We Hope Your Rules And Wisdom Choke You

Chapter 18: A spineless laugh

Wind whipped at the sail of the Destiny's Bounty as it whisked across the sky, reflection cutting into the rough post-storm waves. The water was too violent to sail, no matter the size of the ship. It was a good thing they only needed the air.

The deck of the ship was empty, as it had been for the majority of the trip, spare for a single figure who stood port side, letting the eight knot wind dry his chilly hair, forearms digging into the parapet as he depended his weight upon it.

He stared over the edge, just watching as the view was constantly ripped away from him, white caps a blur on the cerulean ocean. They must be travelling as fast as they can to blur their surroundings to such an extent that he can hardly make it out. Maybe they missed their friends, or maybe they were just sick of the silence that hung between them all.

As Lloyd dragged his gaze away from the water, starting to feel a nauseating pool build in his stomach, he stared at the horizon in front of him instead. Faintly, he could see the sky ahead was freckled with clouds. Small, and hardly there, but there nonetheless.

He knew what that meant.

They weren't far.

Even closer than the clouds, a small lump formed where the sky met the sea. It grew larger the closer they got, the peaks of the island became taller. A tumbling waterfall cascaded down the pre-mentioned peak, straight into the luscious forest below. The water surrounding it was bright, shallow, and shaped the island in a crescent.

He recognised it as Dyer Island, but that did not matter to him.

What did matter was the mass of land that sat beyond it, greyed out by distance but still there. A long white cloud hovered above it, inviting them toward it.

They took the invitation in silence, drifting over the magnificent island until he had to crane his neck to his left to keep it in his vision.

The main land comes to them quickly, flat squalor on the horizon becoming lush and green, a grand volcano reaching to the sky just off the shore. Its peak surpassed the clouds and hid from his vision, but Lloyd could still see the ominous golden glow of the active volcano.

The Bounty continued past it, heading just north-east. After years of travelling the lands, he recognised the ranges of mountains in front of him as the alps that lead directly to Torchfire mountain, confirming his suspicions that they were going to destroy the spear. Why they didn't just destroy it at the Golden Peaks, he doesn't know. Maybe some cryptic and historical reason that Wu had spewed at the others: "The Golden Peaks are a place of creation, not destruction," or something rather. He could almost hear the old fool blabbering the words at them.

He feels his stomach drop a little as the Bounty gains altitude, rising to the height of some of the tallest peaks. Callused hands grip firmly at the parapet, holding him steady as the deck tilts below him. Again, years of travelling got him used to the vertigo a flying ship once gave him.

Lloyd zones out, just staring below the ship with shallow interest in the familiar lands, watching blurry trees and bland rocks whisk past. The mountains were made up of stoney-brown sandstone, resembling the colour of clay. They were so unlike the cliffs of Ninjagos sister island, which were as dark as deepstone.

There was nothing left to do but watch and wait intently, dreading what would happen yet hoping it wouldn't. He couldn't talk with his team, or his father, or his uncle, or anyone, not even the voice- it was silent, too hung up in suspense to talk. He was all alone.

Across a great teeming estuary on the port side of the bounty, Lloyd could see the ominous fog that coated Hiroshi's labyrinth. Its forests were sheltered by mountain ranges, great and impossible to climb. It set unpleasant memories in his mind that he tried to shake off.