Ninjago: Crystalized

Episode 24-Origin

Every moment, he could feel death coming to his door. They wouldn't keep him for long, Lloyd thought, and after a satisfying torture, he would soon be free of this.

He wanted to die. Not just because his family was going to welcome him to a world of peace and love, but also because he wouldn't need to hold onto the darkness in his heart. He could feel the shadow growing within him, and he now knew that it wasn't just some metaphor. It was real. He could become a monster, and he refused to allow these people to completely break him apart like that.

A chained body really changed the way Lloyd coped with all the things within him. There was no way to release it, yet the agony lingered every waking moment like sickles thrashing his flesh, cutting healing skin. Yet he could not say it, he could not cry it out, for all it would bring was more agony.

That alone was torture enough.

To know that everything close to him was already gone, yet he lingered in this world with those who hated him, and smiled upon his anguish.

There was no light in the pair of green eyes.

Only the embodiment of darkness towered over his vision. It had the horns of a demon, the face of a lion, the stature of death, and golden etchings that symbolised its absolute power and dominion. Dominion over the Green Ninja.

"You have served me well, Pythor." The Overlord turned his figure away from what remained of the Green Ninja, still hanging bound by the vengestone chains.

The Dark Lord reached out a single hand as dark energy trickled out, blasting onto the Crystal Column which glowed in a hue of violet and pink, shooting energy towards all the council members as they were all empowered by his darkness. Harumi and the others floated in the air, with their eyes and mouth and chest open as darkness poured into their souls, similar to the dark matter that once took over Nya, Jay, Cole, and the others.

The Generals dropped on the floor, with a renewed skin of crystals protruding from the shoulders and eyes. The Weapons of Destruction hovered towards their new owners, no longer holding the symbol of hope and goodness.

"Th-thank you, my Lord." Pythor stuttered, trying his best to cover the irrational fear from the presence of his lord.

"Very impressive, from the admiration of Aspheera, Empress of the Serpentine."

"Silence." The Overlord turned to Lloyd again, glaring into his eyes, "Son of Garmadon,"

Lloyd looked at him, without expression.

"The suffering you have taken has been admirable, even to me." It coldly said, "So, Green Ninja, I offer you mercy, a chance. Join us, and you will survive."

"I'd rather live in the realm of the dead."

Even more dark energy surged throughout its body as it reached the Column again, leading to a large wave of power surging out to the world.

Lloyd could feel the temple levitating upwards, uprooting itself from its ancient origins.

"There is something you do not understand, Garmadon." It continued to speak, "You feel injustice because I have taken the world away from you time and time again. You hate me for taking away your father's world, not even knowing that it never belonged to him in the first place."

Lloyd did not care to understand.

"The world once belonged to me! When there was peace under my rule. When I was the realm itself, and controlled every fabric of reality within the spark of my thought. I—I was a god! Under my reign, there was peace and order, where the inhabitants wouldn't rebel against one another because of my hand of authority keeping them in check. It was I, who kept the world in order, until that egregious Child came to my world."