his typical of late belief that Zane was actually in league with the Stag, that this was just part of the Stags torture to them and that he had worse to come among other things. They had a feeling he had slipped into a Blight fuelled paranoid rant. Ignoring Jay they quickly went over what they could do to somehow beat this monster the Stag had cursed Zane into. They felt the best way was to trap him and immobilize him so they could in a sense sedate him by accessing the control panel in his left arm to temporarily put him offline. They didn’t wish to hurt Zane but if they had no choice they at least didn’t want to do anything too severe to him. As they planned they were ambushed by Zane who jumped atop the boulder to roar at them. All but Jay put some distance between them and Zane to prevent being attacked. Jay remained there babbling his rant looking to be unaware Zane was there. Zane hopped down and stalked on all fours close to Jay looking ready to bite him. Before he could bite Jay grabbed him by the one canine pulling his face close to Jays sparking Kai to wonder unnerved, “Uh Jay what are you doing? Do you want to get eaten?”
“Do you mind? Could we have at least a moment to come to terms with everything before getting tortured by your master you shaggy metal hided carpet,” Jay proclaimed to Zane clearly off in his own world not hearing the others or realising the danger he was in, “might I say your breath stinks, your insides stink, heck you stink. This beast form of yours has got this whole musky bog smell going on. It’s worse than Cole when he gets all sweaty; I hope your master gets rid of that stench when he changes you back cause its nasty or is he going to keep you smelly to torture our senses; just another way he can torture us in this nightmare of a realm.” Zane looked to be quite confused by Jays ranting and lack of fear. He roared at Jay who let go of his tooth to cover his ears bothered by the noise. Jay then chastised were-wolf cursed Zane, “oh you’re going to be loud now too. You want to shout cause I can do that too pal.” Jay yelled at Zane who roared back. They yelled at each other a few times Jay trying to beat Zane with how loud he could get but never able to beat him. The others just watched confused believing Jay had lost it. With Zane distracted Cole looked around for something they could use to trap him. They were in a wooded area with not much to use. He did note the trunk of a redwood that had fallen over and lay rested up on a cliff edge. The trunk wasn’t too big but it was large enough it could stun this were-wolfs form if it landed on him. Thinking quickly he came up with an idea. He explained it to the others who agreed with it.
“What makes you so special huh? Why does the Stag love you so much? He loves making you his little pet to torture us whenever he gets in the mood to do so. Is it because you’re an emotionless savage like the rest of his pets or do you enjoy being his pet? Is he a good master to you heartless machines? You do as he says and he gives you a treat and a belly rub and lets you sleep on the sofa like a good little pet does he,” Jay continued ranting his words clearly starting to bother Zane who raised his one hand prepping to take a swipe at Jay who continued babbling unaware of what he was doing.
“Hey you brainless tin can,” Kai called out catching Zanes attention. Zane looked at him clearly annoyed but not bothered enough to come at him so Kai continued to taunt him. Zane slowly turned his attention to Kai and began stalking towards him first on all fours before rearing up onto his legs raising one arm to swipe at Kai. When he was in the right spot Lloyd, Cole and Nya pushed the log as hard as they could tipping it backwards where it crashed down coming to land on top of Zane knocking him down. He lay stunned under the tree as they came up to him. They went to try and reach the control panel in his arm but were hesitant to get close as while dazed he was baring his teeth at them and kept moving his head over the arm they needed to reach. They were unsure if he knew what they were intending or if it was just a coincidence that his jaws were over that arm as he displayed in defence to them. None of them wanted to get bit so thinking quickly Lloyd noted some trauma roots nearby. Cautiously he cut off one of the longest vines then he and Kai worked together to wrap it around the beasts muzzle pulling it tight while also using their bodies to pin down his head and neck to restrain his movements. Cole held Zanes arm as still as he could while Nya opened and worked with the panel in his arm.
“Sorry about this pal but if you were in control you would agree to this,” Lloyd stated as they struggled with Zane a bit before he relaxed going still and the dark corruption disappearing as Nya finished her work sedating him by putting him offline. With that done they relaxed collapsing where they were feeling more exhausted than they thought they should be, a result from the Blight they felt. Jay came up to them having been slowly walking over continuing on his Blight fuelled rant.
“You know he doesn’t look too bad as a were-wolf; probably wouldn’t have too bad a temperament either when a demons not got him under some brutal mind control forcing him to tear us apart or eat us,” Kai noted ruffling the fur like fibres on the top of Zanes head as they sat trying to settle down only to all be put on edge when they heard the Stags voice boom, “intriguing the prey turned the hunt on the predator.” His voice shut Jay up as they all got scared. The Stag manifested from a dark smoke in front of them in his Stag-headed man form not holding any weapons. They were all on edge by the sight of him.
“So you found a way to take out my beast and you did it without weapons, powers or delivering a fatal blow. The hare outwitted the wolf despite its hindrances and came out on top. However was this a testament to your skills or just a lucky hunt… I think only further hunts can tell but for now you are victorious. You did as I asked and partook in the hunt without question. For your obedience and triumph I will let you free of your toils for the rest of the day and will return your brother to you as he was before,” the Stag declared sounding oddly pleased before hitting Zane with a spell. Zane was again engulfed in dark mists the log around where he was trapped rotting away so it no longer lay on him. When the mist cleared Zane lay there back to his normal self and the Blights markings dulled from the Stags touch. After a couple seconds Zane woke up startled and confused. All but Jay went over to him to help him up and comfort him as he was very unsettled by what the Stag had done to him. They stood together trying to hide their fear of the Stag shaking badly from fear. With Zane back to normal the Stag dissipated and disappeared. They just stood there too scared to move looking around unnerved worried this was a trick as the lighting returned to its normal brightness and hue for the day. With the Stag gone Jay began to babble again ranting about the Stags creepy pleasure in their winning feeling he was secretly plotting something terrible for them. Even though they knew he was in a Blight fuelled paranoia they all couldn’t help but feel some truth to Jays ranting.
“I don’t like the sounds of that demons words,” Lloyd commented and Kai agreed, “yha he’s an evil demon, the worst type of baddy why would he have pleasure in loosing? That doesn’t sound right. Those like him are always sore losers.”
“Yha I’d take him as more of the type to obliterate us or at least torture us for several hours after losing,” Cole agreed them all looking around afraid to leave the area but also not wanting to hang around there in case the Stag was still there somewhere. They slowly got the courage to move and started heading out sticking close to each other in case that monster was still around. As they moved out feeling worried Lloyd wondered, “What kind of demon is happy with loosing?”
A Day of Quests
Considering how everyone’s moods had been of late and thinking it may help improve them the Black Hand had decided to change up the ninjas daily schedule. Instead of having them work clearing the path to the halls of knowledge they decided to get them to aid some of the citizens in the city with tasks they may need. They decided to start them off small. They got them to aid some of the caverns workers in repairing a combination windmill watermill structure. While it really wasn’t used much it had been built for aesthetic purposes and though logically had no purpose in the cavern the hyenoids enjoyed its aesthetic and liked keeping it operating even if it was just for show. The work wasn’t too tasking and rather simple. After that they tasked them with some delivery jobs to take things to certain individuals in the cavern. They split up to deliver the items. Once that was done one of the hyenoids dragged them to a building built into the wall that served as the home for the less advanced constructs mainly the Scymer Centurions and Spheres. One of the halls had collapsed during a recent earthquake. Clearing the rubble had been taking a while as the hyenoids weren’t designed for heavy lifting and since most of the Centurions who were easily capable of that task were trapped behind the blockage and unable to be contacted to be awaken because the rubble was too dense for signals to get through they were going to try another method. Hearing the ninja were free to help they got them involved.
“Really you want us to do heavy lifting?” Kai wondered not up to such a task and the hyenoid that had brought them into the hall explained, “no you will not have to do any heavy lifting. Instead we have something else planned. We believe there is sufficient space in the rubble for a small crawling creature to get through and reach the room behind. I know a considerable amount of alteration magic and using this magic I can change another into a small creature, a Skeever is likely the best choice for this, so they can navigate their way through the rubble into the room. Once in there they should easily be able to find the control panel to wake up the centurions and give them their task. There is a slight problem however. The controls are all in the Scymer writing so only one of you who has knowledge of this writing can perform this task.”
“And that would have to be Zane, he’s the only one who knows this writing very well,” Lloyd noted unsettling Zane who didn’t like the sounds of this task. Looking at him the hyenoid explained, “Alright Fang-brother this will defiantly feel strange and awkward but it will not hurt. Do not worry once you get the task completed and you return here I will change you back and the spell should not have any lasting effects. I have used it many times and have had no complications since mastering it. Just as a warning though the spell can cause a few issues while you are in a skeevers form mainly you will be plagued by the urges and behaviours of a Skeever. You will want to nip others, have an urge to eat almost anything that looks slightly edible and to chew everything. Try to control yourself to get the task done.” Without waiting for a response the hyenoid cast a spell on Zane who after a flash of light found himself in the form of a cybernetic Skeever. He just sat reared up stunned unmoving and eyes wide as if in shock. After a couple seconds of Zane not moving and them finding him unresponsive Nya inquired, “Zane are you okay?” He slowly looked at her before yelling at them with the noises of a Skeever. Getting down on all fours he started looking himself over in a bit of a panic even chasing his tail a bit to look himself over.
“Zane relax it’s okay,” Lloyd tried to comfort him seeing Zane was getting worked up and the hyenoid commented a little confused to Zanes reaction, “I normally do not have individuals behave like this after the spell. He does not handle magic very well does he?”
“Not really especially when it’s used on him. You should have explained a bit more to him about what you would be doing to him and the workings of that spell before actually using it on him. He would have taken it better then,” Cole noted and amused by Zanes panicking Jay commented, “ha now who’s the one being all scared and running around like a headless chicken?” Irritated by Jays comment Zane went and bit his leg freaking Jay out, “hey bad skeever nindroid.” The hyenoid came over to pry Zanes jaws off Jays leg and pick him up.
“I hope you don’t give me a disease from that bite; your clean of tetanus right,” Jay commented as skeever Zanes jaws were pried off him. Zane was shaking a bit in the hyenoids arms as it carried him over to a gap in the rubble pile.
“The quicker you get this done the quicker I can change you back now don’t worry everything will be fine,” it proclaimed holding Zane up to the gap. Reluctantly Zane went into the gap. He navigated his way through the rubble to the other side still confused and unsettled by the spell. There was a hall on the other side that led to a large room at its end where the constructs that rested in it were still offline resting in their ports. Zane made his way down the hall trying to stay focussed on his task but the instincts of a skeever that had ended up programmed into him by this form were quickly overtaking him. Seeing some damaged conduit that ran along the floor at the halls edge Zane couldn’t help but head over and start prying at the damages with his jaws to try and chew at the wires fighting with himself to regain control. The smell of rodents caught his attention. There was a group of three rats hanging out looking for tidbits in the hall. Unable to control himself he stalked close to them before rushing at them. They quickly scattered but he managed to grab a hold of one of them which he ended up swallowing whole before he realised what he had done. Afterwards he stood a bit stunned that he had just done that. He wasn’t some wild animal plus that rat didn’t taste very good. He tried to regain control of himself before noting some exposed wires from the conduit on the floor. Without thinking he went over and started chewing them till he received a shock stunning him. After recovering he had a bit more control and managed to make it to the room climbing up onto the control panel for it that sat next to the doorway. The room and everything in it looked to have escaped any damage from the earthquake. Most of the Centurions in the room had more hand like attachments ending their forelimbs than the usual weapon like attachments they usually had. After a quick work he woke up some of these centurions and gave them their commands. Once awake they headed off to work on the blockage. As they moved they disturbed some more rats which caught Zanes attention and he couldn’t help but chase after them. When he returned to the others crawling out of the rubble he had a piece of a control board in his mouth.
“Where did you get that? You didn’t tear that from something important did you? Drop it,” the hyenoid stated coming to retrieve the item Zane had. Zane growled at it and ran from it a few feet to turn back growling still holding the item. The others couldn’t help but laugh a bit about Zanes behaviour. The hyenoid tried to take the item a few more times Zane repeatedly running from it not wanting to give up what he had. To end the chasing the hyenoid hit Zane with a spell that turned him back to normal. Spitting out the item he had he looked at himself as he knelt there shaking disturbed by what the spell had done.
“I ate two rats! They were disgusting and dirty! I chewed some wires and got shocked; why did I pull that panel off? I couldn’t control myself… I think fleas were trying to crawl on me! Are they on me, it still feels like they are on me! I could barely control myself!” Zane panicked unnerved from the spell. Jay laughed at Zanes behaviour amused by his panicking expressing, “who’s the chicken now?” The others were not very amused by Jays behaviour but Jay didn’t care. He was happy that for once it was someone else acting all scared and panicky in this place instead of him. Not amused by Jay laughing at his nerves Zane got up and went over to the hyenoid to whisper into its ear.
“I can do that,” it stated before hitting Jay with a spell turning him into a chicken. Worried over what happened Jay looked at himself before panicking. Kai, Cole and Zane were amused by Jays reaction and the hyenoid stated, “as punishment for finding our Fang Brothers anxieties humorous he wants you to spend a few hours as a chicken. Do not worry I will stop by later to change you back.”
“What a time to be stuck as a chicken it’s almost lunchtime. I wonder if we’ll be having chicken cause I could go for some chicken,” Cole commented just to unsettle Jay who unnerved jumped into Nyas arms hugging close to her. All but Nya found it funny. They were taken for lunch with Jay stuck as a chicken. Quite a few of the cities inhabitants seemed to be amused that Jay was a chicken. Their lunch indeed had chicken in it which didn’t help with Jays mood. He was clearly on edge and scared with being a chicken, which also had him scared of Cole who he was worried might try to take a bite out of him, this just upset him more. He just sat staring at the bowl he had been given his one eye twitching a bit thinking this was some cruel joke. All but Nya found it funny. Cole and Kai kept teasing Jay and though being nice to encourage him to eat Zane told him the fact there was nothing wrong with him eating chicken as a chicken as the birds were naturally highly cannibalistic by nature it didn’t help Jays mood and just made him feel worse. He eventually broke down and ate with the rest of them pecking and angrily clucking at his meal. After lunch they were taken to their next job. Some of the critters in the cavern had caused some problems with some of the machinery in the cavern and they needed help removing the creatures from the area and repairing damages and installing safety measures to prevent the problems from re-occurring. They were split up into groups and paired with some of the hyenoids. Cole and Lloyd were paired up and sent to help with two who were dealing with a group of Venom-fangs who were taking pieces out of machinery to use in courtship displays, Kai and Zane were paired together and tasked to aid in removing sticks some birds had shoved in various ventilation shafts and machinery while Nya and Jay who was still stuck as a chicken were paired to aid two who were installing scratchers for animals to use so they stopped scratching and rubbing on machinery and structure and putting conduits over some exposed wires Skeevers had been chewing on. Shortly after their work started the hyenoid they helped earlier returned to change Jay back to normal expressing that it hoped he had learned a lesson. Jay spent much of the time afterwards ranting about how unpleasant that was and how he was going to give Cole a piece of his mind for how he had been scaring him and to Zane for thinking it fun changing him into a chicken. What they were doing wasn’t too hard. They helped dig the holes for the bases of the scratching posts the hyenoids were installing and made the concrete that was going to hold the bases in place. These posts consisted of a central pillar that would have an outer casing made of stone, a dead log or metal works designed to mimic a tree trunk for creatures to use to scratch themselves so they would leave important structures alone. Nya was a bit upset she couldn’t help out by using her powers but found it a nice reprieve from their usual work; they were all enjoying the different work even if it had them doing a dangerous task. Lloyd and Cole were a bit nervous with their task. They had to deal with the lethally venomous Venom-fangs. The hyenoids had a plan for that to make things easier and safer. When they got there the hyenoids instructed them to set out the little cakes that were in the baskets they had been given.
“I’m not sure you get what cake is. You don’t put meat in it at least I’ve never heard of that before. Sure they don’t taste too bad but I’d call them more of some type of patty than a cake,” Cole commented as he and Lloyd dumped the cakes onto the ground. The Venom-fangs who were hanging around some machinery for a water pump under a pavilion by the river were instantly drawn by the smell and waited for them to move off a bit before coming over to help themselves to the cakes.
“They are termed cakes as to the Venom-fangs these are their equivalent to the cake that humans like making it hard for them to resist them… wait how do you know how they taste?” the one hyenoid inquired it and its pal confused and Cole replied, “when you called them cakes I wanted to try them so I had two of them.” The one hyenoid smacked itself in the face while the other expressed, “they weren’t for you they were for the creatures.”
“Yha I still don’t get how giving them a treat is going to help with our work,” Cole noted and the one hyenoid explained, “because they were laced with a mild paralysis poison. Once the creatures are paralysed we can safely enter the area to retrieve what they took, repair damages and install the metal cover over the device to keep them from getting at the parts again that way we do not have to take them out of the area they have established as their territory. This is their home just as much as ours so if they want to live here we have to work around them.”
“They’re laced with what?!” Cole mumbled a bit stunned and the one hyenoid responded, “a mild paralysis poison. Do not worry it isn’t lethal and will wear off in a couple hours. Considering your bulk which is greater than that of a Venom-fang and the doses in each unit once it takes affect it should only last for between two to three hours on you. The only harm it will do is you might lose some bodily control and wet your pants but that’s not a major problem. Please refrain from eating anything else we give you unless we tell you that you can have it.” Within twenty minutes the poison had taken affect and left Cole largely paralysed. He could move a bit and somewhat talk though it was a bit slurred but he couldn’t stand so the others had left him sitting against a post where they put the Venom-fangs who were also paralysed around him having tied falconry like hoods over their eyes to keep them calm. The others worked on the machinery while he was paralysed leaving him talking to the Venom-fangs who sounded annoyed at their predicament. While working Lloyd found a strange item mixed in with the items the three male Venom-fangs of the group had collected to woo a potential mate out of the five females that had been hanging around. The item resembled a tooth but was slightly more curved and coated in a chitinous substance like the shell of an insect. When the one hyenoid saw what he had it came over and took the item from him to look it over. When Lloyd asked what it was the hyenoid told him, “nothing you should worry about. It is the cheek pincer of a Serpent-fly. I think one of them stole this from Divayths lab… it probably thought it would make itself look cooler than the other guys to have it in his display.”
Meanwhile Kai thought the work he and Zane had been given would be easy until he got to their work sight and saw what they had to work on. Covering a natural passage in a side wall of the cavern that led outside was a ventilation system that helped increase air flow from the passage along with keeping any ash that fell in the area from entering the cavern from the passage. They could see sticks sticking out of the vent cover which had been bent out of shape and damaged to allow creatures about the size of a crow to be able to pass through one section but when it was taken off even the hyenoids were surprised to find what was assumed to be just sticks shoved into the vent looked to be some sort of nest. With its twigs, grasses and mud the hyenoids guessed some Burning Hornets were probably trying to set up a nest in there though they couldn’t figure out why. The location was not ideal for their nests having too unstable a temperature and too high an airflow. Noting the creatures weren’t around they guessed they had wised up and abandoned the sight for a more optimal one. That at least left their task easier as they wouldn’t have to deal with these creatures. They would just have to chip out the hard mass of a nest the creatures had built while the hyenoid with them worked on repairing the grate that covered the ventilation. Kai and Zane were given chisels to stab at and pry the mass of materials out of the space.
“Why does this stuff smell like something’s rotting?” Kai wondered working to pry off a chunk using the tunnels the creatures had built into it to make his job easier and Zane stated, “the smell does seem odd but it could just be from organic matter such as their food which is now rotting that was left behind when the builders of the nest abandoned it.” After prying a chunk off Kai could see the material went quite deep into the ventilation with an open area in the center where the creatures likely had been resting. He also noted something else which startled him and had him taking a few steps back.
“I think one of those things is still in there! I saw it moving!” Kai expressed. Curious Zane came over to investigate. There was defiantly something still in this nest. Reaching in he grabbed something living. Whatever it was didn’t put up a fight so he pulled it out.
“That doesn’t look like a bug,” Kai commented as Zane pulled out a crow sized fruit bat native to the area known as a Jerrals Flying Fox and Zane noted, “cause it is not; I think something is wrong with it. It is alive but it appears awfully weak and cold.” Noting what they had the hyenoid came over to inspect the creature where it found a wound that looked like someone had stabbed it in the shoulder. The sight of the wound and the normally black with off white face, neck and chest coloring of the creature being unusually pale had it worried.
“I do not think this nest was made by Hornets…” the hyenoid noted using one of the chisels to poke around in the space the bat had been and Kai wondered, “what made it then?” As it poked around it pulled out a strange beast from the nest. It was like a monstrous mix between a hummingbird and a wasp.
“Vesparilion; demon insect-birds,” the hyenoid noted looking the creature over as it lay on the ground. The creature wasn’t dead yet but clearly wasn’t going to last long. Its neck had been chewed at nearly severing the head. By the looks in defence of being attacked the bat had fought back and managed to deliver a lethal bite to the demon saving itself. The hyenoid continued to check the nest to make sure no more were there.
“I do not see any more or evidence that they are still around but this is not a good sign,” the hyenoid noted before telling Zane to put the bat under his attire and close to his body to help keep it warm till someone could to take it to be cared for. The hyenoid had a feeling these Vesparilions had been living there for some time building a nest and feeding off the caverns inhabitants. It noted they had seen evidence of them in the area outside the cavern but had yet to see evidence of them in the cavern. The bat was probably one of their latest victims, a lucky survivor. The hyenoid decided it best some of them who were skilled in hunting these monsters deal with this so sent the two to take the creature to the structure they used for caring for creatures. Along the way they met up with the others Lloyd dragging Cole around as he was still partially paralysed though he was starting to regain mobility. Jay didn’t hesitate once he saw them to yell at the others for their amusement at him being a chicken, for Coles taunting of him the whole time and for Zane to be the one to get him turned into a chicken. They all just ignored Jay not bothered by his complaining further irritating him. Once they got the creature delivered the hyenoids working there decided to get them to help with some daily work in the place. It wasn’t too hard of work and despite the foul moods or uncooperative behaviour of some of the creatures was actually quite pleasant and they all felt relaxed and some joy from it. They were mainly cleaning pens, cages, supplies; helping to feed, bathe and medicate or treat various animals from insects and songbirds to the large reptiles of the region, they had even acquired recently some animals from Ninjago and Knighton as well, all of which were orphans, injured in some way or diseased mainly from Ashers and the conditions of the wastes. They all took the work rather well. Zane found it rather relaxing and had no fear to any of the creatures. He knew how to deal with them in order to not irritate them or incur their wrath. He felt calmed by working with them even if they weren’t very co-operative or tried to hurt him. Lloyd also found it relaxing though was unsettled by some of the animals especially when they tried to bite him like a Min-Min he had been tasked to hold so others could remove netting it had gotten caught in. After it nearly bit his nose and left a bite on his forearm he held it at arms length from himself to keep the creature who was cranky with being held from biting him in the face. Nya enjoyed it but got mad at some of the creatures when they attempted to bite, kick, claw or fight her. Her chastising of them made most of the creatures who tried to attack her hold back and remain still not wanting to incur her wrath while she worked with them. Kai and Cole kept trying to get Jay bit or attacked by certain animals, mainly the ones cranky with being held or worked with especially the insects reptiles and birds just to see him freak out. Jay refused to work with quite a few of the animals. Anything that could eat him, crush him, run him over, poison him, had more than four legs or was creepy looking he steered clear of. Late in the afternoon Divayth came to bring them to their final task of the day.
“The task we have for you is different. Before we try anything drastic Juib wanted to see what you could do,” Divayth explained as he led them to a cave that was blocked off by some wooden doors his more warrior type daughter clone Eboshi standing guard by it. At first glance the ninja noted something odd about the doors, there was almost what looked like a shimmering film over them. Divayth explained that he had placed a ward on the door to keep the contamination in. His use of the word contamination didn’t sound good.
“We have behind this door a collection of beings who had been caught in an Ashers Ravage Storm. While at first we thought they had been in a normal Ravage Storm we have reason to believe there was something different about this storm. It did not inflict those caught in it with the normal conditions these storms inflict. Instead it has filled them with darkness driving them mad turning them aggressive. They attack anything they see that is not poisoned like them. We have good reason to believe this is the next step in the Ashers evolution of their storms so if we cannot find a way to break this corruption many are doomed. All attempts so far have failed and if we cannot find a way to combat this poisoning then terminating the inflicted will be the only course of action. We would like to avoid this outcome but if it is the only thing to work then that is what we will have to do. We have come up with an idea and we would like you to test it out,” Divayth explained to them and nervous about what they were going to be doing Jay wondered, “What is in there?”
“We have sequestered all those inflicted by the storm behind these doors. There is a range of beings from insects, birds and other beasts to people and even our robotic brethren. All were unfortunate to be caught in this storm,” Eboshi explained and Lloyd wondered, “okay so what are we supposed to do?”
“We have for each of you a small talisman made with Star stone that we would like you to use to try and dispel the darkness that holds them and break the corruption. We have been given permission for this task to let you have the bracers removed so you may defend yourselves,” Divayth declared using a spell to unlock their bracers and take them off. They were all relieved to be have them off rubbing their wrists a bit from where they had been and mustering some of their powers in their hands feeling good to be able to use their powers. Divayth and Eboshi then gave each of them a hand sized talisman that held a rounded and polished chunk of Star stone in its center.
“How are we supposed to use these exactly?” Cole wondered as they all looked over the items they had been given.
“I do believe you know how to work Star stone right?” Divayth wondered and they replied that they did before he continued, “similar premise. With these however try to focus the energy into a single target. We are hoping that if inflicted with light energy it may be able to break the darkness’s poisoning and cure them.” The ninja were then let into the cavern. Most of them went in with little question; they had to drag Jay in with them as he was too scared and refused to enter. Once inside the doors were closed behind them. They were all nervous and scared. They were in a small dead end cavern with over a dozen beings of different types who were all clearly not right. All the creatures and constructs showed signs of void poisoning having blackened with markings, eyes and even the interiors of mouths or glowing parts of anatomy having developed a void green coloring. The people were paled greyed and had opaque eyes. All were oblivious to everything around them though if they got to close they would attempt to attack whoever got close. The cavern was dark only faintly lit by some lanterns and glowing flora. They did as they were told. It took a while for them to figure how to focus the light energy. The whole time they had to fight off the corrupted beings who kept trying to attack them. They were surprisingly resistant to elemental magic’s worrying them. Luckily however they quickly found the light given off by the Star stones which they were using to help see in the place held the creatures back. They didn’t seem to like the light. They at first struggled to keep the light going before getting control of it scared by the corrupted beings and the dark energy they could feel in the room coming from the corrupted beings. Jay was the last to gain control. He was too scared and had trouble focussing until Nya held his hand allowing him to calm down. Once they figured out how to focus the light they tried hitting a few of the entities with it focussing on the small creatures like insects and birds not wanting to aggravate larger more dangerous beings. At first they didn’t think it would work. It didn’t seem to be doing much until Cole and Jay ended up hitting the same target at the same time. A torchbug which Cole had been going for then Jay joined startled by its glow appearing out of the corner of his eye. The double hit cured the torchbug letting it return to a normal color and it relaxed its behaviour. Seeing what they did worked they got an idea. They worked together to hit targets their success encouraging them causing the light of their Star stones to brighten. The larger the target the more light energy they had to hit them. Luckily there wasn’t very many creatures bigger than a person so they were able to make enough light energy with the little stones without putting any serious drains on themselves to cure everyone. All beings were confused and startled about where they were, what was going on and the ninja none having a clue about what had happened or how they had gotten there. With them cured they exited the cave. Divayth and Eboshi were eager for results and pleased that their plan had worked. They put the cuffs back on the ninja, with the exception of Zane, and decided to call that the day for them letting them go back to their room. The hyenoids would tend to the beings that were cured releasing the wildlife, incorporating constructs into their home and seeing that the people made it to a safe location. The day of varied work had the ninja feeling better and they enjoyed the reprieve.
While the ninja had a rather busy day with varied tasks the knights had a rather strange day. Clay and Macy had been drawn to the drawbridge of the Fortrex early in the morning to find a rather strange sight. A talking Skeever sat there with a barrel. It claimed to have been a person and that he and his two pals had drank the beverage that was in the barrel. What they had been led to believe was a special cold brew tea but he now had reason to believe was actually some twisted poison that ended up turning the three into skeevers. The two were the only ones up at the time so they brought the ‘skeever’ and his barrel into the command center to go over things. Merlok analysed the contents of the barrel and the skeever. He could confirm its story as true. The skeever had once been a person and what was in the barrel was a potion to turn a person into a skeever. They also managed to work it out of the person that they had not come by the potion legally. They had stolen it from a tavern owner. With this information the three went to the owner Merlok coming along as the Robo-bill and bringing the skeever transformed person with them and talked to the owner about this potion. The innkeeper regaled that mad at people frequently stealing supplies from his stockroom he had planted a few items tainted with this potion to teach the thieves a lesson. He had the anti-dote and was willing to give it to them but they had to find the other two who had run off scared when they got transformed. They went out and searched for them managing to find them before they ran into too much trouble. They brought them back to the innkeeper who gave the skeever transformed people the antidote. It would take some time for the antidote to work and for them to turn back so they were stuck with the keeper all day who decided to get them to help out in his place as compensation for having been stealing from him for a while. They were fine with the arrangement.
When Clay, Macy and Merlok returned to the Fortrex they couldn’t find the barrel where they left it intending to properly dispose of it so it couldn’t affect anyone else. They were stunned to find it had been brought to the dining room and been used with breakfast! Axl had thought Aaron had accidently put it in the command room during a trance so went to put it back. Since it was open already he decided to use it thinking it was an iced tea. All but Misako had a cup with breakfast. They were all shocked to learn exactly what the stuff they had been given was. It took twenty minutes for the potion to take affect leaving Clay, Macy, Merlok and Misako to deal with the mistake. Though embarrassed by the screw up they got the antidote from the innkeeper who was rather amused by the accident and had a good laugh over it. Afterwards they properly deactivated the potion making it harmless and disposed of the potion hoping to avoid anymore screw ups with it. They gave the others the antidote and had to wait a few hours for the potion to take effect. In the meantime they just had to continue on with their day as usual. Ava found it hard to fully work with the computers due to her small reach from her Skeever cubs arms but she managed to make due using a pencil in her mouth to aid her. She was also still able to use a tablet with relative ease though had to carry it in her jaws as she walked around. Robin had trouble working to fix things as skeevers didn’t really have true thumbs so he couldn’t hold things properly and many things were too heavy for his little skeever form to lift. Luckily the squirebots were able to help him. Lance locked himself in his room ashamed to be seen as a lowly scavenging creature. Axl and Aaron weren’t bothered much and took it in stride. His lack of thumbs didn’t hinder Axl when he wanted food out of the kitchen or to play video games and Aaron was quite thrilled in seeing what he could do as a skeever. How well could he climb, what places could he get into, how fast could he run and other adventurous things. Jestro was put on edge by the potions effects but went with it trying to continue his day with the others.
Luckily they didn’t get many tasks while the others were out of commission. Those that they did get Clay and Macy were able to handle on their own. They were simply disturbances within the village. One was a fight at an inn where they were housing those who had found themselves lost in this realm. The town had been setting up arrangements for the people of Ninjago and Knighton to stay in the town. Some villagers were sharing their dwellings with the foreigners while others were put up in inns, taverns, recreational places and the temple. In one of the inns they had two groups fighting over a room both thinking it had been assigned to them. Even though one of them did have it assigned to them they worked it out with the innkeeper to give both new rooms to ease the tension. They also had to help a mother from Ninjago who was worried since she hadn’t seen her child all day. They found the child. They were hiding in some brush by the river as some children from the Lost Realm had taken his clothes while he went for a swim in the river to relax. He’d left his clothes on the river bank while he went for a swim and found some local kids take them to bully him. The two confronted the kids who pretended they hadn’t done it till Macy threatened to spank them. Not wanting that they gave the clothes back and proclaimed they just wanted to have some fun and didn’t wish to cause harm. They were able to get the child back to their mother.
By noon the potion had worked and it was a good thing. The knights were called in for a rather serious situation early in the afternoon. A local farm town had been attacked by what the only survivor could describe as were demons. All they could get out of her when they talked to her about what had happened was that darkness came over the area then monsters attacked from the shadows. She had run in terror and had no clue what had occurred after. Unsure what to do they headed out to see what had occurred and if there was anything they could do. All the knights headed out even Aaron joined them feeling rather upbeat from his time playing around as a skeever having found it kind of fun. They even brought along Jestro to give him some in field experience. They had a feeling they were going to inevitably need his help whenever the Ashers did show themselves so it was best he was prepared for when that was to happen. The Fortrex was still out so remained in town but though Robin had used parts from their vehicles to repair the Fortrex to compensate in case they needed them he had made some vehicles for them from some old vehicles that were found lying around the city and surrounding areas. They weren’t the best but they served their purpose and really helped them out in serving the town and area. When they got to this farmstead it sent shivers down their spine. The place looked to have been hit by one of the Ashers ravage storms. Everything was darkened dead and burnt looking. There looked to have been no survivors. All were shuffling around as un-dead looking husks and eerily there were some Scimitar Samurai from under the Stags rule shuffling about as well. There was something very wrong with them though telling the knights these Samurai were no longer one with the Stag. They were likely just the reanimated husks of their former selves just like the people. They shuffled around like the un-dead not using the smooth calculating movements of a droid.
“I think we’re too late,” Macy stated all of them feeling disturbed and unsettled by what they were seeing. Though he wanted to agree Clay declared, “we can’t say that for sure. Let’s have a look around just to be sure. If anything we can figure out what occurred here.”
“Just to be on the safe side we should probably use a Nexo power to protect us in case of lingering magic,” Aaron suggested and they all thought it a good idea. They stood in a circle and put their shields out so that they were all touching together so Clay could send a Nexo power through to all of them. Because they were too far from the Fortrex Clay had to use his magic powers as a replacement. Given the state of the area he felt a power based on light was their best option. Once they had a power they all headed into the town being slow and cautious unsure how the corrupted beings would react if they caught their attention. As they entered the town they got startled by one of the Samurai as it came around from behind one of the buildings. Without thinking and in fear Lance hit it with his lance as hard as he could knocking it onto its back a few feet away waves of light energy crossing its body for a few seconds as it shuttered from the energy of the magical shock before it went still. They stood startled for a few seconds worried the others would attack. To their relief they all seemed oblivious. After a few seconds Aaron went over to check the droid.
“Dude either you knocked it off line or you killed it, hard to tell given it’s state,” Aaron proclaimed after inspecting it and Axl noted, “to be fare I don’t think anything here is okay to begin with anymore.”
“Okay let’s be more careful. Don’t hit any of them unless they give us no choice,” Clay ordered. They stuck close on alert as they made it to the center of town. They could see burn marks in the form of a cryptic arcane symbol on the ground in the center of town with three distinct circular parts in the pattern where totems had been placed around the symbols edge. They instantly recognised it as the signs of an Ashers Ravage Storm. The condition of the area and the denizens made sense for this. What didn’t was the Scimitar Samurai. Why were they in town? Their best guess was they had been nearby and likely came to try and stop the Ashers but were unprepared and got caught in the storm as well.
“There’s not much we can do. We should look around for any possible survivors…” Clay began and Lance noted, “but these storms don’t leave survivors.”
“True but we could still try. If anything we could find and take what supplies are left in town back for the city,” Aaron countered and Macy agreed, “true. If there is no one left no use leaving the supplies here to go to waste. The people in Balmora could use them.” They split up into pairs to search the town. Axl and Aaron went together Macy took Lance while Clay took Jestro. They spent an hour searching the town. As expected they found no evidence that anyone was untouched by the storms corruption. They took note of things like food, water, medical supplies and cleaning supplies they could collect to bring back to Balmora. They gathered together in the center of town to go over what they found and how they were going to get everything back to the city. They would probably have to make a few trips to get everything until Aaron made the suggestion of modifying some of the vehicles in town to turn them into trailers so they could carry back more at a time. They liked that idea. As they went over which vehicles to take they were startled when they heard a deep and dark voice proclaim, “knight of the stallion I thank you for setting me free.”
Turning to follow the sound they were shocked to see one of the samurai having approached them. Despite the unsettling feelings coming from its attire and its terrifying appearance they didn’t feel threatened by the figure. They had come to learn the Scimitar Samurai like others of the Stags minions truly intended no harm or trouble to them. It bowed to them getting down on one knee as it talked to them. In a bit of shock Lance responded, “you’re welcome I guess.”
“Where did you come from?” Jestro wondered and getting up the Samurai replied, “I was under the dark hold of those demons unnatural storm then the knight of the stallion broke my curse.”
“Wicked,” Aaron expressed and Clay thought over, “our power brought you back. Maybe we can still save this town.”
“Maybe. The storm that hit this town was a new form of their storms. Instead of simply destroying the living to harvest their souls this one corrupts and taints the living with dark energies. There is the possibility to save them but alone I do not think you will have the power to free everyone. The strike from one knight was enough to spare me for I and my Samurai brethren were merely caught on the edges of the storm. The rest were caught in its heart,” the Samurai regaled and Macy stated, “so we can’t do anything for the town then?”
“That I do not know,” the Samurai replied and curious Aaron wondered, “what were you and your bros doing around here? Seems odd you got caught in the storm.”
“We did not intend to get caught. We caught word of the Ashers intending to try their new storm on this town and came to test a device some of our brethren back home devised to try and break the corruption of those monsters or at least interfere with the magic of their storms. We arrived too late to get it up before the storm hit so were going to wait for the storm to finish before trying the device…” the Samurai began to explain before Clay cut it off to say, “that’s rather cruel. You didn’t think of trying to save anyone?”
“We did, we even had taken special potions to block the storms magic but those monsters intervened. They caught us waiting at the edges of their storm and got in a fight with us. Our precautions were meant to protect from the storm not the full direct attacks of the Ashers who cursed us. Our precautions protected I and my brethren from the worst of their magic’s. It will be easier to break us free. The others will be harder,” the Samurai regaled and Axl wondered looking around, “device, what device? I don’t see any special device around here?”
“It is hidden outside town. We did not wish for those demons to find it so hid it when we saw they were here,” the Samurai replied before leading them to the location of this device. It had been hidden in the hollow in the base of a massive redwood outside town. The Samurai pulled out an average sized crate that was covered by a pale worn tarp. It took the tarp off then pulled out a device a bit smaller than the crate. It consisted of a base with a metal holder coming up from the center of the base which held a large gemstone that they recognised as star stone. This piece though was much bigger than that Tafari had, it was larger than a cat.
“Wow how'd you get such a big piece of that stuff?” Aaron wondered and the Samurai stated, “the Stag retrieved it from their source. The heart of a comet,” the Samurai regaled and looking the device over Clay noted, “I guess for a being like him that would be easy. I don’t see much to this device. How is it supposed to work? What is it even to do?”
“We are unsure. This was to be its first test. Given the properties of this stone it was speculated we might be able to use some form of light magic focussed into it to breach their dark magic to counter its effects and corruption. It has not been tested and the ones who would be using their magic on this to test it were saddening to this one and its kin completely destroyed by those monsters so we could not interfere with their corruptions. Since you bare the magic’s of light maybe you can figure out how to use it to break the darkness,” the Samurai regaled sounding saddened by the destruction of its kin. Thinking it over they decided to give it a go. They brought the device to the center of town and looked around for the best place to put it. The center of town would be best. They placed it there and thought over what to do. They knew how to work this material. Clay touched it and added a light magic to his touch making it glow but while it gave off a bright warm light that they had to look away from it didn’t do anything.
“Is that all it’s supposed to do? Be a fancy floodlight? Well that’s disappointing,” Lance commented and Axl wondered, “maybe it’s broken or got damaged during the storm?”
“No it is perfectly fine. I can sense it is doing what it is supposed to; banishing the darkness both physically and magically. It however is not strong enough to break the Ashers darkness,” the Samurai explained and Clay focussed as much power as he could into the stone and asked as the light got brighter, “how about now?” Some of those closest to them slowly got purified from the darkness and came back to their senses confused and unsettled but most were unaffected.
“That’s doing something,” Jestro commented before Clay stated weakening his spell, “it might be but I can’t hold that power for long.”
“Not to mention it’s not having a very wide range,” Lance noted and while wondering if there was some way to boost the power of the stone they were surprised when having been feeling dizzy from the Blight for the past ten minutes and no longer able to fight it Aaron absent mindedly put his one hand on the stone to steady himself while his other was on his head while his eyes were closed trying to not fall over from the dizziness. They were surprised to note the light get brighter Aarons arm that touched the stone even developing a light from the magic Clay was putting into it. It was like the stone was connecting with and using Aarons energy to strengthen the light and Clays magic. Even his Blights markings developed the same color as the magic. Noting this Clay got an idea. He instructed the rest of the knights including Jestro to touch the stone and to make it work focus on good memories. The Samurai hung back looking around to observe what was happening in the town. They did as Clay instructed and once they were touching it Clay again focussed light magic into the stone. The magic went into each of them and with their touch helped fuel the stone more. They had to close their eyes from the blinding brightness the stone was giving off and after around a minute as they started to feel weak and tired from the stones effects they stopped their focus and let go of the stone its brightness dimming before vanishing. While a bit weak and tired they looked around to see if anything had been done. To their joy it had worked. All those in the town had been freed of the corruption. All were confused, dazed and the people were startled by the Samurai who gave them their space while not speaking to anyone looking uncomfortable to be there around the people.
“It worked,” Axl noted and the Samurai stated, “so the studies of others were correct. We will have to report this.” Some of its pals came over to pick up the device and carry it back to the woods as the Samurai slowly disappeared into the shadows of the decrepit woodlands avoiding being seen too much by the people.
“Wait where are you going?” Jestro asked the Samurai as it started to leave and Clay stated, “why are you leaving? It was because of you every ones back to normal. Wouldn’t you want the people to know you helped us; that you’re not the monsters they think you are?”
“No it is you who saved them; we just provided you with a means to save them. We will slink back to the shadows and take the device back with us for more study. You are to receive praise for this not us. We don’t need any praise; you are the heroes not us. Besides we are supposed to be seen by others as demons,” the Samurai expressed before following its kin into the shadows. With the Samurai gone and the people coming back to their senses they gathered the people in the center of town. They were all confused and scared but pleased to see the knights knowing their presence likely meant something terrible had happened but they were now safe. To keep everyone safe they decided to evacuate the town taking all that they could with them back to Balmora. They had already been attacked once. There was a possibility the Ashers would return possibly to collect their pawns and if they found their work had been undone things likely would not go well for the people. They collected all the supplies they could to take back to the city along with the people. Once back in town they got everything worked out with the town council and got the people settled in before heading back to the Fortrex to rest and for dinner. Things went pretty fine and chill the rest of the night. After dinner they hung out in the lounge. After what he had been through Lance spent two hours cleaning himself up in the bathroom feeling like being a skeever had left him dirty before joining everyone else. At one point before they went to bed Aaron entered one of the Blights trances. They kept him locked in the lounge to keep him out of danger till he was out dropping random things on the floor for him to use in his tower building while the rest of them relaxed and kept an eye on him till he came out of the Blights trance. Afterwards they decided to call it a day and went to bed. Despite the mess up they had earlier and the work to rescue that town the knights felt the day had gone rather well and had been rather calm compared to most of the days they had been having in this place. Despite the ease of the day though both the Knights and Ninja knew they had plenty of tough times ahead.
Undaunted Takes place during the chapter The Prince of the Mountain.
They still had more days to go before they would be making to head to confront Dagon. It had only been four days since the ninja had come too from their brush with death but they were starting to feel good enough to get back into training even though none of them had regained the ability to use their powers; it had some like Kai, Jay and secretly Lloyd worried their powers wouldn’t come back. After a couple times training they were doing well even though both they and the knights felt awfully weak and tired. None were willing to admit it though and sometimes some of them, mainly Clay Lloyd Macy Kai and Nya, would push themselves past what they could handle trying to appear stronger than they actually were. They often trained together where the ninja had been training to perform a dragon aspect. Misako, Merlok, Ava, Robin and inhabitants of the Forbidden City would watch them. The one day some of them were feeling rather impatient to get going to face Dagon. Worry and uncertainty had them all on edge and a bit impatient but some like Cole, Zane, Aaron, Jestro and Jay knew they were in no shape yet to be doing anything serious and should take their time getting to it. The rest were not thinking the same and voicing their inpatients. Divayths Daughter clones Eboshi and Maro were there that day watching and heard their talking. The next day after breakfast the two dragged both groups, the ninja and knights along with Jestro, into the research center outside the city. They were stumped when they found a group of five people from a mix of realms waiting there. A male hyena folk and a short female ungulate folk from the Lost Realm, a person from Ninjago and one from Knighton along with a serpentine were all in the mix. All wore various styles of armour and had various weapons.
“Eh so you’re the ones joining us today then,” the hyena folk declared.
“For what?” Jay wondered confused. Eboshi and Maro hadn’t told them what they were doing just to follow.
“We hear you’re ready to get back into the field so you get to join us today as a test to see if you truly are,” the serpentine declared and still confused Aaron wondered, “and who are you all?”
“We are Undaunted! Adventurers to delve through dungeons and places unknown or little seen to route out trouble and destroy it!” a voice declared and looking to where it came from some of them were surprised while others were spooked. The one to have talked was a cat folk from the lost realm. He stood with two other beast folk both female. A hyena folk who was standing leaning against a wall with her arms crossed and an ungulate folk who sat on a crate one leg bent up so she could rest her arm on it. All three were transparent and an icy bluish in hue.
“Ghosts!” Jay screamed hiding behind Cole who was nervous at the threes sight while Lance hid behind Axl.
“Is that your first thought when you see us? Spooky ghosts here to haunt you. Typical living,” the ungulate one stated and Clay stated, “I’m sorry for how some of us reacted to you it’s just you don’t see a ghost every day.”
“Aye little blue one no need to fear this one and his compatriots. Just because we lost our mortal bodies doesn’t mean our days as undaunted are over,” the cat folk cheerfully proclaimed while the hyena one explained, “we used to reside in the cursed realm till we made a deal with Storabek to save us from our fates. He swapped our prisoner to that of the void and bound our spirits to energies of the light in the void. It’s not pleasant but it’s also not as bad as it sounds. We’re made from Atherial Plasm, a substance of the void which makes us immune to the weaknesses of typical ghosts so water can’t hurt us and we can still continue like we did in life to some extent though now we can’t feel anything, we’re bound to the void until Storabek releases us and are very weak to shadow and necromatic magic which many of our enemies like to use; it isn’t pleasant.”
“We can socialize all we want later why don’t we get going,” one of the others someone who looked to have come from Knightonia stated and Eboshi declared, “agreed. You can chat on the way now come.” She then led them all out into the wastes Maro staying behind and closing up the research station as they left. As they headed out to their set location they decided to do some chatting to keep the silence at bay.
“So what brought your group here?” Kai inquired and the male hyena folk from the group who looked to be a ranger replied, “Eboshi contacted us and one of her clan mates created a portal to get us here.”
“So you know her?” Macy wondered and the short ungulate folk who had small two tinged prosthetic antlers coming out of her forehead and bird like black eyes regaled, “she’s been a member of our group for a while but we knew her as Eboshi the steel-skin not Eboshi daughter to one of the Black Stags high ranking spawn.”
“Yha you would never have thought she was in league with him considering she sometimes joined us on raids against her own kin,” the one serpentine which they guessed was from the Lost Realm stated and Eboshi regaled, “I had to keep up appearances besides sometimes it was necessary to remove rogue units or remind clan members for their safety to not instil problems from the flesh skins. Because of fears and superstitions to my kind and to protect my brethren I had to go undercover. My father never liked it fearing it could be dangerous especially if my true identity was revealed but I was always careful and considering recent events he is probably grateful for my role among them. Considering what transpired in Balmora we decided it safe to let some know the truth. It is likely things around here are going to be changing a bit.”
“So you’re going to work with people more often?” Lloyd wondered and Eboshi replied, “to some extent yes but we will be limiting it to our home and the nearby regions.”
“So how did you become spectral?” Nya wondered to the three who were ghosts Jay hiding behind her afraid of the ghosts and the hyena one regaled, “we were on a mission long ago, hundreds of years now. We were clearing out the tower of a mad dark mage who was causing problems for his neighbours. You know plaguing them with un-dead, using those who wandered near for his experiments, using monsters of the void for guard dogs…” The ungulate one cut in to simplify, “we bust in took out his pets and went to get him but he was ready and waiting for us. He hit us with some strange spell that wound us up in the cursed realm and of course in our non living state.”
“We thought we were trapped there till one day we heard about Storabek. He had the power to take us out of there and free us of its hold but it would come at a cost. We had to agree to his terms and he would save us,” the spectral cat folk regaled and Clay wondered, “and what were those terms?”
“We had to pledge allegiance to him answering his call whenever he saw fit to seek us and accept the hold of the void,” the ungulate one stated and the hyena one added, “when we accepted he bound us in the void. Spent a long time trapped in that nightmare of a place till a foolish mage made an accident and tore a temporary breach into it when they tried summoning a Vulcaroth allowing us to get out. Surprisingly Storabek wasn’t mad that we left though unnervingly he could always find us when he wanted to use us.”
“All those in the cursed realm thought us fools for seeking Storabeks aid, claimed we’d have a more pleasant time with Oni than him. Guess they were the fools though considering what happened to the cursed realm. Sure we’re bound to the void but hey at least we have some freedom and can’t be defeated by water… though silver or demon made items can hurt us some magic’s are real nasty when used on us,” the cat one noted and Zane wondered, “did you know Storabek and the Stag were the same being?”
“Not at first but yha we eventually figured it out. Truly it didn’t scare us. It didn’t change who he was,” the ungulate folk spectre replied. When they got close to the ruin Eboshi silenced them and told them to get low as they paused on a wooded hilltop to overlook an Ashers fort. There was no evidence of Ashers being present but monsters of the void were crawling around everywhere. The structure was a three stories tall ziggurat like structure that was an elongated rectangle in shape. Two buildings were situated on the top. A small single hut like building and a much larger L shaped structure. The whole thing was made of darkened stone with fire pits for lighting scattered around the structure.
“So what are we doing here?” Lloyd wondered as they overlooked the scene and Eboshi regaled, “we are going to clear out this stronghold of its monsters. From observations, reconnaissance and base scans we believe the Ashers created a portal to the void within that stronghold. We are going to shut it down and clear the place of any and all monsters.”
“Three Vulcaroths are patrolling the top of the structure, a Dreadconda is patrolling around the base, there looks to be a nest of Vesparilions near the entrance we need and it would appear those humanoid demons Zivkin have taken over the Ashers role here,” the archer hyena folk noted looking through a spy glass over the area. They could see the Dreadconda, Vulcaroths and the Zivkin who were dark grey skinned humanoids with glowing red eyes, black hair and small horns on their foreheads with the naked eye. The Zivkin wore dark red marked armour or black robes and were mulling around on the top of the structure around a large bonfire they had built in the middle between the two structures looking ready for the possibility of attacks. The Vesparilions were not really visible being too small to see with the naked eye from their position though the large muddy structure they made for a nest was visible on the structure.
“We should draw the Dreadconda away and take it out first then we should ambush the Zivkin hanging on top. Some smoke bombs should let us get close and take them out before the Vulcaroths come in,” Eboshi planned out and the others were in agreement and wasted no time getting to work. They moved down the hill and hid behind some rocks and trees from the serpentine creature. It looked to have noticed some movement from them out of the corner of its eye but brushed it off and went back to patrolling. The archer hyena folk got up onto a boulder shot an arrow it tipped with a poison that could hurt void beings at its back. Turning around to see who had attacked it the Dreadconda instantly saw the Yeenmer and slithered towards them hissing how foolish he had been to challenge one as powerful as it and how it was going to painfully drain his energy. As it got close to him it started working on a spell lifting the folk off the rock without touching them. The rest of them then wasted no time in rushing out to lasso its four arms with special ropes that were enchanted to weaken beings of the void making this monster easier to restrain even though it still took most of them to hold it fairly still. While it was distracted trying to break free Eboshi got Aaron to shoot it in the back of the head beneath the frill with the special bolts she had given him. Once that was done the monster disappeared in a flash of black smoke and they all quickly moved to hide against the base of the structure. The three spectral folk were sent to check on the other monsters in case their struggle had caught their attentions. Sure enough some of the Zivkin had been drawn by the noise and were cautiously coming down the stairs from the top of the structure. Using their ghostly abilities the three took them all out without witnesses before they could find the others coming up through the ground of the stairs behind them. They motioned for the others to follow. They kept low moving up the stairs pausing before they reached where they would become visible to those on the top platform. Eboshi and the serpentine tossed two large canisters atop the platform where they caught the monsters attention before exploding releasing a cloud of smoke to obstruct the area. They all then rushed up to take on the enemies. They took out a few quickly before the smoke cleared removing their surprise advantage. The Vulcaroths and Vesparilions quickly joined the attack and swarmed their group. The undaunted members were surprisingly good in the fight and while having struggles were able to quickly recover with only a little aid. The knights and ninja on the other hand were not doing so good. No matter how hard they tried the ninja couldn’t muster their powers or enter a Spinjitsu tornado, Clay was struggling with his magic and they all found themselves quickly tiring and getting sore some getting pulled muscles and minor cuts; even Zane hurt himself straining some of his internal works. They put on a show though when the struggle was over and all the monsters had been destroyed not wanting to show to these fighters who they felt were looking up to them that they were weak, tired and sore.
“That wasn’t too bad,” Kai boasted and the serpentine stated, “that’s because those were only a small group. We’re likely to face much worse in the stronghold.” Using a spell to hit the Vesparilions nest with a spell that looked like void green fire Eboshi commented, “indeed the worst are going to be by the portal which is held in a basement structure inside.” When done with the nest she came over to the others and projected from her eyes a holograph outlining the structure and its interior makes. A hall wound around the inside of the structure on their level with a stairway on both the back and front of the building leading down to a hall that turned into another hall that ran between the long corridor of rectangular with rounded cornered hall that sat by ground level in the structure they stood on. Several rooms came off on the interior of this hall one of which had a staircase that came off it and ran into a large basement complex which consisted of a hall that had several large rooms come off it before it ran into a massive room at its end. Eboshi showed them the route they were going to take and their destination, the massive room in the basement.
“Remember stick close and be aware these places are dark and filled with monsters. Do not wander off and stick with a friend at all times,” Eboshi proclaimed shutting off the projections from her eyes before leading them into the structure. As she had said it was dark inside and all but the spectres were unnerved. The place was poorly lit with the main light coming from dark reddish orange crystals that seemed to grow on and out of surfaces throughout and various candle sources. Bones from various entities were scattered about some strapped on posts making strange looking amalgamated creatures from them such as humanoid torsos with animal skull heads. Every now and then they saw strange creatures in the structure which they could only assume were from the void like eerie creatures with a single eyeball stuck into the core of what resembled a brittlestar that clung to the walls occasionally floating from wall to wall their eyes slowly following any who walked past, Skeevers tainted by the void, and void tainted lizards, snakes and beetles. Most just scurried away from them others like the tentacled eyeballs just eerily watched them which greatly unsettled Jay.
“Do not bother with those entities, they are neutral and will not attack unless provoked. We can deal with them when the main and more serious issue is dealt with,” Eboshi told Jay who highly unsettled by the eye creatures was getting distracted hitting them when they looked at him and trying to destroy any he came close to or that came close to him. They moved slowly taking out various lesser monsters and Zivkin they encountered as they made their way through the halls clearing out any room they came upon destroying any monsters hanging in or around it. They made their way into the basement and up to the final room in the basement in which they believed the portal was hidden. As they had gotten deeper into the stronghold they had all felt an eerie uncomfortable energy growing in the area and strange plants, fungi and void born fauna such as the eyed tentacle creatures, floating misty light balls with tentacles some wearing random items like shells broken lanterns or pottery over the mist parts and even what looked like animals like chickens and skeevers tainted by void energy were hanging about in the lower levels of the fort. When they got to the last room a dark looking door blocked the way below which a strange dark greenish mist was creeping out from. Noting the mist Eboshi halted them and told the serpentine to hand out a potion to each of them. The serpentine which looked to be from one of the races of the Lost Realm took out of a satchel it was carrying a vile of a strange amber colored faint light emitting liquid and handed one to all but the three spectres.
“Uh what is this?” Jay worried. While everyone else was unbothered by it and drank the potion without a problem all the ninja and knights were hesitant to.
“It is a potion that will protect us from the dangers of dark void energy. The strange energies, flora and fauna we have been encountering is a sign the portal here has been open for a while and the mists coming from beneath this door indicate a great deal of void energy has flooded the area behind this door. Without a means of protection which this potion will offer there is a high likely hood we will get poisoned by void energies which will lead to you becoming one of the denizens of the void. Unless you want that to happen then it is best you drink up,” Eboshi explained after having her potion. Not wanting to risk that they all drank the potion. It made them feel warm and oddly safe.
“What about them?” Jay inquired pointing to the spectres as once they all finished the potion Eboshi slowly opened the door everyone prepping for a possible attack. The ungulate folk spectre expressed, “we’re already of the void so it can’t affect us.” On the other side they found a massive room with a large portal in the center of the room. The room was dark with the only light coming from some brazier in the corners of the room the fires of which were green from void tainted energy and the large portal itself. This portal was large enough to pass a buss through and the frame that once contained it had blown apart pieces of it floating around the edges of the portal. Dark tentacles stretched from the ground beneath the portal out to the walls where they creeped up them and spread across them. Flora tainted or possibly even from the void was scattered around the room, some small fauna were roaming about the place minding their own business and a strange icy bluish green liquid was pooled in some areas. While looking like water they had a feeling it wasn’t water but some substance from the void. A dark fog coated the ground coming out from the portal.
“This is bad,” the dark eyed ungulate folk expressed and Eboshi declared, “it would seem they have sped up what they were doing and are trying to create a tear into the void here. I was worried about this. To protect it the mechanism they are using to do this is likely on the other side of the portal in the void. We will have to enter the portal and find where this device is likely in some sort of fort and destroy it from there.” While the members of the Undaunted were ready and eager to enter the knights and ninja were hesitant and scared. They’d heard the nightmares of what this place was and dreaded what it was or what they would face. Eboshi proclaimed since they had taken the potion they’d be safe before she led them through the portal. The Undaunted didn’t hesitate to follow. Not wanting to be left alone in this creepy place they all followed through.
Things felt strange as they went through the portal and came out on the other side as if they had been gripped by some unfamiliar energy which made them feel oddly as if their mind and body were somehow not fully connected to each other. The feeling had them all on ease even largely fearless Aaron was highly unnerved by the feeling. What they found on the other side further unsettled them taking their minds off the feelings especially since the ninja felt as if they had somehow been here before. While they could see things looked overcast. They could see through the dark knarled looking forest they had found themselves in a green tinged sky coated in what seemed like clouds that largely blocked what looked like a sun that dimly lit through the overcast like sky. Strange yet somehow familiar looking flora was scattered around what looked like a dirt path they had found themselves on. This dirt path ran on a ridge of high ground through the woods which bore scattered low swampy areas of strangely greenish tinged water with rocky higher grounds separating the lowlands. The knights recognised some flora including trees that looked like things from the Darkwoods in their home realm growing about the place while the ninja recognised things that looked like flora from the Toxic Bogs of their realm. Despite resembling them both were sure these really weren’t the flora they knew but some strange void replica or mimicry to those they knew. Along with these familiar looking flora and those that resembled something they recognised looked like those from the Lost realm were also strange unrecognisable plants and fungi likely originating from the void. Amongst the flora were scatterings of strange fauna. What looked like animals like lizards, snakes, insects and birds either tainted by or of void existence moved about or hung around. Some even looked like some form of un-dead with patches of flesh missing exposing green tinted bone beneath. Along with these creatures were lesser void beings like the eye creatures, known as Watchers, which clung to various places just watching the area and the tentacle mist creatures, Void-lamps, which just floated around. There were also strange balls of light that appeared moved about in the air then disappeared randomly to manifest sometime later elsewhere. No one was sure what those were but they were pretty sure they were not really living things. There was a metallic icy smell to the air with a wind that carried a slight sulphuric stench with it. The air felt somehow both warm and cool and was damp. Strange sounds could be heard in the air. They sounded like birds, frogs and insects yet something about them was off almost unnatural. Along with these were the sounds of wind, branches creaking and leaves rustling. Zane found he was only able to use his base human like senses, many of his other built in enhancers to senses weren’t working right and he had no sense of direction. In fact none of them could feel a sense of direction. It was something they normally weren’t aware of but now that it was gone they could feel it. While in the realms they could get a sense a feeling of which direction was north and the other directions; sure some like Jay, Kai, Lance and Jestro normally were quite bad with directions and didn’t have too strong a sense in direction but even now they were aware of what a true lack of direction was like. Sometimes they felt like something that could point to being north but the feeling seemed to come and go randomly.
“This path will take us to where we need to be. Stay on the path and do not wander no matter what,” Eboshi declared as they slowly and cautiously made their way down the path. All were on edge the knights and ninja most of all with some being worse than others. Despite his nerves to him Jay was sticking close to Aaron who though unnerved was still quite stable and focussed. Jestro was clinging close to Cole while Lloyd was unknowingly keeping himself close to Axl who was just as on edge as he was. As they went they slowly could see a decrepit fort sitting on a high hill in the woods a central tower sat in its walls with an energy beam coming up out of its top. The beam was a solid glowing mass of energy with streaks of red making its core. Gloam Harpies were perched on the walls with a few flying around as early lookouts while the humanoid Zivkins strolled about on guard. A seam of lava sat in a crack in the hill to the one side of the fort where it wound around the hill a bit. Some Vulcaroths were lazing in the lava with some Lava Globlins, monsters the knights recognised having dealt with before, playing around with some of them a few having the misfortune of getting caught and eaten by the Vulcaroths. Seeing the Lava Globlins here in the void made the knights wonder if this was where those monsters had originated from, Merlok had never explained where the monsters they faced came from so this was a possibility. Every now and then they could hear thunder and a bolt of lightning would strike at random on the tower in the fort from the clouds above it which seemed to circle around the energy that shot from the tower. All the inhabitants were unbothered by the danger.
“Please tell me we don’t have to go in there?!” Jay pleaded terrified as they hung back in the shadows of the woods to observe the area. To his dislike Eboshi stated, “the device is likely in that tower. That is where we must go. We do not want this tear to the void to be left open in the realm.” They quickly worked up a plan before launching an attack on the fort. Along with those they could see there was others hiding within the fort including Vesparilions, Serpent-flies and Voidfears which joined in the fight as they entered the fort. As expected the monsters wasted no time in attacking them and the ninja still didn’t have their powers back and were finding themselves having a bit of trouble entering a Spinjitsu tornado and maintaining it. Interestingly though Lloyd wasn’t having as much of a problem. Clay found his magic was weaker which led to their Nexo Powers being weaker as well. These didn’t stop them in their fight but made things tougher and took them longer than they liked to take out the enemies. When defeated the enemy would collapse and dissipate into a mist that steadily vanished. Once they had cleared out the outer region of the fort they took a moment to relax. Even though they were trying to hide it the members of the Undaunted could see the knights and ninja were starting to tire and struggle to keep up.
“Why were our powers so weak?” Kai wondered and the spectral hyena folk explained, “because we are in the void. The potion is still letting you use your unique skills; without it unless you trained and learned to work within the energies of the void or were tainted by it then you would be unable to use your spinning power or magic while in here. The green one however is special. He carries the blood of a direct spawn to the void so the void is not affecting him like the rest of you. Oni and Dragons are children of the void born directly of its energies of destruction and creation.”
“How do you know what Lloyd is?” Jay inquired stumped of how this being knew that. They hadn’t said anything about that to them. The spectral cat folk was the one to explain proclaiming, “as ones with the void we can feel when others are tied to it like us and not only are you tied to it but tied through something powerful.” The spectral ungulate folk then added, “not to mention Eboshi told us.” Not wanting to hesitate to let the enemy prepare for their assault Eboshi led them into the tower. Inside was a large central rotunda with an open pit into a lake of some plasmatic lava looking substance in the center. The energy beam was coming up through this and headed straight up into the ceiling about five to six stories high up. The room was lit by fire held in braziers and torches throughout the structure. Two doors at the sides went into the rotunda walls and throughout the upper levels starting on the second floor of the rotunda walls were catwalks with ramps linking a few levels together all following the curves of the walls. There were some Globlins and a Vulcaroth waiting for them in the rotunda but these were easily taken out. They followed Eboshi’s lead which took them behind the one doorway which led into a spiral ramp up to a gathering area where more monsters were waiting to confront them. They took these out before continuing. As they continued the knights and ninja were quickly finding it hard to keep up with the others and even fight being sore, weak and tired. The Undaunted could see this but said nothing instead just pausing every now and then to wait up for them. After this room they went out onto one of the catwalks to reach higher up in the structure. The Undaunted rushed ahead getting into a battle with some monsters on a third story level while the knights and ninja struggled getting up the ramp between the second and third story going slow and feeling winded. During their struggle the one Undaunted member, the short black eyed ungulate folk got knocked over the railing of the catwalk and fell to the bottom floor. She managed to save herself by landing on her feet with a roll landing but she came to lay dazed on the ground as some monsters came in from outside to help defend the fort. Zivkins, a Vulcaroth, some Gloam Harpies and Globlins came in to surround her. The knights and ninja were worried and wanted to go back to help her but the ranger hyena folk told them not to bother their friend could handle herself they just had to watch.
“But she’s all on her own and outnumbered,” Clay noted as she got up and looked at her opponents and the serpentine stated, “yha but they can’t handle her.” The knights and ninja were confused as they looked down to watch. It was clear the short ungulate folk could see she was outnumbered but to their astonishment instead of calling for help she looked to brace herself as if expecting to get attacked but then she got engulfed by a bright light and mist which morphed in shape and size. When it cleared instead of the little folk stood reared up in her place was a creature the size of a large bear that looked like a Pryphon though it lacked any wings on its back just having the legs. It was reared up in defence showing off its fore talons before screeching with a deep almost roar like screech at the monsters before getting down onto all fours and attacking them.
“What the…” Kai began and the ranger hyena folk explained, “she’s an Animuidic, a druidic shape shifter, she can take the form of Quasipryph a mimic to the large defensive battle form of a Pryphon.” With little effort using just her beak and fore paw claws fighting like a bear the Animuidic took out the monsters. Once they were defeated she picked up her daggers with her beak then crawled up the rotunda walls back up to the catwalk with them. She dropped the daggers on the ground before transforming out of her beast form. Some like Jay were scared by this power while others like Aaron found it cool and were a bit jealous of it.
“What you’ve never seen a shape shifter before?” she commented while equipping herself noting the surprised looks of some of them. Lloyd commented, “no we’ve seen them just not one who could become a creature like that… I guess that explains your birdlike eyes.” She stated before they headed off, “those aren’t from my powers, I just modified them to look like that cause I like the look; people are less likely to make fun of your size when you look like a dangerous supernatural being now common I need to sink my talons into more of these monsters.” She then wasted no time in heading off to follow the others. They continued up the tower. The Knights and ninja however despite trying their hardest were just keeping up and not able to offer much help for the Undaunted as they took out the monsters and reached the top of the tower. They waited for the ninja and knights before entering the room at the top of the tower. There was some Zivkins, a Vulcaroth and Voidfears waiting in the room in which the beam of energy passed through the floor at its center where it continued up through the roof of the structure. The room was two stories tall with chains holding a metal ring around the energy beam at the second story where a catwalk went half around the area wrapping halfway around the ring so individuals could interact with a strange round object floating in the beam a bit above the ring. Small hooks came up out of the ring curving up and pointing into the round object occasionally sending bolts of energy into the ball. Eboshi warned them to avoid the beam in the center of the room; things would be real bad for them if they touched it. It seemed like they might finish this with ease but as the fight got started they realised quickly they were in over their heads. Monsters of the Void were able to rise from shadows in the room including Void Wraiths, Gloam Harpies, half spider half woman creatures, Serpent Flies and other nightmarish creatures of the void. The Animuidic turned into her beast form to aid them and Eboshi started using more spells than her blade against monsters focussing on powerful light spells in order to combat the monsters. Both the Knights and Ninja were just holding on in the fight clearly feeling despite what some of them felt they weren’t ready yet to get back in the fight. What they were facing was in no way as bad as what they likely were going to face against Dagon and things were going pretty bad.
“We are not going to be able to fend off these monsters especially not on their home turf. Our best bet is to get the portal stone and escape,” Eboshi declared and Jay panicked, “and how are we going to get out of here?” Eboshi explained, “if I can get the stone I know a spell to use through it that will open a portal home.”
“We can get it for you but you’ll need to be ready to go as soon as we take it. Once the stone is removed from its position in that energy beam the tear will destabilize and close completing our task and we can use the stone to get us out of here. They’re also not going to be happy when we take it and the energy they are passing through that thing will likely scatter without the focus of that stone which will seriously harm those that it touches. Luckily it will be drawn to those of the void before the rest of us first giving us time to escape,” the spectral hyena folk stated and Eboshi ordered, “then we’ll reach that thing together.” They worked their way onto the second story catwalk making sure all of them were there and in close proximity to each other so they were ready to get going the moment the stone was taken. Once there the spectral ungulate folk cautiously reached from the catwalk over and into the beam to quickly grab the stone and pull it from the beam. Just as they had suggested without the stone to focus the energy began to shoot around the place. The void entities seemed to attract the energy which would overload and destroy them in a blast of a shocking dark mist. The enemies were a mix of emotions. Some like the Wraiths and Voidfears kept attacking while others like the Zivkin and Gloam Harpies accepted that they had been defeated and just stood at arms waiting to be affected by the energy.
“Because we are not of the void we should be safe for a time but we need to get out of here quickly,” Eboshi proclaimed as the spectral ungulate folk handed her the stone before she and the other spectral members possessed one of the other members of the Undaunted to protect themselves from the energy that was flying around. Eboshi wasted no time in creating a portal for them. They wasted no time, some like Jestro and Jay who hurriedly dragged Nya with him being much quicker than others, to get through the portal. The Undaunted waited to be the last holding back the monsters who still insisted on fighting so the knights and ninja could get safely through. Cole was the last to head through as the members of the Undaunted began heading through the portal inquiring to Eboshi who didn’t seem to be following before he left, “aren’t you coming?”
“Don’t worry about me, as long as I hold this stone I will be fine. I need to remain focussed to keep the portal stable for the rest of you to safely get through. Go and I’ll be behind you,” Eboshi declared as they were the last two there. Cole headed through and after a few seconds to prep herself Eboshi rushed through the portal dodge rolling through the stone still in her hands before it closed within seconds of her passing through. She had opened a portal that took them back into the research center outside Holomaya where their adventure had started. Everyone had got back safely and was taking a moment to rest and catch their breaths. The spectral folks had exited their hosts and were apologising to them for their actions; their allies were okay with it as they had done it only to protect themselves. All the knights and ninja were sitting on the ground sore, feeling weak and tired.
“Well that didn’t go too bad. Without this stone that portal will have closed and it will take them a while to try that again at least in that location,” Eboshi declared as she straightened up and looked at the round blackish polished looking glass looking stone like object that bore a purplish glow within its core that gave a strange glow coming through the dark clouded looking makes of the interior. The glow slowly died down to a faint glow and iridescence to the interior of the sphere now that it was out of the void and no longer being used.
“So my living comrades do you really think you’re ready to continue on your journey and face the demon already?” the spectral cat folk boasted getting down on one knee and placing his arms over Kai and Jays shoulders as the two sat next to each other. The knights and ninja were hesitant to say anything embarrassed with how poorly they had performed.
“You know we get your impatiens. You’re worried if you take too long it will be too late. That you are running out of time. Trust us we’ve been there and this, what you face, isn’t something you should be rushing into when you’re not ready and we can tell even if you think you are you truly aren’t ready,” the spectral hyena folk stated and Clay wondered, “what exactly are you talking about?”
“We were once one like you. When we took on that mage that took us out we were doing so against the advice of our superiors. They told us to wait for reinforcements to hold off till we were fully prepared but we didn’t listen,” the spectral ungulate folk started and the cat folk continued, “we were afraid he would get too powerful and dangerous if we waited. We felt we were running out of time so we three went against our orders and rushed into the attack with no aid before we were truly ready despite what we felt. We thought we were ready but our fate told us otherwise.”
“If we had waited like our superiors told us and took time to prepare for what we would face, if we had waited for others to have our backs in battle then we might not have ended up with the fate we have,” the spectral hyena folk explained and the spectral cat folk added, “do not feel for us living comrades we have come to terms with our mistakes and accept the fates we made for ourselves. We would urge though not to make our same mistakes. You are not ready to get back out there yet so take your time. Relax, make sure to prepare and be truly ready before rushing into this or you too will share our fate or worse.”
“You had us on your side this time but in your battle to come chances are you will be on your own and in your current states despite what you think chances are you will wipe and fall to the enemies,” Eboshi told them. They could all feel the weight of their words and even if some of them wanted to contradict them they knew they were right.
“Don’t let the shadows get you down. You’ll be ready soon enough don’t push yourselves till you’re truly ready. Despite what you think you are not alone in this. There are others out there helping to hold back these monsters like us of the Undaunted and when you face Dagon we will be there to help you all take the fight back to those monsters now come why don’t we tell my father and the others of the black hand the good news about those monsters and you all take a good time to rest and relax,” Eboshi declared holding a hand out to help Lloyd up. He looked at all the others a little upset with his weakness and failure. The members of the Undaunted were looking at them quite and looked a little concerned for them; the shape shifter changing back to her normal form as she calmed down. Despite them hiding it the knights and his fellow ninja were looking rather tired and defeated from their encounter.
“I guess… it does sound like a good idea,” Lloyd stated taking Eboshi’s hand and she helped him up. The others got up some getting help from the members of the Undaunted before they headed off back into Holomaya for some well needed rest for their battles ahead.
DJ’s Raid Takes place during the time of Chapter The Prince of the Mountain.
“Why again are we doing this?” Clay wondered and DJ proclaimed, “Cause I think you could all use for some fun.” Now with the knights and ninja together at the city and with some of the tension gone with Balmora safe, the Blight cured and the Stag free of his darkness DJ had set up a fun play session to try and relax everyone. While the knights and ninja relaxed after recent events and prepared to head to confront Dagon DJ invited them to a game night. They had all started to recover but it would be a while before they were all ready to head out for the final battle so they had a while of free time to which DJ was hoping to spend time with them and have some fun. Most of his fellow constructs were busy so had little time to play with him, the Stag wasn’t one for video games and due to the plane meld many of his online friends weren’t around or playing so DJ didn’t have many to play with leaving him feeling a bit down of late. He was hoping this would cheer everyone up. He had set up a session in a fantasy RPG MMO he loved to play for them all to play in. They had set up in the lounge of the knights ship the Fortrex. Most of them sat on the floor resting on floor cushions with a low table in front of them to hold the laptop they were using to play with. DJ had given one along with a Joystick to each of the ninja and knights. Clay, Macy, Axl, Aaron and Lance were playing along with Jestro while all the ninja were playing. Those not playing were Robin, Ava, Merlok in his Robo-bill form and Misako. Merlok and Misako were sitting on the couch hanging out and reading. Robin sat next to and was watching Clay while Ava sat with Macy and was watching her. While everyone else sat on the floor Lance had set himself up on a reclining chair not wanting to sit on the floor like a peasant. All but Jestro were dressed in their commoners clothes to relax with.
“Where’d you get this stuff?” Kai wondered looking over the laptop and joystick DJ had given him. While they were all thinking the same thing Kai had been the first to say anything. DJ responded as he got them all connected in the game, “I refurbished them from cargo we confiscated from the Ashers or towns they had devastated. Got them all running to the best possible state the technologies of the common folk allow. I am a tech expert after all. It’s not hard for me.”
“What are we doing again?” Lance wondered as they all played around with the characters DJ had made set up for them to get used to the controls and a feel for the game. Kai and Lance were still playing with their characters appearance.
“We are grouping together to run a group content called a raid or trial if you want to call it that where we work together to take down the enemies. We’ll be doing this on normal so it’s easy for everyone. The raid we are going to do is set on a mountain valley that is semi isolated. A trading group tried to set up some mining and forestry outposts in it but unknowingly one of those they hired to help them run the outposts was a necromancer in line with a vampire warlord who has been waiting growing his forces for the right time to set out and take over parts of the mortal realm. We are going to go in and take down the evil monsters he has unleashed in the valley, shut down the labs he is using to create mutated monsters out of his forces and stop the necromancer and his allies who have started this. This is one of the longer raids; there are five main bosses, eight mini ones and lots of enemies to kick butts of. It may be long but it’s fun; I know all the mechanics and secrets in it. You fight vampiric and un-dead creatures, demon creatures… there’s even an un-dead shadow dragon as one of the bosses,” DJ explained.
“How’d you get these characters set up for us?” Aaron inquired confused and DJ replied, “I had to do a little special work; you might not like how I did it but I kind of hacked the system to manually set them up. I know it’s bad but it was the best option. I didn’t make your characters op or anything. They’re set up to be just like any normal casual player. I based each of them off you so they will match your personality and traits. Aaron I made you the cat folk, the Ta’gra who are stealthy agile and have good recovery of resources. I made you an archer with the Ranger class. Rangers can summon beasts are skilled in ice magic’s and can call on the powers of nature to heal and boost resource recovery and power for attacks. Because you’re brother and sister Kai and Nya I made your characters Ash Elves who have a resistance to fire. There are Marine Elves in the game but they are not a playable race sorry Nya. Kai you are a Dragon Warrior. They are skilled in martial combat combining martial arts with weapon use and flame magic and your character double wields swords. Nya yours is a Night Walker. They’re masters of stealth, shadow magic and can siphon health and other resources from enemies. Your weapon is a spear which I made look like a trident through the cosmetics system. I also used the cosmetics to give your character sea themed markings and attire. Jay yours is a Welton a race of half human half elf who can restore magic quicker and have some resistance to it. I made you a sorcerer. You get skills in storm magic and the summoning of demon creatures. To go with your sorcerer style your weapon is a staff which you blast magic from. Clay I made you a Grand Elf cleric. Grand Elves are skilled with magic and Clerics rely on the powers of the magic of light to harm enemies and restore the resources like health to your allies. I gave you a sword and shield. Zane like Aaron you’re a ranger and an archer but you have a few different skills that let you restore resources of your allies and you get a bear as you’re beast companion to aid you in combat while Aaron gets a wolf; it was the closest thing to a fox. The bear does more damage and offers more protection but is slower than the wolf. Your race Zane is the reptile people the Seehl who share a special connection with sentient trees. Your immune to disease damage, resistant to poisons and heal faster than the other races. Axl you get the Tusked Elves or Orcs as their commonly called. They have a bonus to health recovery and have some resistance to physical damage. You’re a war axe wielding Earthen knight. They wield powers of earth magic and weapon powers. Cole you’re also an Earthen Knight but you wield a warhammer and are a Nordic; they are resistant to cold and physical damage along with having the ability to convert some damage taken to your ultimate power. Macy you are a Welton and a Dragon Warrior wielding a mace and shield. Lloyd you’re also a Grand Elf but you only wield a sword and are a Dragon Warrior. Lance you’re also a Grand Elf but you wield a great sword and are a Cleric. Sorry they don’t have playable lances in the game. As for you Jestro you’re a Forest Elf and are a sorcerer wielding a shock staff like Jay. Forest Elves have some resistance to fall damage, disease and poisons and an increase to stamina. I play as the cat folk and I wield a mace and shield and use the Night Walker class.”
“Okay and who’s doing what here?” Clay wondered not much up to being playing a game when he could be training. Most of them were up for this. They were though all pretty impressed with the looks and skills DJ had given their characters. He had even given them pets, mounts and back stories he felt fit them best. They were quite surprised with how in depth DJ had gotten and felt his creations for them were pretty accurate to themselves. As he said Aarons was of the cat folk and had short yet shaggy hair on the top of the head that was ginger in color with skin that was cream colored but had dark points to the limbs, tail, small rounded lion ears and on the face. It was dressed with toeless leather boots that went up the shins, fabric fingerless gloves which were also arm wraps covering the forearms and went up to the mid of the upper arms with a sleeveless shirt. It had leather pauldrons and adornments to its cloth shirt and pants. His attire was a normal brown color leathers with green fabrics. His bow and quiver were metal with amber adornments. He also wore the pelt of a wolf for a hood with the wolfs head on his head and some of it draped over his shoulders which DJ had given a dark ginger color to make it colored like a fox. The character had glowing amber markings on the face and glowing green eyes. He had a silver pet fox and a dark grey fox mount. According to DJ his characters story was it had been abandoned when young and raised by wolves before falling in with a group of rangers who taught him to be a ranger.
Zanes reptilian folk had a silvery metal skin with golden reflective dwarven markings and icy glowing eyes. It was dressed similarly to Aarons character though he had slight differences to color and lacked the wolf pelt; his attire dark grey leathers with dark but pale grey fabrics. It also had a hair made of short silvery feathers on its head that went down to the bridge of the nose and were covered by a simple droopy brown wizard’s hat. It also had a set of short spikes on the chin. His weapon was in the dwarven style with icy blue glowing parts. DJ had given his character a black and gold colored robotic wolf as a mount and a clockwork terror bird, a half robot half organic creature, as a pet. His characters back story was he had been a ranger in the northern woods before an accident in some dwarven ruins caused him to be transformed into a half machine version of himself turning his skin to metal and filling his blood with an icy substance.
Nyas while a grey skinned elf had decorative turquoise glowing markings on its face and body that bore a marine theme with waves with similar colored glowing eyes. It had a braided ponytail with dark hair that had the ends died blue. She bore silvery blue fish scale patches on her skin mainly the legs, arms, chest and back. She wore a cloth chest wrap, kilt, leg wraps and forearm wraps along with open toed foot wraps and wraps on the upper arm that had decorations of coral in them. The fabrics looked like they had been made of kelp. She also wore a cloth neck wrap that had a shell on the front and sea shells decorated the attire. Her weapon was a dark metal with glowing blue parts. She had a large flightless auk as a pet and her mount was a large cat that looked to have been bred with an aquatic creature giving it fins decorating its limbs, head, tail and body and fishy scales. Her characters story was she had been a sailing captain and after getting lost at sea during a storm she was saved by neriads a form of water spirit who gifted her skills with water and her scaly skin.
Kais had a skin that made it look like he had burning skin that looked like parts of him had recently been on fire, some scars to the face and upright hair that was dark but dyed red on the tips. He wore leather armour that covered his body core made arm wraps, pants and boots and wore a cloth and iron Samurai style headgear. All his gear had been dyed with red tones with grey accents; his swords while metal had fiery glowing and marked parts. DJ had given him a fiery salamander as a pet and a flame elemental big cat as a pet. His characters story was that he had been a farmer whose village had been lit on fire during an attack by demon creatures but instead of perishing he became one with the flames and a warrior. He now fights to rid the world of evil.
Clay had patches of skin on his chest, his arms, legs, back and face that looked like he had a glowing light within his body. He had steel knights style armour while wearing a cloth hood. His attire had blue toned accents and cloth parts to it. His weapons didn’t have anything special to them except his shield had a golden dragon design on it. He had glowing golden eyes and short brown hair. His pet was a golden griffon while his mount was a horse made of light energy. His character had been an orphan raised by monks who now fights for a great spirit of life energy to quell dark influences.
Lloyds character had golden dragon scales on his arms, legs, parts of face, back and part of chest and had blond short ragged center parted hair. He wore green leather with golden metal adorned armour with a head gear that was the mask of a dragon golden and green in color. His sword had a golden handle with a blade made of jade. He had a pet cat sized golden dragon and his mount was white golden striped tiger. His character was the unrecognised son of a deity who took the form of a dragon and was the father of dragons. He fought to protect all that was good in the world.
Macys character wore steel knights armour with an open face helmet to show off the red tattoos of a dragons face on her face. Her armour bore red tinted parts and she had red hair done up in a pony tail. Her pet was a cat sized red dragon and her mount was a reptilian horse creature wearing an armour mask that made it look like a dragon. While her mace was nothing special her shield was like Clays but her dragon was red in color. Her characters story was that she was a warrior princess from a land often in turmoil with fighting between the noble houses. She longed to put an end to the fighting to bring peace to the lands.
Coles character wore dark leather attire with metal adornments and wore the pelt of a black bear as a hood with the head of the bear on his head with part of it draped over his shoulders. He had gloves made from the bears paws with the claws sticking up on the knuckles. His hair was black ragged and shoulder length, he had a beard and mustache and he had face paint around his eyes. His warhammer looked to be made with metal and obsidian. His pet was a bear the size of a large dog made of rocks with a moss carpet on its back. His mount was a dark grey mottled mountain ram. His characters story was that he was from a northern barbaric tribe and to prove himself a warrior to his father who wanted him to simply be a farmer.
Jays had dark stormy looking skin with glowing lightening markings on its body and glowing lightening white eyes. His hair was golden color, short but ragged like bed head hair. He had dark blue hooded robes with shiny yellow designs in it. His staff was black metal with lightening looking and colored markings on it. His pet was just a simple tawny colored dog while his mount was a storm made big cat. His story was that while working as a farmer he had been struck by lightning which gave him powers of storm magic.
Axls character had red and black war paint on the face and a short black Mohawk for hair. He wore armour made of steel with the pelt of a bear draped over its shoulders the paws fused into the chest plate of his armour with the pelt covering part of its back. His helmet had the appearance of a Minotaur and was made purely of metal while his weapon was steel with purple accents. He had a pet boar that wore an armour of cloth, metal and leather pieces while also carrying various satchels and a shield. His mount was a large Bristleback Boar. His characters story was that he was from a mountain clan of orcs and instead of staying with them and simply becoming a blacksmith he set out to be a warrior to prove to others that his kind were not just simple grunts and smiths and to bring honour to his tribe.
Lances character came from a rich noble family. His characters story was that he had been forced into becoming a divine prosecutioner, a class of fighters from your race who route out and destroy worship of along with demon creatures and beings, like the rest of his family. Not happy with his role in his home land he set out to foreign lands to fight demon and monster influences elsewhere. His character had shoulder length golden hair and wore a golden circlet with a red diamond on the forehead part. He wore golden metal with ivory cloth armour and his weapon had a golden handle with ivory blades and bore the symbol of a sun as the pommel. His pet was a pink pig with brown patches that wore a crown and had a flower tied around her neck which was called the princess sow while his horse was a white steed with golden attire.
Jestros character DJ had decked out to look like a jester with a jesters attire a golden with metal amber adorned staff and white face paint with blackened marks that made it look like he had been in an explosive accident. Under his attire he had dark short slick hair. He had a pet parrot that wore a jesters cap and his mount was a hyena with dark harlequin themed attire including bells that rang when it ran. DJs story for his character was that it had been the jester before getting electrocuted by some dwarven machinery which gave him powers in electricity and an understanding of machinery like the extinct dwarves. He now joined others with his new gifts to fight the evils of the world some of which had been the result of losing his position as a court jester because they wiped out the court he had served.
“I’m the leader, Axl and Cole you are our main tanks; I and Clay are backup tanks. Tanks keep the bosses and other enemies focussed on you so the others don’t receive too much damage and instead can focus on dealing damage. Nya, Zane and Lloyd while you’re mainly DP you have abilities that let you help others so you can heal them when they’re low. You also will be in charge of raising someone when they die. Everyone can do this but you’ll be in charge of it and have permission to order others to do it when you are occupied. Everyone else are DPs. We basically attack the enemy with all we’ve got to take them down,” DJ explained and Lloyd wondered, “how much do you know about being a leader?”
“Not much but it can’t be that hard,” DJ responded and Clay stated, “I wouldn’t necessarily say that.” DJ got them started and things started going well. They didn’t have too many problems dealing with the enemies. Though most zones of the game including the one they were in players couldn’t hurt each other Kai quickly found he could trick the NPC enemies to hit Jay while they fought and kept surprising him with their attacks having fun messing with Jay. At first Jay couldn’t figure out why enemies kept attacking him leading him to die quickly then he figured it out. This led the two to keep trying to wipe each other out using the NPC attacks. DJ tried to make them cut it out asking them to stop and to just play. They were supposed to be having fun not messing with each other. Kai was enjoying what he was doing enjoying seeing Jay getting worked up but Jay wasn’t too pleased with it. It took Nya reprimanding the both of them for them to stop. Lance was another problem since when his resources especially his health got low he would rush away from the fighting thinking it would let him heal up but just kept lending him to getting killed away from the group by enemies forcing someone to leave to retrieve him from where he died. Jestro kept having a problem where he kept getting himself stuck too close to the most powerful of the enemies and kept accidently taunting them not realising while checking out the skills DJ had given him he had accidently swapped one out for a skill that also taunted enemies. Because he wasn’t built for tanking he kept getting wiped by powerful enemies. They managed to make it through the first section of enemies and two of the minor bosses before coming to the first major boss a powerful necromancer who summoned un-dead people and beasts from the dark misty woods around him and the ground to join in the fight.
“Alright you said you know the mechanics for this so what are we expecting here and what should each of us do?” Cole inquired to DJ who though he knew what was going to go on was unsure how to delegate the roles. He explained the mechanics but could only think of the base mechanics of the tanks tank, while the others took on the boss and his ads.
“Is that all?” Clay wondered having a feeling DJ was not too sure how to lead others. DJ confirmed a yes so they went at it. There first run was pretty bad. Jay kept panicking when seeing the un-dead bears and corpse eating beetles and spider the boss would summon causing him to run around and get others attacked by the enemies going for him while Lance tried his fleeing technique only to find the game trapped them in the clearing for the battle. Jestro got himself stuck under while fighting a large and very powerful un-dead bear leading him to die quickly. While trying to raise others around them Zane got killed early on and while trying to raise him Nya got wiped. Lloyd couldn’t handle trying to keep the others alive on his own leaving them to quickly be taken out one by one till they ended up wiping.
“Okay first try, first tries always don’t go so good,” DJ expressed as they resurrected their characters and readied to go again. DJ made a suggestion for Jestro to swap out his skill that was causing the taunt but all he said was to change the skill and didn’t tell Jestro who didn’t understand the skill was what was taunting enemies to him leaving him confused. They tried again and got a little further before wiping. They then went again before having to run twice more before finally making it Clay, Nya and DJ being the only ones left alive by the end.
“See we could do it,” DJ expressed before explaining some mechanics the regular enemies would now start showing that they had to work on. Most of them listened however Kai found how his character could fight Jays and got the two in a duel. Not fully paying attention listening to DJ Jay agreed to the duel when the notification came on screen and quickly got overwhelmed and defeated by Kai before he realised what was going on.
“Who’s good at video games now?” Kai boasted and Jay exclaimed, “hey wait I wasn’t ready!” The two got into another duel. The others just watched getting distracted from DJ who wasn’t sure how to stop the two and get them to focus. After his explanation and this time Kai lost to Jay they continued on. They still weren’t doing so good but made it through another two mini bosses wiping three times on the first and twice on the second before coming to the second major boss; a corrupted neried in a dark misty lake filled with dead drowned bodies. They fought on the swampy edges of the lake where she would raise the dead bodies out of the lake and swamp to fight them along with snare them in the muddy soil. DJ had forgot to tell them how to deal with the snares which let enemies easily attack their characters and hindered their ability to defend leading them to more quickly die. It wasn’t long before they wiped and DJ explained, “oh sorry. If you get caught another player has to come and bash while shielding to break the snare. You hold down block and hit attack to bash; if you get caught call out to someone else for aid.”
They tried again this time lasting longer as they now knew what to do but they still had problems. Jestro was still getting caught by powerful enemies, Lance at least stayed with the group and didn’t run but wasn’t watching his health much so wasn’t healing when he needed to thinking those able to heal him were doing it for him and Zane was too occupied in focussing on his task and not properly multitasking leading him to easily be caught by snares, attacked from behind and he kept forgetting to re-summon his bear combat aid to protect him when it got killed. DJ tried to point this out to Zane who got a bit confused not realising he was forgetting to do this and that his bear was down for the fourth time when he thought it was up. They wiped again. It took them eight tries before they finally got past this boss. Lloyd and Macy being the only two left standing at the end and shaking a bit from the intenseness and worry of failing again. While no one said anything some were starting to think DJ was not being a very good leader in this and their constant failing was leaving some feeling like they didn’t want to play anymore but they kept going not wanting to be rude to DJ who had been really eager to play with them. They now moved to fighting a mix of demon creatures and un-dead as they moved into ruins of a small settlement and fort in the valley. They started having trouble now getting through; just the base enemies now sometimes wiping the whole group out. DJ knew what they had to do but was unsure how to properly dictate what had to be done and was too focussed on what he was doing to properly give orders when needed. They managed to get to the first mini boss of section but kept wiping. They wiped 12 times. Sometimes it looked like they were almost there but then they would lose. They were doing so bad some of them started getting humorous texts from the death recap screen about their failures.
“You are the weakest link goodbye! Thanks game for telling me I suck,” Jay read from his screen annoyed by the comment while on his next death Clay read, “how does it feel to lose at old content. Give me some credit I’m new to this.”
“If you were a cat you would have used more than your nine lives here; is that because I’m one of the cat folk it gave me that?” Aaron wondered and Cole stated, “no I got that one a while back too. My last one read you’re doing as good as a stone wall against a wrecking ball. Ever think of changing roles?”
“One of mine read bards won’t sing of your death but jesters will tell jokes of it. Now it keeps telling me it ran out of hints for avoiding deaths,” Jestro stated and Zane read feeling a bit offended and hurt, “a machine could play better than you, how’s it feel to know a brainless machine could play better than you!”
“Don’t take it personal fang brother; I don’t think the developers know robots like to play games too,” DJ stated to Zane before Axl read, “you are doing good at being bad… I thought I was doing pretty good there.”
“Are you an adventurer or a peasant! The game dares call me a peasant!” Lance felt offended while Nya read, “you’re doing good at keeping the reaper in business.” Lloyd got a similar message stating, “maybe it’s time you make a permanent trip to the departed realm.” With each failure some of them started to lose focus. While they paused as DJ tried to think of some way for them to beat this boss some of them lost focus. Kai and Jay got into duelling each other Jay beating Kai most times. Some of the others got involved to see who they could beat. Aaron began jumping around trying to determine what extreme location he could get his character in the map that they had already cleaned. How far could he swim in the lake they fought by before killed by the in game mechanic to keep players from travelling to far in open water which was humorously described as slaughterfished as you were taken out by killer fish. Could he climb up the mountains and at what height could his character survive a fall before dying and did his mount help him get higher and better survive? Zane meanwhile found an in game card game and started playing a round with Jestro who was hanging back from the duelling others were doing pretty sure he would be bad at it. DJ was still trying to think when he realised the others were doing their own things and not paying attention to him. He tried to get their attention but the others weren’t listening. After a while feeling left out as the others weren’t involving him and now just playing around some, like Zane Aaron and Jestro, leaving the instance to explore the game world and feeling down that he had failed at a leading and that things weren’t going how he wanted DJ got up and quietly slipped out no one, or at least he thought no one, had seen him. Jestro had seen him get up and leave and since no one was noting him he got up to follow DJ curious on why he left. DJ had gone out to sit on the drawbridge. The doors to the cargo bay where they had parked the Fortrex were open looking out at the evening woods outside. It was dark and overcast but rather still and calm. Some creatures were hanging around both in the bay and outside. A pair of Morinosei were browsing the woods outside while some song birds, Tree-bills, Rhea-guar and Ekhindahogs had wandered into the bay to check things out some of them feeding off some seeds, fruits, veg and mealworms someone, most likely Zane Jestro thought, had put out for them. DJ had tucked his legs up resting his arms crossed on top of them with his head rested on them as he sat. His tail was resting curled up around him and his ears were down.
“I didn’t know your kind were capable of crying,” Jestro commented noting the wetness around DJ’s eyes and a tear stain down his cheek as he came to sit next to him. DJ looked to be caught off guard as he wiped his eyes with his sleeve before speaking, “we can mimic that behaviour yha. It’s not true tears though; it’s the lubricating fluid we use for our eye lids. They’re synthetic tears.”
“Why did you leave and why are you crying? Everyone’s having fun isn’t that what you wanted?” Jestro wondered and DJ replied, “I guess it’s nice they are happy but… I wanted to have fun with all of us together… like how me Kozac Divayth and Juib used to do.”
“They used to play with you to?” Jestro wondered and DJ replied, “sometimes Kozac did. Juib never cared for video games nor does Divayth. I meant how we used to work as a team. Juib was our older brother our leader. He kept everything in line. Sometimes we would do real raids against the Ashers. A group of us would infiltrate and take down their forces. Juib would be our leader, Kozac was our tank, Divayth or one of his daughters were like our healer and I was like a DP with the others we would bring. We were a family, we were close nit and always there for each other but now…,” DJ began just watching the creatures and after a few seconds Jestro stated, “I’m guessing not so much anymore right?”
“Since Juib was… since he perished things haven’t been the same. Kozac spends most of his time on duty with little time to hang out anymore. Divayth is prepping to take over Juibs role as leader for us and the Stags right hand, Celaena has her siblings back and spends much time with them. Sure there are others of my brethren who are my friends and could play with me but many don’t feel up to it rate now. They’re either working or want to be alone… no one has time to be with me anymore. They just come to me when they need my work, they won’t stop to just hang out or play. We all feel from Juibs demise but many of my brethren were not as close to him as Kozac, Juib, Celaena and I. They don’t feel the weight of his loss as much as we do so they don’t know how bad it feels to have lost him. I sometimes want to erase what happened from my memory banks but at the same time I don’t. I want to remember him as much as I can as it is all I have left of him. With him gone I haven’t been feeling myself; I find it hard to do the things I love… even just getting up or motivated to do what I have to is hard. I find myself remembering how things used to be and it leaves me feeling hurt in a way I cannot fix and what’s even worse is the one I want to talk to about it all is the one who is gone. I miss my brother and how things used to be. How simple and safe we were. Not only was Juib my brother but in many ways he was like a father to me. I looked up to him and felt I would always be safe with him around. I know technically the Stag is our father but he scares me, even now he still scares me. I remember all the dark things he did, all the damages he’s done… I want to be like Divayth and give him a chance but I find it hard to. I fear what he could be and do and now without Juib around if he is still controlled by darkness who will keep us safe; who will protect us from the darkness. Juib always kept us safe not just from the Stag but many of the darkness’s of this world. He was the rock for many here. We could always count on him, he was always there for us when we needed him, he always knew what to do or say to help us,” DJ regaled some tears appearing again by his eyes and Jestro just listened unsure if he should say anything or not.
“That sounds nice… to have someone to look up to and a family; I’ve never really had that much… I wish I had that,” Jestro noted after a moment of silence and DJ stated, “what do you mean? You have the Nexo Knights as you’re family.”
“Not really. I’m only with them by accident. I got caught by those monsters the Ashers and they just happened to stumble into the same place I was before your master saved us. I’m pretty sure they just keep me around to keep me out of trouble. Truthfully I don’t think most of them like or care for me much… I’ve had a bad habit of falling to the influence of the wrong beings and ending up on the side against them. I’m pretty sure it’s made them at the least dislike me.”
“Don’t you have parents and siblings?” DJ wondered and Jestro replied, “no, I was a street urchin. I had no siblings and my parents are gone; I don’t really remember my parents much. Growing up Clay was the closest thing I had to family, a brother to watch out and help me but I’m pretty sure with some of what I’ve done I’ve ruined that relation. I don’t really have anyone.”
“I’m sorry, I don’t know how that would feel. I’ve always known having a family. I couldn’t imagine what it is like to not have that,” DJ expressed and Jestro noted, “it’s not nice… I’d prefer feeling what you are feeling though than the loneliness I feel from my state. To have known someone so closely someone who could always be there when you need them, someone to look up to and trust no matter what, to love you despite your flaws and consider you family no matter what. From what I’ve heard Juib was a great guy; it would have been nice to know him. You got lucky to know him for so long. Many would have been jealous to know someone like him, I know I am. You know from what I’ve heard he sounds like someone who probably wouldn’t want you to feel sad over his loss. He would want you to be happy to have known him and to go on in your life in his memory to be for others what he was for you.”
“That does sound like what he would want. I wanted to cheer you guys up. You’ve done a lot for many and what you’ve been dealing with in my realm and the troubles with the Ashers and Dagon we can all see has gotten you all down and worried. I wanted to do something to cheer everyone up, to be the moon in your darkest hour like Juib always was for me. Juib once said to me that everyone wants to be the sun to brighten up someone’s life but it’s often better to be the moon to bring light to someone’s darkest hours. I tried to live up to his advice but I was no good at it; it didn’t work.”
“What do you mean, you’ve made everyone happy. I haven’t seen the others so happy since being in this place and facing these troubles. You’ve really brightened their day… you’re a lot better at it than I ever was,” Jestro stated and DJ countered, “but you’re a jester, you’re whole job is to make others happy.”
“Yha but I’m not that good at it. I’ve been told that my acts are cringy and lame,” Jestro regaled and DJ stated, “sorry to hear that.”
“That’s okay… I sometimes wonder if maybe a jester is the wrong role for me. What I could do though I don’t know. I’m not good at anything. The only thing I’ve ever been good at is being bad but I don’t want to do that… it’s no fun and everyone just hates you.”
“Maybe it will come to you one day and maybe you just need the right person to teach you how to be what you want to be. You just need someone like Juib.” The two sat for a few moments in silence then a voice stated to them, “so that’s where you two wandered off to. Are you going back to play?” Merlok and Misako came up to the two. They had noticed the two leave so headed off to see what they were up to while everyone else continued to play. They had overheard the twos entire chat and had been waiting for the right time to approach. Both felt for the two and wanted to help. When they went quite they decided to approach.
“I don’t know. I want to but I do not feel like it,” DJ stated and Jestro encouraged, “come on we could try again, I’ll change that skill so I’m not dying so much.”
“You can go, I’m of no use. I’ll just stay here,” DJ stated while Jestro got up. Feeling it best he come with them Jestro forced DJ to his feet proclaiming, “why don’t you come. We could use you. You’re fun to be with and I know the others want to hang with you. Maybe we could do something more relaxed than these raids together.” After a moment of silence DJ stated, “I guess… could you keep our talk secret. I don’t want the Stag or my brethren to know about it and Jay has a problem with keeping secrets.” Jestro agreed and they headed back to the lounge room closing the drawbridge to prevent creatures from crawling on board.
“Hey where’d you guys go?” Jay asked as they came back into the room and Jestro stated for DJ, “we we’re just checking the cargo bay to make sure there was no problems. Did someone put food out in the bay cause it’s attracted a bunch of animals.”
“That was Zane,” Jay stated and Zane defended his actions while they sat back down, “the wildlife is going through a lot with this Plane Meld and the Ashers I thought they could use some to help to make it through till things are over.” As they sat back down DJ and Jestro getting back into the game they heard about what some of the others had gotten into while they were gone. While the others talked Merlok whispered to Clay and Misako whispered to Lloyd about the conversation DJ and Jestro had. They had done some rounds challenging each other to duels to see who could beat who. They could all beat Lance, Kai didn’t fare to well either and lost to his sister most of the rounds they did together. Cole and Axl tended to come out on top most of the time and were rather tied with how many rounds they won to each other. Most of them were pretty average. Afterwards they had done some exploring. Nya, Clay, Macy and Lloyd had grouped up and were running dungeons together. Kai had spent quite a bit of time decking his characters appearance out before he kept entering small scale player vs player games to challenge others to fights. Lance was roaming around the map trying to make money with his character by crafting, stealing, quests or any other means possible as he didn’t like that his character had barely any gold. Jay was going around questing and levelling his character some more. He got a bit distracted and ended up with the max 25 quests at a time that the game allowed and anytime he finished one he ended up getting another. Axl and Cole had gotten into the provisioning system for the game and after going over some of the things they could make it inspired them to go make some actual food for everyone. Aaron was just roaming around the game world exploring, doing some quests and trying to put his character in the weirdest or hardest to reach locations he could. Zane was also exploring but kept getting involved in quests as if an NPC came up to him asking for help he couldn’t help but aid them. He also had trouble saying no to some of the NPCs and other players when they asked things of him lending him to run a dungeon with some kids from a town in the north of the realms continent who were playing for some fun as their town was in curfew due to the monsters that were routinely coming around at night to terrorize anyone or anything caught outside; a scary effect from the plane meld they assumed. It had also lent his character to becoming a were-wolf as he felt unable to refuse when someone asked him if he wanted to feeling that would be rude. When hearing others could let him become a were-wolf Aaron got another player to turn him into one too. He then ran around as a beast using it to attack things and get involved in fights with world bosses and encounters having fun fighting and feeding on monsters. Zane couldn’t help but get into being a were-wolf; a little too into it Jay felt when he came up to a city and found over half the NPC’s dead and Zanes character running around trying to escape the guards and get out of town.
“Zane did you do this? Half the cities dead!” Jay commented and Zane responded, “as a were-wolf I couldn’t help it. By their nature they are predators and even people class as prey to them. I came across the town and following the beasts nature I had to hunt and eat someone. It was kind of fun and I guess I got a little carried away hunting and eating the people. I did not hurt the poor or defenceless though. My were-wolf is not that kind of monster.”
“Really cause I’m pretty sure this one you hunted was a poor farmer,” Jay commented looking at one of the dead NPC’s and Zane stated, “he deserved it. He was not doing the work he was supposed to instead thinking himself too cool to do his required daily work forcing others to waste their time to take up for his slack.” By the tones of anger to his voice as he said the last part both Jay and Kai had a feeling he had a bit of a personal backing to his actions and it had to do with some of them, mainly the both of them.
“Maybe you should take this as a sign to do your chores in the future,” Kai whispered to Jay who was rather unsettled by that comment before muttering back to Kai, “I think you should take note of it too.” They were both on edge from Zanes words and actions. By this time Cole and Axl had returned and put food out for everyone and rejoined the game. Hearing what he had done Kai and Cole came to the city to see the carnage.
“And why did this poor worker need to get eaten?” Cole wondered and Zane responded, “which one? One by the docks made a rude comment about my race, one in the market was being rude and chastising a poor merchant, one behind the tavern was threatening another person, there was a group of three that looked sketchy by a warehouse by the docks and one by the crafting station made a foul and rude comment about birds. I will not have someone say such things in front of my clockwork terror bird.”
“So there are exceptions to your ideologies,” Cole commented while quietly to Jay Kai commented, “we should make a note for the future; don’t let Zane become a monster and if he does don’t make him angry.”
“You know we still have that raid to finish. Why don’t we get back into it and try to finish it. Maybe this time I will take the lead,” Clay suggested and Lloyd commented, “is that okay with you DJ. I mean no offense but you’re not really suited to being a leader, probably because you’ve never actually had to lead others.”
“Yha it’s fine,” DJ stated. It took a while for them all to group back up and return to where they had left off in the raid where DJ and Jestros characters still were. Zane and Aaron got out of the were-wolfs form and were the first ones to get there. Jay and Kai were next. While the others got there Kai duelled Jestro and DJ to see how he faired against them. He beat Jestro but lost rather quickly to DJ. Once back together they got back into the raid this time Clay taking over as leader. He kept the roles DJ had assigned them feeling they still worked best but advised Jestro to take up a similar role to Zane, Nya and Lloyd as a partial healer. Clay instructed DJ to help get Jestros character set up for that role and so he knew what each skill was to explain them to Jestro so he didn’t end up accidently taunting enemies anymore. Following advice DJ got Jestro set up. He also advised that Macy take up a sort of tank role for Zane, Aaron, Jay and Jestro who as ranged combatants he felt were best sticking towards the edges of the fighting to avoid getting hit by heavy direct damage from melee combatants. She would keep the enemies distracted so they weren’t heavily hitting the four so not knocking them over as much and give them more freedom to dodge and give them time to change the focus their attacks when attacked so they weren’t quickly wiped out. With his advice Clay got them with little hassle through the next section and to the third boss, a cultist imbued with dark powers that could turn himself into Shadow-soul knight, a half un-dead half elemental in the element of shadows being. This boss was in a courtyard area out front of the structure they were going to enter for the next area. Before they confronted the boss Clay got DJ to regale them on every mechanic the boss had. This boss would summon un-dead creatures and every now and then hit a random few of them with a disease spell that if they did not listen and follow the NPC leading the raids story would keep damaging their health the damage getting worse the longer the effect remained active. When hit the player had to seek an area the NPC would set up at the edges of the area to cure themselves. When the boss hit 50 percent in health it would transform into the Shadow-soul knight and switch from un-dead allies to monster allies and would now at the loss of 40 and 20 percent of health darken the area with shadow and to avoid serious possibly fatal health damage they had to keep their characters in the few areas of light the NPC aid would summon. While this shadow was up monsters would come out of the shadows randomly to attack those in the light. This would last for around a minute then dissipate. They also had to watch out as during the whole second phase some special variants of the monsters which resembled Vulcaroths would come out and coat some of the fighting area in lava that would take a while to dissipate. With the knowledge of what they would have to face Clay created a quick battle plan. They would continue largely as usual for the first phase. The ranged combatants however would work to keep the areas for cure for the bosses disease attack clear for those that needed it to quickly and easily reach it. In the second phase he adviced all those doing damage to take out the special croc creatures as quickly as possible to prevent them from making the ring dangerous while during the shadow phases for them all to split into groups and go with one of the tanks so the tank could distract the monsters for the DP’s. They got into the fight and as expected they didn’t get through on the first round but they did get close to the second phase before wiping. They went at it again and got into the second phase they were going pretty well though Jay and Kai both ended wiping because they couldn’t decide who to go with and didn’t want to be in the same group as each other. They got past the first shadow phase and wiped just before the second due to some of them getting stuck in the lava traps. They did another round getting a little further before wiping then they got through the next round this time all but Kai, Lance, Lloyd and Jestro remaining alive.
Before they continued Clay got DJ to regale them on new mechanics for the next zone. They now had to watch out for shadowed areas as enemies would spawn in them when they got close. With this advise Clay advised them to steer clear of shadowed areas. With Clay taking the lead they got through the next part with little problem making it to the fourth boss, an un-dead dragon. Again here Clay asked DJ the mechanics. He explained the dragon would be doing most of his damage on his own. It would start with ground attacks batting them with its limbs, tail, wings and head. It would spout a shadowy breath that would temporarily blind their characters for a couple seconds if caught in it and when it took to the air they had to stay back from it or they would get knocked back off their feet by its take off. When in the air it would make a pass over them hitting a row with this shadow breath which would not only temporarily blind them but summon shadowy monsters. After this it would land and resume ground attacks. When it landed they had to make sure they weren’t under it or they would receive heavy damage from the landing. When it hit 80, 50, 40 and 10 in health it would create tears to a realm of darkness allowing demon creatures to come through to fight on his side. At these points the dragon would take to the air and circle the area becoming immune to damage and other than hitting an area with an occasional ball of shadow wouldn’t do much so they had to close these portals quick. A team needed to enter the tears to destroy the shadow version of the dragon inside to close it while another team stayed back to quell the monsters coming through. In the shadow realm the fighters had to stay in the zone of light under a ball of light the NPC aid would make to prevent receiving damage. With that knowledge Clay worked out a plan. If someone got blinded they would call out and till they could see those closest to them would go over to protect them. When these shadow tears appeared Clay would be part of the group staying in the normal Zone. Lloyd would lead the group that would enter the shadow tears. He would be joined by Cole, Zane, DJ and Jestro. It took them five tries to get through it but each time they got further with each try. The blinding effect freaked Jay out the first few times he ran into it causing him to panic and run his character into danger often getting him killed. A couple times as they dealt with the tears Kai decided to join those going through them. While it didn’t cause any problems Clay was annoyed that Kai wasn’t following his orders. Outside these they were starting to get good at it.
After this DJ confirmed nothing much would be different till they reached the final boss. This was to be the hardest boss. Clay got DJ to explain the mechanics for this one before they began. The final boss was the necromancer in his large central lab. When they approached him his lab exploded chunks of the walls breaking apart and flying off revealing he had made a tear to the shadow realm in the place and he changed form to that of an un-dead vampiric leech. DJ explained that many of the mechanics they had faced earlier would return for the battle. The boss would summon un-dead and demonic creatures, he could trap them with shadow vines luckily though the player trapped could free themselves this time, he would make a ball of shadow rain into the playing area every now and then which would darken an area that would spawn monsters. If a player walked into this area it would greatly slow them down. They had to listen to the NPC aid talking and when she called for help a player had to go over and use a synergy to help her remove the shadowed area to prevent them from building up and swamping the playing area. When the boss reached 30 percent in health he would open a portal to the shadow realm and in his place a shadow form of the un-dead dragon they fought would form as the arena darkened. The dragon and necromancer could now hit players with a blast that would turn them into shadowed were-wolf that could now cause damage to their fellow players. They would be stuck like this for a few minutes till the NPC aid gave them a synergy to purify themselves and return them to normal. Interestingly they would not use this attack on the tanks but on the others. In both zones when they darkened the NPC aid would create lights for them to move in as they fought. At this time they had to break into two groups to take out the boss and the mini-boss he had made. DJ advised that the strongest hitters and melee combatants went after the necromancer and that most of the ranged combatants remained with the dragon; they would be more useful there. With that knowledge they worked out a plan all looking at their stats to determine who was the heavy hitters. With this worked out they planned that Clay, Macy, Lloyd, Kai, Axl and Nya would go into the shadow portal after the necromancer. The rest would stay with the dragon with Cole taking over as their leader. With their roles worked out they got into it. They got to 60 percent of the bosses health before wiping on their first run as they got to work out the bosses workings; the second they got further. They did another run and got pretty far. The problem came with the attacks that turned them into shadow were-wolves. Zane, Aaron, Jestro, Nya and Macy tended to keep getting hit by it the most. While Nya and Macy were able to find ways to safely use this form to harm enemies and prevent from hurting allies the others struggled with this a bit particularly Zane who while trying to help others would accidently be harming them because of the mechanic. If one of them who was cursed attacked Jay he would panic and yell at them; because of his tendency to attack others in this state Jay even wondered if Zane was doing it on purpose to him. They wiped for two more rounds because of this mechanic till Clay advised the three having the most trouble with it to distance themselves from the others at this point. He also told Jay to calm down. The next round they were able to complete it all feeling thrilled and excited to have finally made it and defeated the boss.
With the raid done they decided to go about in the game exploring. Jay and Nya went off to do some questing and occasionally doing some dungeons with others. Most of them mainly got into questing occasionally getting involved with world bosses or encounters where they would encounter someone else a few times even running into everyone else where they would go over a bit a little of what they had been doing and what they currently were doing. Lance continued trying to build his characters funds. Occasionally the others would group up with each other to do activities together Kai always wanting to duel with the others when they grouped up often including DJ and encouraging him to play with them enjoying his company and aid.
As they had gotten back into the game DJ still felt rather down but hid it and continued to play even though he didn’t feel up to it but he didn’t want the others to know how he was feeling so hid it and kept up appearances. As they went on DJ slowly felt his emotions lift as they went on with the others even him having fun forgetting their worries and problems and just enjoying themselves together. It made him happy and for the first time since Juibs death DJ felt happy and warm like things weren’t all bad and that in time it would get better. Deep down he knew things would never be the same and he wouldn’t be able to get rid of the pain Juibs passing had left and everything would different from then on but in time things would get better.
Belly of the Droid This one takes place during the Chapters Battle of the Ivory-Gold Tower and The Battle Turns.
Jay had been so hyper focussed in trying to shock some sense into Zane that he hadn’t realised till it was too late that what he was doing was not working and making things for himself worse. He was being driven by the shock of seeing dragon Zane actually eat a person and how scary Zanes Dragon form was especially after it had been for the past while trying to eat him! He never thought Zane would do that! Cole possibly, Jay had seen him eating some of the monster bugs and he had become quite bite-y, but Zane; from what he had done in the Never Realm and what the Blight had been doing to him they had all come to realise if in the right head space Zane could get quite dark possibly the darkest of all of them, even though they had not seen any proof yet they were all pretty sure if turned evil Lloyd could be a match for Zanes darkness, but Jay didn’t think Zane would become so monstrous to actually eat those he considered friends and family! By the time Jay realised his mistakes that he shouldn’t have been angering Zane who was already clearly agitated by Lance stabbing him in the arm and that if he was going to shock him to keep a considerable distance between him and Zane it was too late. Before he could try to escape Zane had locked his jaws on Jay and shook him like a dog with its toy dizzying Jay a bit. Then before he knew it or had time to realize and react to what happened Zane had swallowed him whole. It wasn’t till he landed in the fluids of Zanes stomach hitting something hard as he fell into it did Jay realise what had happened and he was terrified.
“What did I land on…” Jay wondered picking up out of the slop he was now floating in what he had hit only to freak out when he saw it was the head of the Gloam Harpy he had forced down Zanes throat to prevent from getting eaten earlier. It looked like the head of a zombie being partially digested exposing some bones from under the skin that was dissolving off it freaking him out. He tossed it away in panic where it hit Lance who was terrified and stunned by what had happened to him using his shield to help him keep afloat in the fluids with him. Lance was surprised by it hitting him in the face and once he realised what hit him he picked it up and tossed it away in a panic where it bounced into the walls of Zanes stomach then dropped into the fluids and disappeared.
“I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to shock you so much! I know it hurts you so I shouldn’t have been doing it but in my defence you’re not yourself you’ve gone all evil crazy! Please just barf me up I’ll make it up to you I promise! I’ll do all my chores without complaints; I’ll even do your chores; for a whole year. I’ll get you some more of that Scimitar oil, I know you like it especially when we mix it into a milkshake. I promise I won’t mess with things when I work on you like I did with your voice that one time I promise!” Jay pleaded grabbing the walls of Zanes stomach and shaking it a bit. His stomach jolted in reaction causing Jay to let go and get knocked back where Jay noted, “wait what am I doing he can’t hear me in here! Besides he probably wouldn’t care Zane’s nothing but a monster now.” Noting Aarons shield floating nearby Jay quickly grabbed it and climbed up onto it quickly trying to balance on it.
“What are you doing?” Lance wondered to which Jay quickly expressed managing to balance on the shield, “trust me I know what happens in here, we’d be safer if Cole had eaten us! The fluids in Zanes digestive system are strong enough to dissolve bones! If we don’t stay out of it then it won’t be long till there is almost nothing left of us! It will be just scraps of our clothes, your armour and our acid scarred teeth and hair left!” Upon hearing his words Lance followed his lead and climbed up onto his shield and balanced himself on it. Thinking quickly Jay tried to contact someone outside through his communicator. He tried to contact Nya but got nothing but interference.
“The workings of Zanes body are probably interfering with the communicators signal. That’s not good. We can’t contact anyone for help! We’re going to have to find our own way out of here before it’s too late!” Jay proclaimed trying to not panic. Jay was in a panic looking around wondering what they could do. They weren’t going to last long in there. He didn’t know how long and he didn’t want to think of it but given the state of the various beings in there with them especially given it had only been a little over half an hour since fighting had started so they most likely hadn’t been in Zanes stomach for very long it didn’t look good. All were partially to half digested already. Jay had a feeling for whatever reason Zane had increased the rate of his metabolism which meant the acids and enzymes in his stomach had probably become more powerful and concentrated than normal to aid with the increased rate making things worse for them.
“Ew Zane why is there Ashers in your stomach?! How many of those monsters have you eaten and is that… uhg Zane why would you eat one of their sorcerers?! No wonder you’re going crazy, the energy from that thing can’t be good for your mind! I know you’ve been turned into a monster dragon and are under that demons corruption but I’d think you’d still be smart enough to not eat those things!” Jay proclaimed as he looked around disturbed by everything. There wasn’t much space in there, Jay and Lance had about an arms reach between each other and less than an arms reach between themselves and the walls of Zanes stomach which looked to be expanded to as large as it could go. Even with how expanded it was they didn’t have much space and could only kneel on their hands and knees on the shields which were floating on the large mix of digestive fluids, Ashers, their monsters like the demon bug creatures and even chunks from a Vulcaroth and a Hunger all of which were in various states of digestion. Jay knew he had eaten a harpy, after all he’d been the one to make him do it, and they had all seen him eat one of the Ashers when it made the mistake of angering him but Jay hadn’t seen Zane eating all that he had eaten.
“How much has he been eating? I thought Cole was the only one going crazy and eating a bunch of those monsters,” Jay commented on edge and trying to keep calm. All the sights and sounds added on to the gravity of the situation he was in were quickly getting to him. He was trying to find some way to remain calm. It was dark in there with only the Nexo powers to the shields and Lances armour plus the bracelet the Stag had given him offering any light. The only thing Jay could think of to keep himself from losing it was noting the oddities of Zanes state. It was pretty hot in there but given he was active meaning all the normal functioning’s in his body would be active producing heat and he was in a rather warm environment Jay didn’t find that too odd. Past the sounds of his stomach Jay could hear the muffled sounds of Zanes heart and breathing rate and they sounded quite active. His breathing sounded normal for his active state however his heart sounded a bit fast, possibly a little too fast. Jay wasn’t sure though if he was just hearing that or if it truly was faster than it should be even for an active state. He was struggling to remain calm. He could hear the nearby hum from Zanes cooling system and it sounded quite active. That made sense what didn’t was if it was so active why was it still so hot inside him? His internal temperature was normally quite warm his base stable temperature was about the same temperature as a person and if his cooling system was as active as it was then it should have been around his normal stable temperature in there but it felt hotter than it should be. It felt like it was as hot as a hot day in the desert at mid day on a sunny day in there. A dangerous temperature for Zane as if it got any warmer he risked frying many of his internal circuits which had a high chance of proving fatal for him. He could see the circuits that controlled Zanes stomach glowing in the walls of the synthetic organ making them look like tattoos on it. They should have been glowing an icy blue color like the color of his heart, they were the voids green! Jay was pretty sure that wasn’t good. It likely meant even his heart was corrupted by the void. Zane was filled with the voids darkness.
“Is it supposed to smell this bad in here?” Lance wondered in shock from his situation and trying to figure out something to calm himself down with and Jay replied, “Well it’s not supposed to smell pretty but no it’s usually not this bad. Some of Cole and Kais cooking can make it smell this bad; a few times mine has as well. I think it’s from the Ashers he’s been eating; I don’t think they’re fully agreeing with him.” It was smelling quite foul in there and the masks they wore for part of their gear were not blocking much of the smell. They at least were letting them breath without too much trouble.
“Is whatever is making the smell what this foggy stuff is?” Lance wondered noting the thin dark greenish black fog that lay in his stomach and Jay responded, “I’m not sure. It could or it might be invisible… this foggy stuff kinda looks like that void fog stuff. Looks like the voids filled his entire body, I’d hate to know how that feels. Just barely touching that fog was pretty nasty I’d hate to know what it feels like to have this stuff fill you to the core!”
“If these things are upsetting his stomach then why is he eating them?” Lance wondered and Jay snapped struggling to not lose it, “I don’t know! I’m not a void corrupted dragon mutated nindroid nor have I ever worked with one. Who knows what is going on in his head! It’s probably not pretty though that’s for sure.”
“Is there like a hatch or something we could use to get out of here?” Lance wondered making Jay snap at him again startling Lance who worried what would happen if Jay got too scared, “No there’s normally only one way in and one way out just like anyone else, there’s no special hatch to get us out. He normally wouldn’t need it. People aren’t supposed to end up in his stomach! Only food is supposed to end up in here; well what people would consider food not what a dragon thinks is food! There’s only one way we can safely get out of here. We need to get him to barf us up.” Thinking quickly Jay came up with an idea. Taking a minute to stand up as best he could while remaining balanced on the shield he then entered a Spinjitsu tornado and rammed into the walls of Zanes stomach which jolted with his action knocking him back to land on his back on the shield. His hands and feet landed in Zanes digestive fluids and he quickly pulled them out terrified of getting dissolved by the fluids. Getting back up he prepped himself and stood up again to try his Spinjitsu attack again. He tried it four more times and each time got the same results with no evidence that Zane was going to co-operate with him. Seeing that wasn’t working Jay pulled out his nunchucks and started taking a few swings at the walls of Zanes stomach. He even sent some electricity through his weapon. He could hear Zane make a few noises indicating his attacks gave him discomfort and the electricity he sent into Zanes body temporarily disrupting the normal functioning of his synthetic organ with each hit but Zane was still not willing to co-operate. After a couple swings Jays weapon slipped from his hand as it and his limb had slowly been getting coated in a layer of a slimy substance Zanes synthetic organ emitted to protect itself from his digestive fluids as he came into contact with it in his attempts to get Zane to cough them up. His weapon landed in the dark opaque slop around them where due to its weight it quickly sunk. Jay was a bit hesitant to reach in to get his weapon but he needed it to continue his attacks so after a second to prep himself reached into the fluids to try and find it. He hoped it hadn’t sunk too far. He was very grossed out and kept his eyes closed as he felt around not wanting to see what he was putting his arm in trying to convince himself that he was putting his arm almost up to his shoulders in a hot tub filled with rubber ducks to try and keep from panicking. After nearly a minute he felt something. Even though he had a feeling it wasn’t his weapon out of curiosity of what he had grabbed he pulled it up out of the slop only to be shocked at what he found. He pulled out what looked like a persons arm which dripped for a few seconds with digestive fluids before melting into the slop out of his hands leaving just a scrap of cloth from the clothes that had once covered it in his hand most of it and the arm within having been heavily digested. There was only a few scraps of bones left still intact from the arm. Jay and Lance were terrified.
“See that’s going to happen to us if we can’t get out of here!” Jay exclaimed tossing the cloth from the arm that remained in his hand into the slop before muttering shaking from the shock of what he had found, “I hope that wasn’t from a person! Hopefully it was an Asher or that harpy being I forced down his throat or at least an evil vampire and not an innocent person... I don’t think I’m going to find my weapon. It’s probably deep in this stuff and after that I’m not going to search anymore in it. Who knows what else is in there!” Jay didn’t realise it but the bracer the Stag had given him was starting to flicker and fade. Jay suddenly felt something land atop him. Whatever it was made what sounded like the buzzing of insect wings and was moving. Looking to see what it was Jay was terrified to see it was a Serpent-fly. The creature didn’t seem too bothered that it had been eaten and instead tried going after Jay who began to panic trying to bat it away. He even tried to hit it with a hefty shock but he missed instead hitting Zane which in turn as they were inside him and had contact through the fluids they floated on to his body also got shocked. The shock temporarily disrupted Zanes system but didn’t seem to bother the Serpent fly which continued at Jay who continued to flail at it. To avoid getting shocked again or to get hit by Jays flailing Lance punched the Serpent fly in the head forcing it down into the slop around them where it hung on the surface floating for a few seconds before sinking into the fluids.
“Okay Zanes clearly lost it eating those monsters! Besides he’s already got enough in here why does he need to eat more?!” Jay complained before Lance expressed to him, “Please don’t shock us again! No wonder he hates that. I’m not even made of metal and it still hurt quite a bit!”
“Maybe if I shock him he’ll want to throw me up?” Jay wondered getting an idea from Lances comment while Lance worried not wanting to get shocked again, “please don’t!”
“Don’t worry I can control it so it will only hurt him. I’ll also keep it low so it doesn’t hurt us if it does get out of control,” Jay commented before sending some sparks into the walls of Zanes stomach. It disrupted the organ and by the sounds he made they could tell it was causing him discomfort but he didn’t cough them up. Jay tried a few more times shocking him till one of his attempts caused Zanes stomach to aggressively jolt splashing his digestive fluids and the chunks of debris in it onto them disgusting and stunning both.
“Thank goodness for my helmet, I’d hate to have this stuff in my hair!” Lance commented and Jay snapped at him, “in your hair?! That should be the least of your worries! This stuffs going to dissolve all of us if it continues to touch us!”
“What’s going on?! He’s not flying again is he! I hate the feeling of when he does that. I prefer keeping my feet on the ground,” Lance worried as they got a strange sinking feeling. Every now and then they got a strange feeling of weightlessness as they guessed Zane took to the wing to fly around. Jay likened it to the feeling of riding on a roller coaster which he felt was ruining his liking of theme park rides. As if feeling the movements from his internal workings and Zane moving around wasn’t bad enough him taking to the wing just further made things unsettling for them.
“I don’t think that’s it, looks like some of this stuff is moving on in his system… that will be happening to us soon! Hopefully he’s not going to use that to try and eat more of these things,” Jay complained noting them receiving some space in his stomach as during one of his stomachs constrictions the fluid levels dropped and his stomach relaxed from its over expanded state. After a couple minutes everything was rapidly turned upside down forcing them in a panic to swim up through the slop to get to the surface holding onto the shields to keep them with them.
“What just happened?” Lance wondered as they recovered floating in the fluids of his stomach which had been flipped onto its top and Jay commented highly unnerved by being in the slop, “I think he was knocked onto his back. What could have done that?!” After a few minutes the two were suddenly rolled around as Zane righted himself. They held tightly onto the shields and quickly worked to remain at the top of the fluids and get balanced back on the shields to get out of the fluids. They had already noticed their attire getting damaged from the digestive fluids that were frequently splashing up onto and over the shields they didn’t want the damages to get any worse. By this time the bracelet on Jays arm was gone and he began to panic when he noticed it.
“No, no this isn’t good, it’s darker in here now and I have nothing to protect me from the darkness that corrupts Zane. We have to get out of here now!” Jay was looking around for something to do. Out of desperation he tried giving the walls of Zanes stomach some kicks and punches but all that got him was being tossed around as Zanes stomach jerked in reaction to his attacks. Seeing that didn’t work and getting desperate he tried to see if he could make his way out on his own. It was a bit of a struggle but Jay managed to squeeze himself back through the entrance to Zanes stomach and back into his throat. With a bit of a struggle he started to climb up his throat feeling like he had finally found a way out. This feeling didn’t last long though as he noted the circuits that controlled Zanes throat became active appearing like tattoos in the synthetic material before he felt himself pushed back down to land on Aarons shield back in Zanes stomach.
“Okay that’s not going to work… what’s left to do? I’ve tried everything I could think of!” Jay began to panic. As a last ditch attempt he started to tickle the walls of Zanes stomach. Zane clearly didn’t like it his stomach lining tightening up from Jays touch but he seemed to be putting up with it.
“I’m betting this doesn’t feel very pleasant does it? Come on now just cough us up and it will be all over; you’ll feel a lot better if you do,” Jay stated as he tickled Zane. Instead of co-operating Zanes stomach jerked knocking them about.
“Fine I give up! Obviously you’re not going to co-operate!” Jay proclaimed getting mad at Zanes lack of co-operation. While Jay had been doing his attempts to get them out Lance had remained rather quite trying to stay calm and not lose hope. He was also trying to avoid catching Jays wrath. He could clearly see Jay was slowly loosing it become more unstable and quick to anger with every failed attempt and Lance worried what would happen if Jay directed his fear onto him. It was making him nervous. Without thinking to calm himself Lance went to do as he always did and stroke his hand through his hair but he ended up hitting his helmet instead. Even though he wanted to run his hand through his hair he didn’t think it wise to take off his helmet. Not only would the fluids and slop around them get in it but he was pretty sure without the special breathing apparatus in his helmet he would not be able to breathe in there. Wondering what to do he started stroking the walls of Zanes stomach. Zane didn’t seem to be bothered by his actions. Even though he was pretty sure he shouldn’t be doing that he couldn’t help but do it. It helped calm him. They suddenly had chunks of dark ice drop on them cooling the area down a bit as they floated in the slop slowly melting.
“What the… why are you eating ice? Are you trying to knock us out with it so you can easily digest us? I’m not going that easy you hear me you metal skinned monster…” Jay proclaimed before taking note of what Lance was doing yelling at him in shock, “What are you doing!?”
“Normally when I’m nervous I run my hand through my hair to calm down. I can’t do that though because of my helmet; it would be bad for my hair to take it off…” Lance began only to get cut off and scared as Jay yelled at him, “You’re hair! We’re surrounded by fluids that will dissolve every bit of us and you’re worried about your hair!” Lance was worried over what Jay was going to do. To his relief a swarm of over 20 Vesparilions fell in on them distracting Jay. Jay began fighting them as they pestered him making sure to toss each one into the slop around them.
“Just because you’ve made room in here doesn’t give you the right to start filling it up again! Stop eating these monsters! You’ve eaten enough already you don’t need any more now cut it out!” Jay yelled at Zane like he could hear them before giving Zane a hefty punch in the stomach out of anger Zanes stomach jerking from the hit. Despite having been eaten by him and scared of the monster he had become Lance felt sorry for Zane. Jay was being quite rough on him and Lance felt he didn’t deserve to be treated so roughly. He didn’t think it was entirely Zanes fault he had eaten them. He was under the influence of dark forces, he wasn’t completely in control of himself not to mention Lance had hurt him so kind of deserved a retaliation for his actions. He didn’t deserve to get eaten but again Zane wasn’t fully in control anymore so had no control over how he punished those who hurt him. From what he had experienced with the ninja over their time in the Lost Realm Zane would never intentionally hurt those he considered friends and family out of free will. Thinking if he offered some suggestions it might help cool Jays mood Lance offered up a possible idea only to regret his words when Jay snapped back at him.
“You know I don’t think we’ll be able to get out the way we came in. Maybe we should try the other…” Lance nervously began and Jay quickly cut him off to yell putting Lance on edge, “NO! I am not going that way! No! Never! Being in his stomach is bad enough I am in no way going to try and get out that way. Besides while the energy converters in the rest of his system shouldn’t hurt us who knows what terrible things that monster has put in him. There could be evil worms to tear us apart or spines lining his intestines to stab anything trying to crawl through it to punish them for not getting dissolved in his stomach! Heck I’m surprised that monster didn’t line the walls of his stomach with spines to stab us when he mutated him!” Jays panicking just put Lance even more on edge. Jay clearly had lost it and was no longer going to be of much help making Lance feel like he was on his own to figure out how to get them out. Lance tried to think of some resolution to their problems. As he focussed on thinking some more things dropped in on them; largely the arm of an Asher, the wing and tail of a Gloam Harpy and pieces from a large void spider. Instead of making him panic like Lance expected Zanes actions of eating more of the monsters filling his stomach back up again just riled Jay up making Jay angrier and he snapped at Zane again punching the walls of his stomach while yelling at him, “just because it’s your stomach doesn’t give you the right to fill it up whenever you want! Have some courtesy for the poor souls you’ve doomed to getting digested in it you scrap heap demon!” Anything that landed on them Jay angrily threw into the slop around them. Jays attitude was scaring Lance and making him nervous and worried anything he might come up with as a solution might cause Jay to turn his aggression onto him. After a couple minutes while he tried to think of something Jay might approve of Lance took note of something that he found was calming him down even though he was pretty sure it was not something he should find comforting. Even though he was pretty sure if he said anything it would drive Jay even crazier than he was already going Lance absent mindedly commented about it.
“Is it a bad thing that with how hot and damp it is in here it feels like a sauna and the squishing thing his stomach is doing to us feels a bit like a massage?” Lance commented before instantly regretting his comment as Jay loudly snapped, “WHAT! We’re in the stomach of a crazed evil corrupted dragon form mutated droid not a spa! We’re going to get digested not a makeover! At least not one you’re going to like. He doesn’t want to relax us he wants to turn us into his lunch! The only relaxing he wants us to do is to let our guard down so he can digest us without a hassle! If that is going to be our fate then I’m not going nicely. I’ll make sure he gets the worst possible case of indigestion he could get for his actions.”
“Is he even capable of coughing us up?” Lance wondered.
“He can but he has to manually choose to do so since he has to take precautions from damaging any of his systems to do it. It’s not an un-conscious behaviour like in people and clearly he doesn’t want to co-operate,” Jay complained as some bubbles came up and popped in the slop by them bringing more unpleasant smells to add to those already present along with an Ashers sword up with them.
“Ew gross as if things weren’t nasty enough in here… great as if his stomach acids weren’t enough to worry about but we also have to watch out for sharp objects in here too… what are you doing?!” Jay complained while Lance picked out the sword and began poking around in the fluids out of boredom his actions disturbing and further agitating Jay.
“Just curious about what else is in here,” Lance noted wary of Jay who ranted, “I can tell you what monsters and us who he no longer sees as friends now that he’s a monster himself! We’re just lunch to him. It’s clear he no longer sees me as his brother I’m just food to him. If he still had any cares for me he’d help me out and barf me up but instead he’s determined to keep me trapped in here to get dissolved by his stomach and turned into energy by the rest of his gut to power his dark evil heart!”
“Maybe it’s not entirely his fault. He’s under that demons mind control. Maybe Dagon is not letting him help us…” Lance countered not entirely convinced Zanes actions were entirely his fault still despite his anxieties able to see some reason however Jay cut him off startling him, “no he knows what he’s doing and is in full control. He’s become a monster it’s as simple as that; a dark savage friend eating monster… just ask poor Butch here. We’re going to end up like this soon if we don’t get out of here!” Jay picked up the pitted and stripped skull of the Gloam Harpy out of the fluids when he saw it come up near them. It was now more heavily digested than when he had seen it before now just being pitted and weakened bone part of which was missing on the top. It likely wasn’t going to remain intact for much longer as it remained in there.
“Sorry Butch about tossing you in here; I hope you have no hard feelings about it. You were just in the wrong place at the wrong time and I didn’t want to get eaten even though it’s clear this monster I once thought was my friend was determined to eat me cause he finally got me,” Jay began to babble to the heavily digested skull, “is this what all those poor insects he’s accidently swallowing all the time have to go through? What a nightmare! It makes me feel sorry for them; I can’t believe this monster’s making me feel sorry for bugs! Zane probably didn’t have as bad a time in Bernie as this. Bernie wasn’t a hyper efficient nindroid with a high metabolism that’s been sped up even more than usual and a system that can dissolve and break down motor oil let alone over 90% of our bodies!” As he listened to Jay rant Lance was pretty sure now Jay had lost it and was wondering if he should just leave Jay and attempt his idea to get out feeling that might be their only option to survive. They had no proof the others were trying to help them and he was pretty sure they didn’t have a long time left if they stayed in there especially Jay. He could see burns from the acid already starting on the lower part of Jays legs, around his ankles and on his feet. His armour was more resilient to the fluids than Jays attire offering him more protection but that likely wouldn’t be for too long. He could feel the fluids starting to find ways through his armour and to his skin. It was an unnerving burning and tingling sensation that had him on edge. Lance wasn’t sure if Jay was aware of the damages on his legs. Surely he could feel it. Maybe in his current state he couldn’t feel it or was just ignoring it too focussed on his anxieties to notice. Maybe it was somehow helping fuel Jays anxiety driven attitude. Wisely Lance said nothing about the burns knowing it would only cause Jay to snap more if he said something and instead focussed on trying to figure a way out. He sat watching as Jay spiralled deeper into insanity babbling to the skull about all sorts of strange things mad at poor Zane thinking he was nothing but a monster while he tried to think of something. He was hoping something would eventually come to him and hopefully before it was too late.
Notes:
I have worked with chickens and they are not the creatures people think they are. They are far from the peaceful or cowardly creatures often portrayed. They are aggressive, bold and very cannibalistic even when their needs are met. Unless hatched into the flock you have to be extremely careful when adding new members and you have to make sure separate flocks don't meet or they go crazy and kill each other, where they will then cannibalize each other. They will also eat meat from anything they find and will kill and eat smaller animals when they find them; yes they will even eat human if you let them and they go nuts at the sight of blood. Chickens are not vegetarian animals; they are opportunistic omnivores.
Kozac comes off generally as cold and distant for most of the story so the short Kozac and the child shows off his more gentle and caring side that he only rarely shows in the main story.
The Stag tends to gravitate towards using Zane for things as he views Zane as a sort of champion for him; a chosen mortal to fight for him and help spread his influences. He sees potential in Zane and that out of all of them he is most likely to understand and comprehend the reality of the void nor fear its duality and will be most willing to accept its role in the world around them.
In DJ's Raid the game they are playing is based off the Elder Scrolls Online. Raids which are called trials in ESO usually only have three bosses but I thought it would be cool for them and it helped with the story for them to do a sort of ultra raid with more bosses and mechanics than normal raids. I also didn't intend for this short to get as heavy and emotional as it did my original intent was for a fun upbeat short but while writing it just came out the way it did. Despite its tone I kept it feeling it offered quite a bit to the story and helped flush out DJ's character a bit showing he isn't all cheerful and upbeat all the time. DJ is based off my one sister who has ADHD so I made the character he plays based off my sisters. The part with the game giving them humorous quotes for repeated failing happened to me and my sister as we did a trail, Hel Ra Citadel. Our group had some difficulties on one boss in the trial due to the confined space we were in and the boss glitching and not responding to our tanks taunts and we kept repeatedly wiping. We eventually got through it but the death recap kept giving us weird humorous comments because of our frequent deaths in a short time.
In the short Undaunted the three spectral members of the group are inspired by three members of the group in ESO that inspired this short known as Undaunted (it is one of the player factions you can join in the game delve and dungeon related content) that can be found in Cold Harbour in a tavern. Despite the three being dead they still continue as members of their guild and if you buy them a drink they start singing the guilds motto.
If have any questions go ahead and ask I do not bite. I will try to answer them, I will however not give away spoilers.
Chapter 60: Epilogue/Shadow Court
Summary:
Is this the end? Dagon may be defeated but what of his allies? Are they just going to let their work end? The main threat may be over but things aren't yet done for our heroes. Dagon and his allies have more in store for them and now that the boundaries between realms have been damaged monsters from the void can more easily enter the realms and cause chaos. Are the knights and ninja ready to face them on their own and protect their realms from the monsters in the shadows? The story will continue in the Shadow Court.
Notes:
Pictures relating to story can be found here: https://www.deviantart.com/nerdy-hyena/gallery/72478681/story-project
They are really good and help to visually flush out several aspects of the story including environments, characters, outfits, locations, creatures and other aspects often important ones in the story. All images I post in my work can be found there if you want a better look at them. Defiantly make sure to check them out. Check back for updates every now and then.
Chapter Text
As I was reaching the end of the main story I felt I had more to tell and that even with the ending there should be more to the ending of this story looking into results from the effect of the Void Breach and delving more into the void and the allies of Dagon and his allies. This thinking led to these shorter stories which culminate collectively under the title Shadow Court. Shadow Court is split into two main stories as the ninja and knights are both now back in their own realms cleaning things up. One story follows the ninja while the other follows the knights.
A synopsis for the Shadow Court is:
The meld may be over and Dagon defeated but have they truly won? As the ninja and knights work to put their realms back in stable order from the events of the meld they find things aren’t truly over as the darkness from the void is hiding in their realms awaiting to shroud the realms in darkness in retaliation for their actions. Remnants of Dagons allegiance dark allies left behind to enact vengeance for their lords fall and to continue Dagons plans one way or another. They seek to see the realms dragged into the void and the destruction of the world to commence no matter the costs. As the knights and ninja try to clean things up it isn’t long till dark secrets are uncovered and they all find that the effects of Dagons influence aren’t truly gone yet and still reside in some of them.
The section for the Ninja is titled The Realm of Shadows while the section for the knights is titled Shadows over Knighton. Synopsis for each story is as follows:
The Realm of Shadows
While dealing with the messes left by the Ashers a foolish mistake reawakens Dagons curse on Zane turning him into a dragon of the void. Before the others can restrain him he escapes getting loose into the realm where he continues to evade their capture as he wanders the realm. Now loose as a large powerful and dangerous cybernetic dragon and cursed by the void they have to find and restrain him before the darkness consumes him but things aren’t that easy. Something from the shadows is plaguing the realm and seems to be tied in some way to Zane who seems to be turning more monstrous as he continues to evade them but is it all that it seems to be or is something else going on?
Shadows over Knighton
Bands of void monsters left behind by the meld are working with dark monsters in the shadows to plague the realm giving the knights trouble but they soon find they have a monster among themselves; an accident sparks the curse of Storabek in Aaron to reactivate. Now he must learn to control the curse to keep from becoming a monster like those they are fighting while they work to stop these monsters who’ve got hidden plans for them and their realm but when things go a bit wrong they must turn to a questionable source for aid but is this aid trustworthy or are there secret intentions behind it?
Bonus: I have also come up with a concept for a potential prequel to these stories but currently not working on it nor know if I will work on it considering there are quite a few things I don't have worked out for it. Here though is an outline I have for the work:
A group of entities show up on ninjago’s shores. They are a strange beast race; hyena folks seeming tainted by some strange magic. They refer to themselves as Hunyeenmers (hun-yeen-mer) and seem to radiate strange energies from their presence. They quickly start conquering regions and ruling them as part of their own empire. No one not even elemental masters can stand up to them. They best the ninja with little problem every time using strange magic’s they’ve never seen. They can create dark fogs that unsettle and dampen powers (they often use this to baffle groups attacking them), summon strange monsters (void monsters like Noctern Crows, Serpent-flies, Xiversus, Vrimps, Elemental Wyrms, Nyctrea, Zkurocks) create portals to teleport themselves between locations, sap the energy from others, summon dark tentacles to whip from the shadows at entities or to restrain them, wield elemental like attacks, can manipulate and influence beasts and flora, weapons don’t damage them even when stabbed (Kai runs one through but gets shocked when the thing is unharmed pulling his weapon out and pointing it back at him instantly healing itself), they seem to see and know things others cannot not even nindroids, some can shapeshift becoming monsters or half man half beast creatures and they don’t seem to understand fear. Once they conquer an area they leave a small amount of troops to rule the area with strange dark beings (Zivkin) and monsters of an unknown origin to guard their territory. As they conquer they note these entities actions are odd for conquerors and they seem to be looking for something. The ninja try to figure out who or what they are hoping it will help them defeat these things. Almost nothing is known; they check a few places including the library of Domu and the Explorers Club for clues into what they are looking for before frustrated by their losses and lack of knowledge they stumble across ancient texts hidden deep and largely forgotten in the monasteries library that references entities like these had been spotted long ago on the Dark Isle. Nothing else is mentioned. They decide to head to the dark isle to find this place they were spotted at which they find deep in some dark woods. It looks to be a strange dark tainted Necropolis of an unrecognisable origin. The place is empty with only strange passive monster like creatures (minor beasts of the void like Dreadrats, Deamon-Cockrel, Serpent-flies, Gremlickens) found in and near the location. Some of them sense something wrong to the location (what they feel is like the very fabric of the realm is frail and damaged letting something breach into the realm) but they can’t find the source. All they find is texts they can’t decipher as the language is unknown to anyone in their realm and cryptic looking reliefs and hieroglyphs depicting these entities with some dark massive monster. They feel these entities are searching for this monster though they can’t tell why. They head back deciding to interrogate one of these beings to find out more as they clearly know the common tongue; they’ve heard them speak it during fights and from media reports and social media. They manage to catch one but Zane and Pixal disappear. They feel the two might be looking into something so let them be taking the one they’ve caught to interrogate. Meanwhile Zane and Pixal were kidnapped by these entities getting knocked out and dragged off in secret during the fight. The two wake up in some underground fortress and are brought to see the leader of the group. (‘Come share a drink metal-skins and we shall chat. We have dealt with automatons such as yourselves before and know what you like; am I right to assume you enjoy motor oil with your tea. Do not fear us you will not be harmed here. We wish to do some dealings with you two. With your logical minds we believe you will understand what we have to tell you. We can offer you the knowledge you seek but I warn you it will come at a serious cost.’ The leader tells them as he sits in his thrown as they approach). After a brief secret chat the two are let go. They return to the monastery but refuse to say anything about what happened. They claim to have been following a lead that proved useless not revealing their capture or chat. The others all accept their explanation. They have had no luck with the interrogation the one they caught saying nothing of value. Largely just rants about the lack of good food they have wondering why they don’t have bugs in their food, complaining about them personally, talking about working with certain monsters, etc. That night when they are all asleep someone sets the prisoner free. They find it missing in the morning and can’t figure out how it escaped feeling someone broke in to free it. They go about trying to fight back these enemies and catch another. After a few encounters and some strange occurrences amongst themselves they start to notice Zane and Pixal acting strange. They brush it off at first but after some major plans go wrong combined with strange actions, words and/or behaviours from Zane and Pixal they start to suspect something’s wrong with the two even though they deny anything’s wrong. They decide they’re going to have to do some analysis to them but are going to have to put them offline as they are pretty sure the two are not going to co-operate with them. Zane and Pixal overhear them talking about this. When the others go to find the two they can’t find them instead finding a note that they are sorry but have to do this but they don’t reveal what ‘this’ is. They soon find from encounters from others and media that Zane and Pixal have joined these enemies and are helping them even dressing like them. They try to capture the two to figure out what is going on feeling these monsters have messed with them but the two evade them every time. Eventually they decide the only way to get the two is to go after the group’s leader. It takes them a serious effort having to enlist others to help them but they manage to capture and lock up Zane and Pixal, the leader however escapes. The two refuse to tell them what is going on just saying they have it wrong and are on the wrong side. They don’t believe the two feeling something’s seriously wrong with them thinking these monsters have done something to them. They don’t wish to do it but have to treat the two as criminals and decide they are going to have to do some work to fix them from whatever corruption these entities have put on them. They decide to do it the next day. Wanting to know why his friend would betray them like this Jay secretly goes and talks to the two. They refuse to tell him what is going on proclaiming they made a promise and can only tell them for everyone’s safety they have to let these beings do their thing. They don’t actually want to cause harm despite the looks of things. Jay doesn’t want to believe them thinking something’s wrong with them. The two plead that Jay lets them go; they need to help these beings to save their world. Jay at first refuses but they eventually manage to wear him down and get him to co-operate (‘Please we have to do this. Sometimes even if we don’t want to we have to make hard and sometimes harsh and cruel decisions which seem wrong in order to do the right thing’, Zane pleads to convince Jay). The next day the others find the two missing and searching security they find Jay who forgot they had cameras on was the one to let them go. The others are mad at him feeling he let his feelings get a hold of him and he’s put everyone in danger. They continue to try and fight these entities. Eventually they note the enemy seems to be focusing on a specific area setting up a battlement there. They manage to sneak in and capture the leader plus Zane and Pixal who try to stop them in the process. They take them back to the monastery and lock them up to interrogate them all. Both the leader who is eerily calm and Zane and Pixal keep telling them they have made a mistake. They don’t believe any of them. That night a strange dark event occurs and a strange large inky black monster (it’s like a serpentine creature with three sets of insect like legs and prey mantis like fore limbs that it sprays and oozes in defence and attack an ink like liquid that decays whatever the liquid touches even metal which degrades to dust) appears from the area these beings had their fortress. The thing spreads out causing the world where it wanders and where the strange inky ooze it sprays touches to start decaying. Nothing can fight it; the ninja are powerless against it. (After a failed attempt to stop it they return to the hanger bay and find the leader having broke out of imprisonment looking at media coverage on the main screen. ‘So she is free. We could have stopped this but alas the small unintelligent minds of humans interfered and as usual hastens their doom’, he states to them. He gives no fight as they take him to interrogate him. He could escape because nothing they have can hold those like him. His powers let him unlock the door.) When they talk to him the leader opens up revealing who they are and what they were doing. They are from a place they deem beyond the realms a place they refuse to speak of as to know its name could lead to the end of the world; knowledge of it could spark the wrong kinds to seek its powers and lead to the end of the world. His people once lived in the realms in a place meant to be lost to all others because the realm was broken the place their kind come from oozing into and having a strong hold on the realm but dark beings in this realm cursed his tribe and the other remaining ones of his people to the cursed realm long ago. While there they sought an escape and called upon an ancient spirit they refer to as Storabek. He gave them salvation but at a great cost. They were no longer beings of the realms becoming something else entities no longer of the living but no longer of the dead either but a state they would not understand. As payment for their release they had to keep tabs and prevent an ancient demon, Tiamnira (tia-mnir-a) the decayer of worlds from being found or escaping her ancient prison. Long ago it took many powerful warriors and ancient spirits to lock it up. From where they dwelled they saw the troubles in the realms and feared this demon may end up getting loose so came to the realm to find an entrance to her prison which has been lost for ages and destroy her before she can be let loose; she can truly not be destroyed but they can banish her from the realms and trap her back to where she came from so she can no longer hurt the realms. They conquered the people to keep them from interfering in their work and hopefully keeping anyone from seeking this monster. Unfortunately someone figured out what they were doing and has been trying to rush ahead of their work to release this thing thinking they will be able to control it not understanding entities like this cannot be controlled by anyone save two beings who come from where they are from but neither are present or in the power to do such leaving them as the only ones able to do anything to stop this monster. Because they share powers and origin with this thing these entities are the only ones able to stop it. They are hesitant to agree with him. When interrogating Zane and Pixal after the two reveal that these entities told them all about what was going on but swore them to secrecy as they could not fully trust the ninja would co-operate and do the right thing largely due to Lloyds heritage; they worried the darkness of this beast would affect his oni nature corrupting him. The two agreed and helped hinder them so the group could do their work. They understood the reasons and need for secrecy. When they heard the others talking of inspecting them they were scared worried the secret would be revealed and they may be in danger so fled to help these entities search and hurry up their work. After some thought they decide to help these entities who promise when their task is done they will leave and no longer be a threat. They have to help these entities lure this monster into a trap and destroy this monster before it gets too far. It’s a struggle but they manage to aid the entities into trapping her using powerful wards filled with energies of light from the void fused into rune stones the entities construct before the groups leader empowers himself with energy from the void calling upon this Storabek. The act causes him to be struck with energy from the runes they put up turning him into a dragon (the Stags dragon form; calling upon the Stag for help turns him into an avatar for Storabek for the fight) to fight this monster while the rest fight back the dark monsters aiding Tiamnira. After a struggle the leader manages to destroy her before collapsing transforming back to normal. After the battle the entities clean up all traces of themselves to protect the realm from their presence and influence from where they came from. Before they leave the leader gives them a warning that he senses a darkness coming and that they should be on guard for what may come.
The individual who found the vessel and unleashed the demon thinking they could use it for their own purposes found out about this entity after looking up about these new beings wanting to know what they were or who they were thinking they could be allies for them. They had to find very secret and forbidden scrolls with the knowledge hidden somewhere out of reach. They had to make a bargain with monsters from the origin place of both the entities and monsters. Once released the monster he thought he could control destroys him.
Things happening in background:
-Zane keeps having strange dreams and nightmares of a strange place and dark monsters (he’s seeing visions of the Ash Wastes and Ashers foreshadowing what’s to come.) It keeps distracting him and a few times it causes him to slip up/get in trouble/get hurt or get anxious. He keeps his dreams secret confused about everything.
- Jay is the focus ninja not sure how though; could relate to his mother maybe wondering why she left him and if she had done the right thing in abandoning him.
-Cole sneaks off a few times to spend time with Seliel. Jay investigating his mom is bother him as it keeps bringing up his feelings of his moms death upsetting him making him struggle with his emotions around the subject.
-Kai and Nya are helping Jay. At times they note oddities to the others but are unsure if they should do something about it. They look a bit into it but decide to not bother them and let them work their problems out on their own. They are however going to keep an eye on them to look out for them.
-these entities and the strange energy they bring are messing with Lloyd and his powers. Sometimes they're more powerful or weaker than he intends. He starts worrying he might be loosing control of his Oni side as he feels oddly drawn to the energy of these monsters and gets an odd homely/comforting feeling to it. (its the energies of light these entities who are actually dark, cryptic, primal and beastial looking bring with them that he's feeling comforted by)
-worried about Coles sneaking off Nya and Pixal look into it. When they find out he's seeing someone they keep it secret knowing he'd prefer to let them know on his own terms. They also understand his need to see someone else having noted Jays search into his mom has stressed Cole with feelings of his mothers death and the grief it makes him feel. They make suttle comments hinting they know but Cole doesn't get them.
As with the main story before there are some works for world building for the stories to come:
First; a note on the void from a text by a Varantine scholar:
What is the Void? Many ask this question but few mortals can understand or perceive what it is for its reality is far from the understandings of us mortals nor is meant for us mortals to know. Some perceive it as simply nothing, others that it is the energy of the universe or that it is some form of spiritual realm; to the scientifically minded it is what they call dark matter and the fabric of the universe. While all these hold truths it just scratches the surface of what the void truly is. It is simultaneously all things and no things; it is energy in all forms of creation and destruction and all that lies in between and beyond our understanding; it is the beginning to all things and the eventual end to all things. It sometimes appears to have a conscious however it has no conscious yet can influence its forces upon the mortal realms. There are many substances and entities that end up in the realms that are of the void dark matter and dark energy which makes up the voids of space that surround all matter within a realm are but two of them. They are part of what protects us from the instability and unpredictability of the void which would prevent mortals such as us from manifesting and existing in the state we understand and can perceive. Is what comes from the void evil? To mortals such as humans and similar species it may seem so but in reality they are not. They just are; existing as the void has made them. They are neutral living and doing what they were made to do. Some wish harm to the mortal realms and instil in them great darkness, others bring and reflect the light to combat the dark while many others are neutral working with and as natural forces to shape things and maintain balance in the realms. Those of the void technically have no form being more of conscious energy like a soul so can change shape however when within the mortal planes and to the senses of mortals they take on distinct physical forms often encompassing the essence of their being. These physical mortal forms can be humanoid, beastial even beings of pure elements. The physical form of these can be destroyed but the essence of these entities what is equivalent to their soul is merely sent back to the void to reform and can return when it pleases or finds a way to and continue as it had been. While most prefer to fear the void there are some who do not fear it. To them they see the truth of the void and embrace it for what it is and do not fear it no matter its unknowns. Few know or acknowledge that Dragons and Oni are the direct children of the void and some of the most powerful of its beings. They are also among the few willing to easily be seen and interfere with mortals. Most others are much more secretive and unpredictable and some others most might not even realise are from the void. Many entities deemed monsters, spirits and demons have their origins in the void. Beings of pure elements, un-dead like monstrosities, beings not only of human and animal but even trees and fungi tainted by the voids energies or originating from its vast unknown along with things we can barely comprehend beyond our understanding are from there. Due to reasons poorly understood the Lost Realm more than any other realm has been plagued and breached by the void making it easier for adventurers and others to encounter beings from it there. Now that the barriers have been broken all realms will now get a taste of the voids hold – Jee-Lar Varantine Scholar
As before what follows is a shortened and simplified working of a guide book by Keikiary on creatures and entities in the stories. For images of all these creatures and more please visit my Deviantart page and feel free to leave comments: https://www.deviantart.com/nerdy-hyena/gallery/72478681/story-project
Some more artworks for the Shadow Court arc:
The ninja start off with the attire they got in the Lost Realm however after some time when they make a prolonged stay in a northern region to try and catch Zanes dragon form they change up their attire to better combat the conditions of the region they end up in. With Zane not with them Pixal takes over for him to help the rest of them to combat the monsters they have to still clean up.
The Knights however wasted no time once back in their realm to update their armour to better fit the technologies of their realm.
The Bounty during the events of the Shadow of the Void.
More coming soon...
Keikiary’s Guide to the After affects of the Meld- note from publisher this a work in progress from one of our multiple writers as our team of naturalists from across the realms work on studying the effects of the Plane Meld and create guides for the common folk to help them better understand the effects of the meld and the new oddities being found in various realms.
Since the effects of the Void Breach and the plane melding things from different realms have ended up through all the realms. While most are fairly harmless and will eventually find their place in the realms some will prove problematic especially if poisoned by the unstable remaining void energies left by the breach. As an expert of the denizens of the Lost Realm I can offer some advice and aid to things to have come from the Lost Realm. In my research I have come to notice there are quite a few flora and fauna which some might have thought unique to their realm were not entirely so and in fact were found in multiple realms. While accidental portaling through experimentation or accidents from mages may have caused some of these I feel some especially when multiple species of flora and fauna from a singular area ended up in close proximity in a realm is evidence that these Plane Melds or at least minor breaches spilling parts of realms together might have occurred in the past and somehow through some means been largely forgotten by the populace. Of course once isolated in a realm the flora and fauna would adapt to their new home and overtime change to fit their new home. Now however many have been brought back to meeting each other since the meld which could actually prove beneficial for species giving them new life and boosting population health’s. It does however mean that new threats will be introduced and by far diseases and invasive species may just be the least of these threats. The energies left behind by the void will continue for some time to be present and affect everything around them. In some cases it will do nothing in others it could prove disastrous. These disastrous effects are poorly understood but could range from simply aggravating creatures and flora causing minor changes to species possibly creating new species to serious devastating effects like what is believed to have occurred on Ice Reach in the Lost Realm to which the effects and full understanding of what has happened and occurs on Ice Reach is still poorly understood. Along with this are the many monsters who remain or have found their ways into the realms in order to take advantage of circumstances for their own purposes many of which will not prove well for those of the realm. As time goes on and things recover from the meld along with warriors fighting them back the presence of these monsters and their effects will fade down. They likely will never fully disappear but will at the least calm down to no longer be a serious or common threat in most places. The following is some descriptions on what has been reported out of place in various realms or oddities now occurring in the realms.
Various forms of flora have found their way into new realms establishing themselves amongst the native flora. It has been reported that flora from the Ash Wastes, Blackwood, Sheogorad Archipelago and even Ice Reach has been found occurring in other realms like how flora from the Dark Woods in Knightonia has come to establish in various realms. Those ending up in unsuitable habitats will not gain a foothold however most will likely end up in environments they can tolerate so will gain a foothold and spread. In time a balance between them and native fauna should establish itself however not all these flora will be welcomed. Things like Trauma Root and Splinter Vine are obviously dangerous and should be avoided while others including many fungi will be poisonous. A reference to guides like this should be looked into before attempting consumption to any plant or animal matter you are not familiar with.
From the Lost Realm while parts from various regions have been scattered and left behind two notable regions have left more than others behind in other realms. The reason for this might be due to the nature of these regions, the Sheogorad Archipelago and Ice Reach. Given who rules it there is no surprise that pieces of Sheoths lands the Sheogorad Archipelago also known as the Isles of Insanity and its populations of its strange floral and faunal inhabitants have ended up through multiple realms. Likely as it is ruled over and greatly influenced by an Oni therefore has a great deal of Void energies already entwined in it its inhabitants, pieces of its geography and species of and from the isles were not so easily put back and therefore ended up readily split up colonising new realms. Individuals should not fear what comes from these lands despite the many oddities of them. They are no more dangerous than anything else from anywhere else in the realms even if they are extremely strange to those not used to seeing them. One thing that should be noted however is true to its rulers insane nature many of the things coming from the Sheogorad Archipelago are quite bizarre and sometimes baffling to scholars. As an oni whose natures and powers are of destruction Sheoth was never able to truly create anything in his lands however he did find a way around this. He could not create but he could change things. Manipulating energies and the very makeup of beings, the DNA and what not, he could in a sense create things bypassing his natural flaws and lack of powers in creation as change is both an aspect of destruction and creation; it is the destruction of one thing into the creation of another. Most of the animals inhabiting his lands are of reptilian, avian and invertebrate in nature and the few mammals present are oddities and most often egg layers or marsupials such as the Sheogorad Devils. As a region the Sheogorad Archipelago consists of twin micro-continent islands with many various sized islands scattered around these two isles. The isles sit in the cool temperate to sub tropical environs with several areas reaching alpine tundra conditions. Dry highland steppes, low damp forests, coastal swamp forests, various cave sections even isolated sections of Blackreach, towering redwood forests, mid-ground fens, lakes, volcanic isles and plains, hot springs and many other environments some truly bizarre decorate the isles creating a wealth of habitats for life to adapt to. Overall habitats are of a moist nature nothing dryer than grasslands is found here. This diversity has led to a wide variety to many of its endemic fauna some of which have developed strange adaptations to various conditions. Due to the island nature of the location many of its inhabitants are capable swimmers even if they do not appear to be so. Despite what some think yes the Dragon Master was aware of Sheoths meddling but he was tolerant of it as Sheoths creations while strange were not threats to his realm nor defied the natural order and he saw it as Sheoth expressing himself and his experimenting as his attempts to understand the powers of light; he probably also enjoyed and saw beauty in things that were created. The Sheogorad Archipelago is known to harbour higher concentrations than normal of void energy likely caused by Sheoth attempting to create an environment more comfortable to his oni nature these energies however are kept in check and kept from harming the realm and its inhabitants by large strange crystal deposits that can just up to 2 to 2.5 meters (7-8 ft) tall. They absorb the energy though what they do to it is not well understood. It is highly suggested that they act as conduits and ports for void energy transporting it back to the void. These deposits are scattered across the isles often emitting warm greenish glows which some explorers have commented can be unsettling to come across in dark areas like caves and dark forest under stories. Despite their look however these are harmless. Occasional wisps of glowing energy dance in areas around these a few times an hour revealing the presence of the energies here.
The isles are pretty consistent with their flora and fauna. Some notable examples of flora include; Fellmoor Cypress a swamp loving semi aquatic growing conifer often found growing in lowland swamps and coastal marshes. Its fruit like cones have a turquoise glow and are edible. Also found in the marshes are Marsh Root Pods a strange tree fern plant that stands up on finger like root extensions. These grow in swampy to flooded environments and really like dark regions. Marsh Root Pods get their name from the pod like fruits that grow on them. These are editable and said to have a meaty flavour. Plants and fungi also found in other regions particularly the Ash Wastes and even some from Blackreach and even a few from Ice Reach can also be found here. These include Niben Redwoos, Crowned Emperor Parasols, Chokeweed, Brightwood Cypress, Glow Caps, Lantern Pods, Glowstalks, Tower Ferns, Fungal Creepers, Fungal Stalks, Bright Boughs Russula, Luminous Russula, Splinter Vines, Hill-mites, Glow-cone pines, Lunar pod fern, Void-pod Tree fern and Lunar Reeds. When it comes to fauna the isles are inhabited by a variety of strange creatures often with bizarre adaptations or features.
The isles are largely sparsely populated most of the population residing in a handful of settlements of region leaving plenty of strange wilderness regions. While the vast majority of inhabitants are those of neuro-divergent conditions or sufferers of mental ailments more normal folks can be found here in occasion. For the safety of its inhabitants and the rest of the realm those of dangerous mindsets are isolated and contained in dungeons away from the rest often isolated in the wilderness to prevent harm and often to do away with them for the safety of all. Guarding these dungeons and the rest of the isles are beings that while appearing human taking the hyena designed beast folk look of the common peoples of our realms are two strange races of void originating entities. These are the golden skinned with golden eyes Aurorals and the dark bluish grey skin and violet eyes Cryptols. These entities are beings of void origin who serve Sheoth considering him their master and boasting dog like loyalty to him. In other realms they typically take a humans form however in the Lost Realm they use the form of the beast folk; this is likely to not make the isles inhabitants feel uncomfortable to them. They are sister races coming from the same source but encompassing parallel energies. Likely because of this they have a sibling like rivalry over who is better. Both their societies are female dominated with females on average being bigger and more powerful than males. Aurorals align more to the powers of the light while the Cryptols align more with the powers of darkness. Whether these are unique entities or were modified from Zivkins by Sheoth to create new entities is unknown and attempts to ask him are very difficult due to Sheoths insanities and sometimes short attention span. Overall those from the isles are passive and will not hurt you unless you cause problems with the law or for others however those not aligned with Sheoth like most other void beings will be hostile to people. There are many scattered ruins throughout the isles of past settlements or structures often now left abandoned getting swallowed up by forests, swamps, grasslands and the like. While most of these structures are of human origin or not all of them are. A few oni made structures are known most abandoned though some are used as forts and bases for defending the isles by the Aurorals and Cryptols. Other void entities are also known to hang around these ruins. There are however strange ruins of unknown make and origin found in dark often densely vegetated regions. Little is known of these ruins but the fact the void energy absorbing crystals are found around them and similarities to Oni ruins leads many to suspect they may have some form of ties or relations to the void.
Ice Reach, a land lost in broken time and ice and sometimes regarded as its own pocket realm within a realm, whatever happened here to leave it in the state it is now and what has happened to it is unknown but may have origins with a previous realm breaking event. No records exist of what happened and the accounts from refugees that fled to the other lands when the conditions it sits in now started are at best confusing and hard to understand. They describe a strange energy descending upon the continent which on occasion would manifest as a cool pale bluish to greenish balls of light that would dance randomly through the air before disappearing, some places would have strange shimmers to the air as if some sort of magic was warping the air, wisps of light could sometimes be found near water sources but the most drastic was a quick and dramatic change in climate which appeared to be isolated to the continent. Prior to the event the continent which stretches down from the arctic to the cold temperate regions of our planet in some areas was a lusher in a sense greener place. Temperate and Boreal forests including strange Polar forests able to handle several months of darkness and strong enough to pierce through permafrost were common; the areas closest to the poles was covered by a glacier with a strip of steppe regions around this. Plants went from typical green closer to its southern margins to dark and near black the closer to the poles they got an adaptation to handle the low light levels for months on end at those latitudes. Many flora had glowing fruit structures to aid animals in finding them in the dark to help disperse their seeds and some foliage and fungi even developed strange hair like fibres on their hard structures to insulate from the cold. People inhabited the more southerly regions of the continent even making great cities such as Wulfhearth a city built on the southern coasts with a good portion of it built on a sea arch, Cryathal a city built on the shores of an inland sea with several parts of the city built on sea pots in this sea and Merethstrun a walled city built on the side and into a mountain. A great mix of life inhabited the continent with forests and grasslands dominated by ancient plant life primarily of conifers and cold hardened plants and fungi and animals with strange adaptations to withstand the conditions of the place including among them species of birds, repto-birds, amphibians, fishes, insects and various other invertebrates, reptiles including snakes and turtles and mammals. Some used hibernation to survive the harsh winter conditions, some would let themselves literally freeze solid during the dark and cold months while others would try and keep active albeit at lower metabolic levels than during the warmer months. Species found in Ice Reach are built to handle the extreme cold of their native regions. Thick shaggy coats and dense fat reserves even on creatures like reptiles, fish, amphibians and invertebrates developed to protect from the cold. Claws, horns, antlers, spikes, beaks and armour plating of species from Ice Reach are often coated in a strange never melting ice looking substance. Even some creatures fangs and tusks like the saber teeth of the Glacial Scimitar cat and the tusks of the Glacial Mammoth are coated by this substance. Interestingly some of the fauna found in the Sheogorad Archipelago can be found here in appropriately adapted varieties. While possible land bridges may have existed at one time between our continent and Ice Reach in the past letting species cross borders there has never been bridges and distances are too far away for things from the Sheogorad region being able to cross easily to Ice Reach leading some to think for some reason, knowing his temperament most likely for his amusement, Sheoth placed some of his creations there.
When this time break that put the continent into the state it sits now occurred within a few decades a strange cold came to grip the continent despite climactic conditions through the rest of the realm not changing. As the climate cooled many flora and fauna seemed to be gripped by this strange energy adapting them to the conditions preventing major extinctions but also causing the dead of individuals largely animals to rise from the dead. Upon death species from Ice Reach don’t always rot away instead entering a strange state as they very slowly decay. Some soft materials rot away and exposed bones or rotted patches often get coated in a strange icy opal looking substance that doesn’t melt replacing the soft tissues. Some are only in this state for a period of time till they fully rot away others enter this half to partial decayed state permanently. Why they become these strange un-dead beings and how they work is poorly understood. They can appear dead lying in one position for years then suddenly spring to life, what powers them is unknown, why for some this state is permanent for some but not others and what their purpose is are just some of the many quirks and questions about these entities. Lichens and mosses are known to grow in the hides of many of these reanimated beings and they often turn pale and sickly in color compared to how they were in life. When this started to occur and their own dead began to become these entities along with the increasingly hard and near unbearable conditions gripped the place the people fled the continent in droves. Within less than a decade the entire continent became abandoned. For centuries tales from those that fled kept people from attempting any form of exploration to the continent. Along with the strange conditions they told tales of claiming to see dark monsters in the shadows, hearing strange sounds or voices in the countryside or at night even in cities but no source of these sounds could be heard, some of these sounds they claimed was like animals had been putting human screams or calls for help mixed into their calls, seeing shadow people out of the corner of their eyes or in the shadows, strange snowstorms would blow in turning to ice or corrupting with the strange energies anyone and anything caught in it, bright and various coloured auroras stretched over most of the skies even much deeper south than normal and were much more frequent than usual, strange geologic activities also became prominent like odd colored lava coming from the volcanoes of the isle, fissures that leaked strange colored water and an extensive field of hot springs on the continent developed strange colored water that tainted the surrounding soil with greenish yellow hues. When explorers finally returned to the isle after sometimes they did note the strange geological, biological and climatological conditions but did not encounter any of the supposed monsters, strange moving shadows or sounds. It should be noted however that out of fear and because of conditions they didn’t wander alone, didn’t venture outside encampments at night, and went from settlement to settlement in their studies avoiding deep wilderness areas so studies were not as thorough as they could be. That being said they did however note no signs of human habitation other than what the refugees had left behind which despite the centuries of abandonment looked as if they had just been abandoned the day before the only damages and wear coming from animal interactions. The conditions were quite harsh preventing extensive study and fears have kept prolonged and extensive studies from occurring leaving much mystery to what the place is like and most importantly what happened here. For safety reasons if things from Ice Reach are encountered one should consult this or similar texts before interacting with things from this region especially consumption. If you don’t know what something is or where it came from unless you’re a skilled scholar who knows how to safely study very dangerous things it’s best to leave something you don’t know alone; better safe than sorry.
More to come...
Mammals
A common nuisance in towns and cities where it commonly rummages through garbage bins leaving a mess for home owners to clean up these opportunistic omnivores will eat anything they can find even each other though they tend more towards carnivory than anything else. Their hyena like jaws can crack through bones and crush some of the toughest nuts and tubers. While they will scavenge their meat contrary to popular belief they can and most often do hunt smaller animals such as rodents, rabbits, smaller predators, small reptiles and amphibians for food. They also dine on insects where it has been noted they appear to be immune to insects venoms and some snake and lizard venoms. They are found in most environments in our world and are well known for their moody temperaments especially when food is involved and often described as having eerie or unsettling sounds. About the size of a medium sized dog they are mainly nocturnal and are pretty decent climbers. They are rather social creatures with a loose social structure that sees females more often than males in dominance. Dominance seems to be highly dependent on how many friends you have amongst the clan than anything else. Social interactions within the species tend to be a bit on the rough side with plenty of screaming, biting, wrestling and scratching. Their relations among species is rather confusing. Some believe they are related to rodents while others note many similarities with Sheogorad Devils, a type of marsupial of the Shivering Isles. Though they do not reproduce like marsupials they defiantly appear to share more similarities with this creature than rodents. They can be kept as pets however one should make sure they are kept well vaccinated since they can spread some pretty nasty diseases which they themselves are immune to such as Ataxia and Serpentus.
Skeevers are a common omnivorous group of creatures in the Realms with the highest diversity in species coming from the Lost Realm indicating they likely originated there. This is further backed up by the fact their closest relative is the Sheogorad Devil, a type of marsupial from the Sheogorad Archipelago the home lands to the Oni of insanity Sheoth. Though they do not reproduce however like marsupials reproducing more like other mammals. These are common nuisance creatures in and around settlements where they are notorious for stealing from picnics and barbeques, rummaging through garbage leaving a mess for individuals to clean up in their bed attire the next morning and attempting to steal from vendors and shops. In the wild they serve a critical role as natures cleaners scavenging dead and often rotting carcasses helping to limit the spread of disease and decay. Some examples of species include: Common Skeever: a largely black furred with a white strip on the back of neck, feet and snout are largely lacking in fur. More northern members of the species however have furred feet and snouts giving them a darker appearance than more southerly species. The dark color could also help in warming them up in the cold. Sheogorad Skeever: fully furred like northern species with dark to black with tannish mask on face stretching down onto chest while missing on snout and rings around eyes. Sometimes called the Spectacled Skeever because of these markings. Despite name is widely spread and very common. Is known to frequently hybridize with the common species. Hybrids tend to look more like the Sheogorad with the marking being less extensive and a pale marking on the back of the neck. Vale Skeever: a species found in the massive underground caverns known as Blackreach in the Lost Realm. Ice-blood Skeever: A species known to occur on Ice Reach. It also has populations in the Never Realm. Believed to have a bite that bares ice powers chilling you to the core it’s also believed the cold has driven it to being more aggressive than normal.
Castora Kappa are a species of Kappa from the Sheogorad region which is also spread through the northern regions of the Lost Realm as well. Able to tolerate both fresh and to some extent salt water this species can be found in both inland and coastal regions. While able to tolerate it the Castora Kappa is not an open ocean goer being part of the freshwater branch of Kappas nor can tolerate extended periods at sea but can venture there for hunting or travel between lands. The Castora to this species name is a reference to beavers as not only does it look a bit like a beaver but where other species of Kappa dig burrows in river banks or near rivers this species builds lodges using mud, sticks, various plant matter and even small stones. While they can’t chew down trees or sticks they instead collect fallen debris or break off low hanging branches or pieces from shrubs. They have also been known to share the lodges of beavers aiding in the construction, maintenance, cleaning and protection of the lodge. Kappas generally aren’t a serious threat to beavers feeding mainly on fish not the beavers or their young and have a powerful defence making them a useful ally to beavers who can chew down trees and more easily get materials for lodge building along with their dam building which creates wetlands that house and let prosper the fishy prey of the Kappa. In this grouping they form a mutualistic relation benefitting both parties so they are very tolerant and friendly to each other. Like all Kappas they are largely monogamous with a pair forming and rearing their young and boast the same icy powers for defence. The markings on its body are capable of bioluminescence which they use in displays to startle predators and during the breeding months while breaching the water like dolphins in dancing displays for mates and in pair courtships.
Elephantids are some of the biggest of land mammals. Due to their size and social structure these have fared quite well from the meld and the fact most species can be found in most realms means they have not only done well before but likely benefited in the past from plane melds letting them spread from realm to realm with little problem. Mammoths are a cold tolerant and fluffy branch of the elephant family that inhabit forests, steppes, grasslands, wetlands and alpine slopes. Found in arctic to temperate grasslands, steppes, bogs, open woodlands and scrub is the Tundra or Sun-backed mammoth, it’s second name a reference to their color pattern. One of the largest mammoths despite having few predators and threats is still just as cautious and defensive as its smaller relatives making it just as moody as its Timber Mammoth like cousin. Despite their moodiness like all elephantids they are still relatively docile only acting out in defence. Both Timber and Sun-backed Mammoths have populations in several realms including the Lost Realm, Ninjago and Knightonia. Sun-backs prefer the more open environments being found in grasslands, steppes and open woodlands in the Boreal to warm temperate/sub-tropical latitudes. Their massive tusks are used for clearing snow and debris from the ground, defence and displays during mating season. The Timber Mammoths prefer the more wooded regions being found in the same regions as the Sun-backed however only competing with their larger cousins in the open woodlands. Timbers prefer forests and wetlands as their environments. Populations exist in several realms including the Lost Realm, Ninjago and Knightonia. Mammoths are one of the few confirmed inhabitants of Ice Reach with the species the Glacial Mammoth known to inhabit the region. Like all those in this strange place parts of its body namely the toenails and tusks and a strange bony plate over the tusks base are coated in a strange never melting ice like substance. As with all inhabitants of Ice Reach little is known of this species however it has been known to exist in the Never Realm.
Steppe Slothdillos are a northern species of Slothdillo which has a longer thicker coat to combat the cold and a bulgous trunk like nose to warm the air it breathes. It also has a set of small tusks and two small antler like horns on its forehead for tussling together. Steppe Slothdillos are more social than other species a possible adaptation to the cold as in the winter months they often huddle together to keep warm in the cold and stick together for protection in the dark winter. Like other Slothdillos they are also known to dig out not just burrows in dirt but caves in rock using their strong arms and powerful claws to carve them out. They often shelter huddled together during harsh weather in these structures. While it spends a good amount of the winter awake unlike the Murtle it does still spend time in a torpor state to help get through harsh times. Steppe Slothdillos are also known to inhabit Ice Reach where not only its tusk and claws but armour plating is covered in the strange ice material.
A northern cousin to the Murtle of the Ash Wastes the Steppe Murtle has a thicker more extensive coat covering its body and tusks which while used in fights are largely for clearing snow and ice from areas in order to feed or drink. The horn at the base of the trunk on the top of the head is largely for fights and display. While this species can handle the cold better than warmer region varieties winter can still be quite tough on them so to combat it they spend the harshest times in a hibernation like state largely buried in the ground a special thick layer of fatty tissues just beneath the skin and their thick fur over the skin helping to keep them warm and preventing them from freezing.
Ekhindahogs Is a small groundhog sized relative of the Kaguar. Like their bigger cousins while resembling reptiles with semi-erect forelimbs, scales, beak, egg laying and lack of external fleshy ears they are mammals with the fur and ability to produce milk. These small animals are social creatures who while feeding and foraging above ground rest, breed and rear their young in multi chambered communal burrows. Most of their time in spent above ground however they rarely venture far from their communal burrows. While they seem defenceless the Ekhindahogs has a few tricks to keep it safe when above ground. Like Hedgehogs the fur on their backs running a bit down their sides is made of stiff quills and while they can roll into a loose ball presenting their quills to hungry predators if those quills still don’t deter an attack the hog will stab threats with the venomous spikes on their ankles much like the Kappa. While not lethal their venom is said to be excruciatingly painful and lasts for several hours. Despite looking dangerous their fang like tusks are rarely used on attackers. Instead these are used in inter species disputes mainly over resources and mates and can be used to help dig up roots and tubers. Tusks are larger and more prominent on males however both genders have them. These animals are generally docile and have what many consider comical temperaments. Their diets consist mainly of plant matter and fungi however they will also eat insects, fish and have been known to also eat shellfish. Interestingly while both genders care for the young males play more of a role in parental care than females. Like some mammals males even produce milk like the females often producing just as much as she does to care for the young.
Several species of these interesting members of the Kaguar lineage can be found in the Lost Realm and as of the Plane Meld now in some other Realms. They all share generally the same traits and behaviours including the milk giving of males. Mossy Ekhindahogs are from several forested regions including the Forgotten Forest and Sheogorad region. Tundra Diggers are a species of Ekhindahog found in northern grasslands. During the winter they create tunnels beneath the snow to move and feed above ground. These tunnels are surprisingly kept warmer than the ambient air temperature thanks to the insulating powers of snow. Tundra Diggers slow their functioning to conserve energy and spend quite a bit of time in torpor huddled with their colony members in a large central chamber of their burrow. The Tundra Digger has a related species on Ice Reach. This species had the ability to let itself freeze during the harshest part of the winter. The effects of Ice Reach made the back quills turn into an icy substance like the coating to its claws, tusks and beak. The venom from its foot spurs could chill the body and cause frostbite where they stabbed. This same venom and effects are also dealt by the quills.
A northern dwelling relative of the Kaguar the Woolguar is found in the cold northern regions of the Lost Realm where it can be found in woodlands, alpine but largely steppe regions. To combat the cold of its favoured environments its body is covered in a dense fur coat. Overall it is built much like its Kaguar cousin with the exception of a small hump of fat over their shoulders and most notably it bares a short trunk on its snout over its top beak which is used in helping it feed along with warming the air as it breathes. The upper beak now is more of an incisor like pad in the top of the mouth than a true beak. Like other Kaguars it is largely a herbivore and is frequently used as a work and livestock animal. Unlike its warmer region cousins to protect their eggs instead of being laid a few weeks before hatching are retained and the young are laid shortly before they hatch. Woolguars live in large mix gendered herds whose numbers get bigger in the winter as herds come together for warmth and protection during the winter months. At this time the young are kept near the center of the herd at all times. When the warmer months return they split back up into the regular smaller herds. When threatened herds form a protective circle around the young with the frilled and large beaked heads facing out towards the threat to challenge them. Populations of Woolgaurs are known to exist on Ice Reach.
Of course leave it up to Sheoth to create a true enigma of a beast. Is it a mammal? Reptile? Part insect? According to Sheoth it’s a mammal related to cattle despite having some traits from other animals and looking almost nothing like other mammals. The Soiltere is a creature Sheoth brought into being for the lands of Ice Reach for the people that lived there at the time to domesticate so they’d have an animal rugged enough to handle the rough conditions found on parts of the lands. This large bulky beast is like a bison crossed with a boar then given strange hard capped almost armour like and hinged lower parts to its legs. While the hind legs are held bellow the body the front legs splay out a bit as beneath them is a strange set of limbs that look a bit like the grasping limbs of a praying mantis. These strange limbs are used largely in digging up roots and tubers along with some mushrooms and in manipulating items and defence. When not in use these limbs fold and tuck up into the bushy hair that coats the chest. Along with these strange limbs they have bony armour plates on their back with spikes on their rump, a set of tusks, a beak tipped lower jaw which is paired with a horny pad in the fleshy upper like normal hoofed mammals and a ‘helmet’ on their head for display and in fighting which includes head butting like a ram. These animals are still used in some areas particularly in mountainous and northern regions alongside cattle where like cattle they are used for milk, meat, leather and as beasts of burden. Along with being domesticated several regions have wild populations that still retain the original look of the beasts prior to the cursing of Ice Reach. These animals are primarily herbivores feeding on anything they can get. Even the domesticated variety are known to have rather ornery temperaments and are temperamental to work with.
These massive Boars are well known for their aggressive and bold natures. Razorback Boars can be found in all but desert environments with those living in more arid regions being smaller than those in wetter regions. They are known to inhabit most realms some of which they might have been intentionally introduced in most likely as a source of resources as they are commonly hunted for food, leather, their tusks and some tribes even have found how to tame them for uses as beasts of burden for things like farm work and mounts. As their name suggests they are a type of boar and like them are omnivores eating almost anything they can find though like boars they have a fondness for root vegetables and mushrooms. They live in matriarchal female dominated groups with several females and their young while males live solitary lives only associating with groups to breed where they often have to compete in rough shoving and biting contests to win the right to mate. On average they have between 4-8 young in each litter every two to three years and take about five years to reach full adulthood. Like other boars the babies are a brownish color with pale stripping on their sides. If the mother dies before the young are grown other females in the group will care for the young. Both genders are quite large though males are bigger than females and are well muscled particularly around the shoulders and on the neck which also bare dense manes of wiry hair. Both genders also have three sets of tusks on their top jaw which are largest by the front of the jaw and smallest by the back of the jaws, two sets of tusks on the bottom jaw and a set of horn like protrusion on the top of its snout. These tusks are used largely for routing in soil and digging up roots, tubers and other things from the soil along with on occasion digging into tree trunks to get sap however they are also used in defence and fighting each other which can lead to some serious and brutal wounds. These animals are known to be a nuisance in many areas as they dig up crops, attack people and rummage through garbage’s.
Hailing from the Sheogorad region these strange marine relatives of the land and tree dwelling sloths left for the seas becoming a semi-aquatic creature. Instead of trees and shrubs Kelloths have switched to a sea food diet of sea grasses, kelps and algae’s with the occasional fish or crustacean. Despite being an aquatic creature it is odly built for a semi-aquatic lifestyle having skeletal, respiration and circulation and musculature adaptations for it but limbs with no special adaptations other than webbing between its digits for such an activity. While a poor swimmer it does not really need to be a good swimmer as it lives largely in the shallows where uses its very powerful forelimbs with large hooked claws to climb and pull itself about along the sea bed, over rocky outcrops and through kelp forests as it forages for food clinging on with these same limbs and claws to keep from being swept away. They have a short proboscis which is used to aid in breathing while under water and can seal up and hold extra air for when underwater. They also have a thick layer of blubber under their short dense furred skin to protect against cold ocean currents, dense bones to help lower their buoyancy and two sets of rear facing tusks one set longer than the other which while they can be used in defence are largely for confrontations between members of a colony with males having the largest and longest of the tusks. Like other sloths even though they congregate in large numbers they have very little social bonds. For breeding males establish a territory on a beach keeping all other males from his space where a harem of females who find him a suitable mate gather. These sloths produce an average of one to two offspring every six to eight months. The young are weaned by five months but not abandoned even when the mother has new young. They stick with her for a while more till they are over a year old. While still being fed milk young sloths cling to their mothers side while she forages. Foraging for these sloths is rough due to waves and currents which often toss them about and into rocky landscapes where their food tends to be found. The dense bones they possess to aid in buoyancy control offer a secondary benefit here making injuries from such environmental impacts minor in severity so things that would break bones or even kill other animals only crack bones or scratch the Kelloths skin. When not feeding they come to rest ashore rarely venturing far from the beaches where they congregate in large colonies for protection. Due to their lower metabolism and body temperature of other mammals Kelloths are known to routinely bask like reptiles especially in cooler temperatures with pelt colors also darkening the closer to the poles a population exists to help in warming from this behaviour. Interestingly robotics primarily droids are classed as predators to these animals due to a high attraction to their meat which as a result of their diet which often includes oil kelp which is used to make a mechanical oil is a bit oily in taste.
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Reptiles, Amphibians and Birds
The Varantine are a strange race of humanoids. Believed to share an origin with the serpentine varantine take resemblance and attributes from the varanid lizards what are commonly termed monitor lizards. While serpentine have long had an at best rocky relation with the common folk varantine in general have more harmonious relations. While they get along fairly well with the common folk varantine do not often get along well with serpentine and are highly competitive to them. Commonly found in forests and swamps despite their reptilian designs varantine would surprise you with their adaptability, skills and intelligence. They are not hindered or bothered much by the cold, they are both excellent swimmers and climbers, while they seem to prefer what many would consider more primitive or simple lifestyles they are not strangers to technology or scientific thought and easily adopt and understand them. They simply prefer the simpler life. While overall scaly many varantine often are adorned by various horns, spikes, frills and feathers most often on their heads forming hair like structures and even spiky or feathery beards. These are believed to be used for display however it is noted many of these features can be manually raised or lowered to communicate emotions or reactions as well. They are cot cold blooded but not warm blooded either sitting somewhere between. They are capable of breathing in both air and water, are surprisingly resistant to the cold having a natural anti-freeze to their blood and cells and have a high tolerance towards disease and poisons. Not many know much about their culture despite varantine not being very secretive with it. Few just wish to study it due to the varantines lack of fear, mastery over and welcoming of the void. Varantine are strong worshippers of the void seeing it as the greatest cosmological force and do not fear it like other mortals do. For this reason many are well knowledged and versed in the magics of the void and they can do things with it other mortals cannot. They can summon monsters, wield magics of various kinds and even as they consider it by the will of the Void it is said they can even change species becoming an array of other beasts often those they feel could use the aid and benefit of one with their mind among the populace or need the individual to help the species escape extinction. It is also believed through these same transformative magics common folk and beasts can become varantines. These are not simple shape shifts however and are serious major physical alterations which can often not be undone. Once such a transformation is done it rarely cannot be reversed; it is a permanent transformation. No matter the transformations individuals are always welcome back into the tribes their transformations being seen as a rebirth no matter the beast they become. While there are tales that they can transform into plants via this magic I have found no proof of this and this misconception is likely a miss understanding to their funerary beliefs where plants often of trees are planted for their dead often with the dead buried under the plant in part of a belief of theirs that death brings new life and that their departed give new life to the plant which in turn gives life to others. They are also known to have a strong relation and connection to a unique race of trees from the void known as the Void Tree; a plant originating from the void and said to be sentient.
A Northern Plains dwelling relative to the Ash Walker the Tundra Strider is found on the frigid northern plains and alpine plateaus where it uses the large down curved horn like structures on its head to clear ice and snow from the ground and bodies of water. Along with these horns are prominent and thick bony pads coated in a rough keratin which are used in head pushing competitions with each other and for defence against predators. Most of the body is covered in a thick fur like fibres that like mammoths comes in an auburn, blonde, off white and dark brown to black colors to combat against the cold. The three main toes of the front foot are fused into single hoof like structure and are encased in a single hoof like covering for greater stability on the solid grounds this creature prefers to inhabit. Like other species living in cold rough environments Tundra Striders have a hump on their backs that is a fat store for lean times like in bison. A sub species of Tundra Striders is known to have been reported from Ice Reach where it boasts a more greyish whitish color with icy colored and coated horns, hooves and some patches to skin. The fact Tundra Striders are found on the main continent and Ice Reach it is believed that at some point in the past either the region that became Ice Reach was once part of the main land, a land bridge once connected the region or it could be evidence of a past melding of realms which left populations in two places.
A northern dwelling sub group of runners are the Trunkners. These runners have developed a prehensile trunk like growth on the face for manipulating items and extending reach of snout The trunk also helps warm and moisten the air they breathe helping to prevent heat and moisture loss in the colder climates; in the few warmer climate species these trunks serve the similar function of cooling down and moistening air. Unlike a true trunk it is not made of the nostrils but facial skin that would make a lip though airways do extend through part of the trunk and the nostrils are placed halfway down this trunk. Still retains the beak; bottom beak is visible while top beak forms hard pad in underside of trunk. Several species are in this group including this one the Tundra Trunkner. Tundra Trunkners live on the northern plains in small herds feeding on grasses shrubs and hardy steppe trees. Like all other Repto-birds living in harsh and often northern climates they retain their eggs in their bodies laying them a few hours before hatching to keep them from freezing and letting the Trunkener keep on the move to find resources instead of restricting themselves to a single limited location to nest. During most seasons they stick to the plains but in winter those that can move to wooded areas for shelter and food. Like other Runners it is an omnivore though it eats more plant matter during the summer and fall months when it is more plentiful than during the winter and spring.
Manic Fangs are cousins to Venom-Fangs that inhabit the Sheogorad Archipelago. They are the same size with largely the same body plan as they’re cousins and like them are venomous however their venom works differently. While still lethal and hallucinogen causing their venom has another effect of sending the bitten into a manic, highly exited happy and energetic state, episode for the duration of the venoms effects. Bite wounds from their envenomed bites glow with an orange-ish gold glow. Manic Fangs are interesting in having morphic biology where between 20 to 50 percent of a population are of a duller colored morph often termed the Demented morph due to its strange difference in venom. Overall the demented morph is no different from the normal morph and there is no segregation between the two, they readily mix with each other, the only main difference other than color the only difference is in the venom. Instead of causing a manic episode the venom instead greatly lowers mood and energy creating a depressed state and the wounds glow with a bluish purple glow. Other than that the morphs are exactly the same. Why there is this strange morphing to this species is unknown. Like their cousins they live in various habitats from coastal swampland to mid land forests to alpine slopes and their behaviours are overall the same.
Glowbacks are a type of racer found in various regions of the Lost Realm. Originating from the Sheogorad Archipelago where they are one of the apex predators they can be found in other regions including the Ash Wastes, Scalecaller Peaks, Bog of Pestilence, Frozen Marsh and even Ice Reach. Their name comes from the hard fleshy spines on its back that give off a glow for display and communication between members. They can increase and decrease the glow at various frequencies for communication and even cease it for stealth. Best described as a hyena crossed with a racer these are fast, agile and intelligent creatures who are both active predators and efficient scavengers. Often mistaken for a dragon they do not possess elemental attacks nor as far as we know venomous however the bite from its strong beakless and toothy jaws is septic. When landed they crawl on all fours and are incredibly efficient at it. A fur like fuzz covers most of their bodies save for the feet, snout, hand and wing membrane which boasts a very fine velvet like fuzz over its scales in colder regions. The fuzz on the tail is bushy with prominent cheek ruffs and the fuzz on the back of the neck running from between the shoulders to the top of the head runs backwards forming a sort of mane. The horns on the head which are short but thick and blunt are used in social interactions particularly during play and fight where they bite onto each other’s horns and push o pull each other around. These are social animals often living and hunting in groups of around 20 to 80 individuals though clans of up to 120 have been reported. They have wide ranging territories where they create often in caves or dug into cliffs or hill-mite mounds a central denning site. From there they split into smaller hunting parties venturing out to find prey. They will eat anything that’s living from insects even small ones and fish to small and medium animals and even the largest mega fauna and the most rotted of carrion. They will also take some fruits and veg at times. Interestingly the female keeps the egg to her single to triple chicks in her body till a few hours prior to hatching before laying them in order to keep them safe and warm. This behaviour is probably one of the reasons why they have done so well and spread so far. These are known for aggressive appearing behaviour but the truth is that’s all for show mainly against other predators and perceived threats; they’re actually quite friendly and docile. Due to their rough demeanours it is not uncommon for them to have damage to their wings. Interestingly the bones of these creatures while hollow like the other racers to make them light weight are reinforced by iron built into their make giving the bones a rusted tint to them.
Thanks to their ability to fly and being strong fliers the sub species of Glowback from Ice reach is known to frequently be encountered on other continents in the north near regions and spread into mountain ranges. The Ice reach sub species of Glowback differs not only in colors from other sub types but has thicker fuzz which coats more of its body with a fine coat covering the feet most of the face and even on the wings. They are known to have a saliva that delivers a chill to those it bites and are highly resistant to the cold. An interesting adaptation they have is a unique counter current system in their wings that brings veins and arteries close together so they transfer heat and cold to each other to cool blood headed into the wing and warm it as it re-enters the body preventing heat loss in the wing. This system is why ducks feet don’t get cold in the winter. While affected by the strange energy from Ice reach when not in the confines of the continent the strange energy from the place disappears from them and they do not experience the strange un-death phenomenon known to occur on Ice Reach.
Wisp Wing are a relative of the Ancestor Wing and Min-Min and may be the ancestor to the Min-min. Originating from the Sheogorad Archipelago the Wisp Wing looks like Sheoth fused the Ancestor wing with the Min-min. These are small insectivores. Like the Min-min it has a bare glowing patch of skin covered by thick transparent scales on its chest and a bare glowing tail tip. Like in Min-mins these glows are for communication, attracting their insect prey and startling predators. This glow has various colors largely defined by the region they inhabit though a golden color is the most common and prominent color. Like Ancestor Wings they have whisker like structures on their snout and big eyes to aid in hunting their prey. Wisp Wings live in small flocks though at times such as during the winter they will congregate in larger groups to help keep warm. Despite their mouth full of needle teeth and glowing that unsettles some these are docile and shy creatures. They are found in various regions including the Ash Wastes, Blackreach and even Ice reach where they inhabit forests, caves, swamps, lakeshores and urban environments. They are nocturnal spending the day in tree hollows, caves, buildings and bird houses made for racers. They nest in these same locations as well where they use their spit mixed with mud and plant debris to create little cups for their eggs and young to sit in. Despite overlapping with the Min-min and Ancestor Wing all three species are not aggressive to each other as there is plenty of prey to go around. In the dark they can be mistaken for their larger Min-min cousins however when identifying them look for two distinct light sources and the Wisp Wings notably smaller size and therefore smaller glow.
While Racers often get labelled a nuisance their pint sized cousins the Ancestor Wing is a highly cherished and loved member of the group. Ancestor Wings are pint sized relatives of Racers and Min-Min. These little insectivores get their names from the belief that the spirits of ancestors and the departed can often influence and use these gentle little creatures to communicate through. This has led them to become highly cherished throughout the realm and many encourage them to roost by their dwellings. While I cannot prove or disprove these myths I can say having these creatures around is a good thing as they help maintain and keep insect levels including many biting and blood sucking insects at bay. Ancestor Wings often roost in small groups huddled together for warmth and safety during the day and come out at dusk or during times of low light levels to hunt insects. They like to roost in sheltered and shaded areas such as in trees, under overhangs, in caves and abandoned buildings. They are shy yet easily tamed creatures. Along with their normal wings they have a pair of wing like structures formed by a single rod like bone structure sticking out of their sides. This gives them a moth like appearance and when roosting they sometimes can be confused with a very large moth. They have a downy coat over all but their wings and lips which are scaly instead. Whisker like fibres around the muzzle help them catch insects.
Pryphons are a small variant of Gryphon found in some woodlands in the tropics and some warm temperate regions. While not found in the Ash Wastes they are often kept as petsand feral populations have become established near some settlements in theregion. They are clownish, fun-loving, playful, intelligent, loving and loyal creatures. A lot smaller than normal Gryphons and with a much more varied diet they are somewhat easy to keep. Best described as eternal toddlers with can openers on their faces and attitudes that make monsters seem mild they are by no means easy pets. They are loud, highly social and surprisingly powerful for their small size. They can learn to mimic human speech but often love to learn various sounds they hear. They can also be quite destructive and are very adept at getting into trouble. They also like to throw tantrums for all sorts of reasons; they want your food, things are too loud, they cannot get what they want, they want attention, etc. In the wild they live in flocks of up to 30 members where they prefer to stick to the tree tops. They live on a diet of fruits, nuts, seeds, leaves, roots, insects, and small vertebrates. They are very territorial of their nesting sites and will come to the aid of other Pryphons. Wild populations are wary creatures while pets and ferals are more bold creatures. They have some elemental powers namely a piercing scream, a force pushing shout and creating whirlwinds of air which they use for both protection and fun. Flocks of these creatures are known for being loud, destructive, playful, and comedic. Many mystical tales surround Pryphons and other gryphon species often revolving their creation by a great and powerful spirit. Some tales claim powerful spirits can commune through the creatures or that these creatures can wield some forms of magic however I have never seen any proof of this. In the Ash Wastes the most commonly encountered species are the Forest, Gold-capped, Masked, Fox-point and around the Blackwood Murk-wings.
Jesters Conures are a lively, comical and fun loving small parrot found in temperate to tropical forests of multiple realms where they are often kept as pets despite how loud they can be. They average around 105 decibels normally but can reach up to 120 in their loudest screams; for comparison 105 decibels is about the volume of a motorcycle while 120 is as loud as a fire cracker or jet engine!
Spitfire Jays are strange members of the jay family are originally from the Lost Realm. Its bold orange and black coloring to advertise its dangers. How is it dangerous you may ask well when threatened it can shoot a burning liquid from its tubular nostrils. This liquid causes burning and blistering to the skin. Chances of being attacked are slim and these birds are generally quite friendly only using this attack when feeling really threatened or against large predators or threats.
A group of large flightless predator birds these birds are found in multiple realms often in grasslands from the temperate to tropical regions though a few species can be found in forests. Examples of some species include the Snowy Terror which can inhabits Boreal and Alpine regions in Ninjago, Knighton, the Lost Realm and the Never Realm and the Spectacled Terror which is found in temperate regions of Ninjago, Knighton and the Lost Realm. Fast with powerful kick which are made more dangerous by the larger than the others claw on their first toe these birds are more dangerous than they appear however at the same time are rather harmless. Unless given a reason such as being threatened or when hunting they won’t attack. Despite what some might think the claws one of which is located on their wings is not their main weapons of attack. This is their massive hooked beak which they can use like a hatchet to peak to death their prey; usually though all it takes is a single peck to dispatch most prey. They can crack the skull of a cow with a single well placed peck. The claws are mainly to help pin down prey or when fighting in defence. They will however use their feet claws to stomp to death some animals particularly snakes; they have a strange attraction for stomping on snakes including to their misfortune the serpentine. They are not picky eaters and will eat anything they can come across even carrion. They can take on larger prey than themselves by hunting in groups. These are social animals that live and hunt in small flocks to pairs. Like many other birds of prey they tend to mate for life and usually lay clutches of around 4-6 large greyish with green tinted splotches eggs. Both care for the young and are quite caring parents.
This large tortoise is part of a group of truly massive tortoises with some unique adaptations for tortoises and turtles. Unlike others of their kind due to their size to help support their weight and improve movability so they can acquire more resources to power their massive sizes the legs of these creatures are held largely erect beneath the body and not sprawling like other anapsids (the group turtles and tortoises belong to). The Woolly Tortoise is one of the largest species in the group and is found largely in northern and alpine regions where it browses forests and grazing grasslands. This tortoise gets its name from the thick shaggy coat that coats most of its body with the exception of its shell, armoured face and armoured scutes like those on the outer regions of the limbs. While not warm blooded it still uses the fur coat to prevent it from freezing in the cold and makes the retaining of the little warmth its body does produce much more efficient allowing them to be active even in cooler temperatures. These are social tortoises often living in groups. While they do not engage in parental care like mammals or birds they willingly accept young into their groups and will protect them. When a group is threatened they huddle together with the youngest at the center where they then hunker down and tuck into their shells making it tough for predators to get a hold of them. As an added defence particularly against stubborn or persistent predators they can hit with their armoured tails or bite with their armoured beaked head. During the harshest part of the winter they dig themselves down into the earth to enter a state of torpor, known as brumation, to last out till things lighten up. These brumating groups can often be identified by the various sized close nit group of mounds sticking out of the dirt and often covered in snow. Small animals often take to sheltering in these groups sometimes huddled in with the tortoise in their shell during these times. Like other tortoises these are very long lived with the oldest being recorded at over 700 years old; it was an individual kept by monks as a sacred animal which reached 812 years old. Woolly Tortoises are also known to inhabit Ice Reach where the corruptions there have made their shells and scutes become coated with the strange icy material.
Originating from the Birchwood forest in Ninjago these are massive omnivorous flightless birds. Their bodies are covered in dense hair like feathers which are shaggy on the body core with only the beak and undersides of the feet being featherless. The foot underside instead is covered by thick rough scales that aid in walking on icy surfaces without slipping. They also possess running up the sides of their feet slowly shrinking in size as they head up to the ankle large bony cored spines that are angled out and back a bit. These spines are used in defence keeping animals from biting onto their legs plus can be raked on an attacker during offense. Along with these spines they use kicks and bites in defence. The large beak boasts a serious of tooth like projections on the inside rim of the beak, roof of the mouth and tooth like projections lining the sides of the tongue like what is seen in geese to aid in feeding. Because of their size they’re not fast runners instead using offensive and defensive tactics to combat predators including their foot spines, serrated beaks, thick yet loose skin and thick coats. Strange among birds Giga-moas have a third eye on their forehead which they can pick up temperatures through. This helps them identify potential prey or predators even in the dark. Due to their size these birds are gigantotherms possessing a slow metabolisms which produces much less heat from body functioning than other birds however thanks to their immense size, dense plumage and a fat layer under their skin they retain all heat made so they lose very little of what they make allowing them to remain active like a warm blooded animal despite having a cold blooded metabolism. They live in small groups made of a single female, her harem of males who are slightly smaller than her and their young. When reproducing the female mates with each of the males giving each a nest of up to 20 semi shiny dark red eggs the size of a small car which are incubated by the males who sit in a tightly grouped circle facing outwards with their backs against each other to keep warm and defend against predators. While they are too large to sit on the eggs they keep the eggs next to their bodies under their dense body plumage to incubate them. They nest in dense thickets where they do not leave till the eggs hatch in spring going on barely any food only the scraps the female is able to obtain as she roams the woods and defends their nest area while they incubate. Once hatched the chicks follow the parents for protection but are able to feed themselves. The parents offer little to no care to their young. Chicks grow rapidly but do not reach their full size till about ten years of age. By that time most chicks will have fallen to predators or harsh conditions like winter storms already. They start off hot blooded with fast metabolisms slowly decreasing both as they increase in size. Along with the Birchwood forest they are found in nearby cold regions and spread across the northern most regions of Ninjago. Populations are also known to occur in the Never-realm and the northern reaches particularly in Ice Reach of the Lost Realm indicating at least temporary breaches or bridges to both locations in the past. These birds have been known to eat people but tend to prefer larger prey; they are one of the few to hunt adult Treehorns.
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Invertebrates
Sky Lamps are a pint sized relative of the Retch however unlike their relatives these aren’t passive gentle giants. These creatures are vampiric. Floating about using the ability to detect heat these creatures are active at night where the faint glow from their back and belly in the dark can sometimes be the only indicator of there presence. They spend the days clung to surfaces or under debris like rocks, in trees or hollow logs and the like. In the growing dark hours and after dark they become active in search of prey. Sky Lamps despite being smaller than the Retch have thicker skin with an armoured back that rings around a patch of highly flexible and un-armoured but still rather thick skin on the back. This patch expands as it feeds filling up with blood much like the rears of a tick. It feeds using a sharp iron infused needle like proboscis structure it can spit out of its head. It uses its four limb like tentacles whose undersides are encrusted with rough velcro like skin patches and are tipped with sharp claws to wrap around or onto the body of the host to hold them in place. It also has a long prehensile tail like tentacle it can use. This tail like tentacle is usually used in anchoring or helping to stabilize the creature during bad weather or to help navigate in crowded environments. They further have flaps between the limbs and tail which boast a few sharp protrusions on their edges that can further help them grip. Their expandable patch also develops a much stronger glow when it is fed. This patch can also serve another purpose when it is fully expanded making it appear bigger and scarier to deter predators. Because of this when it feels threatened even if it hasn’t fed it sucks in air to inflate this feeding sack and increases the glows brightness to appear intimidating. Sky Lamps are also known to posses a venom it can leach from its skin when threatened that causes severe pain, swelling and itchy rashes. Like mosquitoes their bites cause itching and swelling and can spread disease. Far worse than a mosquito however they take much more blood per feeding causing lethargy, they also leave wounds from their bites that are prone to getting infected and it is not uncommon for the area around the bites to get bruised and the areas touched by the creatures body to develop rashes.
The Cnidaraether (nid-air-aith-er) is the scientific name for the Retch and its kin a strange group of jellyfish like creatures that float in the air. Retch are the largest of the family with most species being rather small. They tend to have an armoured top side for protection with leathery skin over the rest of the body and often boast bioluminescent patches to their body. They process two to three pairs of tentacles used in manipulation of things and for anchoring in bad weather. Largely just a sack of jelly held up by sacs filled with lighter than air gasses they are simple creatures though while docile are not harmless. When threatened most species use electrical attacks in defence. Most are insectivores feeding on insects and able to use their bioluminescence to draw in prey. They will take in as well things like berries, fungi and decaying plant matter when it presents itself. The Retch is the most omnivorous of them while at the extreme is the Sky Lamp which feeds exclusively on the blood of the living. Along with feeding many species have a symbiotic algae in their tissues to aid in food production and aid in giving them oxygen acquisition. These are slow living creatures with long life spans able to live a few hundred years in some genera. Generally they are poor parents simply depositing their eggs which are often in hundreds of individuals in damp crevices and abandoning them. Most of these become prey before they reach a year in age. The Retch is the most advanced protecting and caring for its young for extended periods and even able to establish social bonds. They generally lack any sociality even when in groups. There meat is usually poisonous to people, only a few species are safe to eat, and they are notorious for a jelly substance in their body that causes temporary paralysis. It’s believed this jelly is for self defence. Alongside the Retch and Sky Lamps a few notable species include Vale Jellys which are a species that inhabits the caverns of Blackreach. These decorative members have a squishy fleshy coating over their back armour. While a greenish color is their typical glow they do come with several types of color morphs. Vale Jellies are poisonous. Swamp Jellys are believed to be the ancestors or descendants of Vale Jellys due to their overall similar physical design and traits though they have different colors. Swamp Jellys live in swampy regions in various parts of the world from the tropics to the temperate zones with several varieties within the group. Unlike their descendants Swamp Jellies are edible having a jelly consistency with high water content and coming in various flavours based on the type of Swamp Jelly with flavours ranging from fruity like watermelon or berries to even what one described as the feeling of ice cold water turned into flavour. Woolly Jellys are a northern species that boast a coarse hair like color to their flesh over most of what is exposed for insulation with a rocky looking back armour that is not uncommon to develop a mossy coating due to this species habit of burying all but the top of its back in the ground often next to trees, boulders or rocky overhangs in order to hibernate through the winter. A morph of the Woolly Jelly had been recorded in the warmer regions of Ice Reach. This variant was paler in color and glow with an icy shell. Woollys are edible but are said to have a rather unpleasant earthy flavour. The Urchin Jelly is a pretty nasty looking thing with its spiky armour but this armour is simply for protection not for aggression. This species is found in more arid rocky areas than other species so has a thicker skin and is primarily nocturnal spending its day buried to help protect from the heat and dryness. These are highly toxic with a deadly hallucinogenic poison.
Treehorns are large insectoid entities native to the Birchwood Forest of Ninjago. They are rather interesting creatures with a rather strange lifestyle. Like bees and ants they are matriarchal with a dominant queen and her lesser workers. Unlike these insects however these creatures do not care for their young. Queens who are the only females that can mate lay tons of little eggs which hatch into grub like young that burrow into the ground where they feed off decaying matter for about two to three years before cocooning and metamorphing into miniature versions of their adult form. These adolescents are no bigger than a common pray mantis but over the next 10 years feeding off anything they can find they rapidly grow to their adult size by which time they will have either collected together with other young members to form a new group or find an already established group to become apart of. Adults only tolerate young that close to their adult size in the group. Despite the many eggs laid by a queen few of the young make it to the latter part of adolescence let alone adulthood most young falling prey to other animals before then. Groups are made of both males and females who with the exception of one individual look identical in appearance. This unique looking individual is the queen. Within their groups one female comes to dominate hormones she produces in this state as the queen not only prevent other females from developing the ability to reproduce but lead to some severe physical changes most notably to her head. Unlike the others who have a more insect like mouth like those of ants her jaws become more like that of vertebrates the reason for this is not fully known at this time and she develops more eyes which give her a greater field of view and increases the spectrum of visible light that she can see which in turn improves her ability in detecting food in her tribes territory. These creatures are omnivores feeding on anything they can find from plant matter and fungi to insects and other animals to even people. While notorious for their speed being quite fast for such a massive creature they are actually generally quite slow with a slow metabolism using camouflage and careful movement to stalk the woods. As a species Treehorns are notorious for being highly aggressive and readily attack people.
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Cybernetic Entities
While rogue units accidently left behind may be encountered the most likely chance someone is to encounter one of these especially a live unit is in proximity to a Scymer settlement that may have gotten left behind. Despite looking scaring and intimidating these constructs shouldn’t be feared. Despite myths they do not wish to overtake humanity and will only attack if they think themselves, an ally or their home are in danger. Best to do is do not try to enter their dwellings, even though they look like ruins constructs don’t see it that way and still consider it their home. They may let researchers like archaeologists or others enter their dwellings for study but a bargain must be bartered between the units and researchers and they may only wish to commune and bargain with a fellow cybernetic entity. Years of conflict while protecting their homes and selves and dealing with thieves and salvagers has caused these entities to have a strong distrust of people and they frequently prefer to challenge and attack before asking questions. If a friendly communication can be set up with these units they can prove good allies and may offer goods and services in return for goods for them and their home. Some particularly rogue and isolated units will likely be seeking for a way to get home others will be fine sticking to their settlement. For those worried these individuals will likely only leave if their settlement can be returned home with them so unless you know a way to transport an entire ruin which could be quite massive back to the Lost Realm just learn to co-exist. If approached by a unit outside their ruins let it make the first move and like with animals don’t move quick and don’t make loud noises and it should not attempt to harm you. It may most likely just be seeking aid so just stay calm and see what it wants.
Scimitar constructs are any entity created by the extinct Scimitar folk. Many of these constructs are more primitive machines designed for defence of their homes or as workers or for surveillance. The most simple and primitive of these constructs have very simple programming and though complex are still much simpler than their later and more advanced constructs. The Centurion and Sphere were used as guards for their cities and for training soldiers and have a very simple and basic instincts and behaviours. The Rattaton and Serpeton are more advanced with behaviours and instincts at a level similar to those of the critters they resemble. These were often used for surveillance and as a dual purpose toy and guard for children. Some Serpetons have wings. One of the later and more advanced constructs are Robo-bills. These droids take on the form of the Tree-bill and are very similar in intelligence and thinking to these creatures. These were used as workers, stewards, guards and sometimes pets. They are capable of aiding and repairing their fellow constructs and can clean, repair and perform other more human like tasks. A few are capable of speech. The most advanced constructs include fabricants and hyenoids. While only the original hyenoid was made by the Scimitar folk since all others are based off his design and share most of his programming they technically can be classed as Scimitar Constructs even though they were not created by the Scimitar folk. Scimitar Constructs are rarely seen very far from the ruins of their masters cities where they go about as if their masters are still around keeping the cities repaired and functioning. They have even been noted in integrating modern technology into themselves and their home. It is unknown if they understand that their masters are extinct and not going to return. With some work most can be reprogrammed for modern use.
Spheres and Centurions were primarily designed as fighters to aid in the protection of homes and cities. Spheres are person sized, lightweight but agile and are able to collapse into a ball for more rapid movement. Spheres are generally equipped with a blade on one arm and a crossbow on the other. Centurions are mech sized constructs built for power. Centurions posses both a blade and hammer for weapons and a spray often of steam from the pits on its snout. Fire, frost, electricity and acid can also be sprayed from these pits. These constructs often act as guards for the others and their home.
Several forms of small animal like constructs exsist whose roles seem to have been for daily use for more minor tasks. Small and simple these little constructs are clever but not very dangerous. They were used primarily for surveillance and scouting. They are also able to transport and relay information to other constructs and technologies and may have also worked as watchers and toys for children. They can jump and give off a signal to mess with other technologies if you attempt to hack one. Scarabs are more versatile in mobility than Rattatons being able to climb and fly. Some Scarabs can even inject venom to slow possible threats. If threatened both will call in a guard and shock anyone who touches them. Similar to Rattatons and Scarabs are the Serpetons however these can fit in smaller and more restrictive places. Winged variants can glide and fly for short distances. When threatened will hiss, make a rattling noise like a rattle snake and call guards. It will also bite which injects a venom to slow and weaken threats. Serpetons are believed to have had the added tasks of sabotage and minor attackers along with the tasks it shares with the other small constructs.
Robo-bills are complex entities served many purposes for their masters and were often well loved. While not built for combat they can protect themselves with claws, bites, kicks and loud noises. They can also shock threats and can be unpredictable in behaviour. They can repair and reboot other constructs and will also summon the guards if they feel they cannot best a threat.
To help protect them and take their place in combat during the reptilian wars the Scymer folk created robotic versions of the Hoofivore. According to legend the Scymer trapped souls of real Hoofivores who perished from serpentine hunting or conflict in special circular carved soul gems which are positioned in the center of their chests. What these icy blue gems are is unknown, it may be Aetherium a rare poorly studied and understood almost luminescent blue crystal like material, but what is known is they power these constructs and give them the ability to tap into magical powers. These creatures are often guardians and guard areas they deem home along with guarding other species particularly the real Hoofivore. In fact some are still in use as guards for national parks and wildlife centers; these units have been decked out with synthetic skin and fur hides to better blend in and go undiscovered by criminals like poachers and illegal loggers. Like others of their advanced units Scymer Hoofivores have a synthetic digestive system to acquire and maintain energy. Interestingly it has been noted even without the synthetic skin true Hoofivores readily socialize with these units treating them as fellow members of their species and even welcoming them as family and seeking them out in times of need. In fact many animals seem to seek these units in times of need almost like they understand not only is not a true beast but it has the knowledge to aid them for things they don’t know how to solve.
Scymer Cargo Beetles are large beetle shaped construct was used mainly as a cargo carrier able to carry cargo, other constructs and even people. Equipped with storage bays beneath the armoured shells which protect things beneath which proved useful in some places including the Ash wastes in order to help protect their cargo which at times such as during the reptilian wars when these were used for protected transport outside settlements or even during battles for their protection children even babies and pets. These constructs are equipped with horns and pinchers for defence and are interesting in that these were some of the first constructs to be made with a synthetic digestive system to help acquire and maintain power to limit charging times and the need for the equipment for charging. These systems even when more modernised are not as efficient as those of modern droids but they can be given less optimal foods such as high levels of plant matter including compost; Scymer often gave them food waste and compost cutting down on settlement waste. Their ability to consume less optimal materials is due to the fact they are not too complex and have way simpler and less energy consuming brains and bodies than droids and thanks to their often large size which can handle large amounts of matter which is processed with a slow metabolism through a much larger system which they can have thanks to their large size. The waste created by the process is safe to use as fertilizer like with cattle and Scymer were known to regularly use it in farming. The unit has two storage units built into its body one on either side separated by the body. These compartments come as simple storage recesses to pods to carry other constructs and padded bench like recesses for carrying organic beings. The storage units sit beneath the Elytra which remains locked by latches all along its edge when closed to keep cargo in and safe.
Torch-a-tons are sparrow sized constructs were made as a hands free light source for the Scymer like a living flashlight or lamp. Mimicking a torchbug in design their rump is a light source which they can turn on and off when needed. Their legs end in tips coated in a gripping substance that lets them climb over any surface at any angle.
Coming soon...
Demons/Monsters of the Void
Probably the worst and most dangerous effect the Void Breach has had is it has weakened the barriers between the void and the realms. This has let monsters of the void more easily enter into the realms and plague them with their presence. One should remember despite the term of demon not all the monsters considered demons are truly evil. There are just as many good beings who are neutral or even benevolent. These good ones however are still classed as demons due to their origins and ties to the void. Just because their kind are good however doesn’t mean they are all good. As with the natures of all beings of the void they can be just as bad as the evil ones. An interesting statement one monk told me as I did my researches about these beings is that the way these beings view us and those in the mortal realm is comparable to ones views to ants. We are often nothing but musses or simple matter to them and while some may wish to aid mortals, others may feel an interest or wonder to the mortal beings while others exist in neutrality to us or see us as nothing more but pests, toys or sources of power and fuel.
Vulcaroths are hulking bipedal crocodilian creatures which are capable of breathing fire. Their skin while resembling a crocodiles often appears to look like burning rocks with glowing seems between scales. They have some spikes down their back, on their tails and two prominent thick antelope like horns on the back of their heads. They are immune to fire and enjoy wallowing in lava. Due to their ties to heat based elements they have a weakness to water and ice. What realm of origin or where these entities originally spawned from is currently unknown but it probably was not a nice place. These things are largely bestial though some accounts suggest they are capable of simple speech and can be bargained with however I would never recommend bargaining with any of the daemons of these lands. It will never end well for you. Feardrakes also known as Voidfears are somewhat large reptilian creatures boasting similarities to the small members of the Repto-bird Fear lineages hence the name. While they overall look like and behaviour like true Venom-fangs Feardrakes do have differences such as their venom which while not lethal nor will cause hallucinations it instead fills the victim with feelings of fear and dread and make them feel chilled to the bone, they have sharp beaks with a tooth like projection on them and a serrated barb on the tail tip they can whip enemies with. They are a very common animal like monster of the void which can often be found in the realms as well. The two wattles on the bottom jaw emit a faint glow to display agitation, fear or excitement. They are fast, agile and cunning. They can come in a couple colors which is believed to be tied to the element most common in their environment.
Noctern-crows are commonly found in the underworld and it shows. With corpse like bodies resembling some creepy mix of human and raven they have tattered feathered wings on their backs and often wear dark garbs, most often a dark hooded robe, which they decorate with shiny objects and tattered black feathers. Their bodies consist mainly of greyed skin and the limbs including the birdlike hind limbs fade from fleshed to skeletal at their ends. Their head is the skull of a crow stuck into a fleshy ragged black feather coated neck. The eye sockets of the skull house glowing orbs which have been reported in a handful of colors though what the differences in color mean is currently unknown but may relate to certain magical abilities. They can wield elemental magic’s as good as any elemental master and are gifted in dark magic’s. Their favourite weapons tend to be their clawed hands and feet, a screaming roaring noise that can discombobulate any entity capable of hearing, pecking with their crow skull heads and dark hand scythe weapons. They are capable of speech but again I would not recommend trying to make a deal with them; rarely do deals ever work in a person’s favour often being tailored to the crows favour. They do not have any notable physical weaknesses but can still be destroyed however they cannot truly be fully destroyed more of have their physical form displaced. When killed they will simply be sent back to the void and re-manifest in the realm they deemed home. Some accounts state that some Noctern-crows who may feel they were wronged by a mortal may try to find a way to the individuals realm and seek revenge on the wrong doer. It has been noted like many birds they have an attraction to shiny objects which they often adorn their outfits with or decorate their home area with. They also have been noted in getting memorized or at least stumped by mirrors and have a taste for rotting maggot filled flesh. These traits can be used to a travellers advantage to trick the creatures or lure them away from themselves.
Vesparilions are strange avian insectoid hybrid like monsters whose origins are hard to determine. Described as fusion between a hummingbird and a hornet what is known of these monsters is they are not a natural entity and are part of the demonic class of organisms; a class of entities created from the darkness, Ashers and/or the Oni or originating in dark realms. These monsters are often found nesting near Asher and Oni ruins where they live in small communal hives made of some grasses, twigs, dried blood and mud. They swarm anything that approaches feeding off the blood and energy of their victim delivering a duel damage. Their sharp needle like beaks are sharp enough and strong enough to pierce most metals and while constructs do not have blood for the creatures to drink their beaks can do serious damage to their inner workings and they can still steal their energy. If you come across an area littered with bodies of both organic and/or inorganic in make with multiple needle like piercings then there is a great chance a nest of these horrors are nearby. Luckily they do not show any great resilience’s like other daemons however their tendency to swarm combined with their double hit to health and energy attacks make them challenging for inexperienced adventurers. Similar to Vesparilions are Serpent flies. What resembles a strange fusion of a serpent and a dragonfly. It’s tail can sting and inject a venom that strikes fear and weakness into its victims. The sting affects humans, animals, robotics and even plants. It has a mouth full of little needle teeth which bares pincers on either side of jaw in order to help it grip it’s victims as it sucks the strength from them. Often in humans only its bite will also leave them with a disease.
The Hunger is not a natural occurring entity. These very gaunt somewhat insctoid monstrosities are beings that have been created by either the Ashers or the Oni. Documentation of how they came to be is not readily available and though they serve the Ashers without objection unlike other beings created by the Ashers such as the Ash Crawler they lack a serious weakness to ice or the cold. These nightmarish entities always seem to be hungry, hence their name, and feed solely on the energy of their prey. They will prey on anything living that they can find and wrap their long spine coated tongues onto to suck the energy from their victims. Weakening them then killing them by sucking all their energy away killing them through exhaustion or in some very unpleasant cases the draining of ones life force. These are often used for ambush attacks by the Ashers and can rarely be found wandering near Asher Strongholds or Oni ruins throughout the world. They will attack with their large hand claws and can jump over twice their height making them formidable adversaries. They can also whip around their long tongues and the pincers on the head can help them restrain their victim as they suck energy from them. Their energy siphoning abilities also makes it hard to fight them. They have a high tolerance to normal weapons meaning you have to hit them more and stronger to do damage or have special weapons and they cannot easily be harmed by ice like their masters are. Like many of the beings of darkness like the Noctern-crows and Vulcaroths they have a high resistance to elements and magic.
Often described as a mouth on arms these creatures which resemble some sort of cross between a snake and a monitor lizard are creatures of nightmares. Their skin is transparent and the bones of the face, parts of spine and shoulders can be seen through the skin. While they lack venom they have a tongue which is prehensile and is equipped with a sharp spine between the forks at the tip. They also have a second set of teeth further back in the jaws to prevent prey from escaping its grip. This spine has the devastating effect of being able to turn things it stabs into beings of ash who will serve the Ashers who have created them. While being able to turn victims into Ash Spawn or Ash Ghouls many also boast powers in the dark arts like Asher Sorcerers. Historically they were rare but as the Ashlands spread they are being found more frequently. While not heavily armoured they are faster and more agile with very powerful jaws and an immunity to normal weapons, only a handful of weapon types and ice can harm them. Weapons that can harm the Fear can also harm these things. Crawlers are burrowers and enjoy harsh and toxic environments. They cannot be found in the wild and are only observed alongside Ashers and at their strongholds. Pray you never meet one of these monsters.
Everyone in the Lost realm has heard of these beings. They were once human like the rest of us but through their worship of the Oni they became mutated into something else, something that can only be described as demons. They are no longer living yet at the same time they are not dead. Most have a humanoid shape however their skin has gained an Ash like appearance and glowing fiery veins can be seen on some spots. Their eyes turn to a burning red and they lose all traits of who they once were. Gender, race, and identity these features all are lost in their transformation to pure Asher. The worst being they can become is an Asher Sorcerer. These horrid nightmare inducing figures are masters of the dark arts and boast powers similar to pure blooded oni and are capable of taping into and using the energies of the void. While they can speak the common tongue they are almost always only heard speaking the strange ancient language of these folk. Very little is known of their habits, social structure and lifestyle but what is well known is their desire to wipe out all those who do not follow their beliefs and to aid the Oni in their conquests. These beings curse people and towns with their horrid diseases such as Serpentus, Tumourus Rot and Porphyric Hemophilia and kidnap the innocent turning them into Ash Slaves or Ash Ghouls, they destroy crops and livestock and attack any who try to offer their victims aid. For folk unfortunate enough to be caught by these beings they are turned into tortured husks of who they once were existing solely to serve their cruel masters. Ashers have no care for other life forms seeing them as nothing but tools and play things meant for torturing. For as long as records have existed they have been documented harassing the folk who live around the Blackwood and the Red Tower. Luckily since the construction of the Ghost Fence which enclosed them into the Ash Wastes with their beloved volcano the Red Tower where their great ancient stronghold sits Ashers have been prevented from attacking most folk limiting their reach. Many cities and towns around the fence and Blackwood are still frequently facing threats from these folk which is odd. There is almost no way for them to get past the fence so how they are turning up in these places and often in considerable force is a bit of a mystery. It is believed they likely are being aided by allies, folk we call sleepers who are yet to turn to full blooded Ashers, to infiltrating these places. Others that could be helping them are those known as Skin-Stealers, Ashers who use their dark magic to make themselves look and sound like someone else. Pray you never encounter an Asher!
Despite how feared they are there are some things known about Ashers, this however doesn't take away from their nightmarish standing and often just adds more to it. Ashers are tied to the Red Tower Volcano hence why they have long been restricted to this area. The Red Tower is a center of great energy in this realm and houses a portal to both the Underworld and the First Realm within it. Both these portals are believed to be tears in the realm created by the Oni to link and allow easy access to this realm. These energies and ties are what helps give the Ashers power, another major source of their power comes from the fear they create and the energy of the volcano itself.
Because of their ties to the volcano it has warped them into the beings they are. Ashers are not living or dead but stuck in a state between meaning they cannot be destroyed by normal means. When one becomes an Asher they essentially give up their life for this half-life which ties them to the volcano which now fuels their life force. Despite not being living their bodies run very hot like the energy produced by the volcano. This tie to the volcano has led to both pros and cons. It gives them great power but at a cost it weakens them to the wet and cold. Water can weaken them if it is cold enough but only ice can destroy them since it is their greatest weakness given form the cold. The reason for their weakness to the cold is that it is the opposite to their power source. Ice is the only thing that destroys the heat that keeps them alive, destroying the energy that sustains them. Freezing them also breaks their bond with the volcano preventing them from re-manifesting from the ash of the volcano. They can remanifest from the ash because of their tie to the volcano and their half life state prevents them from being properly killed and gives their energy a way to remain tied to the realm and recreate a physical form.
There are several forms of Ashers. At the very bottom are the Ash Slaves. Poor people who have been caught, corrupted and enslaved by the Ashers and are forced into doing there every bidding. Then there is the Ash spawn who are a creation of the Ashers made for bolstering their armies and as easy to animate soldiers. They cursed the ash of the volcano so it would remember the forms and energies of entities that perished in it and using the energies of the volcano create animated forms that mimic a living being. Then there are Ash Ghouls, poor folk who have passed to the Blight curse and have been brought back as monstrous evil versions of themselves to serve as soldiers for the Ashers. Ash Ghouls obey only the Ashers and have become so corrupted they will destroy their own friends and family without question or a thought if told to. Above these are folks who often suffer serious physical and mental altering conditions caused by the Ashers such as Ash Vampires who suffer from the condition Porphyric Hemophilia along with others. Then there are the full-blooded Ashers with the Asher Sorcerers holding the highest and most powerful ranks.
Known as the Vampire disease due to similar traits this condition gives to sufferers Porphyric Hemophilia is actually a curse of dark make turning the infected into monsters of darkness. The infliction often gets the infected the title vampires due to how the curse affects the body’s natural ability to acquire and process iron, an important mineral in blood, causing a craving for blood in the infected. This condition causes pale clamy skin and hair, darkened area around eyes, blood shot eyes, a sensitivity to the sun and an insatiable desire for sources of iron which the easiest to acquire and most common forms is blood (after all whose going to try and munch on a seem of iron or an iron nail). It is believed this condition was originally created by an Oni to harm the people of this world. This is believed due to some traits such as highly extended life spans, lack of aging and the sufferers sudden ability to use the Dark Arts without teaching, traits associated with Oni, are not something caused by normal diseases. Garlic has no effect on sufferers despite common myths and it is treatable, garlic is actually one of the ingredients to aid in its cure but it does not work on its own. Many for lack of a better term vampires develop mastery in spells of illusion to help blend in with the world and will take to feeding on the life energy as well as blood of others as this makes them stronger and more powerful. This condition is caught from people suffering the condition along with some types of creatures such as animals inflicted with this disease and carriers who can transmit it but are immune to it. Bears, deer, some forms of cat, some lizards, wolves and other canids and some types of bird are all capable of suffering the condition. I’ve even heard tales of beetles, wasps and even butterflies becoming infected and turning vampiric. While it is believed only organic life forms can be inflicted reports of constructs notably Robo-bills, Fabricants and hyenoids displaying a strange thirst for blood and a strange sudden acquisition of the use of dark arts has some questioning if they are susceptible however I think these accounts are from people messing with the entities programming either to terrorize people or as a joke and they are not capable of being inflicted with this condition. Sadly while often associating themselves with Ashers vampires are not affected by ice in the same way as their allies luckily though while powerful and hard to fight they can be fell by normal means and are especially vulnerable to sunlight, fire and light magic’s. There are a few different strains of this condition which cause some differences in the vampire. Two highly notable but luckily rare forms are a strain where inflicted are not weakened nor hurt by sun or light and one that can allow the inflicted to turn into brutish gargoyle like monsters. Despite their similarities to the mythical vampire monster they are much more and in many ways much worse. As with the supposed creators of the curse these vampires as they are termed are monsters of darkness capable of great damage and trickery. They are masters of destruction and can suck the health, energy and life out of anything considered in a sense living even things you might not expect like batteries and machinery.
Not even their fellow serpentine tribes ever wish to associate or be near these monsters; Noctoboa. A tribe of serpentine that is said to have given themselves to the oni in times of myth and for their service were gifted the curse known as Pryphic Hemophilia more commonly termed the curse of Vampirism due to its traits which create the monsters commonly termed vampires. Along with sharing the same traits as people inflicted with the curse including a mastery in dark arts, illusion magic, the ability to turn invisible for a time or into a mist for quick and easy escapes, drain the living of health and energy, corrupt those of weak minds and of course the famous trait of craving and drinking the blood of the living unlike most strains of this curse Noctoboa were gifted an immunity to sunlight so are not harmed or weakened by it. They share this trait and the trait of being strengthened by darkness with only the most powerful strains of the vampiric curse. Despite this they still prefer to hang in the dark and shadows. Noctoboa also have the unique ability to turn themselves into a winged snake along with the typical vampiric mist to escape or hide. These serpents are always in association with those of darkness and like other vampiric beings to which they are always in league with the Ashers and Oni. Despite their known existence they can often go unnoticed among a populace disguising themselves as other serpentine or snakes or thanks to their ability to shapeshift other beings and entities. Because of their mastery of illusion magics including affecting the minds of others even droids, skin changing (a fancy term for shapeshifting), dark natures and powers and their mastery in manipulation and deceiving it is very difficult to determine the status of these monsters and track their activities. Vampire hunters and practitioners of void magics are some of the few who can uncover these entities and their plots with ease. Like normal vampiric entities the bites of Noctoboas have the chance to inflict an individual with the vampiric curse. Leaders, sorcerers and shamans however can inflict a variant of the curse that will turn the victim into a Noctoboa like them. While individuals inflicted with this variant will retain who they are once turned in time they will lose themselves and become true serpentine of this monstrous breed.
I do not consider these demons however many others do but another of beings that can be found here are Were-wolves. This condition turns the inflicted into a man beast. Were-wolves are most common but other beasts are known and more common in some areas. Were-bears, Were-hyenas, Were-gators, Were-tigers, Were-boars, Were-vultures and I've even heard of Were-parrots and Were-bison being known. What decides what form one takes when inflicted is not understood. What is known though is that not all suffer the condition in the same way. Some can control themselves and control the transformation while others at the opposite end of the spectrum cannot control the beast within having no control of transformations and being no more than mindless killing beasts. Inflicted have the urge to chase down smaller beings and feel a great urge to hunt, frequent restless sleep, heightened senses and of course the transformation into a half man half beast entity. It is said this condition is so powerful it even seeps into the spirit. While it primarily affects humans some robotic entities largely Robo-bills, hyenoids and other droids can be infected where when they transform they become half metal half organic versions of were-beasts. They experience the same urges and symptoms as organic beings but notably while they can learn to control the condition droids have a harder time controlling the condition than people and rarely can control the condition. While transformation into a man-beast does seem to have some influence from the moon it is not as reliant on it as many think. What triggers a transformation is not fully understood but emotions do seem to have some role, this could explain why droids have a tougher time with the condition than people as emotions are harder for them. Agitation, anger, fear, feeling threatened and the sight of potential 'prey' combined with the urge to hunt can all trigger a transformation at anytime of the day. Getting involved in a physical fight has also been known to trigger a transformation. Transformations generally last several hours till what seems to be the beast within gets tired or satiated by its hunts. Transformations can be prolonged by feeding upon prey. Of course those capable of controlling their transformation are not confined by these parameters. Curing this condition is possible but difficult. A few ways are possible often revolving around destroying the beast within. A few potions are known to cure the condition. The strangest and most dangerous cure method is to enter ones soul to destroy the monster that now resides and corrupts from within the being. This condition is spread through bites by an infected or from the infected blood. In both organic and inorganic entities if they die while still cursed their remains are still tainted by the condition and cannot be used in any way, unless someone wants an un-dead version of these things. The remains are best left buried to decay. Parts from droids infected with the condition should never be used as it will taint any other construct they are used in giving it the curse. While some consider this condition a blessing most see it as a curse. Like vampirism the condition that causes man beast often called were-wolves and sometimes skin changers is believed to have been demonic in origin. Often believed to have come from the spirit Storabek man-beasts are not inherently evil or seeking to harm others without a grounded reason, often it is to hunt and feed. There are several forms a man-beast can take with were-wolves being the most common. Whereas like the Ashers they often align with vampires often enjoy harming others and causing chaos and will often infiltrate the populous in disguise for their dark purposes were-wolves often seek to be left alone or with others like them. They tend to stick to towns and settlements often near areas with plenty of space to run free while as a beast. While vampires have been found when caught to often be in roles of power such as politicians, business men, jailors and other involved and influential roles, one had even been found as a doctor using his role to get fresh blood, were-wolves are often noted when caught to have been in roles that kept them out of the public, in more quite or relaxed settings or gave them access to extended periods in the wilderness. Some of these jobs include lumberjacks, hunters, rangers, miners, chefs/cooks, farmers, recreational park staff, and even librarians. One had even been found as a Zookeeper; it must have had great control of its infliction to keep from hunting the beasts it cared for. Neither group are wildly accepted and often have to hide their true nature from the general public. While vampires are known to align with the Ashers and Oni the allegiance of man-beasts is less clear. They have been known to associate with Storabek and some accounts suggest possibly alliances with the Black Stag however there has yet not been much proof of this. While writing this I did seek out members of both inflictions to learn more I did not have much luck. Of those I could contact, who I promised will remain anonymous, the vampires were more open about aspects of their condition than the man-beasts who often seemed nervous and were less forthcoming with information. These skin changers are victims of a condition called Sanies Lupinus. The origins of this condition are a little obscure however it is believed to have come from a great spirit known as Storabek, lord of the hunt.
Dreadconda are feminine serpentine beings with four arms, four eyes and a mastery in the dark arts particularly in sucking the strength, stamina and sometimes even health of its victims. Their hides are thick and tough with the only weakness being behind the frill that decorates its head. As their name suggests Gloam Harpies are a form of harpy from the void. These winged humanoid monsters come in both a male and female forms. Males are less bright than females and often serve as the upfront offensive forces. Females are more sly and while they will fight upfront like the males they enjoy bewitching and playing with their targets before destroying them. They have the ability to disguise themselves as normal people where they often like to lure others, man woman even droids it doesn’t matter to them, to their dens to often have fun with them before draining them of energy. This has led them to also being called Gloam Sirens. The Timbalang is a partial skeletal half horse humanoid from the darkness of the void though they are also commonly found in the underworld as well. They are said to have been made from the lost souls of stable master, horsemen, farmers and even horses who became lost to the void and have now returned as these dark un-dead looking monsters. While capable of using speech and magic they rarely use either preferring to just slash and bash with their forelimbs and bite with their fanged horse like skulls.
While some may not consider the Kirin a demon by classification and biology terms it is a demon. Also known as the Dragon Unicorn the Kirin is a creation of Storabek a great spirit of the wilderness and hunt. These creatures are notoriously unpredictable and dangerous. Often used as guardians to sacred natural sites and as a test for hunters or those seeking Storabeks boon these creatures are immune to many weapons requiring special materials or enchanted weapons to destroy. They are capable of wielding magical powers and spells and while they can be dark they are considered neutral beings from the void being both good and bad. Unlike other demons these are rarely seen around Asher or Oni ruins and are most frequently found in the wilderness particularly in forests or wooded areas. Fast, agile with the jumping prowess of a cat and powerful these creatures are extremely difficult to fell and due to them not being natural belonging to the void they are rare with Storabek being one of the few beings able to bring them to the mortal planes. Their meat is poisonous to most beings with fellow void beings, dragons, were-wolves and vampires able to eat it though their horn and silver green blood is said to have great magical and alchemical properties.
Zivkin are demons from the void who overall resemble humans though boast dark grey skin with sunken glowing icy green eyes, black hair and small black horns that vary in form on their foreheads. Zivkin have been commonly seen wearing dark armour with various dark colored often glowing markings to them or black robes. Zivkin are believed to be what remains of humanoids who gave themselves up to the Oni swapping their beings to those of one of the void for great power and immortality. It is also believed Ashers become these when destroyed, that practitioners of dark arts can become these after death and some are purely made from the void itself and were never from the mortal realms. They come in both male and female forms and some will have additional smaller horns on their chins. They are highly skilled in dark magic’s and combat. They are intelligent with a clan based society which uphold values of pride, honour and loyalty to their kin and the Oni to which they generally align themselves with. Zivkin tend to view other void beings as lesser beings and often care little for mortals. Since they can’t truly be killed they do not fear death so are fearless in battle. They do not understand the concepts of good and evil seeing this as simple is and believed they exist to serve the will of the void. While generally considered evil not all of them are and they can be employed by mortals for various tasks without the severe risk of being drawn into the void. They will accept currency, artefacts, resources and other more material objects as payment for their service. They take great pride in their horns and are known to hold grudges. They luckily however are known to have a poor sense of direction likely a result of their ties to the void though this trait is not known in other entities of the void.
Void-lamps are strange simple entities that float about seeming to have no purpose. A plasmatic ball of light and dense mists with tentacles these jelly fish like things just float randomly doing nothing more than emitting minor light and energy from their plasmatic core. Believed to simply just float through the void within the realms they can be found floating often near areas tainted by void energy or where natural tears to the void or portals opened to it had been where they are drawn to damp and swampy environments where they just seem to float about for no reason. A strange habit of these entities is their habit to protect themselves like hermit crabs by claiming various small items to wear as a shell possibly for protection. Things from natural structures like sea shells, shells from nuts and snails and skulls to artificial makes like broken lanterns, old shoes, broken pottery and books have been seen being used as shells by these beings. They can come in various colors which is speculated to reflect the element they are tied to as these creatures are known to have very minor abilities with an element. Icy ones can cool an area, fiery ones heat a local area or can spark fires, electrical ones can act as lightening rods and spark in defence and so on. Generally these are not dangerous beings but are often considered creepy.
As many know the realms are surrounded and separated by the void. Through their own doing or things beyond their control people and other entities can end up in and become trapped in the void. These lost souls then become one with the void as it consumes there very being. They become what are known as Void Wraiths sometimes also called Shadow Wraiths or Beings of Shadow, echoes of once living things which can enter through cracks, tears and portals into the realms. Some such as Ashers or others who dabble in dark arts are even known to summon them into the realms for various purposes. Void Wraiths are but echoes of living things and while it seems they can think and are aware they share little else with living things. Some more powerful entities can speak but most cannot. Often they are seen as unnerving shadows hanging around dark ruins and have been known to attack living things. They are known to drain the living including robots of positive emotions and energy and instil dark emotions and energies. They can kill through these actions causing their victim to be dragged into the void. Sometimes they may even attempt to drag an individual into the void to make them apart of the void like themselves. These beings are usually rare however are prone to be found in places that have had dark things happen or where the boundary between the realms and the void are weak; this is often a result of magical experimentation gone wrong. These beings are known to sometimes stalk the living to drag them into the void. If you suspect a Void Wraiths is stalking you the only way to save yourself is to seek any form of being shamans, temple healers, wizards, witches, etc who can delve into void energies and break the wraiths attraction to you and banish them back into the void. Weapons that can fell a Fear and light based magic’s are the only things known that can fell these horrors.
While seen as an entity of darkness the Kyrkogrim is more a neutral party. Clad in a dark tattered cloak bearing the four eyed head of a goat, hands with a goat like assemblage with a body core made of shadow that bares no lower half these spectres bring fear to those who first see them. Within the chest of the shadowed core of the beast is a bright glowing plasmatic structure said to be the heart of the monster. While frequently observed as red this core has been spotted in a few other colors though what the colors mean is not understood. This heart of theirs is oddly claimed to resonate with energies of creation while the main body of these entities is said to be of destruction. Much about these entities lies in mystery. Some legends say these beings were created from lost souls of criminals or the cursed seeking to repent their doings that became lost to the void others that they were created from animal sacrifices whose souls fell into the void. However they came to be what these entities desire is not well understood. It has been recorded that pacts can be made often through rituals or sacrifices for them to serve as guardians for selected sites where they can ward off evils, the un-dead and lesser beings of the void along with dealing with criminals and other evil doers. Others have claimed they are beings of dark omens and bad luck with the sight of one indicating ill events or misfortunes to fall upon those that see it. Some have claimed a parasitic attribute to this creature where it feeds upon positive emotions to leave individuals with dark emotions and ill health. Despite the fact that they do not frequently attack or seek harm to those of the realms and display more relaxed natures compared to many other beings of the void they are still quite feared.
A nightmarish mix between a humanoid usually female in gender and a spider the Arachni are powerful semi-intelligent monsters capable of melee attacks and spell casting. They can spin webs and are venomous. These monsters are notorious for being high strung, hot headed, unstable and aggressive. They enjoy tricking mortals and love spiders thinking them their children, what would you suspect from beings who think spiders are cuter than puppies and kittens. Some lore suggests spiders that get lost to the void can become these creatures or their favoured pets void spiders which look like void tainted and large tarantulas. Dreadtrix are a demonic form of tick. These nasty little creatures feed of the energy of the living that are made of flesh and blood. They bury themselves beneath the skin of their host where they feed off their energy and blood. To hinder the host from discovering them, to weaken them and prevent the host from fighting back Dreadtrix can numb their presence from the host and inflict them with diseases to disguise the draining effect they have on their hosts. Once attached to the host they feed for a few weeks before leaving the host for a couple weeks. After they will seek a new host or if the previous host is still alive will return to feed from them again. These creatures can prove fatal from the diseases they inflict or the draining from frequent feedings.
Xivurses are like a monstrous crossing between a bear and some form of predatory bird. Equipped with metallic like claws strong enough to scratch through metal, a snout ending with a startling serrated beak and not only the jaw strength of a bear but the teeth of an average bear as well these are formidable opponents and unfortunately to while no bigger than a bear though larger specimens have been recorded they are highly social and often travel and work in groups. Their forepaws bear two large clawed weight bearing digits and a third smaller clawless semi-opposable digit and help them grasp and manipulate things. They are able to rear up on their hind legs and walk for some time on two legs but prefer to move on all fours. Their short bushy tail with its colourful top is used in communication and display; it is normally held low but when angered or threatened they will raise it. These monsters are highly intelligent even capable of making crude tools, attire, structures and armour but prefer a more beastial appearance. They are capable of speech but prefer not to speak to humans, to them birds are the only mortals worthy of hearing their speech. They consider all other mortals as lesser beings. They are able to wield magic with a specialty in ice and nature magics. Most unsettling Xivurses can mimic sounds and voices and can lure the unwary to their demise using this. They can even mix these sounds and voices into their normal calls to unsettle mortals. Xivurses are some of a collection of void originating entities who have come to inhabit the realms like they are one of its natural fauna with populations known to inhabit various realms with several variants known to fit in with their chosen habitats. These creatures generally stick to woodlands in temperate and boreal regions and prefer hilly and mountainous terrains over flat plains. Their lifestyles while in the realms is reminiscent of a bears though they are social, able to build crude shelters for themselves, use fires for cooking and create crude attire, tools and items like bowls, blankets and cookware if they have to. Most often they use things stolen from people. They are omnivores eating fruits and some veg but eat a lot more meat than bears with a love for fish and human foods. In fact in some regions peace can be brokered between them and people through regular offerings of food particularly things considered junk or fast food like burgers, fries, pizza and other takeout foods. While they generally don’t get along with mortals and do not like to aid non avian entities they can be reasoned with and do have one major advantage. They dislike many insectoid monsters like the Hunger, Serpent-flies and especially Vesparilions to which they can easily tear into their nests. Just because they come from the same place does not mean they are all allies. Relations between the entities of the void are varied and not uniform with some being allies to some entities and enemies to others. They consider insectoid beings their original natural prey and thereby their most hated enemies so won’t miss the opportunity to hunt them down. These are known to hold an alliance with Noctern Crows and oddly scribes and Zivbaras.
As the originating source of creation it is no wonder that beings made of pure elements, the components of creation itself, can be found from the void. While these can take many forms the most feared are those classed as Elemental Wyrms. Spectral serpentine or eel like entities made of elemental energy. They emit a low glow from their cores and have a hard skeletal like armourments to part of their bodies made from elements relating to their element. They can hide within elements of their alignment and launch out with surprise attacks at the unwary. Each variant goes by its own name and boasts unique attributes relating to its element. Parts from their armour like attire are known to have powerful alchemical effects. All are immune to poisons and paralyzing effects and are resistant to normal weapon attacks. When destroyed they burst into their element leaving nothing but the armour material behind to slowly dissolve into the environment. Some examples of these wyrms include: Ice Wraiths are cold as ice spectres whose bites burn from the cold and emit an icy mist from themselves. Their armour is made from pure ice and it is said if they pass through you, which while looking solid as ethereal beings made of elemental energy they can, they can chill you to the core and even freeze you. They are often found around areas of cold, snow and ice and areas of cold water. Their presence is able to cool the local environment. While immune to the cold they are weak to heat. Geothermal Spectre are a rocky variety with a bite strength able to crack bones and crush metal. They burn and drip with lava which will burn or melt things it touches and if they pass through you can inflict internal burns and scrapes. Their rocky armour is tough and they often have a dusty smoky cloud around them. This cloud can cause breathing problems similar to asthma to those who breathe it in. They are able to create localized earthquakes by diving into the ground and are commonly found in geologically active zones and areas of lava. Shock Wraiths are electrified variants that coat themselves in storm clouds and can strike lightening with their charges. They boast an armour of a metallic substance that attracts and resonates electricity. Their shocks are powerful and dangerous particularly for machinery and robotics. They can electrocute and cause internal singing if they pass through you and when passing through certain items like engines of vehicles can make them explode. These are often attracted to lightening storms and power plants where they can be a nuisance. Water Spectres are an aquatic version that is often found near bodies of water. Their armour is made of coral which is sharp and easily scratches flesh. A moist mist surrounds them. While made from a similar element these cannot turn into Ice Wraiths. Water Spectres emit a warm heat and remain in liquid form even in the cold. They have been known to cause flooding and rain storms. If they pass through you they can put water in your lungs and potentially drown you. Fire Wyrms are fiery variants cloaked in a flaming aura. Found near lava and places of fire they can even pop up out of a campfire. With an armour resembling burning wood they can set places ablaze and emit a strong heat that can be felt for some distance even in the cold. If passing through you they will cause internal burning. They are weak to the cold, water and ice.
These grotesque tentacled floating monsters are said to come from the mires and seas of fate and knowledge that lie deep in the void a place said to be where all knowledge, fates and all that has can or will occur are recorded. While they do not seem it these beings are highly intelligent and seem to act as keepers, recorders and guards for the void and all the knowledge and knowing it possesses. While the void is their home they can be found in the realms where they often look for knowledge particularly highly secretive and forbidden knowledge to copy, acquire and bury deep within the void. These are powerful beings capable of using vast arrays of magic for offense and defence often draining enemies of energy and strength in attacks. These entities can be bargained with and some due attempt to seek their knowledge this is particularly true in the Cloud Kingdom where they are commonly found and work as head scryers of fate. Extreme caution however has to be taken when dealing with these beings. As entities of the void they obey the will of the void above all and will only reveal knowledge should the void allow it plus they always seek something in return. Knowledge is most often what is sought after but they will also take memories and on occasion lives in return for knowledge. The more powerful or important the knowledge the higher the price. There is some records that suggest mortals of the realms can become these scribes often through delving too deep into forbidden or lost knowledge or by finding themselves lost in the depths these entities came from. It is even claimed those taken by these beings in return for knowledge will become one of these monsters. It is believed the Ashers took inspiration in these beings for their Sorcerers.
Skinned Hounds are un-dead looking canid like creatures. Despite looking like dogs they don’t sound much like them having more unsettling sounds like someone crossed a dog with a hyena and a crocodile. They even give snake like hissings. Also commonly found in the underworld it is said they have a bite that feels as cold as the grave and have a resistance to poisons. They like to hang around ruins often with other un-dead and are a favourite pet and guard to necromancers and vampiric entities. Care needs to be taken around these things as they are capable of spreading Rot-bone which weakens the infected bones making them brittle and Cannibal's Craze which causes inflicted to crave human flesh; this curse is also known to affect droids to also crave human flesh turning them to man eaters.
Humans are not the only ones to fall to the void anything living from plants and fungi, to animals and even robotics like droids can fall to it and become entities of the void. While most will become one of a certain kind of entity such as a Void Wraith, Timbalang, Kyrkogrim or Voidfear some seem to retain their original form although tainted by void energies discolouring them and sometimes adding strange features and abilities to them. These however are not the only general flora and fauna to the void. Accounts from the handful of those who have visited or looked into the void and come back describe flora and fauna that appear like those of the realms as if they are some form of mimicry to these. It is even believed that some flora and fauna found within the realms are in fact of void origin and not natural to the realms of mortals. Only a special test using a crystal line material known as a void shard along with magic by one skilled in void magic can reveal an entities affiliation to one of the void often causing the shard to glow and glowing arcane markings to appear on those of the void. One such example is the Void tree a strange said to be sentient species of tree though they appear and act no different from a typical tree which resembles some strange cross between a baobab tree with a bristlecone pine. Along with growing in locations typical of woodlands this tree can be found in places that seem out of place for a tree such in sunless caves, locations and ruins tainted by dark energies and dark woods. Unlike other trees sunlight is not the main provider of energy for these plants. Instead they feed off void energy and are said to not only be able to pull void energy from the realm to protect it from these energies but to also be able to tap into the void to get these energies hence its ability to live in sunless and tainted environments. These trees are highly prized by some groups such as those who worship the void such as a reptilian race known as the Varantine found in some areas of the Lost Realm. These trees are important to their cultures and often protected by them. The trees sap is known to have powerful but highly dangerous alchemical properties. Only those knowledgeable with the stuff should work with it. An example of a type of fauna said to originate from the is the Keara Bird. These strange animals which are classed as birds as all tests indicate they are a form of bird also boast unusual traits and energy not found in typical wildlife. Standing a bit taller than a large dog and resembling a wingless flightless bird with a shaggy coat, long legs, spines like a hedgehogs down its back from the top of the head to the rump and boasting a long pointed beak with strangely for a bird nostrils at the tip, a short vibrant crest atop the head and strange eyes that bear an almost hollow looking interior to them these birds are primarily insectivores but will feed on the occasional fruits, small vertebrates and carrion. They boast long tongues in their beaks to help lick up prey and are excellent diggers. They often live and nest in burrows. What makes many believe this bird to in fact be a denizen of Void origin include several lines of evidence such as an ability to identify, track and even safely use tears both natural and artificial into the void. This has often led them to be useful in locating such tears and portals. They are also often ignored by beings of the void or even treated as pets by them. They also boast magical talents centered on the lighter side of energy relating largely to powers of restoration and creation though they are not so pure and benign as they seem and can and will use powers of destruction and chaos as well. The life cycles of these creatures are also strange. While at first seeming to resemble those of any other birds there are some eerie exceptions. For one the strange large, a bit over 1/3 the adults size, black with green iridescence hard shelled egg is not truly laid but brought into being by both parents a male and a female which are monogamous who perform a strange magical ritual that involves the drawing on the ground with their feet in a circular pattern arcane symbols then while standing in this circle energy is drawn from each parent to form the single egg. Both parents incubate the egg that once hatched the young is able to follow the adults within an hour of hatching. It has been noted that nothing will touch their eggs and those that have held or been near the egg feel a highly unsettling energy emitted from it. These creatures take up to 20 years to reach maturity and can live for around 3 to 4 hundred years. After dying the body remains for several days not seeming to decompose before at random bursting into void green energies that resemble fire that burns the remains out of existence. Meat, blood and other elements of the creatures is toxic to all but those of void origin or under curses of void origin like vampirism or Lycanthropy. Droids can be fed materials from them and while it won’t kill them it will make them sick and upset and cause imbalances to their systems. How these creatures came to be is unknown. Some speculate it was a possible accident by a very powerful sorcerer or spirit others claim they simply originated in the void and chose to live within the realms on their own. It is known varieties of this bird coming in different colors can be found in all realms where they live in forests primarily in the temperate zone. How they got to each realm is well known as another unique power to these creatures is the ability to create portals and travel through the void to in a sense realm hop at will.
Humans are not the only ones to fall to the void. Animals plants and fungi can fall to it as well turning them into void corrupted versions of themselves. While they tend to act like the entities they once were they often develop traits and slight physical modifications often in coloring and additions of spikes and thorns on plants and fungi and the additions of glowing parts and markings in all classes. Sounds from animals often are off sometimes becoming eerie sounding and most develop mild magical powers often the ability to materialize and de- materialize through void energy, ability to suck energy from the living and strike fear into others even the toughest of souls. These are basically the equivalents to Void Wraiths for non human mortals.
Watchers are really nothing more than brittlestar looking things with a big eyeball in their body in appearance. They are not known to possess much in powers and seem to do just as their name suggests watch; just blankly staring at the world around them. They don’t seem to have much in desires or thoughts kind of like true brittlestars and their sea star relatives and just move about or hang around in areas. While they are simple more complex beings of the void can and do use these as a sort of living surveillance system able to see through various means what these creatures see in order to observe and spy. For this reason despite their harmless nature Watchers should be destroyed when discovered. Lava Gremlicken are chicken sized reptilian elemental creatures that can be dangerous but more often are a nuisance. A largely rocky exterior with a lava core these entities really aren’t that intelligent and their only attacks are to bite with their jaws that bare teeth like projections and will burn, spit lava and the obsidian sharp spines on the end of the tail. There is also a Glacial Gremlicken which are made of ice and filled with freezing yet never frozen water whose bites leave freezing burns and spit ice. There is also a Storm Gremlicken which bares a rocky exterior but is filled with lightening. These ones can spit lightening. Cuttlecrabs are small semi-aquatic critters much like mortal crabs. Best described as an Ammonite with the legs and pinchers of a crab these entities are rather animal like and in fact have been recorded with populations within the realms living as animals generally in temperate to tropical shores coming in various colors and patterns. While overall simple a few exhibit higher intelligence with one considering himself a very accomplished merchant.
Dread beasts are named more for their appearance than any powers. They just look dreadful with often gaunt dark bodies bearing a monstrous skeletal depiction to their skulls. The lower part of limbs and tails are also skeletal. They don’t really have any powers and are largely no more than animals similar to void animals however their presence is a sign of dark influences, particularly of void origin, nearby and shouldn’t be taken lightly. Most often they are just a nuisance and not a serious threat. They come in only a few forms largely Dreadrats and Dread-Chickens which are more commonly called Daemon-Cockrels. Rabbits, Opossum, Cats, frog, hedgehog, songbird and parrot are the known forms. It is unknown why they take on forms of animals often deemed quite or innocent but it is believed to be related to creating a sense of unease in others. Skinned Hounds are believed to be related to these. They are often a bit bigger than their normal counterparts and the skull like head bares various tusks, fangs and protrusions not possessed by the real animal. The fiery orange glowing wound like markings can come in other colors with the color determined by energy present in the area or environmental conditions i.e. in cold environs they are an icy blue, in areas prone to frequent thunderstorms or electrical energy they are a bright yellow.
Dolgrims these chunky ogre like boys… girls? Really I don’t think you can tell the difference are a common dim witted low intelligent ogre like species from the void who are used often for their brawns by other entities of the void, dark magic users and dark cults as muscle and guards for their organizations. Not only are Dolgrim what many would deem ugly but they don’t smell very well and are notorious for their menacing and tormenting of mortals and lesser beings of the void. They have largely thick warty skin over most of their bodies with patches of course hair largely on their chin, tops of forearms, tops of upper arms and shoulders, back and most of legs. They also have various spikes on their arms and legs with the most being located around the shoulders. They also have a row of knobby short spines down their spine and two prominent horns on their thick skulled head. Green is their most common color but steely blue, dusty red-brown and brown variants are also known. While some have been seen to wear some armour most just wear a ragged loin cloth.
These little impish primate like creatures are semi-sentient monsters often found alongside other more powerful and intelligent species of the void. Viends are commonly used to stir up trouble and cause problems within the realms. They are also used for running errands and as simple servants for other beings of the void and even some powerful mages and cultists despite the high danger these creatures pose. They are notoriously mean, aggressive and troublesome. They are rather weak and dim-witted however are capable of some forms of magic particularly fire based magic’s.
Possibly originating from the Underworld or Cursed Realm and not the void though ties to the void such as the ability to use void magic have been made are the entities known as Dread Spectres. These dark four armed wraiths bearing the jawless demon looking skull come by their name honestly as their sight brings feelings of dread to those who see them. These shadowy beings are incapable of speech or reasoning and seem to exist solely to instill fear and siphon away good feelings from the living along with attacking them. They have been known to be bound as guards for tombs but due to the feelings these things bring, their dark nature and tendency to turn on masters who are not practitioners of dark arts like necromancers this method is not often employed with sometimes the exception of cursed tombs where these are used to deter unwanted exploration into them.
Famous for their deep resonating almost alien sounding calls these strange leggy creatures known as Xeracel-Striders seem to consider themselves as birds as all tests have pointed to this being their relation however while at first glance seeming like an animal of the realms it is in fact a race of void origin that has forgone life in the void and life as a monster to life in the realms masquerading as a form of animal. As with all creatures of void origin only the specific test to prove its origin can prove their heritage however several traits of their being also betray their origin. They do not age, cannot be detected by some forms of technology registering as an anomaly to them, they are unaffected by temperatures, are highly resistant to magic and unless felled by predators they do not die and how they come into being is unknown. While their meat is editable to some entities it is toxic to humans. These animal like entities are secretive sticking to woodlands and being active in low light hours or after dark and are found in several realms where their colors and patterns boast appearances that match the environment it is in. It is believed they may act as protectors and curators to these regions protecting them from the influence of the void alongside acting as a mega faunal creature. They are omnivores and have been known to eat people. Their cheeked snouts end with a beak and they have a teeth including molar like teeth and small canines. Their necks are flexible like a gooses and the feelers on their heads can develop a glow in display. 
Xulmycetes is the formal term for a collection of organisms commonly called Shoggoths. These are living slime molds a strange slime like single cell like a giant formless amoeba. There are various forms of these such as the Void Shoggoth with its black oily like and slightly void green iridescent color, the sickly greenish hued Pustulant Shoggoth and the Coagulant Shoggoth which is dark sanguine in colour. All are able to suck the health and life from others often encasing them in their ooze to devour them and some morphs spread decay to everything they touch. They will eat any organic matter and have a disturbing behaviour of coating bones or hollowing out organisms to occupy their hides and re-animate the remains though why is not understood. Some say for protection others for better mobility or even disturbingly to infiltrate and stalk prey disguised as one of their own. In defence and to weaken prey they emit an acidic and decaying liquid.
Zivbaras are one of the few entities considered purely good being aligned with the light of the void and the realms. A race of capybara humanoids they are friendly, caring, relaxed and highly empathetic to most beings. They do not ask for sacrifices or hardships for their aid however they will never give up on the offer of a good swim or a hot tub nor on a good snack particularly of baked goods, peaches, watermelon, grapes or oranges which are some of their favourites. Despite their docile temperaments and nature do not think this means they are push over’s. They are very competent and powerful fighters when the need arises and they can be just as dangerous as any other void being. They are quite skilled in magic. It is not uncommon for these beings to be enlisted as guardians for temples, gardens, monasteries and sacred sites. The Kawazotl is a semi aquatic demon often found lurking in and near bodies of water. Despite their reputation for feeding off the energy of others by sucking it out through the grasper on the end of its long prehensile tail and dragging people off the shore to a watery grave they are actually more neutral beings being neither good or bad. They are rather bestial in nature with their behaviours likened to that of a mammalian crocodile. While they don’t look it these demons are highly tied to water and boast powers in water magic. They often act as guardians to bodies of water particularly lakes, rivers and swamps where they protect them and the creatures within. They are known to easily be appeased by offerings of fish and other sea food. In fact they have been known to attack boats and fisherman just to receive an offering. While generally neutral they have often have been known to be sent by other beings of the void or practitioners of dark magic’s to capture and drag mortals into the void. They have also been known to have the disturbing trait to mimic the sounds of children or babies to draw in their victims. Blue jade bands are imbedded on their limbs with a blue jade plate embedded in their cheeks, decorative feathers sprout from the head, bone like plates run down the back and markings resembling still water coat its back, shoulders and hips. Resembling a cross between a hyena and a vulture the Skuroc, sometimes also called Zkuroc, are animalistic denizens from the void. Often found in packs they are efficient hunters and scavengers. While not known to posses much in magic powers other than a strong regeneration ability their jaws are bone crushing strong with bone crushing teeth and sharp beaks. They are intelligent known for being very crafty and unpredictable. Like vultures and hyenas these creatures are capable of destroying pathogens by feeding on the diseased and unlike the mortal animals are believed to also be able to cure curses and diseases though a sacrifice is often required luckily though they are happy with scraps and rotting meats or diseased livestock as sacrifices. They are known to live in the realms as animals in some places where they can be found in all environments but deserts leading to various color patterns. Zkurocs are known to accompany Xivurses who sometimes treat them like pets and are believed to have an alliance with them.
Cuttlecrabs are small semi-aquatic critters much like mortal crabs. Best described as an Ammonite with the legs and pinchers of a crab these entities are rather animal like and in fact have been recorded with populations within the realms living as animals generally in temperate to tropical shores coming in various colors and patterns. While overall simple a few exhibit higher intelligence with one considering himself a very accomplished merchant.
A large reptilian like monster from the mires of pestilence in the void these grotesque diseased looking creatures boast pustules on their back that can burst to hit others with a foul disease causing liquid; they can also spit this liquid by drooling it and projectile vomiting it onto others. When a sickly yellow-green glow develops in its throat as it swells they’re going to spit this stuff at you. The diseases they can inflict are numerous and can range from common mild infections to devastating plagues and magical curses. It is not just those of flesh and blood that can fall ill from these things. Droids, ghosts, other monsters even computers, phones and tablets can in a sense be made sick from this liquid. Pestuldon’s are often drawn to rotting and decaying matter and will often foul up water sources especially slow moving or stagnant waters often by just sitting in them; they enjoy wallowing in water. It is not uncommon for these monsters to have a swarm of flies hanging around them and they are reported to have a pretty nasty smell.
Looking like someone gave the Retch the beak of a hawk and powers over electrical storms this creature is at least not very intelligent meaning they can easily be outsmarted however they use electroreception, the sense of using electricity to sense what is around you, to find their enemies and navigate meaning it’s easy for them to find you unless you can somehow disrupt or confuse this electrical sense. This sense often leads many to feel what they describe as a tingling energy to the area when these things are nearby. This is believed to be from the electricity they are using to sense what is around them. Their tentacles end with sharp metallic like claws with the front most being the largest and most curved with sensory bristles lining the end of the tentacle for when grabbing and manipulating objects. Strell use electric shocks as an attack and can create localized storms. They are known to enjoy thunderstorms and are attracted to them.
The Nyctrea as they are also known are large owl headed humanoid demons from icy regions in the void. Little is known or understood about these monsters largely due to their secretive natures. They are also very unpredictable. Sometimes they are passive or even friendly and helpful while other times they are dangerous and aggressive and will harm those they encounter. They are regarded as sentient and have a language but due to their secretive nature little of this language is understood. They have hands that are built like the feet of an owl and have cloven hoofed feet and horns on their head. They are capable of magic particularly frost magic’s and have a glare from their highly reflective and eerie eyes that can freeze enemies. They can also wield weapons and are skilled craftsmen… women? Creatures? Demons? Not sure what to class that as. They have sometimes been known to wear attire including thin ragged pale and worn coats. It is believed from ancient accounts that a population of these exists permanently on Ice Reach in the Lost Realm and in the Never Realm.
The Void Creeper gets its name very obviously as with its six insect like legs, long neck tipped with strange bird like mask like head it is quite a creepy site especially in the dark. Like the Hunger they have a long whip like prehensile tongue used for the same purpose as the hungers to suck energy from its prey however they lack the barbs on their tongue like the Hunger though their tongue ends in quite a sharp point. They are believed to hold some allegiance to the Hunger. Their bizarre head bares no eyes just dark pits where eyes should be and they have no lower jaw just a hole on the underside of the head from where the tongue comes out. Like spiders they can crawl on almost all surfaces, things like glass and ice are nearly impossible for them to move on, and they can spit a form of web from their mouth to subdue prey. They can jump and have rather thick skin making them tough combatants. An unsettling crustacean creature Anoxigyons are dark monsters believed to be related to the Void Creeper. Like it and the Hunger they can siphon energy from prey. Unlike them it does not have a prehensile tongue instead it has secondary jaws in its mouth that are ended in four sharp claw teeth to grasp its prey. It also has a breath attack, visible as a void green tinted white mist like beam from its jaws, that sucks oxygen from the area to suffocate those of the realms that need it. Their skin is incredibly tough and they themselves are tough to destroy as when receiving damage an individual can split up into smaller versions of itself where it can reform back together in full health unless you can destroy these smaller pint sized versions before they can recombine. The only way to stop this dividing ability is to chill the creature slowing its functioning preventing it from reacting fast enough to split apart to regenerate and reform. These monsters appear to take pleasure from hurting others and are quite cruel and merciless.
A strange floating light source with a hard spiny top there is some confusion over whether Urchin Lanterns are actually entities or just an animate object. They don’t seem to have any thought acting more like a robotic vacuum that provides light instead of sucking up dirt and dust. They usually stick to a specific region or area often of more artificial make generally floating around usually in a limited area or following a simple sometimes sporadic path. They can also be found accompanying other entities of the void such as Scribes and are sometimes used by dark scholars and mages as a light source following them around when summoned. Other then the sharp spined armoured top which an hurt if touched they’re harmless. They can emit various colors of light. Jelly Lamps are jelly-fish like creatures with an oval shaped transparent bell that boasts several lines of luminous fingery frills running down the bell that boasts a glowing plasmatic core often described as giving it the look of having a fire within its bell these things while creepy to see in the dark are generally harmless. They simply float around minding their own business. They can provide light in the dark and emit some heat allowing them to be used as a minor heat source if encountered in the cold. Their tentacles can cause burns if they touch skin but they usually don’t actively try to attack. They’re much like Jellyfish; simple squishy bodied organisms with no real brain. Despite their lack of a brain though they still appear smarter than some people. They range from the size of a sparrow to a small car and seem to be attracted to light sources.
Diseases
Of course with the mixing of beings from realms comes the introduction and mixing of illnesses and parasites as well. Generally these aren’t a major problem however can cause localised issues and breakouts. At least due in no small part to the thanks to elemental masters of a foreign realm the Blight is no more freeing all the realms from its dangers. There is one major threat however that the breach has released to the realms that could make diseases a problem. This is the increase in the realms of entities of the void who can inflict diseases to all forms of life even technology. This can potentially stir up some problems.
Serpentine-pox- a common disease in several realms named after a miss-belief that it’s caused by contact with serpentine. It’s not. Like its cousin condition Chicken Pox it’s given through contact with infected individuals. Overall it isn’t fatal, at least not to healthy individuals, though it is rather annoying causing patches of scaly looking and itchy patches of skin for a week or two. It will clear up on its own but excessive scratching can cause open sores and scratches.
Frost Limb- a very dangerous condition often caught by frost powered creatures or plants it causes infected to become feverish while losing feeling in the extremities, the arms and legs. The extremities also lose their temperature becoming ice cold and start to develop blackened patches of skin and other tissues much like with frost bite. Much like with frostbite without treatment you can end up losing the patches of your body that develop the frostbite markings. Other symptoms include serious fever yet you struggle to keep warm, weakness and having uncontrollable twitching and muscle spasms in the limbs.
Swamp Fever – a common condition in swampy regions this condition causes a high fever, excessive sweating, a fever, delirium, migraines are common and the development of aqua colored blister like structures over the body. It isn’t usually fatal but is rather unpleasant. Medicine can help alleviate the symptoms.
Nahatun Flu- hopefully this condition never gets out but with these monsters the risk of that is very unpredictable. Created long ago, to which how it was created is little known though the oni are believed to have a hand in it, by the undersea beast folks of the Toad-slug people and undersea serpent folk in their attempt to conquer the land folks this disease created mass devastation affecting all people and some species of animal largely mammals. Symptoms begin with a fever, coughing, a strange unquenchable thirst, excessive sweating and growing weakness with strange bruised looking markings developing over the body that bare a strange sickly greyish colored spot at the center. These markings end up becoming open puss filled sores that can spread the condition when they burst and leak fluids. This isn’t the only way the condition is spread with sweating also believed to spread it however all the ways it can be spread is unclear. The death toll for this condition is very high and there are no vaccines, all attempts to make one have failed. There is however a cure. If received early enough individuals can recover with little long term effects however the longer individuals take to seek treatment the worse it gets. Of course within as little as three weeks death will occur if you’re not lucky enough to survive, neurological damage, temperature control problems, water management problems leading to being thirstier than normal, being more frequently tired and scarring from sores. Since it originated and was contained in the Lost Realm other realms are going to be weaker to the condition if individuals become inflicted. Those of the Lost Realm have a stronger resistance to the condition. The Dragon Guard of the Lost Realm has given out the knowledge and utilities to provide cures to other realms just in case it pops up. The most likely way this pathogen could spread is through void entities such as Dreadtrix and Pustuldons. While immune robotics can unintentionally become contagions if fluids from infected get on them.
Ataxia- causes generalized pain, muscle stiffness, pale skin, lethargy and chills. It has a low fatality rate and is commonly passed on from Skeevers, rodents and ticks.
Porphyric Hemophilia: Covered earlier under monsters; the vampire disease.
Sigmus Serpentus: Despite common belief this condition did not come from the Tcesi/Snake folk. Again this one is believed to be caused by the Oni and in cold regions can be deadly due to its major effect. It causes the sufferers body to shut down its normal heat production causing sufferers to turn cold blooded. Hair is lost and the skin begins to become scaly. While it is curable this condition takes time to cure and the more progressed the condition the longer it takes. Other notable symptoms include yellow eyes, skin irritation (due to the development of scales), loss of energy and appetite, hallucinations, chills and cold sensitivity. While only people can suffer from this condition some animals who are unaffected by the condition can be carriers. Skeevers, Venom-Fangs, Mire-lion, Hist Pythons, Kaguars and the Kappa are the main carriers in this region.
Tumorous Rot: This horrid condition causes painful bloated, blistered skin, tumors and skin deformities. It also causes disorientation, aggressive behaviour and dementia. Unless treated early this condition is fatal. Luckily it is rather rare and one can only catch it from someone who has it. It is also people exclusive. It is easily treated when caught early. Early symptoms include headaches, light sensitivity, dizziness, mood swings, paling skin and loss of hair. This condition is often likened to as the Zombie disease.
Sanies Lupinus: Covered earlier as the were-wolf disease.
Chapter 61: Extras: World Building Stories (Don't worry there aren't spoilers here just as it says stories for world building)
Summary:
While working on the story I came up with these, little shorts to flush out some of the world in which the characters find themselves in. Unlike the Shorts and other stories these do not feature during or are a part of the actual story; you will not get any spoilers in these shorts so don't worry you can read them at any time and you won't get spoiled for the story. These shorts are just fun little side projects flushing out the world of the area in the realm the characters come to find themselves in. In the chapter 'A Brush with the Stag' I mention Zane putting nature documentaries on TV to give the illusion he was awake while sleeping and to block sounds I could imagine these being what he had on.
Notes:
Pictures relating to story can be found here: https://www.deviantart.com/nerdy-hyena/gallery/72478681/story-project
They are really good and help to visually flush out several aspects of the story including environments, characters, outfits, locations, creatures and other aspects often important ones in the story. All images I post in my work can be found there if you want a better look at them. Defiantly make sure to check them out.Also if you need a refresher on creatures, flora or aspects of the environment you can check out the second chapter in this work titled 'Keikiarys Guide to the Ash Wastes'. It includes short descriptions and pictures of these things.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
World of the Lost Realm
Episode 1:World of the Wastes
The Ash Wastes of our world, a harsh place but a surprisingly diverse and stunning environment. What was once a mosaic environment of temperate forests and grasslands has been turned in recent decades to an ash coated wastes transformed by the large active volcano of many names; Dragons Maw, Oni’s Heart, Bleeding Peaks, Red Tower, Red Mountain just to name a few. Geologic activity has shaped this landscape and as a result the life that inhabits this landscape has undergone some serious changes to adapt. A great variety of plants and animals once thrived here. While most plants weathered the changes the wildlife was not so fortunate. Many of the original inhabitants have been driven from this land while new inhabitants have come to claim these lands as home. With their ever replacing tooth design and more robust systems reptiles, birds and insects faired rather well however mammals were not so fortunate. The reptiles, in particular the Repto-birds now dominate. This is but a glimpse into this world.
It is dawn. A Scleroboa searches beneath some rocks below a gnarled dead conifer at the edge of a forested patch. Since late evening it has been searching for its insect prey only taking a break for a few hours round midnight to rest. As the sun comes up she searches for any possible tidbits before she will seek shelter to sleep through the heat of the day. She finds a few crickets managing to catch one as she flips over a rock. Something catches her attention; she rears up stretching as tall she can to observe her surroundings. Nearby a small herd of Birch Runners feed on a bush, with late spring new growth has come to the plant life of the wastes providing a treat for many plant eaters who have had sparse pickings over the winter or the ash tainted foliage they have had to make do with. Though it is unlikely the runners will harm her the Scleroboa is wary. Predators are likely nearby. She had a good harvest through the night so decides to call it for the day. She hops off to find suitable place to sleep for the day likely in a burrow beneath the roots of trees. The runners keep foraging keeping ever vigilant for threats. These Repto-birds adapted to a cool forested environment like the forests that coat the foot hills and alpine slopes of the nearby Scale-caller mountain range. While seen in the region before geologic activity has forced more populations out of the hills and into the lowlands of the wastes making their presence more common. As they nibble at the leaves and twigs pulling and breaking them off with their beaks before chewing them up with the teeth in their cheeked mouths they remain alert. Their large eyes are well adapted to seeing in the dark an adaptation they developed in the northern woodlands their kind originated in. These large eyes also give them keen vision helping them detect threats. The call from a nearby Ash Walker startles them and all members of the flock stop to look around sniffing at the air. The call is a simple contact communication and realising it means no danger they go back to eating.
These creatures appear highly wary and they have good reason to be on alert. There are many reasons to be wary in the wastes. Not only is the environment plagued by hazards but predators lurk and wait within the wastes and little do they know one has its eyes set on them. Only a couple feet away hidden behind a low growing conifer a Venom-fang crouches waiting for a chance to strike. Though his venom could easily take one down he has to get close enough to bite them. Despite looking harmless Birch Runners have minor abilities in the element of frost. If they create an icy armour he will not be able to bite through it and they could hit him with icy kicks that can hinder his mobility making it hard for it to get in an attack. Being runners they also share a great speed and powerful kicks with other runner species. If they spot him they will run and while he could follow them Venom-fangs are not long distance runners and cannot achieve the speeds Runners are capable of reaching. They are more of ambush predators and sprinters. If his quarry runs he will not be able to catch up and should they kick him they could break bones which could prove fatal. A broken jaw or leg would prove a slow and agonizing death. Venom-Fangs like hyenas will hunt both as a group and on their own. Today it seems this individual is unfortunate to be on his own making his chance of success against these targets slim. If he had more of his clan members it could make catching his prey easier they could set up an ambush or work to cut an individual off during a short pursuit but none are with him so he must take great caution. He slowly stalks towards the runners using a fallen log and some undergrowth to hide himself. He keeps low to try and avoid his quarries gaze. He must get close if he is to make a successful catch. Slowly he moves, tail held rigid for balance and every footfall precisely and cautiously placed. He is nearly in striking distance when one of the Runners catches his movement in its gaze. With an alarm call the herd takes off. Not wanting to let his efforts be in vain the Venom-fang attempts to catch the slowest member rushing foreword to try and cut it off but he is not quick enough to catch up with it as they run off leaving him empty handed. Panting from the effort the predator calls out in frustration before shaking itself to straighten out the fuzz that coats parts of his body. No use It then moves on to look for a possible meal elsewhere.
His call echoes for some distance. Not too far away along the shores of the Misty River a Kappa comes out of its burrow to investigate the sound. Nearby a herd of Kagaur wallow by the banks of the river enjoying the warmth of its waters. This river gets its name for the mist frequently seen rising from it during periods of colder temperatures such as early morning and during the winter. Despite being fed by glaciers in the mountains once it gets past the lake by the Swamp of Delapitation and begins flowing through the low lands the waters are heated to a rather comfortable temperature by volcanic activity. Even before the Red Tower blew this feature of the river was present indicating the regions volcanic presence. For the almost hairless Kagaurs the warm waters are a great way to start the cool morning. Though not cold blooded and able to control their temperature they and their Kappa relative run at cooler temperatures than other mammals. This means they do not require as much resources as equally sized regular mammals but can still remain active in cold weather unlike some other reptiles who are unable to regulate their temperatures. Seeing there is no danger the Kappa heads back into his burrow. Inside his mate lays in a bedding of mosses with three leathery shelled eggs next to her side. After carrying them inside herself for a few month the female recently laid the eggs. Within a few weeks they will hatch and she will feed them with milk for several weeks in their den. Until then she will rarely venture out spending her time tending to them. That leaves the male to feed the family and clean out the den. He collects some of the oldest and dirtiest bedding and carries it out of the den.
Slipping into the water he carries it away to deposit it on the shores near the Kagaurs so its scent will not attract predators to his den. Though they normally would not care to see a Kappa near them today the Kagaur seem agitated by his presence. Though his kind feeds on mainly fish, invertebrates and small vertebrates and pose no danger to the adult Kagaurs he does pose a threat to their young particularly their un-hatched eggs. Like the Kappa Kagaurs lay eggs which they have buried in mounds near the river. Though they might not look it the Kagaurs are very caring parents. The females carried the eggs inside themselves for several months before laying them here for their final two weeks of development, once hatched they too will feed their young with milk. They will stay close to their nesting site till the young are ready to follow the herd within a month from hatching. Not wanting to risk an attack the Kappa moves off into the woods to collect fresh bedding. As he moves on land he walks in a manner similar to a crocodile in high walk, his beaver like tail dragging behind him as he moves. Despite their reptilian appearances both the Kappa and Kagaur are mammals. They are an early offshoot of the mammal family which retain more reptilian features such as unlimited shedding of teeth, higher resistance to poisons and venoms and the ability to survive on fewer and poorer quality foods; this has benefitted them as the ash spread. These seemingly primitive features have proven useful in this harsh world.
Above them in the trees a group of Tree-bills awakes from its slumber. These large house cat sized arboreal creatures live in highly social and boisterous groups. They begin their day by searching for food. Highly adaptable these omnivorous reptiles forage in the trees, on the ground and even in the water for various plant materials, berries, nuts, insects and even small vertebrates. The group splits up to forage but they do not generally wander far from their group members. They often keep in contact through loud slightly metallic and birdlike calls to make sure everyone knows where everybody is. Like parrots these reptiles mate for life and a pair generally stick close together when foraging. They will share with their mate whatever they find. An old log offers a great diversity of possible editables and several of them are quick to investigate it. Their beaks and fingers easily allow them to pry off some of the moss and fungi that coats it but the real treats are likely hidden within. Using their beak ended jaws and hands they begin to break into the log and pull it apart. While the insects and grubs within offer a protein rich snack it soon becomes apparent that some of the Tree-bills are a little more interested in playing with the pieces they break off than eating at this time. Young members of the group are a little more interested in playing than eating at this time. Games of tug-o-war with the youngsters is always a great way to show whose boss. Tossing and catching is fun too and a great way to play with your mate. Or maybe you just want to make a mess by tearing the place apart. A few take to playing around with the Kagaurs, a few even throwing chunks of wood at the Kagaurs in an attempt to get the bigger creatures to join in their fun. The Kagaurs however are not too happy to have these boisterous and overly curious reptiles close to their nests and are not as interested in such boisterous playing as the Tree-bills. A little loud noise and a few fake swipes with their tusks at the smaller creature is usually enough of a deterrent for the Tree-bills to leave the Kagaurs alone. While the young play around the adults of the troop continue with foraging. Some take to grooming each other and a few seem oddly curious with the spaces between some tree roots and crevices between rocks. Like many others in the wastes they will soon be having their young. After carrying her eggs inside her body for a few months for the last few weeks before they hatch they will be laid and incubated in a den made beneath the roots of trees or between rocks. After hatching they will stay in the nest until the young are strong enough to cling to their parents’ side in about a months’ time after hatching.
As the morning moves on the Kagaurs leave the river to forage. They head off into the woods around the river and the open plains to the south of the river to forage. A few of the herd stick close to the nesting site as guards to watch over it as they feed in the undergrowth of the forest. Like cattle Kagaur can chew their food and are ruminants however unlike cattle they have strong beaks to crop tough matter and very useful tusks to aid in gathering items cattle cannot reach such as roots and tubers. The tusks are also useful in prying bark off trees or to take chunks off the large fungi that grow in the region. These fungi are beneficial to the region. As they feed on the soil and ash the fungi neutralize toxins and release nutrients into the soil allowing plants to thrive in the hazardous ash that coats the ground and make it safe for wildlife to feed here. The Kagaurs are not the only ones foraging in the wastes.
A herd of Ash Walkers is browsing the trees and shrubs and taking a few bites out of some of the tall fungi. The Ash Walker herd is led by a male with his four duller in color but slightly larger females. These are the largest creatures in the wastes boasting a formidable appearance and great strength. Once full grown not many predators dare challenge these creatures. Following these giants drawn by the insects they stir up and which come to feed off them are small flying insectivores; dragonflies, Burning Hornets, birds and small reptilian creatures like the Min-Min and Ancestor Wings. These little winged reptiles are small relatives to the Racer. Unlike their larger cousin these feed mainly on insects. A few of their larger relatives the Racers soar overhead searching for an easy meal. Though mainly viewed as scavengers Racers can and will hunt for food and are rather accomplished hunters. They would just prefer an easy meal to limit the chances of injury and in the wild for a meat eater there is no easier a meal than something that is already dead; something which cannot fight back or run away. Like hyenas Racers are far from picky and will feed on any source of meat they can find even if it is one of their own. If they cannot find a carcass to scavenge they will hunt something down mobbing it and stinging it with their venomous tail stingers till it falls to them. For the time though it seems these racers are content with riding thermals to survey the area. As the Kagaurs and Walkers stir up the land as they feed and move a small group of rhino sized scarab beetles, the Boernix, follow feeding on debris they leave behind and the plant and fungi matter which lies on the ground starting to decay. On some of the Boernix smaller creatures who have been foraging alongside them or are seeking easy and relaxing transport are perched on and resting on the large beetles who aren’t bothered by their passengers. Despite their fearsome appearance these beetles are generally harmless and quite docile. Unless provoked or given no choice they will not attack instead preferring to bury themselves. They don’t mind the smaller beasts riding on them and they aren’t alone. Quite a few of the large creatures in the wastes don’t mind the smaller creatures using them to ride on. Along with the large reptiles and insects smaller species are found often foraging alongside them. Groups of runners forage on low growing plants and fungi having to navigate the footsteps of the larger creatures to prevent getting crushed, a group of Ekhindahogs feed close to their burrows rushing back into them when they feel threatened, some deers who’ve managed to cling on in the region forage alongside the runners feeling safe from their reptilian companions and foraging parties of Kollop ants who are out collecting fungi and plant matter to bring back to their colonies nest to stock pile and even feed to fungal species that inhabit their nests that they farm for a stable food source.
Not far away from the creatures lay the ruins of a once peaceful and prosperous city. Though few remember the towns original name it has come to be known as the Swamp of Delapitation. The edges of the town border the plains of the wastes to the south, east and west. To the north it falls into a large lake. Patches of woodlands border the lakes edge and areas around the town and to the east and west of the town stretching several miles from the waters shores in the lowlands of the wastes many ponds and small lakes dot the grounds. These lowlands are swampy and thrive with wetland plants like reeds including the bioluminescent Lunar Reeds, Water Thistle and water lilies which grow in deeper sections. A mixture of forests and open swamp coat these lowlands drawing many insects, birds and other fauna to its waters and abundant food sources. Despite the abundance the waters here are not all that great. Some lakes while having an abundance of vegetation along the shores and seem to have crystal clear waters it is an illusion. These lakes are acidic. No animals and only a select few plants live in them. Other lakes fed from underground springs do have more pleasant waters but can hold a terrible secret that only becomes apparent during earthquakes as the lake releases volcanic gasses trapped in the soils of its bottom. Others clearly show their toxic side. Deadly gasses turn their shores into graveyards and even one lake is known to turn any organic matter that falls into it into stone.
Along the shores of the Swamp of Delapitation not far from what used to be the town harbour a few small relatives of the Ash Walker feed off the plants that grow in and around the water. These are Kwalit. Wearing armour plates coated in chitin these small herbivores are rather docile despite their fearsome appearance. While the large chitinous armour plates that coat their head, back and end their digits are clearly visible they also boast plenty of much smaller pieces of bone in their skin. These help fend off attacks from predators and for predators not intimidated by their armour they have two other secrets of defence. They can swing their long tails which are lined on the top with two rows of chitin coated spines to impact into attackers with some force and can release a musk from their skin that causes irritation when exposed to none scaly skin like that in the mouth or sense organs of its predator. Unlike their larger cousins due to their heavy armour Kwalit are unable to run on two legs however they can rear up while foraging to reach higher on shrubs and trees resting on their heavy tails to keep balanced. Nearby on the remains of what was once the town dock a Rust Blue Heron is fishing. Unlike other herons this species of heron has an interesting way of hunting. It can pick the electrical signatures of its preys nervous system allowing it to hunt in even murky waters where its keen vision is rendered nearly useless by the waters condition. The heron is unbothered by the Kwalit who do not seem to be interested in the bird much either as they wade through the shores using their broad beaked snouts to gather vegetation growing on and below the waters.
The heron is not the only one making use of the structures in the ruins. On the higher grounds there are plenty of other dwellings left over from the days when this location was a bustling settlement among the old residential districts without the people to tend them many of the gardens that once adorned properties have been left to grow wild and unchecked the foliage growing out and expanding offering plenty of food for hungry mouths. Here a mixed flock of Forest and Gold-capped Pryphons are taking advantage of the many produce growing plants left behind by the people. Pryphons are a member of the bird lineage like other gryphons however these share more in common with parrots than the birds of prey other griffons usually share with. This is believed to be as Pryphons are said to have come from the parrot line unlike other gryphons convergently developing the gryphon traits and not inheriting them. While their origins and relations can be confusing their lifestyles are not so. Like parrots these social creatures spend great deals of time with others of their kind grooming, playing and feeding. While it is too early in the season for their favourite fruits there is still plenty here for them to dine on. Young shoots and the leaves of many plants are a decent snack so are nuts and seeds left over from the fall. Some berry producing plants have some early tidbits available for them to dine on and the nectar filled flowers of many fruit producing plants are a sweet treat many of them enjoy. These flowers also attract another desired treat of theirs insects. They pick them off the flowers and branches when they come for the flowers, dig them and their young out of soil and decaying plant matter on the ground and even chew into the trees to get at some. Not all the chewing they are doing at this time however is for food. With the warmer weather coming their breeding season has begun and some of them are looking for potential nest sites. Nests of Pryphons are often built in hollows of large trees and fungi or burrows dug into rocky or dirt cliff faces. These they make themselves using their beaks and claws. They then make very simple not very complex structures of wood shavings, feathers, fur and mosses or other plant debris. Pryphons are monogamous forming lifelong pair bonds. While bonded pairs are looking for nesting sites while they forage un-bonded pairs dance and display to try and win the attentions of potential mates. As they go about with their activities they are loud and create a bit of a mess from all their chewing, scratching and destructive rough housing. Despite two separate species hanging together the two flocks tolerate each other rather well with little to no fighting though plenty of loud vocalizing and displaying are produced as the two establish boundaries and ownerships. With the wealth of resources offered by the settlement and the nesting opportunities offered by the ruins of dwellings these Pryphons will likely stick to the area for the rest of the year.
The Pryphons are not the only creatures making use of the ruins of the settlement. Among the old market square of the settlement a group of Mire-lions has made their den in the ruins of a house where a cedar has grown out of. These reptiles are members of the crocodile family even though they do not live the typical crocodilian lifestyle. Instead of being a sluggish ambush aquatic predator Mire-Lions have opted for an active pursuit hunting lifestyle like wolves or lions. This group consists of nine members led by an alpha female. At this time of year Mire-Lions like many others in the wastes are nesting. They have concealed their nests with reeds and sticks in a collapsed shed. All members of the group have laid their eggs here and the alpha maintains that at least one individual remains on guard by the nest. This individual lies nearby hidden beneath a Chokeweed bush watching the nest while the rest of the bask, the name given to a group of these reptiles, heads off to hunt. These are social reptiles both hunting and working as a group to benefit the whole. They will hunt down anything they can sink their claws and teeth into, even creatures as big as the Ash Walkers biting and clawing till the prey dies of shock and blood loss.
Away from the lake the bask comes across a swampy area to the southeast of the old town. Many of the trees here have moss dripping from their lower limbs and shelter dog to horse sized mushrooms beneath their branches. A large shallow pond sits here. There is little vegetation around its shores instead the shores are a turned up mix of mud and ash creating a deadly mixture. Stuck in the mud around this pond an adult Ash Walker lays where it got stuck in the mixture of the shore. The turned up mud and ash has become a deadly concoction much like quicksand. Large animals due to their weight tend to get stuck in this mire and are unable to free themselves or get back out as their legs and feet sink into the mud. Small animals will also get stuck but their lighter weights tend to prevent them from sinking too deep in the muck allowing them to more easily find a way out but they too can easily become victims to this trap. Once trapped animals generally die from exhaustion; struggling to free themselves only causing them to sink further into the mire. This pond has become a death trap. The Ash Walker is just one of the latest victims. Evidence of past victims can be seen scattered around the shores. The shell of a Boernix, the bones and dulled but still chitin coated armour of a Kwaliit, the bones of a Morinosei, bones from Mire-lions, Venom-fangs and Racers who came to feed off the remains. Even small creatures who came for a drink like turtles, ground fowl and insects are mixed up with the bigger creatures. Many of the smaller remains have been broken and scattered from the struggles of the larger creatures as they tried to escape.
The Ash Walker lays with its legs buried in the mire and by the looks has only been here a day or two. Flies and small aerial scavengers like crows and Min-min have been feeding off it but they have only taken little of the meat; plenty still remains for scavengers, if they dare enter the mire. The Mire-Lions come to stand on a ridge overlooking the pond. There is plenty of meat for them on the carcass and no scavengers to contend with but they hang back, observing the scene and appear to be weary. Mire-Lions are not picky, they will readily scavenge much like hyenas but it seems they are not interested in the corpse even though nothing is wrong with it. Despite common views reptiles are much smarter than they appear and this group seems to be aware that something is not right. One of them a juvenile decides to go for it leaving the rest on the ridge and heading down to the shores of the pond. It cautiously makes its way to the carcass while the others watch. The trap has already claimed a few scavengers. A racer and a Venom-Fang lay near the carcass having gotten caught as they tried to get what seems like an easy meal. As he heads for the carcass the young Mire-lion struggles a bit in the muck but manages to reach the carcass. It bites into the flank attempting to pull some meat off but as it does this its rear end sinks deeper into the mud. Sensing itself sink it attempts to readjust itself only to find it cannot pull its hinds legs out of the muck. In a panic it tries to use the carcass to pull itself out with its forelimbs. This effort is in vain. It begins calling for help but its bask mates make no move to aid it. They just watch the youngsters struggle as its forelimbs slip off the carcass and fall into the mire getting stuck.
Despite its cries there will be no aid for it. Some of the other youngsters are agitated looking like they want to do something but they wait for the adults decision. The leader looks over the scene before leading the rest of the pack off into the wastes to search for a safer meal elsewhere. This decision might seem cruel but it must be done. It is likely they know they can do nothing to help, if they were to try it is likely they would all perish by the trap. It is a decision to benefit the group not the individual. As they leave the juvenile continues its struggle to break free, calling for aid. By nightfall the predator trap will have claimed another life.
Most bodies of water in the wastes have become less than pleasant due to the regions volcanic activity. Those closest to the volcano are the most unpleasant. Some have become acidic enough to eat flesh and metal, others are toxic or leach toxic gasses. The further from the volcano one goes the more hospitable bodies of water become. The Springs of hope, the Great Lake of Lost Souls, and lake which the Swamp of Delapitation borders along with the Misty River are some of the most pleasant and hospitable to life but a few smaller rivers and ponds are also rather pleasant for life to enjoy its waters. In one at the edge of a wooded patch a racer washes itself in the shallows ducking its fore end in the water then lifting up and shaking to try and cover its back with the cool water. It slaps its wings in the water throwing water all over itself. As it does this it becomes clear this racer is not in a very good way. Luminescent red markings can be seen on its wings and legs. The glow is dull and the markings have only reached as far as the elbow and kneecap but that does not matter. The markings and signs of the Blight are unmistakeable. No one knows where this condition came from but it has become a curse on the wastes plaguing all forms of life killing many every year.
The racers bathing is likely an attempt to cool the burning sensation brought on by this curse. It has likely been driven away by members of its own kind forcing it into isolation. No predator will prey on it afraid to catch the condition and none other of its kind will let it near them. As he baths nearby birds and Ancestor Wings can be heard in the trees growing agitated and seemingly without warning they begin to mob the racer diving and yelling at it. They are careful to not let him bite them. Normally they would simply remain alert and hidden. Racers will prey on them but their mobbing is driven not by a fear of predation but of his curse. Normally animals are not bothered by other beings with diseases but the Blight is different. It is not a disease; it is not a virus or fungus. The Blight is something else, something no one has been able to identify. Many have come to believe that it is a curse and many fear what will happen if the truth of what it is and how to fix it is not found.
The racer attempts to take a few bites at his harassers but they are too fast and he is simply clacking his beak. Uncomfortable by the mobbing the racer takes to the wing launching off by pushing off with its forelimbs. It circles the water once to gain height before taking off into the wastes the smaller creatures mobbing it while it remains by the woods. The racer will not last long, within the month it will perish from the condition. Before then it will live a lonely and solitary existence slowly driven mad by its condition. Others of its kind will drive it away, even prey and predators will mob it away to try and keep themselves from catching the curse. It is a sad reality of the wastes. The Blights constant presence and the great likely hood of encountering it make this place a torturous landscape; A landscape of great beauty but also of great horrors.
As he flies off the smaller flying creatures return to their roosts the ruins of an old stone watchtower now covered in vines with flora growing up from around its base shrouding it amongst young trees and fungal spires. Their non natural roost isn’t the only one like it. Throughout the wastes non natural structures are scattered ruins of cultures and peoples long gone or recently forced to flee from the harshness brought by the ever ravaging volcano. Towns their defensive outer walls often piled outside by ash and debris thrown against them by storms many baring sections broken and crumbling from lack of maintenance and exposure to the elements and large beasts. Vines and fungi often clamber over their walls while opportunistic plants take root within cracks in the structures while the remains of the buildings within crumble from similar forces and become shelter for many of the small to medium creatures of the wastes. Towns are not the only structures out here. Forts once operated to protect the people during times of hardship and strife now unable to defend themselves against the world around them that is slowly wearing them down and returning their makes to the earth they sit upon. There is one kind of ruin however out here unlike all the rest. Their makers a race dedicated to logic and knowledge said to have such a deep understanding to the world around them that they could delve into the universe in ways none other could imagine giving them a deep understanding, respect and compassion to all things both living and non around them. Unlike other ruins those of the extinct Scymer folk often show less decay than ruins abandoned long after they were. Why this is there are many theories but they have been spared no less than other ruins the grips of the wastes effects. Flora has come to grow on some, many bare tarnished exteriors with damaged walls or broken structures and fauna has come to inhabit those that have been exposed to the elements and truly abandoned for while some may seem abandoned these structures are not always so. While adventurers, pillagers and thieves have little fears venturing into ruins of towns or forts there are some structures only the bravest or most foolish would dare to brave in these lands and these are some. While the Scymer may be gone they didn’t leave their habitations entirely abandoned. So deep was their understandings into life and technology that the Scymer created living beings of technology. Collectively termed constructs these entities boast many to all the traits of living things with some even able to blend in with those of flesh as if they are one of them. There is much speculation to why many remain and how many still seem to be operating and look untouched by the harshness of the wastes but they do and they still patrol the dwellings of those that made them. In a small outpost on a plateau overlooking the Valley of Despair the remnants of four houses, an observation tower and the structure over the entrance to the subsurface ruins of the settlement sit. While most constructs remain within the subsurface structure a small band have approached the surface of the world to scavenge parts from the structures above. It has been observed that not all damages viewed on these ruins are the results of the elements. Likely to keep other dwellings functioning without their masters to offer supplies the constructs have taken to salvaging from more decrepit parts of the ruins to keep more important centers functioning. That is what this group appears to be doing.
Led by a fabricant a form of hybrid between Scymer robotics and beings of flesh a group of four Robo-bills and two Scimitar Scarabs search one of the more ruined structures; the fabricant is of a form made from a Venom-fang. While others search for parts, scrap metals and wires the fabricant patrols the area watching for danger. Combining the speed, agility and venom of the Venom-fang with the calculating and cunning of a machine these fabricants are often some of the most feared. While not boasting the strength of larger makes their smaller size lets them fit into areas bigger makes cannot and follow intruders where ever they go. While it can be understood that robotics were made how fabricants came into being is unknown and poorly understood. Despite the machine half however many fabricants still show behaviours like the creatures they came from. As this one scouts it takes note of a sparrow sized beetle roaming by some boulders by a cliff edge. As if driven by primal bestial instincts like the beast it is half of the fabricant pauses and tilts its head to look over the insect before entering a stalking pose. Slowly it stalks towards the beetle which does not seem to notice it as it crawls up onto the boulders. As the beetle comes to rest atop the boulders the fabricant pounces pinning the beetle beneath its one metallic foot. Surprisingly it hasn’t crushed the insect but instead holds it down as it inspects it. The construct shows a great deal of curiosity however it is unknown how deep an understanding to the world around it these entities have. A noise catches its attention and it lifts its head ignoring the beetle still trapped under its foot. It rears up and looks over the lands below the plateau to determine where the noise came from. After a couple moments it goes back to the insect before hearing the noise again. This time it lets the beetle go as it looks back at its companions. They have all stopped what they are doing having noticed the sound as well. While they cannot display emotions and whether they can even feel them is debatable it seems clear by their movements that the constructs feel something is wrong, a possible danger is in the area. The fabricant is the one to call an alarm and grabbing what they can the constructs head back into the ruins the doors closing behind them.
Not long after they leave why they left soon becomes clear. A strange creature comes flying into the ruins followed by a few more of them. They cling to the walls looking around for something. Despite its appearance boasting traits of birds and insects this thing isn’t an animal and while it is living it is also a being unlike any other living thing. These creatures Vesparilions are part of a group commonly known as demons. Beings neither living or un-living and while they show all the features of living beings they are unlike anything we would consider living. Even robotic beings are more living than these entities. Born of primal energies of existence these are vestiges of energy given physical forms. They cannot truly ever be killed and do not require any form of resource to survive. Despite this they still regularly feed however what they feed on is nothing like other living things nor even like machines. Most of these entities known as demons feed off the energies of emotions, of the very essences of the living and even the life force of the living. While their metal hides are tough the constructs have great reason to hide from these monsters. No matter their make Vesparilions can suck the energy from anything animals, plants, machines even spectral beings none are safe from these monsters. They can feed off the energy of all and destroy them all the same. They also wield their sword like bills to pierce into the hides of their victims. For animals this lets them drink up the blood of the living while for less organic beings they use this to deliver serious often fatal damages to plants, fungi, robotics and machinery. Demons never used to be common outside dark ruins made by dark beings however in recent years it has been observed these and other entities known as demons have started becoming more common and spreading out from the vestiges of darkness they deemed home. This has led to problems in some regions with these monsters and others like them plaguing small towns and villages within and near the wastes often leading to great harms and fatalities. While measures and forces have been taken to cull these entities and drive them back it is not that easy as once removed they can simply return at a later date and the powers and resilience’s boasted by many make them hard to fight. Why they are becoming more of a problem no one knows for sure however if trends continue the way they have with these monsters becoming more common and wide spread then things in the wastes are in for serious trouble ahead.
Join us next time as we take a deeper look at life in the wastes. We will take a look into the Repto-Birds and the strange diversity and adaptations of this interesting and amazing group of reptiles many of which have allowed them to claim dominance of this strange land.
Episode 2: Repto-birds
Repto-birds; no other groups inspires as much awe and fear to the general public as these beasts. A group of reptiles that seem to bend the rules of what we would consider a reptile and even sometimes what life is capable of achieving. Sharing a close relation to birds it is believed these beasts originated in the depths of the dark ancient lands known as the Forgotten Forest a largely dense woodland with patches of grasslands, rocky fields and moorlands, canyon lands and scrublands in some areas all filled with ancient foliage including massive redwoods, ancient species of gingko and even stranger ancient foliage and fungi the likes of which can capture the imagination that stretches from the tropical to Boreal region on the Eastern ranges of our continent. On one side it borders the sea where various islands many dangerous and equally as treacherous as the nearby mainland rest stretching out to into the Lost Sea on the other it is separated from the rest of the continent by a large and treacherous mountain range that reaches from the northern shores down to the tropics then borders part of the south eastern shoreline known as the Scale Caller Peaks. Few who have entered the Forgotten Forest have ever returned leaving many mysteries to this place and what it harbours in its depths. Patches of wood frequently swamped in dense mists, poisonous and dangerous plants, hidden volcanism turning patches of woodland to stone barked trees with sulphur tinted mists creeping through the understory and swampy regions made of geothermal mineral pools, deep chasms filled with large and often deadly insects such as a near meter long centipede said to be poisonous just to touch, toxic dense dark swamplands, metallic cliffs frequently plagued by thunderstorms, frequent rainfall that fuels trees to grow to massive proportions and more are said to reside within the forest making exploration difficult to near impossible and that does not even take into account the inhabitants of the woodlands. Most are reptilian, avian or insectoid and often wield venoms, elemental based powers, armour and skin tough enough to resist magic’s and many forms of weapons, camouflage abilities that can make them seem to disappear and more. Mammals are not excluded from this region but those we commonly recognise will not be found here instead more ancient often reptilian featured mammals are common and while most are no bigger than a small rhino it is not uncommon to see those here utilizing venoms and other tactics usually only found in reptiles to survive. With such hazards within their ancestral land it is no wonder these creatures have developed many of the strange adaptations they have and why they were so successful in colonising every part of our world including the Ash Wastes.
Repto-birds are categorised into three major lineages. The ones most well known and captivating are the Fears. While they are most well known for the meat eaters that give the group its name as they have long struck fear into the hearts and minds of man many species are actually omnivores with a couple exclusive herbivores as well. Fears are almost entirely bipedal with only a few species capable of switching between bi-pedal and quadrupedal however there are no known fully quadrupedal species. The Fears including the only fully aquatic Repto-birds which are sub-grouped into the Icthsauraves and along with the Direaves has fully aerial species. Next are the Ornithglates a group of primarily omnivorous and herbivorous creatures. They come in a diverse range of forms from armoured tanks, fast runners, primate like tree dwellers to giant browsers capable of feeding off tree tops and woodland giants. These are regarded as the most diverse group of the three taking the most strange display structures, armours and some of the most bizarre forms. The last group is the avian like Direaves who with the exception of a couple of species use a skin membrane stretched onto an elongated single digit of the forelimb which then with the exception of a few species attaches to the ankles to fly. Despite the similarities to birds the Direaves are not their ancestors. Genetic and anatomical evidence points to the Fears being their kin.
At first glance all Repto-birds may appear like normal reptiles however there are several key differences primarily found in the skeletons particularly in the hips and ankles that set them apart. Within the group themselves Direaves sit just outside the other two groups by lacking the unique fully hollow interior center to the hip socket that the other two have. All Repto-birds have hollow bones with Direaves and some Fears boasting the most hollow bones while Ornithglates have some of the least and vary greatly with bone density. Direaves and Fears also all use a complex system of air sacks with their lungs to breathe like birds do while most Ornithglates use a more mammalian style system of breathing using mainly a diaphragm to breathe though some particularly large species will use both a diaphragm with some minor air sacs to breathe. All boast amazing senses of sight, sound, smell and hearing; these senses are far superior to those of mammals and some species can utilize senses few mammals can including electroception and thermal detection. Contrary to popular belief they are active both day and night most often peaking in activity around twilight hours. Like all other reptiles they continue to shed teeth throughout their lives with some species going through thousands within their life time and considering some of the largest can live for hundreds of years that’s a lot of teeth. The bodies of Repto-birds are coated in a diverse array and range of coverage to body coverings. All have at least some scales with at least the inside of hands and padding to the bottom of the feet always being scale coated. The rest of the body can vary from entirely scaly to coated in one or more of a vast array of plumages classed as Pycnofibres. These structures are modified scales and the ancestor to the feather. They come in simple spine to fur like structures to semi complex down ridged rods to nearly true feather like structures. These plumes primary function is to help retain body heat however many species have modified them for other purposes including camouflage like the shaggy moss looking plumes on the Morinosei, display structures like with many birds and even into dangerous weapons like the barbed quills of the Parrot-Cruncher. Though these creatures have stunning color vision able to see the same colors we can and into the UV and even infrared spectrums for some species many species take on more subdued or neutral based tones for their pelt colors and designs than one might expect. While some tropical species might boast vibrant colors and patterns it is not common to see these creatures boasting the vibrant and colourful styles of parrots or birds of paradise. Most opt instead for patches of stunning color on their bodies or will only boast stunning colors during breeding seasons. This is done as a means of camouflage allowing both predators and prey to hide from each other with ease. As with birds these fibres and their scales are shed whenever damaged or needed however peaks in shedding generally occur twice a year around the major seasonal changes. Another thing that is routinely shed is the coatings to structures such as claws, hooves, beaks and various horns, spines and armours. On most species these structures are coated in keratin, spines often vary with harder keratinous structures like the spines on Moss Runners and Venom-fangs to softer fleshier apparatuses like the spines on Ash Walkers and Tree-bills. Some unique species have even gone to coating their bony armour plates and spines with a chitinous substance like the material that makes up the shells of beetles. One such species the Kwaliit has even gone to coating their claws and beak in this substance.
Like all animals even the largest of these beasts start off as small young. To get these young adults need to choose a mate. To do this many species use display structures ranging from bony horns, frills, crests and spikes to fleshy wattles, crests, frills dewlaps and spines to pycnofibre structures like the feathers of birds. These structures often boast unique colors and patterns often more flashy and colourful than the rest of the bodies colors; even simple colourful patches to their normal appearance is enough for some species. Many species often engage in displays from simple fancy struts to complex dances with a partners. Loud songs are also common for many species and fights over mates is not uncommon either with those between the largest of species capable of shaking the ground for some distance around them. Many species particularly amongst the Ornithglates and Direaves often congregate in large groups at display grounds to find mates. These sights often draw swarms of tourists who must be very guarded so they don’t get tread upon or caught up in the hormone fuelled activities of these creatures. Once a mate has been acquired young are produced. Most species lay eggs. These eggs range from hard shelled like birds eggs to more fleshy shelled eggs like those of snakes. Fears tend to use hard shelled eggs while Direaves use soft shelled eggs. Ornithglates tend to use softer shelled eggs though Runners tend to use hard shelled eggs. While eggs are the most common some species give birth to live young similar to mammals, this strategy is the primary method of fully aquatic species allowing them to forgo having to return to land so they can become more specialised in their aquatic lifestyle. Unlike with birds many species especially migratory ones retain their eggs in their bodies for extended periods laying them only during their final week to few weeks before hatching. This offers the eggs better protection and a stable incubation climate and allows species to migrate to follow food and water sources instead of forcing them to be tied to a confined area while waiting for their eggs to hatch and depleting an area of its resources. Despite what many think Repto-birds are actually very good parents caring for their young often for long after they hatch. How this is done differs per species. Many species particularly among herbivore and omnivore species in temperate or seasonal environments retain their eggs in their bodies for a long time so they can remain on the move to follow food sources and not be tied down by a nest this is especially true of large species. These eggs are then laid in simple nests for the last few weeks of incubation. Large species cover these eggs in leaf matter and even dung to protect and incubate as their size prevents them from brooding their eggs like smaller species like Runners and Venom-fangs. Direaves tend to use buried nests burying their eggs in a mix of decaying leaves, their own droppings and mud. These nests are located often on elevated regions and even on cliffs away from the dangers of massive ground dwellers. Smaller species like Ancestor-wings and Min-mins even use hollows in trees and fungi where they also take to resting on the nests to protect and help keep them warm. Many of the larger species like Racers nest in groups to large colonies using their numbers to help protect their eggs and young. Most Repto-birds nest with even those who have live births nesting. The young are kept in the nests for a while and fed high protein meals. Insects and small animals are most common however some species make a sort of crop ‘milk’ to feed the young. Crop milk is a milk like product produced in the crop, a sac like structure in the throat normally used to store extra food when the stomachs full. This ‘milk’ is high in nutrients and regurgitated by the adults then given to the young usually by the parents letting the young lap it out of their mouths this is how some of the largest such as the Morinosei and Ash Walker feed their young. On their high nutrient diets the young grow fast especially the largest species. This is done so the young can leave the nest as soon as possible to avoid predators from finding them and so the young can soon follow the parents. In some like the Ash Walker this method is so efficient the young can reach the size of a cow within only a few weeks. In herbivores and Omnivores the young follow the parents while carnivores like the Venom-Fang tend to leave young in a central location while they hunt then bring food back for the young till they are large and sturdy enough to join in hunts at around 7 to 8 months of age for the Venom-Fang. These rendezvous sites as they are termed are changed every few days to keep the young safe. Direaves have a unique but at the same time very bird like strategy. Young are hatched and able to fly within hours of birth however they are not the strongest of fliers yet. This allows them to leave the nest as soon as possible to limit the chances of predators finding them. The young are then left in hidden locations which change every few days where the parents return to feed them throughout the day and protect them from predators till they are big enough and strong enough to find food on their own.
One aspect of the biology’s of Repto-birds had long stumped researchers though many believe they have now solved it. These animals are not cold blooded like commonly believed yet they are not truly warm blooded either sitting in a range between the two, luke warm so to say. They also boast the ability to drastically change body temperatures and metabolism in order to conserve resources and prevent harm from heat loss and periods of low food or water. The largest and bulkiest members of this group even boast a unique condition known as gigantothermy where they are so massive they do not easily loose body heat allowing them to operate like warm blooded animals yet having a metabolism and body temperature like cold blooded animals. While many consider Repto-birds dull witted and unintelligent this view couldn’t be further from the truth. While they might not share equally sized brains to mammals of comparable size their brains sometimes averaging a few ticks smaller in size they are far denser in neurons and more complex in structures boasting often double the amount of brain cells to comparable mammals and unlike mammals and like birds the nerves in the spine and a unique bundle of nerves in the hips controls their bodies freeing up a great deal of space in their brains for more complex functions like problem solving and higher thinking. This is also what leads to the disturbing phenomenon of encounters with these creatures where they got or nearly got beheaded by various means still moving about and acting as normal without their heads. In these cases the creatures will continue to wander until blood loss, starvation or dehydration kills them which for some species can take quite some time. These along with many other bizarre yet truly amazing features have led these animals to be some of the most adaptable of all time.
So adaptable are these Repto-birds that they were some of the few groups of animals said to inhabit the northern polar continent of Ice Reach. While few have visited and none have ever returned from the continent since the Time Break in mythic times reports from sailors claim they have seen from afar what resembles these beasts hanging by cliffs and shorelines and the occasional bodies washed ashore or even live specimens of little seen or recognised creatures to have swam, flown or rafted to our shores indicate these creatures likely still exist in some ways on the lost continent. Ancient documents describe the specimens from Ice Reach as beasts thickly plumed in a mix of dense fur like fibres that coat most of the bodies even the bottoms of feet and hands along with shards and plating made of a strange dark ice like substance which covers horns, claws, hooves, beaks, armour, spikes and spines. They were said to live off the tough frost resistant and dark to black foliaged plants and lichens their dark leaves an adaptation to absorb as much light as possible for photosynthesis in their harsh polar environment with some of which often developed into strange large plant fungi mixed looking structures, bacterial slimes that coated the rocky soils and glacial surfaces, kelp from the waters on and around the continent, marine foods and each other. Prior to the Time Break it was said these creatures looked like any other normal animal however since the event there are many reports of specimens looking un-dead with patches of flesh missing exposing tissues beneath or even down to the bone and body parts such as limbs and even the face being devoid entirely of soft tissues leaving bones encased in dark sometimes icy veined ice with eyes said to be made of some dark energy that burn a chilling icy blue. It has been noted from corpses washed ashore that nothing but organisms originating from the continent will eat or decompose the bodies leaving those discovered on other shores as strange frozen mummies the bodies resembling creatures preserved in permafrost with the ice turning into an opalised like substance. It is not just Repto-birds that suffer this strange condition the few other beasts all of avian, insect or mammalian origin of the continent are also known to show this strange affliction. Few wish to deal with these remain as it is said they harbour a curse a ripple from the Time Break that left the continent in the way it is today. Whether the curse is true or not has never been confirmed but strange un-natural and dark energies are known to emanate from remains of beasts to have come from the continent.
Ice Reach is one of the most extreme of places Repto-birds can be found but it isn’t the only one. Moving down from the poles in the northern seas the aptly named Spectral Sea there are marine species of reptile to be found but only a few are Repto-birds mainly strange large highly bird like creatures decked with flippers for limbs, short tails, are coated in either short but highly dense plumage or thick blubbery skin with patches of plumage running along the spine and have toothy beak like snouts. Like all marine reptiles they cannot venture onto land and give birth to live young in the sea. They can be found throughout all the world’s oceans with even many species able to breathe water and not just air. Most are smaller species around the size of a dolphin with the largest being the size of a small whale. Many of these marine Repto-birds boast bioluminescent patches for display and communication. While often mistaken for Repto-birds the long bodied snake like marine reptiles with the large pointed croc like heads are not a part of this group despite similarities; instead they are a group related to monitor lizards. The only other Repto-birds that can be found here are species within the Direaves and bird groups. The seas are not the only bastion of these aquatic Repto-birds, some have managed to colonise large river basins and inland seas including the Great Lake of Lost Souls which stretches into parts of the wastes.
While some species of Repto-bird were found in the wastes before they shared the landscape with a mixed assemblage of other groups including the insects and reptiles they still share the land with today and even mammals many of which were driven out by the volcanic activity. Prior to eruptions the massive Ash Walker was present living in small herds consisting of a male, a few of the slightly larger females and their handful of young. These like today live off the trees and massive fungi of the region. This kept them from competing with the large but smaller Timber mammoths who used to be found here. These tended to feed off low growing trees, shrubs and ground growing plants like grasses. These along with Ash Walkers helped create and maintain grassland and open woodland environments in the region often in low lying lands. While foraging these creatures use their massive sizes to push down trees and large fungi in order to reach food or simply to navigate through dense areas. The areas they clear not only maintain the open environments for species that prefer these regions but also aid the health of woodlands. By knocking down trees and fungi that cast shade upon the lower stories of a forest canopy they allow light to strike below the canopy and provide opportunity for other plant life to grow and flourish. The debris they knock down also serves great purpose as it provides shelter to small animals that burrow into them and provides food for decomposers both animal, plant and fungal alike. These animals themselves provide a great deal for their environments. Not only do their droppings provide fertilization for the soil and help spread the seeds and spores of flora and fungi but as they move they disturb insects and they themselves attract biting flies and mosquitoes. These attract small insect eaters like Ancestor-Wings and Min-mins who often follow the larger creatures snapping up insects around and on them even using the much greater sized creatures to rest on. Not only in life do they provide for their environments but they do so in death as well. While few predators are capable of taking down an adult even the most massive eventually is felled either through disease, starvation, dehydration, injury or old age. After their death they provide food for many meat eaters and even many plant eaters who will feed upon their remains to acquire essential nutrients their plant based diets cannot get them. Even when the scavengers have had their fill what remains still continues to aid the environment. As they are fed upon their blood is let to drop and spill onto the ground providing nutrients to the soil and with the extinction of the Fear there is no animal large enough to feed upon nor even move their bones leaving them to sit where the beasts fell. These bones get broken down by bacteria, a handful of insects and fungi that break down the compounds that make up the bones and deposit them into the soil where they serve to fertilize for plants and fungi which other beasts will feed upon. In some cases these giant bones even become festered with plants and fungi that grow out of the bones as they decompose with their roots and branches often winding over and throughout the bones where with structures such as the ribcage and skulls can end up creating makeshift caves and dens that smaller animals often take advantage of to shelter in. While Ash Walkers prefer more open environments the Morinosei plays a similar role to it in the woodlands. It’s more upright design and smaller size allows it to better move within woodlands and still reach high into the trees with little effort. Resembling a moss covered trunk these large Repto-birds were found in the region before and continue to thrive in it despite the hardships the regions transition to the wastes brought. They move in small groups through the woodlands creating pathways for other creatures to follow through dense wooded areas through their feeding and the knocking down of large flora. As they move it is not uncommon to see groups of smaller beasts following their paths to take advantage of materials usually out of their reach that the creatures knock down.
By far the most common Repto-birds in the wastes are the Runners. These small bipedal running members of the Ornithglates average no bigger than a cow with most members being no taller than your average person. Despite their short stature one should not overlook these creatures. They don’t often have very exaggerated or impressive structures decorating their bodies like other species of Repto-bird and they may seem fragile and timid but these creatures are far from delicate flowers. What they lack in impressive features they make up for in their speed, stamina, agility and intelligence. Some species have even been found to have developed magical powers usually focussed on a singular element and tailored to traits that aid them in their ability to survive. While their speed and agility is their main method of defence when being chased down by predators if brought to an unfrozen lake like one specimen we filmed these creatures have learned a surprising trick. While they can swim they cannot swim as fast as they can run which would let their predators catch up. Instead when they hit the shores they keep on running sheets of ice developing beneath their feet and spreading out before them. While their predators will slip trying to follow them Birch Runners rarely slip. The bottoms of their feet are coated in hard sharp ridged scales and pycnofiber spines point down from the sides of their toes allowing them to gain grip on the ice and let them move with ease across the slippery surface. Marsh Runners have developed the ability to breathe underwater and with webbed feet and broad tails have become very capable swimmers allowing them to evade predators by slipping beneath the waves. Ash Runners can withstand fire to a point and can easily escape through forest fires and hot ash to escape predators while Rock Runners can use their rock hard bones and rocky armoured skin to let them drop off cliffs in their alpine homes with little injury to escape predators sometimes curling up into a ball to let them rapidly tumble down hill sides. Even with their unique strategies and powers Runners seem timid but they are more cautious than truly fearful and as small animals in a dangerous world they have a right to be on the wary side. The decorative Ash Runner has always been found in the area where it lived in more open areas. While they may look fearsome their behaviour is no worse than others of its kind, its looks are all for show making them look intimidating to predators and attractive to mates. Moss, Marsh, and Rock Runners were also present sticking to the more wooded regions and foothills to the mountains. Cave Runners and Rock Runners were present being found in the mountains living in the wooded valleys and alpine steppes and slopes of the area alongside Birch Runners who originating in the Glacial Woods inhabited the forested valleys of the range. All three of these species were pushed from their alpine ranges after the eruptions as volcanic activity damaged some regions displacing some populations and pushing them into the lowlands of the wastes. While not well adapted to this environment preferring cooler climates they have managed to make it work becoming common place in the wastes. Cave and Rock Runners tend to stick to more open areas and forest edges while Birch Runners stick to the woodlands particularly in the northern areas of the wastes. All species of runner in the wastes form small herds ranging from as little as five individuals to as high as 40. Elsewhere such as in tropical grasslands they can have herds of hundreds of individuals but here more modest sized groups seem to do better. These herds often hang near larger creatures while foraging. These larger creatures offer them some benefits. They can be a deterrent or distraction for some predators, they can help them reach foods usually out of reach for them by the larger creatures knocking or dropping them down while they feed or move, the bigger creatures can pave pathways for them through dense woods or deep snow and some can even offer them easy transport. Small groups of Runners have been witnessed riding the large scarab beetles known as Boernix in the wastes along with a distant cousin of theirs the Kwalit. The strange armoured Kwalit wasn’t originally found in the region. Like the Mire-lion these members of the Ornithglates originally came from the Bogs of Pestilence a dark swampy lowlands region infested with acidic, diseased and toxic waters. While Mire-lions adapted to various environments in the wastes Kwalit stuck to the damp low lying woodland regions. These armoured reptiles move about either on their own or in very small groups. Despite their fearsome appearance with red chitinous armour and spines these creatures are actually rather docile and compared to many other armoured animals rather intelligent.
While omnivorous and herbivorous members are the most common of the Repto-birds in most environments they are not the only ones. There are carnivores as well. At one time the Fear was the apex predator of the region today however this isn’t the case. While hunting of the beasts may have contributed to their demise the final blow to these creatures was a series of highly volatile eruptions from the Red Tower. Over less than a decade after it began to erupt the Red Tower released a series of major eruptions that not only released a series of large lava flows but released tons of ash and gasses into the atmosphere. This led to a minor cooling period around this time and while this didn’t last long during this period the ash and gasses particularly sulphur released into the atmosphere and surrounding regions did have a longer lasting effect. The eruptions blasted large amounts of ash into the air which spread for hundreds of kilometres. Wherever this ash fell creatures that breathed it in developed lung damage from breathing in the ash and the sulphur released mixed with water raining out of the atmosphere and damaging plant life. People, animal and plant life went through a rough period. Populations dropped with the largest of beasts being most heavily hit. Regions farther from the volcano were not as severely hit largely just facing cooler temperatures though sulphuric tainted rain was also a problem. This drop in populations was a bad thing for such a massive predator. During this harsh time the Fears usual prey of large animals like Ash Walkers, Timber Mammoths and other large creatures in the areas were hit hard and took longer to recover their populations due to the slow reproduction rate all large creatures face forcing them to prey on smaller quicker to recover often more agile or better defended prey, even people, which also brought it into competition with smaller more opportunistic predators. Used to harsh conditions Mire-lions who were rare in the region before began to take over and the much smaller Venom-fang began to increase in populations. Both are social predators and combined with their smaller size which meant they needed fewer resources than the large Fear and could take down the smaller swifter and more armoured prey that was now abundant were better able to weather the period and accounts from the time noted these smaller predators along with other smaller pack hunters in both the wastes and other regions the Fear inhabited including hyenas, scimitar cats and wolves were often able to drive off and even kill Fears when they came to scavenge others kills the lack of suitable food forcing it to scavenge and steal from other predators. Not only did they have a problem in finding food but predation to their nests increased as smaller predators weren’t as hard hit as they were. Skeevers, foxes, bobcats, Venom-fangs, Fox-chickens (a chicken sized relative of the Venom-fang) and even creatures as big as Bears were a constant threat to their nests. Added up with the added hunting and habitat loss by people eventually all led to the creatures demise.
Today the most common predator in the region of the Ash Wastes is the Venom-fang. While not the apex hunter that title goes to the crocodilian Mire-lion who took over that role with the extinction of the Fear it is by far the more dangers. They are smaller less than half the size of a Mire-lion and don’t have the crocodiles strength but are far more agile than the bear sized terrestrial gators and as their name suggests utilize venom to aid in bringing down their prey. This venom is a neurotoxin attacking the nervous systems of its prey. Numbness and hallucinations are the first symptoms to appear and help hinder the preys ability to defend itself. Hunting is a very dangerous task and during the attack predators can get seriously to even fatally wounded. This is why the Venom-fang utilizes venoms for its attacks. Because they do not use power to subdue prey like big cats, bears or Mire-lions they rely on more stealthy attacks to limit the chances of injury. In an attack Venom-fangs will often gang up on their prey rushing in to cut off means of escape and jumping on it using their sharp talons to cling to its hide to deliver a venomous bite. Once the bite is delivered they retreat to avoid getting hurt. Once poisoned they follow the prey at a distance occasionally making minor attacks to test how weak the prey is till they can take it down when it is too weak to fight back. After the initial poisoning numbness and hallucinations occur hindering the preys ability to fight and sometimes navigate; over time on most animals it slowly weakens them till death either by the venom or the Venom-fangs themselves. This method of hunting allows these reptiles to be able to take down animals up to ten times their own size. With these traits the Venom-fang may seem like the ultimate predator able to fell whatever it wants with a single bite but looks can be deceiving. While most mammals have no resistance to its venoms most of the Venom-fangs chosen prey have resistances and can survive being poisoned. After the venoms average 12 hour run if not felled by the predators in that time their common prey of Runners, other small to medium Repto-birds like Kwalit and Parrot-crunchers, Kaguars and the large insects like Boernix and Kollops will recover from the venom and will be resistant to it for a few days making the hunt a failure and leading the predators to have to choose a new target. Large Repto-birds like Ash Walkers and Morinosei can be infected by the venom and will always recover from it. Venom-fangs rarely attack adolescents to adults of such large animals with the Kwalit being the largest prey they will usually go after. On occasion they will attack young of larger species but they prefer smaller less dangerous prey. Adult Ash Walkers and other very large creatures like Morinosei have been noted to getting infected by the Venom-fangs venom however the venom has very little effect to such large creatures and wears off rather quickly. Cases of such large animals being infected by the Venom-fangs venom are usually the result of defensive attacks where the much smaller predator bit the bigger animal after being startled or attacked by it. In such large creatures the venom only works for a few hours and isn’t lethal. When it comes to success while they do have a high success rate of nearly 80% they are not outside the range of success for any other predators.
While many focus on their predatory prowess and lethality most often brush over most of these creatures lives focussing on their dangers and not the creatures as a whole. While they are dangerous like all predators Venom-fangs and other predatory Repto-birds are not killing machine monsters always on the prowl to take down other creatures. Much in their lives does not revolve around hunting. Deep down Venom-fangs are very cautious and wary animals. When faced with something new or a threat they will back away to cautiously observe it before making an approach. When not hunting or feeding these predators spend a great deal of time resting or sleeping to conserve energy often utilizing shallow burrows they dig for themselves or steal from other animals for shelter. They often rest in groups for defence and to help keep warm during the cold months curling up with fellow clan members to rest. When not resting they also spend time grooming using their teeth and tongue or bathing in pools of water. They have also been known to irritate ant and hornet nests to get the insects to clamber on them to remove parasites. Like their distant relations birds they also enjoy sunbathing in fact many Repto-birds enjoy sunbathing. They use this activity not only to warm up when it is cool but many Repto-birds especially those with pycnofiber coatings have an oil that they coat these fibres with that when exposed to sunlight can create vital vitamins that are not easily acquired by their diets which they can then lick off their pelts. This oil comes from preening glands on their bodies which they rub over scales and feathers to help waterproof them and keep them healthy.
Of course when observing Repto-birds one may notice quite few similarities in behaviours, movements and looks to another group of animals and this is for good reason. Birds while often regarded as their own group are nothing more than a lineage of Repto-birds, they however have undergone major modifications from their more reptilian ancestors and kin for their more areal and fast paced lifestyles. Birds are just as adaptable as their Repto-bird ancestors and just as widespread. In ways when you watch a Repto-bird you are also bird watching.
Join us next time as we look into the most feared inhabitants of the wastes the artificially made life forms known as Scymer Constructs.
Episode 3: Life of Metal
Of all the life forms our team had to film by far the most dreaded, feared and difficult were the Scymer constructs. These artificial life forms are creations of the extinct Scymer folk. They range from simple observation and combat robotics with basic cognitive abilities to complex units with functioning’s and cognition almost indistinguishable to their flesh and blood equivalents and the highly complex hybrids of organic beings and robotics known as Fabricants. Unlike other entities in the wastes these beings are not often seen far from ruins of Scymer make. There are a few reasons for this. These locations hold the equipment they need to repair themselves and restore energy and are also what they consider their home. Studies of these entities in their native environments without human interference often proves difficult; constructs are often not trusting of humans and feral colonies in settlements are often hostile to explorers, scientists and others wishing to study and interact with them. Our crews were able to get some little before seen footage of these beings through modified Serpeton and Scarab units to remotely record some of these ruins. In our work we discovered some little before seen doings of these constructs.
The first location our crew went to was a test to determine how efficient our spies would be. The location is what is believed to have once been an outpost center with only three structures; two were in major disrepair though one was still being relatively maintained and looked to have seen almost no wear. Even the interior was clean looking as if there are still individuals living here. The reason for this we discovered was this place wasn’t as abandoned as it seemed. A Robo-bill and Serpeton still remained and were active in the ruins; both were likely used by the original inhabitants as aids for daily work but with their masters gone it is just the two of them. Why these two remain and are still active is unknown but they clearly consider this location their home and show no signs they intend to leave it. As noted with many of the primitive units these two stuck to regular schedules with little variance and at first seemed rather simple. The two would spend the night in ports designed for charging them and for them to rest in while staying out of the way in the dwelling. They stirred around eight in the morning after which the Robo-bill spent much of its active time attempting to clean up the dwelling and surrounding area and repairing damages to structures. The Serpeton meanwhile worked on scouting the perimeter of the ruins and surveying the structures. This was likely to determine what work needed to be done and to watch for possible dangers. It would frequently communicate with the Robo-bill. This could be inferred despite the units inability to speak through communications wirelessly detected between the two and a collection of noises emitted by the units. After one of their communications the Robo-bill salvaged some roof tiles from one of the decrepit buildings to repair damaged tiles on their dwelling. It would seem not all the damages to the neighbouring structures are the results of time and the elements. Many times through the day the Robo-bill would remove non to little damaged pieces from the other buildings and place them within the dwelling the two units were using setting them in neatly organised sections in a storage room within the building. Further investigations revealed some interesting items within the ruin. While most were clearly of Scymer make more recently made items including a few cell phones, a tablet and camera were also found placed neatly on a desk in the dwelling. These were likely taken from unfortunate explorers to the ruins or dropped by them when they came to discover the ruins were not as uninhabited as they likely thought. Why they were placed on the table is not entirely understood but given the likely mental capabilities of these two units the items were likely placed there with the intent that their master would look over the items and determine what is to be done with them. Whether these constructs understand their masters are gone or not is unknown. Given their behaviours and primitive programming it is possible they do not understand this and is likely why they continue to operate as they likely had been when their masters were alive. Some have speculated while they know their masters are gone they do not fully understand how gone they are and are awaiting their return. Whatever their thinking is it was clear while observing the two that these units were rather simple in thinking and largely stuck to their basic routines. There were some interesting exceptions however.
The one day a heavy rain had the two largely taking refuge within their simple dwelling. They headed out into the rain to survey the area and check on components outside the building before returning. Once back indoors the Robo-bill dried off itself and its limbless companion using a towel that looked to have been stolen from backpackers who likely stumbled near their dwelling. While Scimitar Steel is highly resistant to rust so a little water won’t hurt these units the behaviour the two displayed and the motions they used our teams noted looked oddly similar to a person who had come out of the rain drying themselves and a companion off. To the teams further surprise after drying off the Robo-bill hung the towel by a fireplace and rather surprisingly brought some wood out of the storage room and created a fire within the fireplace. Such a behaviour is unusual especially for such simple units. They do not necessarily need the warmth or light from the fire, there is plenty of still functioning light sources in the structure they can use and while they have an ability to feel and sense temperature to prevent damages from overheating or freezing temperatures if they need to warm up they could simply use their nest pods to shelter in using the heat produced by their inner functioning’s to maintain a stable temperature for themselves. For a time while the fire burned the Robo-bill rested lying like a cat on a chair near the fireplace the Serpeton curled up with it. An expert on these constructs we had on our team suggested these two were mimicking behaviours they might of exhibited in life towards their masters. It wasn’t uncommon for Scymer folk to view their constructs as members of the family comparable to pets. It is possible the master they had would sit in this chair with a fire during rain and have the two rest with them possibly to help keep warm or for comfort. After some time resting the two got up and began to investigate the items placed on the desk one of which our team discovered was one of their cell phones one of the units had secretly pick pocketed while we observed them. The way the two go over the items indicates they have some form of curiosity to them. At one point the Robo-bill even surprised itself by activating the camera on one of the phones and snapping a picture of itself with the flash on. The sudden flash caused it to jump back off the table dropping the phone in surprise. After the surprise it climbed back up on the table no worse for wear. By even the rain had let up. For around half an hour as the rain teetered out the Robo-bill had laid in the doorway to the dwelling with the door open watching the rain. Why it did this our experts were unsure but after a while once the rain had stopped it got up heading out to inspect their surroundings. As it surveyed the area it pushed aside a loose decorative metal plate which fell into some long grass and disturbed some golden colored torchbugs that lay in the grass. As they took to the air they lit up to communicate their agitation to others. The Robo-bill was quick to note this and became intrigued by the glowing rumped insects. Having noted they came from the foliage of the ground it proceeded to disturb more areas running and hopping around somewhat wildly sparking more Torchbugs into the air. It then sat down looking up to watch the torchbugs as they flew through the air around it some even tapping into it or landing on it for a short time. The construct seemed mesmerized by the insects as it sat and watched them. Why it did this it is hard to say. Very little is properly known of these entities and how they think and while how they physically see the world is well known their view how they interpret the world around them and everything in it is not well understood. While watching this construct and many of the others our team was left to wonder how much do they view of the world. Are they aware of themselves and the world around them? Do they understand what they are? Are they just machines unable to think or comprehend much of the world around them or can they perceive and understand the greater world around them more akin to animals made of wires and metal? Can they see and appreciate joys and wonders to the world around them or is the world that was programmed into them all they can know and understand? While watching these two and others like them our team often got a sense there was more to these artificial life forms than what appears on the surface.
When the observations of these two provided successful our teams went a step up to try observing a more risky location; a ruin of a small settlement known to be inhabited by more complex and dangerous constructs hyenoids. These highly humanoid droids built to resemble the hyena folk are crafty, calculating, highly intelligent and often unpredictable. This was going to be a dangerous task. The Robo-bill and Serpeton had shown no signs of registering the presence of our little spies and if they did they did not seem bothered by them. These were going to be different. Hyenoids are far more complex and aware units than the simple workers and scouts that Robo-bills and Serpetons are. This would be the test if our plan could work. We sought out the ruins of a settlement known to house a small group of supposedly rogue constructs, how rogue they are is hard to tell. While no evidence was noted these constructs might still have contact a few times with those under the rule of a demon that inhabits the wastes the Black Stag even if they themselves aren’t actively under its rule. While those living within the wastes are known to serve him even those in distant outposts are known to some extent to be under this monsters rule how far his influence on these beings is not understood. While those from ruins outside the region clearly are not under his control whether they interact with those under his rule is unknown. While they may be rogue observations and analysis from captured units reveal those in these settlements are not as isolated as often thought. Some units will wander from these home settlements to others where information and goods were traded for and some units were even noted to have loitered around populated areas at night to scavenge items or supplies left outside or as some have noted from videos on social media to investigate or sneak off with various trinkets and foods or even interfere or experiment with technologies from unguarded stores or houses. Outside these constructs rarely interact with people preferring to steer clear from us. This fact would make this test if it succeeded remarkable and open up possibilities in studying these beings in their natural habitat.
The settlement we looked into looked to have once been a mining outpost located at a base of a cliff in a large hill in a temperate woodlands some distance from the Ash Wastes. The main structure of the ruin is built into the cliff while a couple structures resembling houses, a shop or two and a watchtower sit outside. A small group of between 80 to 100 hyenoids are known to inhabit the ruins along with some Robo-bills, Serpetons, Scarabs, Spheres and Centurions. We remotely snuck our spies into the ruins in the early morning. About half the known constructs to inhabit the ruins were hanging around outside. None seemed to notice the spies. From first glance things seemed simple but interesting. One individual spent a great deal of the day wandering the town calmly brushing off pathways, steps, walkways even strangely walls, fences, any exterior furniture, dirt paths and rocky patches of ground with a broom of Scymer make. Another sat on a stool with a table in front of it that held various items outside what looked to have once been a shop. It looked to be mimicking a shop keeper peddling its items. A few were tending to fields outside the ruins that looked to be some form of imitating farming with crops and even some chickens and cows that are believed to have been taken from nearby farms. While most of the plants they are growing would be expected on most farms some are not entirely expected and the reasons for their presence on a farm scene might be seen as odd such as fruits known to be toxic to people though droids are immune to these and it could be reasoned they have developed a strange taste for these. While most of these constructs run off a form of battery that is often charged through ports and connectors to a ruins power supply which are often geothermally built hyenoids are known to be equipped with synthetic replicas of organs much like fabricants including a modified digestive system that can convert what we and other animals would consider food into energy to offer another and even alternative way to charge their power source. This is likely why they are farming and what they are using the crops and livestock for. It is not just a simple mimicry of human behaviours but a convergent one for their survival. These synthetic organs have also been found to have been added to some other constructs mainly Robo-bills however interestingly these and synthetics and mechanical prosthetics have been found in animals that are found in close proximity to these ruins. Why this is generally is not understood. Some suggest it could be the constructs experimenting on animals that wander close to their dwellings or them mimicking some sort of caring behaviour possibly mimicking empathy. A select few who study these beings have even offered up that this behaviour as well might not be entirely a mimic and proof that these machines are capable of expressing genuine empathy and are aiding injured animals they come across. Along with their little farm field these constructs had created an interesting structure that appears to have been scrapped together from various scraps from other Scymer structures to make a greenhouse to grow plants unable to tolerate the cold environment and even housing some racks that are growing various insects for food not just for them but for the chickens and even as we noticed as one put some dead ones into a bird feeder for wild animals. Those tending the farm were also tending this greenhouse. Apart from these and the two other individuals the only others outside were three Robo-bills who were working on repairs to one of the structures plus two hyenoids and two spheres that were acting as guards to protect the others.
Most of the constructs of this ruin were inside the main structure. Occasionally individuals working outside would go inside for a time before returning back out and individuals from inside would wander outside to help or interact with those outside. At one point an individual came out to the individual with a shop. It gave it some device and coins to the shop individual who gave it a bottle of what looked to be some sort of cooking oil. It is known that droids are attracted to oils and while motor oils are known to be a favourite other oils including cooking oils are also enjoyed so this behaviour is not unexpected. As they along with the other units of the ruins interacted it they would bestial like noises or the Scymer tongue often mixed in with the common tongue. While the individual returned indoors the shopkeeper began tinkering with the device given to it which our experts theorized was some form of surveying device or possibly a component for a larger device. Curious over what was going on within the ruins we switched into the interior for a time. It was difficult as we had to time it right but we managed to get a few of our spies into the ruins. Interestingly one of the hyenoids had found one of our spies one of the scarabs but oddly to our surprise it didn’t destroy it or hinder its communications despite the fact it surely would have picked up and recognised the signal it gave off but it didn’t seem to be bothered by it. Instead it dragged our spy into the ruin and placed it in a room where others were working. The room looked to be a strange farm like area growing some shrooms and flora from Blackreach in planters around the room and more containers with insects were also in the room. Strangely it appears not everything they are growing is for food. One individual in the room was working with some alchemical equipment on the table the one construct had put the scarab on. What this individual who looked to be an alchemist was making we couldn’t really tell. As it worked another hung by leaned with its back against the wall talking with the alchemist. While they talked in the common tongue they also used various sounds to communicate with while the one who had brought in the spy did some work on the planters in the room. From what our experts interpreted what they were talking of could amount to idle chit-chat about what seemed to be a shared fascination with fungi and was not very important. Not much occurred in this room. After a couple minutes work the units wandered off to do work elsewhere so we sent our spy to explore some of the place. For a so called ruin the place showed a surprising amount of upkeep. Things were clean, metals were polished, lights were working and cloth materials were still up kept and showed no signs of damage.
The place was rather large inside with an entry foyer that had a large hall that led back into the hill. At the end of this main hall was what could be suggested to have once been the throne room or mayoral council room. The constructs instead looked to have changed this place into a sort of gathering room for them all. From this hall the growing room came off on the left side followed by a hall that came off on the right side that led to home dwellings. A bit further down is a hall that lead off the left having what appeared to be a few shops along with a few rooms that looked to be makeshift medical mechanical repair rooms their sort of equivalent of a hospital for them and the creatures they care for before it went down to the entrance to some mining areas which did not appear to be currently highly used by the constructs. The hospital had one construct in it being repaired by those who looked to be tasked to work there. Two of the shops were still in use along with many of the dwellings as well which were showed some oddities. It was clear the constructs are using these as their homes like the people who built this place and interestingly these dwellings were not what we expected. Instead of being simple plain decorated structures that were all the same there was a surprising amount of differences to the rooms. All dwellings were not only clean but appeared surprisingly cozy looking often boasting furniture’s and decorations including rugs, paintings, tapestries and house wares of non Scymer make which likely have been scavenged from nearby settlements. While there were plenty of similarities within the rooms there were also unique and interesting items possibly revealing some uniqueness to each individual unit. One dwelling housed various shelves with high amounts of books many of which likely did not originate in the ruins and have been acquired through various means from outside the ruins and its area. Another had a collection of various shells, bones and decorative rocks some of which likely came from the mines connected to the ruin were scattered around the dwelling. One dwelling seemed rather out of place in this place technology. There were high amounts of greenery in the home which was lit by lights that gave off all spectrums of light allowing the plants to flourish without access to the sun. The unit who lives in this dwelling appears to have some attraction or interest in caring for plants. This dwelling also interestingly had various garden decorations likely stolen from peoples gardens scattered about the place. Another had a large collection of rubber ducks of various colors and designs decorating its place. Plants and in-animate objects were not the only things in these dwellings. In one dwelling three cats were found with various feline related furniture in the dwelling. These cats all interestingly boasted cybernetics to them and were rather healthy and relaxed with their surroundings and its occupants indicating they might be viewed by the dwellings occupant as pets. These weren’t the only animals to be seen possibly being kept as pets either. Some birds were seen in another while reptiles were being kept in another. While it has been noted that higher functioning constructs such as fabricants, some Robo-bills and most defiantly hyenoids will display human like behaviours keeping of animals for companionship and not simply as a resource like livestock or for study has not been well documented before; continued observations of interactions between the units inhabiting these dwellings, all of which were hyenoids, and these creatures confirmed the pet like relation between them all and a surprising caring and bond between the constructs and their animal companions. In fact observations revealed a greater empathy towards all beings than what has ever been noted in humans. No matter the form of life they not only tolerated even when it threatened them and they would help others without any reason to do so. During our observations it was noted that the ruins seemed to have a bit of an ant problem. A colony of the common little black ants had established itself by a ruined section by the mine entrance. Where people would most likely had tried to eliminate it the constructs surprisingly not only let it be but would give food refuse to the ant colony. While they were noted to harvest some to eat or feed this was not likely the original intent for aiding them as it was noted some units seemed to just like to sit and watch the ants and weren’t even bothered, some actually looking fascinated, to have them crawl on them. It was as if they admired the sight of the ants and possibly were intrigued as if getting a feeling of sonder that these insects were not just insects but living things just as aware as them with their own lives just as complex and full as their own. We also observed a unit going out of its way to climb up one of the towers to the ruin and rescue a bird whose wing had gotten pierced by a lightening rod attached to the building. It had no safety gear and put its life on the risk for the bird to save it and even aided in healing it after its rescue. The constructs even dismantled the rod and constructed a different more bird friendly alternative to prevent animals from getting hurt in the future the units taking time out of their own schedules to help make the alterations all of which they did without being instructed to by others. Such observations offered some interesting insights into the possible views of these beings. They might not be as heartless and mindless as often believed and are highly capable of their own thoughts and empathy towards other beings including those unlike them.
There defiantly seemed to be a caring towards each other some would even suggest much more than in people. When one of them got damaged from falling off a watchtower while making repairs instead of leaving it to continue work as one might expect or getting another to simply drag it away those working with it and even those not near or working with it dropped what they were doing to come over to help it gently picking it up to take it to receive care. They even made it take a break from its work even though it wanted to continue as if to let it rest from its ordeal. While there was a clear leader among the group who did keep order and delegate responsibilities it did not appear to act superior to the other members nor did it take more than any of the others. It was also actively working and helping out with the rest of them putting in just as much effort as they were. A lot could probably agree that is probably a lot better a leader than the vast majority of leaders in our world. We also got the privilege to witness them adding a new construct to their colony. This construct however was not what we expected. The one hyenoid the one day came back to the ruins after wandering off into the woods with a Skeever that had been badly wounded receiving serious damage including having its one leg severed. What exactly was done to injure the creature and how the construct had found it was not known but what they did with it was astonishing. They brought it into the ruins taking it to the maintenance room. There it along with several of the others worked on not only healing it but merging its body with their technologies and synthetics replacing various components of its body and intertwining the technology into its organic body. Knowledge of such a complex and advanced practise of merging flesh and machine is a very difficult to understand and successfully complete. Knowledge of it was lost alongside the Scymer folk however it appears somehow these constructs know this knowledge and how to effectively use it. They converted the Skeever into a fabricant merging its organic body with their cybernetics. It was left for several days to recover in the hospital section before moving in with one of the hyenoids who helped integrate it into the colony.
Throughout the ruin all were doing tasks even if it seemed like they were doing nothing. The spheres for example seemed to be doing nothing as they just hung by around the others but when a wolf started to approach the farming area one of the spheres rolled up to it and entered a defensive phase unfurling and blocking off and scaring the wolf off. It then collapsed back down and continued on its patrol. Even the ones selling wares who seemed to not be doing much were actually doing quite a bit. The one outside was often noted to tinker with various objects especially those given to it and give them back to those that had given it the item as if it was also operating as a repair droid as well as a shop owner. One of the shop runners inside was not only selling wares which were of general based goods but making some largely clothes, other cloth based items like blankets, rugs, pillows and tapestries along with repairing such items. The other was noted to make metal and ceramic items along with some of the other workers along with operating the shop from time to time. They would stop to help another if it was needed or if they got hurt. Not something many think of or consider when observing these beings.
While some of the work these constructs were doing one would expect as normal such as constructing supplies, guarding, working to create resources and the like some seemed odd and out of place adding some curiosities to these beings. They would make various items that it seemed they would have no need for as they already had plenty for themselves such as metal ware like utensils along with potteries and textiles. While we tried to figure what they were doing with the excess they weren’t using we were unable to figure it out. From communications overheard it appeared they were shipping them off to somewhere else and were getting a shipment from this place which by the name of Anthzel our experts deduced is likely another Scymer ruin inhabited by constructs though which one they could not be sure as many of the ruins original names have been lost. From communications overheard what they would do with this shipment sounded odd. It sounded as if they intended to trade with what they call flesh-skins, a title believed to be some form of slang they use to refer to people which is viewed as rather odd since they don’t refer to animals in this way. Animals are often considered equal to them and are spoken of formally and slang terms aren’t used. The reason for such distinction our experts believe may be due to the high discrimination and hatred directed to these rogue constructs by most people. This would also make their comments of selling to flesh-skins even more odd. Why they would wish to interact with people is unknown and how they are doing it is also hard to determine. Investigations into nearby towns found little evidence of dealings between the constructs and people even though some shops did have wares looking like what was observed being made but shops selling these stated they had gotten them from the usual distributers and as far as they knew had no dealings with any constructs.
Considering how they look it should be easy to tell if you are dealing with these beings or not however some caught individuals were found to be able to effectively mask their appearance to appear like a normal person. Were these ones capable of doing this we saw no evidence of it however lack of evidence is not necessarily a lack of existence. From what we could see these units didn’t look much different from most rogue constructs. As typically noted the hyenoids wore more commoner styled attire boasting symbols, designs and adornments in the Scymer design with even a few adorning their ears with adornments or facial hair implemented into the skin replica of their faces. Another interesting thing noted was while the original designs for Hyenoids were male some units either through alterations during production or redesign by others after initial production are female. While this is not uncommon it can be hard to tell with constructs especially in rogue populations what gender they have been designed as. At least twenty units in the settlement of around 90 individuals could be confidently confirmed as female with at least two interestingly looking and through inquiry later confirmed to have originally been from the nearby town where they had serviced as assistants to two workplaces which wanted to remain anonymous. How these units got involved and integrated into the settlement is unknown and the original owners of the units only knew they had mysteriously disappeared one night leaving them confused over their whereabouts. When shown where they had ended up the owners were surprised. As far as they knew the units had not had contact with the rogues before their disappearance so how they became associated was not understood. Interestingly one of these units showed possible signs it had a close relation with one of the male units in the ruin even co-habituating in the same dwelling as them. The owners were quite surprised to see not only where they had ended up but what these units were getting into and how easily they had become integrated into the sort of colony. The one was even touched to see the one he had owned had developed a love with another of her kind reminding him of him and his wife’s love and hoped it did well.
Along with their daily activities these constructs had nightly activities. As the sun started to go down despite the structures outside all units headed inside the main ruin the shop keep putting its items into a cart which it got aid from another to bring into the ruin. Instead the livestock were put into these structures likely to keep them safe and out of the elements. Once inside some hung out in the main hall or they went to the dwelling we believed they had claimed as their own. What they did one might find surprising. Some like the hyenoids made foods for themselves or others, some cleaned themselves up, those with animals cared for them, the plant filled dwelling was found to belong to a Robo-bill and hyenoid pair who took some care to their foliage, there were periods of interacting much like socializing between individuals and all were found to somehow have access to entertainment media not usually found in Scymer ruins. These included salvaged TVs and laptops and Scymer tech that were modified to function like modern TVs and computers allowing them to watch media or play games. Whether they actual enjoy media or are simply mimicking human behaviours with it is unknown. They seemed to enjoy it displaying emotions that resemble amusement, joy and pleasure while they engaged in these activities. After a while of what could be considered down time they would engage in a sort of sleeping habit with some mainly those lacking the synthetic digestive system to replenish energy hooking up to the power circuits of the ruin to charge themselves. Despite what is often thought these constructs even simpler models did not appear to be as mindless and simple as they appeared. Instead they showed quite a bit of humanity to them and were not necessarily the animated scrap many claim them to be.
While the look into this ruin was rather pleasant and warming during our work on this series we ran into a frightening encounter emphasizing the dark side of these beings and portraying why these things are often highly feared and disliked. While filming in the wastes our team one day was observing a Kwaliit that by markings starting on the limbs and its behaviour could clearly be seen to be inflicted with the Blight. To keep safe our team had placed themselves some distance from the creature and were under camoflouge. It was the fall in a forest in the ash wastes. It was a cloudy cool day but calm. While observing this beast our team was surprised to find we weren’t the only ones watching this creature. While we watched a highly unsettling darkness feeling came over the area putting the team on edge. At first we couldn’t see anything but then we say a small group of constructs approaching out of the woods nearby. They positioned themselves between where our team was situated and the creature. By their looks there was no mistaking this group. There were five hyenoids and a Scymer Hoofivore in the group. Three of the hyenoids were dressed in dark attire one looking to be some form of sorcerer dressed in dark robes and hood which shadowed the face while two looked to be a form of ranger with dark leather adorned attire and wielding bows. While their attire was not really revealing to where these constructs came from it was the two others who bore the unmistakable marker of where they came from. These two were Scimitar Samurai, soldiers of the Black Stag. To our luck none of the constructs seemed to take note of us being focussed on the Kwaliit who was unaware of their presence. The constructs communicated quietly to each other watching the Kwaliit before one of the rangers pulled out a bow it had equipped and aimed it at the creature. With the calculated precision of a droid it struck the Kwaliit directly in the back of the head under the shell with a large arrow. The beast fell instantly and cautiously the constructs wandered close to the creature and inspected it. Why they felled it we couldn’t tell. While they could eat it they most certainly wouldn’t due to it being infected with the Blight. Constructs are not immune to this curse and are equally vulnerable to it as those of flesh and blood so eating anything from this infected creature would curse them. They investigated the creature a bit not touching it before the one dressed as a sorcerer began performing some sort of spell glowing greenish light appearing in each of its hands. This glowing light formed a symbol beneath the Kwaliits body before engulfing it in a greenish flame for a couple seconds. After the fire died down the Kwaliit’s remains were gone and the construct finished its spell the greenish glows disappearing. Our teams were startled. Constructs are not well known to wield magic. While some can be trained to perform simple spells from what was seen experts determined this construct had used a spell that sent the remains to the void. This kind of magic is highly complex and requires great knowledge and power in spell craft something constructs are not well suited too. Such power and skill is tied to those under the Stags rule further confirming these constructs origins. Why they did this to the creature is very confusing. Since they can be inflicted by this curse preventing the spread of Blight was likely why they killed the beast but the sending of its remains to become one with the Void is not well understood. Cremation of remains in a confined setting and placing them either in containers or in the wilderness is regarded as the best method to deal with those who have the Blight. This method however is not perfect as ash from this procedure can still retain the curses signature and infect others. Do these constructs know something others don’t to more safely remove traces of this curse or was this some form of sacrifice for their dark master? Some have postulated a link between the Blight and the Stag though the nature of this link is not well defined or understood. Once done dealing with the Kwaliit the constructs began looking around and it didn’t take them long to notice our crews; noting them prepping to attack our crew wasted no time in grabbing everything and rushing away. Attacks by those under the Stags rule are notorious for their brutality and ferocity which our teams didn’t wish to see or get involved with. Luckily they didn’t follow our team.
Our looks into their world only caught a glimpse of what the world of these constructs is like and brought some interesting revelations about these highly misunderstood and un-appreciated beings. They might not have been natural in creation nor are made of flesh and blood like the rest of us but they are not entirely the beings we’ve long thought them to be. They are not the mindless, heartless machines we often view them as but show some surprising traits many don’t often associate with artificial life and what was long thought to be impossible for those of artificial origin including empathy and humanity. While much of their world still needs more study our glimpse into their world shows there is much to these beings not only to learn about but to learn from. Despite their sometimes great similarities to humans at their core they are not us so offer much different yet similar views to our world as us. Studies into their world of metal and logic yet surprising caring could benefit our world and show us that humans really aren’t the only intelligent feeling life on this planet.
In our next episode we shall delve into the hidden underground world of the realm below Blackreach a world dominated by bioluminescent fungi and minerals that bring light and life to this dark and mysterious world.
Episode 4: World in Darkness
What is it about the dark that scares the living? Is it the uncertainty, the not knowing what hides within it lurking to possibly attack those of the light? It is these places of our world bathed in darkness that have been little studied and understood. Of all the easiest to access and most hospitable to life is that of a massive underground network of caverns, caves and tunnels known as Blackreach. Despite its accessibility and hospitable climes it is just as little studied and unknown as many other realms of darkness. How this underground system and network came to be is poorly understood. In many places the rock that makes up the walls and ceilings of these caverns is made of hard materials like granite not something easily carved out. Even stranger how such complex and diverse life that can be found in it ended up within these caverns is poorly understood.
As a whole Blackreach comprises a collection of caverns some merely no bigger than caves others tall enough you could wedge a large redwood tree into it. Tunnels some only large enough for insects while others large enough for a bus or things even bigger to pass through wined between these caverns connecting them. Sometimes events such as cave ins or lava breaking into the tunnel can block off passages or open new passages occasionally separating or re-linking caverns. Some sections sit within only a few tens of meters beneath the surface others sit near a kilometre deep. These underground structures sit beneath the north central reaches of the continent with a few sections reaching down towards the center in some areas. These caverns are far from featureless being adorned with cliffs, stalactites and stalagmites that can reach massive proportions and rocky pillars connect the floors of caverns with the ceilings and can be a city block or two in diameter. Rocky structures decorate the caverns creating flowerpots, arches, bridges, overhangs and plateaus. Strange mineral deposits, crystals and large geode like structures are scattered in some areas while rifts split the grounds in others creating canyon like regions while in some caverns have come to be dominated by geothermal and volcanic activity creating intriguing biomes fuelled by lava and geothermal pools. Underground lakes, rivers and bogs sit in damp areas and passages to the surface world can be found in some regions providing a source for new fuel and bloodlines for this underground kingdom to enter this alien world. These caverns can be so big with such complexity from geology and biology that clouds which can rain within the caverns along with fogs and mists can form and many boast breezes which can be aided and are formed by the various temperature differences that different parts of the caverns can have caused by geothermal and biological processes.
For those first hearing of it they would be forgiven for assuming Blackreach to be a world of darkness filled with muck and creepy crawlies but this description barely covers the realities of this strange world. Despite being cut off from the surface world and the light of the sun this world is not as dark as one would assume. There is much light to be found here. Many flora particularly of shrooms and strange plant fungal hybrids give off strange and strong bioluminescent lights and many stone and mineral deposits which often form unique crystalline structures emit arcane powered light creating a strange but intriguing world of light and dark deep beneath the ground we walk upon. The light emitted by these structures and in some areas of the caverns below rivers and lakes of lava provide light to this dark world and help fuel the growth of dark adapted flora and creatures some of which would surprise you to find down here. Lichens a strange group of organisms made of the fusion between algae and fungi are the most common organisms here coating all forms of surfaces. The rocky wall and roofs of the cavern, the soils of the floor, other flora within the cavern, rocks and ruins of a culture long gone all have been noted to being home to lichens at some point if not all the time. Most of these lichens give off a bioluminescent glow a by-product of their conversion of feeding upon the surfaces they grow on to make energy and oxygen. The light emitted by these lichen is unique with attributes mimicking sunlight like all spectrum lighting it provides the necessary light for other flora to thrive in this sunless world and it isn’t alone in this ability. Many of the glowing fungi along with the glowing crystals and minerals found down here provide this same style light fuelling the important flora that forms the bases of the ecosystems down here. Where as in the surface world the sun is the major fuel source for ecosystems down here it is the rocks themselves along with various chemicals left behind or created through volcanic activity and the decaying remains of those that live within the cavern that form the bases to life down here all entirely independent of the surface world. The flora and fungi that feed upon these matters then provide the light that fuels the flora that feeds the animal life.
While insects are to be expected in such an environment they are not the only ones living and thriving down here in the dark. There are many creatures here you would never expect. Insects and Isopods are the most common creatures found here where they feed mainly on the flora, fungi and detritus of this world. These insects’ range from normal sized to some truly large specimens as large as cattle or even bigger. These share their roles with various reptiles including lizards, turtles, snakes and crocodilians including a strange orange tinged crocodile that feeds mainly off algae’s and lichens that grow in and around waterways in the deep. Amphibians including frogs, salamanders, strange legless worm like creatures and even stranger morphs found nowhere else are found here. Various forms of Repto-bird including species of Runners, a few small species of fears, some forms of Direaves including a subterranean species of the Min-min are found here alongside birds and mammals many of which you’d think would never be found in such environments. While one might expect to find bats or wouldn’t be surprised to find hyenas or sabre cats as they often like to shelter in caves many others like deer, sloths, horses, songbirds and even parrots you would not expect to find down here but you will. All have been separated for millennia from their kin above ground and adapted to the world beneath often in strange ways. As one can imagine the dimmer light down here than in the surface world has led many animals to develop powerful senses of sight and are able to pick up greater extents of visible light than surface dwellers as compensation. Like cats all can adjust the size of their pupils to determine how much light they intake so they can adjust their sights for the varying degrees of light within the caverns. While one might think living in this darker world would render these creatures unable to see in the light of the surface this is not true. Studies have found while the midday sun is often too bright for these inhabitants they can see perfectly fine in morning and evening hour lights and thrive during nocturnal hours both of which fall within the range of light frequently observed in their native realm. Their vision is also not the only things that has changed. Many have strong senses of touch with some non mammal species developing whisker like feelers some of which are reminiscent of those possessed by catfish or insects on their face while mammals have often developed larger more prominent whiskers than their surface dwelling counterparts. Senses of hearing and smell have also increased in many with more than just bats having developed echolocation abilities to aid in sensing the world around them. There are even some who suggest they might even have developed strange new unrecognised senses to help them in this world these senses stemming from biological such as the ability to sense heat or electric energy of the nervous system to arcane in origins such as the ability to detect the life energies of the living.
Without the sun to maintain body temperatures most animal life down here have developed slight endothermic abilities to compensate. While the caverns themselves are not as cold as you would expect in most regions temperatures hover between 10 to 15 degrees Celsius. Warmth comes largely from geothermal and biological activity and the temperatures within the caverns can vary with some regions being hotter or cooler than the norm. High degrees of variability especially in an environment devoid of the stability of a day night cycle of a warming sun and the strong changes that can come from only a few meters within an animal’s daily journey can prove very dangerous for animals unable to regulate their body temperature not to mention reliable sources to acquire and maintain an external based heat source are not easy to come by and highly fought over. To compensate and remove dangerous and potentially fatal competition for these sources many have developed biology’s able to combat this effect and handle greater deals of changes to temperatures. Endothermy is one trick to combat this along with anatomies able to handle greater ranges of temperature and many species utilise counter-current heat exchange systems that warm blood returning to the body core while cooling blood headed to the extremities. Not all species however have utilized a warmer lifestyle. Insects, most fish and amphibians still retain an exothermic existence but all species that do so are small often handheld or smaller. This is likely as their body volume to surface area are small making heat loss and gain from external sources easier and the energy requirements to produce heat would be too high for their anatomies to efficiently work with. Many however still function perfectly well and like normal with their low temperatures and when they do need heating their small sizes mean heat sources are more easily shared than for larger beasts. Most of these creatures contain chemicals in the body that prevent their bodies from freezing or receiving damage by the cold. In fact all Vale beasts seem to posses these chemicals. While the rest of the life down here can produce their own heat it is not what you would expect. They do not run as hot blooded as surface dwellers however and we would find their temperatures quite chilly. Warm blooded animals of the surface mainly mammals and birds in general operate around 30 degrees Celsius those in these caverns average in the mid to low teens with few reaching 20 degrees. These temperatures would be dangerous to many animals of the surface primarily mammals and many birds to operate at but these low temperatures are beneficial to those down here. Like Repto-birds who share a similar body temperature these low but still warm temperatures allow the creatures here to maintain active lifestyles while also requiring far less resources than what a truly warm blooded temperature would require allowing them to live off far less than many of their surface dwelling counter parts. Getting these resources is not as hard as one might suspect down here. The fauna are highly resistant able to feed off pretty much anything edible in their underground home. The flora and fungi of the cavern feeds the herbivores who then feed the carnivores. Creatures down here though are not so easily grouped as carnivore or herbivore. While it may seem obvious who eats what at first it is not as herbivores will dine on insects and scavenge or even hunt meats while carnivores will eat fungi, fruits and algae’s when they come upon them making most inhabitants in fact omnivores, one species in particular may look like a carnivore but around 50 percent of its diet comes from algae and fungi. The rest comes from the fauna of the caves. This is a dwarf crocodile with an orange-ish hue to its dark coloring; everything but its diet matches with the typical crocodilian lifestyle. Why it lives such a strange lifestyle is not fully understood. Genetic evidence points this species is a more recent addition to the caves than many other species and is currently adapting to its new home. It is slowly acquiring the ability to maintain its own body temperature, it already has the blue eyes of those seen down here and its colors are darkening with pale bioluminescent markings starting to appear on its hide. Its current orange tint is believed to be tied to its new diet though why it has changed up its diet from its surface dwelling ancestors is unknown but is likely tied to its adapting to its new home.
While food is not hard to come by down here with plenty of sources for it life down here operates slower than on the surface world. While no slower in movements and functioning than their surface relatives creatures down here take a more chilled approach to life taking their time while feeding and enjoying longer periods of time to just rest and relax. With their more chill lifestyle species down here have much longer life spans than those above ground along with slower reproduction rates and longer childhoods. These slowed down lifestyles combined with their greater life spans and the complexity and unique hazards of their underground realm has led to the species down here developing higher intelligence than their surface counter parts. At first glance it doesn’t seem it as outside the regions of the brain related to senses not many other parts of their brains appear larger than those of their cousins however analyses has found the neurology is more complex with more neurons per square inch being present in their brains giving them greater mental processing’s and functioning’s than their surface cousins. At first many might think this odd assuming those living in underground caves to be mentally simple and low functioning like the Axolotl but these are no mere caverns beasts of the vale inhabit like those of these slow functioning cave dwellers. These are complex, biologically full environments where the environment can change at random so animal life must remain adaptable and as high functioning as those above ground who live in equally complex and changing environments. Along with sections dedicated to senses sections of the brain dedicated to thought processing, memory, problem solving and balance and navigation are also enlarged and more developed. These all play key roles in the survival of those that dwell here helping them navigate the complex caverns, remember the locations of resources and cavern layouts, get them out of tight locations or places they are trapped or have fallen into, solve how to reach resources that are out of reach among many other skills that are required of them in this biome that surface dwellers often don’t have to deal with. Not only are these parts of the brains more developed but so oddly are those related to social intelligence even oddly for solitary species. Why this is may have something to do with something else known to exist down here but we will look more into that later.
Not only are their mental and sensory functioning’s different from their surface dwelling counterparts but so are other aspects of their anatomies. While many look physically like their surface dwelling relatives all are dark colored with markings in various patterns of lighter creamish colored stripes and spots decorating their bodies. The coating, whether of fur feather or scale, that covers these markings while seaming to have color are actually lack most pigment making them see through so the markings beneath in the skin can be seen. These markings are actually bioluminescent spots within the skin. These are used for display and communication among individuals and species with the color they glow depending on species and sometimes diets with the eating of some fungi or algae able to change the color of these markings glow. The bioluminescent glow from these creatures and the flora of their world also has changed some internal appearances as well. The tissues of the digestive tracts of all the vale creatures are pure jet black, a product of an overproduction of the pigment melanin in these tissues. These darkened organs may seem strange but they have an important purpose. Many of what those down here eat possess bioluminescent chemicals which can glow through the skin; even when consumed these chemicals will still glow for some time in the digestive tract and could be seen through the skin. A glowing belly would make an individual stand out to predators proving very dangerous. To prevent any chances of this Vale creatures have developed a way to block the glow. These darkened tissues block the light from the glowing chemicals preventing them from being seen outside the body helping to keep them safe and hidden. Another oddity to these creatures involves their limbs. It may seem strange as their surface dwelling relatives might not be able to but to help navigate in these caves with their many rocky structures, pits, rifts and the likes most species have developed more flexible and strong joints that are capable of allowing their owner to climb quite efficiently. This allows hoofed animals even creatures like horses to be capable of scaling rocky surfaces like mountain goats and all carnivores are capable of some extent of climbing like a cat even those that might not seem it. An account of their climbing prowess comes from a town near one of the surface passages to these caves. A families get together in their local park was disturbed when a Vale Hyena that had wandered to the surface had scaled into the trees to sleep out the day fell out of the tree onto the picnic tables before rushing off likely back to the caves it came from. Another accounts for a pair of Vale deer who scaled the walls of a dam to lick salt off it after scaling up the two story roof of a local farmhouse. These climbing abilities allow species to reach food sources in areas not easily reached like on ledges, flowerpots and cavern walls and help the creatures get out of pits, shafts, crevices and other steep walled traps found within the caverns preventing slow agonizing deaths from not being able to climb out to escape.
While Vale Beasts are the most commonly encountered creatures down here they are not the only ones. Not everything in these caverns is natural in origin. The ancient Scymer folk frequently had settlements down here. Why they chose to make towns and cities down here is poorly understood but many are believed to have been used to mine rare ores and minerals or for study but there is also likely other reasons we today and of no Scymer culture might not understand for them to build down here. Like on the surface world the ruins of their empire that dot down here sit in varying states of degradation though are still in quite good condition despite hundreds to thousands of years of abandonment. These ancient structures ranging from houses, work buildings, towers, forts and palaces to balconies, gazeboes, roads, fences, light fixtures and terraces dot parts of these caverns. Some of these structures such as towers and great elevators span from the cavern floor to the ceiling where they reach to ruins above or directly to the surface. While creatures do not understand how to use these elevators other Scymer ruins which empty into the caverns have halls that lead to the surface allowing access for creatures and unsuspecting adventurers. Some of the ruins here are abandoned by past inhabitants; their owners gone and the constructs that once roamed their halls in their masters absence either destroyed or moved out. Others are still occupied patrolled by constructs who don’t take kindly to intruders even harmless adventurers and scholars. Constructs rarely wander far from their original dwellings where they continue to work and patrol as they did while their masters were around. From simple scout bots like Scymer Scarabs, workers like Robo-bills to more militant constructs like spheres with even hyenoids having been witnessed down here amongst these ruins where they go about their days as they see fit and fiercely guard their homes. When observing some Scymer ruins down here particularly more decrepit ruins something strange can be observed. Constructs here show what looks like an infliction. Parts of their bodies have developed a strange bark like coating growing over parts of their exterior skin with some of it along with fungal like growths some of which are glowing growing out of seams and tears in its body. Some of these constructs show serious damage with wires sticking out of seams and breaks in the skin and even missing limbs, eyes and other parts. Warm greenish glows can be seen emitted from some parts of constructs including eyes, the heart or power source and if they have one the interior of the mouth. These glows along with missing body parts have been replaced on these constructs with bark coated plant looking growths reminiscent of another form of beings down here whose natures and even very being are poorly understood. Gloambeasts.
What these are and how they come to be is in simplest terms to most folk disturbing. Tests both in the realms of science and magic have confirmed these beings are both living yet simultaneously dead. They are un-dead but not like a skeleton or zombie. At their core they are the remains of once leaving creatures of the surface world mainly of mammal, bird, reptile and Repto-bird though fish, amphibian and insect versions have been witnessed and even more unsettling on rare occasions human even humans not of our realm. The rotting remains of their bodies have come to be encased in a fungal floral hybrid growth that replaces flesh and even organs and sensory organs like eyes and ears. Often it is just the bones which get coated and held together by bark like substances and scraps of body coverings like hair, feathers and fur that remain of the beast they claim. It is not uncommon for parts of the body to become coated in moss such as along the back and fungal and vine like growths that emit warm greenish glows grow out of parts of the body. These reanimated husks roam about the caverns below moving more like living beings than other un-dead like zombies. They seem to wander with no purpose just aimlessly wandering the caverns of Blackreach where they attack things from the surface realm that wanders to the reaches below no matter if human or animal or if by accident or on purpose. Not only is it those of flesh and blood that become Gloambeasts but Scymer constructs the growths of the floral puppeteer of the others growing over and replacing most parts of their metal bodies both inside and out. Why these entities exist or their purpose is not understood. Tales tell of the Great Spirit Storabek bringing them into existence to show the Scymer who doubted his powers over life and death just how powerful he is or that he created them as a failed attempt to raise an army against the Dragon Master but these are just ancient folk tales to which the truths of them cannot be ascertained. How they come to be is not fully understood either. One encounter of an unfortunate explorer described witnessing his friends and a Kaguar having their hearts ripped out then replaced with a strange seed like structure which proceeded to turn those implanted with them into Gloambeasts. Another account by some scholars who came to study the area reported while some deceased skeevers saw strange spores that bore the same color glow as Gloambeasts land on some of the remains. Those the spores landed on over several days were morphed into Gloambeasts and were oddly ignored by all seeking to scavenge the remains. Where these spores came from they were unable to ascertain. But likely came from other Gloambeasts or some unidentified shrooms. Which theory of their birth is possible as both these spores and supposed seed which sits in place of the heart in Gloambeasts have been found in Gloambeasts that have been studied. These both however have been found in the stomachs of Vale beasts including individuals in caverns where Gloambeasts are not present suggesting while they play a role in the being and birth of Gloambeasts they likely are originating from something else in these caverns. These structures are believed to originate from some form of alpha species of shrooms or some form of shroom plant hybrid that inhabits the realm below and dominates it. Though what has not been identified but is believed to sit somewhere within the heart of these caverns though because of how poorly these reaches have been studied where that is and what lies there is unknown. Whatever this is scholars believe is the puppeteer to Gloambeasts communicating either through some form of telepathy or through chemicals like pheromones to these beings. It is also believed to hold some sway over Vale beasts possibly offering them senses and functioning’s beyond what we can understand.
Why such a strange fungal dominated hive mind is suggested to reign down here despite it never having been witnessed you may ask? Well there are several lines of evidence. First off it is well known that fungi even in the surface world create a massive connected network through their root like tendrils known as mycelium. These transfer resources and communications between not only themselves but their plant hosts and other fungi connecting all flora in the area. These mycelium are found all through the cavern as well contributing the same function down here as above ground. These mycelium are also known to exist in Gloambeasts where they replace the nervous system or its equivalent in the host. They are not present in Vale beasts however. Fungi are also known to be able to puppeteer living creatures above ground largely insects though some small reptiles and amphibians can fall prey as well. These puppeteers however operate the host to help spread their spores not fully operate a mimic to a living being like the Gloambeasts but it is easy to see how such a thing could start from these fungi. Along with this studies from captured Vale beasts has observed unusual signals sometimes being present in their brains originating from an unknown source. These signals have been likened to the signals used by technologies such as between cell phones and even robotics relaying information between parties. These signals however are not always present in Vale beasts appearing sporadically they are however always present and operating in Gloambeasts who show identical signals in their mycelium based neurology. Strangely these signals will disappear in Gloambeasts once they are in the surface world and the creatures will cease operating till returned to the caverns below. Why this happens is unknown. The signals match with the bioelectrics, the natural energy that communicates between the cells within the mushroom, of fungi within the cavern and even outside it. Not one species but multiple have been found communicating through this signal including several unidentified originators. Another point of evidence is that plants and fungi contrary to popular belief have ways of communicating. They do not use sounds like animals instead using chemicals through scents. We have all experienced floral communications even if we do not understand it. The smell of cut grass or when fruits, vegetables or trees are cut or damaged is a plants equivalent to screaming in pain. All flora use this form of communication even down here and while somehow the structures mimicking eyes and ears can sense like their original design it is the sense of smell in Gloambeasts that is most developed and efficient particularly the parts designed to pick up and recognise chemical signatures. Gloambeasts clearly show signs they understand chemical signatures as tests using synthetic replicas have garnered surprising reactions from Gloambeasts. Chemicals mimicking damage to plant life had Gloambeasts investigating the source and acting defensively to the scent while scents mimicking the base chemicals given off by the flora were able to pacify the entities when placed in rooms that blocked any external scents. Through symbiosis Vale beasts are able to recognise and understand these chemicals. Both in the lands below and above ground most animals can pick up and understand these chemicals as they can relay significant information such as the health of a plant revealing the potential nutritional value to it, to attract pollinators and let them know nectar is available and even how safe a plant is to eat as some plants when being eaten will release chemical into their parts that make them poisonous and even warn other plants nearby of the threat so they can take defensive as well such is the case with giraffes and acacia trees. Further evidence of a potential hive mind comes from among Vale Beasts regions of the brain dedicated to social communications and interactions even among solitary living species is more developed than their surface dwelling counterparts. Studies into why this is have been difficult to do but some experiments done showed something interesting. A group studying these creatures created an enclosed environment mimicking their natural habitat then placed various species including predators and prey together in this lab. The room was fitted with various sensors and devices to monitor the inhabitants inside including to register and map brain activity. For a while the creatures acted no different than usual. When harm was done by an unnatural force to one of the flora from the caverns or another creature the social regions of the brain became active stimulated by sudden external energies being emitted by the flora and nearby species came to investigate the source. Dangerous devices were often removed and destroyed by the investigator with interestingly if the investigator was unable for physical or mental reasons it would venture off to return with a member of a species capable of performing this task. Interactions between species at this time were described as appearing unnatural and human like with actions like pointing, tapping of a limb on objects and head motions almost appearing to emphasize some form of communication between the species. This was further backed up by signals in the social regions of the brain resembling those given by humans when talking with one another. The scholars studying these events believed the creatures were somehow talking possibly through some way we are unable to understand or communicate through however others are sceptical over what was found and what it could mean. Whatever was uncovered surely just adds more unknowns to this place and while bioelectrics and chemicals explain some of the communications of this supposed hive mind it does not explain it all and leaves much to be explored.
Why such a hive mind exists, what is the one pulling the strings or is it somehow all flora down here connected through this hive mind; why this hive mind exists, what are its intentions, why does it create Gloambeasts and how did it learn to do that, why are Vale beasts affected by this hive mind could it be some form of symbiosis with the life that gives them life a sort of you scratch my back I’ll scratch yours scenario maybe? These are just more of the many mysteries this dark realm holds. There are plenty who wish to look into and study these reaches however to study here is one of the hardest places to study in our world. Excursions have tried in the past with little success leaving structures and artefacts from their attempts scattered through sections of the caverns. Many things down here are not edible to humans and food must be securely stored to prevent not only animals from getting it but molds, lichens and fungi from gaining hold and rotting it. Many of their spores can make people sick particularly molds. Attacks from wildlife, constructs and Gloambeasts are an ever present danger along with landslides, cave ins, rock falls and other falling debris. Temperatures and humidity are not consistent and the darkness and geology makes navigation difficult. Getting supplies down into these places is also a major challenge. It generally has to be carried in by hand or through small machinery forcing structure and large devices must be built on sight. Finding those willing to venture down there and work as well is a major problem. Superstitions and fears to the place are high especially to areas around the locations the caverns are believed to exist and passages from it to the surface are present. Despite the wealth in both knowledge and resources this location offers finding those willing to venture here is tough and excursions are not cheap despite the profits that could be gained. It is also believed that dwelling below in such sunless depths for lengths of time causes great mental stress which will also lead into physical stress and harm. The lack of sun with its routine cycles, the darker conditions, unfamiliar sights and sounds, environmental conditions and isolation wrecks havoc on those that spend too much time down here. Some go crazy even insane, disruptions to the bodies natural circadian rhythm are not uncommon leading to changes in diet and sleep that weaken and make ill individuals, improper sleep is common and in some this develops into insomnia over time, some have even been known to suddenly realise they have claustrophobia brought on by the lack of sky and stone surrounding everywhere they look. Other problems that can plague excursions include allergies from various flora and animals that can present themselves making times there tough for some, strange illnesses or parasites can arise, technologies for both communication and navigation rarely work properly often disrupted by the geology of the underground realm this then leads to those down here becoming cut off from the rest of the world and individuals can disappear often believed to have fallen victim to the geography or creatures or something worse.
There is known to be some who do not mind inhabiting down here and are not affected by the conditions. Serpentine sometimes make settlements in some areas but while they are not always on good terms with the common folk they rarely pose a danger down here preferring to stick to themselves and simply send those who wander to their sites back to the surface. On occasion some who have gone insane either from illness, isolation or other means sometimes find their way down here either by accident or on purpose where they often turn savage and animal like but these are no real threats rarely do they survive for long. There are though people who can be found down here who are not affected or bothered by the place but these are not people you would wish to encounter nor can they truly be called human anymore. These people are what the common folk call vampires beings inflicted with a curse said to have been created by the Oni as a means to spread darkness and destruction to the light of the realm turning those that would aid the light against their own kind and all those who opposed the Oni. Humans and others including beasts and serpentine inflicted with the vampirism curse are known to make citadels down here away from the light of the sun that would harm many of them. They creep about in their dark palaces and areas nearby biding their time till the sun goes down where once the light of day has vanished they often venture to the surface at night to feed or drag the innocent and unsuspecting down to become what they deem as their cattle. Most with the vampiric curse term all matter of beasts, humans and serpentine unlike them as cattle. Those they capture are doomed to spend the rest of their existence being fed upon by these monsters unless something is done to rescue them. This however could take a lifetime. It can take some time before a colony is discovered and when it is fear and superstition can make it difficult for rescues and eradication of these monsters. Only the bravest of warriors are willing to brave the depths and destroy these vermin. The bravest of adventurers, mages and fighters or knights from the houses that border the Blackwood and members of the Dragon Guard are some of the few who can be counted on to deal with the monsters. Unfortunately while heroes may be able to remove them eventually whether in just a few years or in hundreds or thousands of years these monsters eventually reclaim the abandoned citadel and despite a group of heroes best efforts sometimes not all the monsters can be wiped out. In the dim and confusing landscapes of Blackreach with its many shadows it is easy for these monsters to escape and hide where they wait out the danger before like the curse they are they begin to re-grow their empire unseen by those above. Luckily colonies of vampiric beings are few and highly spaced out within these depths making their threat and presence largely a much less than minor notice. Luckily for those of us on the surface these vampiric entities aren’t always on good terms with each other which can on the rare occasion lead one clan or court as they are often deemed to wipe out another making removal of them a bit easier. Little is known of the courts or their members that stake claim down here but there presence does not seem to go over well with the other inhabitants of these reaches.
Wherever vampiric beings exist Vale and Gloambeasts do not frequent close to grounds they routinely patrol and it has been noted by explorers that Vale and Gloambeasts will not only attack vampiric entities but will strangely group up on and even stalk vampiric individuals in order to make a strike at them. They will even go out of their way and ignore individual and group boundaries to follow vampiric entities going so far as becoming highly tolerant to intruders in their territory just to take out one of these beings. Some ancient tales even recount witnesses seeing what were described as armies made of Vale and Gloambeasts come together to launch attacks on citadels to destroy its inhabitants clearing a space of vampiric entities. Such accounts are likely over-exaggerations but none the less why these creatures engage in such activity is unknown and further fuels the sense of eeriness to these caverns in the eyes of many.
Eeriness is defiantly one word to describe these caverns especially when coming upon the many forms of abandoned ruins, lost artefacts of failed and fallen adventurers and some of the caverns more familiar and dark inhabitants. Of course through the ages many have fallen within the caverns victims to its many dangers or from their own folly. Explorers, adventurers, mages, miners, commoners and all sorts of other folks have fallen in the caverns below. They may have fallen but not all left once fallen. Un-dead haunt the areas where they fell taking on the forms of ghosts and wraiths. They wander mindlessly the cavern they fell in lost and confused. Ghosts are said to be able to be spared this fate and set free before they lose their mind if they can be shown a way out of the caverns if not they slowly over time lose all sense and memory of being becoming mindless and mad spectres that attack those that venture too close sparing only the native fauna of the caverns. Along with these spectres some claim Void Wraiths wander places of darkness including vacant vampiric citadels. Why they wander there no one knows and few would ever wish to find out why.
Eerie or stunning, frightful or fascinating however these caverns are viewed all can agree they are a strange alien world to the world we know and are filled with many mysteries.
Notes:
Growing up when I was real young my favorite shows were from the Walking with series by BBC and in 2022 Prehistoric Planet which is very much like the Walking with series came out. Both were inspirations for these stories. Other inspirations come from other nature documentaries particularly anything with David Attenborough. While writing these I listened to Prehistoric Planets soundtrack the title song of which is pretty epic.
These stories offer a look into the world and aspects of the environments and its inhabitants that the characters enter into. Something I love and feel that really makes a story or franchise great, outside great and realistic characters, is a flushed out, full and dynamic world around the story. The environment for a story can add wonder, can help push a story on, create conflict, create complications and obstacles and can in ways be a character in its own way so is just as important to the story as any of your characters. When making environments I wanted to try and be highly realistic yet with an underlying air of fantasy to it.
While there is more parts to the world I could look into I have only four aspects I could think of doing. These four while independent of the main story do look into key aspects to beings and locations that feature in the story.
While there are more places I could delve into I only had these four deep delve stories planned.
Chapter 62: Fun Bonuses
Summary:
A collection of fun bonus material I made while working on this story. They are fun humorous little tidbits some of which helped me with working out some concepts in my story namely character relations.
Chapter Text
While working when stuck with writers block I sometimes would take a break and have a little fun writing down what I felt the characters thoughts would be on certain things in the story. Some give some minor spoilers but nothing too serious about the main story or events in the story. They are fun humorous little tidbits some of which helped me with working out some concepts in my story namely character relations.
First of these is a little work where I imagined notes Clay would make on organizing who was best to pair with who when working together in pairs if he had to separate and pair them for a task:
A collection of workings on what the two groups are like with each other:
My assumption is the Knights are slightly older than the ninja with the exception of Robin, Ava and Merlok; only by a few years though not by much (only around one, two or three years no more).
The knights would at first be wary of the ninja due to their powers unsure how they work, what they can do with them and if the ninja are good or bad. After working together for a little while they would grow to trust them but are still made nervous when some of them are made mad worried the ninja might hurt them with their powers. While most of them try to hide it Robin and Ava tend not to hide that the ninja scare them. They are all particularly unnerved when Kai, Nya, Cole and especially Zane are made mad. They are also nervous around Jay when he’s nervous or panicking.
They’d get along fairly well once they come to trust each other however sometimes they can annoy each other at times. Jay tends to easily get on all the knights nerves particularly Clay, Macy and Aaron. Clay is easily annoyed by some of the ninja largely Kai and Jay; he doesn’t like when they disobey orders or joke about duties nor when they don’t follow their orders. Macy also doesn’t like when they don’t follow orders nor when they don’t take things seriously. Aarons fine tolerating much of their ways but doesn’t like if they goof around when they are supposed to be taking things serious like in combat or during a serious mission; he is also not fond of Jays paranoia to him but quickly finds he can have fun with it and others are willing to help him with it. Jay and Kai of course are not happy with how serious they tend to take things and how strict Clay can be. Lloyd, Cole and Nya are rather pleased to have others around that can keep Kai and Jay under control when they’re not around.
All the ninja are annoyed by Lance considering them peasants or commoners. They also don’t like when he tries to brush his tasks off onto them or flaunt his wealth and fame around them. They also don’t like when he refers to them, anything they do or have like the monastery or Bounty as rustic. They at first thought it a compliment and didn’t realise till Macy explained it to them that for Lance the term rustic is a code word for run down and dirty and not a compliment. He made the mistake of calling Cole rustic once and Cole taught him not to do that by scaring him by lifting up a large planter which included some plants including a large one in it above his head to show off his strength. Lance was cautious with what he said around Cole after that.
Nya doesn’t like when Aaron and Axl joke around with Jay especially when they get the others involved. Their joking and pranks combined with the stress of the realm they have found themselves in which is full of things that scare him can sometimes make Jay paranoid for a while which then he annoys everyone else with his panicking or paranoid thinking.
While working together Clay generally takes over as leader, he doesn’t do anything to become it he just sort of falls into the role and the others are overall fine with it just going with it. Clay is not fond that the ninja don’t always take things seriously even when on missions. While when they have to the ninja listen to him when things are not too serious Jay and Kai tend to joke around or slack off like Lance does to his authority which Clay is not fond of and he’ll tolerate it to a mild extent before intervening. Cole, Lloyd and Zane occasionally like seeing Clay reprimand the two for goofing or slacking off. Knowing it bothers them Clay often makes their punishments extra training or hard work particularly gross and unpleasant tasks like garbage duty, dishes and cleaning bathrooms (especially when he makes them use nothing but a tooth brush to do it) or animal pens. Lloyd, Cole and Zane are the only ones to respect his leadership at all times and follow his orders. Nya will listen but will also do her own thing if she feels things call for it. Clay tolerates it because he knows she’s still trying to work and takes things seriously for the task and is not shirking duties or goofing off. He’s also nervous of her when she gets mad, most of the boys are, so doesn’t want to risk angering her.
With Clay taking charge Lloyd is more relaxed and willing to show a less serious and more fun side. Lloyd does though tend to take over as second in command along with Cole particularly to keep the ninja in check. Most of the knights are fine with this but Lance doesn’t like it too much not liking being ordered around by others particularly those he considers peasants, basically anyone not as rich as him or of royalty. He quickly found though how to get Lloyd to lighten up on him, giving him candies or other sweats. Cole is not as easily persuaded or tricked and Lance learns quickly not to mess with him; he also is a bit nervous of Cole due to his super strength.
To get on their good side and get out of hard work with them Lance finds a way to bribe each of the ninja. He combines well chosen words with treats; He uses candies and cookies for Lloyd; cake, cookies, any baked goods really for Cole; oils, milkshakes and ice creams for Zane; candy or coin for Jay and hair gel and candies/junk food for Kai. He tries with Nya using cookies, coins and other items but she isn’t easily fooled or persuaded by it. Cole and Zane aren’t easily fooled by it either but depending on task and feelings will accept the bribe and do the task often to just get him off their backs and get the job done.
Lance made the mistake once of thinking Zane was like a squirebot and ordered him to do something’s. He kept it up for a few days without realising it. Not liking being ordered around like a servant and seen as a simple bot Zane eventually snapped and made sure to remind Lance he was not a Squirebot and not to be ordered around or taken advantage of. Roughed him up a bit with a Spinjitsu tornado and froze him in ice in the main hall for over an hour causing Lance to become a little scared by Zane and disliking being alone with or close to him. Kai left him in the ice for an hour to learn a lesson. Everyone else was fine with that. Kai and Jay warned Lance not to make Zane mad but he didn’t listen. He learned his lesson after that.
While no stranger to robots the knights are still rather surprised by Zane not used to one as complex and human like as him and some of his behaviours and mannerisms sometimes confuse them. Robin is so fascinated by Zane he is often making Zane uncomfortable with tons of questions often of an uncomfortable nature, following him around even when Zane wants personal time and frequently likes to observe him making Zane uncomfortable around Robin. Ava is also highly fascinated by him but respects his space and feelings more than Robin.
I could envision Aaron finding out a laser pointer reflects off some of Zanes metal skin and that he could get distracted by it like a cat. He spent some time messing with Zane who was confused where the light was coming from causing him to as Aaron sees it act like a cat as he looks for the lights source. He wasn’t trying to be mean just wanting to have some fun. He apologised for what he was doing afterwards.
Axl, Cole and Jay like to have eating contests. Cole takes cooking lessons from Axl. Kai, Aaron and Lance have a contest to see who can handle hot peppers the best; neither can beat Kai.
Lance likes to try and impress Nya even though she is not interested. She just ignores it. Jay on the other hand is not pleased by this. If some of the others particularly Lance or Aaron interact with her he gets nervous and sometimes defensive often trying to butt in or interfere in their interactions sometimes leading to embarrassing or awkward moments sometimes to the amusement of others. Ex; once they were in a lab looking at some dangerous insects for a lesson on potential hazards they could face. Aaron just happened to be near her and talks to her. Jay butt in leaning on a terrarium accidently bumping the lid off letting the beetles inside crawl under and up his sleeve; he isn’t aware of it till Aaron points it out (Uh aren’t the beetles in that tank you’ve opened dangerous?) making him freak out. Even worse the beetles defence is to leak an oil from under their shell that burns skin and his reaction to them causes them to release the liquid. He had burns and blisters on his arm for a few days and had to use creams on it to heal and soothe them.
Nya and Macy like to hang out for some girl time and love going over different fighting techniques with each other plus how they could each beat the boys in combat. They can also count on each other to tell the truth when one of the boys, mainly Lance and Kai, are bragging about something. (M- is it true Kai took on a bear once and beat it on his own with just his bare hands?/N- well he did face it with his bare hands but he was losing to it, would have really lost to it if Cole and Zane hadn’t acted quickly and bargained it away with a bigger fish. It was all Kais fault he ended up in a fight with it really. It was a group fishing trip and if he had just thrown the fish he’d caught at the same time as the bear to the bear like Zane told him too when it grabbed it from his lure he wouldn’t have ended up in a fight with it.)
They all like to compete in video games to see who is best at them often trying to beat each other’s high scores. Cole and Axl are tied as the top players.
Aaron likes to mess with Jay and play pranks on him finding amusement in his reactions to things that scare him. Cole, Axl, Lance, Kai and even sometimes Zane like to join him in this. They trick him into having candies with weird effects which cause him to panic as he thinks he’s been poisoned or cursed; they place insects and small critters on his bed or near him when he least expects it to startle him; they play into his paranoia’s around Aaron Zane even able to use his cloaking ability to help with this; etc.
Jay can’t understand how Aaron can be so relaxed, upbeat and fearless so often even in the face of danger. He comes up with some strange ideas to explain it such as he’s under a curse or has worms in his brain that are making him fearless or that he’s not really human. When he learns of some of Jays paranoia Aaron uses his ideas in his pranks on Jay. Sometimes the others especially Kai and Cole join Aaron in messing with Jay over his ideas on Aaron. E.g.; Aaron to Jay after he hears some of Jays paranoia just to play with him- Jay thinks his last name of Fox is a reference to his family having a were-wolf curse and he’s got the curse. Aaron teases him with “Hey bro you know why my last names Fox? Wait for nightfall and I’ll show you, hope you can run bro cause I have the urge to hunt and crave for the taste of human chickens.” He then mimics a wolf howl while Jay backs away from him unnerved.
Kai and Lance like to go over cosmetic routines and hair products. They also like to see who has more followers on social media.
Clay comes off as the older brother figure for everyone even for Zane and Cole. Lloyd especially tends to open up to Clay even when he doesn’t do anything to entice it. Some of them like Nya, Kai and even Lloyd tend to treat Macy like a big sister and she doesn’t have to do much to get them to open up on something.
Lloyd is at first wary and distrusting of Macy since she is a princess but quickly warms up to her as she doesn’t act like a princess nor wants to be treated like a princess and prefers being a knight.
Cole and Axl like to practice their music skills together. They tend to do it in private as Cole is not comfortable practising around the others afraid of being teased.
The ninja are impressed and amazed by the knights training deck. Lloyd and Nya love it the most; while generally enjoying it depending on the environment or threats chosen it can unnerve Jay. Kai is generally uncomfortable with it and takes a while to get used to it due to his distrust of technology. Cole and Zane don’t mind and find it rather impressive.
Robin loves to work with Jay and Nya when their creating things or working. He especially loves to work with them when they are working on Zane even though Zane is not comfortable with that. Ava likes to join them sometimes when they are working on Zane who is not comfortable with the attention.
Lloyd comes off as a big brother to Robin and Ava. Cole and Kai also come off as big brother figures to the two though Robin and Ava are nervous around Kai when he’s angry afraid he might burst into flames or burst one of them into flames.
Wu and Merlok would hang out having tea and talking about their students going over their skills, flaws, successes and fails and how they don’t listen to their advice as much as they should.
Pixal and Ava would get along quite well. Like Zane Pixal would probably be uncomfortable with Robins enthusiasm to their being.
Jay would teach Jestro jokes and how to be better at comedy.
Zane and Pixal are quite confused about the Squirebots who are much simpler, both in build and in mind, than they are.
When it comes to who is best with whom given personality and traits this is likely their relations: Zane would have the highest relations with Clay Aaron and Merlok; the lowest relations for him would be with Lance and Robin due to his enthusiasm to his being. Coles highest relations would be with Axl Aaron and Merlok and would likely not do the greatest with Lance. Lloyds highest relations would be with Clay, Merlok and Macy while his lowest relations would be with Lance; he might also have a good relation with Jestro understanding his desire to be accepted and have family. Nyas highest would be with Clay, Macy, Ava and Robin while she would have the least good relation with Lance. Jay would be best with Axl and Jestro while he’d be the worst with Aaron and Lance. Kai would be the highest with Lance and Clay while he would have the lowest relation with Axl. Pixal would have highest relations with Ava, Merlok and Clay and lowest with Lance. Aaron would have the highest relations with Cole, Zane and Lloyd while being the worst with Jay. Axl would be best with Cole and Jay while he would be the lowest with Nya largely as he doesn't have much in common with her. Clay would have the best relations with Cole, Zane and Lloyd and would be lowest with Jay and Kai. Macy would be highest with Nya, Cole and Lloyd and lowest with Jay. Lances highest relations would be with Kai and lowest with Zane and Lloyd. Jestro would be highest with Jay and Lloyd while lowest with Zane simply because Zane would not understand his comedy very much often thinking too much into it plus he might be a little scared of his looks.
One of the most prominent of these works is a series of pretend interviews with the protagonists on various things and entities in the story:
The first one is on what the knights and ninja think and are like with each other:
Your new Allies:
Jay- I guess the knights aren’t so bad. Clay isn’t too bad but he is quite bossy and strict. He’s got schedules and all these rules like no joking around while training, we should remain professional while on duty, no putting your feet on the table, no making jokes about your superiors orders especially in public, your underwear should be in your drawer not on the table… not that it was my underwear on a table; no matter what he says it was Kais. Anyway doesn’t he know how to relax? Macy’s nice, her and Nya get along well. She’s kinda like Nya strong, smart, independent and don’t make her mad or you’ll regret it; not many have the strength to win in a wrestling match against Cole she’s one of the few I’ve seen do it. Even without his super strength he’s still pretty strong. Macy’s kind of like Clay too; she doesn’t like when you slack off on duties either. She also doesn’t like to be called a princess; Kai found that out. He was just playing around and called her that to be playful and she chastised him for like ten minutes how she wanted to be seen as a knight not a princess. It was funny seeing her make Kai all scared and nervous. Axls fun and good at video games in fact I think he could give Cole a run for his money there plus he’s a great cook; Cole could take some lessons from him. Lance reminds me of Kai; a way worse and more spoiled Kai. I swear the two could tie each other in how much time they spend with their hair or on social media. Also does he always have to brag about how rich he is? We get it we’re poor and he isn’t. You don’t see Macy doing that and she’s a princess he’s just some noble. Also why does he sometimes try to hit on Nya or show off around her? Doesn’t he know she’s not interested! She isn’t going to be fooled by some pretty rich boy besides she’s my betrothed. I’m getting off topic aren’t I; anyway Robin and Ava they are cool. They remind me of well me when I was young, always into inventing and experimenting with inventions. As for Merlok he’s pretty cool and wise though he can be a bit bossy like Clay; he is his uncle so it must be a family thing. Merlok reminds me of master Wu; he doesn’t like when I try to cut corners to make things easier like Wu does either nor likes when we slack off on our duties or learning. As for Jestro he’s fun and a good laugh; I think with some advice he could get better with his comedy. I could offer him some pointers if he wants. I’m good with making others laugh, I can always get the others to laugh even Zane which is a bit hard cause he has troubles understanding quite a few things and doesn’t grasp some aspects of comedy very well. Aaron… he’s unsettling. Something’s not right with him, how can someone be so fearless even in the face of danger! Despite what the others say I don’t think he’s human. I thought Zane was strange but that Aaron is stranger. You know he was once run over by a horse cart and lived and the other day while training I blasted him off his hover shield, by the way how is he not scared to ride that thing it has no safety measures! Anyway when I knocked him off he fell into a pile of scrap metal and got all bruised and scratched up pretty bad and he wasn’t that scared of it brushing his injuries off as nothing too bad saying ‘nothing serious bro their just cuts and bruises I can heal from those no problamo’. To make it stranger just a few hours later he was totally fine all injuries gone. When I asked him about it he just said ‘told yha I’d heal’; he must have done something! The others claim Clay healed him to practise his magic; Lloyd, Cole and Zane even claim to have seen him do it but I think they’re all messing with me. I don’t think he’s human. What is he? A droid or cyborg? An elf? Some humanoid beast race or maybe a were-wolf! Is that why his last name is Fox? Is it a reference to what he really is? I’m not sure what he is but I’m going to find out.
Cole- Straight foreword I like them. Sure Clay can be a bit serious at times but I get it. He’s the leader and has to keep everything under control and running smoothly along with making sure no one gets hurt or left behind. He has to be serious for the safety of his team. He can be fun you just have to catch him when he has spare time. Lance I find is too into himself like a way worse Kai and it’s rather annoying how he likes to brag about not being as he calls it a peasant like the rest of us but he’s not that bad. He at least still takes his duties relatively seriously and does care about his friends in his own way despite how full of himself he is and how much he hates to work and his over obsession with his looks. Personally I prefer Clay over Lance. He’s a lot better to get along with and doesn’t call me rustic like Lance does; I didn’t understand what he meant by that till Macy explained rustic is Lances code word for run down and dirty. Just because I’m the master of earth doesn’t mean I’m dirty I shower on a regular basis… uh anyway back to topic that Aarons pretty cool; he’s chill, likes to play video games and is pretty good at them, he’s got a good taste in music too. Don’t let his laidback personality and approach to things fool you; when times call for it he can be rather serious and responsible when it’s needed. In fact I think his rather chill personality helps him keep a cool head when things get heated. I think he’s also got a high tolerance to pain cause minor injuries like cuts and bruises don’t seem to bother him like a normal person. Anyway Macys pretty cool too; I would have loved having a sibling like her growing up; someone willing to stand up to do what is right and not afraid to get roughed up and dirty to do it. She’s also pretty good at arm wrestling and be careful when sparring she’s got a pretty hefty swing with that mace… I’m pretty sure I got some bruising from our last training session when she accidently hit me. You know she’s also a princess. You’d never know it though by how she acts. Axl he’s great too; he might not seem it especially since he came from a small town and is muscular but he is rather smart; smarter than he looks. Just like me; just because we have brawns doesn’t mean we can’t have brains either despite what some (coughs and says under his breath Jay) think. Anyway he’s also very good at video games, music and cooking. I wonder if he could teach me some cooking tips. Maybe then the others won’t joke about my cooking so much. Robin and Ava are pretty cool and Merloks also pretty cool too; he’s wise and a good listener just like Wu. If you have a problem he’s defiantly someone you can turn to for advice and help despite having no body and being tied to the knights technology. You know I wonder if they ever thought of giving him a body like Zanes. I’m pretty sure with the right supplies and knowledge those kids Robin and Ava could make one. Their wizes when it comes to that tech stuff. As for Jestro I get he’s trying to be funny when he does his comedy act but I find it often cringy and I thought Jay had a lot of bad jokes… I don’t think he’s cut out to be a jester. I don’t know why he doesn’t try to be a knight. He gets along pretty well with most of them. From what I hear from some of them he’s apparently not good at it but maybe he just needs some aid to find his true potential.
Zane- I find them rather enjoyable to be with. They don’t mind that I’m not truly human and treat me just like any other person and not just some machine or a monster. I do get highly annoyed though that Lance sometimes mistakes me for one of their Squirebots these rather simple in design and functioning robotics that serve as aids, servants and workers in their realm; I find that rather offensive. Their Squirebots are nowhere near as complex and human like as I am. We may share similarities but we are not the same. I am not just some bot meant to serve him… I didn’t mean to snap at him as seriously as I did but I think he at least learned his lesson. He’s been careful about what he says and does around me now. Luckily the others never see me as just some mere bot. Also I do not understand his rather self centered and highly materialistic view of things. Doesn’t he know there is more to life than that? Clay and Macy are both nice and they treat me no different from any other person. They respect me, are not bothered to help me and don’t mind having me as part of the team even though I am different from them; they even value my opinion and are better listeners to me than some of my own family like Kai and Jay. Aaron is much the same and he is rather fun to be with. He’s good competition at video games; he is very calm and chill even though he enjoys a good thrill and he is surprisingly smart even though he doesn’t often show it. He has also been real helpful in helping me better disguise myself from the people of this place so they think I am truly human so they won’t be so mean to me. It’s working quite well and unlike some he doesn’t mind if I get carried away a bit with my role. Axl he is nice and friendly; he is also very caring and kind. He’s also a good cook; he likes to make for me special treats largely cookies, cakes and brownies to try and make me feel better about how the people here treat me. I appreciate the thought but he does not need to do that; I do not special treatment. What he makes are very good, better now that he isn’t adding whole insects to everything; apparently Kai was goofing around and convinced him that nindroids are powered by some special bug centered diet. I had to explain to him that I do not need to have bugs in everything and can have things just like people. He does not need to make things specially for me... I do not understand why Kai joked with him like that? Anyway Avas pretty nice too and it’s nice that while she is interested in my being she doesn’t get too invasive of my personal space unlike Robin. I get he is just very enthusiastic in his curiosity about me but his enthusiasm and how he sometimes forgets my personal space and privacy unnerve me. He likes to watch what I do even when I am taking care of personal maintenance, he’s very interested in the control panel in my arm and he keeps asking strange and rather uncomfortable questions… why would he think I have some buried urge to conquer and enslave humanity? I don’t think I have that… though there was what happened in the Never Realm and the others sometimes joke that things in the world would probably be better if robots were in charge. I’m not sure if they are joking about that or not; I’m also not sure how I feel about that. Sometimes I do… sorry I’m digressing. Where were we… Merlok I like him. He’s very wise and I kind of feel sorry for him; I can’t imagine what it would be like without a body but I know I wouldn’t like it. I wonder if he misses having a physical form? As for Jestro I find quite a bit of his comedy hard to understand; I don’t get some of his jokes and his acts are in best terms rather cringy.
Nya- I guess I like them. At first I wasn’t sure if I would like Macy but after spending some time with her I like her. She isn’t that stuck up spoiled princess type like I thought she’d be. She truly wishes to be a knight and help others in fact she prefers being a knight over a princess. I can appreciate that. She can also single handled beat the boys one on one just like me. She’s also one of the few people who can come close to beating Cole in an arm wrestle. Clays pretty good too. He’s caring, respectful and really knows how to be a good leader and keep his team together. He can get a little carried away though with his duties and training. You know he only sleeps a few hours a night. He spends most of the night studying, practising his magic and training; how does he keep going especially since he doesn’t drink energy drinks or coffee? He also made a list of who of us is best to pair with who. That aside maybe he should give Lloyd some pointers in leadership to help keep Kai and Jay in check when I’m not around that way he’s not always relying on me to do it. Speaking of my brother Lance kind of reminds me of him a much more spoiled version of him. The two could beat each other with how much time they spend on their looks or social media; they could also beat each other with the amount of hair products they have. I also have no clue why he sometimes tries to impress me. Doesn’t he know I’m not interested? Truly by how he acts I’m pretty sure he’s more into himself than anyone else and he’s just doing it to see Jay get worked up. A lot of people seem to like seeing Jay get worked up. Speaking of which Aarons cool and it’s nice how he’s helping Zane and I don’t have much of a problem with him I just wish Jay would stop it with his paranoia over him. He’s not some other being or under some spell or curse. Some people just enjoy extreme activities and don’t wet their pants at just thinking about dangerous stuff. What bothers me with him is Aaron isn’t helping with Jays paranoia by playing into them and messing with him. He’s also got some of the others largely Kai and Cole though he has gotten Zane into joining him with this too. Axl doesn’t help with that either by sometimes joining Aarons antics. Aside from that Axls pretty good. Strong, caring and he knows how to cook; Cole should take some lessons from him. Sure his cooking has gotten better than it used to be but Cole could still use to learn more; if he ever offers you his chilli don’t take it you’ll regret that decision. Anyway back to topic Robin and Ava are pretty cool as well and despite their young age very good with what they do. As for Merlok he’s wise and caring and it’s very interesting what happened to him and what he became. I wonder if he ever regrets it though; he has no physical body anymore and is tied to the knights technology. He’s very limited now in what he can do and where he can go and he probably often can’t help out the way he wants; that’s probably not very pleasant. Jestro, I get it’s what he trained to be but he’s not really good at being a jester. His acts can be rather cringy and not all of his jokes are funny. Maybe he should consider a new profession.
Lloyd- The knights aren’t too bad. They’re friendly, nice and helpful. I like how they can work as a team with little hassle; well mostly with little hassle. I wish I could get my team to do that more often; I won’t say their names but there is two I’m always having problems with… they like to butt heads and goof around especially if left together. Maybe I should get some advice from Clay about team leadership. Can I tell you something in confidence? It’s kind of nice having someone else take charge for once; I don’t mind when Clay takes over as leader. It lets me relax a bit. I don’t mind letting him take over when we’re working together either. He’s smart and caring and will do anything to help others; he also knows how to get the others to work together with little hassle even the problematic ones. He’s one of the few who can get Jay to stop leaving his underwear everywhere and the others listen to him… a lot better than they listen to me. It’s kind of funny to see him punish some of the others. Kai, Jay and Lance were goofing around trying to upstage each other during some training and caused an accident that got me, Aaron, Macy, Cole and even Zane hurt… nothing bad just some cuts and bruises but to discourage the three from goofing off he made them clean the centers bathroom including the potties for pets they have in there with nothing but toothbrushes and tweezers. I know it’s rather wrong to have pleasure in the misery of others but I think this was an exception. They were really grossed out especially when they had to clean the hair and fur from drains and the pet potties; one of the cats left something really nasty smelling in there before they started cleaning. I think the three nearly barfed multiple times the whole time; they finally did barf when they pulled the hair out of the drains. Outside that Aarons chill; sometimes I think a little too chill and a bit strange. He also doesn’t seem to know what fear is. Jay dared him to put his hand in a tank with some really big spiders and not only did he do it but he picked one of them up and held it without being bothered. I think I’m with Jay on that being unsettling. He is fun to be around though and so is Axl. If you want to play videos those two are the best ones to play with. Axls also a great cook even though some of his families’ recipes are a bit strange like Porcupine Stew. Macy… it’s nice to meet a princess who isn’t well a princess and truly cares to help others and be in the action and not just pretend to. She’s pretty tough and strong too; I defiantly wouldn’t want to face her in real combat. Lance… he gets on my nerve quite a bit and reminds me of Kai with how much time he spends on social media and his looks, especially his hair; at least Kai’s nowhere near as self centered as Lance is. I don’t really care for his obsession with wealth or referring to the rest of us as peasants at times too. As for Robin and Ava they are cool and I get they are doing what they enjoy but they shouldn’t let their childhood pass them by. They should enjoy it while they can… like I never got too… did I say that out loud? I didn’t mean to say that out loud. Anyway Merloks nice and very wise; without Wu around I’ve found myself going to him when I need advice. He reminds me of my uncle and is just as wise even though he’s much older like way older. Jestro I get they’ve had problems with him in the in the past but I think if they look past that and offer him some aid and boost his confidence he could become a knight; I don’t think he’s really cut out to be a jester. At times he can be funny but overall he’s not very good at it and I thought some of Jays jokes were cringy…
Kai- They’re not too bad. Clay’s a bit bossy and very serious; does he ever relax or is he always ready for duty? Hasn’t he ever heard of down time? You know he doesn’t sleep much and when he does he’s still often in his gear or training gear so he’s always ready for duty. That can’t be comfortable or relaxing. If you want a good sparring partner though he’s the one to go to; he takes things serious and doesn’t play around. Macy’s nice and, don’t let my sister hear this but Macy kind of reminds me of her. Strong, independent, resourceful not to mention can whip your butt if you get in a fight with them… especially if you make them mad… trust me don’t make them mad. Axl’s pretty great. I think Cole should take some pointers from Axl about his cooking he’s real good at it. I’d say he’s better than Zane at it. Speaking of which Axls also a bit gullible; he was curious if he needed to make things special for Zane. I was just having some fun and told him nindroids have a special bug centered diet so they need bugs in everything they eat and he believed me. Zanes been confused about it but not fully bothered unlike Jay; he was so grossed out about it he nearly barfed when Zane first noted some of the chocolate chips in the special cookie Axl gave him were actually chocolate coated beetles. He did barf when Zane didn’t let it bother him and just ate the cookie anyway to not be rude. For several hours after all you had to say was bug cookie and Jay would nearly barf. He didn’t find it amusing but some of the rest of us did. Anyway Axl’s also really good at video games too, just as good as Cole; I’m not sure who’s better at them him or Cole. They like to beat each other’s and everyone else’s scores and they’re the only ones who can top each other’s scores. I tried but I couldn’t get close. Aarons not too bad either; he can be kind of strange at times, sometimes real strange like the other day I found him napping on top of one of these large shrooms in a planter in the Under-city. He wasn’t bothered by the birds and bugs that would crawl on him or hang near him. That had a lot of the people scared off him; they were keeping their distance from him like he was a wild animal. He’s not bad though and he’s cool to hang with plus I like how he puts Jay on edge. Even better he likes to join me in teasing Jay. Lance he wishes his hair was as good looking as mine. Sure he may be all famous and rich but he is no master of fi-ayh. He probably wishes to have such hot powers. Robin and Ava they’re pretty cool kids I think though they should take a bit more time for themselves. Sure they may enjoy their work but there is more to life than work. They shouldn’t waste their childhoods away and enjoy some time to be kids to play and have fun. Merloks good, a bit bossy obviously I can see where Clay gets it Merlok being his uncle and all; he can also be a little absent minded at times but I think that’s just cause he’s old like real old. According to the knights it’s over 500 years old! He reminds me quite a bit of Wu. Jestro, I don’t know whose humour is worse his or Jays. I don’t think he should take Jays advice in comedy, it would probably just make his worse.
Aaron- They’re pretty rad. Coles great to hang with and he’s good at video games just don’t accept all the cooking he makes. I get he tries but some of what he makes defiantly won’t agree with yha. He made his chilli the one night wanting to test out some ingredients and us plus some of the scholars here had some with the ninja and man that was unpleasant. We all got sick even their cyber-bro Zane; that’s got to be pretty bad to make a droid sick. Kai’s okay reminds me a bit of Lance but he’s not as obsessed with his hair, wealth or his image as Lance and doesn’t mind hard work, getting roughed up a bit or dirty. He doesn’t mind having scars and he’s proud of them though he likes to embellish where he gets them. He had a black eye the other day; he said he got it from defending some kids from a creature but the others tell me he got it from Zane while they were training. He was being cocky and goofing around and got in the way when Zane went to punch one of the sparring bots. He’s not as tough as he thinks he is. His sister though she is as tough as she thinks she is. She’s great though like Macy watch out when she’s mad; she scares me a bit when she’s like that. Her bro Jay is well weird. I don’t get why but he has this strange belief that I’m not human. As far as I know I’m just human. His weird belief can get a bit annoying but I do love to mess with him over it; or just mess with him in general. It’s hilarious to see his reactions when he gets all freaked out. Like the one day we we’re doing some training at night and he was being paranoid thinking I was a werewolf and would turn when the moon came out. It was super annoying and he wouldn’t stop so I bit him. He panicked so much we had to stop the training. Merlok even had to use a calming spell on him after that. He tricked him into thinking it was a cure to get him to stop freaking out. It was hilarious. For Zane how cool is their cyber-bro! Sure he can be strange at times and he sees the world a lot differently than we do both physically and metaphysically but I think that makes him so much cooler and if it wasn’t for his metal skin you would never know he wasn’t human. It’s sad the people here can’t look past what he is; they’re missing out how cool my cyber-bro is. He’s smart, kind, daring though also wisely cautious and he’s very good at getting into roles when he needs to. The others think he can get too into them but I don’t think so. I think he’s just expressing his thespian side; heck he’s a better actor than Lance even when he is not trying. My green bro Lloyds cool too though I think he needs to take some time to chill. He takes things a little too seriously and lets a lot get to him even things he has no control over. He does a pretty good job at keeping the ninja together though. He tries to hide it but he does struggle a bit with leadership. I don’t blame him; I’ve been there and get it. It’s hard especially when you’re trying to get two individuals who often butt heads to get to work together. I think Clay could really give him a hand with his leadership role; if he wants I could give him some pointers on how to chill.
Axl- I like them. They’re friendly and kind; not like the monsters everyone in this realm thought they would be even though some of them can be a bit scary at times mainly when they’re mad. Coles great; it’s nice to have someone who’s a real challenge at video games to play with though his cooking, I guess it’s not too bad but with a few pointers I think it could get better. I think his problem is that he gets measurements wrong and sometimes uses the wrong ingredients. Another thing about him is it is nice to have someone else around who can do heavy lifting so it’s not always up to me. The problem when you have muscle everyone wants you to do the heavy lifting. The metal man Zanes real nice; he’s friendly and kind. He could probably easily harm anyone or anything but he doesn’t at least not without a good reason so I don’t see why everyone thinks he’s a monster. I’ve dealt with real monsters and he’s far from a monster. You know he knows how to cook and he’s pretty good at it too. He can also eat unlike our Squirebots in fact he has to on a regular basis to stay healthy. I don’t understand entirely how it works I just largely got that it really helps his power source to give him energy and keep him alive. Robin better understands it. I think Zane’s really liked when I’ve made some things just for him. Considering how others in this town we’ve all found ourselves in treat him he deserves some special treatment; I did learn you have to be careful what you give him though. Something’s his body doesn’t handle very well like certain seasonings especially spicy things and too many citrus fruits. You know he also likes video games too though he’s no better than Aaron at them. Strange cause you’d think for someone with a computer brain he would be better at things run by a computer. He’s still very smart though; it’s sometimes hard to understand everything he talks about. Nyas great and tough; she doesn’t look it but she’s quite strong much like my mom. Her pal Jay is not so much. Overall he’s not too bad and can be fun to hang with. He’s very good with video games but is often very talkative and can sometimes talk a little too fast; sometimes real fast. He is very jumpy too but that’s kind of funny. How he reacts when he gets scared is rather humorous as long as you’re not getting shocked when he freaks out. That hurts quite a bit. Kai’s not too bad. He’s a bit like a really mild version of Lance; that makes him easier to hang out with than Lance. He’s not so obsessed with his looks and popularity. He’s pretty good with video games too. Nowhere near as good as me but still fun to play with. Lloyd he’s not too bad; a bit bossy like Clay when we’re working but when we’re just chilling he can be fun to be around and he’s easier to get to chill and play games than Clay. He also isn’t afraid to indulge in sweets like Clay is.
Clay- They’re good, honest and caring warriors who strive to do what’s right and I’m glad they are on our side. They might not have trained to be knights but I would consider them honorary knights; they live up to the knights code very well despite having never heard of it. That being said they don’t always follow orders very well and you have to be careful who works with who or you just end up with problems for example you can pair Cole and Zane with most of us and it works out rather well but never pair Aaron with Jay. That combination never works well nor do you pair Lance and Kai together, they just try to upstage each other all the time. Overall they are pretty good. Coles nice to hang with and I like how he recognises when to take things seriously and when you can goof off, at least most of the time unlike some of them; he also has the qualities of a good leader and I can guarantee if I give him a task he’ll get it done with little hassle. Nya’s pretty good too though she does sometimes take things a little too seriously even if we’re just relaxing and I would have to agree with Aaron she can be a bit scary when she’s mad. Other than that she’s not too bad. Her brother well he and Lance could hold competitions over who takes longer to get ready. At least he’s not overly obsessed with his image or popularity and is more down to earth and a team player though he tends to be a bit cocky. Also I have found Kai and Jay tend to butt heads quite a bit so they don’t work good as a combination. Speaking of Jay how did he ever become a ninja? I get he tries his best but he’s often rather high sprung and likes to try to cut corners if he can instead of following orders… and he talks, a lot even when we need to be quite. He also likes to joke quite a bit too and some of those Jokes… I thought some of Jestros routines were bad I think Jay could give him a run for his money there. He can do his job rather decently if you can get him to focus and keep control of his anxieties. When it comes to Zane he’s good. Smart, kind, responsible, like Cole he recognises when to take things seriously and when you can take a break and goof off; he does though have problems with emotions both understanding them, how to properly react to most of them and the right time to display certain ones. Best not to let him deal with tasks that require an emotional touch or understanding especially on his own. He also has troubles understanding sarcasm, idioms, some kinds of comedy and he can sometimes be a bit hard to understand likely because he’s not truly human but I don’t mind that. It doesn’t interfere much with his ability to work as a team member or to be a good friend. Honestly if it wasn’t for his skin, eyes and hair I wouldn’t know he wasn’t human. Truly if he was just human I’d see him much like Aaron, a special person. He’s defiantly very chill and down to earth like Aaron. As for Lloyd he’s good too and he does a pretty good job as their leader. He also makes a good friend and I have noticed he’s very protective and caring towards the others. I don’t blame him and understand. I didn’t have much of a family growing up either. I was an orphan for a good deal of my life too till my uncle found me. I have noticed this makes him take everything bad that happens to his friends personally and this can really affect his performance and mood. I think he needs to learn just because his team fails or someone gets hurt doesn’t mean it’s his fault. Sometimes things happen that you have no control over; he shouldn’t take it as his fault. Instead he should just accept he has no control and be there for those who need it when they need it.
Macy- They’re not too bad. Nyas great to hang with and it’s nice to meet a girl who’s not all into that girly stuff and would rather fight the monsters than need saving from them not to mention able to kick their butts. Her brother on the other hand he and Lance go good together though he’s more down to earth and nowhere near as annoying as Lance. He’s still very cocky and into himself though but it’s not too bad. He still at least values being a part of the team and will put his image aside to do what’s right. Lance should take some pointers from him about teamwork. Jay sure he’s sometimes rather funny but I don’t really get what Nya sees in him. He’s very jumpy, quick to panic, a bit moody and often chooses the wrong times to crack a joke; and I thought Jestros jokes were bad some of his can be worse. He at least tries his best to be a ninja and when he puts his mind to it can be rather competent with it so that’s at least something. Lloyds pretty good though he was a bit weird to me at first when he heard I was a princess; you know giving me weird looks, keeping his distance, didn’t talk much to me. He’s since warmed up to me and is no longer so stand offish. He’s apparently had some bad experiences with princesses in the past. I can forgive that and I can promise him I’m probably nothing like the princesses he’s used to. If anything Lance is like the typical princess on our team. That aside he’s very good at what he does though I think most of us have noticed he tends to be a little hard on himself especially if things go wrong or one of his friends gets hurt. Coles pretty cool too and a pretty good challenge at arm wrestling and video games. He may seem tough with a rough personality but deep down he’s really quite a softy and cares deeply even if he doesn’t show it much. Zane he’s so nice and kind how can the people of this town we’re staying in think he’s a monster? Sure he might look scary to some, some kids and even some adults are scared of his appearance, but he’s no monster. Also he could be dangerous in fact he is, I’d say probably the most dangerous of them all, but he’d never hurt anyone unless you truly deserve it like Lance. Anyway he’s very chill and respectful so if you make him mad then you’ve really done something wrong. Heck chickens are more of monsters than he is yet you don’t see the people considering them monsters so why single out Zane as a monster. He’d never attack you for looking at him wrong or walking by their feeding area… if anything the people are the monsters thinking someone so innocent is a monster and treating him so cruelly. Anyway you know I can understand why the ninja sometimes forget he truly isn’t human. Me and the other knights sometimes forget he isn’t exactly human either. All in all I’m glad to have him and the other ninja on our side.
Lance- I guess they’re not too bad even though they’re all commoners. None have as good as hair as mine that is for sure even though Kai tries; also can what that nindroid has for hair truly be called hair? It’s all a synthetic replica. Anyway Kai wishes he was as good looking and famous as me. For a commoner he’s not too bad and he’s good at video games. Jay I’m not sure who’s comedy is worse; his or Jestros. He is pretty funny though when you get him all freaked out and boy is it easy to get him startled or worked up. Just bring Aaron near him or pretend to hit on his girl. He gets all anxious and worked up then. You do have to be careful though. If you scare him too much you might get shocked and from what I hear that can hurt quite a lot. Speaking of his girl Nya she’s not too bad. She is a bit bossy though and rather scary, especially if you make her mad. She’s pretty strong too so be careful if you get in a fight… she gave me quite the rough time the one training session. So I called the earth one rustic and mistook the metal one as a squirebot for a while and I might of made a bit of fun of her boyfriend but that didn’t mean she had to be so rough on me. Also she’s not impressed by my looks; how can someone not like my looks? Cole he’s not too bad, I like that he doesn’t mind to get dirty and can do heavy lifting; means less of that kind of work for me. He is also very good at video games but he’s not so good with his cooking. It reminds me of Axl’s family cooking; weird and doesn’t always look or smell too appetizing. Nor does it always taste good and you’re not going to feel to good from some of it. No offense to him but Zane kinda creeps me out. So I mistook him for a squirebot for a couple hours, maybe a day or two, but you would think he’d be chill enough to let that go he seems the chill type even more chill than Aaron but no. I see now why Kai and Jay warned me not to make him mad. Got some nasty bruising and stuck in ice for like an hour; I hope that’s the worst he can be if not well I don’t want to find out about that. You know he may be the bot equivalent of warm blooded, his skins actually quite warm to the touch well except his hands sometimes, but when he gets mad the thermostat drops like crazy and he can freeze almost anything real quick which is bad when you were drinking from a metal soda can at the time he snaps! He’ll also show you that he’s not as gentle as he appears when he’s mad. Yha when he’s like that I can see how people might think he’s a monster. As for Lloyd, he’s kind of like a mini Clay. Rather bossy especially if you don’t follow orders or pull your weight and he doesn’t relax or chill much. He’s not too bad though. If you can get him when he’s not all in super ninja mode he’s pretty cool to hang with. I have also found it’s easy to get him off your back if you give him some candies or cookies. He’s willing to ease up on his bossiness then.
Jestro- They’re okay I guess. I don’t think many of them care for my comedy acts but they at least don’t make fun of me and are rather nice to me. They do kind of scare me though with those powers of theirs. I get they’re not going to hurt me unless I do something to anger them but it still makes me nervous. Out of all of them I find Jay the best to hang with. He doesn’t mind my comedy and honestly enjoys it. He’s also the friendliest to me and always willing to cheer me up. Nya’s not too bad but she can be scary especially if she’s angry but she’s at least friendly and has been nice to me even though she doesn’t get my comedy. Her brother doesn’t get my comedy either but he at least doesn’t make fun of it. He has been fairly nice to me and likes to play video games though he tends to get a little cocky and hot headed when he plays. He can’t spontaneously combust or make others combust when he’s mad can he or was Lance just messing with me? I don’t know what it is but something about the metal man scares me. He’s so human like but his eyes are weird and he kind of looks scary. He can also make it kinda cold if he’s mad and I hear if you make him real mad he can freeze you solid! Other than that he’s not too bad and is very nice but he is sometimes hard to understand; he’s a bit weird and sometimes uses a lot of big strange words. Also it’s real hard to get him to laugh; does he understand comedy or am I that bad at it? Coles nice and friendly even though he looks intimidating and he doesn’t make fun of my acts even though I can tell he really doesn’t get them much. Lloyds very nice and he likes to try and get me involved even if the others don’t want me to be which is real nice. He’s friendly and kind even if he doesn’t get my acts.
Their thoughts on cuisine of the realm and region:
Jay- Why would anyone want to eat stuff here? Bugs, plants and shrooms grown in cursed soils, meat from bird lizards many of which are venomous, drinks that do strange things to you, candies that do strange things to you, candies with actual bugs in them do I need to go on? Don’t listen to Zane, he’s fine with it all because he’s used to eating bugs. He ends up swallowing them all the time cause they like to get close to his face to try and get his eyes. He probably finds it nice that their cooked for once and not live and squirmy like he’s used to. Between you and me he might actually like it cause he actually commented to me that they actually taste quite good especially when dipped in oil. I don’t care what you dip them in they’re gross no matter what. That knight Aaron likes some of them too; just more proof he’s not human. I dared him to eat one of these battered and deep fried tarantulas someone was selling and not only did he eat it but he actually enjoyed it and thought it was good! I even dared him to eat a live scarab beetle that was crawling in a planter and he did it! He didn’t even get sick! He’s not afraid to try anything even if it has bugs in it, comes from nasty reptiles, glowing plants or shrooms, could hurt you or does weird effects to you! I get why Zane wouldn’t mind this stuff as a nindroid he’s more resilient with a tougher system than us plus he’s normally got odd tastes, he likes motor oils and he can eat and his system can safely break down things that are poisonous, harmful or inedible for people like rotting meat, the pits from fruits like peaches and bones without getting sick or badly hurt. I also get why Cole will eat them he’s like a trash compactor he’ll eat anything but that Aaron, something has to be wrong with him!
Cole- Yha at first it was quite off putting, after a while though you get used to it and it isn’t too bad. Some of the bugs aren’t actually too bad especially when they’ve been battered and deep fried. You won’t notice much of a difference with other meats with them nor with the meat from the strange reptile creatures here. The fruits, veg and shrooms aren’t bad either even if they are weird looking. According to Zane it’s all safe and I’ll trust his judgement even if some others don’t. Yha some of the glowing things look off putting like these Lunar Grapes or these shrimps from this inland sea nearby but they won’t hurt you or make you glow, at least not much. You’re belly area will glow for a while and apparently your insides will glow for a bit longer but you can’t see it through your clothes; good thing cause if Jay sees the glow he freaks out. Despite that they actually taste rather good. They do make some pretty neat desserts here. They like to give them shapes or put decorative designs on a lot of their pastries. Don’t worry though even if it looks like a bug or has bug designs on them there is no bugs in them. You know I heard there was these shrooms they call Buttercakes and I had to try them. While they don’t taste like cake they do kind of taste a bit like pancakes with a hint of bacon. It’s not too bad. Honestly I don’t mind a lot of what’s here. Just give it a chance and you’ll find something you like.
Zane- I do get that some might not find some of the consumables of this place to their liking but I do not see what is so bad about it. It all provides the essential resources for energy production and the maintaining of one’s health. I have no problems from them and they are just as efficient for me as normal consumables in energy production even if they can sometimes give weird effects. The effects can be weird but they’re not harmful even if they are confusing. Anyway much of it does not taste too bad, I find quite a great deal not too bad or different from what we are used to plus many also tastes quite good with that Scymer oil as a sauce; as a human though you probably wouldn’t find the oil enjoyable. Also if I’m to eat insects I prefer this method over the usual way I end up eating them; it’s less painful and uncomfortable… like that cicada the other day; that was not only uncomfortable but embarrassing especially since the thing lasted for over ten minutes still making noise most of the time while in my system. That had Jay very uncomfortable and acting strange to me. Even more embarrassing is that’s happened more often than I’d like in my life… that was probably more than you wanted to know wasn’t it? Sorry I didn’t mean to regale you with that.
Nya- Yha not a whole fan of the insect stuff but the rest isn’t too bad. Quite a bit is strange but if you don’t think about what it came from or where it is grown then it’s not bad and won’t taste very much different than what you’d get anywhere else. I would recommend though that you be careful whose cooking you have. If not prepared right some things can leave you with weird effects for a while. If Cole, Kai or Jay offers you something be very guarded. They might have screwed up a bit. Don’t worry though none of its dangerous. It will just make you feel weird or at the worst sick for a while. That reminds me I need to remind Zane it won’t hurt any of their feelings or be offensive to decline having something they’ve made; some of the odd effects things cause confuses him and when he’s confused he easily looses focus and can become unsettled. A few have also made him sick which just makes Jay panic as he takes it as proof some things are dangerous instead of proof of how bad Cole, Kais and his cooking can be.
Lloyd- Yha the bugs thing is off putting, luckily just because some of their foods are shaped like bugs they don’t put bugs in their candies or cookies. You should be careful what you get though. They do like to make candies here that give weird often effects. Don’t worry it doesn’t hurt; there just for fun but it can really give you a scare if you weren’t expecting it. Luckily their effects are all temporary but they can be interesting. Candies that make your eyes glow or turn your skin a different color or make strange markings appear on your body, ones that let you walk on water another gives you the jumping skills of a cat, another lets you breathe under water for a short time, there’s even one that paralysis you for a couple minutes and I’ve heard of one that makes you look like a ghost. It’s weird and sometimes unnerving but they’re all at least harmless, well mostly harmless… you could accidently hurt yourself if you panic when you first experience them when someone surprises you with them. Aaron should have told me what those candies he gave me were before I had them… anyway they’re just for fun and playing around. Which reminds me I need to tell Clay to tell Axl and Aaron to stop using those candies to mess with Jay; I think it’s making him paranoid. Other than that a lot of the rest of the stuff here isn’t too bad, defiantly weird and sometimes off putting but it’s safe and doesn’t taste too bad just try not to think too much about what it’s made of or where it came from and it shouldn’t bother you too much.
Kai- Yha quite a bit of the stuff here is weird. It’s perfectly safe though so don’t worry. Still it might not taste too bad but I’m not a fan of eating bugs; I like to sneak any I find in my food into Jays. I like how it freaks him out then his scrambled attempts to sneak the bugs into anything Cole or Zane are eating. Outside the bug stuff I don’t mind most of it and it is fun to use some of the stuff like the strange candies or these glowing grapes to mess with Jay. These grapes they call them Lunar Grapes. When we found out about them some of us were curious about what they say about them that they can make your insides glow for a while. Aaron, Cole and Zane had some to test this out curious. It was true and rather gross especially since Zane was able to show us his inner workings to show how long it actually continues to glow inside you. That was rather gross if you ask me. None of them were bothered by the effects of the glow but it had Jay unsettled. Even funnier when Zane showed Jay his inner workings to show him how it made some of them glow Jay freaked out and began ranting how they were nuts and gross… he went on for close to an hour. Some of the others were creeped or grossed out by it like Lloyd and I think the knights Clay and Macy were too but I really wasn’t. I was more unsettled and grossed about seeing Zanes inner workings than the effects of those grapes had on them but the feelings were worth it to see Jay freak out. The effects reminded me of the time Zane ate a glow stick. I won’t admit who but someone tricked him into thinking they were just a fancy type of freezie treat. It made him sick and his insides glow for a while… I should have realised he would have taken what I said as literal and not joked with that.
Aaron- Some of the stuff here sounds like it was made on a dare and I was willing to take the challenge. Not to mention I’m used to eating some strange things. Axl’s family makes some pretty weird stuff like porcupine stew; it’s not as bad as it sounds. It smells weird but isn’t bad. Besides when you grow up rather poor with a big family you can’t really afford much so often have to eat whatever you can find or catch; bugs, weird critters and fish, strange plants and shrooms or anything the sea washed ashore weren’t that uncommon in family meals. Truthfully it wasn’t that bad and like that most of the stuff here isn’t too bad. Those bird lizards taste like chicken, I guess since they’re supposedly related to chickens in some way that makes sense, and the insects aren’t too bad either. It is a little gross though when you accidently get a live bug in your food and swallow it; I can tell you that’s a very bizarre and un-rad feeling. Though sometimes it can be worth it; that ninja Jay dared me to eat a beetle he found in a planter. I was not wanting to but I did it anyway just to see him freak out. Sure it was a bit gross and weird feeling but it was worth it to see Mr Jumpy pants get all grossed out and panicked. Anyway something’s may smell or look weird but trust me they’re actually quite good and some of them can do some pretty fun and wicked things to and with you. If you get a chance you should try these candies that have magical effects. They’re strange but so fun to play with just wait till the effects of the first are done before trying a different one. Many of them don’t react well together trust me. It’s not dangerous but you won’t feel too good from it. You can also trust me that they’re fun to use to mess with others especially when they’re high sprung and easily startled like a certain ninja. :)
Axl-Some of it reminds me of my ma and pa’s home cooking like their Tarantula Stew and Porcupine Stew. Things here might sound or look weird but truly it’s not bad. Scuttler Dumplings which are like normal dumplings but are filled with fried insects, Runner Pot Pie made from these runner creatures, Rhea-guar fried Rice, Balmora Brew which is a stew made with mixed veg ash yams and Kaguar meat, Deep Fried Tarantula with fried saltrice with peas and carrots in it and Sticky beetle and veg noodles just to name a small few are all surprisingly good. Their desserts aren’t too bad either; lots of interesting pies, cakes, cookies, ice creams and these magic tainted candies. I got a lot more to list off if you’re interested. They’re all better than you would think. As for the weird effects some things give it is a bit strange but some of it like those candies is cool. Especially when you want to prank someone like that skittish ninja Jay; he’s so funny when he gets all panicky.
Clay- Yha it’s strange even if a good deal of it isn’t too bad but it’s their ways and we must respect that. That said though something’s I’m defiantly not up for trying. Some of the things made with bugs yha defiantly those especially if they are made of spiders. Anything made with snakes too; yes they will eat snakes here. I don’t know what it is but something about snakes makes my skin crawl like with spiders. Anyway even though I am not into it I’m not going to refuse any though if someone offers it to me. That would be rude and disrespectful; I need to have a word with Lance about that. If you can get past what things are made from you might actually find a lot of it isn’t too bad. Everything from these Kaguar creatures isn’t much different from that of cattle and Aaron is right the stuff from these Repto-birds is not much different from a chickens and despite what they are grown in the fruits and veg grown in this place aren’t bad or too different from usual. If you truly give it a try you’ll find something you like.
Macy- I get they make do with what they can here and it’s not too bad but as someone not used to it a lot of it is off putting to hear of or see at first. You’ll defiantly be hesitant to try a lot of what’s here but don’t worry it’s all safe even the stuff with weird effects. You will actually be surprised to find it all not too bad as long as you get it from someone who knows how to cook things properly though. Never ask Lance to make anything for you, first off he dislikes doing what he thinks is peasants work and can’t really cook also be careful about taking anything from some of the ninja. Despite what they say Cole isn’t too bad he’s not as good as Axl but he’s not as bad as the ninja like to joke about; at least what he’s made while here hasn’t been too bad. Kai’s cooking is okay if you like things spicy enough to burn your tongue and nearly breathe fire with but Jays not too good especially with the stuff from around here. He freaks out over it too much to properly work with it. Also just a heads up if Axl or Aaron offers you a candy don’t take it unless you know what it is. They’ve been messing with some of us using those strange magic effect candies.
Lance- Would it kill them to have things made with normal ingredients? Who wants to eat furry lizards and bugs? Bugs! Gross! Then the shrooms and plants grown in this foul ashy soil? How poor do you have to be to be desperate enough to eat this stuff? It’s worse than commoners’ food! This ash is unpleasant enough on your skin why would you want to eat things grown in it or that feed off stuff grown in it?!
Jestro-I’ve had meals made by monsters so I’m not too bothered by it all but the bug thing is still gross to me especially anything with spiders. And some of the fruits are strange like anything that glows doesn’t seem right to me and I’m not sure how safe exactly everything is. If not made right some of the stuff can do weird things with you; that doesn’t seem safe to me. Also those magic candies are a bit unsettling.
Their thoughts on the environment they have found themselves in:
Jay- Where should I begin! Giant bugs, strange feathery reptiles with bad attitudes and lethal venoms, plants that can kill you! That’s not to mention the volcanic activity that’s turned the whole place foul and unimaginably dangerous. How can the people stand living here! If I lived here I’d be packing my bags and leaving as soon as I could. Did I forget to mention this highly unsettling cavern system filled with darkness, glowing creatures and alien fungi that has this mind control over these un-dead plant animal hybrid monsters? Then there’s monsters or better yet just call them demons cause that is what they are which you can encounter anywhere here and some people like to summon or make bargains with these things! Then there are all sorts of ruins scattered through the wilderness some of which are filled with killer robots or these demon monsters and have you heard some of the diseases you can get here? They’re more like curses! Conditions that make you like a reptile scales included, curses that turn you into vampires or were-beasts, curses that turn you into monsters or rot you into zombies! And I haven’t even covered these Asher beings who traded being human for being monsters and want to destroy us! Why is everything here so unsettling? Do I need to go on? (he continued to rant and babble for nearly an hour but the interviewer didn’t wish to continue recording his rant; summarized he’s not happy with the environment and a lot has him scared and there were some things on this Zane and Aaron as well, is he scared of them or something?)
Cole- A bit unpleasant yha. The ash and weather defiantly aren’t pleasant or relaxing but we aren’t here to relax. Something about this place is somewhat unsettling but it’s overall not too bad; defiantly not as bad as Jay thinks. In fact I feel some kind of connection to this place; I think it has to do with the volcanic activity it surrounds me with essences of my element. You know I find the effects the volcano has had on the region kind of interesting. Geological activity is part of my power so it’s interesting to see what this power can do. Despite the destruction it’s caused it’s also created much life and created new ways for beings to adapt and thrive. Apparently despite the ash not being very healthy the symbiosis the various fungi of the region have created with plants makes the plants grow better and healthier than a lot of other regions which benefits the hardier animals of the region. Despite what Jay thinks they’re not all that bad. Yha the bugs are kind of unsettling especially the really big or creepy looking ones but they’re not all that bad. Sure those reptiles are quite dangerous and often have nasty attitudes but they’re not as bad as many claim and I wouldn’t really blame them for their attitudes. I’d probably be as cranky as them too if I had to survive in this landscape and face evil monsters that want to turn my pelt into a rug all the time too. Sure the really big insects can often be creepy but they’re not too bad and most are actually rather chill; you can rest on those large beetles and they don’t mind it just going about their business as usual.
Zane- There is an air of unnerve to the place but I think that is just because we are not used to such an environment. Despite the potential dangers I find much here rather interesting like how the flora and fauna have adapted to the harsh conditions caused by the high volcanic activity here along with the usual seasonal changes brought on by the cool temperate latitude to the region. Yha many fauna and some flora are very dangerous and can be rather aggressive but I think many forget when looking at the flora and fauna is they live in a harsh environment where they must fight everyday to survive so they have good reason to have lethal weapons and foul attitudes. They wish to survive and live their lives like anything else and in the wild especially a place like this that requires cold, calculating and dangerous temperaments; they cannot afford to be passive and friendly. Along with the natural aspects there is the artificial ones. These various ruins and their inhabitants made by a now extinct race. Many like to label their inhabitants many of which are much like me as monsters but I don’t think that’s true. They don’t see that just because these beings aren’t made of flesh and blood doesn’t mean they aren’t living things nor that they are monsters… that I’m not a monster… I mean they aren’t as bad as people think they are. If I wasn’t worried of falling victim to this demon known as the Black Stag I would love to do much exploring to many things here. The natural environments, the ruins, the architecture, I would also love to get a deep look into this Blackreach place. It is such an intriguing biome to delve into; to learn how life has adapted to the sunless stone encased environment.
Nya- Things aren’t too bad despite what Jay thinks. Yha a lot of things here have bad attitudes but I wouldn’t blame them. They’ve got it pretty tough not to mention this ash has made things kind of unpleasant. In fact the ash makes a lot of things here unpleasant. You’ve probably heard my brother or Jay complain about it but yha we’re all having problems with it even Zane. His skin is at the least more resilient to the effects of the ash but his senses and a good deal of his internal synthetic structures don’t tolerate the ash very well. Apart from that if it wasn’t for how harsh and unpleasant the ash makes things this place might not be so bad. The insects yha those are kind of creepy but not all are bad even if they’re rather big. Not all the reptiles are that bad either; Venom-fangs are defiantly rather nasty but they do have some redeeming qualities. They do make great parents and are very loyal and caring to their friends and families. That said this place defiantly is not a place I would want to go to relax.
Lloyd- Something about this place is unsettling. The place is strange with an alien like feel to it and yha there is quite a bit that is unpleasant. The tree sized mushrooms, strange sometimes dangerous plants, these strange mammals with reptile like traits, strange bird reptiles though those are all mild and not really any worse than animals in our realm even if they are strange. These un-dead and monster class monsters on the other hand are pretty nasty. The demon class ones are especially nasty and can make travels here pretty nasty. That aside the volcanic activity is pretty nasty and can make conditions kind of nasty as well but things might not be as bad as it is if it wasn’t for this strange darkness that coats the place. You can’t see it but it’s there you can feel it. There is something of the Oni about this darkness but at the same time it’s something worse. I hate to know what it is.
Kai- First off this ash is very unpleasant. I don’t think it’s very good for your skin let alone your health and the smell; it’s an unpleasant burning smell. Secondly the bugs are a bit unsettling. There is quite a few that are pretty big and some have some pretty nasty powers or abilities; the sting from those Burning Hornets really burns. These ruins of technology based beings are kind of unsettling too. Did I also mention the strange reptiles? Some of them I guess are kind of cute but a lot of them have some bad attitudes but most of them are no worse than Cole when he’s hangry. Overall this place defiantly is not the kind of a place I’d think of to want to vacation in but I guess it could be worse.
Aaron- Yha the ash is unpleasant and there’s this so un-cool darkness feeling to everything but other than that everything’s actually quite rad; well maybe those venoms aren’t rad but apart from that things aren’t too bad. Those shrooms are surprisingly comfortable and strong; they have an internal woody skeleton that helps hold them up. Some of their tops make for some nice places to nap when you don’t want to be disturbed; other than flying creatures no one can reach you up there. Just have to remember to put your phone on do not disturb mode if you don’t want to be found while having a nap. The creatures aren’t that bad; no worse than Axl when he’s hangry. Many of them are pretty cool and besides they’re just animals not monsters though they do have those here and a good amount of them are defiantly not that pleasant. You defiantly want to stay clear of those dudes if you can. Other than that things aren’t too bad.
Axl- I guess it’s okay. Defiantly not the nicest place we’ve been but at least the foods decent and I guess it could be worse. Things are still pretty lively here despite how bad the conditions are. Yha some of the creatures are pretty moody but you can’t really blame them. They’ve got it pretty hard so they can’t really help but be tough and moody. Though their attitudes might not all be because of the environment. There is this really powerful monster here that can turn the animals on you at any time. It is unnerving to not being able to trust the animals of this place; how can you tell if they serve this monster deer and wish ill to others? Outside that it’s not too bad here; weird but not too bad.
Clay- To be frank while I get this place is tough so the flora and fauna has had to become equally tough to handle it often making them not the nicest I don’t have trouble with them. They’re strange defiantly and yes dangerous sometimes very much so and sometimes rather moody but they’re not that bad. Sure the volcanic activity leaves some pretty unpleasant conditions and the large fungi give an air of an alien quality to the environment here but not much else is different from what we’re used to. It all isn’t that bad, defiantly not as bad as some like that one ninja keep claiming it is, and isn’t something to be bothered by or worried over. What I have trouble with is this strange and unpleasant darkness that coats the place. It’s not a natural darkness, defiantly magical in nature and makes the place feel very unsettling. It unsettles me to think of what could be causing it and even more unsettling those who live here don’t seem to recognise that it is here.
Macy- It’s not too bad. There is defiantly things here that are unsettling and unpleasant but we’re knights we can handle it. Yha a lot of creatures are dangerous or at the least moody but as long as you know how to properly deal with them you shouldn’t have too much of a problem. They are just animals after all. Monsters however are a different story. Those are a lot harder and nastier to deal with. Outside that things aren’t too bad. Yha that volcanic activity is not very pleasant and the large fungi are weird not just that they exist but some also look real weird. All that being said I have to agree with Clay that there is something unnaturally dark here that makes everything seem oddly more sinister than they actually are and strangely only us and the ninja seem to be aware of it.
Lance- Everything’s so rustic and peasenty here; it’s so unpleasant. It stinks, this filthy ash is everywhere, the bugs are large and gross and don’t let those fuzzy reptiles fool you with cute looks. They often have rude manners and bad attitudes not to mention many have venoms or powers that further make them nastier. There is these large shrooms and strange plants some of which will actually attack you! And let’s not forget the monsters many of which are giving us more work as if we don’t have enough already to deal with. At least I was able to find a spa here to make up for all the rustic-ness of this place.
Jestro- In my time of evil I was in some pretty unpleasant locations so this place doesn’t bother me too much. It’s defiantly not the nicest and still pretty rough and wild but not too bad. A lot of the creatures here yha are quite moody but if you don’t do anything to get on their bad side they aren’t that bad. The monsters on the other hand are pretty bad, most are a lot worse than those I have worked with before. That being said I’d prefer the lava lands to this place. It was a lot more pleasant and welcoming than these Ash Wastes. I can’t tell what it is but there is something very unsettling here; it’s nice to know I’m not the only one to sense it.
Their thoughts on the people and city of Balmora:
Jay- I don’t like it. The place is creepy, the weathers unpleasant, around half the people are beast folks of animals that would want to eat me! They say they’re still people despite their bestial looks but how can we believe that to be true. I’ve heard some of the cat folk hiss when mad and those hyena folk can be pretty nasty when hungry, even worse than Cole; they also laugh a bit like real hyenas when they find something funny. For some reason quite a few of those here seem to find amusement in scaring or pranking me; what’s so funny about scaring me! That’s not to mention how rude they are, not everyone’s rude but a lot of folk here are and quite a few don’t like us. Those not from this region aren’t too bad. The fact their beast folk is still scary but they aren’t much different from people back in Ninjago. The people around this place though tend to be rude or mean I guess they kind of match the town. It’s pretty unpleasant all run down; on the outside at least. Inside places and this Under City are pretty nice and well kept well most of them. Some are kind of unkempt or unpleasant, creepy even. The place this place is in though is far from pleasant… (he began to rant on about the environment like he did in a previous interview so we had to stop him).
Cole-I get despite their bestial looks these are still people but I still get the urge sometimes to pet them like their animals especially the kids. I’m pretty sure too they won’t like me trying to get them to play with a laser pointer. The towns defiantly not the best; very run down, not many are very nice, many hate us just for existing, they especially hate Zane even though he’s never done anything to deserve it. Sure I guess to some he may look scary especially to little kids but unless you make him real mad, like what Jay and Kai can sometimes do, he won’t hurt them. He’s a lot softer than what his skin shows. He’s like a shepherd dog; he defiantly could easily kill you and likely will if you deserve it but it takes quite a bit to get him to that state instead he’s more friendly and caring. Aside from that it’s not too bad here. The ash and weather are miserable, they at least have plenty of nice restaurants just remember they’ve got some weird tastes here and there is a decent community center with a really nice pool and hot tub. The Under-city is quite impressive and very nice; sometimes if you’re lucky you can see some of the students from the bards collage practising their music or plays to entertain others there. Despite the conditions it’s pretty nicely decorated here too though I think some of the decorations like displays made from the skins of droids and robotics are unsettling to Zane. I can see where he’s coming from there; I’d be pretty unsettled too if someone was using human skins for decoration like that. Sure in a museum it’s fine that’s for learning and generally things are treated fairly well in a museum but in a public space yha no that’s not nice.
Zane- The town has many very interesting aspects such as the architecture and the technologies they utilize to operate various aspects of city workings and defences. Some of these are repurposed or reworked from the old Scymer folks technologies. The place overall is defiantly run down and shows effects from volcanic activity but they still try to keep it looking nice here. They have the Under-city to give everyone a space to get away from the harsh conditions outside. They have plenty of park and nature zones for people to utilize that are kept looking pretty nice. They even have greenhouse like buildings creating large sheltered areas in some of the parks to let people enjoy nature and natural light without the effects from the volcano. They’re very nice places… though some of the decorations they use in them is a bit unsettling to those like me. Statues are fine but they have the skin from a Scymer Hoofivore as decoration in one. I would be fine with it if it was being displayed like in a museum and was being treated with respect but it isn’t. It’s posed in an aggressive manner and has a few ballista bolts stuck in its hide and people like to photograph themselves often in rude or unpleasant ways with it. The plaque claims the creature was caught in the wilderness from one of the Stags attacks then they gutted it and stuck it’s exterior on display. I won’t say who told me but they say that’s not true. They say it was found fatally damaged in a ruin and set it up for display like that to be threatening to those like me; not just the ones who serve the Stag but that are kept by the town. It’s to let us know the people are not afraid to do terrible things to us. Outside that I guess the town wouldn’t be too bad if it wasn’t for the people. Why does everyone hate me? I haven’t done anything wrong?
Nya- It’s okay I guess. The towns defiantly seen better days but you have to be impressed with some of their ingenuity here in how they combat effects from the wastes. They use very interesting technologies here to give people a place to escape the harsh conditions outside, keep structures maintained and to help combat a lot of the monsters of the region. I’d love to get a better look at these innovations but the people of this realm are not comfortable with letting us do that; all because of these ridiculous superstitions about elemental masters and beliefs that we could be evil. I’m getting real annoyed by that. We’ve done nothing wrong yet most of them hate us. We’re not going to do anything wrong; our powers don’t make us monsters. They especially hate Zane and have been very mean to him for no good reason. The rest of us get things pretty easy compared to him. They largely just say rude things to us but it’s mild compared to what they say to Zane and they’re willing to physically threaten him. We took him with us to do some shopping to get food for our stay here the other day and one guy tried to shock him with a wildlife shock rod to get him to leave the area and Zane wasn’t doing anything wrong. Another person refused to talk to him when he went to ask about something while another talked to him like he was stupid or a child and was going to call the guards to ‘help’ him which we know most likely meant to lock him up probably in some cage like an animal. There is no reason for how they treat him here and don’t get me started on how some of them seem to like to scare Jay just for amusement. He’s already getting a bit paranoid about some of the things here we don’t need anything else working him up… (The interviewer broke off the interview as she was getting mad and they were scared of what she might do when mad)
Lloyd- The towns nice. It has a lot of impressive structures and is full of culture. I think I’m with Jay a bit on the people here in that they can be a bit scary. I know they can’t help it that they have traits of animals including dangerous predators but it’s still unsettling especially since when mad they tend to growl a bit like an animal and show off their teeth. You know even the ungulate ones have sharp looking canine teeth like the others and the hyena folk have some rather large teeth. Nowhere near as big as a real hyenas but still pretty big compared to the other beast folks. All of them kind of have teeth that resemble those of a bear; it takes a while to get used to. Also I know they can’t help it but they get fur everywhere. Luckily none of us are allergic to fur plus according to their scholars the beast folks fur isn’t the same as those of the animals they resemble so they lack the allergens we could be allergic to. That being said though careful if you get scratched; they can’t help it either as their claws or hoof nails are sharp and can easily accidently cut you. They have thicker skin than we do so they usually don’t cut themselves and most here don’t seem to realise that so can accidently scratch you. You can get an infection from even the cleanest individuals’ claws; they can’t help it. The people aren’t really that bad and those outside this region and the kids here aren’t bad but most of the grownups and teenagers here really dislike us and are rather rude to and around us. Apparently they don’t like outsiders much especially elemental masters; to them our powers make us more of a type of monster than people. It’s not a pleasant feeling to be disliked like this.
Kai- It’s okay I guess if you like that worn and kind of rustic aesthetic look. It’s strange they claim to not like technology yet use a great deal of it here especially some pretty advanced stuff. Why don’t they just admit they don’t like technology when it borders close to a living thing or is a living thing? They defiantly are superstitious to technology but they’re not afraid to adopt it. Most have cell phones, they have TV’s and fridges and other common daily electronics, they do though have some weird customs around them. They often lock their phones and laptops in special boxes at night to apparently keep the Stag from hacking them. I’m no expert but I don’t think that would work would it? Anyway yha the beastial looks can be a little unsettling especially when you see those teeth; their canines are fangs that’s a little unsettling to see especially on those that look like deer and antelopes. Quite a few here also kind of look worn; lots of scars, some have tattoos and piercings, some even have fake horns or antlers surprisingly though most have some pretty well kept fur and hair. It’s got to take them a lot of work to keep both the hair on their heads clean and the fur that coats their body. Sure their body fur is rather short though some have rather bushy tails but still that’s a lot of work. I did notice they have a lot of different grooming supplies here including ones for on the go even shedding and flea combs. I’ve also commonly seen them just brushing themselves while just sitting idle. You know I’m not really hairy or have a fur coat but I tried some of those brushes they have and they’re not too bad. Is it strange that I kind of see why they like to just idly brush themselves; something about it feels nice and rather relaxing.
Aaron- Do you know how hard it is to resist to not try to pet the people especially the kids? I can’t help it; I know they’re people but their beastial traits sometimes get me confused and I mistake them as actual animals. I accidently used that noise you use to call over a cat the other day at a shopkeeper to get their attention. In my defence they were of the cat folk and surprisingly they responded to it. You know I wonder what is their relation like to the animals they resemble? Clearly they don’t seem to relate to hoofed animals; they eat them just like we would and it’s not just the cat and hyena ones. There’s a really good barbeque place here run by two of the ungulate dudes and they love their meat and really dislike salads. It doesn’t bother them that their eating animals they share traits with. The people aside the towns not too bad; defiantly run down and a bit dirty but I think that gives it character. It’s not as bad as Lance claims it is here. If your just thinking about and looking at the negatives that’s all your gonna see. If you’re open to things you can find something nice here. That Ghost Fence is interesting and you get some pretty wicked views from those towers, some of the local watchtowers and windmills give some nice views too. There’s some pretty nice places you can hide too when you want a nice nap where you won’t be bothered by anyone. Some planters have some pretty dense foliage, atop some of the large fungi in greenhouse gardens and in the storage room of the Scholars centers main room, they have some nice floor cushions in there to nap on, are some examples of this.
Axl- I’m a little confused about the people from this realm. They say they’re people but their animal looks keep confusing me. Are they fully human, are they part animal or are the looks just that looks? According to the scholars here they are human just with cosmetic traits and some minor physical differences from the animals they resemble. I think I understand that even if they are a bit scary especially if they get mad. They sometimes bear their teeth and growl especially if really mad and they aren’t afraid to utilize those claws they have. Outside the confusion over their beast-ness and how they can be a bit scary at times they’re not too bad even though allot of those around here are not the nicest to us. At least the town itself isn’t too bad. It is worn and the weathers not the best and a lot of the plants and animals are strange but they’ve got quite a good deal of good restaurants here. Warning though if you’re going to go to these restaurants careful who comes with you. Not only can it not be fun with them but some of those here know a few spells or have special potions they might mix into your food to teach you a lesson for disrespecting their ways or creating a scene. What they do usually wears off in a few hours or you can get someone in the Scholars center to help fix it. Lance is not a good one to take with you. He’s very picky and was kind of rude. That’s where we found out about that. He angered a server who gave him something that turned him blue for a few hours. He was not happy with that. That ninja Jay also is not a good idea; he’s jumpy, grossed out by a lot of things especially some of what they make here plus he tends to make a scene when he’s disgusted, scared or angry. It’s a bit embarrassing when you’re around him and he’s acting like that in public. Cole’s always a good one to bring along, Kai and Aaron too. Even the metal man Zanes good to bring along, plus I think he likes when he’s included in things and treated like he’s just a normal person, but if you bring him you have to be protective to make sure no one’s going to hurt him. The people of this region have a strange dislike to him and the ninja are very protective of him; I don’t blame them.
Clay- I don’t mean to offend anyone and I know with the conditions here it’s probably hard keeping this place looking good but depending where you go this place can look pretty run down. Not everywhere is like that. Public regions of the Under-city and the insides of many places are in pretty decent shape and looking good. Less public spaces tend to show more wear and aren’t what most would consider beautiful. Makes sense though that’s where all the dirty work that keeps public areas clean and working happens. Despite the conditions here the people of the town take great pride in their town and a good deal try to keep their places looking nice. They like to decorate with colored and decorated fabrics and various styles of lanterns and lights around here. It’s pretty nice. They also use plenty of decorative native flora both indoors and outdoors, they like to use various modern and rustic kinds of design; when I mean rustic I don’t mean it like how Lance means it. Sorry you probably don’t understand that, Lance uses the word to mean run down and dirty. That’s not how I’m meaning to use it. Anyway aside from the town the people aren’t too bad. Many have this strange and uncomfortable dislike to us because we aren’t from here and we’re not mean or suspicious to droids. I guess we got it lucky though as I and my team aren’t as disliked as the ninja but still we’re not much liked either. Maybe if we perform some of our knightly duties and aid the town they’ll warm up to us. Not sure how the ninja are going to improve their image especially to their pal Zane but I’m sure they’ll think of something.
Macy- The towns defiantly seen better days but they still try to keep it looking nice. They try very hard to keep things clean and they keep their gardens, planters and parks well kept. Makes sense since outside farming, mining and some minor lumber work the town’s only other economic sources are tourism and research and most of the researchers are from nicer looking places so keeping the place looking nice really helps draw in the tourists and keep researchers happy. They also have to do a lot of work to keep the place safe. Elsewhere here they have police and some region use knights here they call them guards who fulfill both roles and boy do they have quite a bit of work. Not only do they have to deal with everyday criminals they have cranky animals, monsters, cultists and these Ashers to deal with as well. Maybe that’s why so many are so cranky here; still doesn’t give them the right though to be so mean to us. Sure we’re not being hated as bad as those ninja but still many make it clear we’re not that welcome here either. Maybe if we help them out they’ll see we’re here to help them and they’ll open up. Speaking of the people, this is funny, when they heard I was a princess they wanted to give me special treatment you know gold color to my armour, a room to myself, a servant that kind of stuff. I declined because I don’t need any of that. I’m a knight and they can treat me just like any other knight. Hearing how they were willing to give specially treatment to me and not him Lance was not happy. He went on a bit of a rant in the scholars center about his dislike to being treated as a commoner and angered one of the scholars here enough they decided to punish him. They hit him with a spell that turned his skin green and made his hair into kelp for three hours. He locked himself in his room in the Fortrex the whole time but quite a few saw him and they gave him the nickname kelp hair for a while. He’s not happy about that but the rest of us find it amusing.
Lance- One word to describe this place; rustic. At least they have a hot tub, a spa and some clubs. Unfortunately I have to share them with commoners when I use them. Apparently our coin isn’t compatible here and we’re the opposite of popular here. We’re nobodies to these people, do you know how unpleasant that is! A good deal also don’t like us and no matter what I do I can’t win them over; how can they not like me? Is it because I don’t have looks from a beast? And speaking of beastial looks I know they can’t help it much but could they try to keep their shedding down. I’m not pleased with finding their fur in my bed or my clothes. At least they take care to keep parasites to a minimum here. They have all sorts of combs and cleaning products and even medicines to keep fleas, lice and ticks at bay. That’s a good thing. Surprisingly Clay actually agreed with me that we should take some of these preventative products and shots they have here to keep from catching anything from here; he even got the ninja to agree with it too. Quite a few of the things here do some pretty nasty stuff to your skin and hair. Last thing I want to do is catch anything that could mess with my looks. I’m still trying to find good quality skin products here. We don’t know how long we’re going to be here for and I don’t have enough of my normal products to last for very long. (he continued to babble on about his looks and cosmetic stuff so our interviewer left to his dislike)
Jestro- I’m used to ending up in places you could consider dumps you know dungeons, ruins stuff like that and while defiantly not beautiful it is a lot better and nicer here than most places I’ve ended up in. It’s fairly clean, the weathers not the most pleasant but fair, no monsters well at least no monsters are roaming in the public trying to enslave you, the people aren’t the nicest but I’m used to that… not many back home are nice or friendly to me either. Then again when you turn bad and wreck havoc to them yha I can see why they don’t like me too much. At least the knights are being fairly nice to me now. Anyway the people are kind of scary especially when they have the looks of carnivores. Also when you see them in dim light it can be scary; their eyes reflect like a cats in the dark! Clay says that’s because they have that thing in their eyes like animals do that reflects light. Apparently they can see better than us in the dark but not as good as a cat. They also have better hearing and smell. I also found they don’t like when you touch their tails without asking; I got scratched from that. Their fur often looks so soft though and I sometimes forget they’re actually people and not humanoid animals.
Their thoughts on some of the creatures:
Ancestor Wing:
- Jay- I guess they’re not too bad. They are kind of cute and very friendly plus they eat bugs including the bad ones. They’re nice to have around especially at night when all the big freaky bugs come out.
- Cole- They’re cute and real soft just be careful when petting them that you don’t accidently poke them in the eye. They don’t like that and will bite in defence and those little needle teeth of theirs can leave a pretty nasty bite.
- Zane- Their looks are what others would consider adorable and their biology is quite interesting. They are capable of keeping both wing structures in synch while flying yet can move their arms independently from the winglets when moving on surfaces.
- Nya- They are cute and their fun to feed from your hand. They’re so tame and gentle.
- Lloyd- I find the mythology around these creatures interesting; that they can commune with and be messengers from those in the departed realm. I wonder if it’s true.
- Kai- Their not too bad. I defiantly don’t mind having these around.
- Aaron- They’re totally cool; soft, gentle, friendly and eat all the bad bugs who wouldn’t want these things around.
- Axl- Did you know they can eat almost their own body weight in insects in a day! Sure they don’t weigh much but it still equals a lot of biting insects.
- Clay- They are cute and very beneficial. They keep both crops and people safe from harmful insects, I get why the people treat them with such high respect.
- Macy- They’re so cute you just want to hug them but you have to be careful. They have hollow bones like birds so you have to be careful not to hurt them.
- Lance- Finally a creature that’s not creepy or annoying in this place.
- Jestro- They are cute and very friendly.
Ash Walker:
- Jay- Huge and can eat me no thanks.
- Cole- They’re not too bad. Yha they’re big and kinda scary but surprisingly gentle.
- Zane- Despite what some think they are surprisingly gentle and empathetic to others. They will aid and protect other animals even those who could hurt them. They have great respect for all living things.
- Nya- Despite what Jay says they’re not bad. They’re actually kind of sweet. If their babies get too tired or can’t cross a river on their own the parents will let the babies ride on their backs. How can such a caring creature truly be a monster?
- Lloyd- Yha they are nice and not too bad but they are a bit scary looking.
- Kai- I guess they’re not too bad, I just worry about accidently getting stepped on by them.
- Aaron- They’re pretty rad. They don’t mind if you take a ride or even nap on their backs. They apparently let animals do it in the wild all the time.
- Axl- Big and powerful yet gentle and caring; I like them. They remind me of me.
- Clay- Contrary to what some believe they haven’t had very many attacks or problems from these creatures even wild ones. The real biggest danger you have with being around these is being under the wrong end at the wrong time.
- Macy- I like them, sure they’re big and moody but they’re not really that bad; no worse than Axl when he misses a meal.
- Lance- Luckily they have people whose jobs are to clean up what these things drop around town. What they drop strangely doesn’t smell too bad but I still don’t want to get that stuff on me.
- Jestro- They might not be bad but their size still kind of scares me.
Creatures of Blackreach:
- Jay- Just more nightmare fuel. Dark glowing beasts that have no qualms with eating you and plant mutated zombie creatures controlled by mushrooms no thanks.
- Cole- Some are kind of creepy yha like those Gloam-beasts but the others aren’t bad; kind of cool actually.
- Zane- I find these all rather fascinating. The way they have adapted to a world without sunlight and dominated by fungi is rather intriguing. I would love to learn more about them and visit them and their home.
- Nya- I guess the thought of creatures controlled by fungi is rather creepy but these things apparently aren’t as bad as you’d think. They don’t seem to have any desire to hurt others. They just want to protect their home I can respect that.
- Lloyd- Yha it’s a little unnerving to think of but it actually doesn’t seem too bad. It might actually be interesting to see this place. I wonder if the fungi are annoyed by the caverns inhabitants eating them? Maybe they have some sort of symbiotic relation so don’t mind it.
- Kai-I guess they’re not too bad, there could be worse things to come inhabit such a place.
- Aaron- This place and its inhabitants seem so far out, I’d love to take a trip their and explore the place.
- Axl- They don’t sound too bad so why are the people scared of them.
- Clay- I get to come across one of these things in a dark place might be rather scary but I doubt they’re as scary as many proclaim.
- Macy- How’s this whole controlled by fungi thing work? Is it some sort of magic or can it communicate with them in some way? Truly I’m more curious than scared of these things.
- Lance- They sound cool but I don’t want to encounter these things in person. They probably are not very friendly and likely reek of an earthy rustic smell; I’m no fan of that.
- Jestro- Even though many look like creatures above ground something about their dark with glowing markings appearance sounds kind of unsettling.
Insects:
- Jay-Why! Can’t bugs just stay smaller than sparrows for once? Then again even the little ones are kind of creepy here too. See through spiders, beetles that shock you in defence, mean crabs that make better deterrents than guard dogs, wasps that can burn you with a heat worse than Coles chilli do I need to go on? I guess though not all are bad. The Torchbugs are cute and those Rockipods aren’t too bad just be careful not to sit on them. It’s a bit embarrassing to fall off them when they curl up when you do that.
- Cole- Yha quite a few are kind of creepy even if they don’t wish you harm but most aren’t too bad. I do kind of like those Torchbugs though. Rockipods are kind of cool too and very chill not to mention their shells are made of rock isn’t that cool. Don’t try to kick them like they’re a ball when they curl up though. As Kai found out those shells are rock hard, they’re a bit heavy even when they’re the size of a small dog so you can almost break your foot on them.
- Zane- They’re not too bad. I don’t fear insects and find many just as fascinating as other animals but I just wish they would stop being attracted to my eyes. I keep accidently swallowing a couple of the small ones each day because they keep getting in my face especially when it’s not very bright out. It doesn’t feel or sometimes taste pleasant and those Shalk beetles really hurt. So do any species with spines, horns, large pincers or mandibles or other decorative or defensive structure. The noises of some like mosquitoes and flies near my ears are really annoying too. I do like the Torchbugs I just wish they wouldn’t be so interested in my eyes when it’s dark.
- Nya- The big ones yha kinda creepy but some of the others aren’t bad. The Torchbugs are cute and the Lava moths rather pretty. The spiders I could go without. I wonder if those hornets are as hot headed as my brother; from what I’ve seen they seem like it. I wouldn’t doubt they are; I also wouldn’t doubt he’ll probably do something stupid around them and get stung. Just because they like the heat I don’t think they’re fans of fire. I won’t feel sorry for him if he gets stung, he probably will have done something to deserve it.
- Lloyd- A lot of them are kind of unsettling yha especially when you find them hiding under things like your pillow. Sure I believe Zane that ant is harmless despite the spikes and horns and just scouting not wanting to hurt anyone but it still creeped me out. Thankfully he took it out of my bed and put it in the planter outside our room. How can he hold them without getting creeped out? Anyway not all of the insects are that bad or creepy though. Most beetles, crickets, grasshoppers, moths and butterflies aren’t too bad even if they are a bit big. The Roly-poly bugs aren’t bad and I do like the Torchbugs; it took some patients but I managed to get one to actually land on my hand. It was cute.
- Kai- Not going to lie I’m not a big fan of bugs especially when their bigger than a songbird but I do like the glowing Torchbug, they’re kind of cool and those burning hornets are kind of cool they can wield fire just like I can. I wonder if that would make them see me as a sort of king or god to them? I should test it out. Also when these things are wearing a rock armour don’t try and give them a kick; I’ve never stubbed my toes so hard before.
- Aaron- I don’t get why others are so creeped out by bugs. Sure they’ve got more limbs than we do but they’re not that bad; unless you accidently swallow one while speeding around on your hover shield that is. That’s not pleasant. Having them ping you in the face under the same circumstances isn’t pleasant either especially if they’re quite big. That can sting and not in a good way. Outside that they’re pretty chill and rad.
- Axl- I guess they can be creepy especially the spiders but they’re not that bad, just don’t make them angry. Some have some pretty nasty powers and aren’t afraid to use them but aside from that most are pretty harmless. This is good cause then you can have some fun with them. That ninja Jay really gets spooked over a lot of the creepy crawlies. Me and Aaron like taking those little Embers Ants and spooking Jay with them. It’s funny to see his reaction to them especially when he finds them where he least expects them.
- Clay- I’m not much for insects and yha some of these are creepy, defiantly the spiders and those big ants and their little cousins, but they’re really not that bad just creepy. Luckily most of them are generally easily to scare off even the spiders. Not all are bad or creepy. The butterflies and Torchbugs are pleasant and so are the Isopods. Even though they’re a bit creepy the little Ember Ants are harmless and a lot more even tempered than their large Spiny Ant relatives. It is a bit creepy though that you can find them hanging around everywhere in the city and people aren’t bothered by them even if you find them somewhere you don’t want to find them like in your bed, on the table while you’re trying to eat, in your helmet when you go to put it on... they do eat them here so I guess they’re not that bothered by them but it’s still unsettling. I guess it could be worse though. Other regions here have some that are much worse like sparrow sized mosquitoes, crocodile sized millipedes and bear sized spiders. Thank goodness we don’t have to go to those places.
- Macy- Yha I’m not much of a fan for many insects especially spiders or things with too many legs like centipedes; millipedes and isopods aren’t too bad though. They’re not fast or as creepy looking as centipedes, they even look a little cute in that these are creepy crawlies but their nice and not too bad kind of way. Not all of them are bad or creepy and some here are nice and not too bad. The Torchbugs are cute and so are the moths. The little ants aren’t bad just more of annoying; gotta feel a little sorry for them. Some of us, you can probably guess who, have been using them to freak out that ninja Jay. Can’t be nice being used to scare someone like that.
- Lance- Bugs ew no thank you; they’re gross always crawling around in the dirt and many have too many legs. It was funny though that one time Aaron collided with one of these Torchbugs while flying around it pinged him in the face and left a colourful glowing mark on his face for a few hours even though he had cleaned it off. I’m not sure why it was like that, the ninjas metal man said it was something to do with chemicals being absorbed into his skin or something I didn’t hear or understand much of what he said. It was a lot of science-y stuff I couldn’t care much about but how that ninja Jay reacted to it was hilarious. He acted all paranoid to Aaron for a while.
- Jestro-I guess they’re not too bad; they’re not monsters just animals; well I’m not sure about spiders but the rest are just mostly harmless bugs even if they have strange powers like those shocky beetles. They really hurt. Sure some of them freak me out yha but they’re not too bad and the glowing torchbugs are pretty.
Ekhindahog:
- Jay- Finally one of the few species that isn’t mean, ugly, creepy, wants to eat me or dangerous; these are cute and so funny to watch.
- Cole- Cute little burrowers with comical attitudes; plenty to love about them though they can be a nuisance. They have pretty tough claws so the town does have problems with them digging through the walls of the Under-city and peoples basements and getting into trouble.
- Zane- They are cute and have a rather interesting biology and social structure. Apparently to combat the harshness of their environment they developed so that both males and females can care and feed the young so if one of the parents dies their offspring won’t risk dying either.
- Nya- They are cute and enjoyable but that whole males giving milk like mothers I find kind of weird. Nice to see a species where dad plays such an important role as mom but still I find it a bit weird.
- Lloyd- They’re cute and playful and it’s kind of relaxing watching them playing around. It must be nice being so carefree; I bet the fathers also have good relations with their sons… sorry did I say that sentence out loud?
- Kai- They’re not too bad just watch where you sit when these are near. They might kick dirt in your hair while digging in planters… well I’m hoping it’s just dirt in those planters and not well you know; I hope they don’t fertilize with manure in those things or I’m going to need another shower.
- Aaron - First off the milk thing is kind of weird second they don’t lie about that venom; I didn’t mean to startle that one during training… man that sting was nasty. Felt like having the worst case of pins and needles ever combined with all your muscles being pulled at the same time! My leg was paralysed from the pain!
- Axl- I like them. They’re not very soft and those beaks have a surprisingly strong bite but they’re overall enjoyable to have around.
- Clay- They are cute but can be troublesome. A pair somehow got into our room and tried to make off with my shield. I can’t have that; a knight should never lose their shield.
- Macy-They are cute but don’t let that fool you, they can be real troublesome especially when in groups and they want some of your lunch. I think they know their considered cute and use that to get lots of treats.
- Lance- I found a social media page dedicated to these things that has way more followers than I do; how’s that possible? Sure they’re cute but can they act or pose no… though looking at these photos and videos I kinda see the appeal. Maybe I should add some pictures of these with me to my social media pages.
- Jestro- They aren’t too bad but those quills hurt when they get stuck in you.
Fabricants:
- Jay- Combining dangerous animals with dangerous machinery; why would you want to create such monsters!
- Cole- The thought of them is kind of strange. Do the creatures know and understand they are now half robotic? How do they feel about their situation?
- Zane- I find them intriguing. I can understand them and what they have to say is interesting. Some understand what they have become, others aren’t too sure. They know they’re different but they all love what they’ve become. They feel it improves their life and lets them view the world with a deeper understanding making them deeper in aware to the beauty of the world around them. They also enjoy that they can now play with and take advantage of the machines people make. One of those for the training arena apparently has learned to hack vending machines to get treats from it.
- Nya- I find them interesting; I wonder what inspired their creators to merge animals with machines and how did they do it? It can’t be an easy process.
- Lloyd- They’re kind of cool but also a bit unnerving, those Venom-fang ones especially are creepy looking especially in the dark.
- Kai- Animals merged with technology, something about that I find very unsettling. Maybe it’s because I don’t understand technology very well but they kind of creep me out.
- Aaron- I think they’re cool. Did you know their cybernetics give them the ability to play video games? Imagine giving your pet that ability, you know how much fun you could have!
- Axl- They kind of sound cool but also very dangerous.
- Clay- Animals with the calculating and precise thoughts and movements of machines. That sounds like a dangerous combo to me. Hopefully they have measures in place to keep them from causing harm and chaos.
- Macy- Sounds like a cool concept they’d probably make for good training partners but they can also hack into your phone when you’re not aware of it. Imagine your pet being able to tattle on you when you plan to sneak out for a party?
- Lance- Why not just make the machines into animals in the first place instead of merging them with animals? You just make them smelly and drooly that way.
- Jestro- Is it just me or does anyone else get goose-bumps from the thought of these things?
Fear:
- Jay- It’s in the name that’s how I feel about this thing!
- Cole- Yha I’m not too keen on ever encountering one of these. Good thing they’re technically extinct.
- Zane- While I may be a bit more resistant to damage than the others to attacks by this thing I still would not do well against it and likely receive fatal damage from it.
- Nya- Yha I can see why they would give it the name they did. It probably wasn’t pleasant dealing with these things when they were around.
- Lloyd- I think for things like this it is one of the few times I’m glad to hear something’s extinct.
- Kai- big, lots of teeth and sharp clawed dangerous reptile no thanks. Let them stay as fossils.
- Aaron- I’d want to say add the term less to its name and that’s how I’d feel about meeting one of these but that would be a lie.
- Axl- Just the name of this thing unnerves me.
- Clay-Luckily we won’t have to worry about facing one of these, I don’t think we’d do to well against one.
- Macy- I wonder who the brave warriors to take these things out were. They must have been pretty tough to face one.
- Lance- big nasty and drooly reptile, no thanks. Good thing this monster is extinct.
- Jestro- Good thing these are extinct. I saw a stuffed one in the museum and nearly wet myself. It mustn’t have been nice having these around.
Hoofivore:
- Jay- It’s not a bug or reptile but I still find it a bit scary; it is after all a massive meat eating animal that could eat me. It’s sad what happened to them though.
- Cole- These things actually sound so nice. They bond for life and are caring parents. They even look cute like giant horned dogs. Why would those snakes want to hurt them like that?
- Zane- These creatures sound rather pleasant, it is sad that they are now so endangered all because of one races hatred to another.
- Nya- Poor things, hopefully they can bring them back.
- Lloyd- It’s a good thing what they are doing for this species considering what was done to them.
- Kai-That’s not right attacking innocent animals just to spite other people.
- Aaron- That wasn’t cool of these snake people to hunt down these creatures purely out of hatred.
- Axl- Poor things, hopefully things get better for them.
- Clay- Does the cruelty of some people know no bounds? At least now these creatures are in good hands.
- Macy- I hope they taught these snakes a lesson for their actions.
- Lance- Why would these snake people go after these creature? What purpose would wiping them out honestly have?
- Jestro- Just because these creatures weren’t on their side didn’t mean they had to be destroyed, that’s a pretty monstrous act and I should know. I’ve worked with monsters.
Hyenoids:
- Jay- This will probably upset Zane but no thanks, they should just scrap these things.
- Cole- I’m not sure what to think of these things. They’re not Zane that’s for sure but are they really the monsters everyone claims they are?
- Zane- Why does everyone hate them? Haven’t they ever tried to get to know them? I doubt they’re truly the monsters everyone says they are. They’re not mindless machines; they are thinking feeling living beings just like animals and people.
- Nya- I think we’ll need to be guarded with Zane around these things. I don’t think he fully understands they’re not like him. These ones were created for evil and don’t share his views or values. They are likely no more than monsters.
- Lloyd- I find these things very worrisome. I’m pretty sure they’ll see a kinship towards Zane and may try to get him to join them. Given who they serve that would be a very bad thing.
- Kai- No offense to Zane but I don’t like these things simple as that.
- Aaron- They sound cool but at the same time worrisome; they’re very dangerous and might want to turn the ninjas cyber-bro to their side. That could be a very bad thing given what they serve. Even if they aren’t inherently evil they serve a monster who is.
- Axl- I think we should try to avoid these things as much as we can; I don’t like the sounds of them.
- Clay- We shouldn’t trust these things. From what I’ve been told the ninja are having a bit of trouble with their droid brother becoming over trusting to these things. That could be very bad.
- Macy- From what we’ve heard these things are very unsettling; defiantly nothing like our friendly and helpful Squirebots.
- Lance- The town should capture a bunch of these things and change their programming to make them servants then maybe the place wouldn’t be so peasenty… then again with this Stag thing around how would you be able to trust these things wouldn’t want them to enslave you or worse. Maybe they should just leave these things in the wild.
- Jestro- Monstrous machines so human like you can’t tell the difference between them and people; does that sound a little unsettling to anyone else? How do I tell who’s who? I don’t want to fall to this monstrous leader of theirs; I’m done with the being evil kind of life.
Kaguar:
- Jay- Scary looking reptilian like beaked tusked cows; I’m not sure what to think about that but it does seem weird.
- Cole- I like them, they taste like beef and I hear their meat is healthier than cows meat.
- Zane- They are very helpful creatures and materials from them don’t taste too bad and are rather healthy you just have to be careful with those tusks; I hear they have been known to disembowel droids with them. I find that kind of unsettling.
- Nya- They’re not bad, they kind of smell odd but you won’t notice a difference between their milk and meat and a cows.
- Lloyd- Just pretend they’re a strange breed of cow and they don’t seem so alien even though they don’t sound like cows or look anything like them.
- Kai- They may taste like cows but they ain’t docile like them. When they flaunt those tusks at you don’t take that as a sign that their showing off. That means they’re mad, trust me I found out the hard way.
- Aaron- A cool looking mix between some reptile and a cow plus you can eat them. Not a bad creature.
- Axl- I found some good recipes for their meat if you’re interested.
- Clay- They’re not bad and useful but something about how they look at you when you walk by makes me uneasy. They look angry all the time.
- Macy- Compared to some of the other things people keep as livestock these are one of the less strange.
- Lance- Others can use such rustic methods of travel like these I’ll stick with my mecha-steed thank you.
- Jestro- I guess they’re not too bad even though they’re kind of scary to look at.
Parrot Cruncher:
- Jay- I guess they wouldn’t be too bad and be rather cute if it wasn’t for their venom, those quills and their strong nut cracking parrot beaks. Luckily they usually won’t bite with their full force on you with those but I’m not going to take the risk. They can bite with enough force to break your arm!
- Cole- They’re not too bad though very annoying if they try to steal your lunch. I think they know they have a venom that messes with us cause they don’t have much fear to people even wild ones. Trust me if they take your lunch just let them have it. Just touching them will make the parts you touch them with go numb and you lose functioning to them which can mean a full body paralysis if you try to wrestle them to get your lunch back.
- Zane- It’s creepy to have venoms affect me. I can feel the stuff mess with my programming when it contacts my nervous system. I’m not sure how it is affecting me, I think it’s some sort of magical effect, but it’s very unsettling and I am unfortunate to not benefit from anti-venom shots so I have to suffer the full effects of the venom for its full time. It’s not pleasant.
- Nya- In ways they’re cute but I think their dangers really hinder their cuteness especially if you’ve dealt with their venoms. It’s very unpleasant and removing those quills is pretty hard especially when you have to pull them out of a droid. You have to wear gloves when touching the quills and they can easily get stuck in metal.
- Lloyd- Cute but rather annoying. We’ve all had the unpleasant misfortune of getting affected by their venom and quills at least once while here. Most of them were by accident usually from training though Cole kind of asked for his the one time when he tried to wrestle it to get his lunch back from it.
- Kai- Yha the venoms not too nice but at least it’s not lethal and wears off quicker than you’d think about four to five hours. Truly that’s not too bad. The creatures aren’t too bad themselves and very passive. Unless they feel threatened they won’t attack.
- Aaron- Their pretty cool; they’re like someone mixed a parrot with a capybara then gave it quills like a porcupine. They like to chew like all three animals too. These creatures have a habit of chewing up wooden items to keep their beaks trim. The towns taken to making all important posts and signs within these creatures reach out of metal to keep them from chewing them up.
- Axl- While they eat largely plant matter like fruits, vegetables, leaves and stuff like that they do and will eat meat. They’ll eat smaller animals, carrion and bugs. Luckily they are very food orientated so you can use that to herd them away from where they aren’t supposed to be so you don’t have to actually touch them.
- Clay- As far as the creatures in this place go these ones aren’t too bad; yha the venoms annoying to work with or around but they aren’t too big and while annoying the venom isn’t lethal. Quite a few people like to keep these as pets. They’re apparently very dog like in temperament. If you want to keep them as pets though you have to get their venom sacks removed or you can’t really touch them and they will leave traces of their venom all around your house.
- Macy- They’re kind of cute, probably would be cuter if it wasn’t for the fact that you can’t touch them without getting poisoned. Sure it won’t kill you but the poisonings not fun. Imagine needing to scratch your nose but having both your arms paralysed. It’s not fun.
- Lance- Not a fan of the venom but at least it doesn’t mess with your looks. It sure doesn’t feel pleasant though, I prefer to just sleep it off unlike some who try to fight it. You should remember though if you’re going to pass out from the poison do so behind a locked door where others can’t get you; I’m still pretty mad about what Axl and Aaron did leaving me on a bench in the Under-city like that. It took hours to fully clean off all the makeup and markers people drew on me with!
- Jestro- They are cute and friendly but someone should have told me of their venom. I hadn’t read the book yet and Lance told me they were safe to pet; he purposely messed with me. It was scary when I lost feeling and use in my hand.
Pryphon:
- Jay- Cute, Playful and friendly but loud defiantly loud! They wouldn’t be so bad if they weren’t loud and full of attitude and if they couldn’t guilt you into giving them things; they especially love food. They also love to watch TV and when you play video games just don’t let them near the controllers cause they’ll chew off the buttons.
- Cole- Cute but watch out for that bite. They can crack coconuts with it so you don’t want them using it on you when they’re mad. They can also chew up a wooden chair in around 20 minutes if you let them. Also unless you want to give some of what you’re eating or hear an earful then don’t eat around them. They’ll beg for food and if they don’t get any they somehow give these really sad eyes or will throw a tantrum and yell… I had to share a sugar cookie with one. They can’t really pull off facial expressions but somehow it gave me such a sad look I just had to give it a piece. I felt guilty for not sharing with it.
- Zane- They are what many would consider cute along with entertaining, caring, intelligent and emotional creatures who enjoy being a part of the family. They are defiantly an enjoyable species though loud at times and have surprising mimicry abilities. Thought I kept hearing some of the others phones ringing the other day even when they weren’t around for over an hour turned out it was one of these just messing with me; I know it was messing with me because it laughed when I caught it in action.
- Nya- Cute, playful and friendly defiantly one of the more enjoyable creatures here and I’d have to agree with Jay they can be quite loud and are full of attitude. Trust me if they’re being loud or moody don’t yell back at them. They’ll just get louder and start throwing things at you and you don’t want them to bite you.
- Lloyd- I like these. They’re cute, friendly, family orientated, caring and playful. It’s enjoyable to watch them play together. Did you know they have a noise just for play that gets everyone in the mood to play? You should be careful though they are quite destructive. They’re playing often involves tearing things apart and causing mayhem and they like to steal things especially if there’s food involved. I’ve even heard of them breaking into people’s homes to steal things and cause mayhem.
- Kai- I can defiantly see the appeal to these creatures. They are cute and entertaining but loud and messy. They like to play with your hair for some reason and enjoy stealing things so keep an eye on your belongings… had to distract them with some food to recover my phone the other day.
- Aaron- These are fun and rad looking but their loud calls waking you up while you sleep is so unpleasant. I think they do it on purpose too, I’m pretty sure I heard some of them laugh when they did it.
- Axl- They’re so friendly you can get the more tame ones in the city to eat rate out of your hand. They love peppers, apples, watermelon, corn rate off the cob, potatoes and chicken. I heard they’ve actually on rare occasions been known to hunt chickens; they must really love chicken.
- Clay- These are cute and enjoyable to have around but you can’t let them distract you when you’re working. I will admit it is a bit hard to stay focussed when they’re playing near you especially when they are in groups. Somehow they know how to catch your attention and if you’re not careful get you involved. While I was watching two play fighting another stole my shield and took it into a tree. I went to retrieve it then it dropped down and started running around with it. The other two joined it and they played a game of keep away with me for longer than I would like to admit… around thirty minutes. Even worse it was in public, it was embarrassing.
- Macy- Their so cute you just want to hug them. I hear though that’s a bad idea. They are quite nippy and can do a lot of damage with those beaks. They also apparently don’t take kindly to being hugged unless they want to be. They’re very opinionated creatures.
- Lance-They are cute but they don’t like to have their pictures taken and can be quite rude; most of the pictures I got of them are them trying to bite the camera or giving me their butts!
- Jestro- They’re so funny and adorable I get why they are sometimes called the jesters of the wastes. If only I could be as good at entertaining as them then maybe everyone wouldn’t think I was a failure.
Retch:
- Jay- Floaty leathery jellyfish things; sure their relatively harmless but they still creep me out. I think it’s because of how they just float there kind of mindlessly and they have no eyes and the noodly tentacles, the glowing bits which make it creepier in the dark like all you see is their glowing markings just floating in the dark… that’s so unsettling! I’m not scared of them just more of creeped out by them. They apparently have smaller relatives you can find in some swampy forests, some caves and places underground. I don’t know if shrinking these things would make them less or more creepy.
- Cole- What do I say other than they just confuse me; they’re apparently some sort of Jellyfish, I can kind of see the relation a bit but other than that they just confuse me and I think I’m with Jay in that how they just float around is weird and unsettling. Their kind of mindless too like regular jellyfish and just randomly float around eating bugs especially flying ones like flies and the plant debris off the floor. They don’t seem to have much going on in their brains though they don’t have a brain… I guess that explains why they’re so mindless.
- Zane- These things are very confusing. How are they staying in the air without wings or artificial forms of propulsion? How are they staying a float and how do they keep from floating away? I get their tail helps them move but they have no eyes at least I cannot see any though apparently they do have photoreceptor cells, the structures in organic organisms that are precursors to eyes. They apparently have quite a few of these in their head region. Is that how they navigate? If not then how do they sense the world around them? Can they sense it much? They don’t have a brain so can’t sense the world like we can. They can’t be made or share a similar anatomy to jellyfish despite relations because a jellyfishes anatomy cannot survive outside water so what are they made of and how do they work? They are cool but all that is confusing about them un-nerves me. Even though it is a bit creepy how they just float around is kind of relaxing and calming to watch.
- Nya- So they’re like air jellyfish; I guess that’s not too bad. They’re not venomous like normal jellyfish so it won’t hurt you to bump into them or have the tentacles touch you; they can however produce electricity to shock anything they consider a threat so you have to be careful around them. Luckily they are rather docile but yha they’re kind of creepy; especially during a dark night. Strangely these things will also go underwater sometimes; I don’t know how they do it. They’d probably have to eat a bunch of rocks to counter the rising effect that lets them float unless they have some sort of magic that lets them do that.
- Lloyd- Yha something about them is unsettling yet strangely relaxing; seeing them floating in the dark yha very creepy but watching them mindlessly float around during the day can be oddly calming. I know they’re harmless but I just can’t get myself to get close to them. You know they made some of our armour from their skin. It doesn’t seem any different from normal leather. It stretches more than normal leather and apparently has some resistance to elemental magic. Other than that it’s no more different than regular leather.
- Kai- In one word they’re strange. Jellyfish like creatures that float in the air and can be just as sparky as Jay. Even stranger they farm them here. Not as food since their meat is poisonous to humans and will make droids sick but for their skin to make leather and this jelly that they use to make paralysis poisons. Apparently it’s not easy to farm them. Hard to contain something that can float away and they can wield electricity like Jay making them hard to work with. Truly I don’t see why they would bother with that. Did I also mention they can be creepy to look at especially in the dark?
- Aaron- I would say they are cool if they didn’t confuse me so much; all that confusing just makes me a bit nervous about them. I can tell you though accidently flying into them is not nice. They’re not as soft and squishy as jellyfish, that’s thanks to the armour plating and some internal hard parts that help their bodies retain their shapes without water to support them. Those though are not what makes hitting into them bad. Luckily they’re not venomous but that shock they can give you is pretty wicked, not as bad as Jays when he panic shoots you with a bolt of lightning but still it hurts pretty bad.
- Axl- How can something pretty harmless with not much of a brain that looks like a balloon made of leather be so creepy? If the floating isn’t unsettling enough seeing them floating in the dark where all you see is their glowing markings is even worse. Even weirder they are like insects and are attracted to lights which can be very unnerving to see these things suddenly float up out of the dark to come bump into the lights. Luckily the big ones usually won’t show up to your porch but they have a smaller relative that’s no bigger than a large pigeon found near swampy regions here that will and it’s more decorative with more glowing spots than the big ones so they’re even creepier to see in and float out of the dark.
- Clay- Yha I’m not sure what to think of these. Defiantly seeing them in the dark is creepy and the floating is weird. Their whole anatomy is confusing too. They are pretty passive at least so that’s nice. They could be worse. I hear these things have small pint sized cousins in some mountainous areas known as Sky Lamps that are parasitic feeding off others like mosquitoes and have a set of sharp spear like tentacles to help them grip their victims. I would not want to encounter those.
- Macy- Yha even after being here a while I still find them creepy particularly at night. A lot of the natives don’t mind them I guess they’re used to them though most from regions where these things and their relatives aren’t found feel the same as us; creeped or unsettled by them. They’re at last passive, if they weren’t they probably wouldn’t be very pleasant to have around. They at least can be humorous at times such as when they float into a clothesline or decorative light strand and get them stuck on them as they float around.
- Lance- Apparently this creepy floating jelly thing has a jelly they harvest that can be used as a decorative hair gel. It can give your hair a colourful glow in the dark. Sounds interesting but the extreme numbness, strange tingling feelings like someone’s sending electricity through your skin, some get rashes and have their hair fall out and the possibility of paralysis you can end up feeling from or having using it will have me steering clear of it. It sounds cool but I would rather not risk the possible effects. Who knows what damage they could do to my looks.
- Jestro- Weird and a bit creepy, the fact they can shock you with those tentacles makes them even more unnerving. Did you know the Ashers think these are a delicacy; obviously they must be immune to their poisons. The meat is poisonous. They like to force their prisoners to eat a tiny bit of this or anything else that will make you sick or weak to weaken them so they won’t fight back. Trust me that isn’t pleasant.
Constructs:
- Jay- Nothing against Zane but conscious calculating machines no thank you! You know most of the types don’t have eyes that can blink; they could secretly be watching you whenever you least expect them too! That young knight Robin found one of the snake ones and fixed it up and I found it the one day on a shelf in the main room. He claims he just left it there earlier and it was inactive but I swear there was light in its eyes and it was watching me slowly moving its head to keep an eye wherever I went!
- Cole- Yha these things are a bit unsettling but they’re not evil or monsters like what some think. They’re just machines. Whether their as special as Zane or not I’m not sure, most of them probably not; they’re really simple compared to my buddy but that doesn’t make them evil besides I’m pretty sure I’d side with them on some things. If I had a stranger walking into my house uninvited yha I’d attack them too especially if they’re there to take things without my consent.
- Zane- I get they are kind of unsettling but they are not evil. They just want to protect their homes so why does everyone hate them? I know they are not as advanced or special as me, some largely the militant ones, are barely more than machines but they still don’t deserve to be hated so much. They are just doing what they were made to do how does that make them evil? Why do humans hate things that aren’t truly human… I’ve never done anything wrong to the people here so why do they see me as an evil machine like these things?
- Nya- They’re cool but they’re also dangerous and unpredictable. We should be very cautious with these things. Many were designed to protect their homes and masters even if their main purposes were in other tasks so they come with some pretty serious defensive abilities. Despite what Zane thinks these things aren’t like him. Generally they’re way more simple than him and I don’t think they’ll consider him an ally at least not on first sight. He shouldn’t be as trusting to them as he is; that could prove dangerous. These things can hurt him just as much as they can to the rest of us. Also on record I don’t think they’re spying on us like Jay thinks; I think he’s just a little paranoid there.
- Lloyd- In general these things kind of unnerve me. The fighting ones I defiantly wouldn’t want to get in a fight with them but those little ones the snake, beetle and rat ones are scarier. They’re stealthy and they can be there without you realising they are there… I think I’m with Jay a bit here that some of them like to watch us. That Serpeton Robin has I found under my pillow once and I saw it sneaking behind me trying to remain hidden once. Even creepier I once woke up in the middle of the night and saw it curled onto the bedpost staring down at me... that was very unsettling.
- Kai- Me and technology don’t get along very well, odd cause me and Zane get along pretty fine then again he’s special, very special and he’s nothing like these things. These things are very simple, some of them are kind of animal like, they are no way as smart, they don’t really have feelings at least I don’t think they do… that snake one Robin has though was acting all dramatic once when I wouldn’t let follow me to the bathroom when I went to have a shower. I had to let it in to keep it from drawing attention… it just wanted to sit on a counter and watch me do my hair and brush my teeth… it was creepy. Anyway they’re dangerous and unnerving so I’m no fan of them.
- Aaron- Sure they’re dangerous but so is a blender and you don’t see people freaking out and hating those when they get hurt by them. That makes me wonder maybe if these metal dudes gave you a milkshake or smoothie before tossing you out of their home then maybe people wouldn’t be so scared of them. Anyway personally I think their pretty cool and their danger makes them cooler.
- Axl- They’re kind of cool and can be very helpful when programmed right, that one Robin found can be very helpful. If you need help finding something it can find it for you though it might not have the strength to bring it to you. A can of pop sure it can handle that, your axe when you misplace that yha that’s too heavy for it. Even though they can be helpful something about them still unnerves me.
- Clay- I get they’re not inherently evil but it’s easy for dark forces to sway what they want and some of these things are easily corrupted by dark forces. We should be careful with them. I’ve asked Robin to keep that Serpeton he found and refurbished shut down when it is not in use and I trust his word that he is doing so but somehow it keeps ending up active and somehow sometimes the best I could describe it as is observing us. Even odder it’s locked up at night yet Lloyd has told me he has seen it in their room at night… maybe he was just seeing things if not I’m scared to think of how and why that thing was out.
- Macy- I guess they wouldn’t be too bad if it wasn’t for the fact they can easily be controlled by dark forces and are pretty tough combatants. They can defiantly give you a work out and a scare. Came back into our room the one day after having a shower and Robins little snake one he found was sitting on the dresser in our room staring at me. It wasn’t there before and it seemed to watch everything I did. That’s kind of creepy.
- Lance- A living machine that can burn my hair off by spitting fire from its face no thanks plus these things have brains that can connect to technology like your phone or tablet right. Do you know what kind of damage they could do by hacking your devices… especially to your social media profiles! That would explain why that robo-snake Robin has was playing with my phone the one day and how some of my selfies ended up with those fake moustaches and paintings on them. Did that thing think those were funny? I wonder if Ava could program something to keep that thing from hacking my stuff.
- Jestro- I don’t know they kind of unsettle me. How can you tell when they’re actually sleeping or if they’re pretending to spy on you? I’m pretty sure the others are using the snake one Robin has to keep an eye on me. I’ve seen it following and watching me wherever I go.
Skeever:
- Jay- Garbage eating scavengers with bone crushing jaws not to mention they sound scary, are bold for wild animals, just as stubborn as Kai, as possessive of their foot as Cole, just as resilient as Zane and people want to keep them as pets?! Why? Why would you want one of these? They’ll try to rip each other’s ears off when they’re mad at each other, they rarely get infections no matter how many or how bad the scratches and bites they get are and even when young they fight each other just to get fed by their mother. Why would you want such a creature for a pet?
- Cole- I don’t think they’re that bad. They’re just animals not monsters. Sure they sound a bit scary especially when you hear them fighting at night and they’re hot headed like Kai but other than that they’re actually pretty nice unless they have food. I don’t blame them though for that, I’m not going to let others near my food either. Well maybe I’ll let Zane near it cause he won’t take everything if I offer him some unlike some others. Offered Jay some cake once and he left me a sliver of it! Yha I get why these creatures will bite your fingers off for taking their food, I’d do it too especially if you take most of it when I said you could only have a small piece!
- Zane- These creatures are not that bad. Much of their supposed aggressive behaviours are over exaggerations due to dislike of the creatures. They get a bad rap because their lifestyle and appearance does not match with what humans find cute or desirable but when you look past what people don’t like about them you will find there is plenty to love about these creatures. They are kind, very intelligent, actually quite gentle most of the time and quite caring especially to family members. They’ve even been known to come to the aid of others of their kind when they need it and will aid their injured companions. They’re fighting is used to establish dominance and in truth is no more aggressive than many other social carnivores.
- Nya- You’d think for an animal that will eat anything even dead and rotting things would smell bad but they actually don’t smell any worse than a cat or dog. They actually like to keep rather clean and enjoy bathing and relaxing in water. Also Jay thinks their fighting while kids makes them unpleasant, obviously having never grown up with a sibling he doesn’t get that yha sometimes you’ve got to fight with your siblings when you want something. There’s nothing wrong with that it’s normal. Lots of siblings do it both human and animal.
- Lloyd- At first they seem intimidating especially when you get them in a group but after a while you’ll see they’re not that bad well except when food is around but even then they’re not too bad; they’re no worse than Cole when he’s hungry and you bring food around. Especially if it is cake; I think Cole beats the creatures there especially if you take too much of it or don’t ask before taking some. Anyway they’re not as bad as many make them out to be.
- Kai- Will eat anything and gets cranky around food, are we sure we’re talking about this creature and not Cole :).
- Aaron- I don’t care what others think I think these little critters are quiet rad. I wouldn’t mind having one as a pet. I hear they’re actually quite good pets like a weird cross between a cat and a dog. They’re easily trained, love boxes and things to scratch and chew, they’ll play fetch and follow you around and they can also use a litter box. They are though apparently hard to keep out of places you store food when they’re hungry; that’s no different from dealing with Axl.
- Axl- Why is getting moody around food a bad thing? I get their mood I wouldn’t want someone touching my dinner when I’m trying to eat either.
- Clay- Truly they’re not bad. Defiantly a bit of a nusciance especially when some leave food and garbage lying around because they won’t pick up after themselves, I won’t say names but they know who I’m talking about. They left the parts of our meal one night that they refused to touch because they found it too gross and peasenty in his words to eat anything made with bugs on a table in the common room. It drew in a pair of these which I had to remove. Every time I took one out the other just rushed back in, I had to get Macy to help me remove them because he refused to fix the problem he had made not wanting to touch or get close to the creatures.
- Macy- Yha not really dangerous or bad; really not much differently from feral cats. Luckily you can grab them on their scruffs to keep them from biting, scratching and squirming just like cats. Really helpful when you have to move them from places they’re not supposed to be like in the living quarters after someone won’t clean up after himself.
- Lance- They may be clean but they still eat dead and rotting things including things that had some pretty nasty diseases. I’d rather not get close to something like that. Sure they’re immune to the diseases but I’m not and I’d rather not catch something especially if it messes with my looks and they have a few of those here.
- Jestro- I feel for them. They get hated just for doing their thing and being themselves. I know what that’s like… it’s not nice.
Treebill:
- Jay- I guess they’re not too bad. Friendly and playful, they are cute especially the babies but they are loud though, sometimes very loud, and their nimble fingers can get into a lot of things. Watch your pockets when they’re around, they like to steal candies and cookies.
- Cole- They’re cute and very friendly; I get why people like them and why they like to feed them even though the city officials don’t want you to. They don’t want to encourage the creatures to be too friendly or become dependent on people for their survival. It’s fun and rather relaxing to interact with them though. Their faces kinda look like a ducks and like ducks people like to feed them bread. That however is not the recommended thing to feed them though. It’s bad for their health and the environment.
- Zane- They defiantly are highly curious, a little too curious sometimes. One found the control panel in my arm and kept trying to play with it. I was not comfortable with that. Thankfully Cole got it distracted by handing out some bread for them to feed on.
- Nya- They are cute but you shouldn’t let that fool you. They are very mischievous and seem to enjoy getting into trouble which can be really annoying. The town has a bit of a problem with them chewing through things especially wooden items and measures to discourage them never work. They’re smart enough to find ways around them. I also found spraying them with water doesn’t discourage them from their mischief, in fact they like that.
- Lloyd- I love how they are very family orientated with everyone helping each other though they also cause mischief together. One stole my phone while I was petting one of them. It distracted me so its family member could steal my phone! Zane managed to get it back for me though it found out about the panel in his arm and kept bothering and messing with him through it. Luckily Cole was able to get it to leave him alone.
- Kai- They are cute but can also be very annoying especially when they keep trying to steal your food and I found they aren’t affected by hot sauce so dousing your food in that won’t stop them from stealing it.
- Aaron- These little things are quite rad. You know they can swing through the branches using both their arms and tail to grab branches; pretty cool huh!
- Axl- These things are crafty. They know they can trick people into giving them food by taking things from you. They also know how to break into things like coolers, rubbish bins, sheds even people’s homes!
- Clay- They wouldn’t be too bad if it wasn’t for the mischief they like to cause. That one Ghidorah found Robins Mini-trex and began playing with it even with Merlok still on it. He drove it around the hall in the bedrooms and crashed it into one of the planters. He gave Merlok quite the scare.
- Macy- Don’t let their cuteness fool you. They’re loads of trouble. If they can get into trouble they’ll do it. I’ve heard some of those hear describe them as eternal toddlers with pliers for faces. Seeing what they can do and the mischief they can cause I can see why they say that.
- Lance- Their not bad and you can take selfies with them. People here like seeing selfies with them. I think the creatures like it too. They seem to enjoy being the center of attention. They also like to try and groom your hair; I wouldn’t mind it if they had clean hands. I’ve seen what they do and handle with those paws of theirs. I don’t want that in my hair!
- Jestro- They’re fun and funny to play with and they don’t seem to mind my comedy routines in fact they seemed amused by them. They also like to play keep away with anything you drop while juggling and they will bite if you try to get it back without bargaining with food.
Venom-fang:
- Jay- Fast, agile bird lizards with a lethal venom. How can people feel safe with these things around? At least they have anti-venom shots for these. I carry two on me at all times. One for me and one for Nya; she doesn’t think it’s necessary but I think she misjudges the danger of these things. Their venom can hurt Zane; you know it’s bad when it can hurt him!
- Cole- Honestly you see a picture of them and they don’t look too bad but to experience them first hand is something else and that venom… you don’t even realise you were bit and are hallucinating.
- Zane- I don’t like how their venom can mess with my mind and senses and worse I could not even tell it was affecting me. Worse to prevent problems the others had to clean the venom out of damages they left in me and I accidently gave Nya a black eye… I didn’t mean to I thought she was a bear trying to tear me apart. Then again it wasn’t much of my fault she and Jay should have waited for the venoms effects to wear off before helping me.
- Nya- I get Jays fears but I don’t think we need to be carrying these anti-venom shots all the time. Yha these creatures are a bit scary especially the strange reflective quality to the stripe on their sides in the dark but unless we give them a reason to attack I don’t think they will. Also when some ones affected by their venom wait for it to wear off before helping them; you could get hurt from their hallucination especially when they have metal skin and bones.
- Lloyd- If it wasn’t for what they can do and how creepy they look in the dark they could be cool. Having to deal with the aftermath of their venoms isn’t a pleasant or easy affair either. After they got poisoned by that session in the arena with the maze Zane gave Nya a black eye and Cole started eating the wooden table coasters to put cups on in the main hall thinking they were cookies. It was not easy keeping both under control.
- Kai- Yha something using hallucinating venom that also turns out to be lethal no thanks; I’m going to steer clear of these things; very clear. The hallucinations however were funny to see especially Aaron when he got bit that one training session. He gets even more crazy and a bit wild like a cat on catnip with that stuff. I managed to trick him into biting Jay and his panicking afterwards was priceless. He thought he was going to get whatever curse he believes Aaron has and made Merlok and Clay hit him with a bunch of spells to cure him. Lance has gotten footage of all those that have been infected by these venoms, I’m goanna get some copies of those; they’ll be fun to have.
- Aaron- Yha I’m a fan of extreme beasts but these are something I feel are best admired from a distance. I’ve experienced quite a few of the venoms from the creatures from this place all were unintentional despite what that ninja Jay thinks and man they are not pleasant. The hallucinating effects of some like these guys is not a pleasant feeling, it really messes with your head.
- Axl- Trust me they may be small but they’re no less nasty than the bigger guys especially when they’re in a group and with that venom, it was not pleasant.
- Clay- Despite how dangerous they are and the problems their venoms create these creatures don’t often attack people and when they do it is strictly because their hungry not to be evil. That being said they are not creatures to mess with. They are very dangerous and that venom can really mess with people. That stuff had Axl thinking Aaron was a were-wolf for several hours, I think some of Jays paranoia influenced that. He kept trying to muzzle Aaron so he wouldn’t bite anyone and kept trying to get Merlok to cure him. Aaron was not pleased by the activity nor Axl constantly trying to lock him in a dog cage when he kept removing the muzzle. He bit Axl to scare him and that worked too well. He locked himself in a dog cage the rest of the time thinking he would become a were-wolf.
- Macy- Yha they’re dangerous but they’re just animals not monsters. You make a lot of noise and wave a weapon or even just a stick around and they flee. Sometimes a couple good whacks to their hides helps drive them off. No special weapons or Nexo Powers needed. You do need to be careful not to get bit though. Their venom is pretty dangerous and has some rather unpleasant effects. Not sure whose harder to deal with when under the hallucinating effects of some of the venoms here Axl, Aaron, Zane or Cole. Axl didn’t give us much of a problem well except for Aaron but the rest of us had no problem, Aaron goes a bit crazy and did become a bit nippy. He can bite quite hard but he isn’t made of metal nor do either of them have super strength or powers like those ninja so I guess we’ve had an easier time than the ninja when we have to deal with those affected by these venoms.
- Lance- I like the golden markings to them but I’m not a fan of these things. Seriously dangerous bird lizards that can figure out how to open doors; I saw one do it. It used it’s jaws to manipulate the handle and open it! That aside that hallucinating effect of their venom and some of the other venoms is hilarious; along with footage of Aaron while he was under a few of these venoms I got footage of Axl and those two ninja Cole and Zane. When we get back to Knightonia I’m posting them on social media despite what they think; everyone will enjoy the laugh and I’ll get such a following…(gets a text message then whispers ‘Clay why’d you have to tell them’) or maybe I’ll hold off posting them until I get their permission. I’d rather not face any of their wraths… Axl and Aaron can be dangerous enough I’d rather not find how dangerous those two ninja can be.
- Jestro- There are a lot of pretty scary things in this place and these are one of them. Sure in the day when they’re not hunting you I guess they’re not too bad, no worse than you’d expect from something that’s a cross between a reptile and a bird but when you see them at night… as if that glowing effect animals eyes normally have isn’t eerie enough that strange reflective strip they have just makes them creepier. Not to mention that venom, I don’t want to know what it’s like to be hallucinating from it. From what I’ve seen and heard it can be quite scary.
Their thoughts on some of the Monsters:
Ash Crawler:
- Jay- Living Nightmare!
- Cole- Yha I’m with Jay on this, I don’t want to ever see one of these things.
- Zane- If nindroids could have nightmares these things could be found in them and trust me as one they do. Nya- Just looking at the depictions of this thing makes my skin crawl.
- Lloyd- I wouldn’t just consider this thing a monster, I’d class it as a demon.
- Kai- I can’t believe I’m agreeing with Jay on this but yha this things a nightmare.
- Aaron-Yha just the sound of this thing scares me and I like to live by the thought of not letting fear get to me; I’d hate to encounter one in real life.
- Axl- I hope we don’t come across one of these.
- Clay-If we run across one of these I don’t think us or the ninja will fare well.
- Macy-I feel for those poor knights and warriors from this realm. This thing must give them plenty of nightmares just thinking of them let alone to face them in combat.
- Lance-I might need extra underwear if we see one of these.
- Jestro- Only the nastiest of evils could come up with one of these things and from my experience imprisoned with those Ashers they defiantly are that kind of evil.
Hunger:
- Jay- a demon called hunger that eats your energy! No thanks!
- Cole- First off this thing sounds scary secondly someone’s going to make a joke about this thing towards me aren’t they?
- Zane- These things unnerve me; it really hurts to have your energy drained and it could destroy my heart! I don’t like the thought of that.
- Nya- There are ways to kill these things right? I hope so cause things like this shouldn’t be let to live.
- Lloyd- I really hope we don’t come across one of these. I’m betting because of my powers it will be drawn to feed off me over everyone else and that would be very bad.
- Kai- Sounds like Cole in the morning :) Seriously though this thing sounds scary.
- Aaron- Do you think an oversized bug swatter could take this thing out? Just the sound of this thing scares me.
- Axl- Everyone better not make a joke about this thing and me! Other than that this thing sounds terrifying.
- Clay- Hopefully we don’t have to deal with one of these; normally that would be bad but with an elemental master of energy in tow if one of these things feeds on him it would probably become invincible!
- Macy- I hear their feeding makes them stronger and more powerful; that’s real bad. That just makes these nightmares sound worse.
- Lance- Sounds like they made a monster inspired by Axl ;) Please don’t tell him I said that.
- Jestro- I saw one of these in that Ashers encampment. It drained a cow into nothing then tor it apart with its claws for fun; it was a nightmare!
Noctern Crow:
- Jay- A nightmare! Please don’t ask about the events in the mine.
- Cole- Definitely creepy; can’t look at crows the same way again when you see one of these.
- Zane- I would not like to go into how I know but these things aren’t really evil. They can be scary to look at yes but they are more like crows than evil monsters. They don’t desire to truly harm others they just want the same things a crow wants. Food, water to bathe in, flavourful drinks, safe and comfy nests, toys and games to play with, tasty crunchy buggies and juicy rotting meats, pretty shinnies to decorate with… can you excuse me I need to run a quick diagnostics.
- Nya- Yha creepy, smelly, tough and with lots of ragged feathers but not really evil; more of annoying especially when they scream at you.
- Lloyd- Yha they’re very unpleasant to deal with. I think we got lucky with our first encounter because… let’s just say we got lucky. Next time we might not be lucky.
- Kai- Yha I don’t want to talk about these things. Let’s just say when threatened they sometimes like to vomit on threats; just thinking of the smell makes me feel sick… and want a two hour shower.
- Aaron- Definitely cool, not as scary as many proclaim but yha rather tough though they literally have a bird brain; they think like birds. Very useful when you deal with them.
- Axl- They don’t look it but are very tough; and kind of gross. They’ll eat almost anything no matter how rotting or maggot filled it is.
- Clay- For a monster I didn’t see much of a monster to these things. More like creepy big humanoid birds.
- Macy-Yha they’re very unsettling and tough but I wouldn’t necessarily say evil. Then again… actually I can’t talk about that.
- Lance-Please don’t ask about these things! I don’t want to remember having to deal with one of these. Do you know how long it took to clean myself after that? Trust me you don’t want to know and you don’t want to know what I ended up pulling out of my hair!
- Jestro- I ran into some of these; they wanted me to entertain them. They’re not as scary as most of the other monsters I saw but they are loud and very pushy. They also enjoy seeing you in pain or grossed out.
Demons of the Wastes (any monster from the void):
- Jay- Let’s just put every single one of these in a big box of nope! Fire breathing two legged crocodiles more hot headed than Kai, creepy creatures that are like crosses between bugs and other animals that like to suck the energy and life out of you often with appetites bigger than Coles, big four armed snake sorceresses, bony bird things that can barf on you, plenty of un-dead looking and insect things to give you nightmares, many like to drain you’re energy and do other bad things to you just for fun do I need to go on! Not even Zane is immune to any of their attacks; they can harm and destroy him just as easily as the rest of us and worse you can’t truly destroy these things! They’ll just return from this horrid void place and make your life a living nightmare and not to mention many want to turn you into monsters like them! How can people handle having these things around? Even worse many bad people like to work with these monsters and are friends with them! Then even worse than that some of these like to live in our world like it’s their home! Why? As if many normal animals aren’t scary enough there’s these things hanging around to cause trouble and attack us! (He began to rant and babble becoming more anxious so to prevent accidents our interviewers gave him a sedative to keep him from potentially shocking anyone).
- Cole- Yha a lot of these things give you the chills just to read about or even look at pictures of. Anything insect like is defiantly quite unsettling especially when there is something spider like to them; un-dead looking things are pretty unsettling too especially ghost like ones. Despite what some of the others think I think we can handle some of these with little problem like Gloam-Harpies, Serpent Flies, Voidfears, Vesparilions as long as they are not in too large a swarm, Skinned Hounds, the Elemental creatures and probably some of those lesser weaker monsters others however I’m pretty sure we can’t handle. Those who think we can are being foolish. Also I am getting rather sick of some of the others the two know who they are making jokes about my appetite with some of these things especially that one called a Hunger. You know I think I’ve seen a few of these before like this bear bird thing before. I thought it was just an animal; it acted like one and didn’t bother me like a real animal would. Thinking back it’s kind of unnerving that I came across one of these demons and didn’t realise what it was or how dangerous it actually was. I guess maybe not all these monsters really are monsters. Even though I doubt it maybe we could get some friendly monsters to help us.
- Zane- Despite the term demon many are not truly evil just how they view things, their powers and natures do not align with what humans would consider pleasable or good. True some are what could truly be seen as evil but quite a few are just like animals or people. They have their own lives and individual views just because of their origins they have strong desires to cause chaos and destruction to the world around them; I guess that makes them more of a force of change more than evil. Truly what the people consider demons especially around here is subjective based more by their views and not entirely on facts; I know this first hand. Many of them consider me a monster or even a demon just because of what I am… it’s very unpleasant. You know I have seen these Xeracel-striders and Xivurses beings before and possibly a few others in the Birchwood forest when I was younger. I don’t have much memory of that time but strangely I remember those creatures. I remember feeling something strange about them but couldn’t figure out what. I thought they were just animals; they acted like them and never gave me or my father any more trouble than normal animals. They weren’t really monsters. Just more proof the view people have here on what makes a monster isn’t true.
- Nya- Not going to lie many of these don’t sound too good. Many like to painfully weaken you by sucking energy from you and why do quite a few take forms that are like some mutant insects or un-dead? Is that to further make them more scary? I wonder are insects scared of those that have insect like appearances just as much as people are? That aside despite what my brother might think I don’t think we will fare too well against a lot of these; some of us particularly so. I won’t say who but you can probably take a good guess at who those would be. I’ll just say there is more than one. We haven’t done so well yet against some of these we have faced already mainly those creepy shadow figures and a Noctern Crow which… actually that doesn’t matter. Simply put we haven’t done so good and I don’t think we’ll do well against most of these. These aren’t simple creatures or monsters. They all have rather dangerous powers and those that seem very beastial are actually surprisingly cunning and sly. With his ego I’m pretty sure my brother will get himself into some serious trouble if we left him alone with some of these things.
- Lloyd- In one word terrifying that’s what I think of these things. Monsters equipped with dark powers that can drain your energy, health and even life equipped often with sharp claws, teeth and other body parts. Then there’s the fact they can’t truly be destroyed. You can destroy them but their remains simply vanish after sometime after which they re-manifest from the energies of the void and can return to hunt you down again! Worse apparently these things can be found in all the realms even ours and can easily go unnoticed as they wreck havoc. They often stick to dark or less populated places and can attack quickly leaving little to no survivors so hardly anyone knows they’re there. Thinking about it I think I recall some monsters from ancient tales and urban legends that match quite a few of these demons; I don’t think in many of those tales these monsters were ever felled meaning they could still be out there! That’s a very unsettling thought.
- Kai- I’m pretty sure I can handle some of these, well probably not the big ones or if they’re in a swarm or large group but one on one yha I could. Those little bug ones don’t look so tough and I hear they’re just like insects in that they can get obsessed with lights. I’m betting they’d foolishly head straight into my fire just trying to get it and burn themselves up… I wonder if they’d be attracted to Zanes eyes like normal insects? I then wonder what would happen if he accidently ate one? Would it turn him all evil crazy? We should probably make sure that doesn’t happen then. Also these fire breathing lava crocs sound pretty cool. I wonder if I could trick them with my fire to make them friendly to us. If anything my sister or Zane could easily cool them down. Also don’t let him know I told you this but that one called a Hunger sounds a bit like Cole always hungry and will eat anything; maybe like him we could win those creatures over with cake. I doubt that but it would be funny.
- Aaron- I won’t deny yha a lot of these are defiantly not something I would want to face in battle especially if I was on my own nor would I want to stumble upon them in some dark place or at night but is it wrong to find some of them cool? Like they look and some of their powers sound so wicked, kind of makes you want to be one of them. Yha the Noctern Crow was pretty tough but it looked cool and what it could do was pretty wicked. Also I think I’ve met one of these Xivursus creatures at least it looked a lot like it. We call them in our realm though Hawk-bears. We consider them animals though cause they rarely acted like monsters. Finding out what they really are doesn’t really change my view of them. It just makes them cooler. You know I know as a knight the thought of these creatures being considered cool and wanting to be one kind of goes against my teachings and training, we’re supposed to protect people from monsters like these, but it is still a fun thought. I will have to admit though that while some are cool there are quite a few I will admit scare me. Those four armed snake ladies and those Hungers defiantly, I would not want to get into a fight with those. The strange goat headed ghost things and some of the un-dad looking things too are rather unsettling.
- Axl- These all sound so tough I don’t think we’re ready to face these. I know I won’t be able to hold against them and if I can’t then I don’t think most of the others can. Clay might be able to and some of those ninja with their powers defiantly not that Jay though might be able to but I think these things have the rest of us beat. I’ve heard looks of these things can be deceiving. Just because they look delicate doesn’t mean they are. After dealing with that crow thing which didn’t look too tough I’d have to agree with that statement and that one crow was being mostly nice to us and it was still pretty bad.
- Clay- These things defiantly aren’t like any monsters we’ve faced before. All those we’ve faced that were under Monstruxs rule before and the many normally found in our realm seem mild or even harmless compared to these things. Guess we should be thankful they don’t normally wander freely about the realms preferring to stick to certain environments or locations and don’t often wander from those sights or close to where innocent beings tend to hang out. I was curious as Merloks never really told us where the monsters in our realm came from and doing some research on entities of the void and just as I had a feeling the monsters that served Monstrux are indeed monsters originating from the void. Luckily they’re some of the more passive types compared to the dark and truly monstrous beings that can come from this place. Gotta feel sorry for those that have to deal with these truly nasty monsters on a regular basis; it can’t leave them feeling very well especially since some of these can literally make you ill.
- Macy- I don’t care where these monsters come from I will still face them just like a knight should even if they are pretty scary and I’m pretty sure we won’t fare very well against a lot of these. Not even those ninja or Clay with their powers stand a good chance against them. It is our duties though as knights to protect others from monsters like these no matter what so we have to put aside our fears to protect those who can’t stand a chance against these monsters. That being said I hope we don’t have to face too many of these or at least any of the nastier ones.
- Lance- I doubt many in Hollowood could come up with such nasty monsters as these. You don’t want to know what some of them can and will do to others and Aaron finds some of these things cool? How crazy is he? The things that droi- I mean crow thing did were worse than disgusting! All these things want to tear you apart, turn into their chew toys, eat you, put gross and nasty substances on you that take hours to get off and the smell off your clothes and you don’t want to know what end it comes from cause they’ll do both and these are just some of the nicer things they do. You don’t want to know about the worse ones! How could anyone consider such monsters cool?! Why would anyone in this realm want to become some sort of knight or any kind of warrior with these things around?
- Jestro- I know I’ve had dealings with monsters in the past but I’d never want to side, work with or even just be near monsters like these. I was unfortunate to experience some of these monsters up close and they are far worse than any of the monsters I’ve worked with before. Not even Monstrux was as bad as these things!
Their thoughts on the Black Stag and his minions: (part 2 is taken from views midway through the section)
Jay- (in part 1) A living nightmare! Why does a demon have to take such a gentle, innocent and majestic innocent creature like a deer and turn them into a monster of nightmares? I’ve heard all the horrid things it can do and I’ve seen what happens to those who encounter him how scared and terrified they are. They get so scared they can end up losing all their hair even their fur, they are constantly checking over their shoulders, every little sound scares them and that’s just some of what you can get if you’re lucky to live! You don’t want to know the nightmares you’re put through if you don’t survive! I’d rather sit next to an Oni than be anywhere near that thing? To make it worse are his minions. Mindless heartless savage machines and beasts that want to devour us or drag us to be tortured by their demon master! Even worse I’m pretty sure Zanes becoming one of them! He’s acting a little off and trusts them even over me! I’m his pal his brother I should be the one he trusts over those monsters! He wants to help those monsters and be friends with them and he keeps telling us they’re not evil monsters! I think they’ve done something to him and it’s turning him into one of them; he’s being too friendly to these monstrous minions of this thing. That’s not right! Who knows what that monsters corruption will do to Zane but I’m pretty sure it won’t be nice for the rest of us!
(in part 2) Words can’t describe how terrifying that thing is. All those rumours we heard are true! It’s a demon worse than the Oni; it’s like something that crawled out of the darkest pit in the darkest woods in the universe. Even though his minions say he isn’t I’m pretty sure that thing is always somehow watching us skulking in the shadows waiting to strike us down and torture us! That reminds me I was right; the others tell me to drop my paranoia but I’m not paranoid! I warned them that thing had done something to Zane! That it warped his mind to turn him into a monster like his other minions. I’m surprised it didn’t turn him into one of those bird monsters again to attack and torture us more. Zane pretends to be on our side and toil away with us but I know better. He’s helping that monster get us. It used Zane to lure us into his trap so we’re now his slaves! Who knows what that monster has planned for us?! It’s already ensnared Zane and I think Coles starting to get his mind warped by that monsters minions. How long till they start messing with the rest of us?! Does he want to turn some of us into his monstrous servants or does he want us to tear each other apart in some cruel game for his enjoyment? I don’t know but I’m going to make sure I don’t fall for it.
Cole- (in part 1) Something about that thing I find very unsettling. We’ve never faced anything like this monster before and I’m pretty sure we’re not ready to face this thing. Then again I don’t think anyone could ever be ready to face something like this. A demon that even Oni fear; how monstrous does something have to be to earn that title. Can I tell you something in confidence? I think I’ve seen that thing in some of my dreams; they were never good dreams. In a few of them… I don’t wish to describe in detail what it did to us but let’s just say it was bad, very bad. As for his minions, I’m pretty sure the others might not like to hear it but I’m not entirely sure they’re as evil as everyone says they are. Zane might be right about them. They’re not evil monsters, just misunderstood. After all if this Stag thing has rule over you I wouldn’t disobey it’s orders or desires; that can’t end very well for yha.
(in part 2) That thing is worse in present than what dreams could come up with. Feeling him control me like a puppet was bad enough but to be in the full presence of that thing, no thanks I’d rather be in the presence of the Oni again than be near that thing! As for his minions my suspicions and Zane were right. They’re not that bad. Many are actually quite nice and friendly. Just careful what you say around them though many take things a little too literal sometimes. Also don’t listen to anything Jay has to say about the Stags minions or Zane. None of it is right and quite a bit of what he has said and done to and around Zane are highly uncalled for; I think he’s lost his mind.
Zane- (in part 1) I really don’t want to talk about it but… I won’t deny that monster is a demon and I am terrified of falling to this thing. I know I’m not strong enough to fight it and I don’t think the others even together are strong enough to save me from it. That incident in the mine proved it… what it did to me was if I could put it in one word terrifying. It wants me I can sense this and it terrifies me. I’ve felt its hold and what it can do… there are no words I can think of to describe how terrible its hold is. I do not think though his minions are what others think they are. They are not the monsters everyone says they are. They are victims to his cruelty and terror but because they have nowhere else safe to turn to they have to suffer under his tyranny and behave how he wants just to have a chance to live. I do not understand why the others can’t see this. They refer to them as monsters but I won’t see them that way; I think that’s made some of the others distrust me. I’ve caught them talking when they thought I wasn’t around, some of what they say it’s not very comforting and a bit scary and threatening to me, plus Jay keeps acting strange to me and has asked some weird things to me.
(in part 2) I knew it wanted me now I’m trapped here with it. You would not understand how terrible that feels. As for his minions I was right about them; they aren’t monsters or evil and are much like me. At least I’m not alone while trapped here. I have the others with me and they, well most of them, are no longer thinking I would side with that monster. It’s nice that they finally see what I see and don’t think something’s wrong with me though Jay… not only does he still think something’s wrong with me but he thinks I have betrayed them. I don’t understand why he thinks that. Some of the things he says or does towards me does not make me feel nice. He calls me a monster and many other undesirable and unpleasant terms and it is very unpleasant being ostracised especially by your own brother.
Nya- (in part 1) I would have to agree with Jay on this one that thing is a living nightmare, his minions I’m not too sure about that. I don’t think they’re entirely the monsters others say they are but they’re not good either. They are following evil and doing evil acts but not because they’re inherently evil. They’ve just been programmed to be that way and I doubt they’re truly that monstrous, defiantly not as bad as what Jay thinks they are. Man eating droids, demons taking the form of machines, droids that want to rip out his heart and eat it or make Zane eat it for some cruel joke; I think he’s being a little paranoid and over dramatic. Not to mention none of us have any clue where he is getting some of these ideas. While I don’t fully believe some of his ideas I would have to agree with him that this Stag and its minions are doing something to Zane; something bad. He’s been a bit off and oddly trusting to the monsters that serve this demon. As far as I can tell he’s not under any form of control and is doing it out of free will but I think that makes it worse. What could this thing or its minions have said or done to make Zane willingly side with some of them?
(in part 2) I’m with Zane on that monster Stag. It’s a demon through and through. What it can do to you and the darkness it exudes are some of the nastiest things I have ever seen or felt. As for his allies they aren’t actually what everyone says they are. Zane was right; after feeling what that thing can do I get why they serve him. It’s not out of a willingness to do his bidding; it’s out of fear. I need to have a talk with Jay so he’ll see the truth and stop being so paranoid by those who have to serve that monster. He’s starting to take out his paranoia on Zane and it’s hurting his feelings. He’s already been through enough and being trapped here with that demon hanging around isn’t doing him any good. Zane doesn’t need more to make him feel worse especially from his own family.
Lloyd- (in part 1) I don’t want the others to know but deep down that thing is the scariest thing I have ever seen or even just heard of. It’s like something that crawled from the darkest reaches of existence, a true demon. What does it want? What can it do? What is it willing to do to us? I don’t want to find out. As for his servants they might not have started off evil but clearly being under that things rule has turned them into monsters at least for the robots. I’m not too sure about the animals; they might just be victims to his hold and not willingly aiding him like the droids. Those droids, unfortunately I think some of them have started to mess with Zane and not for anything good. He’s become oddly trusting and defensive of them even when he knows nothing about them. I’d think he’d be wise enough to see the danger trusting them poses and not let emotions rule his judgment of them but it looks like he isn’t like these things have done something to mess with his thinking. I don’t want to do anything drastic or to hurt Zane but if they have done something… I don’t want to think about what we might have to do to keep him out of harm or worse from him causing problems and harm to others.
(in part 2) Zane was right, his minions really aren’t monsters despite sometimes appearing to then again some like those Samurai only act that way to live up to the reputation the Stag wants from them to appear as living demons. Outside that they’re actually rather nice to meet and when not on duty would actually surprise you with how un-monstrous they are; I found one of those Samurai likes to knit and create rugs and tapestries in its spare time. Sure it makes some creepy looking stuff but it’s not the hobby I would first expect from something said to be a monster. That master of theirs though the Stag after meeting him in person I’m pretty sure he is some form of demon. What kind though I don’t know and I dread finding out.
Kai- (in part 1) Truly I’m not sure what to think. This thing defiantly sounds scary but how much of it is really true. Given the superstitions of the area they could just be over reacting to this thing. They have a superstition to place a large golden scarab beetles shell over your doorway on moonless nights to prevent monsters like those under the Stags rule from entering your home or to eat Lunar grapes during moonless nights to prevent being possessed by dark spirits. Lunar Grapes are these strange grapes which are actually quite good though they have an odd faint light blue glow to them. Jay wanted to follow this superstition but when he saw the grapes and their glow he refused to touch them. He dared Aaron to eat them to prove he was crazy. Aaron did it just to spite him and drive Jay crazy. He even got Cole and Zane to eat some of them just to mess with Jay. He tried to get me but I wasn’t going to. Glowing food doesn’t sound healthy to me. Anyway back to what we were talking about I think the Stag is a monster and a pretty bad one at that but I’m not sure if he’s monstrous enough to class as a demon. As for his minions the animals are just that animals; they’re not actually evil as for the robotic ones. Well I’m not sure. I don’t trust technology much so it’s hard to tell what’s true with them but I don’t trust any of them. (when its commented about Zane technically being a robot and if he trusts him he says) Yha I sometimes forget he isn’t truly human but I do know that and yha I trust him; why wouldn’t I. Zanes special; very special. He’s not like other droids and nothing like those monsters. That being said I think some of those robots this Stag has have been doing things to him. He’s been a little weird lately. I don’t know much about it but I’m pretty sure Nya or Jay could figure it out and help him.
(in part 2) Okay that thing defiantly lives up to the hype. I don’t think anything in your nightmares could match that monster. The people aren’t lying, he’s a demon. As for his servants I was right about the animals as for the technology based beings. They’re actually not that bad. They remind me a bunch of Zane; I can see why he was so willing to trust him. Probably because of what he is they were willing to show their true side to him unlike with the rest of us. They probably didn’t feel safe revealing their true side to the rest of us because they might have thought we were like the other people of Balmora and wouldn’t trust them. Given what they’ve had to go through I wouldn’t blame them. I wouldn’t blame them for serving the Stag either. If I had no other option but to serve that thing to stay alive I’d do it out of fear too.
Aaron- (in part 1) I would like to say I could be fearless about that thing but that would be a lie; a far out lie. There is something not right and disturbingly dark about that thing. Fear is an understatement about how I feel about it. I’ve never seen, felt or even heard of a monster like this cervine monstrosity. I really don’t want to face this Stag monster but we really don’t have a choice. As for his allies I don’t think they’re entirely that bad. They are just animals and sentient machines after all, well some are actually both at the same time really but you get my drift. They’re not inherently or truly evil just under the wrong leadership. I don’t think they’re actually out to get anyone or do evil things. You ask me they’re more like the Stags dogs than monsters.
(in part 2) Do I have to talk about it?! I thought just seeing that thing was bad but to have it overtake you is far worse. It’s cold is worse than cold, there’s this worse than nightmarish emptiness feeling he brings and leaves and I could swear while he had a hold on me my heart wasn’t beating or at least I don’t remember feeling it. I don’t think I was breathing either. It was hard to tell with how numb it made me feel. The feelings he left me with afterwards were so un-rad too and they lasted for a few days. I felt in danger, every sudden noise or quick movement startled me, the cold hollowness, the numbness… it was horrid. I can understand why those that serve him do so; to either willingly do something or have that demon take hold of you to make you do something I would willingly do what it wants without question. Whatever it wants you to do is in no way as nasty or terrible with what it can and will do to you. His so called monsters I was right about. They’re really not monsters and actually quite nice. That potion they gave me really did help with my condition and they have not given us any harm or reason to trouble. They just like to chill and do their thing unfortunately though they have to live in the shadow of that monster. I’d rather hang with them then be anywhere near that master of theirs.
Axl- (in part 1) I’m not going to lie that thing scares me. It’s one monster I don’t wish to ever face. That being said what’s with bad guys taking a gentle animal and turning them into monsters. He can turn things as innocent as butterflies into monsters. Just look what it did with that gentle droid the ninja have Zane. He can be a bit scary at times especially when you make him mad but he’s no monster. That thing turned him into a monster just for its own entertainment; not once but twice and it seemed to enjoy it. How cruel does something have to be to do that? His minions on the other hand; they don’t really seem that monstrous. Why would animals want to be evil and the bots I don’t see why they would want to be evil either. What would they gain from it?
(in part 2) That thing is worse than I thought. Seeing what it did to the ninja and Aaron, no wonder they call it a demon. They had no choice or control and it did terrible things with and too them. They weren’t themselves for a while afterwards as well. It was so unsettling; I’ve never seen Aaron so skittish and jumpy before; that’s not like him! Those beings that serve that monster were nothing like him. They were nice, friendly and helpful. They’re not monsters like everyone was telling us. Seeing what that monster did with Aaron no wonder those poor beasts and droids serve him the way they do. The poor things must be so scared to live under that things rule.
Clay-(in part 1) I don’t like the looks and sounds of this thing this dark Stag. It’s worse than any form of monster I’ve ever heard of. I dread to know what this thing could ever want and I doubt we would ever want to find out. As for those minions of his I’m unsure what to think. We haven’t really seen much proof that they are actually as evil as many claim they are but then again we have no true understanding of why they serve him so their motives and behaviours are quite unknowable as well. I have noticed though that Zane has shown a strange trusting to these things which the others tell me isn’t normal for him. If it’s not normal and he’s becoming trusting of those who serve this monster it can’t be a sign of anything good. Hopefully nothing comes of his trusting that it’s just a phase or something like that, if that’s possible for those like him. If not then it can’t bode well and we may be in danger from one of our own.
(in part 2) That monsters true being is far worse in person than anything can describe and what it can and is willing to do... no wonder they call it a demon. That thing is an enemy I never wish to face and would rather just turn and leave its presence but we really don’t have a choice plus we’re knights and it would not be a knightly thing to turn and run from a monster so dangerous and threatening to the defenceless. As for his minions not only have we found proof that they aren’t monsters but they are actually great allies. They truly wish to help in their own way even though they must appear to be monsters for their master. Considering who that is I get why they do his bidding. I doubt things go well for them if they disobey and I don’t think there is much they can do to escape it. They don’t get along with Ashers in fact they enjoy being a thorn in their sides to hinder them and the people view them as nothing but demons so they have no choice but to serve this monster and live in fear; no wonder Zane felt for them.
Macy- (in part 1) This Stag being sure does sound terrible, hopefully it never desires for our home lands. I don’t think we’d ever be able to stand against it and win. I don’t think even those ninja could stand a chance against it. That poor nindroid Zane surely hasn’t fared well against that monster, thank goodness we were able to save him both times. He doesn’t deserve to be a puppet for that monster. That demon I don’t want to face but unfortunately we have no choice. It is our duties as knights to protect our kingdom and the defenceless if we have to face this thing to do that then I’ll do it even if it scares me. As for his allies I don’t think the animals get much of a choice about serving him and even if the robots do willingly serve him it is probably because they have been programmed to and not because they’re inherently evil. When it comes to the animals I’m pretty sure they’re not doing the things they do out of free will. They probably have no choice and are forced against their will to be puppets to that thing.
(in part 2) I was right I don’t want to face that thing. That thing is no monster; it’s something worse far worse. Nightmares can’t even depict how nasty that thing is and what it can do. Just its presence feels like all light in the world is sucked out leaving a deep dark emptiness that can paralyse even the toughest warriors. Trust us we’ve seen and experienced it firsthand. As for those minions of his they’re actually not bad. Poor things get the worst of it cause they have no option but to serve a demon and are wrongly judged by the people because they aren’t human and are believed to be inherently evil.
Lance- (in part 1) Do we really have to face this thing? All the hard work we have to do just to get to this thing plus this nasty environment we’re in aside this thing defiantly seems worse than any monster you could imagine. Hasn’t anyone also remembered what was said that this thing has no weaknesses and can’t be harmed by anything! Why even try going near this thing? Why waste the effort if it will be of no use? Maybe we should just throw in the towel this time. We’ve had a taste of what it can do and it is in no way pleasant or relaxing… that reminds me I need to find a good masseuse in this place. No offense to them but these beast folks don’t give the best messages. It’s those claws and hoof nails. They can be a little sharp sometimes. Anyway as for these minions yha when they’re serving this demon they can be quite monstrous like worse than movie monster monstrous. It’s real strange though cause when this Stag thing isn’t controlling them they’re oddly peaceful… it’s kind of creepy. What are they up to? I don’t know but I don’t like it. Animals are just animals but those robotics… yha they’re a lot more complex and unnerving. I’ve seen what those metal skin beings can do. Trust me it’s not pretty or pleasant and he wasn’t even under the Stags control the one time. He was just mad at me for mistaking him as a squirebot for a while. I guess that wasn’t too bad though compared to when that thing has him under its control. That is far worse and gross; I’m not going into that and trust me you wouldn’t want to know about it. Just thinking about it makes me feel sick.
(in part 2) Okay this Stag can be a lot worse! Thank goodness it never tried to use me as its puppet. I don’t think a simple message would take away the damages that thing could leave! Aaron was in no way himself for a few days after that thing treated him like a puppet. It was creepy to see him acting so strange. I guess I was a little harsh in judging those bots to be fare though you have to admit they are a bit creepy especially when they’re skulking around in the shadows. Even that Zane who I admit I shouldn’t have mistaken and treated like a squirebot is a bit creepy. In my defence I’ve never met a bot like him before. Our squirebots enjoy serving us; it’s what they were made for. I guess not all bots are the same. Anyway despite being creepy those bots that serve this Stag monster are not too bad.
Jestro (since he doesn’t appear till part two his view is from part 2) This thing is a monster I would never want to associate with. I’m sick of being turned evil and I’m pretty sure this things corruption would be far worse than what I have dealt with before. I’ve heard what it did with those ninja and I saw what it did with Aaron. It was so disturbing to see normally fearless Aaron acting like a frightened kitten for a few days. As for these bots and creatures that have to serve this monster I understand their view. Sometimes you have no choice but to follow evil; I wasn’t given much of a choice the second time.
Just some random concepts I came up with for some things in the story. I thought of a fun way to show them and give a bit of a description of them. In the story of the main protagonists Jay is the most uncomfortable with things in the new realm they are in and would be the most outspoken and willing to give his feelings on things in the realm and I felt if given the chance would make up a sort of guide or list about some things he would feel important or interesting in the realm.
What Jay has to say:
Food: Sure they have normal foods here but they also have some strange and down right gross ones too!
Okay: I'm fine with having these; their safe, not too strange and don't have weird effects though I don't feel safe having them if they were grown in the cursed ash of this place!
Melon Berries- they look like grape sized watermelons and taste like them.
Lava Rind Apples- said to have a sweet yet smoky hinted flavour; yha that's cause they come from these volcanically burnt lands! Despite that they're actually good. If I have to I'll have them but I prefer a safer variety.
Bananas- Luckily bananas aren't usually grown locally cause it's too cold so these are safe to eat: Java Sky Banana have a sweet vanilla hinted flavour. Lava Banana are like normal bananas but red in color and a bit sweeter.
Ash Yam- I think it's a sweat potato or maybe a normal potato varient. Tastes good but I'm wary of anything developed to grow in these cursed ashy lands.
Glacial Peaches- a cold tolerant peach. There not really different from normal peaches but I don't want them if they were grown in these Ash Wastes. Who knows what darkness they could have picked up.
Pomer-pods- pomergranite like fruit in a citrus like skin. They're good but I prefer the ones from back home or not grown locally. They say the ash makes them smokier in taste I think it makes them cursed.
Ice Melon- we have these in Ninjago too. They're okay. They're like a vanilla hinted flavoured watermelon.
Questionable:
Shadow-melon- said to have a crispier more sweet pumpkin like flavour. With its name I'm not too interested in risking trying it.
Moon-melon- a melon with a hint of a citrus flavour and yellow insides. It gets its name from it's outsides which looks like a moon.
Lava Melon- said to have a sweater flavour than normal melons but I'm a little hesitant to try. Its name comes from its colors and not from being grown in anything related to volcanoes but I still feel uneasy about it.
Speckled Tomato- I know its just a color morph to a tomato but I feel uneasy with it.
Blood-root carrot- it's just a dark red tinted coloured variant but with the name I'm hesitant to try besides carrots are orange not black and red. According to Zane their original colour was purple; I don't care what they used to be most modern carrots are orange so carrots should be orange!
NO! No matter what I am not touching these!
Lunar Grapes- sweet flavoured grape that gives off an icy blue glow; no thanks! I'm not eating anything that glows especially when it comes from this place! These ones can make your insides glow! As if seeing that it made Coles abdomen glow after he had some wasn't unerving enough do you know how startling it is when you open up a droid and find their insides glowing because they ate some of these!
Solar Berries- despite their name their actually a type of grape related to Lunar Grapes. Again glowing food no thank you.
Shroom Peppers- a pepper looking fruit from a mushroom that is said to taste like a mix between a grape with the texture of a peach. I might have tried it if it wasn't glowing!
Alocasia Fruit- comes from a place called the Isles of Insanity which is also nicknamed the Sheogorad Archipelago so I think I'll pass on these.
Bug stuff- Yes those are grubs on a stick! No thanks! The burger looks tasty doesn't it? Don't trust it! It's made of BUGS! They use bugs and meats from these bird like lizards here; Zane says the bird lizards are closer to birds than lizards but I don't care their reptiles therefore they're lizards! Anyway they make meat things out of bugs! They fry them, bake them, grill them, even eat them raw and even make ground meat made from ground up bugs like grasshoppers, beetles, grubs and even spiders! SPIDERS!
Balmora Blue- its a local signature special that's like a mix between an energy drink and a milkshake. It's made from milk usually Kaguar, ice cream and powdered Buttercake shrooms with extracts from Lunar Pods, Brightwood Cypress fungal symbiotes and Lunar reeds and often flavoured with either vanilla, chocolate or various fruit flavours; there are even meat and fish flavours! That's gross! It glows and leaves weird glowing markings on your body for a few hours. They sell it in 750ml bottles that have a decorative scale pattern to them and boast one of those scary Racer bird creatures on it. I don't care how fancy you make it look I'm not trying it! Everyone else has tried it but I'm not going to! I can't believe Cole drank two whole bottles the one time! He got all hyper for hours, kept bouncing between training helping with work in the Scholars center where we're staying and playing video gams, he got super talkative and the munchies. When he crashed he passed out in a planter in the Under-city after trying to get more in tune with his elemental powers by digging in and trying to meditate in the dirt. Some of the guards dragged him back to the scholars center and left him to sleep in a planter there. We just left him to sleep there all sweaty and covered in mud. He hasn't had more than a cup at a time since. Just out of curiosity some of the others wanted to see how much they could handle. Nya was smart like most of those knights and didn't do this. That knight Aaron could only handle a bottle and a half before it was too much making him sick and anxious and the knight Axl could do two. Kai started but chickened out when he started to glow (he didn't like how it messed with his looks), Lloyd had two bottles but got sick from it and Zane managed two bottles and it started to affect him like Cole but the energy surge caused by the stuff was too much for him and overstimulated most of his systems causing him to short circuit and get knocked out for several hours. None of them are doing that again... not even that knight Aaron; that one surprised me.
Random things:
Chew Toys- It's common for them to have chew toys meant for people here. They come in a wide variety of shapes and colors. It supposedly helps with fidgeting and focus plus helps clean their teeth and pacify them a bit like when their hangry; some even have holes in them that you can stick things like pudding in that will leak out when chewed on so you can get a snack too. I wonder if these would chill Coles mood when he's hangry; it surprisingly worked to relax and distract Zane when he was a bit anxious when in the town. The people here don't like or trust droids and are quite mean to him which makes him anxious. One of the scholars told us if we coated and filled one with an oil it could calm droids. We tried it using this Scimitar oil and it worked though Zane felt weird about it and I'm pretty sure he thought and was not too happy that we were treating him like a dog. Now we just need to test them on Cole when he's hungry maybe use some icing or blended cake for him.
Enviro-globes- These are cool, they have these little terrariums that can serve as center pieces on tables or as decorations for your rooms. They often have miniaturized plants and fungi from a region in the realm or even rarely other realms forming a little scene in them. There are even underwater ones with water plants and kelp in them. Some put little live creatures like roly-poly bugs or small fish for the aquatic ones in them. Some though are cooler having special tech built into them that creates mini hologram versions of bigger creatures usually found in the place the plants come from to inhabit and move around in the dome. They have controls in the base for these holograms and all forms have air vents in the top piece. These are real cool and sometimes calming to watch. It really works on Zane; watching the little holographic creatures really calms him. It also keeps him distracted when he starts to get anxious when too many of the towns folk are around him.
Perfumes and scented products- sure a good deal of them have the usual smells but they also have strange other smells like from some of the weird plants here, mimics of animal musks and even catnip. Apparently some of the cat folk are intrigued by the smell of catnip and find it comforting so they made a perfume out of it. Kai found out the hard way that you should only use a little of this. He used a bunch thinking it would improve the cat folks moods to him. I don't think it worked but he was popular with the local cat populations.
Droid musk repellent- it's apparently a deterrent to keep droids from attacking you; they say they either don't like the smell driving them away or it makes them think you're one of them so they'll leave you alone. It seems to work cause Zane doesn't like it and tries to steer clear of anyone using it; he says the smell of the stuff unsettles him. This stuff could be useful to keep away this demon deers robo-drone minions but they say the stuff is made from some internal substance from droids. They refuse to explain what substances they use and from working on Zane I could think of some possibilities of what the stuff used is and ew... I think with those possibilities I'll be steering clear of this stuff. I could also see why it unsettles Zane; harvesting the stuff was probably very uncomfortable and too personal for the droids used to make the stuff.
Anti-venom shots- These come as this reusable injector which has a port in the side to insert the tube of anti-venom formula. Despite what the others think I think it's a good idea to have these with us. Haven't they heard how bad some of the venoms here are? They can do nasty things to you and with some if you don't have these you could die and quickly! I carry one for myself and on for Nya all the time. I would carry one for the others but they think I'm being too paranoid with these so I don't. Not to mention even though these venoms can hurt him anti-venom shots don't work for Zane. Some venoms do affect him and he at least can't die from them but he has to suffer through the effects till the venom wears off. As long as he doesn't turn aggressive from the venoms or become dangerous we should be safe. If any of us were to snap I think Zane would be the most dangerous and scary! Speaking of being safe we all got vaccines for the diseases here just to be safe; we even in a sense vaccinated Zane. We updated all his virus software to protect him from the various viruses he could get here; last thing we need is him getting something like Robot Rabies and turning on us. Unfortunately none of the precautious we can take will keep him from potentially becoming a puppet for a demon and turned into a monster by it.
Soaps- The most common and popular soap brand here is Ash be-gone. It's made here and used to combat the smells and effects of the ash of this place. They have cleaners for everything. Skin, hair, clothes, floors you name it. The soaps come in different forms for different uses like bars for skin, liquid for body washes, shampoos, floor cleaners and the like and even a few powder types like carpet deodorizers and cleaning enhancers in your laundry. I think they work; it's hard to tell really as the ash seems to still leave us with effects but it does help with the smell. They come in a bunch of nice smells which is good cause the ash smells and not to be rude to the beast folk but they sometimes have a strong animal smell like a cat or dog especially when wet... I think it's the fur. This stuff at least does help keep them from smelling too bad when they have a shower or bath.
Comfy stuff- One nice thing here is these beast folk really know how to make things comfy. They enjoy soft puffy pillows and cushions. I guess for cat people that makes sense... that's not racist is it? I don't mean to be mean; they are cat people and everyone loves cats and knows they like comfy spots. That aside you just have to watch out for the hair if you use any of the cushions, pillows or blankets; the beast folk shed quite a bit.
The beast folk say they just have traits that give them animal looks and it doesn't spill over to their behaviours but they have these box cushions that are a bit like boxes and we all know how cats love boxes; apparently hyenas love them too. I do have to agree with them these box cushions are very comfy and it feels safe to be in them... I've fallen asleep in them a few times.
They tend to have plenty of cushions, pillows and even blankets decorating the place. They're not simply for decoration; the beast folk love sitting or lying on them. Speaking of cushions and pillows... I know he did it; I don't know how I'm going to prove it but I know it was that knight Aaron who put a bunch of bugs in my pillow the night! How could someone ruin something as comfortable and relaxing as pillows like that?! Do you know how unnerving it is to feel bugs squirming under your head or crawling out onto you as you try to sleep!
Kelp Motor Oil- A motor oil made from a type of kelp. Zane really loves the taste of this stuff. We try to keep him from having too much but this stuff for him is like cake to Cole. He really likes it. They also make a cooking oil version of this stuff. We have this stuff back home too.
Scymer Motor Oil- A unique motor oil made from a special algea. It's meant largely for droids. Its container has Scimitar folk designs on it and a clear stone window in the shape of a scimitar cat head showing off the contents. Zane likes this motor oil just like the kelp oils.
Books: They have some interesting books here. These are a few notable ones I've found.
Keikiary's beastiary to the Ash Wastes: we were given this book to help understand and keep safe in the local environment here. They say its a guide book but it's more like a horror book with all the monstrous creatures and environment things found here and the the things it show's and describes. Normal nature can be scary enough things here make nature scarier!
Droids how to care for them and prevent them from taking over the world: it's a care guide for robotic entities like the hyenoids found here. I'm not sure if it's an actual guide or for comedy. They do get quite a bit right about droids but there is a great deal of inaccuracies and a lot of what's in it is very mean and cruel to droids. Considering how they treat droids here I wouldn't be surprised if it's a serious book. Zane really doesn't like this book and I'd have to agree with him. Droids at least those like Zane aren't monsters.
Staying Sane in the Ash Wastes: the others like to joke about me getting this book but they won't be laughing when they're loosing their minds from this place and I'm still sane.
Travelers Guide to Balmora: as it says a guide to Balmora the town we're in. It goes over things to see, history, places to stay, things to do here, local attractions and dining places and regional culture, laws and cuisine. It's been helpful at keeping out of trouble with the law here and finding places where i can get food that isn't made of bugs!
Chapter 63: Change Log
Summary:
This is just a log to keep readers updated on parts added or updated to the story to help them find what is new.
Chapter Text
2025-08-16
Added the chapter Oni-spicions to Clan of the Lost.
2025-05-21
Added the chapter Grahtwyrms.
2024-02-19
Add my short head cannon Anatomy of a droid to the start as some concepts and ideas used in this story are covered in more depth in that story so it kind of ties into this story so I decided to add it here for some convenience.
Added a new chapter to Clan of the Lost.
2024-12-15
Clan of the Lost updated. Two chapters of worth added including quite a few pictures.
2024-10-31
added to a few sections to the prequel story including some stories. Sorry for the long gap in work but this year has not been a good year (my family actually has a belief that even years are if not cursed just in general bad years. We have often noted and experienced that years ending in an even number have a good deal of bad things, often very bad) that have happened in them). My grandmother on my mothers side died of sepsis in May and her side of the family are pretty awful people so there was a great deal of work and drama then my father broke his one leg into three pieces in September and I've been helping him with daily tasks since then. I have more I have been working on but it isn't ready yet but I wanted to post something before to long so I posted what I was pretty sure I was fairly done with. It's not much but is fairly nice and leaves with a nice cliffhanger.
2024-04-14
added intro and part of story for prequel including some pictures.
2024-02-14
added bios and pictures for Razorback Boar, Giga-moa, sea sloth and Treehorn to Shadowcourt intro.
2024-02-07
Updated Part 1 Bonus Short Stories with new short Knights Work- The knights decide to do some work for the town.
SpaceAce901 on Chapter 1 Tue 13 Dec 2022 10:19PM UTC
Last Edited Tue 13 Dec 2022 10:23PM UTC
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