The mountain is glacial, colder than you would have ever thought possible. Each breath sends the icy shock into your lungs, nearly freezing them, or even the oxygen that is immediately forced out. Above, the sun still shines down, a feeble trail of warmth in the current climate.
To your relief, even the ninja appear to struggle with the temperature. The fire ninja's annoyance is the most obvious as he loudly contemplates burning down the entire peak.
"Alright," Lloyd shouts, still barely heard above the approaching gale. "Most of us have been up here already, so you know how it works. Timing is important if we want to get to the Cloud Kingdom before anyone else beats us there."
Kai snorts. "Beat who there? These supposed mysterious individuals that Morro claims are after an ancient dark power?" He turns to glare at the ghost. "How do we know it wasn't you? Maybe it's just a trick."
"Kai, knock it off."
The automatic annoyance on his face at the command drops away when he notices that the voice behind it is his sister. Instead, the hotheaded ninja chooses to sulk silently, occasionally contributing a hostile glare at the ghost.
Lloyd sighs audibly, breath forming another cloud of white. "If it was Morro who set this up, then why would he freely hand over the book, and then tell us everything he knows so far? Which, for the record, matches up with everything else we knew before."
The grumbling doesn't last much longer after Lloyd's comments. It does, however, return as you and the ninja climb further up the conglomerate of ice, rocks, and snow.
Minute piles onto minute, then into hours, until your legs are burning from exertion and yet freezing from the ever-declining temperatures. For all its color, the brilliant orange sun overhead offers no semblance of warmth. Your breath long ceased to cloud in front of your face after your mouth dried from the fear and your heartbeat sped up to accompany each strain of worry whirling through your mind. This does little to hold off the cold seeping past your clothes and into your entire body. You're almost certain even your bones have been chilled by the frigid air.
"Hold on, wasn't it just a little past noon that we started up the mountain?" Jay asks through chattering teeth. "I could s-swear it wasn't th-th-this difficult to climb last time."
"Duh. Last time we had suits specifically designed to protect us from the cold, not to mention our mechs."
Zane shakes his head firmly. "Even so, Jay is correct. The structures of the mountain pass do not match the formations that we previously saw."
Kai snorts, glaring upwards in the direction of the setting sun.
"So? That just means we were on a different side of the mountain last time. No need to complicate things when there's a perfectly logical explanation."
"Since when have you acted based on a 'logical explanation,' Kai?" Zane queries, raising a metallic brow. "And whatever the cause, logic does not explain why the landmarks have changed, despite our elevation and direction exactly matching our previous approach. The only detail about our ascent that should not match up nearly exactly is the timing of Blind Man's Eye."
The others fall silent at the tense words and uncertain expression on the nindroid's face. Each of the ninja cast hopeful glances toward a familiar crag, or broken tree, or dilapidated lookout post, only to discover no such sight.
You turn to Lloyd, but he immediately shakes his head, wearing an expression close to disgust as he grimaces.
"If you want to know anything about getting up this mountain or what exactly it's supposed to look like, you're going to want to ask someone who was present."
The Green Ninja, you notice, is the only one besides the Master of Ice himself who appears unfazed by the icy conditions, or the lack of identifying features for that matter.
That's probably because he's too busy acting cold to feel it, you decide. I wish I knew what exactly happened. Something that could explain why he turns so serious and bitter only minutes after laughing and joking with the rest of them.
Your thoughts are interrupted by him softly clearing his throat.
"Um. Sorry if I sounded rude, I just don't have the fondest memories of this place. It brings back some things that I would rather leave in the past." The explanation is finished off with an awkward laugh.
So he has been here. But he still acts like he hasn't, or at the very least annoyed when someone treats him as though he should know specific details about what we're getting ourselves into...
"Anyways, how are you feeling? I know you were still aching a little from moving all of that wreckage."
You startle at the change in topic, recovering enough to roll your eyes as you respond. "I'm perfectly fine. If anything, I should be asking you that question. Y'know, since you only managed to break a few ribs and most of your limbs."
"So I've been told," the ninja responds, tired yet amused. "But seeing as I was able to get up and walk away after only a few hours, I'm starting to think everyone may have overexaggerated that part."
Before you can suppress it, a smile works its way across your own face at his sudden change in attitude. You fiddle with the hem of your tunic while working out how to phrase the next question that nags at your brain and heart, eventually opening your mouth to speak.
"Hey Lloyd?"
"Yeah, y/n?"
"How—"
The harsh echo of another voice, one not belonging to your own crew of ninja, freezes the team faster than any quantity of ice could.
You think it was Zane who first signaled everyone to drop into a crouch behind the meager cover available, but it could have been Nya or Jay. With the deep gray gradually settling across the peak, it's nearly impossible to tell, despite the bold coloring of the gi.
At an imperceptible signal from Lloyd, the others creep forward. You follow uncertainly, bracing against patches of rough stone to keep from slipping.
There, beyond a rigid cluster of tall rock peaks and in one of the few patches of level ground: a small fire, surrounded by perhaps a half-dozen cloaked figures.
When a hand grabs you from behind, you jump, dropping down again as you recognize the particular shadow as Lloyd. He motions impatiently to his teammates, apparently already scattered about every nook and formation of rock and ice, and within moments everyone is huddled together.
"This could be them!" Lloyd hisses, eyes gleaming in the feeble light. "The ones who planted the emblem on our ship, the ones who were trying to get ahold of the scroll's power."
Cole frowns, eyes searching through the darkness for the faint glow of the fire. "How can you be sure? The only thing we know about them is that someone is apparently looking for the scroll and trying to stop us in the process. Which doesn't give us a whole ton to go off of when just about anyone here or from one of the other sixteen realms would be glad to take care of us for good, not to mention get ahold of some untold power."
"Couldn't have said it better," Jay agrees, mirroring his friend's anxious gaze towards the strangers' distant camp.
Kai shrugs impassively. "Well it would help if we actually had someone reliable and not untrustworthy and vague to tell us anything about your mysterious individuals."
His accusatory glance falls on empty air, halting any further discussion.
Lloyd's face darkens.
"Where's Morro?"
You only manage to take half a step before he reappears to answer the question himself.
"Right here."
The Green Ninja stands rigidly, distrust wrought into every bit of his stance and manner. "Where were you?"
"Only picking up a little something for your ungrateful selves. You wanted proof that they were the ones after the emblem?" He tosses a roll of paper at Lloyd, who barely manages to pin it between his hands before it can be blown off the mountain. "Here you are."
The group leans forward in sync, all gazing wide-eyed at the now familiar, slash-ridden symbol. Sure enough, a list runs down the other half of the page, crammed in beside the enormous splotch of ink forming the destructive emblem. And written almost entirely in an undecipherable language.
"One dead end to another," Nya groans, sharing an irritated look with her brother.
"Or not..." you mutter, taking the roll from Lloyd. "I think I know what form of writing this is."
He perks up. "Really?"
Morro actually looks impressed.
"Soooo, can you translate it?" Jay's words barely register as a whisper, on the verge of an excited shout.
"Shhhh!"
You immediately shake your head. "No, I haven't learned enough yet. But I know someone who could help. And I wouldn't be surprised if she's already connected two and two about the markings."
The green silhouette nods in understanding.
"Alright." Lloyd speaks slowly and carefully. "In a situation like this, we would usually split up. Last time, though, we didn't have to deal with a group of mysterious individuals who are capable of who knows what." He glances skyward, where a mass of gray clouds is roiling in the distance. "And we don't exactly have all the time in Ninjago to figure any of this out."
Zane shakes his head, glancing between the firelight and the smudge of gray along the edge of the obsidian sky. "By my calculations, we have very little time indeed."
"Not to mention the mountain keeps changing on us," the Master of Fire grumbles.
Every last one of the ninja turn in harmony to stare coolly at him, causing him to shrink back nervously in response.
"Weren't you the one who kept complaining and claiming that nothing was changing, that we were just lost?"
"Uhhh. Not anymore. Besides," he adds hurriedly, ignoring the many pointed looks thrown in his general direction, "what we really need right now is a plan. So I say two of us should catch Blind Man's Eye and see if there's still anything to learn from our friends in the Cloud Kingdom. Then the other five of us—"
"Other six," Lloyd quietly corrects him.
No one else seems to notice the guilt and wariness lining his eyes.
"Six then—will get a better look at what our friends up here on the mountain are doing. If we can spare a man—or woman—then we'll send someone to take the list to Misako."
"Y/n should go to the Cloud Kingdom," Zane interrupts. "With all due respect, y/n, I believe it would be safer for everyone involved."
You nod in acknowledgment, watching Lloyd open and then close his mouth in the corner of your vision.
The ice ninja continues, unaware of Lloyd's silent protests. "Which means whoever we send should be more highly skilled in airjutsu,—"
"Cyclondo."
"—and in navigating the Cloud Kingdom and successfully acquiring as much information as its occupants will provide."
"So what will we do until then?" Morro questions.
"We watch and we wait."
You shiver under your coat and tunic, tightly hugging each layer. Back to the dreadful climbing and slippery sheets of snow. For all of your earlier excitement in accompanying the ninja themselves on a mission, the stinging cold saps away much of the thrill.
~~~
The cold stings even more when the slippery terrain gives way and your leg crashes into sharp stone. You gasp back a cry of pain, eyes still glued to the cluster of figures only a dozen steps away.
"Are you okay?"
For the fourth time in the last three minutes, your heart leaps into your mouth, only to settle from its sudden race as you recognize Lloyd's shadowed form.
"That's debatable. Maybe I could give a firm yes if you'd stop jumping out from the shadows and scaring me half to death."
He chuckles, but continues to hover behind the crag. Instead of watching over the dangerous group, he's busy keeping watch over you.
"I'm fine," you whisper. Your eyes dart right back to the camp.
Apparently having gotten the message, the Green Ninja vanishes back into the dusk. Eventually your eyes adjust, and by squinting ever so slightly manage to catch his flowing movements as the ninja evades jagged chunks of ground and hidden ice patches with ease.
What I wouldn't give to be able to do that right now.
Instead, you hunker down, clumsily stepping through a snow drift into the cave. Here, at least, you have a break from the furious wind. Waiting near the peak of one of Ninjago's most dangerous and storm-ridden regions certainly has its disadvantages. But so did staying back while everyone else trekked on ahead.
Misako must be back in Ninjago City, you guess. Probably speaking with those insufferable old explorers she's complained to you about on a few dozen separate occasions.
A yell interrupts your thoughts and chills your blood.
When you poke your head out, snow is swirling around the camp. A scuffle. One of the hooded figures rises up as you watch the concealed individual strike at the others around the fire. A blink of an eye, and a miniature battle plays out before you among the group, the tallest stiffly striding forward to stand between the instigators.
"That's enough," hisses the voice, rasping and harsh. "I will not stand by and watch you fools ruin this by announcing our presence to the entire mountain." He, you can gather from the little that reaches your ears, leans in to further instruct the subordinates.
Then, the howling wind returns to replace already muffled speech, and you begrudgingly head back to the cave. The frozen fangs of ice guarding its entrance threaten to crash down beneath the gale's power, a frigid clinking joining the faint chattering of your own teeth.
The warmth of the space has dwindled when you wake up, curled up against the backmost wall of stone. Fortunately, the feeling in your fingers and limbs returns quickly, although you carefully inspect them for frostbite before slipping the thick pair of gloves back on. The numbness in your legs is replaced by an angry tingling, fully awakening you to the unbreakable cold. You peer out of the cave, somewhat relieved to notice the wispy form of Morro a few steps away.
Surprisingly, Lloyd is standing next to him.
Maybe they'll finally get over whatever grudge they have against each other.
"It's time," Lloyd announces, strolling over to your well-concealed hiding place. "Now we just need to decide on who should take you up there."
"I will."
Lloyd only hesitates a second before nodding.
"Alright, I guess that will work. I just hope that no one there minds."
Morro snorts, apparently amused. "I'm sure they will, so I'll be sure to politely explain the situation."
Both of them gaze up as the wind grows, swirling around in a cyclone that threatened to blow away any of the peak's occupants should they stumble. Snow peels down in brief showers, fine and powdery and tossed about by the powerful gusts.
The ninja turns towards the ghost, regret on his young face once more.
"Morro. I wanted to tell you that I—"
His next and final step breaks free a slab of ice, and before he can utter another word, the Green Ninja tumbles off of the mountainside.