Ninjago Llyraverse - Rise Of The Snakes

Prologue

Destiny was always a dirty player. Llyra knew this a little too well. Her entire life had been a series of events in which the universe was trying to spite her.

"But that's going to change" she whispered as she mounted the wall of Jamanokai village. She was almost there! But she'd sleep tonight. The village lights shone warmly on Llyra Elise Montgomery Garmadon like a flashlight in a cave.

It wasn't too foggy, but foggy enough that she could stretch her hand out and see a trail of shadow behind it. It made her feel like an alien. Like she was too cold and dark to be here. She jumped off the wall and landed on the ground with a loud thud.

Screw what her subconscious said, she was gonna have some fun.

Orange paper lanterns drifted weightlessly above the narrow-cobbled streets. She cared little whether anyone heard her or not, and made that abundantly clear, sauntering down the street the way she did. Still, no one was out in the streets to notice her. It was better that way. It made it feel like she was the owner of the place.

But what really interested her was what was beyond the village. Near the peak of Jamanokai mountain was a tomb, not a tomb full of dead bodies- (even though that would be cool enough by itself) but something much more powerful.

She had been after this power for 7 long years. 7 years since it happened. (She tried not to think about that too much) She was so close to proving everyone wrong. To proving him wrong. She shivered in anticipation, fingering her knife agitatedly.

Boy oh boy was she ready to see the looks on their faces.

Also, ready to eat. She was starving.

Soon, the street opened up into a marketplace. Only a few people were awake. Some conversed in soft voices. A couple of them were drunken, swaying around as if strung to a clothesline. At one cart, an old, grizzly man had fallen dead asleep on top of his work. Behind him, a cook and his son were throwing scraps to a stray dog.

Llyra grinned. Perfect.

While their backs were turned, the criminal slipped behind them and snuck a churro and a set-aside bowl of pho that didn't look like it was for sale at all. She bolted off into an alleyway, knocking over a trash bin as she escaped.

It was very loud.

"Father! What was that?"

The shop owner shuffled over to the point of interest, but the source of the noise had disappeared. Instead, she was sitting on the blue-tiled roof of a building, balancing the pho in one hand, holding the churro in her other. She watched from above as the pot-bellied cook looked around, muttered something about racoons, and turned back.

Llyra sighed - partially in relief, and partially in disappointment as she thought it funny when people reacted loudly to her crimes- and took a sip of the pho. It was cold, but good.

"bros going to be angry as heck when he finds out some raccoon stole his dinner" she said to herself, taking a monster bite out of the churro.

After she was done eating, she leaned back with her hands behind her head. The stars glowed through the mist above her, like a bunch of tiny nightlights. A small breeze passed through the town like a ghost.

"Tomorrow, everything's gonna change."

She didn't know how right she was.