Antaeus shoved himself into the crowd, but soon the reporter realized what kind boy was trespassing the investigation zone.

"Ah, what a surprise! Here is the son from the Stone Enterprises! What is this young man doing here in this investigation zone? Are you in any relation to this girl? Any information of this mysterious case?"

As usual, he pushed his head away from the flashes of interest, and entered the door of where Tamara's house is assumed to be.

Those fools of a newspaper might crumple up the new rumors and may make him the boyfriend of hers in front of all the newspapers, but he didn't care for now. Something was beckoning him that something is very wrong and the girl is trapped in this.

Creeeeaaaakkk...

Once again, he was surprised he had conquered the entrance with no difficulty, and shot a peek in.

Inside was no one.

The boy raised an eyebrow, confusion dotting his heart.

There was only one reporter outside but hundreds of photographers.

Weird.

And none of Tamara's relatives, her father or her brother was outside.

Even weird.

He figured they might be hiding if they weren't swarmed by reporters...

He stepped in.

Cruuuuuck...

"Hello?"

Silence.

Um... "Mr Shayde?"

Nothing listens.

His undaunted steps led him to venture deep into the quiet room, the cameras growing quiet behind him.

There was the empty, ragged bedroom.

Empty, food ridden kitchen.

A empty bedroom with blocks of LEGOs trying to brighten the loneliness.

All held a fruitless scan.

He sighed once again.

When he decided it was time to go and leave his instincts and nonsense to a corner, to convince himself that Tamara was no more than a missing nerdy girl, a little squeak brought back him back to the house.

"Mister?"

He turned around.

In front of him was a scrawny little boy with a wild mess of brown tangles on his head, his twiggy hand was fiercely encasing a little LEGO set of a blue mini figure and a blue lego cladded bike.

His ebony green eyes were struggling to pierce through the bags of weariness, and through this pupils he looked as if he had seen too much things that had scarred his innocence forever.

"Where's my sister?" He whispered again, this time it sounded like nails clawing a blackboard to Antaeus.

He backed.

"WHERE IS SHE!? WHERE IS MY FREAKING SISTER?! WHERE?!" A flurry of emotions shot through this eyes in a matter of millisecond, so murderous and adrupt the young man had to take another step back.

Before he can even reply, the boy shot his minifigure with his hand, aiming at Antaeus's neck.

Pruck.

Antaeus looked back to see the head of the minifigure breaking into the cheap cardboard wall, shreds of wood already cascading to the floor idly.

"How did you...?" He mumbled in horror.

Something is wrong.

Very, very wrong.

He turned back, but the door was closed. Bolted locked.

No one was seeing anything that young boy just did.

"DID YOU DO ANYTHING TO HER? I SWEAR, IF SHE GETS HURT..." His tone grew so threatening, it sounded like a full grown man.

Antaeus backed once again.

And his back hit the wall, injecting shots of shock and dread into his body.

He can escape no further.

A icy sensation frosted his throat.

"H-Hey, kid, you okay?"

"BRING HER BACK! BRING HER BACK! I DON'T CARE, BRING HER BACK!" Robin screamed, and pounced on him, a small fist risen as a assumption of a attack.

Antaeus dodged sharply to the left, the now cold air slicing around him. In a frantic breath, he caught him, and pinned him to the wall.

"Kid-" He opened his mouth to say, before he saw a flash of blue, and a dart shot into the children's right elbow, and he watched slowly as the light dimmed in his eyes, then the head drooped. A small stream of blood trickled in from where the dart shot.

Slowly, Antaeus picked the dart from the floor.

"Quite a shock, was it?" The voice behind him was melodious, the tone going up and cascades down, like a thick Mandarin accent was equipped.

A stab of unsettled fright caused him to whirl around, Antaeus's breath turning shorter and shorter.

The man standing behind him was leaning at a battered old hall of yellowed pictures filled with memories. He wore a ironed formal khaki suit, with a purple striped tie and a white shirt beneath, and a Micheal Jackson style top hat that masked a large proportion of his squarish face with darkness. Disheveled frizzy dark hair spiraled down to his chin. A blue dart flew into the air and back into his palm as the man toyed with it as if it was a ball.

His face, blindly judging inasmuch as the dimness shrouding the whole room, was as white as a vampire, as if he never saw the light of the sun. His eyes were easy to see, coming to the fact that they were inhumanly burning gold. His cheeks, as inhuman as his eyes, contrasted greatly with his white face, rosy red. Antaeus struggled to recognized him, for he looked like a soulless man, and a chubby little boy at the same time, both souls bounded together like two silhouettes having their own intervals of time to flicker in front of mortal eyes.

He looked like a god in a disguise of a clown.

His hands were tucked into his pockets, the burning gold irises drilling into Antaeus's.

"Forgive the kid. He's been through worse." He walked forward with ridiculously big leather shoes, switching his gaze from the unconscious boy to Antaeus.

"Who are you?" The young teenager breathed sharply. "Why are you here? How did you get in?"

The man's subtle cheeks rose, revealing a grin too big for the face, and the insecurity of Antaeus's screamed.

"People call me the Jester."

Fwoosh.

Kai's sword ignited into dancing flames, swirling around the now half-transparent blade, lighting up his face.

As if in cue, the four great ninjas transformed into vicious wisps of tornado, thundering into the village with proud auras of justice.

From hidden, the villages caught glimpses of their hopeful heroes, marvelling at the power of relief as it shunned feat from their hearts.

They were safe,

They will never get their homes.

The serpentine hissed from far, anger curling into them as fast as fear seeping from the villagers.

A reptilian war cry pierced the air as a typical four-ninja-to-hundred-reptile war begins.

Cole couldn't help but smile as he sliced through a Serpentine's head like butcher knife through melting butter, his elemental blade vibrating with earthly energy he had finally come to get use to.

Now, the ninjas could easily blow up five Hypnobrai in one easy thrust of his blade.

Finally, after a year of teeth-gritting effort, their blood and tears has finally paid off.

The general with blue scales hissed, witnessing the upper hand stolen.

They have lost.

But not at no cost.

"BRING THE GIRL AWAY!"

Jay heard someone shriek, and a urge of panic rose in realization.

"They have a prisoner." The ninja whispered ever so hoarsely.

GUYS, THEY HAVE A PRISONER!"

He yelled, and chased after where the sound came from.

"Constrictai! Form ranks! Others, RETREEEEAAAT!"

Kai, among the smoke he released other than fire, he spotted a hypnobrai carrying a girl in its arms, slithering away at a inhuman speed, guarded by a wall of tougher Constrictais.

"THEY'RE GETTING AWAY WITH A GIRL!" One of them shouted.

"EXACTLY! THEY'RE TAKING HER AWAY!" Jay screamed. "I SAID THAT LIKE, A MILLION TIMES!"

Cole dodged a whip of a blade. "OKAY GUYS, ON THREE, WE CHASE!"

"No you don't, little ninjasssss!" The snake hissed, but was soon shut up over by a heavy whack.

"ONE!"

"TWO!"

"THREEEEE!"

Instantly, they ignored whoever they were locked in combat with, and zoomed to the wall the constrictais were struggling to form.

The four transformed into a flurry of crazed elements: Fire scorching, ice thundering into icicles, lightning electrifying, and earth erupting.

Kai sliced apart a way to let the people move.

The girl, they must get the girl.

Jay screamed as he flew through the serpentine's heads like the agility training back in the former base of theirs.

Cole stabbed his blade onto the earth, pulling up the forces of the earth into a radius as far as possible.

Zane leaped forward, shooting freezing elements at the serpentine in hope to get grasp of the girl, but none were in use.

When the four ninjas finally breached the ranks of constrictai, the serpentine had long disappeared.

They lost the enemy.

And the captive.

I was falling.

Deep, deep deep into darkness.

The darkness of loss, the darkness of fear.

There was nothing I could witness as that I was plummeting to the dark, yet I knew.

The feeling of dropping was familiar, except that it was as if time had froze, the temporary fear lasted so, so long….

till now.

Harsh, harsh light pierced into my soul, curling between darkness and me, and yanked me out of the embrace.

It was cold and ignorant, unlike the warm, promising comfort darkness offered me.

Groaning, I flung my eyelids open.

Light, light grey.

Sunlight smiled maliciously as it danced through gaps between a textureless, vast dome of rock.

A vast dome of rock…?

I opened my eyes wider.

Where am I?

Panic surged into my veins like ice as I rose from my sitting stance to look around, shivering. Titanic, rock walls bent elegantly around me like a idle flower, arching into a natural dome above, the surface flawless as if grounded every day. Sunlight danced everywhere, illuminating the flecks dust glowing softly as they played among themselves.

I closed my eyes.

Quiet.

Tranquil dawned upon the undisturbed nature, the silence reminding me of the times I visited the tip of mountains, away from civilization.

The floor though, was a as if a sea of needles had broke through a concrete ground just before the second they hardened. I stared at the floor, pale faced, before realization struck.

Unless the ground behind me was smooth, I was lying on the very same bed of thorns it a few seconds ago. The horrifying scene spread out wide, like I was staring from the one of the goal of a world class soccer field.

Dread overwhelmed me with a cold wave. I swallowed hard, and tried to look back.

Blood.

Dark, red liquid splattered onto the spikes.

My blood.

My mouth opened, then closed.

I reached to touch my back, and I let out a shaky break as my full palm slipped slightly at the moist body.

All, all of them blood.

My heart fell to a horse with a limping speed.

Why didn't I die?

Why didn't I feel pain?

Why am I even alive?

I gently withdrew my hand, but I didn't really feel like looking at it.

Why?

It was just for Robin.

Just for a little boy, a scrawny thief.

And I have to go through this bleeding, the catastrophe a few minutes—hours—wait, who knows how long—

My knee joints turned jelly, but I didn't want to risk my legs now, after living out in that hell and still feeling no pain, I still wasn't so sure of how immune my legs were.

I pressed a firm yet weak hand on my chest.

Breathe, Tamara.

In.

Out.

In.

Out.

I closed my eyes, and felt the familiar beat of the heart.

Thump.

Thump.

Thump.

I am alive, but how—

"SOMEONE, PLEASE ACQUAINT ME AGAIN WITH HOW DID I COME ACROSS YOU FOOLS!"

The voice was high but raspy, like a snake trying to talk, yet it successfully thundered into the eerie quietness and reverberated through the smooth rock surfaces concaving on me.

I gasp slightly, before trying my best not to take stumble into the thorns.

The Serpentine.

"ANYONE WHO DARES TO FACE MY INTELLIGENCE WITH DUBIOUSNESS?"

"My Lord, what is this plan?" The other voice was easily recognized, timid with bits of courage cobbled together like dark juxtaposed to light. "With all due respect my l-lord, but as your loyal commander, I have to know the reason for this…" I frowned, not knowing if it faltered to a tone to soft all the voice stopped altogether.

Silence.

Nothing came for a while as tension builded, just me standing not a few meters away from the nearest wall and not a peep coming through.

And a scream broke the classic horror movie silence.

"THE LEGEND! THE LEGEND YOU DARNED FOOLS!" The raspy voice hollered.

MY frown only grew worse.

Legend?

"My lord…. what legend?"

A few strings of hoarse cussing broke the silence.

""SSSSSUIJIN! THE GOD OF WATER! HE SHOWED HISSSSS PITY TO WOMEN BY GIVING THEM A DARN ANCIENT POWER LOCATED IN A TEMPLE!"

"P-p-pardon us, but what does it have to do with the… ground?"

"FOOLS! WHAT GOOD ARE YOUR BRAINS! DON'T YOU KNOW HOW THE TEMPLE IS WELL HIDDEN?!"

"My Lord, please forgive us—"

"OH WHAT, WHY THE LITTLE GIRL IS INJURED? WHY WOULD YOU EVEN CARE OF THAT DESPICABLE, INSIGNIFICANT TOOL? IF YOU WANT POWER, YOU WOULD JUST HAVE TO WHAT THE PROPHECY SAYS—OH, WHAT DO I CARE NOW! AFTER THIS, I WILL TAKE POWER OF ALL NINJAGO AND I WON'T NEED YOUR MINDS TO RULE ANYMORE! PROCEED WITH THE RITUAL!"

A large bang resonance through the cave like a beast howling. I bit my lower lip as the ground shook, but not wild enough to snatch my balance away from me.

"SHE WILL BE AWAKE NOW. BEGIN!"

And the ground shook again.

Yet it was much lighter.

I recognize the humane beat of stomping.

It came in the form of the basic rhythms, thud, thud, thud, like the dances for those tribal rituals.

It wasn't before long before the ground shook, much stronger than it was supposed to be.

Odd chanting softly commenced, before gradually amplified into something as deafening as the stomping blared into my ears like a gong.

Noboru ssssss….

hassssolama,

hasssssah…

The ground responded, howling and shaking its spiky fists.

A line thundered through the floor like lightning as the chanting loudened, and loudened.

Stop.

And the floor beneath me parted.

Please, stop.

My feet were desperately gripping the surface as the floor beneath me shattered like it was biscuit, revealing a dark green lake as they bobbled back.

Murky, sickly green.

I closed my eyes.

And I slipped.