Flames of the Past #1: The Man in the Mist (Ninjago Fanfiction)

Chapter 11

"You broke it?" Kai shouted.

"I didn't mean to!" the blue-eyed guard said. In his hands lay the Fire Crystal, completely shattered in half.

"How did you even manage to do that?" Kai puffed, taking the pieces into his hands. "Wasn't this in the glass case?"

The guard shuffled his feet. "I... I might've knocked the whole thing down," he mumbled sheepishly.

"What?" Kai stared at him in disbelief. "How clumsy do you have to be to do that on accident?"

The guard shrugged.

Kai raised an eyebrow. "It was on accident, wasn't it?"

"Of course it was!" he exclaimed. "I was supposed to be guarding it, but then..."

Kai shifted the broken crystal from one hand to the other, gazing down at its flickering flames. "Does it... still work?"

"It should," the guard said. "I was just wondering if your fire could weld it back together... you know?"

Furrowing his eyebrows, Kai fit the pieces together and formed fire between his fingers. He watched his flames wrap around the crystal, but, strangely nothing happened. He didn't know what he expected to happen, but he thought something would've happened if he sparked his fire around the Fire Crystal.

With a jolt, Kai shut off his fire. He stared down at the crystal. Something was off. The Fire Crystal was in his hands and, yet, he felt nothing inside of him. No spark, no tingle, no power. Impossible, he thought. The Crystal is connected to my elemental essence.

Kai tightened his fist around one of the halves and the entire thing crumbled into pieces. But it's supposed to be nearly unbreakable... "This isn't the Fire Crystal," he murmured. "It didn't react to my fire."

The guard tipped his head, eyes deepened in thought. "Interesting..."

Kai looked back up at him. "It must be a fake," he realized.

The young man nodded and gazed into the red ninja's eyes. "Well, thanks for your help!" he concluded before spinning around.

Alarm shot through Kai as the guard started down the hall. "What—that's all you wanted from me?" he stuttered. "You didn't want me to fix it?"

The guard glanced over his shoulder, eyes twinkling. "Not if it's a fake," he cooed. Then he disappeared down the hall.

Kai blinked. What the heck... Dropping the crumbs of crystal, he whipped around and sped toward the real Fire Crystal. He twisted through the halls until he reached the glass case. He walked up to it, finding the case completely intact. The Fire Crystal was still inside, also intact. Kai placed a hand on the case and immediately the flames shot through him and he jolted backward. Breathing heavily, he shook his head and took a few paces away, feeling his fire die down again. He didn't knock the case down, the red ninja thought. He scratched his head in confusion. What was the point of lying to me?

"Looking for something?" a stuffy voice said.

Kai turned his head to find Clouse beside the glass case. The advisor was staring at him, eyes glittering suspiciously.

"Yeah, what is up with this place?" Kai questioned, taking another step away from the Fire Crystal. "This Crystal's creepy, your library's a mess, and your guards are insane."

Clouse blinked slowly, expression not changing in the least. "I didn't know there was something wrong with our guards," he commented.

"This one came up to me and..." Kai's voice trailed off. Clouse's eyes were intense as he stared at the red ninja, his hands fidgeting behind his back. His eyebrows were knotted together; he was listening way too intently. Unease swarmed inside of Kai and he stepped back, eyeing the advisor suspiciously. For some reason, he felt he shouldn't tell Clouse what had happened. "...and thought my name was Dave," he lied. "Crazy, right?" He let out a laugh.