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robobirdie · 2 years ago

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Chapter 40: The Impenetrable City

A Corpse Bird flew over what had once been Ninjago City which had become fused with the capital of the Lost Realm Nirnhold and the capital of the Knights realm Knightonia. A massive structure of white nearly impenetrable stone known as the Ivory-gold tower had merged with Borg tower and the palace of Knighton at the center of this conglomerated city rising to tower over a blackish smoke that engulfed the center of the city. Halfway up this massive fused central tower a dark metal looking ring which seemed to be emitting some sort of energy within itself hung around it, large dark chains anchored the levitating ring to the ground within the city to stabilize it. The tower itself was broken a third of the way up with part of the central area being the broken floating pieces around it and the upper remains of the structure floating on a slight angle where it would normally be sitting if it was whole. Above the tower dark reddish tinted clouds rotated in a mild form of a funnel focussed on a strange dark reddish energy which shot out from the towers center into the sky above it. A few chunks of structures, chunks of land and stones hung throughout the air over the city and nearby areas. This central structure was surrounded by a large circular wall several meters away from its base inside of which the dark smoke engulfed everything obscuring much of what sat in this ring. The fog was deep with what looked like faintly and slowly moving currents moving within it. The smoke filled the ring to the height of the rings walls with some pouring over them dripping into the outer rings slowly dissipating and disappearing before they could touch the ground. Only the tallest buildings and towers from the various realms, none of which reached as tall as the central tower, could be seen poking above the fog. All were not in the best of shapes and tainted by dark energy corrupted flora growing off parts of them. On some of those that stuck above the fog aerial monsters like Corpse-birds, Noctern Crows and Gloam Harpies were perched overlooking the area and fighting amongst themselves for dominance of the area. Another circular wall sat a little further several meters out forming a second outer ring. Sandwiched between the outer and inner rings were what looked to have once been various districts where people used to live and work including one which looked to have been gardens prior to the chaos affecting the realms.

This outer ring was split into six sections each separated by walls of the same stone as the rings. Each of these sections seemed to have fallen under some strange elemental hold morphing its area and any entity living in it into a strange corrupted state matching the element that held it. One was flooded and swampy having become swamped in a five to six story deep lake. Any structures in the ring were sinking in the mud and murky waters dominating the ring. Water loving flora filled many areas of the section growing on buildings that poked above the water forming misty forests of cypresses in some spots their dark under stories dominated by reeds, cattails, swamp loving fungi and other wetlands flora some of which had glows to them adding an eerie look to the dark murky forests. Much of this flora, mosses and various algae’s grew on the structures encased in this ring with algae coating and dripping from the walls encasing the ring. Kelp with warm glowing pods, strange corals and algae’s some with glowing parts grew in the water lighting areas below the surface. Most of the fauna were aquatic and semi-aquatic and included void mutated natural fauna like fish, aquatic turtles, crocodiles, Repto-birds and jellyfish along with water loving monsters which were all co-existing rather peacefully with each other. Sea going birds and other areal creatures including Repto-birds and even some Retches along with various bugs including several color variants of torchbugs hung around and perched on buildings and the flora that grew from them. Strange floating yellowish and brightly glowing masses of energy also moved through the swamp forest areas vanishing and reappearing at random throughout the area. An eternal rain storm seemed to grip this area the clouds of which roofed the section spilling out over the walls as a mist.

In one everything was scarred by fires that seemed to have been hot enough to melt metals and the stones of the buildings inside it. Fires remained eternally burning throughout the district and charred flora and fauna dotted the place. The fires caused the air in this ring to be hot and smoky with ash from the fires frequently raining down while the ground was blackened from soot with seams resembling burning embers dotting the place. Heat and fire loving monsters roamed the place unbothered by everything some even enjoying bathing and resting in the fires. All structures in the ring were burned by fires with some still on fire. The barrier walls of the section were stained black from where fires had or were currently lapping against the walls but despite the heat these walls were intact and unaffected by the element they were containing. Dark humanoid beings, some monster race from the void, had built pyres and bonfires throughout the ring where they were relaxing unbothered by the heat and smoke alongside the monsters. Some insects, birds and reptilian creatures all of which were on fire or had been mutated by the fiery energy into fiery versions of themselves were calling this place home.

Another section was fringed by dark jagged rock spires and had the earth inside been torn open leaving a lava filled rift running through the area with a lake of lava in the one corner. Fungi and petrified flora grew about the crumbled remains of structures which looked to have been collapsed by earthquakes and impacts from large rocky debris. A miniature volcanic mountain sat in the one corner grown onto the wall of its boundaries that spewed lava that flowed down into the ring. Sulphuric pools were scattered about and volcanic vents and fissures were randomly scattered throughout. Rocky arches, pots and cliffs that looked to have been formed of lava decorated the place some bearing burning cracks and seams revealing they weren’t fully cooled yet decorated the place. Heat loving and rocky monsters roamed the place unbothered by the heat, soot, volcanic gasses and sparseness. Vulcaroths lay like gators in the pools of lava, mutated and void born fish swam in the sulphuric pools while geothermally tainted birds and Repto-birds and fiery glowing insects flew through the air and perched on structures.

Ice coated another district. This ring looked to be engulfed by an eternal winter the walls that edged the ring encased by towering sheets of ice that boasted many large jagged ice peaks on their tops a cold mist emanating from the ice spilling over the walls and dissipating into the section next to it. Everything in this section was scarred by the ice and cold. Damaged buildings dripped with icicles and were partially buried in snow drifts up to a story or two tall in some spots. There were dark tainted chunks of ice that emitted icy and void colored glows from their cores scattered around the place like mineral deposits providing light to the place. Most water in the zone was frozen or had chunks of ice on them with ice tainted fish and crustaceans dwelling within them. Snow coated conifers and other cold tolerant trees were scattered about forming a scattered forest while freezing mists hung in lowered areas. Various plants poked through the snow while cold loving lichens, mosses and fungi grew on structures and flora throughout the ring some of them giving off cool glows. Any fauna in the region was corrupted by the ice and cold being frozen often with shards of ice erupting from or coating parts of their skins. Beings made entirely of ice and cold tainted monsters roamed the place unbothered by the cold. The ring was gripped by eternal blizzard like conditions of blowing and falling snow mixed with ice rains while lightening giving icy clouds swirled and flowed over the area.

Electricity danced through another. This areas soils were bare and both soils and crumbling structures bore patches where lightening from the continuous electrical storm that swirled over it continued to strike. Much of the flora was dead and charred some eternally burning inside from continued lightening strikes. Those that appeared alive were odd colored darkened often with glowing electrical yellow parts or crackings on them. A few of the flora mainly some fungi had even developed the ability to use electricity in attacks or for defence. Any water in the section was a stunning bluish color and electrified electrical tainted fish and other aquatic creatures like jelly fish calling the waters home. Various creatures mainly reptilian, insect and avian who were tainted by the electrical energy hung about the area some taking to resting by enjoying the heat from the burned areas and burning foliage caused by the continuous lightening strikes unbothered by the lightening. Some groups of tainted Retch creatures peacefully floated through the section unbothered even when they got struck by lightning. Some stones in the section were highly attractive to the lightening not only drawing lightening to them but having glowing yellowish seams to their dark metallic materials which glowed brighter for a while after they were struck.

The last section seemed vibrant and pleasant only hiding the true horrors of it. The place looked like a jungle dominated by foliage that coated the grounds and structures. The foliage however while looking unaffected and thriving upon closer inspection revealed seems of energy that was a dark purplish in color running through their trunks and into their other parts. Many dripped with toxic and corrupting plasmas that tainted anything they dripped on with void corruptions. The fauna of the region all appeared to be made purely of energy looking spectral and a void green in color. The water in this section was a strange electric greenish color and seemed to move and react like a strange energy more than water. Under the forest canopy dark tentacles like those of the Ashers tunnels coated the ground and wound up the flora and outer walls in some areas emitting a dark mist which created a fog close to the ground. Seems of energy which started as the dark purple close to the ground fading up into green the higher up they went were carved into many of the structures and the twisted and jagged rocky spires that had erupted from the ground.

In each of these strange districts there appeared an area almost like a roost or den where something seemed to reside as its ruler. In the watery section it was a nest under some large cypresses made of kelp decked over some tall buildings that had been crumbled and manoeuvred to create a nest that stuck as a platform out of the water. In the fiery ring it was a divot in the land surrounded by tall fires the ground of which was made of burning embers. In the rocky region it was a pit with a geothermally heated ground with a large rocky overhang that jutted up over half the pit to shelter it. In the icy region it was a section nestled and sheltered in some massive trees various logs and animal pelts coating the ground to make a nest. For the electric zone it was a cave made from several buildings having been broken and manoeuvred into a cave shape. For the energy zone it was a cave formed by strange dark tainted rocks that had some of the strange flora along with the dark vines growing on it. Whatever the rulers for the sections were though were not there now but by the size and shape of the nests they clearly were big and not humanoid. In these zones monsters could be seen along with some beasts and soul shriven all of which were touched by the elemental energy that gripped the region they had found themselves in. As examples those in the frosted region were frozen to semi-frozen beings, those in the fiery region all looked burned or made of fire and burning embers and the ones in the rocky region appeared to be made of burning stones, lava or rock.

Outside the rings the city continued on for some distance. Structures mainly from the Lost Realm, Knighton and Ninjago made up the city. Some structures looked to have come from other realms. While the structures close to the center showed damages they were in much better states than those around the city’s outskirts. As the city stretched further out from the center it slowly got more damaged and decayed looking till the outermost regions where things were in serious states of destruction. Some structures close to the shore including the docks had sunken, collapsed into the sea, were leaning into the ocean or starting to sink into the swampy soils of the coast. Flora that was often corrupted and tainted along with vines of dark nature were quickly overtaking the outskirts of the city. In the regions closest to the inner structures people, serpentine and other humanoids of the realms who had not been fortunate enough to escape the Ashers hold had been turned into the soul-shriven or Ash Slaves and were toiling for their dark masters oblivious to everything. Along with them corrupted creatures and monsters like Shambles, Hungers, Vulcaroths, Skeletons, Ash Spawn, Dreadcondas, half woman half spider monstrosities, humanoid beings of the void and many others were crawling around the city alongside Ashers and people aligned with them like vampiric beings and necromancers. Many of them were patrolling looking for those who thought they could escape detection or trying to flee the chaos. Humanoids were working and forcing their captured to work in creating weapons, armour and various vehicles and contraptions for their reign. The closer flora and fauna went to the ringed inner section of the city the more corrupted and unnerving they looked. By the outer most ring of the inner fortress Dagon had built most trees looked to be dead or had their leaves become darkened and off color with darkened grass some with blood red tips, twisted glowing shroom like plants and dark vines grew throughout the area slowly turning into less affected flora by the cities outskirts. Any water in or near the city was either reddish and foul, dark and murky, yellowish and sulphuric or an eerie glowing icy blue. The outer most regions of the city had become dark, swampy, and overgrown with twisted trees, large shrooms, darkened grasses and half dead looking plants where un-dead beings and soul-shriven seemed to be mindlessly wandering unaware of everything around them. Ruins of buildings from at least three different realms and of various ages and in various stages of destruction littered the swamp with plants and fungi growing over them. Sharp and dark rocks had jutted up from the ground throughout the area becoming homes for meld corrupted Skeevers and other hardy corrupted small critters that had managed to escape the attentions of the monsters patrolling the place. Corpse Birds and other avian scavengers some of which appeared to be of the un-dead variety circled above the city and surrounding area looking for anything to pick at navigating as they soared around the floating rocks and debris that floated above it. Along with these was a massive un-dead partly skeletal half corpsen serpentine looking dragon which was patrolling the inner most reaches of the city; Dagons pet.

The Corpse Bird made a few circles at various heights around the city and through the elemental sections before heading off away from it. It flew some distance from the city before choosing a dense dark wooded area at the edges of this city to enter. The woods were thick and swampy filled with large sickly looking trees and even some trees that looked to be made of stone. Shrooms of various sizes including many glowing species along with mosses, lichens and ferns filled the damp dark forest understory. Within it the creature found what looked like the ruins of a small castle to perch on. As it came to land atop the castle it shifted its form from a Corpse Bird into a Racer Fabricant as it shut off its cloak and looked around.

“Pelagius is back,” Cole expressed from where he stood on lookout peering through a large tattered canvas they had stitched together and thrown over some scaffolding they had erected over the drawbridge to act as both a shelter and a hide. They had taken leaves, logs, mosses, rocks, broken pieces of buildings and mud and put them on and over the Fortrex to make it look like an abandoned structure to hide it from possible Asher patrols. So far they had not seen any but they didn’t wish to take any chances. After their escape from Kryptarium they had wasted no time in heading for the capital where Dagon had constructed his stronghold and hid within. Knowing they were in for a great deal of trouble they had decided to scout out what they were about to face before heading in. The Bounty they had anchored outside this forest on the rocky coast which seemed to be bathed in a dense fog. The ninja, knights and some of their families and friends then headed out on the Fortrex to get closer to the city to scout out the area leaving the rest of those they had gathered on the Bounty till they were ready to start the assault. The Fortrex they had come to park in the tall dark forest to which realm it came from they were unsure. All they knew was the ground was swampy; the forest was dark, a bit misty and hard to navigate making it a good place to hide.

Cole held the curtain open for Pelagius who wasted no time in dropping down to the ground before crawling into the hide and into the Fortrex. Cole led him straight to the command center where Zane and Ava hooked him up to the Fortrexs computers so they could see what Pelagius had seen. The ninja along with the knights, Robo-bill Merlok, Wu, the Stag, Misako, Robin, Ava, Seliel, Jestro, Pixal and Skylor were waiting there for Pelagius’s report. The rest of their friends and families were elsewhere on the ship. Once hooked up Pelagius broadcasted what he had seen. They were all shocked and disturbed at the sights.

“What has happened to the city?!” Jay exclaimed.

“Dagon has fused your Ninjago City and Knightonia with Nirnhold, the capital in our world,” the Stag explained and Pixal noted, “There are things that do not match from any of our realms there as well.”

“That is because he is starting to draw in other worlds, eventually all will become his targets,” the Stag explained and Lloyd commented, “what kind of dragon is that?” The dragon patrolling the city resembled a nightmarish highly serpentine looking wyvern monstrosity with large parts of it looking decayed exposing bones and dried tissues beneath particularly on its snout and feet. Its serpent like head had two sets of horns on the skull. These were short and twisted with the upper set being longer than the bottom. Its wings were all tattered, its eyes a burning sickly void green and lifeless and its original colors gone having turned into sickly rot green and brown scales and skin much of which looked to be dripping off its gaunt form. Across its hide flesh was missing in patches with the flesh of the snout and feet being gone revealing the charred bone beneath. The belly area and into the ribcage was gone exposing flesh and bone within and part of the ribcage was exposed. Sickly void green markings glowed on parts of its flesh mainly on the neck and tail and the flesh that remained was a sickly brown green rot color.

“Nidgrumndir the end bringer the living extinction, Dagons pet formed from the lifeless husk of the dragon used to create me and fused with the darkest and foulest of energies to destroy all Dagon sets it upon,” the Stag regaled before Aaron wondered, “what is that knarly looking tower?”

“Whatever it is it has been fused with Borg tower,” Nya noted and Macy added, “And my home the palace of Knighton.”

“I do believe those structures along with this Lost Realms notable structure the Ivory-Gold Tower have been fused into a massive single structure,” Robo-bill Merlok who was standing next to Wu offered.

“What is this Ivory-Gold Tower?” Kai inquired.

“The Ivory-Gold Tower also called the Ivory tower sits at the heart of Nirnhold. It dates to the times of myth, many claim it has magical properties but no one knows who built it or why,” Zane explained and the Stag added, “That Tower along with its surrounding walls are said to be indestructible or close to it. It has only been known to have been breached twice, once by an army of Oni before they vanished from our world then by the great darkness and his stone army before the Dragon Guard wiped them out a while back.”

“That doesn’t sound good, how then are we going to get into the city,” Clay wondered and Lloyd added, “I doubt we would be able to breach its walls. We’re still not fully recovered from breaking the curse.” As they talked Pelagius, Zane, Pixal and the Stag noted a small winged serpent, an Ashen Hist Python, slither up onto the computers control board and curl up to rest on it.

“Given the forces dwelling there I do not think it would be wise to perform a frontal attack on the city,” Zane noted and Wu added, “indeed, if we want to have any chance of reaching this Dagon and facing him then we need to not be found.”

“The son of the First Spinjitsu Master is right. You will need to conserve your energies for the fight against Dagon. He will not be easy to take on and it is likely with your escape from their prison they will be on high alert waiting for us. He likely will have the corrupted Dragons at his side along with anyone else of great strength or power that he has corrupted or side with him,” the Stag explained.

“So what then are we to do? How do we get in unseen and find Dagon?” Lloyd inquired.

“Where do you think he’s hiding?” Macy wondered and Cole offered, “probably in that tower.”

“Yha defiantly seems like a place he’d be; at the heart of the mess,” Kai inputted and Aaron stated, “He’s probably created a throne room in that crazy conglomerate. Hey if this Nirnhold is here then are the old Scymer ruins they said sit below the city here too?”

“The serpentine have all sorts of tunnels beneath Ninjago City as well,” Nya added and Macy joined, “plus there is also a bunch of old tunnels beneath my father’s palace. They’re probably there too.”

“Not to mention sewers, filthy lowly sewers,” Lance noted disgusted by the thought of sewers and Seliel explained, “We met some of the serpentine; they did mention that strange ruins dominated by Scimitar Constructs along with strange passages they didn’t recognise had appeared below the city.”

“Then that is our way in, we find an entrance and we can get in,” Skylor expressed and the Stag regaled, “I remember those ruins, I once dwelled there when I was still just a Scymer. The place was designed to be a fortress with many hidden exits in case of attacks. I do not know how many are still accessible. Even if we do find one however it will not be easy to navigate the depths there. Fusion between the ruins, tunnels and sewers will have created quite a mess not to mention the any great number of beings and forces that could now dwell down there. It might take us some time to navigate our way to the heart of that mess.”

“Indeed and we do not know if Dagon has the underground guarded,” Wu advised.

“I could not sense what lies beneath the city but given he has turned this place into a fortress I do not think he would leave any part of it unguarded,” Pelagius inputted.

“True but we might be able to draw his attentions elsewhere. If a large enough force was to attack the city above ground it could draw his forces out from the tunnels. While they are distracted a small group could potentially slip through the ruins beneath unseen. The big problem however would be navigating the underground to find our way into the tower. The fusion of subterranean structures will likely have created a maze that will be difficult to navigate and require time to get through. We would need a considerably sized force to distract them long enough to allow those below to navigate their way to the center of that mess,” the Stag hypothesized.

“I doubt we have enough people; even if civilians and children helped to distract them. We wouldn’t last long,” Clay noted and Lloyd added, “We haven’t heard back from the serpentine yet, we asked them if they would help when we last saw them but they seemed too scared to offer aid.”

“I would not count them out as allies just yet,” the Stag mentioned motioning to the Hist Python that lay on the computer.

“A snake?! How long has that been there?” Jay wondered startled as everyone took note of the serpent.

“The past few minutes,” Zane noted as noting something was strapped to its back Lloyd went over to pick the item off the snake. It was a note.

“What is it?” Kai inquired and Lloyd responded surprised, “it is a letter from Skales, the serpentine have agreed to join us!”

“Never underestimate the courage of the fallen,” the Stag noted before Nya expressed, “that may be good but still our forces are not large enough to stand against all those things there. I doubt many of them could stand against some of those monsters as well…”

“Yha, we didn’t fare too good against one of those Hunger things last time we faced one…” Cole noted and Aaron added, “not to mention there are plenty of sorcerers and crawlers there too. Trust me they can do some pretty nasty stuff to you if they catch you.”

“We might be able to bring some from our world here, not to mention a lot of the hyenoids in Holamaya were quite eager to get back at the Ashers for what they did to Juib,” Macy expressed and Zane noted, “Indeed they would. Juib meant a lot to them, it is only natural they seek to avenge him but even with their help we will still need added reinforcements to keep them sufficiently distracted for long enough.”

“I wonder…” the Stag thought aloud looking at the images on the screen prompting Wu to inquire, “What are you thinking?”

“I share powers with both Dagon and the Ashers, the same dark powers they used to corrupt and control the people. I might be able to use those same powers to turn their aids against them,” the Stag proposed. They all paused to think of it.

“That would work, but it seems cruel,” Jay expressed and Nya added, “those people are already being used and tortured.”

“True but this will be for their freedom to end their torment,” Lloyd noted and the Stag added, “A necessary evil.”

“These forces combined could buy us some time but they will likely be quick to deduce we are coming and take action to stop us once any attack starts,” Zane noted.

“Indeed, the best course of action would be to time the assault outside for when those that sneak beneath are closest to their destination in order to have a chance to successfully confront Dagon,” Pixal noted.

“It would be best for as small a group as possible to attempt to enter from these passages beneath the city, the more there is the more likely we will be spotted,” Wu added.

“I deduce that it is wisest that the ninja navigate beneath alone with the Stag, his dark energy could hide their energy of the dragons from any dark forces hidden beneath. The rest should wait above for a signal to start the attack,” Pelagius inputted.

“Indeed that would seem a wise decision,” the Stag noted. The ninja were a little apprehensive of this idea though they didn’t openly voice anything. They were still uncomfortable with the Stag still remembering what he had done to them during their time in the city and still unsure if his dark nature was truly fully gone. They could see the knights were not liking that idea either but no one was brave enough to voice their doubts aloud nervous of the Stags reaction.

“We could talk over who goes where some more but I think it best we get this over with as soon as possible before it is too late. By morning we should be ready to make a move,” Clay stated.

“Agreed, the Meld has gotten considerably far already, it will be best not to wait any longer. We will send a message to the serpentine through this winged snake and find a way to get those of the Lost realm and Knighton who seek to help here by tomorrow then we will make our assault,” Wu agreed.

By what would have been sunrise they made their way to their positions. The dark corrupted conditions made it nearly impossible to tell time. The ninja and the Stag were going to navigate beneath the city while everyone else waited above ready for a signal to advance for a frontal attack. All those they had gathered to assault the city were waiting throughout the outskirts of the dark swampy lands that had come to encompass the outer regions of the city. They were waiting in various sized groups which were hiding in the various ruins and buildings of the outskirts waiting for the signal to start an attack. Despite being hidden many were on edge worried of being found. Un-dead and corrupted beings populated these outer swamp lands but they luckily didn’t seem to care or even be aware of any of those hiding there. The Ashers and there monsters however did seem to at the least be alert for the possibility of threats even though most weren’t actively searching locations for anyone. Most these monsters were forcing soul-shriven individuals to work for them, tormenting them, were causing chaos and destroying things or what looked to be training. Some of the Ashers were training corrupted beasts like corrupted Venom-fangs and Mire-lions for use in combat. Some Ashers and dark humanoids of the void were patrolling the streets and they weren’t alone. Many of the monstrous creatures deemed as demons were also patrolling the streets and even the air on alert for trouble. These patrols luckily were not being very observant and were not looking into structures nor seemed very interested to investigate any strange sounds or sights. They did however make it more difficult for their forces to infiltrate the city taking many longer than they expected to get to the locations they had chosen to start the assault from as they had to sneak through the areas and dodge the senses of these patrols. The ninjas friends and family, the Knights with their friends, families and allies, various people from different realms who managed to get the courage to confront the enemy, the serpentine, elemental masters from both Ninjago and the Lost Realm, Keikiary and her companion Chewy, the Vigilantes of Dawn with their Ash Walker and more of their groups members, the hyenoids Razak and Ed who were seeking vengeance for their sister, and some of the Stags constructs like his samurai and robotics infused beasts including Kozac, DJ, Divayth, Celaena, Kamdida, Barbas, Bruma, Ocheeva, the Fear-bricant, Yin and Yang along with Pelagius and the Scimitar Dragon along with many others were waiting there. Ava and Robin were with the Fortrex on the edge of some of the woods at the edge of the city. They were holding back with those who were not in any shape to fight but still wanted to help. They were going to act as a base camp where those who were injured or got over whelmed could head to in order to have some safety. They had a few who could fight staying with them just in case they needed it and Robin had gotten out his Black Knight mech to aid in protecting the site. Things were a little tense; everyone was eager to get going eager to wipe out this menace but were also terrified of possibly being found by patrolling monsters or the enemies while they waited. Even though their allies were largely peaceful with each other there was clearly still some tension between some groups. Many, even groups not from the Lost Realm, were unnerved by the Stags minions. For many the half machine half bestial state of some of them was a bit unnerving and many were wary of the hyenoids with most being scared of the Scimitar Samurai. The energy and appearance of the Samurai made a lot of them uneasy and due to years of conflict many from the Lost Realm were hesitant to interact or get near them and most present were scared of them unsure of what they were. While the energy their armour gave off did unnerve them the knights had no problem with the samurai. The ninjas friends and families were waiting together along with the knights and some of their friends and families in what looked to possibly have been a large inn, library or warehouse, it was hard to tell what it had been due to the place having been heavily ransacked, about a third of the way into the city not too far from the outer most rings of the inner city. They had managed to sneak there unseen by the enemies and were waiting for the signal to start the attack. They had been joined by some of the Stags minions including DJ, Divayth, Kozac and two of Divayths daughter-clones. The structure had two stories and most of the hyenoids had taken to the second story to observe what was going on outside. DJ, Kozac and Divayth remained on the first floor with the people.

“Did they say what the signal was going to be? How long do you think they will take?” DJ inquired impatient and eager to attack the Ashers. He was wearing some guard armour from Holamaya.

“They said we would know when,” Kozac grumbled from where he hid against a wall to peer out a door at a group of humanoid beings from the void, Zivkins, who had built a pyre from rubble on the terrace outside and were practise fighting with a few of their monsters including a Hunger, a Vulcaroth and a Noctern-crow.

“You need to be patient we do not know the extent of what lies beneath the city so it is difficult to deduce any set time,” Divayth explained going through a book on the Ivory-Gold Tower he had picked up trying to ascertain a possible way to breach the cities walls to try and give them a better attack. While the knights were fine with the three hyenoids hanging by them everyone else was nervous unsure of how trustworthy these beings were and put on edge by the enchantment of Kozacs armour.

“So you are these dreaded monsters we have heard of? Truly I was thinking you would be more… bestial machine things by the way everyone describes you,” Coles father Lou who had wanted to help out in the battle even though he wasn’t really a fighter stated to Kozac, DJ and Divayth. Him along with many of the others who were not fighters had armed and armoured themselves with anything they could find both before and during their trek through the city in order to give themselves a fighting chance.

“Really that is how the people view us?” DJ wondered and Divayth concurred, “That is but one view and it is a mild one compared to many of the descriptions I have heard of.”

“You have served under the Stag longer than anyone else how well can we trust the Stag will do the right thing and not be tempted by his darker nature?” Wu inquired. Even though the Stag claimed to now be good many of them including Wu had doubts over his character. There was still darkness to him and from what the ninja had told them he was very dangerous and unpredictable. They may have broken the curse that corrupted him but Wu was worried the darkness that had been sowed into his being from his creation could still surface and possibly lead him to side with Dagon or worse putting the ninja at risk. They all knew even in top condition the ninja didn’t stand a chance against the Stag and even though they were trying to hide it the others could tell the ninja were still not fully recovered from breaking the curse making them weak. If the Stag turned on them things would not end well.

“We do have to admit after all the years of darkness we have faced from him it is hard to shake the thought of him as that dark being but since the ninja broke his curse there definitely seems to have been a change to him. He no longer acts with the cruelty he once had and he feels different. If I was to describe it I would use the terms lighter and warmer. I do understand your worries. I would like to believe the Stag will do the right thing but I will admit I am unsure if he will be able to do that. He was consumed by darkness for so long… can he so easily shake its hold or could all those years in the darkness have tainted him,” Divayth confided.

“Not to mention the Stag and Dagon come from the same place both are children of the void… could that tie with each other influence him? I would want to think no but after serving him for so long, so used to his darkness I would agree it is hard to think he will be able to do the right thing,” Kozac stated still surveying the landscape.

“Do we have to focus on such dark thoughts now? Things are already tense enough can we maybe focus on some positivity and why do you not take your helmet off while we wait Kozac, you look too serious,” DJ stated trying to hide his nerves though not doing a good job of it. Kozac just brushed him off remaining on guard.

While everyone else was waiting the ninja were navigating their way to the heart of the fortress. Pelagius had scouted out a few possible entrances to the city that seemed unguarded and showed the best potential for taking them into the labyrinth beneath the city. The one they had chosen was a sewer entrance on the south-east side. The area had ended up as a little ravine with a dark, dense and misty swamp forest dominating it. Along with this swamp forest the area was densely populated with un-dead entities and corrupted creatures which they had to fight through to get where they needed to be. Skeletons of both people and the beast folk some coated with algae, plants or fungi, zombie like beings from various races, Shambles, Ash Slaves, un-dead creatures some which were zombie like with algae and shrooms starting to grow on their skin plus a few Hungers and a Nocturn-crow were just some of the entities they had to fight through to reach the entrance. The un-dead and creatures were easy to defeat or at least scare off though there was lots of them which made it difficult. The Hungers and Nocturn-crow were difficult for the ninja to take on even with the special weapons the hyenoids from Holamaya had given them and Dawnbringer which they had given to Lloyd. Luckily the Stag took little effort to obliterate them making their journey to the entrance much easier than it would have been without him. The sewer entrance was gated and locked but it didn’t take long for Zane to pick the lock. Despite how dark it was in the sewers and tunnels they used only a few weak lanterns to light their way. They wanted to limit any chances of being found so would have to make their way with as little light as possible.

The tunnels beneath the city were extensive and hard to navigate. It was a maze of sewers from both Ninjago city, Knighton and Nirnhold along with ruins from the Scimitar folk, natural caverns, serpentine tunnels and tunnels of other various makes both natural and artificial. Some passages were collapsed, some had foundations from buildings intersecting, breaching or merged with them. Corrupted and un-dead and void poisoned beings both animals and people, Hungers, Vulcaroths, other demon creatures and horrid creatures of pure shadow including humanoid and a highly unnerving one made by Ashers which slightly resembled an Asher Sorcerer stalked the tunnels and would attack anything not aligned with Dagon or the Ashers on sight. For most of these the ninja decided not to get into altercations with so they could save their energy and remain hidden, they did not want to give off any hints that they were there. The ninja often opted to try and find an alternative way but if it turned out they had no choice or something noticed them the Stag would take out the entities on his own while the ninja remained hidden so they would not get caught up in the fight. Nothing stood a chance against the Stag who often took out the threats within seconds using only the dark spear he had made for himself or his powers. All throughout the tunnels it was damp smelling of earth and foul water. Various plants and shrooms grew throughout the place some of which looked mutated by the melds energy. Some of these flora were from glowing varieties with their glows having been mutated into dark purplish, reddish, void green or dark bluish hues. Sounds of insects and frogs many of which sounded like they had been altered by the plane meld could be heard throughout the tunnels along with dripping water and in some areas there were mechanical sounds coming from Scimitar machinery that were part of the ruins. Much of the underground was muddy and some areas had become swampy or partially flooded where unpleasant and aggressive species of fish like Slaughterfish inhabited the waters attacking anything that entered them. The network of structures wound throughout the earth even rising and sinking giving the maze multiple layers. A couple times they had to double back after coming to dead ends, too many enemies present or obstacles they could not pass like tunnels too narrow or flooded for them to safely manoeuvre through or filled with dangerous flora that would attempt to strangle, stab, poison or shock them. Any time they came to structures like man-holes or grates the Stag would take a look above ground to help make sure they were headed in the right direction. Using his ability to shape shift he often became a small creature or mist to see in the grounds above in order to try and remain unseen.

By noon they had only made it a little over halfway to the tower. They decided then to stop for a rest. They hid in a section that was made from a fusion of Scimitar ruins, natural cave and sewer. It was muddy with plants, a few small shrooms and corrupted looking trauma roots growing all over the place; other than some rats there appeared to be no other living things nearby. They put themselves in a dead end off shoot that was partially hidden from the three way section of tunnel it was connected to. The off shoot was slightly elevated from the rest of the tunnel making it slightly dryer than the surrounding area.

“You can take a break here, I will scout ahead to see what awaits us. Stay here, do not wander and I would avoid those vines something is not right with them,” the Stag stated looking over the corrupted trauma roots as the ninja sat for a rest. While they rested pulling out the foods and drinks they had brought with them for a lunch the Stag wandered off. The ninja were damp, their clothes were muddy and they felt on edge. The whole time they had been beneath the city they felt on edge. Things felt wrong everywhere they went and they got the same horrid feelings there as they had back in the Ash Wastes of the Lost Realm but it somehow felt worse, much worse. The feelings were giving them great unease and to make it worse it often felt like they were being watched by the shadows even though they could never see any evidence of something there. Combined with the entities they kept finding beneath the city and the uncertainty of what they might find with Dagon they were highly troubled and restless. They were trying to remain quite as to not draw attention; surprisingly even Jay was managing to stay relatively quite despite being on the edge of panicking.

“What do you think this monster has waiting for us?” Jay fretted trying to speak quietly.

“Probably the worst of his goons,” Kai expressed as Cole noticed Zane looking around highly on edge and looking to be confused.

“What is it Zane?” Cole inquired.

“Something is not right here,” Zane noted continuing to look around.

“Everywhere feels like that Zane, it’s this meld,” Lloyd expressed keeping an eye out for danger.

“No it is more than that. There are Scimitar Ruins here but so far we have not seen any evidence of Scimitar Constructs even though the serpentine recalled seeing some here. Given what is lurking down here and the denizens that are ruling above they likely would have not fared well here. I highly doubt the Ashers would have scrapped them so their remains would likely lay where they fell but so far I have seen no evidence of that,” Zane noted.

“Maybe they found somewhere to hide where these monsters can’t find them,” Kai noted.

“Possibly if not…” Zane began getting lost in thought while he looked over the area.

“I wouldn’t worry too much about that, I’m more worried about the Stag,” Lloyd stated.

“Really how so?” Nya wondered and Jay blurted out trying to be quite, “he is a being of darkness and just look what he had done to us.”

“True but we broke the curse,” Cole noted and Lloyd countered, “yes but at his core he is still a being of darkness. Even before we fixed things no one knew what he wanted or his intentions…”

“So you think he has secret intentions?” Kai wondered.

“Well possibly. How are we to know he is good? He even said himself he is still a being of darkness. What if that darkness takes over, makes him side with Dagon? What if he is not helping us but leading us into a trap? You heard what the Ashers said about him how he was created to be the ultimate destroyer what if something triggers him into fulfilling that purpose? What are we to do?” Lloyd disclosed.

“You do have a point,” Cole affirmed and Nya added, “well we have the amulet and the sword. If it will work on Dagon maybe it can work on the Stag as well.” They had all been trying to ignore this thought to put the task at hand first but deep down they had all been worried of the Stag. Despite what he claimed none of them could shake the feeling that the Stag was still a being of darkness nor could they forget all he had done to them. They were worried they would have to deal with the Stag as well as Dagon. They continued to talk as they finished their lunch. While they talked Zane noted something lying in the mud of the tunnel in a swampy section half coated by algae and trauma root which looked to have become corrupted turning dark with glowing fiery cracks and streaks over its vines.

“What is it Zane?” Jay wondered as Zane got up and went to investigate what had caught his attention.

“There is something here,” Zane noted slowly lifting the trauma root to get a look under it.

“What is it? Not something else that wants to get us is it?” Jay babbled and Nya noted getting up to see what Zane was looking at, “careful with those roots Zane. I would have to agree with the Stag something is not right with these vines.” Cole and Kai also got up coming over to see what was in the muck. They could swear there did look to be something in the muck but couldn’t exactly tell what it was.

“There appears to be something metal below here,” Zane noted as Lloyd felt something slowly slide onto his right shoulder from the wall he sat against. Looking to see what it was he saw a wingless serpeton slithering onto his shoulder headed to grab the Red Diamond Amulet which he wore. He quickly picked up that something was wrong with this serpeton. It had discoloured patches of metal and a corrupted trauma root was growing from inside of it reaching out of its mouth and wrapping around its top jaw. In a panic he harshly brushed it off throwing it a few feet away. As he brushed it off his shoulder Zane had his arm grabbed by whatever was buried in the mud. It was a nindroid! It grabbed hold of his arm and refused to let go. Zane attempted to pull his arm free but despite looking in a bad shape the droid was surprisingly strong. As Zane struggled to get his arm free the muck in the tunnel around them moved. Several constructs mainly nindroids along with some hyenoids rose from the muck to shamble towards the ninja and attack. All the droids had discoloured patches to their skin and clothes with corrupted trauma roots coming out of them and wrapping around parts of their bodies. The eyes of most were dark and any whose eyes seemed to be working, which seemed too often be just one of their eyes, had an unnerving sickly greenish brown glow to them. Their movements were seriously off as well. They were not the stable calculating droids one would expect. They stumbled about and just kept swiping unarmed at anything that moved or came close to them. They showed no signs of working as a collective unit as they rushed at the ninja to attack. A few of the droids were even headless. All this lead the ninja to believe the roots were animating the constructs, most of which had been deactivated or were dead. Eerily the roots coming out of them kept reaching out from their hosts and tried to grab at the ninja.

“Looks like we found what happened to some of those constructs for you Zane,” Cole noted as Zane managed to break free of the deprecated droid and its vines which were trying to pull him into the muck.

“It appears they have been taken out and reanimated by these corrupted vines likely as a hidden trap for any who wander through these passages,” Zane noted joining the others to fight off the droids.

“Time to do some weeding,” Kai expressed hitting the one zombiefied droid with fire.

“It takes more than a little fire to hurt a droid,” Jay commented as Kai stopped his fire. Other than its clothes being singed the droid seemed untouched but more shockingly the vines were untouched. The droid paused for a second before going back to attacking.

“The plants don’t burn?!” Kai gasped shocked.

“What kind of vines are these?!” Nya noted piercing a droid in the chest with her trident. As she pulled it out she ended up pulling out what appeared to be a mass or bulb of the roots. With this mass taken out of it the construct stopped collapsing to the floor while the vines on it lost their glow and began to die.

“What did you do?” Jay urged shocked to find the droids were unaffected by electricity.

“I don’t know. I pulled… something out of it and it just stopped,” Nya noted pulling the mass off her trident before continuing the attack. Noting what she had done Lloyd pierced a droid in the same spot she had. As he pulled out the sword nothing came out of the droid but it did stop its attacks and the vines on and in it died. Quickly inspecting the construct he found the same plant mass in the spot he had pierced. The mass was placed near the power source with tendrils coming out of it and wrapping around everything inside the droid. When he had stabbed it he had pierced the mass which was now oozing a dark purplish sap.

“Destroy the heart of the vines and you stop them,” Lloyd ordered as the droids started to overwhelm them. They worked together sticking close and watching each other’s backs to try and pierce the root hearts that were powering the droids. Now that they knew how to defeat them it didn’t take long for them to destroy all the zombiefied droids.

“That was overly creepy!” Jay exclaimed as they destroyed the last one and Kai added, “Zombie droids! I hate to see what else is hidden down here.”

“Hopefully that was the worst we’ll face till we reach the center of this mess,” Lloyd noted as he watched Zane inspect one of the constructs.

“Okay now we have to watch for things rising from the mud to attack as well as from the shadows down here,” Cole noted unnerved and Zane noted as he inspected the construct, “It appears either the necromancers or Ashers fell them before implanting these corrupted plants into them to control them.”

“Could whoever was controlling them see what they were seeing?” Kai wondered and Zane pondered, “I cannot tell but it is highly plausible.”

“Well there goes our element of surprise,” Nya remarked. The ninja were unaware of movement in the muck nearby. Something large was slowly rising and stalking towards them.

“I think we’ve had a long enough break, we should probably get going. If they did tell their masters of us we don’t want to give them much time to prepare. Where’s the Stag?” Lloyd proclaimed his back to the muck in the tunnel leaving him unable to see the mass stalking towards him.

“Lloyd look out!” Kai exclaimed as the other ninja noted the movement and began backing away from the mass terrified. Lloyd looked back in time to react dodging out of the way as the mass lunged at him attempting to bite him. The ninja moved together putting their backs to the wall to face whatever this was. The mass appeared to be made of metal, mud and corrupted vines with algae and some shrooms sticking to it. Its eyes were glowing the same unnerving color as the droids and it appeared to have a wolf like form. It held its mouth open at them giving off a metallic growling while showing off its metal teeth.

“What is that monstrosity?!” Jay panicked.

“I believe it is one of the Scimitar constructs, a robotic Hoofivore,” Zane noted inspecting the creature, “it has become coated in debris and animated by those vines!” The construct roared at them before charging towards them. They dodged out of the way as it came at them and the construct rammed head first with considerable force into the wall behind them. Its impact shook the walls and ceiling causing some dust and debris to fall. The construct shook its head as it took a few steps back before looking at the ninja who stood waiting for the construct to make the next move on either side of it.

“As I suspected I cannot connect with it. It is likely this construct is either offline or departed and being manipulated solely by those vines,” Zane explained attempting to connect with it.

“Okay so it can’t be reasoned with; I guess we have to go with the kicking and punching route,” Cole remarked before the construct began snapping at the ninja trying to catch one of them as they defended themselves against its attacks. The ninja were attempting to try and hit it in the chest where they reasoned the heart of these roots likely sat. The task was much harder than they expected. The creature was fast and surprisingly agile and the Scimitar Steel that made up its skin and parts were much tougher than the steel and titanium of the droids. Also thanks to its large size and the cramped conditions of the sewers they were in the ninja were struggling to get the upper hand and even to avoid getting bit, trampled or caught by it and its vines. To make it worse the vines were making it resistant to their powers and a dark mist like the one they had seen in the Ashers tunnel was starting to emanate from it seeping from seams in its body. In the struggle Cole got head butted away landing in the section they had minutes before been resting in coming to lay winded, Nya and Jay got whacked by its tail throwing them against the wall where they slid down and landed in the mud of the swampy section. The creature managed to clamp its jaws onto Zane and began to shake him as vines from on its head started to wrap around him. Kai rushed in to aid Zane but as the creature shook its head it smacked its head into Kai and flung him into the wall. The Creature then threw Zane atop him before it turned its attention to Lloyd. The construct looked him in the eye as it prepared to launch at him its mouth open showing off its shiny and sharp teeth as the dark mist spilled out of its mouth. Lloyd readied himself to swipe at it hoping to get a good shot at its chest. It charged at him before a dark streak slammed into its side knocking it over and pinning it to the floor. The construct made a few jerky moves as it tried to get up before it lay still its eyes and the vines dying and the smoke ceasing to spill from it.

It took the ninja a while to settle and register what had happened as the Stag in his elk headed man form approached the construct and pulled his spear from the constructs chest.

“Was anyone hurt?” the Stag demanded while the ninja got up and came together all shaking from the confrontation.

“Just shaken and bruised I think,” Nya stated as they looked over themselves.

“The thorns from those vines did not pierce any of your skins did they?” the Stag demanded.

“Why?” Lloyd inquired.

“Those dark vines can corrupt things they pierce into denizens of the void. You six might be able to resist the worst of its effects but it will weaken you to other dark influences such as the many we will have to face to reach Dagon down here. The Ashers have placed many traps down here. These vine twisted droids are just some of the milder ones. The deeper we go the worse they are going to get. The tunnels close to the center of the city are filled with the worst of the traps in order to keep anyone from getting close,” the Stag explained. The ninja checked themselves over even getting the others to check places they couldn’t see making sure they had not got cut or have thorns in them. They were clear.

“We got lucky, looks like we escaped this trap,” Kai expressed.

“This one but we must keep alert. We are getting closer and there is much worse we are going to have to navigate through to get to the heart of this mess. Come let us keep moving, we do not have much time to waste,” the Stag proclaimed not giving them any time to relax. They were all hesitant and a bit nervous to follow the Stag as he head off not seeming to notice their hesitation.

“We couldn’t have a moments rest from nearly being torn apart?” Jay complained and Nya noted, “strange how he was nowhere to be seen then he shows up just in time to save us?”

“Yha that does seem a bit odd, should we continue to follow him?” Kai wondered a bit on edge and Lloyd hesitated before responding, “I’m hesitant to but we need him in order to reach Dagon. We’ll follow him… for now.” They slowly followed behind the Stag as he continued to lead the way through the tunnels. The ninja one by one began to follow. Zane was the last to follow taking a look over the constructs that they had been fighting.

“A little upsetting to see what these things did to those made like you isn’t it?” Kai expressed as Zane caught up with the rest of them and not sounding very cheerful Zane responded, “It is disturbing and unpleasant yes.”

“Don’t worry we’ll take it to these monsters and make them pay for everything they have done,” Cole stated trying to cheer Zane up. As they continued the tunnels began to somehow feel darker even though most didn’t look any darker than the rest of those they had gone through. As they got deeper and closer to the heart of the city they started to notice a strange what looked like a dark mist start to build in the tunnels but there was something about it that was clearly unnatural. Even though it looked like a fog or mist something about it spoke that this really wasn’t what it was; that it was something their senses could barely perceive and could only make out as a fog because of this lack of understanding. It carried a feeling similar to the mist the Oni had brought to Ninjago city and like that in the Ashers tunnel yet worse, much worse. All of them even Lloyd and Zane could feel this mist affecting them making it hard to breath and making every step fall feel like they were getting heavier and that their joints were stiffening. There was an unnatural cold to the fog that not even Zane could withstand and the fog also brought strange dreaded and dark feelings that made them all feel like turning round and running as far away from this place as they could. The fog felt unnervingly like how the Stag had felt further unnerving the ninja. Some of them could even swear they were faintly hearing the possible sounds of voices whispering undistinguishable sounds and words to them or a faint drum like or heartbeat like noise emanating somewhere deep within the foggy tunnels.

“This mist feels like the one the Oni brought with them yet somehow unimaginably worse,” Cole remarked getting nervous and Lloyd worried struggling to keep moving, “What is this stuff?”

“I don’t know but I don’t like it? We should turn back before it’s too late!” Jay began to panic and Zane noted starting to worry, “do you hear that? It sounds like something is calling to us down here.”

“Do not listen to what you hear or feel,” the Stag warned noting the effect the mist was having on the ninja, “This is no mere fog. It is energies of the voids darkness the first and greatest darkness taking physical form. As realms are pulled together into the void it is allowing the void to seep into them pooling into areas of chaos and slowly creeping out from there to consume everything. Dagon and his lackeys have taken advantage of this and have let its darkness seep into the tunnels closest to the Ivory-gold tower in order to stop you. It just gets thicker the deeper you go. It swirls around through the passages down here seeking to pull the lost and troubled to the darkness of the void. Only those such as myself who are a part of the void can escape its effects. It will desire to ensnare you and make you a part of it. If it gains hold of you it will not let go. You must stay strong, if you fall to its call it will consume you and you will become a part of it. If you lose yourself to the void there is almost nothing that will be able to save you. Trust me I know its call well; I know what it is like for it to consume you. Do not trust your senses, your emotions or even your own thoughts in this stuff. It will do whatever it can to ensnare you.”

“How do we stop its hold?” Lloyd worried and Kai noted, “it’s hold… it feels terrifying…”They were all hesitant to continue unsettled by the fog and the hold it was trying to place on them.

“It is hard I know… the hold, the call… you must hold onto the light within yourselves and the world around you. You must hold onto it and cherish it to keep the darkness at bay. I can understand however this can be hard especially with all you are going through. All the pressures you are under and the darkness around you… I am a part of this darkness as it is a part of me. I know its hold but I also know what holds it back. I do believe I might be able to help protect you so you can pass,” the Stag regaled looking at his one hand as he manifested a golden light into it. The Stag then cast a spell at the ninja who initially were startled by the action as they were hit with the golden light. The light manifested into a glowing golden bracelet on one of each of their wrists as it hit them. They were all intrigued and a little nervous of the bracelets unsure what the Stag had done to them. They did notice the effects of the mist start to lighten and slowly stop bothering them as much.

“Those are made from the energy of the light of the world. As long as you see and feel the light you will don them and they will keep the void at bay; the mist should not bother you as much and the void will be unable to gain a hold. It will however not protect you from the other hazards that likely await for us down here so be on guard,” the Stag proclaimed as the ninja inspected their bracelets. The Stag began to head off but the ninja hesitated wary and unsure of what the Stag had done. Noting their hesitation the Stag stopped and waited as they questioned who should brave the fog first. Lloyd was reluctantly the first to brave the fog. When nothing seemed to happen to him and he noted not feeling the void trying to gain hold of him or affect him they all got the courage to brave the fog. Once they all had braved the fog and realised they were safe they continued to follow the Stag as they made their way through the darkness. They continued on keeping alert for possible threats in the mist around them as they moved. Slowly the fog continued to get thicker till they could barely see anything around them. The light sources they had brought with them could barely pierce the darkness of the fog, only allowing them to see a small distance around them as they slowly and cautiously made their way into the fogged tunnels. As they headed into the fog it swallowed the path behind them and left them barely able to see the tunnels around them. Every now and then glowing flora could faintly be seen through the fog. Only the faint glow from their bracelets could easily be seen through the darkness of the fog. After a while of navigating their way in the darkness below the Stag led them up a staircase into a structure they could only guess from the architecture and items was from Knightonia possibly a house or tower. The place was in ruins and though they couldn’t see the roof they felt by the rubble around them it was no longer there.

“We are now in the inner most ring of the city be on guard anything could be hiding up here. The fusion of the three cities has made quite a mess here. It will make it difficult to reach the throne room with ease. There likely will be no easy or direct path between here and there. Stick together and don’t wander off; anything could be hiding out here waiting to ambush us,” the Stag quietly noted as they headed down what might have been a street or possibly an alley way at one point skirting around piles of debris. As they slowly navigated their way through the dark fog they passed several blocks all of which were populated by structures from Knightonia, Ninjago City and Nirnhold. Many were not in the best of states and roads and pathways which would have made navigating the area easy were clogged up by various structures making the path to the center of the area a long winding one often taking them through various structures and having to climb over piles of debris. Some structures were even fused conglomerates of structures from different realms casing blockages to pathways they had to navigate around. Some of these blockages looked to have once been blocked by the merging but some force likely the Ashers or one of their monsters had smashed a path through the wall creating the blockage giving them some ease through some areas. Dark vine like structures climbed on many of the walls, piles of debris lay everywhere and unnervingly there was little in signs of life anywhere. Flora was scattered about the areas and growing on and in structures and out of debris piles. Much of it was tainted by void energies corrupting them darkening and dulling their colors. Glowing flora mainly fungi offered some color and light to the darkness but instead of offering a sight of comfort and warmth only unnerved them. In a few spots strange purple glowing crystals grew from the ground with stones and debris often floating around the crystals. Surprisingly there were no bones or bodies of anything lying around. Despite it being a gruesome thought they expected to see some. The fact they were not seeing any only unsettled them more. Everything was disturbingly quite. Only the sounds of debris falling once in a while, a slight breeze through the flora, flapping cloths or metallic creaking from metal adornments on buildings like signs moving slightly from the faint breeze of the area could be heard now and then. They could frequently hear the rumbling of the thunder in the sky above them but the fog was so dense they could barely see a few feet around them let alone the cursed sky they knew was above them. They were expecting dark monsters or at least individuals unfortunate to have been ensnared by the void to be crawling about the areas but there were no signs of anything. It was unnervingly unsettling. As they went they kept getting an unnerving feeling that something was watching them or even following them as they moved through the fog. The ninja stopped a few times to look around feeling uneasy and disturbed but could never see or hear whatever was watching them. Even more unnerving despite getting close to what they believed would be the central structure of the city where Dagons thrown room would be they had found no traces of Ashers or their allies. There appeared to be no one patrolling nor did there appear to be any traps. Still they moved slowly through the place all on high alert.

As they made their way through the maze of the fused structures Zane began to get an unnerving and terrible feeling. He could see the others didn’t seem to be feeling what he was so he kept quite not wanting to worry anyone. He was behind everyone bringing up the rear. At one point as they went through a long alleyway made between some buildings from Ninjago and Knightonia he swore he could hear what sounded like someone coming up behind them. He stopped to look readying for a fight. A minute passed but nothing came. He went to continue following the others but when he turned back around he found the path ahead blocked by the mist. The others had continued on and the mist had moved in as they left leaving him with no clue where they had gone. Even though he knew he could easily catch up to them if he tried he was hesitant to make a move. He could not sense the others through the fog leaving him with no clue where to go, he couldn’t even tell where he was the fog blocked all but his base human senses and there was something else. Despite not sensing anything he got the unnerving feeling he wasn’t alone in that fog. He remained still starting to get agitated and overcome by a dark feeling. As they had been getting closer to the center of the city he could feel something unnerving him more and more. An unsettling darkness that only got worse as they moved into this fog giving him a strong pull to the energies of this void.

“One of the vines did get you did it not?” an eerie yet beguiling voice that was neither male nor female nor did it sound human spoke to him and without thinking he responded, “it was just one thorn; caught in my wrist. It might have cut a wire or two but it should not be that bad. I know the poisoning it left me with is starting to affect me, weakening me to this fog but I can try to fight it, I have to the others need me.” He looked around for who he was speaking to only to be disturbed to find he was alone. Again he could hear the sound of something approaching. Probably one of the others coming to get him so he could catch up with them he hoped but he could not entirely convince himself of it. The footprints didn’t sound human and were coming from the wrong direction. Turning to face the noise he watched surprised as a silver hyena with lavender eyes slowly came out of the fog towards him. The creature amazingly seemed to be unaffected by the mist and was oddly calm. The creature looked familiar. He had seen one like it in some of his dreams before confusing him. Was he dreaming? No he was sensing that he was fully awake. Was it some form of hallucination or was this some otherworldly creature that was immune to the mist?

“What is an animal like you doing here? How is this fog not affecting you?” Zane thought aloud as the hyena calmly strode up to him its head hung low. It gave him a few sniffs before stopping to raise its head and tail to stare down the hall it had come from. It looked to be memorized by something. Looking in the same direction Zane noted the mist had thinned allowing him to see some distance down the hall. It was still dark and fogged nor could he make things out clearly, everything appeared as shadows and silhouettes not as the detailed objects he knew they were but it was clearer than it had been before. When he looked around himself he could make out the alley way he had been travelling down in both directions but he could not see too far down the passage ahead of him. The fog was still thick appearing like walls of shadow in that direction; the lantern he carried didn’t even cast any light on this fog. He was disturbed and nervous. Why had the fog down the alley behind him appear to be clearing while in front of him where he needed to go remained dark and impenetrable? What had caught the hyenas attention and brought it to stare down the alley? What was the hyena and why was it there? As he tried to ration everything out he could feel a darkness starting to overcome him.

“Okay maybe that thorn was dangerous. It feels… like how the final stages of the Blight did. I can… the urge is getting bad,” Zane noted looking at the arm the thorn had pierced. His clothes and metal skin were starting to look odd. It wasn’t the soul shriven effect the plane meld was creating. It was something darker and more terrible like the Stags hold worrying him making him start to shake. A sudden noise down the clearer path caught his attention. It sounded like something being knocked over as something stumbled through the alley. When he looked he at first couldn’t see anything then he noticed it. A shadowy being appeared to be slowly shuffling towards him in the passage. He could not make out any details of it, it was just pure shadow. It terrified him. He was unsure of what was going on but he had a feeling it was bad, very bad. He tried to calm himself but the darkness he could feel starting to overwhelm him was getting too much and he remained frozen by fear.

“Why do you try to fight the darkness? Let it consume you,” the strange eerie voice came to him.

“No I must… the darkness it calls to me I can hear it but I must…” Zane was struggling to control himself as the hyena turned its attention to him. It seemed oddly calm and relaxed as it looked at him even as his lantern began to falter flickering with an aquamarine light before starting to go out and unnerving him more. The bracelet the Stag had put on him was also starting to flicker and fade as he felt the darkness creeping into himself.

“You must not fight it, become one with the void. Make it a part of you, make it your own. You will be most pleased by it. Just relax it won’t hurt,” the voice whispered to him as tendrils of the mist seemed to start grasping at him making his feelings worse. He tried to fight them before getting distracted as the voice came to him again.

“Darkness eventually comes for us all, your struggles only delay the inevitable,” the voice spoke again as Zane took another look at the shadowy figure that was slowly headed towards him. It looked humanoid but had an unnerving way of moving more of shuffling or dragging its way towards him than actually walking. There appeared to be no features to it; not even eyes. It was as if the being was made of pure shadows. He wanted to run from this figure but at the same time he felt a strong desire for it to get close and embrace him with its darkness and this feeling was growing disturbing him even more. He was starting to hear what sounded like a faint beating sound coming from the darkness. It was drawing him in attracting his attention. His lantern went out then shortly after that the bracelet the Stag had put on him vanished and he found himself struggling against the darkness’s hold.

“No… the dragons… the dragons entered the tower… now… now they must join the darkness to see the light,” Zane declared starting to feel what the voice was saying was true as the dark energy he had been fighting started to overwhelm him, consuming him and leaving him unable to feel or see any light in the world. As the shadow figure got close to him slowly reaching out for him to grab its hand Zane could no longer hold back the darkness and stopped fighting letting the darkness overcome him…

To find previous and later chapters look here: https://robobirdie.tumblr.com/archive

You can also find a copy of the story written here https://archiveofourown.org/works/34894561/chapters/86888878 and here https://www.wattpad.com/1087355671-ninjago-the-oni-scrolls-foreword-important-info You can also find images pertaining to the story here: https://www.deviantart.com/nerdy-hyena/gallery/72478681/story-project

#ninjago #ninjago zane #ninjago cole #ninjago nya #ninjago jay #ninjago kai #ninjago lloyd #nexo knights #Elder Scrolls

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