The Imperial Battle II: The Emperor of Ninjago

Chapter 6. Normal

Lloyd peered out of the window of the very hot car, trying to focus on the nice scenery as well as he could. They had been driving for quite a while already and were crossing huge, open fields on a bumpy road. There were no trees, no houses, nothing but the rice fields and mountains as far as the eye could see. 

And it was, indeed, awfully hot.

"You know, I'm slowly starting to envy the others. At least they don't have to burn alive in this bloody oven of a car," James complained. 

"Nice description," Jay sighed, clearly trying his best to remain focused on the road.

"On the contrary, they have to freeze," Lloyd remarked, although he too felt like he would've preferred the freezing air as opposed to the one that was currently making him sweat like a runner in the desert. He could only imagine how un-princely he looked right now. Not that he'd looked very great to begin with.

The only one amongst the group that seemed to be unbothered by the heat was Hutchins. He had not let a single complaint escape his mouth, not even a single sigh. He seemed fine altogether.

"Do we have water?" James whined.

"In the trunk, yes, but we're not stopping yet," said Lloyd.

James groaned and slumped in his seat. "I'm starting to regret my life choices."

Lloyd tried to come up with something to say to distract everyone from the heat, but all he could think of was what was waiting for them in the Primeval's Eye. Not a lot was known about the jungle, but Lloyd had still heard many stories about it from his mother. He couldn't remember much, but something.

"You know, my mother told me stories about the Primeval's Eye when I was little," Lloyd said, gaining everyone's attention. "I remember one time she told me about an explorer named Dr. Yost. He entered the Primeval's Eye to chart it, but… never returned."

"Wow, well, that's reassuring!" Jay chuckled half-sarcastically, half-nervously.

"Her late Majesty did a lot of research about the Primeval's Eye, especially when she was expecting His Royal Highness, but as far as I know, she didn't discover much," Hutchins informed. "Most explorers have refused to enter the jungle after the incident with Dr. Yost, who was also a close friend of Her Majesty's. His late Majesty, The First Emperor forbade people from entering the jungle because of the many deaths and disappearances."

"Could it be that he was also trying to protect the Oni Temple?" Lloyd asked.

"It is possible. His late Majesty restricted many other areas too, including the Wailing Alps and the Dark Island altogether. He let only the most experienced explorers, who were there on his orders, to enter any of those territories. One of those happened to be the explorer group climbing the Wailing Alps on Her Late Majesty, the First Empress's request—"

"Whoa, the First Spinjitzu Master had a wife?" Jay interrupted. 

Lloyd rolled his eyes. "No, of course he didn't. The storks just brought him two sons."

"How come I've never heard of her then?"

"She treasured her privacy very much," James explained. He naturally knew a lot about the late empress. "She wasn't the one to enter the spotlight, but rather let her husband and sons do that."

"And she died when I was little, so even I didn't know her that well," Lloyd added. 

Hutchins cleared his throat. "Empress Lalita was very interested in the Wailing Alps and sent out a group of explorers that… unfortunately didn't return."

Lloyd gulped. A whole team of experienced, top-tier explorers had not survived the Alps, so how were Kai, Wu and the others supposed to?

"You seem to remember an awful lot of detailed information." James smiled at Hutchins.