Ninjago - Heart of Stone

Chapter Nineteen: In the Name of Darkness

"Do it," she snapped, leaning her head back and pressing her hair into the sand. She felt the grainy substance digging into her skin, sticking to it. The rain kept it plastered to her, and for the first time since being overtaken, she felt uncomfortable. "Come on, Lexi."

Lexi held the knife where it was, utterly still. Her eyes were blank, and for a moment, Nya was wildly afraid that she was about to die.

Then a sudden loud cry echoed across the island, louder than the rain and the thunder and the roiling waves, and Lexi jumped to her feet and staggered back, leaving Nya lying there on her back, panting and clutching her throat. Overlord's aura spiked with glee, and Nya felt a surge of adrenaline rush through her. She pushed herself upright, suddenly able to ignore the wet sand clinging to her skin, and she turned and rushed back towards him.

"We're too late," Kai wailed. He was being supported by Cole, one hand pressed against his bloodied shoulder. Lloyd was leaning against his mother, and Wu was still standing protectively in front of them, his arms held out wide. Zane was clutching Jay's arm with one hand, the other holding his father's shoulder, and Lexi stood before everyone, holding the dagger in one hand, staring through Nya and at the Overlord, and at who had appeared on the beach beside him.

"Master," Garmadon said, kneeling on the wet sand and bowing his head, "forgive me, I beg of you. I am ready now, to be your humble servant..."

"I am sure of it," Overlord said. The rain seemed to be falling harder, and the air had turned bitterly cold, a harsh wind tearing leaves off of trees and whipping the sand through the air like a tornado. Garmadon kept his head bowed low, and Nya wondered if he could feel Overlord's gaze on him, or Lexi's.

"The time has come!" Overlord's voice echoed through the air, and his army turned to face him, unabashed by the stone around them. Nya stood tall, aware of the cold and the pain of sand whipping her skin but choosing to ignore it. "I finally have all that I need to conquer the world, and to take all sixteen realms in the name of darkness!"

Cheering erupted from among the soldiers. It sounded like a landslide, and it would have grated on Nya's ears had she been aware that it was grating. "In the name of darkness," she echoed, grinning from ear to ear.

Garmadon was still kneeling, and so he didn't see when Overlord began to spin. He didn't see when his master began to bulge, his purple hue fading, taken over by black tendrils of smoke that rolled into one mass of darkness, gyrating and coiling like a great serpent. He noticed only when Overlord began to laugh, cackling into the storm, sounding like a thousand voices laughing down on Garmadon.

"I have all that I need," Overlord cried, and plunged himself into Garmadon's body.

Behind her, Nya heard Lexi scream, as though she had been stabbed through the heart.

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Garmadon felt nothing but peace. He felt like he was floating, like he was drifting out at sea, his body submerged in an ocean of nothingness, the sky above him dim and full of a million twinkling stars. He felt weightless, like he wasn't even there, just his mind drifting along.

Then came the pain, and the understanding of what was happening to him.

He saw, through glazed, red-tinged eyes, the sand below him growing, then being pulled away as he rose to his feet. He turned, looking past Nya, distorted and ruined, to see the ninja. His brother, his wife, his son, his daughter...

Lexi screamed. She screamed like she was dying, like she was watching someone die. Garmadon felt her scream ripple through him, and he wanted to scream too, but he found he couldn't. His body wasn't his. His mind wasn't his. His soul wasn't his.