Rise of the Overlord

Chapter Twenty

Kai froze, his heart stopped mid-beat as his breath was ripped from his lungs.

"Oh no," Flame whispered.

"L-Lloyd," he choked out. Kai stared at the image of Lloyd curled up at the feet of the Overlord. He was trembling and whimpering, his hands covering his head as he curled up in the fetal position. His Gi was torn, bloodied and burned. Kai wanted to throw up as he stared at the burns on his back and his broken nose.

The Overlord snapped, "Look at me, boy!" Lloyd whimpered and timidly looked up, his body shaking like a tree during a storm.

Kai tasted blood and bile in his mouth as he ground his teeth together, he started to glow like an ember as his fire powers started to flare and grow uncontrollable. His fists clenched and started to turn white, smoke curling out from between his fingers, his blood went from ice to fire instantly, heating his body like a flame. The tears brimming on his eyes and rolling down his cheeks were now evaporating.

"That bastard," he spat through clenched teeth. "I'm going to rip his fucking heart out."

"Master Kai! Please calm down! You're going to give us away!" Flame cried.

"You have two days to turn yourself in," the Overlord said. "If you are not at my throne room at 3pm Friday, I will start killing your friends one-by-one, starting with your precious sister. I will broadcast it all across Ninjago, making you watch your friends die by my hands. See you Friday, Fire Ninja." The screen went black, leaving Kai feeling a mix of ice cold and burning hot, his fear mixing with his hatred and anger. He couldn't move, his body was frozen in shock.

Lloyd was alive. Lloyd was alive! He could save him!

"Kai, we must move! You're catching the guard's attention!" Flame cried. Kai couldn't move, he was frozen. She gave a frustrated sigh and took temporary control of Kai's body, she started to walk through the stalls as she kept the Stone Warrior guards in her peripheral vision. Just keep walking, just keep walking, she kept thinking to herself. Don't act suspicious, just keep going. She stiffened when she noticed the guard following her through the market, pushing through the enslaved citizens as if they were black and gray curtains. Flame occasionally grabbed a fresh piece of fruit and stuffed it in their bag, picking up her pace as she sped-walked through the boardwalk, the sound of the ocean churning beneath them filled the nearly silent air. 

We have to get out of here! Flame quickly turned a corner and scaled a nearby house, hiding on the roof as the guard walked past them, he looked around and kept walking straight. After he was out of sight she breathed a soft sigh of relief and started leaping from rooftop to rooftop until she made it to the edge of Stiix. Flame climbed off of the rooftop and landed with a soft 'oof' on the gray grass, she shifted the backpack over her shoulder and silently ran back to the house at the far edge of the city where the other elemental masters were waiting. She hurried inside the house and slammed the door behind her, panting heavily as Wisp, Shard and Rocky looked up in surprise.

"Kai? What's wrong?" Wisp asked.

"That's not Kai, Flame are you okay?" Shard corrected. "Did something occur down in Stiix?"

"What happened to Kai?" Rocky asked.

"Kai is too emotionally unstable at the moment," Flame said using her voice. "The Overlord sent out a broadcast across the country directed at him and us. He knows we are aiding him. He is using Nya, Jay, Cole and Zane as bargaining chips to lure us into his grasp."

"But why is Kai so unstable, surely he knows that it must be a trap?" Shard asked.

"He did, until the Overlord revealed...Lloyd."