Hello everyone! My name is NinjaChief547, and I am a new author to the website of Fanfiction! I am proud to announce the start of a Ninjago Fanfiction I'm sure that all of you will love; The Overlord Origins! Please keep in mind the story is not ENTIRELY about the Overlord! It took me awhile to get this posted, but now that I know how to post these, uploads should come at a much faster rate. You can expect 1-2 chapters per week, but for now, 1. I have recently started editing an old document typed several years ago, and edits are taking longer than I originally thought, so please be patient with me. For now, I plan to finish this story, but keep in mind that writer's block is like the Black Plague for me. Anyways, hope you enjoy! Constructive criticism is appreciated!

One day, an ordinary day in New Ninjago City, Kai had this feeling of uncertainty in the pit of his stomach. He knew in his heart that something was going to go wrong, though Zane had previously defeated the Golden Master not even a month ago. On this particular day, Kai was so lost in his thoughts that he barely even heard Jay blabbering on and on about some stupid video game as he walked into the apartment.

"Hey, Kai! did you hear the news?!"

"What news?.." the ninja of fire asked despondently. The lightning ninja was fruitless - a lost cause.

"The newest version of Skyfall came out!" The ninja of electricity replied excitedly, waving a CD case over his head.

"Why should I care about some stupid video game?" Kai asked, resting his chin in a hand as he leaned on his desk countertop in his new private study. He had picked up on writing shortly after Zane's death, for he wanted to leave his brother a legacy. As long as Kai was still around, no one would forget what his robotic friend gave up for Ninjago. It was hard to write out his emotions onto paper, though. In his opinion, not a single one of the words sounded right, leaving him deeply frustrated. This frustration was directed mostly toward himself, yet at the same time toward his parents. The fire ninja had never received a proper education, and it was really starting to show through the seams now.

Jay scoffed. "Because it's the awesomest game in the history of the world!" he retorted, crossing his arms that were fleeced in a sky blue sweater. Nya had convinced him to buy it in her favor, and he had done just so. But after their breakup, he had refused to take it off, to much of the rest of the ninja's annoyance. Kai had opted for him to take it off several weeks ago because it had been making his sister uncomfortable, but Jay had stubbornly refused. In fact, getting on Nya's nerves is exactly what Jay was aiming for. He wanted the article of clothing to be a constant reminder to Nya about what they had together, also what she was now missing out on.

"Okay then..." Kai mused, scribbling on the corner of a notebook page with the pencil he was gripping in his right hand. Eventually, he sighed, tossing the pencil aside. He wasn't in the mood to write. None of his work sounded good enough to him. He thought that the memoir he was putting together would be an insult to such an intelligent Nindroid who had sacrificed himself to save Ninjago. Sure, he had whipped up a remembrance speech for Zane's funeral service, but now was different. As stressed as Kai was, he needed some alone time - a breather to escape all of the stress that was pressing down on him. He knew that he'd taken on almost every villain in Ninjago with little to no hesitation, but even then: he still couldn't take on everything head-on. Even those with the strongest of spines and thickest of skulls would break sooner or later, and Kai felt as if his destructive anxiety would push him over into the bottomless abyss that would swallow him whole.

Whatever was looming in the air around him wasn't letting up, and Jay's unrelenting chatter didn't help to ease his nerves. He was frazzled, irritated, and exhausted: not one to be messed with, and the lighting ninja was already pushing his boundaries.

"Well, you can enjoy that for a while, while I go look for Sensei Wu," the fire ninja stated, praying that Jay would take the bait and leave him be, for his sanity was on the line.

"Sure, whatever..." Jay replied absently, already on his way out the door.

But it was still obvious that Kai's comment had flown right over his head.

Tapping his fingertips against his desktop, the red ninja wracked his brain in search of something to write down, but unfortunately could come up with nothing. He clenched his hand into a fist and pounded his desk, knocking over a cup of writing utensils and spilling them onto the floor. Tearing out the notebook page, he crumpled it into a compact ball, then watched it slowly sizzle and smoke in his palm until it finally turned to embers.

Particles of ash drifted onto the floor like dainty snowflakes, coating the white part of the multicolored rug below in soot. The rug was in the ninja's colors, and they each took their own amount of time to knit their own section. Shortly after they had treated Zane like garbage, he had given them this as a punishment. That had been almost five years ago, the same day Zane had discovered the Destiny's Bounty. And Kai had just ruined Zane's section by staining it a charcoal gray.

His hand shook as he realized what he'd just done, and he slid out of his chair and fell to his knees. Hot tears stung in his eyes, threatening to roll down his cheeks at any given moment.

The fire ninja missed his ice friend greatly, and there was nothing he could do to bring him back. Sniffling, Kai was barely able to hold in the tears as he pushed himself up onto one knee.

"You wouldn't want us to feel this way..." Kai mumbled as he stared down at the yarn rug beneath his feet, the white now tainted in ominous smears of black.

As a cold sensation ran up his spine, Kai could feel the hairs on the back of his neck prickling. The black smudges reminded him of Zane and the Golden Master's final battle: ice ninja versus darkness itself. Although Zane had won, everyone else still felt at loss. His heart aching, the fire master shook his head and began picking up whatever was left of the embers. He had ruined the work of a dead friend, and there was no way he could possibly make it up to them.

With a deep breath, Kai he stood up and threw the pieces reminiscent of his writing into the trash.

"I'm sorry, old friend," Kai spoke to no one in particular, hoping that Zane would give him a sign that he was still out there somewhere.

But when no reply came, Kai decided that going on a short walk might be the only thing left to spare him from insanity. More than anything, the red ninja needed to be left alone with his thoughts. Even if it meant telling his friends a few white-lies, he'd do what was necessary.

Little did Kai know, those few white-lies could potentially change everything.

Even the fate of a dear friend.

Hope you enjoyed the first installment of The Overlord Origins! This chapter did appear much longer in its original format, but I will make sure that the rest are longer than this. For now, NinjaChief547...

OUT!

(Btw please check out authors such as FirstFandomFangirl (FFF) and Astrid16 for more AMAZING Ninjago content! They've inspired me to continue writing this!)