Raining Ashes ► Ninjago

three

Wu and Nya watched along with the others the surveillance video presented by Celestia and Geralt earlier.

"Oh wow..." the latter muttered. "So... the person who did this has access to a dragon? But how?"

The sensei was lost in thought. All of his pupils knew him well.

"What is it, Sensei?" Lloyd asked.

He returned his gaze to the six. "Besides the elemental masters, there was only one being able to bring dragons from their realm to ours."

"Realm? The hell are you talking about, Sensei?" Jay questioned with widened eyes. "And what do you mean, the only one?"

Wu let out a soft sigh. "Come. There is a story you all need to hear."

¤ ¤

They all stared as their sensei turned around with a rolled parchment in his hands.

"Oh, great," Jay nervously laughed, "another prophecy."

"Not a prophecy," Wu began, "a warning."

That shut him up real quick.

He opened the paper toward them on the floor, lowering to his knees in front of it. The six leaned forward to have a closer look.

On the parchment was a shadowy figure with slanted red eyes and a matching colored, eerie grin. His hands were facing up at his sides. A crooked object resembling a crown resided on the right side of the shadow's head.

Two dragons flew opposite each other above a mountain. Based on the image placements, the figure was most likely controlling the animals.

Nobody said a word. Wu took it upon himself to begin explaining what the hell that scroll meant.

"I've had this hidden away for years, dreading the day that it would come to be. After seeing that footage, I fear we may have to take action."

"But what is that, Sensei?" Lloyd questioned. "It kind of looks like the Overlord, but..." He pointed at the crown. "I don't remember him ever being a royal."

"Because that is not the Overlord. This represents a being you do not know of yet: The Dragon King."

Everyone flinched. Sure enough, not a single one of them had ever heard the term.

"Who's the Dragon King?" Nya asked, eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

Wu lowered his head. "When I was a boy, the legend of the Dragon King was a story told by my father. A man who was incapable of holding power within himself, and so sought said power in fantastical beasts. For many years he went through a lot to learn how to tame them... but alas, he never could. And so it was said that he was frozen in time, that the dragons themselves stopped him. For how can a mortal believe he is capable of controlling an animal that is meant to be free?"

"But if he's frozen in time... then how could he be in the surveillance?" Cole questioned.

"I... don't know. But after seeing the footage, I have no doubt that it is him returned." The sensei rolled up the scroll. "And worse... he may have actually succeeded in controlling the dragons."

There was silence among them for a moment. Jay raised his hand.

Their master glanced at him. "Yes, Jay?"

"Can I ask a question?"

"... yes you may."

"Respectfully, what the hell does all this mean?"

"Jay, are you dumb?" Kai leaned his head down. "Respectfully."

"No, I'm serious. Like, where is he getting these dragons from?" the ninja in blue continued. "Okay, so our dragons became one and then dipped a while back. Where did they go, anyway? And how old even is this dude if he's been around since you were a kid? No offense."